Out of place

Yep, that's pretty much how I feel. Why? Oh, for *so* many reasons...



...first of all, if I'm turning handlebars, I expect to be straddling something. But that's not the case on scooters. Slightly awkward, but I'm adjusting.

Second, the transmission (in this case, a CVT). Pickup from a stop is painfully unpredictable - and slow. Once on the highway, it gets even worse. Just try to maintain constant velocity. The throttle is *so* gushy, you're constantly dancing around. It's like driving a boat - any change in throttle position seems to endure a significant delay before the result can be perceived.



And third - the looks. The worst of which came from a t-shirt-and-shorts-wearing sport bike rider. He passed me 2 lanes to my left and made a significant point to turn around and stare over his shoulder before rolling-on and disappearing. I'm guessing I stand out - a fully-geared rider with a full-face helmet on a three-wheeled scooter.

But whatever, I'm tough and open-minded. I recently started running Windows again - I'm pretty sure I can make a CVT and three wheels work for me. Hello Long Beach, CA. I'm about to conquer your roads on the weirdest machine I've ever piloted.

PS - thanks to the Creama coffee shop for the free WiFi. Their bagel sandwiches are the shiznit, and their house coffee is good too.

Maximizing efficiency

I don't know if it's the resource conservation, the challenge of surviving inconvenience, or the chance to be different, but it feels good to travel on a motorcycle. I don't mean commuting on a motorcycle, but traveling on one.



We recently outfitted the red SV650 with SW-Motech Quick Lock Sideracks. The aim here was to outfit a motorcycle for weekend travel to family and friends (which we do quite often). We figured that, if we used the motorcycle for enough of these weekend trips, then we could recoup the cost of the sideracks! More on that later - but the opportunity to inject some more excitement into our weekend travel is always worth $229.



We had two Pelican 1550s that were previously acting as top cases for the red SV and the blue SV. So we sacrificed these non-matching cases to mount to the SW-Motech sideracks (saved some serious $$$ that way). After a week of test rides to work, which proved very successful, we decided to put the setup to work on a voyage to Eastern PA.



I am most impressed with SW-Motech's product. First of all, the sideracks are easily-removable. So when you don't want your luggage on, it's minimal effort to take it off. This is great when you use the luggage for long trips too, because you can carry your luggage into your bedroom like you would any other bag you packed.

Second, the rack system is solid. We liberally packed (stuffed?) our 1550s with clothes, footwear, and just about everything we'd take with us were we driving in a car. So our cases were quite heavy (I'll weigh them next time). But they mounted just fine and the system of brackets hung onto our cases through all kinds of bumps, leans, and quick stops.

Third? "Nothing. There is no third thing." (Monty Python fans?)



After our weekend trip, we got an accurate calculation of the SV's gas mileage when traveling long-distance. Let's take the average miles-per-gallon for our red SV650 at the time of this writing, 55.34 mpg. Lets compare that to the average miles-per-gallon of the MR2 (since that's what we'd be otherwise traveling in), 30.46 mpg. Now let's see - I remember paying $2.49 per gallon when filling-up on our trip out to Eastern PA - and that was a good price!

$2.49/30.46 = $0.081 (cost per mile driven in the MR2)
$2.49/55.34 = $0.045 (cost per mile driven in the SV650)

So how many miles would we have to drive on the SV to save enough money to pay for the sideracks? Well, the sideracks cost $229 plus shipping - so lets say $250. The savings per mile when driving the SV is $0.081 - $0.045 = $0.036. So...

$250/$0.036 = 6,944 miles

That's not bad! If we were diligent enough in choosing the SV over the MR2, we'd make our money back within a year. Will we be that diligent? We'll see...

I highly recommend this product - I've used it transport oil change supplies for our MR2, to commute to work, for a 9-hour round-tripper, and we plan to hit the Raleigh area with it this coming weekend. Maybe this time I'll get pictures with us actually on the bike!

Rally Racing Aftershock

I've been a little heavy on the MR2's throttle for the past two and a half days. I think I know why...



Will has been dying to get out to a rally racing event for some time now, and in this fine July of 2009 he managed to organize an outing to the Wellsboro, PA area for the Susquehannock Trail Performance Rally (STPR). While I'm digging the vast world of motor sports that I am slowly being exposed to, I didn't have high hopes for this trip. Mostly because I knew little about rally racing.



Now that it's over, I'll tell you what - if you want to get sick about modding and racing your car, then you want to hit up a Rally America event like this one. From the crews and their insanely-quick repairs after the Super Special to the cars that are swung through hairpin turns, loosely-bound to the road, this event covered all bases. The best part about it? Show up to a spectator location early enough and you can get so close you'll be able to reach out and touch the cars as their tails whip passed you (of course you'll be pelted with a dose of gravel while you're at it).



Because rally racing doesn't typically happen on a closed circuit, you've got competitors tearing up trails and public dirt roads (shut down during the event, of course). That means that, if you want to see the actual race, you have to pick a spectator location and make the most of watching the machines cruise through that one turn. Then, if you dare, pack up and head to the next location to see them again. Inconvenient? Maybe, but navigating these country roads becomes a challenge in itself. I dug it.



I can't lie - I put down the bike this week to outlet some of this four-wheel desire I've got stored-up after watching these Subarus flung around with their turbos whining, their rotors glowing, and their raw power churning loose Earth at all four wheels.



I'm pretty sure it's decided. This must be a yearly event. Want to join us next time?