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Hey Lady, Hang Up The Phone!

Kind of old, from brutal hugs:

Is it wrong to laugh at things like this? This woman crashed her car while on her cell phone. She crashed into a cell phone store. She was an EMT.

I've had my close encounters with people just like this woman. I've almost been killed on my motorcycle by people talking on the cell, watching TV, eating, reaching into the back seat, etc. And so I say better her than me.

posted Tue 16 Mar 2004 in /motorbikes | link

Bluepoof

Bluepoof's bike blog

posted Thu 29 Jan 2004 in /motorbikes | link

Drinking Problem?

The ZX-12R is a gorgeous bike — perhaps the best two-up sports bike. But it has a gluttonous appetite for high-grade petrol and rubber. I seem to get through rear D208 tyres every 4000km or so, and I don't abuse them.

posted Thu 29 Jan 2004 in /motorbikes/zx12r | link

Stay Upright

I did an advanced road course with Stay Upright. It was great. I heartily recommend it.

Our course was at the Driver Training centre near Queanbeyan. This is a bit different to your average race track, because it's meant to simulate a typical road. It's much tighter and more vertical, so there are a lot of blind corners and rises, and changes of surface. It's a pretty good simulation of the kind of country roads we get around here.

The Stay Upright teaching technique is superb: one instructor demonstrates while the other gives a narrative.

I learnt a few interesting tecniques: in particular to blip the engine before moving rather than after to get a smoother shift, and to hold the shifter while letting the clutch out to guard against false shifts. The second is going to take a bit of practice.

I did most of the day with Steph on the back, which made things a bit harder and more tiring but it was a better approximation of how I often ride. In particular it's pretty good to do a flat-out emergency stoppie from 120 with some extra weight on.

The ZX-12R is not constitutionally suited to low-speed manuevers. Anything below about 25km/h requires slipping the clutch. You don't want to do your U-turn test on it. It is such a perfect two-person sportsbike though.

My tyre was nicely shagged at the end and so was I.

posted Mon 26 Jan 2004 in /motorbikes/courses | link

Desired Hypercruiser

There's a genre of motorcycles known more or less as hypersports. Cyberpunk authors would love them. Hypersports was, I think originally defined in the mid 90s by the Honda CBR1100XX Blackbird, and later by the Suzuki Hayabusa and Kawasaki ZX12-R (my current ride). The defining characteristic is an enormous top speed (around 300km/h) and power output (178ps or 130kW). They're rather heavier than your typical sports bike, and a bit more unwieldy in tight corners or around town because of it. For a modest AUD $20,000 you get a vehicle with speed and acceleration comparable to a $400,000 supercar.

The catch is that I think very few of the owners ride them that way. Quite aside from legality, approaching that kind of speed requires a road more clear and flat than I've ever heard of in Australia at least. And even then: I'm sure going faster than a bullet train is fun, but I don't know if I'd want to do it every day.

These bikes have all kinds of qualities aside from outright speed: the engine is so overwhelmingly capable that at any reasonable speed you're knee-deep in smooth torque. At 100km/h any of the six gears on a ZX12-R are available, depending on whether you want a gentle wafting forward in 6th, or a near-instant jump in first. The extra weight makes them very comfortable and smooth on a highway, and on a smooth surface they corner on rails. The large size and big engine make them great for carrying a pillion.

So what I'd like to see is manufacturers skewing towards this market just a little more: put in some kind of larger screen to make highway travel a bit better, even if it takes a few ks off the top speed. Set them up to be a bit more tolerant of choppy roads. Put the big, jet-turbine engines into something a little more like a sports tourer.

posted Sun 7 Dec 2003 in /motorbikes | link

BMW K1200 GT review

And now for something completely different...

I also had the pleasure of riding a BMW K 1200 GT, on evaluation from Rolfe Classic in Canberra.

(As an aside: why would you have a motorcycle salesperson who doesn't ride, and therefore doesn't really have any vocabulary in common with their potential customers? I suppose if people walk in knowing exactly what they want, anyone can negotiate price, but sometimes they want some information or advice too... All the answers about how it compares to other models, or what it's like to live with for more than an hour can only come from experience.)

Back to the bike. The executive summary would have to be beautiful bike; shame about the motor.

To get the worst out of the way: the 4 cylinder 1171cc motor isn't really bad; it's just a bit bland. It produces usable torque from a touch above idle all the way up. It's very very smooth; since a sticker obscured part of the tacho on the bike I rode I once wondered if it had stopped. Let the clutch out in first or second or third, smoothly take off, pop up a gear or two. I wonder if the self-effacing engine is one reason why the GT has an LCD gear indicator on the console, something I haven't seen on anything else in years.

In a bike in this class you're not wanting wheelies or burnouts. You don't want your pillion falling off. But corporal engagement with the motor is part of the experience of riding. If you pay AUD 28,000 for a bike it ought to have a motor that's interesting to ride. I think my disappointment is twofold: it accelerates adequately, but unremarkably. It's very noticeably slower than your average 600cc bike, though much of this is likely due to the substantial >300kg mass. Secondly, the power's delivered in such a quiet and smooth way that opening the throttle doesn't bring the thrill we normally enjoy. The torque curve seems pretty flat; there is no top end surge as such.

