Madstad Windsheld Bracket & Mother's Day

Preferring to take roads less travelled, mainly the backroads of the Pacific Northwest, I thought my factory windshield bracket sufficent. I often take the freeway home from work and I notice a lot of wind buffeting but I don't think it is any worse than on my previous bike (Suzuki SV650nK4 with universal W/S) which I rode to Kelowna last year. I'm getting my bike ready for a summer trip and thought I would purchase an adjustable bracket, just in case


(Suzuki Madstad adjustable windshield bracket)

On the Stromtrooper.com forum, many V-strommers have adjustable brackets and they say that it does reduce the amount of wind which reaches your helmet, and many have this farckle installed on their bike. In addition to this bracket, most also purchase the GIVI screen as it is slightly larger than the one that is supplied as standard. For the moment I will forgo purchasing another screen and see how this works



As with most things, the instructions are not very clear and it takes a few moments to figure out which way to install it. There are 4 bolts to remove the W/S, and another 4 bolts to remove the stationary fixed factory bracket. All the holes line up without much fuss and soon it is in position ready to use.

The hardest thing to sort out is what position to use as on the bike you can install it at different heights. I used the highest ones.



From the front, all looks stock as the plastic trim strip covers the W/S screws



My Windshield can now be adjusted while sitting on the seat. There are two knobs on rails which permit the windshield to move up or down a few inches, and also allow for a few more degrees of rake for smoother windflow.

From what others have done is to move the screen up a bit so you are still able to peer over the top lip, and angle it back a bit so more wind can travel under the screen which eliminates some turbulence. For the highway I plan to raise it a bit in the hopes of funneling the air over my helmet instead of directly into it, as it does now.



Sometimes you try to make a perceived improvement and it makes other things worse. Not that I had a problem to solve, or need to spend money to purchase something I may not need but my GoProHD which was in perfect position before, is now blocked a bit by the wider rails of the Madstad bracket. I need to figure out a different way to mount my video camera. Over the years I have learned one thing. "If it's not broke, don't fix" It seems that this time I did not follow my own advice.

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The Hero GoProHD factory supplied adhesive brackets rattle when going over bumps. They do supply a Thingy to absorb the vibrations, but I am trying my own solution. I have a surplus of small elastic bands which I have tried to wedge between the sliding plates. It is just a matter of determining how many times to wind



I think I had it working quite well until the foot of my plate broke



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Today was Mother's Day so we went out for brunch and later went for a ride near the border


(Zero Avenue, Surrey, BC)

We ended up on Zero Avenue which runs along the Canadian US border. Zero Avenue is in Canada, but the green on the right side of the road is on the US side. Further along there are homes along both sides, the left being in Canada, and your neighbour across the street is in Washington State.

Today I noticed very heavy traffic everywhere. It was no exception in White Rock. I thought that I would take a few photos of the main tourist area for SonjaM, but the traffic was so backed up . . .


(8th Avenue, White Rock, BC)

we decided to turn around and head back to town for a family dinner get-together. So sorry SonjaM, perhaps we could ride out here together one day soon on your new to you, F650GS

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Eventually we have our Mother's Day Gourmet Pizza dinner in Kitsilano with our family



and top it off with a decadent double chocolate brownie with whipping and ice cream



Hope you all had a good Mother's Day too

Motorcyle/Scooter Parking, part deux

An addendum to the previous post:

I think the City of Vancouver will only listen to proposals which utilize pedal power or electric power and will turn down any motions which involve internal combustion machines. They think that being Green is the elimination of pollutants or hydrocarbons or any other oil based propulsion system. This has been evident from the beginning. Look at how they have catered to bicycles by closing off one lane of a very busy (Burrard) Bridge for the exclusive use of bicycles. You only have to be there during rush hours to see how impractical this is with all the car lanes jammed with vehicles and the bike lanes being virtually unused.

Now on the news today they announce that another $25M will be used to establish more bike lanes to criss cross the city for the bicyclists. They have also removed another lane from another busy viaduct for exclusive bike use. Every time I travel over the Dunsmuir Viaduct it is very busy with cars, and hardly ever one bike can be spotted using this lane.

