What's Your Brain Worth?

Helmets

How good is yours?

A long time ago I remember seeing a Bell helmet advertisement that said, “if you have a $10 head, wear a $10 helmet”, or something very similar.

That ad was run more years ago than I care to remember; But it stuck with me so obviously it was a well thought out ad. Boy have times changed, with helmets now ranging in price from a cheap $79 to approaching $750 for the latest and greatest in quality and technology that also doubles as a fashion statement as they have literally become works of art!

I see some absolutely beautiful helmets these days on the road, at the tracks and in the desert. But since I spend so much time on a bike, in so many different locations and types of riding I also see some very scary looking things on peoples’ heads. If I were independently wealthy I would carry around high quality helmets to trade people when I see them. Sometimes I cringe when I see such so called protective gear.

I have destroyed several helmets and suffered more concussions than I care to remember, uh, maybe I can’t remember! Lol.  So I am speaking from experience while I stand on my soapbox here and rant. What spurred me to write this tirade was a recent week long off road trip with a group of riders that ended on a sour note.

Our group had ridden several hundred miles over about 5 days and was on the last 40 or so miles before arriving at our motel for the night. We were all looking forward to a shower and a nice meal with the daily B.S. session where we all could tell how fast we went and how high we flew! Unfortunately, just before we reached the pavement to ride into our motel, one of our riders named Jeff crashed and took a serious blow to the head. He was knocked unconscious and would not regain consciousness until sometime the next day. It turned into quite the ordeal to stabilize, monitor, extract and transport him to medical facilities.

It has been almost 2 months now and Jeff is doing better at home but is not back to being himself yet. This is one of the most scary, long term serious head injuries I have seen.

It was purely coincidental that some of us on this trip had been discussing helmets, quality, cost, protection and age just the day before the incident. Someone had questioned why a helmet with all the certifications like SNELL and DOT stickers and only cost $99 was not as good as one that sells for $600 with exactly the same certifications.

While cost alone is NOT a rating for a good helmet, you generally get what you pay for in the helmet arena to a point. Now here I go on my soap box. I have worn decent helmets and VERY hi quality helmets in my 48 years of riding. I have also crashed on both types and whacked my noggin hard enough to destroy more than one helmet! Both the decent and the hi quality ones. So I am speaking from experience when I tell you I can tell the difference in energy transfer and dissipation when channeled through the hi quality helmet. It is noticeable and worth every penny when it finally happens and rest assured if you ride enough it will happen. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news!

I recently put it to one of our doubting Thomas types that was concerned with over spending on a helmet this way. I buy a top of the line helmet for around $600. I can wear that helmet safely for 5 or so years if I take care of it and barring any big crashes. That breaks down to maybe $125 a year to give myself the best odds possible to keep participating in my favorite sport.  I wish my auto insurance was that cheap!

Just food for thought, how good was your helmet when you bought it, how has it been treated, how old is it and what is your head worth? We can fix bones, stitch gashes and even repair joints most of the time. But unfortunately no doctor has been able to fix a head/brain injury yet. A good helmet is our best line of defense for participating in the sport we have chosen because it is our passion.

I hope if you read this it made you think, I am really glad you can, probably because you have a good helmet!  Ride safe.

#33

‘Experience is the hardest kind of teacher. It gives you the test first, and the lesson later’

When Is Too Hot Too Hot?

Gettin’ Hot!!!

As the temperatures started to reach the 113* plus range in Arizona we decided it was time to head out for the cooler weather normally found on the summer tour of Idaho, Montana and Northern California. It has not worked out like I thought yet, it is smokin’ HOT Everywhere!

So the mobile ghetto got loaded with all the necessary equipment (toys), mountain bikes, off road motorcycles, dual sport bike, compound bow, shooting supplies and a few other odds and ends to make it a non-stop fun filled road tour. There was one thing missing, a bit hard to believe there was no motocross bike!  Not by choice mind you. I had sent my KX 450 suspension off to have a cryo-treating process done, since I had had the opportunity to try it on another bike and was thoroughly impressed. I figured 5 weeks would be enough time, oops, apparently not. So the show must go on or the Rolling Circus must Roll, however you say it. But think of the possibilities with an empty slot in the moto section………………  First stop, Helena Montana to visit MJ (Montana John).

