It's All About the Bike » Gear

Holiday Gift Idea: Stormtrooper Motorcycle Suit

Moto — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 18:24:26 +0000

The photo here says it all. These suits are real. I wonder what kind of reaction we’d get riding through Moab on our dualsport bikes, all dressed up in these things? If we had a marketing budget here at IAATB, I would order 5 or 6 of these things, just so we could make a sick video. Check out the site, and place your orders! Of course, it won’t look complete without a DOT-approved Stromtrooper helmet. I’m sure Arai will get right on that.

In a galaxy far far away...like...Canada!

Bike On Bike From Austin Texas

Moto — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 14:27:02 +0000

Fellow bike racer and motorcycle rider Robert Wray recently packed up the family and escaped the Zion Curtain to Austin, Texas. Apparently there is a Tuesday Night World Championships crit series on some sort of race track, just like the RMR. Maybe it’s not on Tuesdays, I didn’t get the full report. There is also at least one person who has a bike rack on his motorcycle. Glad to see it. Parallel Universe type shit?

Bike on Bike from Robert Wray in Austin, TX.

First Ride On Clement PDX Tubulars Was a Winner

Moto — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 16:29:15 +0000

After receiving a box from the Clement Tire guys this past Thursday, I had my work cut out for me. As to my last post about glueing cyclocross tires, like ogres and onions, it’s all about layers. Layers of glue on the base tape of the tire, and layers of glue on the rim. Glue bonds to glue, and you really need to make sure those layers dry completely, like 24 hrs in between, to ensure you get a good bond. So time was not on my side, with UTCX race #3 on Saturday, October 8. I had to glue up 2 new rims, 2 brand new tires, plus a TUFO Flexus Cubus 34 on what are now my back-up wheels. The new rims I was glueing were Reynolds 32 prototype road wheels. So how did it all end up? Let’s just say I was still wrestling with tires and rims late enough on Friday night to see Live with Jimmy Fallon in its entirety. And I went to bed with sticky paws. The tires were good in the mud, sand, and wet pavement of Fort Buenaventura. I had a lot of trouble at that same course last year with the TUFOs, granted that was in the snow and mud and I reckon a lot slicker than this year’s race. The Clements hooked up really well in the tacky mud, sliced through the sand by the river bed, gripped well on the babyhead river rocks, and make me feel like I had spikes in the grass sections. So all in all, I’d say it worked out well. I would have liked more time to do a few laps on the TUFOs to compare. I think they would have been good too. The Clements are made in the TUFO factory and share the same tubeless design, but the tread and rubber are totally different. You can see how aggressive the Clement side knobbies are, but also notice how open the tread block spacing is on the top of the tire, which is great for self-cleaning.

Birds of a feather: Clement PDX and TUFO Cubus are made in the same place.

Real Tyme Bicycle Rack for the BMW F800 GS

Moto — Tue, 26 Jul 2011 17:15:13 +0000

I wouldn’t quite call it an obsession, but ever since I took delivery of my BMW F800 GS, I’ve been searching for a solution to carry a bicycle on it. I’ve considered cobbling something together with old rack parts and U-bolts. I’ve considered riding up to Logan and having Jake make me a prototype of his famous Jake Rack which I wrote about in a previous post (here’s a link to the Jake Rack post). But every now and again, I would see a rider in the Park City area riding the same black and yellow F800 GS with a Yakima bike tray and wheelfork on it. He was usually going the other way on the freeway, slipping away before I could get a good look at the set-up. I had friends who would say “hey I saw you this weekend on your BMW, the one with the bike rack, right?” I was starting to feel like I lived in some parallel universe. Then it happened. In the closing miles of a serendipitous bicycle ride that went by the new Trailside Bicycle Park, I saw the bumble bee with the bike rack in the parking lot. The owner was obviously doing a session in the park, because his shoes were down on the ground near his sidestand. I didn’t have my iPhone with me, but my riding partner shot a few images for me. My intent was to study the design and maybe fabricate something similar, but then a little discreet sticker caught my eye: Real Tyme Engineering. There was a phone number. I was in business.

The next day, I called the number and spoke with Jim Harvey. Jim is a one-man engineering and fabrication shop based in Salt Lake City. He informed me that his bike rack kit for the BMW F800 GS was in fact an in stock item which could be purchased from his website, Globetrottin.com. I explained that I wanted to retain my Touratech Luggage Rack, and Jim was very helpful in offering to take a look at my set-up and help fit some longer bolts. We planned to meet the following Monday so I could bring my bike down and see if we could make it work.

