1. Ear plugs
A
recent local magazine ran a piece on the importance of wearing them, a point
not lost on club riders. Just a few
hours of high levels of noise can permanently damage your hearing.
I’ve
never been able to get a good seal with the foam peanut types. My ear canals are different sizes and in fact
they shrink or swell a bit as the temperature changes. So I have been using a
set made in
I
ordered a bunch of different designs from a
Next
were EarPro Sonic Defenders. Cheap, easy to fit and easy
to wear. They are rated at 16dB
noise reduction with the insertion of the optional plugs, and reduction of
noise above 80db. But a simple test
around the house showed much more incoming noise than the Alpines.
I had
been thinking about getting a custom set of Earmold
plugs made, and they can be fitted with speakers, but that meant a trip to the
other side of the world (Wantirna) so the search
continued.
Bingo. DIY custom mouldable
earplugs are available over the web. Mix
two packs of goo up and pour into the ear. Leave to set and you’re done. Probably not a good idea to
sneeze in the interval. Said to
have SNR of 21 which I assume means something to do with signal to noise
reduction. The pack is sitting staring
at me from the desk. I need to work up
the courage. I have visions of permanent
orange ears.
Paul
Southwell knows more about noise reduction measures than I’ll ever do so
button-hole him on a ride.
http://www.vastacademy.com.au/vsp_subcat/3/110
http://www.amcmotorcycles.com.au/index.html?lmd=39504.472627
http://www.challengermotors.co.nz/Web-Pages/alpine.htm
2. Safety
and comfort
While
on this topic, few of us can afford the superlight
race suits sported by our heros. Kangaroo leather is apparently a hot choice
for these as its weight to strength ratio is a lot better than cowhide. But they cost thousands. More promising is a material under
development by DuPont. It’s a laminate
of leather and a stretch material. It
should provide better fit and unlike leather alone doesn’t develop a memory;
that’s to say, it doesn’t stretch over time and stay baggy. So maybe there’ll be an end to leather pants’
seats that look like there’s a nappy inside that has gone, er,
soggy.
Of
course textile jackets are increasingly popular and some of the big names in
bike gear now offer them. There have
been problems in the past though.
Textiles are more flexible than leather and downed riders have found that
the hems have ridden up during that interminable slide down the bitumen. Now you see such jackets with lots more
straps to reduce this so if you use one, cinch everything up for each ride.
We are
also seeing hybrid jackets: leather on the stress points and textile mesh
panels elsewhere for breathability. RST and Cortech are
two makers of these that retail locally.
Breathability in the summer is important and can be achieved as
well by leather jackets and pants that have Keprotec
stretch panels and perforated panels.
One thing about summer riding. If you ride in full leathers you will of
course have treated them with a quality dressing (no, not Dubbin!)
to keep them in good nick. This however
reduces their breathability. You may also keep your neck uncovered to get
some cooling. Here is a tip from the
inimitable David L. Hough, author of Proficient
Motorcycling and More Proficient
Motorcycling. When the ambient temps
are warmer than your body’s (37 C), that hot blast of air over your fairing can
actually raise your body temp by warming the jugular vein in your neck. So covering up can keep you cooler. There are plenty of fleece neck socks on the
market but I’ve only found one cotton version.
Look for
3. Suspension
You
have to love your suspension. It sits between
you and death. Melodramatic? I don’t think so.
It’s
amazing to reflect on how many of us buy sportsbikes
with fully adjustable suspension and never actually make any adjustments; not
touch the spring preload let alone the damping.
Maybe we just assume a thoroughbred machine out of the factory should be
fine for the way we ride. Well, it’s
said that the lead test rider for Honda weighs just 60kg. How much do you weigh? Bit more than that probably. So maybe you should be thinking about
fettling your suspenders.
When I
got my second-hand 954 Fireblade I felt the
suspenders were fine. At the same time,
I knew my mates in the club had had mods made to
theirs. Well, I was just going to get
used to the bike and see. I didn’t want
to shell out more bucks just after getting the bike and kitting it out with the
accessories I wanted. So I did see, and my
eyes popped.
For 99%
of the time there were no dramas but on one Snowy ride with the club I went
into a corner too hot on the Alpine Way.
I had to get on the front anchors; the forks bottomed out and I found
myself bouncing my way around one of those deep cuttings with corrugations on
the outside of the black stuff. Well, I
got round no thanks to my skill but that was a wake-up call. The suspension did not live up to what I had
expected. Soft progressive springs with
soft damping meant that the forks bottomed out and the bike may as well not
have had suspension at all.
So on
a recommendation of one of the club members the ‘Blade went down to a suspension
pro. I won’t bore you with the details
of the changes other than to say that at the pointy end firmer springs and revalving of the cartridges were called for. Also some work on the shock cartridge. The cost wasn’t too bad and good insurance I
thought. I got a setup to match my
weight, my bike and the roads I like to ride.
Subsequent ‘moments’ on the road proved its worth.
So
what can you do? Well, first thing to do
is to check the front and rear static sag.
See the link below. If you can’t get
the sag set right you’ll need new springs.
A pro can advise you on damping performance, and the harder you ride the
more important this is.
Expect
to pay between $700 and $1300. That’s a
lot less than buying aftermarket replacements.
Apart
from all of that, there is the simple fact that k’s travelled will degrade the oil in your forks and
shock and they will no longer perform the job they’re there to do. With the kind of riding the Club does the
difference starts to show at around 15,000 km. Then the oil needs changing and the bushes and
seals need checking. Front forks you can
do yourself if you’re handy but a factory shock should be done by a pro. Don’t think of this as a cost; think of it as
an investment. Its returns are better
than spending on a broken leg or hand and way better than shelling out for a
pine-box send-off by Funerals-R-Us.
http://www.sportrider.com/tech/146_0402_susp/index.html
4. More
useful than an Ohlins’ shock? Shock!
Well
yeah, I was being melodramatic about
the importance of suspension in 2.
There’s something more important, and that’s what Dave Ward has called
the nut behind the bars. It’s you.
Most
riders who go down have given up on their bike before their bike gave up on
them. Our bikes have suspension, brakes,
frames and tyres that have a capacity we only dreamed about a decade ago. The key variable is our skills and
confidence. And your best investment is
in advancing these.
So you
do practice your panic stops don’t you?
You do from time to time find a nice stretch of twisties and go up and
down it repeatedly to improve your lines, practice shifting your weight on the
bike and looking up the road pulling it towards you as if you were fly fishing.
You do
ask more experienced club members on a Sunday ride how they handled a tricky
stretch? And you read whatever you can
find that will help you with skills and the right attitude?
Couple
of places to start reading here: Sport
Riding Techniques – right click on the file of that name and download from www.ernreeders.com
or tips at http://www.sportrider.com/motorcycleriding/techniques/index.html
Ern Reeders © April 7, 2008