We do a little riding, but only a little cause MJ doesn’t like the heat much and Helena is smokin’ hot for the locals. Jeez, it is all the way into the 90’s!!!!  I am thinking this is great and MJ is thinking he wants to stay in the shade with a cool beverage. This leaves me with too much time on my hands and I of course gravitate toward the motorcycle section on Craigslist. I figure I should start planning for the future, any moto guy can see this makes sense right? After all I just sold my 2013 KTM after 2 years with 18,000 miles on it. The first one was almost bulletproof so I replaced it with a 2014 almost new exact copy with just over 1000 miles on it in January.  The 2014 is already showing 7k on the odometer and who in their right mind would wait until the last minute. This ain’t Christmas shopping boys!

As it turns out there are several newer, low mileage, low time 500 xcw’s on Craigslist in the Montana area. Whaaaaaat!  I can’t believe my good fortune. So I whittle down the list to the most desirable 3 and start contacting the owners to take a look at these. I ended up buying the first one I looked at because it was a basically new 2016 with 396 miles on it!!!!  Poor guy hadn’t made it to the first oil change when he tipped over and dislocated his shoulder and had to have surgery to repair it. So he was not going to be needing it for almost a year, that made him more than happy to deal to get it gone. I was the proud new owner of a nearly new KTM 500 xcw. So now my problem of having an empty moto slot in my trailer is solved. That’s what I do, solve problems!

Along the way I was fortunate enough to meet and ride with the Legendary J.N. Roberts! For those of you that don’t remember J.N. he was an off road riding/racing hero waaaaay back in the day, with countless off-road wins on his resume. My mind sees J.N. on an iconic poster that Honda printed as an advertisement with him riding their new flagship the Honda XL 250 Motosport released in the 70’s. It was a single cylinder 250cc four stroke. I will always remember that photo with J.N. jumping the bike in the desert. What an honor to meet and be invited to ride on his 1400-acre ranch. It ended up being just him and I riding his cross country loop of about 20 miles. We, well I had a great time and stopped along the way to take in panoramic views and for him to show me his shooting area since he knew I liked to shoot. I would love to have a shooting gallery like his, with gongs and targets at all distances for rifles and handguns. We rode and messed around for a couple of hours before making our way back to his place. We said good bye and set up another ride a couple days later through the hills over to Lincoln for lunch and gas. By the way if anyone is wondering J.N. Roberts still hauls the mail and his bike of choice is a Beta 2 stroke.

A few more days of riding and visiting and we get hammered with an Earthquake! Lincoln, Montana is the center and is just over the hill from Helena. MJ and I ride there through the hills for lunch and gas. If you remember a ways back in time, Lincoln is where they caught the Unabomber. I found out where he had his cabin and did a ride by but everything has pretty much been erased to thwart looky loos like me. Anyway, the earthquake was in the middle of the night and felt just like someone had run into the mobile ghetto with a car. It seemed like a good time to move on, you know aftershocks and all.

So we fold up the big tent and head for Idaho, maybe it is cooler there.

#33

‘of all the paths you take in life, make sure a few of them are dirt’

#33 Tests the Golden Tyre!

Golden Tyre

When was the last time someone came out with a front tire that you heard was the latest and the greatest?  I had been hearing some noise from the off roaders about such an oversize (90/100 21) front tire so in an effort to keep the MX43 readers from having to wait I found a couple and tried them on a couple of different bikes. A KTM 500 XCW and a Honda XR 650 L were at the opposite ends of the scale and would give me a wide range of riding/testing.

This is not an inexpensive tire with a $124 retail list. I found them for $95 delivered to my door. So away I go on two different bikes over sand, rock, hard pack, shale, powder and anything else I could find.