The rest is history, but I’ll tell you a few things about Jim and his rack kit.

Jim Rides a KTM 990, and it is well-equiped with a few other parts he has designed and fabricated, such as skid plate, engine and fairing crash bars, and rear luggage racks.
The bike rack kit for the F800 GS utilizes the original 4 mounting bolts on the tail of the bike. With a longer set of recessed flat head bolts, I had no problems mounting the kit on top of the spacers that come with the Touratech luggage plate, but under the plate itself.
To mount a bike on your bike, you will still need a few more things, such as a Yakima Viper bike tray, or a Rocky Mounts bike tray. You’ll also need about 18-20″ of round Yakima crossbar. Anything shorter, and you might have a tough time getting a wheelfork on there. Oh yeah, you’ll need a wheelfork.
The Yakima Viper works really well because the head of the tray that clamps the front fork of your bike is really small and fits well in the recess of the Real Tyme set-up. But I suspect an older model Thule or Rocky Mounts would work well too.
Jim has also designed a bike rack kit for later model R1200 GS bikes. Call him up, if you are looking for a rack for a different bike, maybe he can help: 801-913-4116.

I’ll admit, when all is said and done, it looks kind of crazy to have a bicycle hanging off the back of your moto. Forget about your pillion seat, there’s no room for a passenger. In fact, doing head checks in traffic is interesting because all I see is my Campagnolo Super Record 11 speed shift/brake levers in my peripheral vision. But the rack is rock solid even at freeway speeds, and opens up a lot of possibilities for two-wheeled adventures. 2 wheels squared.

Measuring up Real Tyme bike rack for longer bolts.

Jim Harvey's personal KTM 990 test bike.

Jim contemplates another engineering challenge on a KTM 690 Enduro.

Example of a Real Tyme bike rack for the BMW R1200 GS.

Some late night garage time with the Yakima parts.

BMW F800 GS bike rack complete. 2 wheels squared.

Post-Morocco Gear Update: North Face Basecamp Duffle

Moto — Wed, 15 Jun 2011 19:00:44 +0000

Prior to the Morocco moto trip, I wrote a piece about the North Face Basecamp Duffle Bag. As you may or may not be aware, traveling to a foreign country with bulky moto gear (helmet, boots, pressure suit, spare goggles, riding pants, etc.) could fill up a normal size travel bag real quick. I needed something to get my gear across the pond, then once there, fold down and be out of the way. Because of that, I opted to not go with a wheeled rigid frame bag.

So how did the North Face Basecamp Duffle perform? First of all, if I did it all over again, I would have opted for the size Large rather than the XL. Why? Because the bigger the bag, the more shit you bring. You fill the bag until it’s full, it’s human nature. A size Large would have been adequate. As a result, I brought too much shit (and forgot the one thing I had a hard time doing without, which was a pair of sandals). Also, due to the behemoth size of my gear, compounded by the weight of extra stuff that I didn’t use, the XL pack was quite cumbersome to lift up and use the backpack straps, making me slightly envious of 2 of my slacker cohorts who used a pair of modern inventions called wheels to gently drag their sleds wherever they needed to go. Literally, the OGIO bags they brought are called “The Sled.”

I can’t be more pleased with the quality and construction of the North Face Base Camp Duffle, though, and if you are a big bag type person and you want it to last forever, I’d buy another one of these in a heartbeat (full disclosure: that’s an affiliate link up there, so if you click it and end up buying one, we’ll make something like $1.23, which will go towards a bag of Skittles on our next moto adventure).

Too Much Gear I didn't Need To Bring To Morocco

Custom Bike Rack On A BMW GS

Moto — Mon, 09 May 2011 16:14:50 +0000

I’ve seen a few custom racks out there that motorcycle riders have fashioned so they can take their bicycles along for the adventure. I spotted this one parked outside the Park City Home Depot. The idea of packing up the mountain bike and heading down to Moab has always sounded good to me. This one is cool because it uses a standard and reliable Yakima full length tray, holding the bike off to one side (on the other side, this rider had a fork mount for the front wheel). Obviously a very custom job, by someone who was fairly handy with welding torches, as the support for the back of the wheel tray was integrated with the rear luggage rack. I’ve seen this guy a few times in the Park City area, but this was the first time I got a good look at the work. Ride on!

