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Archive for March, 2009
ABS brakes has been a big selling point for many motorcycle manufacturers. The system has been used on cars with great results so why not on motorcycles, many manufacturers have started putting the system on, BMW, Triumph, Suzuki etc. Now that’s all great and dandy for those who are buying new but how about for those of us who have fairly new motorcycles but no ABS, is there a retrofit for us common folk. Well yes but it’ll cost a pretty penny, actually a few thousand pennies and I just don’t have that type of room on the bike to carry all those pennies.
There is another solution, it’s not ABS, it’s traction control. I’ve been surfing the inter-web for new technology and came across the Traction Control Braking system. It looks simple enough and I am curious enough to spend the big whopping 79$ U.S. on it. That’s right, 79 green backs, not a thousand or anything like that and your braking system stays the same with the exception of this banjo bolt fixture on your master cylinder. Here is a review by Rogue from bikernet, there are a few pics of the installation and he gives his opinion.
So is this really worth it? If it means staying in control then yes, it is worth it and for only 79$ U.S.
So a friend of mine struck up a conversation the other day in regards to the winter tire law in Quebec. Basically stating that it was full O-Crap and that tires don’t do jack if the driver is a complete moron. I told him I agree but do think that winter tires should be used, should it be a law, well, I don’t know, kind of split on it.
They made it law in Quebec that any passenger vehicle registered to be on the road needs to have winter tires from Dec 15 to March 15. Those who do not have winter tires will be fined somewhere in the range of 200$-300$. They claim that winter tires will minimize the accidents in winter and they have all kinds of commercials and ads showcasing the advantages. I’ve seen the ads and I agree to a certain point but winter tires won’t save you if you’re whipping down the highway at 140km and lose control of your car/truck. Another friend of mine said that no one drives like that anyways, I told him to take a nice drive on the Quebec highways on a Sunday and see for himself. I have driven for about 4 years with all seasons when I had my Volkswagen and I never had an incident, granted they didn’t grip that well in certain conditions but I used my common sense and I got around fine. Those four years were tough years and I really could not fit winter tires into my car budget. That was a while ago and I have since been using winter tires b/c I remember how much easier it is to drive with it on.
Should they be law, I don’t know. Let’s face it, no matter what law is in place, someone out there will be breaking it. I think many people who put on winter tires this year got a false sense of security and that is the problem. They do grip better in many ways but winter tires won’t do squat if you drive like a fool. With that being said, there is a great video done by the TireRack and Transport Canada, the Automobile Protection Agency (APA) and the Rubber Association of Canada (RAC), keep in mind that the tests they are doing are in a controlled environment and at a controlled speed but it does demonstrate the differences. Let you the viewer be the judge.
Cheesy title, I know but I try. One of my friends sent me a link to a site that was showcasing a motorcycle with hubless wheels. I figured, okay, hubless is fine, it’s been done before.
If you have never seen a hubless motorcycle before it’s because they are rare. The Hubless Monster is a creation by Amen Designs, it sits low and long and looks like any chopper with the exception of the hubs. Using hubless technology is not really new but it makes an impact because there are so few of them around.The other person that has used the technology is Billy Lane, founder of Choppers Inc. Perhaps best known for his appearances on Discovery’s Biker Build Off. Billy’s motorycles are show pieces and his heart and soul goes into these rolling pieces of metal. Here’s a link that showcases some of the choppers that Billy has created using the hubless technology. Another builder that has used the hubless technology is Zeel Design, you either like the look or not. I’m split on it myself, I like the use of technology but the look, well, it’s Arlen Ness meets Tron meets Akira meets…you get my point.
The hubless design could perhaps be attributed to Dominique Mottas and those he had worked with to create and develop this technology. Some of the concepts on the website are really, well, concepts. An explanation of the techonology can be found on the website, I would not be able to explain it as well as the site does. My explanation would probably go like this: the piece that connects to that piece is touching but not really touching and because there is no mass then it works better. There you go. Confused yet? I thought so.
So I was looking around the inter-web yesterday for a solution to a problem I was having and saw something on an ad that intrigued me. Mind you it doesn’t take much to intrigue me but this was really intriguing. I thought I saw a horse, really weird looking and then I moved the mouse pointer over it and it had a pop up text saying something about driftwood horses. Now I’m thinking to myself, what in the world is a driftwood horse so I had to click on it and it took me to a Heather Jansch’s website and her remarkable creations of driftwood horses, she also makes bronze sculptures too but the driftwood horses are just way too cool. If you like horses or know someone that does then let them know about the site. I think I would like to make a driftwood sculpture of my cat but I fear that it may turn out to look like just a piece of wood.