Perhaps I'm just too young.

Leaving the lack of power aside, it is a wonderful bike in many other respects. It's hard to describe how the mass disappears once it gets moving, but it really does. It's amazing: parked it looks like a lot of frontal area and a lot of weight, but once you're rolling it feels light and well composed. I rode it on a windy day and was worried that all the plastic would catch the sidewinds, but in fact it does very well compared to the smaller ZX12-R. It must be something about the shape, or perhaps the bike's inertia keeping it steady.

Front wind protection is also very good. The screen is electrically adjustable over a small range. The air behind it is extraordinarily calm even at 130+. I felt distinctly warm on a spring day which might have been nippy on less protected bikes. The wind protection plus a very neutral seating position makes it very comfortable.

The switchgear is pretty loaded with controls for heating, the windscreen, cruise control, headlights, hazard lights, and the BMW-style indicators. It takes a bit of getting used to, but your thumbs will be busy at first. I can imagine the BMW indicator setup being easier with winter gloves, which is perhaps why they stick with it.

Heated grips and seats are standard, which I'm sure would be luxury in winter. Panniers are also standard.

The Telelever suspension is strangely disturbing compared to conventional bikes when you first corner or brake. I think the big difference is that it doesn't dive or lift in the same way that conventional forks do; at first you miss the feedback but it soon starts to feel really good and very stable.

The linked/ABS brakes are a tower of strength. They're as good as any OEM sportsbike brake I've seen, even though they need to disipate perhaps twice as much kinetic energy. Press the lever and it stops very rapidly but controllably, and without perceptibly diving. The sharpness and tight control immediately reminded me of braided steel lines I had on a CBR600 a few years ago. It feels enormously safe and probably contributes to feeling easily in control of the heavy unit.

The burning question for observers of BMW motorcycles has to be: why can't the company that makes the M3 and M5 coupes produce a bike to match? We don't need another liter superbike, but something that is luxurious but powerful would be worth seeing.

Lovely bike, but not for me for a few years at least. If you had the money and wanted to do a long highway trip at roughly legal speeds the K 1200 GT would have to be a top contender.

posted Sat 27 Sep 2003 in /motorbikes/review | link

Kawasaki ER-5 review

I had a Kawasaki ER-5 loaner from the good blokes at Canberra Motorcycle Centre for the last couple of days.

What we have here is a nice, competent 500cc twin street bike. For me at roughly 182cm the size was pretty good; it felt small and light but not tiny. The seat is not high; for somebody shorter but with reasonable lower body strength it would probably also be cosy.

The engine note is lovely and burbling; it starts easily from cold. Acceleration from the lights is good, and it has a broader torque band (~2500-9000rpm) than comparable smaller bikes. The relatively large displacement for a learner bike and a heavy flywheel(?) should make it patient with on riders who are still getting the hang of the clutch.

Cornering and braking are pretty nice for what is not really a performance bike. You can scoot around inner city corners with confidence in the slightly narrow tyres (110/70-17R front, 130/70-17R rear) and handling. It's not quite “on rails”, but it is wearing good grippy sneakers.

Steering is of course very direct and tight compared to a sports bike, and the relatively low gearing means that putt-putting around carparks or the inner city or parking on sloping footpath is a piece of cake. It feels rather less than its dry 179kg.

The obvious weak point is the brakes. The single disc front and drum rear both produce nowhere near the force they ought to — and brakes are one thing that's not really optional. A very tight squeeze on the front produces rather asthmatic deceleration, and the rear brake seems to have less effect than engine braking.

I suppose the nicest thing I can say about the brakes is that they might be comfortable for a novice who's afraid of sliding the front wheel under heavy braking. However hard I squeezed, it didn't seem to get anywhere near the friction limit of the modest front tyre. The price of unthreatening braking might well be sliding right into a crash that you could have avoided on a small sports bike.

So the ER-5 is roughly AUD $8900 brand spanking new, friendly to ride, and very practical around town. Under the current laws in the ACT and most of Australia, it's learner-legal because of the conservative power-to-weight ratio. Not only is the ratio legal, but I think the absolute values are sane: it's not so heavy as to get away from you, and it's unlikely to lead the new rider into too much temptation.

I would almost like to say it'd be a good learner bike, but the brakes worry me. I hate the idea of a learner drifting into a collision with the calipers squeezed shut. Perhaps I'm being unfair here — I haven't sampled the competition recently. But from memory even something like a Balius feels far safer. Before buying an ER-5 I'd definitely make sure to pay attention to the brakes. Aside from that, go ahead and enjoy.

posted Sat 27 Sep 2003 in /motorbikes/review | link

Good rides around Canberra

From the aus.motorcycles FAQ:

Where should I ride in the Australian Capital Territory?