A Very Custom Job to mount a Yakima Bike Rack on a BMW GS.

Packing For Morocco Moto Trip

Moto — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 18:43:21 +0000

Here is the challenge in packing for the upcoming Morocco moto trip: each of us needs to bring our own riding gear (helmet, boots, pants, etc), plus whatever casual clothing to get us through 8 days of riding and seeing the sites. We will be riding rented Husqvarna enduro bikes, with a support truck carrying gear for us, but only limited to what can fit in a 40 liter Ortlieb dry bag (so says the tour company). My solution is this Base Camp Duffle bag from The North Face (full disclosure: that’s an affiliate link, in case you decide you might want to buy one). This is the XL size. Fully stuffed, this bag will hold over 120 liters capacity, but when empty, it folds nice and flat. It has backpack straps to help me get all my shiz through the airport. Since my riding gear will be the bulkiest items I take with me, once I get there and have my riding gear on, this duffle and all my remaining items should fit no problem inside of a 40 liter bag. That’s my plan. I’m thinking I could have gone for the Large size which holds 90 liters, but erred on the side of gigantic. What would you do for a trip like this?

How to Fix Your BMW F800 GS Front Suspension

Moto — Fri, 15 Apr 2011 02:47:03 +0000

The simple answer, of course, is to sell your BMW F800 GS and buy a new KTM 990 R. Or at least that’s what Bart says. Seriously, that ain’t going to happen right now. I’ve had some issues with the performance of my F800 GS in the rough stuff. The issues are, it just doesn’t perform the way my previous KTM 640 Adventure did, understandably so, as they are totally different bikes. Lately, I’ve been combing the intrawebs for possible solutions. On ADVrider, there is an extensive thread about the mythic Bitubo fork cartridges, imported from Italy. There’s one guy who actually has them, swears by them, but he does most of his riding in Staten Island. Fuck sake, lads. I need a better endorsement than that before I run out and chuck a bunch a dough at new cartridges. First step is to get my damn fork seals replaced, not something I planned on doing at 6,000 miles. But my bike has been to hell and back. I’m thinking about doing the Hyperpro progressive spring upgrade front and rear. Anybody out there with some advice or experience in this matter?

DF, Moto, and UK Keith, somewhere near Afton, Wyoming.

BMW F800 GS Ski Rack How-To

Moto — Tue, 22 Mar 2011 15:10:58 +0000

During one of those classic spring overlap days, where it’s not quite winter anymore, but it’s cold and nasty enough to not want to get too far from home on the bike, I needed to go pick up some skis from getting a stone grind tune at Podium Ski Service. So here is my recipe for a BMW F800 GS ski rack. Ingredients: 3 bungee cords. Holds 1 pair of alpine skis reasonably well, even at highway speeds. Of course it helps if you have something to attach the bungees to, in my case, the pannier frames from my Touratech Zega Pro aluminum panniers.

All you need is a couple bungees.

Trying Out Klim Powerxross Gloves

moto — Fri, 07 Jan 2011 21:55:44 +0000

My glove collection is a lot like my wife’s shoe collection. We both have way more pairs than we need, but never seem to have the right ones when we need them. At least that’s what she says. It’s nice having heated grips on the F800 GS, but for cold weather riding, I’ve never had that perfect pair of gloves that is warm enough for sub-freezing temperatures, but not too bulky that they don’t interfere with the throttle, clutch, etc. Previously, I relied on a pair of Cloudveil Troller ski gloves, more or less a leather insulated spring glove. The Klim PowerXcross glove seems like a crossover snowmobile/motorcycle glove. This pair came to me from Motorcycle Superstore, as I was the happy recipient of a gift card from a relative during the holidays. My first impressions:

I read the user reviews on other Klim gloves which seemed to indicate their sizing ran a little small. I normally wear a medium in just about everything, but one thing I hate is when gloves are too small, and when you curve your hands around the throttle or hand grips, they pull on the ends of your fingers. That will really make your digits go numb. Best to have a little extra room, but not too much. I ordered the size Large in the PowerXross, and they are spot on. My advice, go a size up from what you normally wear.

Top shelf materials and construction. I love just about anything made from Schoeller Keprotec material. These also feature Clarino palms and a full Gore-Tex liner, so they are supposed to be waterproof (guaranteed). We’ll see. Perhaps I have found the perfect cold weather moto glove?

photo from Motorcycle Superstore's website.