Even at Vancouver City hall where employees were previously allowed to park their scooters & motorcycles for free, they have withdrawn this priviledge. Employees must pay full price for a parking space. I don't think the city understands the situation. Most bikes are now fuel injected and their lower weight causes less damage on the roads, and they consume much less than a 4 wheeled vehicle. I hope that our peaceful demonstation will garner some attention to our plight.

More information can be found here:

http://vanbikeparking.com/

Protest, Fish & Chips & Open House

Another teaser and action packed day, a summary of tasks accomplished and a story to eventually be told



While the Mayor of Vancouver has proclaimed to the world that we wish to become the greenest city on the face of the Earth truth be told that unless you are utilizing pedal power or riding electric vehicles then you are only viewed as a source of an never-ending supply of money to keep the Government alive. We have 42 designated spaces for 2-wheeled vehicles . While all the municipalities around us are encouraging use of more fuel efficient machines, which includes motorcycles and scooters, Vancouver is NOT. There is no safe place to park your bike, not corner clearances, not on the sidewalk, and not between cars as they frequently get bumped over. Anyway Saturday was the date slated for our motorcycle/scooter protest. The City (of Vancouver) has regulated that bikes should occupy ONE parking space and pay full price for that space, so as a law abiding group, we did.



We got there early and snapped up all the spaces on the busiest street downtown from Robson & Burrard. We put one bike into each metered spot and paid full price for our stay. Cars were circling the streets trying to find a place to park, and some tried to park between the bikes. The "tipped" over scooter was there to demonstrate what it looks like to have a car push it over.

Our protest was brief as we did not wish to lose tourist sales to the local merchants but the next time we will have a second wave of bikes to replace the original ones as we could get ticketed for "feeding" the meter.

After we left the downtown area, some of us headed over to an Open House sponsored by a local Suzuki Dealer, JP Suzuki in Burnaby.



Time for lunch and the hamburgers and hot dogs were ready to be dispensed as well as a non alcoholic beverage to wash it down. Even potato chips for the taking. While it was a sponsored event I put some paper into the donation bucket.



Today everything was on sale and there was an army of bikes available for Demo rides if you were so inclined. I hung around for a while chitting and chatting and looking for bargains.



A couple of us decided to go for a short ride. We headed south to get away from the city traffic. Over the Queensboro Bridge, west along River Road to Richmond, then south to Steveston highway, we eventually arrived at scenic Finn Slough



After we finished pointing and clicking we ended up in Historic Steveston, BC and shared a large order of fish and chips between the 3 of us



It was a varied day of different experiences: protester, socializer and rider with a full belly. What more could you ask for on a sunny cool day in Vancouver, British Columbia

A couple of H-D's

I know nothing about Harleys except they are loud, have lots of chrome and you have to wear a beanie and leather clothes in order to ride one. I don't know if I could ride one because of the forward controls and the legs out front posture. I would imagine that the tremendous torque of the large v-twin would win me over if I ever ventured a test ride, especially a certain Arlen Ness custom red model that recently won best of show at the last Ace Cafe Harley Night . I think I would even be afraid to sit on it for fear of making an unintended mark, or heavens forbid if it should go to sleep if my foot slipped.

Back to reality. On the way home I noticed this biker directly in front of me. A single rider, alone, navigating their way through our mess of urban traffic.



Doesn't look like your usual macho rider. No patches, No leather, No chrome but had the distinctive loud mufflers. Upon closer inspection . . .



you would have noticed the pony tail sticking out of the helmet, and the slightly elevated low heels . The handlebars were slightly higher than normal but appeared manageable. As is the norm with most Harley riders, she did the duck walk while doing her slow maneuvers.



Here we are heading towards New Westminster, known as the Royal City as it was once the capital of British Columbia for a short time. That is the Pattullo Bridge in the background which spans the Fraser River towards Surrey. I followed her a bit until I turned off onto Front Street on my mission to record some video

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During the past couple of days I had been doing some very strenuous outdoor work, like cutting the lawn. I usually perform these duties on a weekday so as to leave the weekend free for other activies and make time for riding. I feel guilty if there are chores to do and I don't do them. After work Tuesday I cut the front lawn and Wednesday I finished off the back yard lawn. Well, it must be my bad form as somehow I wrenched my back and can hardly straighten up. I think I have acquired the Jack rIEPE syndrome . I can hardly swing my leg over my bike, yet I still rode to work. Short story long I had to go to the pharmacy to pick up some Advil. I was told that this would cut down the swelling in my back. As I pulled into a parking stall this Harley pulled beside me



As I was removing my helmet I spoke briefly to the rider and mentioned that if I had known he was going to share the space then I could have moved over a bit. It is my normal practice to park on a diagonal near the mouth of the space.