The Uriarra/Cotter loop is a fantastic stretch of road, with wide variations in road 'style' and landscape type. Start on the Cotter road, turn off at Coppins Crossing, then head onto Uriarra road. Follow Uriarra until the Turn-off back to canberra, and it will take you back onto the Cotter road just before Cotter Pub. Continue along Cotter road to Tuggeranong, and return to canberra along any viable route.

You can continue from the Cotter Pub south down past Murray's Corner and Tidbinbilla to Tharwa and back up the Monaro Hwy. The bit through the pine forest past Murray's Corner is a bit prone to slow/unpredicatble traffic and gravel on the road but once it opens up, its quite good, and makes the ride about twice as long.

A quick fang up Coppins Crossing is always fun.

Heading down the coast via the Clyde mountains is an interesting ride with lots of twisties in the later sections, and the ride up the coast from Batemans bay to Sydney (through the national park south of sydney) is a great alternative to the highway (if you have a few extra hours to spare)

The road down Brown Mtn (between Cooma and the coast) is a vastly better road than Clyde Mtn. Every time I went down Clyde Mtn (admittedly a long time ago), the road surface was shocking. Of course, both Brown Mtn and Clyde Mtn are in NSW, not ACT.

I'd like to get photos to do an illustrated version sometime.

posted Tue 9 Sep 2003 in /motorbikes | link

Taking Mexico by Storm

Chris MacAskill writes about riding San Francisco to Acapulco

posted Tue 9 Sep 2003 in /motorbikes | link

Winter in Canberra

Winter here is not so bad, but I'd really like a pair of heated handlebar grips. I can stay warm enough either thick clothing, but I hate the clumsy feel of thick gloves.

I kind of envy BMWs with bar heaters built in. (Obviously I'm getting old to even think such a thing.) I suppose they would be available as aftermarket accessories for my Kawasaki. It's probably far enough through the winter here that I won't bother for now.

I rode and went the long way in to work. Beautiful and crisp, but not too cold (12C).

posted Thu 17 Jul 2003 in /motorbikes | link

Bungendore ride

posted Wed 11 Jun 2003 in /motorbikes/rides | link

Ducati M620ie Review

I had the pleasure of riding a Monster M620ie Dark at a ride day at Gecko Motorcycles on the weekend. I'm glad I did. It's so cute! I won't be buying one now, but in other circumstances I might.

People seem to perceive sensations by contrast to their present situation — think of stepping from a chilly winter day into a moderately warm room — and this is certainly true for something as visceral as a motorcycle. I can't help but think of the M620ie by contrast to my current ride, a ZX12-R, which has about three times the peak power output, and perhaps 60kg more weight. I'm sure my impressions would have been different had I gone to it from a 250cc learner bike, which is a much more likely progression.

The overall impression is of something small but exquisitely formed, perhaps like a seared slice of foie gras. The suspension is set up with standard Ducati firmness, so on chopped up back roads you do feel the bumps, though they're not jarring. The bike does track along the road with more determination and poise than one might expect from something so small. It's miles away from 250s and 400s which always seem to bounce around at 100km/h.

The engine has a good spread of torque. It's no rip-snorter but is never short of urge. The flatter torque curve characteristic of twins seems to allow a bit more laziness in gear changes than would be possible on a inline four of the same capacity. It is quiet and steady at idle, and has a nice hint of the Ducati engine sound, although far more subdued than the 998 superbike. The clutch gave a funny jelly-wobble sensation at one point, perhaps because I held it at the wrong point. Bringing it right out and then in again resolved the problem.

Amusingly enough a decal on the tank warns that the bike has a "energy saving CPU" that goes to sleep after a few minutes with the ignition on but the engine stopped. (Does anyone even do that? On most bikes it leaks current so I can't imagine anyone having the habit.)

We got up to about 130km/h on a brief stretch of the the Monaro Highway, at which speed the wind buffeting is noticeable but not objectionable. I did notice my jacket blowing around more than usual, but something about the shape of the bike avoids the feeling of being blown off one sometimes has with naked bikes.

When might I buy it? Well, if I lived in a built-up city, and had to deal with traffic and traffic lights more often than I do -- this is a weak spot of the ZX12-R, which gets hot and guzzles petrol in slow traffic, and is grumbly at less than 20km/h. At legal speeds the engine and suspension work together well, and the wind is fine. Oh, and if I didn't carry a passenger: the Ducati has a vestigial passenger pad, whereas the Kawasaki has absolute aplomb, feeling if anything more settled with two people than with one. At about AUD11k brand new it's practical transport, even more so since you're getting "that" name, sound, and aesthetic.

It probably fills this role as well as a Japanese 600cc 4-cylinder, which seems to be the default all-rounder in Australia. You're not paying for a big fairing and top-end performance you'll probably rarely use in the city.

I haven't ridden a Honda CB600 Hornet for a few years. I suppose it's the nearest competitor. From what I remember the Hornet has more of the rorty sportsbike engine feel, but less of the strong-yet-slender balance.

posted Wed 14 May 2003 in /motorbikes | link

Copyright (C) 1999-2007 Martin Pool.