I noticed a different front feel right off the bat but was not immediately sure if it was better or not due to the wide variation I rode throughout the very first day. I liked the way it turned in sand, also in loose shale rocky terrain. However, I was not as satisfied on the hard pack especially with rougher ground, like ruts.

I did like the way it dampened impacts on rocks and harder objects due to the oversize 90\100 profile. It was like softening your suspension a bit.

Now back to the sand. It turned quite well there with the taller, wider foot print. For you REALLY Old Timers you may have had the opportunity to run a 3.25x21 Cheing Shin back in the day. If you did you probably rode in the desert and that is why you ran the oversize front tire.  Well think of this 90/100x21 as a modern day Cheing Shin. Very similar characteristics with a leg up on the harder ground due to rubber advancement and modern technology. So in the desert and in sandy/loose conditions it scores very well over the standard size tire.

As I moved on to more trail oriented riding I found things that were not as appealing. It was a bit heavier steering on harder ground, almost like a slightly low tire. The other thing I found was the tendency of the oversize tire to follow the contours of the terrain. By this I especially mean ruts. I could feel the tire grab the side of ruts and feel a bit less stable there. So for trail riding I would prefer a standard size front tire.

Both bikes (KTM & Honda) yielded the same results.  I did discover the taller tire would come in contact with the front fender and the head pipe on the KTM, so slipping the forks up in the clamps was limited by tire rub. The Honda had no such clearance issues.

Overall the tire performed quite well in its element with limitations when used for other purposes. Since it seems to be an off road tire I did not take it to the MX track, so if you have an interest in that and give it a try let me know how it works there!

#33

‘the pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects it to change, the realist adjusts the sails”

Who Won Only Score Knows...Maybe?

2017 Baja 500 Win……..Maybe?

Having just completed the Class 50 Baja 500 race was a great feeling. Especially when we were told we had won!  Only to find out, Maybe not.

The race had been a knock down drag out battle between two teams, ours, the #549 Kawasaki and the Honda entry #510.   For 500 miles and about 12 hours we battled back and forth distancing ourselves from all other entries in the Class 50 division by approximately 2 hours!  Our team had been leading by up to 10 minutes only to have the #510 Honda rally and close that gap, overtake us and proceed to go up 10 minutes!  Our boyz put their heads down charged and made the time back up! Not only did we catch up we managed to stretch out about a 4-minute lead!

It was truly a see-saw battle with no one willing to give an inch. We rolled into a pit in the lead for fuel at about the 410-mile mark. The #510 Honda was due in within a minute or two! When our rider tried to restart the bike it would not fire! Our #549 Kawi was in that pit for 10-1/2 minutes before getting restarted and back on the course. So now we find ourselves chasing again by about 10 minutes.

With only about 90 miles left to the finish it was looking grim for our team. They chased and held their own but could not make up the time we lost in the pit. So we crossed the line physically in 2^nd place. Now you have to remember we all start at intervals of 30 seconds per bike at the beginning of the race so it is possible to beat someone on corrected time even while being behind them crossing the finish line. Unfortunately, we only had a couple of minutes in our favor on corrected time, so we did indeed finish in 2^nd place, or did we?

We were informed the other team had gotten on a paved road that paralleled the race course, which was discussed at the riders meeting as a NO-NO and was grounds for disqualification. The race official told our team that the #510 was Disqualified! That made us the Winners! Or did it?  Later we find out the SCORE officials changed their decision and handed out a time penalty of 15 minutes instead of a disqualification.  After the quick calculations, once again we were declared the Winners!  High Fives all around and we are disappointed the decision was changed but relieved we had secured the win. Or did we?

The following day we see results posted with the #510 listed as the class winners, while we, the #549 entry is bumped back to 2^nd place. WHAT?!  Our Team representative contacted SCORE to find out if this was a misprint of some sort and was informed the decision had been changed AGAIN and that there was no penalty being assessed on the #510 bike, which alters the final finishing positions again!

Just as a side note, there was another team that was assessed a 1-hour penalty for pitting their bike on the paved road. This concerns me that the rules are applied arbitrarily and leaves me questioning the SCORE officials’ neutrality and decision making.