I think this Harley looks good in white with blue accents. Originally when he pulled beside me I thought that perhaps I had been going to fast and he followed me into the parking lot but he did not have his flashers on



I always imagined that H-D's were large heavy machines, but as you can see, my Wee appears larger. Perhaps it is just a trick with colours, one being black and the other white



for a bike that is used all year around, it is very clean. Even the chrome shines and I really liked that large horn



Do you notice the ingenious helmet lock. Just a pair of handcuffs looped through the helmet strap loop and over the mirror stem. It didn't appear very secure but I examined it closely and it was as secure as it could be without either cutting the strap off or breaking the mirror, but who is going to vandalize this bike anyway. You would have the heat of the law on your back



There is a police decal on the rear fender



The gauges are very utilitarian; Speedometer, Tachometer (cause you got to know your RPM's) and a petrol indicator. It also has lots of red and blue lights which flash at the most inopportune times.



I didn't notice the Drill Team decal until I was about to enter the store. I was hoping to purchase my medication and come back to speak to him, but by the time I was finished, he was already gone. As a member of the Vancouver Police Motorcycle Drill team, he would have been trained to do complex maneuvers

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Recently I was thinking of upgrading my digital dSLR. I've been looking at the Nikon D300, D90 and perhaps the Canon T2i but I am having so much fun doing video that I purchased a Panasonic HDC TM55 1080HD camcorder instead. It is capable of producing AVCHD up to 17 Mbps, but I recorded this footage at 13 Mbps and downsized the bitrate to 8 Mpbs for youtube upload. This is the first time I have rendered to H.264 format instead of MPEG, so I am still doing a bit of experimentation.

This video has some scenes around the Vancouver area and closes with a video of laundry hanging on a clothes line from our next door neighbour. I hope your internet connection can handle the 1080HD bitrate without pausing.

SOCNA: Suzuki Owner's Club of NA

Last year at one of the Bike Night BBQ's I met Greg who was a founding member of the SOCNA: Suzuki Owner's Club. It is new and they are trying to form chapters all over the world. He used to have a cruiser but purchased a Vee (Suzuki V-strom 1000). I have been keeping an eye on their forum and noticed that they seem to organize a lot of rides and are hosting a rally in Penticton during June, 2010 . I don't like to make commitments to ride with persons unknown but they posted a Meet & Greet recently for a Sunday Brunch in Langley, BC , about an hour east of our home. While I do not usually ride on Sundays, I got permission to attend. Sunday started out looking like a great day. A little cool in the morning but the sun was shining when I rolled my WEE out in the lane.



I decided to take the Hwy 99 south to Hwy 10 east to Langley. I timed it nearly perfect as my target time was 9:45a. I always like to arrive a few minutes early so I can mix with the other riders. I notice a few bikes parked in a cluster, mostly cruisers and Greg was there with his Vee. He is wearing full club colours today. Here is a photo of his patch



I found out he is a serious rounder and rides all year long no matter what the weather. Most of the others were on cruisers of different sizes



As it was my first contact with them I decided not to flash my camera around but we had an enjoyable breakfast and they went for a ride after breakfast, and I left to go home as I usually don't ride on Sundays.

I recorded a short video of my travels back and forth over the Alex Fraser Bridge which connects New Westminster to Surrey over the south arm of the mighty Fraser River. I've always wanted to take some still photos of the cables but there is no where to park and would require a strenuous hike to get a favourable angle as you are forced to park miles away and there are no temporary pull out areas.



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I don't know where the weekends go. I leave Friday after work, blink my eyes and it is time to go back to work Monday morning . There is always so much to do and so little time to pack it all in.

Robert, the Reverend was batching it this weekend so I told him we would go somewhere for dinner, a place where he had never been before down in Richmond


(large Mixed Grill)

This is a large meal for one person. It is large enough for 2 persons. It comes with an appetizer and choice of soup. The main course consists of 5 pieces of different kinds of meat topped with an egg. You get one rib steak, one chicken cutlet, one veal cutlet, weiner & a pork chop. It was actually hard for the 3 of us to eat it.



