Category Archives: Automotive

Automotive

Monday’s Motorcycle: Kawasaki KLR-650

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I’ve been wanting one of these bikes for about 10 years now.  It’s the Two Wheel example of an SUV.  Go anywhere, do anything… if Jeep made a Motorcycle, it would be this.

You see them around town, passing through, usually overloaded with gear and stuff… going on Adventures… making me think about where they had been… where are they going… and wishing I was going too.  This has really put an Enduro type bike on my Radar.  While I keep looking at others, I always come back to the KLR-650.
It’s not just me.  The US Army and Marines have purchased hundreds of these KLR’s.  The Military versions are outfitted with Diesel engines and 8 gallon fuel tanks.  Go anywhere.  Do anything.  The KLR is that bike.  It’s not the best of the Enduros… the fastest… the easiest… whatever.  It’s a solid bike.  That’s what I want.  Sure, it looks like Crow T Robot, but come on… it’s a rig that gets you there and back again.  If Bilbo Baggins had one of these, The Hobbit would have been a Short Story.  One day I will own one of these, and I’ll ride the hell out of it.  I want a stable of different bikes… so wanting this one is not exactly me saying I don’t want another one like a Vstrom, Tiger or BMW enduro… I’ve just always wanted a KLR.

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Automotive

Monday’s Motorcycle: Triumph Bonneville

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The Saturday evening friends gathered to watch some awesome Motorcycle Racing.  Before the races, we sat around a table and talked bikes and riding and all of us have some different points of view… but we all agreed on one thing.  Triumph.  No matter what kind of Biker you are… you have to nod that Triumph owns Cool.  So in honor of The Triumph Accord, Monday’s Motorcycle will be the coolest of all Triumph Motorcycles.  The Steve McQueen Edition Bonneville.

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Automotive

Monday’s Motorcycle: Victory Vegas 8-Ball

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America’s Other V-Twin Motorcycles… VICTORY.  All Victory bikes are clean, slick and smooth with lots of power on tap.  High build quality without the Harley Baggage.  I really like the Victory line… and my favorite, is the Vegas, Baby!  The 8 Ball is the one I love the most because it captures what the Vegas is all about… low slung, bad and all black.
If I was going to go back to riding a Cruiser… and one day I will… as a secondary bike… I would be looking for one of these Vegas 8 Ball machines.  I just love the look of this bike.  The lines.  The balance.  It’s a work of art.  I could just look at this bike all day.  In fact, this one photo alone I posted just encompasses everything that “Victory Motorcycles” is all about.  It’s not just all about looks though, Victory built these machines to be ridden.   Fantastic engines.  Great power delivery that never gets boring.

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Automotive

Thinking about an Enduro

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As a second bike.  Not going to give up my Street ride.  I’m broke, so no need to send me links or offers for Enduro bikes…  It’s going to be some time before I’m ready to get serious.  But a friend offered to let me test ride his KTM 525 MXC freaking monster of an Enduro.

Plenty of torque, effortless wheelies even when you are not really wanting to wheelie.   But wow… You are tall in the saddle on that machine!  Stretching my legs, I could barely touch the ground with my tip toes.  When braking, the front end had a good dive to it… could have been unsettling, but the bike was very solid and stable.  But if I got one of these, I’d have to spend a lot of time to get used to this sort of machine.  Plenty of juice for a lot of Get Up and Go.  Getting on the bike is tricky.  Getting off the bike is also tricky.   I’d want an Eduro that’s about 2 inches shorter.

Automotive

Monday’s Motorcycle

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The Hellcat

This is the X132 Hellcat from Confederate.  It radiates Badass like it’s the Chernobyl of Badassery.  Even the name is badass.  Let’s talk about the name for a sec…  It’s very fitting.  In WWII at the start of the Pacific Theatre Conflict, the US Navy had a lot of fighters called the Wildcat.  The Jap Zeroes had little problem knocking them out of the sky as the Zeeks were faster, more agile, and just gave us hell.  So the US Navy decided to give them hell.  They came out with the Hellcat and it was all about brutality.  More powerful engines and weapons and all the sudden the table was turned.  It was an overpowered, overgunned fighter that claimed 5271 enemy fighters – more than any other allied aircraft.

Now take a look at this motorcycle and tell me it’s not worthy of that name!

2163 CC’s of Muscle giving the Hellcat 132 Horsepower and an asskicking 150 pounds of torque. That’s a ridiculous amount of power in such a little bike.  It’s heavy, 500 pounds, but that weight is all engine.  This bike is a wicked cross between a Bobber and a Cafe Racer.

The Hellcat is no chopped and beefed up Harley.  Don’t let the V-Twin engine fool you.  This bike is engineered from the ground up to be exactly what it is… a brutal force of nature that has no mercy for it’s enemies… Everything on the bike is designed specifically for it’s purpose.  This is Engineering from the school of the Ends Justify The Means.

The Cafe Racer style is my favorite kind of motorcycle.  It’s stripped down, purpose driven, lean, and angry.  And then there is Confederate Motorcycle’s take on the Cafe Racer concept… I think the early planning stages had a discussion over what bike this would end up being.

