Look Ma, no chicken strips!

Watching the experts from ADVPulse and ADVMoto magazines wring out the CSC Cyclone last weekend was fun, and let me tell you, those boys know how to take a bike to its limits!  I know all of you are eager to see their reports, and so are we.

Steve put the Cyclone up on the lift today and I got a good look at the Cyclone’s rear tire.   You can usually judge how hard a bike has been pushed in the corners by the width of its chicken strips.  That’s the unused area of the tread on the sides.  Check this out, boys and girls…no chicken strips whatsoever!

While the magazine guys were pushing the Cyclone hard into the corners, I was gingerly picking my way through the turns because I lost the rear brake on my Kawasaki KLR 650.   I guess I can use that as an excuse for being on a 650 and not being able to keep with a 250, but the fact of the matter is that the difference between rider skills and the nimble handling of the RX-3 are what really made the difference.

You know from reading the blog that the caliper bolts on my KLR fell out, and you also know that I had to order them because none of the local dealers had any in stock.   On the way into the plant today, I stopped at a specialty bolt store and they had 6×18 socket head bolts in stock.   I bought two sizes because I wasn’t sure which one the Kawasaki needed.  They were only $0.30 each.   I had to pay almost $4 per bolt from the Kawasaki dealer who’s shipping them to me, and another $11.99 because “that’s the minimum we always charge” (typical dealer stuff; it will be interesting to see what the actual shipping charges are when they arrive).  Speaking of which, the bolts were supposed to arrive yesterday and they didn’t, which is why I stopped at the specialty bolt store.

The delinquent delivery of the Kawasaki bolts notwithstanding, this was turning out to be a good day.   I like hardware stores, and the specialty store I visited this morning was no exception.   But things got even better.   I have this Olympia motorcycle jacket in fluorescent yellow I really like.   Well, that’s not quite true.  I like the look and fit of it.  I don’t like the jacket because it started to fall apart the first time I washed it.

When I called Olympia, their help consisted of recommending I take it to a tailor.  The thing was just out of warranty and it kind of annoyed me (I have a Joe Rocket jacket that’s 12 years old and it’s still in good shape).    But I did what Olympia suggested and paid to have the thing repaired.   The next time I washed it, the jacket really fell apart.   Basically, Olympia used an inadequate edge distance when they sewed it together.  The jacket has been sitting in the back of my Subaru for some time, and when I left the bolt house, there was a tailor shop right around the corner.   The nice lady in there told me I could have it next week and it will only cost me $25.

Incidentally, that photo of me in the yellow jacket was shot by none other than Carla King, the famous motojournalist who wrote American Borders.  We were on a ride in the Sierra Nevada Mountains just outside of Tahoe a couple of years ago.   I love that photo and I love the look of that jacket.    One thing about fluorescent yellow motorcycle jackets, though…the color drives dogs nuts.   But that’s another story for another time…

Okay, back to the bolt story…there may be a reason Kawasaki gets $4 per bolt, because the smaller of the two bolts I bought this morning was too short, and the longer of the two was too long.   We learned that when we attempted to attach the KLR caliper to its mount.  Lupe grabbed the bolts that were too long and fixed that problem real fast…

Steve and Lupe buttoned up the KLR for me, and like they say in France, oila!   Yours truly and the old KLR were back in business.   I played around in the parking lot a bit and when I pulled back into the service bay, whaddaya know, even more good news…my new Tourmaster jacket had just arrived  (unlike the Kawasaki bolts, the jacket actually did arrive the next day, just like the company we ordered it from promised).

The new Tourmaster is a near-perfect match for the KLR.   Lupe grabbed this shot of me.   I think I make the jacket look good.

What do you think?