Oh, nearly forgot we get a deluxe drink which is refillable and a little dessert. We also ordered meals for ourselves too


(Chicken with salted fish fried rice, and Cod & tofu hot pot)

We are creatures of habit and I like tofu however it is prepared .

Last Sunday found myself at the Camera Swap Meet, hosted by my Collectors Club



I was thinking of upgrading my dSLR and also looking for unusual stuff. I purchased some antique camera mounts which I may be able to install on my Wee for rear video. No such luck on the camera front. I am not sure whether I wanted to purchase a D300 anyway since I am having too much fun shooting video.

You never know what you may find at a swap meet.


(Vancouver Sun edition from: September 3, 1939)

It was another action packed weekend filled with activities. I hardly have time for myself. I managed to ride both Saturday & Sunday which is unusual for me as Sunday is reserved as family day where we go out in the car for brunch and a ride into the great outdoors, or do some errands and shopping.

Delta Tsawwassen Motorcycle Swap Meet

Last weekend we went down to Delta to see what was going on at the Swap Meet.


(looks like a facsimilie of a Triumph)

This looks like a vintage Triumph so I took a photo for a curmudgeon I know down in Key West. What attracted me to this machine is the "Who Cares" on the fender fin. It also had the gaiter fork protectors and Triumph badging, but it isn't a Triumph



It appeared to be a very nice machine, lots of chrome and in better than new condition. It had Triumph badging on the tank and side covers but in reality, this was a transplanted Kawasaki of some sort


(Vintage '57 Triumph)

This 1957 Triumph looked better than new and it should considering its $11,000. asking price which is the price of a new one and probably not as reliable.



even back then in 1957 they supplied these models with a tachometer as standard equipment.



Here is some sort of BMW K bike, perhaps a K75 but I am not so sure I like the looks of the streamlined faring.



If you had $4,500. lying around in your pocket and didn't know what to do with it, you could ride it home as it was looking for a new home . I have been going to this swap meet for a few years now but I have not yet paid the $9.00 admission fee to enter the two buildigs. I prefer to walk around to look at all the bikes for sale, and the others on display in the parking lot

For some inexplicable reason I find myself gravitating to Triumphs, Beemers and V-stroms. Not that there is anything wrong with cruisers loaded with chrome, but those I looked at with just a passing glance


(Triumph Thruxton)

The Triumph riders were out in full force today


(Triumph Scrambler)

For my novice eyes it is hard to tell vintage from modern. I suppose my method is to look at the front wheel to see whether it is disk brakes or drum.


(Yamaha SR500)

I have always been enamored of these single cyclinder Yamahas and their later derivatives SRX500 and SRX600 models. As I looked at this black beauty I was imagining what it would have been to have been Michael who travelled to Africa and all around Italy in his previous life on a similar model



It was for sale and at a reasonable price, I might add for a fully restored bike in better than new condition. With the Cdn Dollar at Par it is the same price in Key West Dollars. I would be happy to purchase this bike and ride it down to KW if Michael had so desired. It`s always nice to have a spare bike just in case you have visitors who ride.


(1973 Triumph Bonneville)

there were lots of Triumphs for sale this day


(Triumph Trident)

I do not know much about these different models but I am gaining more appreciation for them and the way they look



There were a lot of British Bikes on display by their owners

As I was leaving this bike for sale caught my eye. It was a Kawasaki H2 750 Triple


(Kawasaki H2 750 Triple)

I wondered to myself whether this was that famous model that Jack `r` used to own a century ago when he was a skinny teenager full of hormones



This bike I am sure, looks better than new AND it was for sale

I have another short video following which shows you a bit more of the bikes that were parked in the lot and on the grassy area. Many bikes have already left as you can see from the empty spaces.

A comment from jack riepe a couple of posts ago where he requested some front or rear views of some female rider(s) has prompted this response for which I have included a short bit on how to fold a napkin around some utensils, to end up with this . . .


(A tray of feasting intruments, wrapped in a napkin)

It has nothing whatsoever to do with motorcycles or riding which is the reason I have included it. The last time I tried to take an incognito photo, the subject noticed me and I was `caught`, but not this time. I was very careful to blend into the background, which is hard to do if you happened to be wearing PINK footwear.