So as it stands our final placing is in question until we get confirmation that this is the FINAL decision after whatever discussion and appeal process takes place. I will do my best to keep the MX43 readers posted.

#33

“Oops, Did I roll my eyes out loud?”

Baja Bound...But I Need A Bike!

Project Bike

I recently had a Project Bike dropped in my lap and am very near completing the process.

During a conversation with a Canadian OTMX racing buddy (Don Tocher) he relayed that he would like to go to Baja one more time before he died!  This stopped me in my tracks and made me think, wow, I go ride with people down in Baja on a semi regular basis and seem to take it for granted. It made such an impact on me that I encouraged Don to not wait until it was too late. Let’s get on with making it happen and he asked me if I would look around my area for a decent used bike that he could purchase and turn into a dependable Baja bike.

Since everyone and their brother seems to use the Honda CRF 450X as a platform for racing, pre running and trail riding down there I figured it would be the best choice. Considering availability and other people with spares, etc. Also Don seems to have a preference for Hondas.

I searched ads, asked buddies and kept my eyes open for a Honda 450X. Another buddy, Montana John, dropped a contact number on me for a Honda that he said seemed to be in pretty good shape and was within our budget. We were shopping in the $3000 to $3500 range. Great!!!   Then I called the guy and found out he was about an hour and a half away, doh!!!  So I made a date to come look at his bike and made the trek. It was not the ideal time because I had to go in the evening and it was dark by the time I got there. So I bust out the flashlight and do my very best to look for all the problem areas I know of on the Honda 450x model. I really didn’t find any and it seemed to be in much better than average condition for the year model. The engine cases, frame, plastics, chain and sprockets all looked clean and/or original. This was good news. It was not a makeover and appeared to have been parked for quite some time in a garage somewhere.

So I attempted to fire it up, listen to the engine and take it for a test ride, to check gearbox, clutch, motor performance, etc. It was not easy to get started and when I checked the gas in the tank, it really didn’t smell much like gas anymore, so I figured ok the gas is bad and the jets are probably plugged up too.  I finally got it running and of course it didn’t want to stay running or idle, but after a warm up I took it down the road and was pleasantly surprised at how tight the motor, gearbox and clutch were even though it didn’t pull worth a crap on the bottom end due to carb plugged and bad gas. But once I got it rolling and on the pipe it pulled very well and sounded good!

So I made the deal and loaded up and was on my way, fingers crossed that I had not missed anything while looking with a flashlight in the drive way. I know what you are thinking…..No he did not have a garage.

Once back at the ghetto/repair facility (my garage) I began work the next day. Draining gas, checking for issues in the daylight and making a list of things it would need to be Baja worthy. It already had a Yoshimura pipe, Oversize tank, Skid plate and Fat Bars with risers as well as Moose radiator guards.

On closer inspection I found several small areas that needed to be addressed and set to work. It has now been a week with a few half days of wrenching, adjusting, replacing and putting together a parts list. The bike is in pretty good shape now and I finished just in time to take it on my normal Monday Taco ride, which is a loop that covers about 95 miles with tacos and a soda midway. The bike performed without a hiccup but needs a bit of suspension adjusting. Considering my normal ride is a 500 KTM XCW with SBB suspension just about any bike would require adjusting to make me happy!

So the second ride was quite impressive after adjusting the fork oil, rebound and compression. I then moved on to the shock which seemed to be soft and sluggish in bigger bumps. The feeling led me to believe the nitrogen was probably depleted. After recharging the shock to the proper nitrogen pressure it reacted much better. A bit of adjusting compression and rebound resulted in a much better ride. It was now fun to ride, kinda like a Honda! Imagine that.

So now it comes down to my Canadian buddy, Mr. Tocher. Will he make the trip down to ride Baja this spring or will he let another year slip away………………..Stay tuned, as we all wait to see what happens.

#33

‘Don’t be afraid of death, be afraid of an unlived life’