Wet

So today I woke up to this.......

I was scheduled to have a morning push-bike ride before heading into work but as any avid cyclist knows - two things are common on pushies in the rain......punctures and crashes.....usually in that order........

I was already up so I turned the pedals over on the trainer while watching the morning news.......Damn - I hate static/wind trainers....... boring as hell.

So the rain had already peeved me off once this morning......no pushy ride......

It was going to peeve me off at least a couple of times more......

I've had my RST Touring gear through three Winters now - it has always been rock-solid, dry and warm.........after this morning I think it may need to be retired......

About half way through the commute I could feel water getting in.........DAMN!.......I usually leave a spare pair of boxer shorts and socks at the office - for some reason I had taken them home recently and not replaced them...........I remembered this as my crotch was becoming increasingly cold and wet.....D'oh!

Oh well.......nothing for it.......get in nice and early and use the spare chairs as makeshift clothes airers.....then......do the trick with the hand dryer to get the boxers back to a wearable state.....

I've just recently had the jacket re-zipped and of course......the new zip is where it failed.......great!

But that's not the worst part.......the trousers are done......It was not long after I set off that my butt started to feel a little damp......a little further into the journey and it I felt a "zing" of cold water get in...........arrrhhhhg......

At this point it was game over......the boxer shorts were gone....my socks were soaked and the boots were filling up.....a noticeable squelch every time I put a foot down at a set of lights....Yippee!


Definitely time for some new gear......

Although the Trekker helmet is great in the Sunshine.....it really is NOT great in the wet.....I've never had a helmet which fogs quite this badly.....


<-- Just giving the gloves a chance to "hang out" and dry.....





I ride an Ape but this morning.....once again.....I felt like a Duck....

Quack quack....

\BitSar

You know you're a Motorcyclist when........

You're at work - dealing with poorly compiling code which was delivered by an external vendor and your only method of hiding and feeling better about you day is this...........

This is almost a rant post.........Ah Oracle..................

\Bangs head on wall

New Helmet & some FatDuc adjustments

Another early morning today - woke up @ ~5:50am - not sure why I'm not sleeping much at the moment.....must be the seasons changing, the mornings are nice and bright - this should not last long though, next week Daylight Saving time kicks in.

But hey, I'm up now - might as well get a ride in before work...............good chance to test out the new helmet and make some trim adjustments to the FatDuc (see my Zorst post below)

With the Sun being brighter and a little higher in the sky, the daily commute has been torture with regard to Sun glare. By chance I wandered into the local motorcycle shop during my lunch break yesterday and came across this lid:

It's a budget DualSport (DS) style helmet - branded as Fly Racing with the model name being Trekker.........after doing some reading I decided it was worth the risk of shelling out $150 bones to give it a go.........if it proves itself I may indeed buy a more expensive Shoei Hornet to go with the XR-1100 I usually ride with. 

Initial impressions are good - It's not too noisy with the visor down, the vision is EXCELLENT. It is relatively comfortable to wear and the peak doesn't seem to be too adversely affected by wind. Furthermore, the peak is great for dealing with the Sun glare issues I've been having - all in all - a good purchase and a good price. For those of you who are interested there is more reading here. 

Along with testing the new lid, the morning ride gave me the opportunity to play with the trim setting on the FatDuc 02 manipulator I had installed. Essentially this little device plugs in-line with the return circuit of the lambda (O2 sensor) probe in the exhaust mid-pipe. 

You can see it here mounted on the frame (once I have the trim set nicely I will hide it better)

Essentially the idea behind the FatDuc is to alter the signal being sent back to the ECU which dictates the fuelling while the bike is running closed-loop (<= 4000rpm). As you increase resistance (trim) on the FatDuc you decrease the signal strength being sent to the ECU - thus resulting in a richer mixture. Reduce resistance and the opposite is true - the mixture becomes more lean and more like stock fuelling. 

During the ride this morning I made some small trim adjustments - I think I'm starting to dial it in - bike is running much smoother down low and not as snatchy rolling on and off throttle at low RPM.......thanks FatDuc =D