motorcycles – Page 9 – Maduko World Headquarters

Air Control

I installed a new windscreen on the R last week. On long trips and windy days the short sport screen just wasn’t cutting it. The wind that is.

The new screen is made by Cee Bailey and mounts to the original brackets BMW supply to fit their sport and touring screens. They offer several styles and this one is the tallest option. Their windshields are made of high quality aircraft-grade plastic (I think they’re Lexan).

It’s a good deal taller than the sport screen that came with the bike when I bought it– and a good deal more useful too! Some might not agree, but I also think it looks pretty sharp. The “ice blue” tint goes well with the silver bike.

I snapped this photo near Inola during a recent ride up around Spavinaw. The radome caught my eye from Highway 412 and seemed just weird enough to make an interesting background.

Winding Down the Drive

Brad and I made a run down to the Talimena Drive this weekend.

We unknowingly picked a great weekend to go— cooler weather and less traffic. In a week or so the leaves will start turning and the twisties will be crowded with Land Yachts full of gawkers. It was almost like we had the place to ourselves!

We headed down with cameras and gear to start collecting some video to eventually find it’s way on to Places 2 Ride TV. The plan is to begin enhancing the content available there with video segments about the places to ride and roadside attractions along the way. The Talimena seems like a perfect place to start this project. Eventually we hope this would grow to become a standalone site, then shortly followed by fame and fortune. Ahem.

After setting up the tent at a campsite on Lake Wister and a bite to eat in Poteau, we made a quick loop around Heavener and a portion of the Talimena Scenic Drive, or just “drive” as the locals call it. At one scenic turnout we marveled at the rolling hills stretching from one row of mountains to the next. The once majestic mountains of Southeastern Oklahoma have been beaten down by the millennium, but to my eye, still offer a view worth an oh-ah.

The ride back to Wister was purdy as a pitcher. As the sun set I tried to keep my mind off the threat of deer darting across the road (a constant threat but multiplied during the twilight hours). We cruised along and enjoyed the ride.

At the Queen Wilamena Lodge we ran into several other motorcyclists. Some of them were from Dallas and stood shivering as the wind howled through their light mesh jackets. I remarked how different this landscape must seem from than anything near the Metroplex. They heartily agreed.

It reminded me how great it is to live only a couple of hours away from such a great place.

Here’s a couple more photos from the trip (click to enlarge)…

On the ride down we “discovered” this gathering of Cushman scooter owners in Kinta, Oklahoma.

Since Mena, Arkansas is in a dry county this is the closest place to the Queen Wilamena Lodge to buy a beer.

The parking lot of the Stateline Tavern is carpeted with bottle caps…

and the ladies room is well ventilated.

When You Skid on Your Lid

or Why Everyone Should Wear Full Face Helmets

Update- 9/11/2008: I am living proof after dropping the R on Highway 20 near Spavinaw. The top of my Arai helmet looks like a shotgun victim. I survived the incident with nothing more than scrapes and bruises. And about 6 hours of lost memory.
More…Nothing lights up a room like a discussion over motorcycle helmet laws. But the argument is a non-starter for me because I always wear a helmet. I’ve ridden motorcycles long enough to realize that falling off of one is inevitable. I’ve also been damn glad I was wearing a helmet when the inevitable happened.

Occasionally I might ride “nude” for a short test ride– when I’m working on my bike or tuning it. It’s an odd feeling to me. Even at only 30 mph a bug in the forehead smarts. I always pull back into the driveway thinking, “How the hell do people do that at highways speeds?!?”

As long as I’ve ridden street bikes I’ve always worn full-face helmets. The wisdom of that was driven home recently when I came across an article by Jeff Dean (also source of the accompanying photo). That rider wearing the above helmet came away in one piece. In fact, he continued the ride home that day. Most likely wearing a helmet.

The article also features an interesting graphic [pdf] showing the most common location of major impact on riders’ helmets. 35% strike the area protecting your nose and chin. Think about that the next time you strap on a half-helmet.

New Bimmer: R1150-R

Just picked up the latest two-wheeler yesterday.

It’s a 2003 BMW R1150R that hails from New Mexico. The previous owner was nice enough to meet us in Elk City to make the exchange. I cruised home to Tulsa without incident, doing 75 mph at a leisurely 3500 RPM most of the way.

BMW Motorrad Promo

The only glitch was discovered while gassing up before we left Elk City. I made a quick check of the lights and the brake light didn’t work. Or, to be more precise, it always worked. Turned out it was always on– which explained a mysterious “dent” in the tail lamp… it had melted from the heat of the extra bright stop lamp!

I checked the stop lamp switches but both seemed to be working. Or at least I could hear the faint click of the microswitch— which means they were not out of adjustment, a semi-common problem on older BMWs. I unplugged the wire from the bulb connector to avoid further melting the lamp or lens. We decided to head on home with Jackie close behind in the Volvo chase vehicle playing the role of Brake Lights.

Riding a nekid bike for the first time in several years reminded me of two things:
1) You have to hang on.
2) Western Oklahoma is windy.
But it didn’t take long to get used to the extra “weather” I was experiencing. Body positioning is the key, and the seat allowed me enough room to assume a couple of different positions. But enough about me…

The bike runs great- much more responsive than my old GS. Tall gearing allows it to lope along in sixth with this airplane-like drone. The handling is nimble, it doesn’t feel like a 500 pound bike when you flick it around. But each time I passed a semi I was kinda’ glad that it does weigh 500 pounds! The riding position was pretty comfortable– a little short in the legroom department, but not bad. The seat had been “upgraded” by the original owner with some sort of fancy gel foam and it’s great. Jackie and I both found it very comfy.

We stopped briefly at BMW of Oklahoma in OKC to see if the shop might know one of those oh-they-all-do-that remedies for the brake light issue. Unfortunately the tech didn’t have any silver bullets of wisdom so we headed onward.

After a pleasant ride up Route 66 to Tulsa we pulled in the driveway. Average miles per gallon: 47.6.

Morning Fall

This short film is a submission from the 2006 Moving Pictures Short Film Contest.

Just came across this short on Google Video and thought it was worth passing along. And yes, I’ll admit it initially caught my attention because it involves a motorcycle. Speaking of… I hope they found the Norton in that condition and didn’t waste it for the film!

http://video.google.com/googleplayer.swf?docId=-6316443191185539008&hl=en