“Gentilemen, this is a Cafe Racer.”  Thuggish looking brutes with folded arms and stoney faces looked at the little Cafe bike with disapproval.   One of them unfolded an arm like a side of beef and raised it…
“It needs more.”
“More of what?”
And then to illustrate what the bike needed more off, the large brute smashed the board room table into splinters with his fists, and then ate it.
“Build it.”
And that’s how the Hellcat was born… through malice and furious rage.  This is bike isn’t in a Biker’s Dream… This bike is in a Biker’s Nightmares – this is coming after them – and they can’t get away from it no matter what they do.  The hellcat is coming for them.  This is the bike that Death himself rides, this is Mortis.  And Hell follows it.

Automotive

Monday’s Motorcycle

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Honda CBR1000RR

I think I’m going to post a Motorcycle every Monday… Just for my own amusement.  A bike that I would love to have or have had or maybe do have?  I don’t know yet, but to kick it off… My bike choice of the moment is this.

Honda’s CBR1000RR.  The Liter Class Leader.

Model CBR1000RR / CBR1000RR C-ABS
Engine Type 999cc Liquid-Cooled Inline Four-Cylinder
Bore And Stroke: 76mm X 55.1mm
Compression Ratio 12.3:1
Valve Train DOHC; Four Valves Per Cylinder
Induction Dual Stage Fuel Injection (DSFI)
Ignition Computer-Controlled Digital Transistorized With 3-D Mapping
Transmission Close-Ratio Six-Speed
Final Drive #530 O-Ring-Sealed Chain
Suspension Front: 43mm Inverted Big Piston Fork With Spring Preload, Rebound And Compression Damping Adjustability Rear: Unit Pro-Link Balance-Free Rear Shock With Spring Preload, Rebound And Compression Damping Adjustability
Brakes Front: Dual Radial-Mounted Four-Piston Calipers With Full-Floating 320mm Discs Rear: Single 220mm Disc; Optional Honda Electronic Combined ABS (CBR1000RR C-ABS)
Tires Front: 120/70ZR-17 Radial Rear: 190/50ZR-17 Radial
Wheelbase 55.5 Inches
Rake (Caster Angle) 23° 3’
Trail 96.0mm (3.8 Inches)
Seat Height 32.3 Inches
Fuel Capacity 4.7 Gallons, Including 1.06-Gallon Reserve
Estimated Fuel Economy TBD
Colors CBR1000RR: Red, Black, Pearl White/Blue/Red CBR1000RR C-ABS: Red
Curb Weight* 441 Pounds (CBR1000RR) / 467 Pounds (CBR1000RR C-ABS)
Automotive

IT LIVES!!! And So Do I, again.

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The Superhawk is now operational again. Headlights, tail and brake, and all the instrumentation is working again. I took it for a test ride, and it seems fine. Took the Hawk into town and picked up some new Fuses and I think I’m good.
I need new turn signals and a new Shifter. The shifter right now is folded back on its self and hard to shift with. This is a part that will have to be replaced. Attempting to bend it back will break it. I look at this as a time to upgrade. Racing parts, and I’ll get some LED Turn Signals, I think.

Automotive

Danger

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You have a little Near Death Experience on a Motorcycle and all the sudden you get all these people telling you that “That they told you so.”  “Motorcycling is Dangerous.” And I need to get off that “Donor Cycle and into a Safe Car.”  Most of these comments come from Good Friends and Loved Ones and people that I know who really care for me… and some people who just what to be jackasses about it.
This all just makes me scratch my head.  Do you guys even know me?  Look, I appreciate the concern and I see where you are coming from… I feel that from you and I thank you for it.  I’d give you a big hug.  But everything I do is considered to be dangerous.   My Career has been in “Doing Dangerous Things” other than doing the Tech stuff I did for awhile it’s all been rather risky.

All day long, I am in a cage.  Doing what is expected of me. Constrained and unable to do or say what I want to do or so.  I have to keep so many opinions to myself, and so many responses to myself, that some days I just feel like I’m going to explode.  I have so many demands and stresses on me.  Bills and Dues that have to be paid.  Kids growing up into adults and their needs.  A wife that has to be cared for.  Family and my Extended Family.  Promises that I’ve made to them and to friends.   I’m not going to abandon them… it’s not that.  It’s the Decompression I get when I swing my leg over my bike.  The whole “Stop to Smell The Roses” thing… On a bike, I don’t have to stop.   I can be Mt. Vesuvius level pissed off and by the time I get home I’m down to Mt. Fuji level.  I’m happier after a ride because for that brief moment in time – I am Free.  Sometimes I just want to keep riding – just keep going.
I love riding… I can’t explain it so that you will understand… Because you don’t ride.  I can’t tell you what Chocolate tastes like either.  Those that do ride, they understand.  My wife understands.  Some of my friends understand.  Imagine taking an Eagle and clipping its wings so it couldn’t fly again… THAT is what you are telling me when you say I should be in a car.  Maybe you are right.  Maybe I should be. It’s supposedly safer.  I’ll give you that.  But that’s not what it’s about.  Being Safe… Safety is an illusion.

Yes, it’s dangerous.  It’s also freedom.  Freedom is always dangerous.