Pavement-1.........................................ChiTown-0

[Dr. Strangelove]

Joe, beautiful pics. How did you get this shot. I rigged a ram mount on the sub frame, but got a lot of vibration at anything over 35-40 mph and my leg was in the way.

Did you pick up your leg? remote control for the camera? slow speed? luck?

Good luck with the tour and the foot.

John

[Lost Rider]

Joe, beautiful pics. How did you get this shot. I rigged a ram mount on the sub frame, but got a lot of vibration at anything over 35-40 mph and my leg was in the way.

Did you pick up your leg? remote control for the camera? slow speed? luck?

Good luck with the tour and the foot.

John

Thanks John,

I use a Manfrotto Magic Arm, and got the idea from taosports from one of his reports... Thanks!
I have a in-fared remote velcro'd and etaped' to my handle bar so I can click away with my thumb.
There is some vibration issues, especially off road.... I did lose my UV filter.
So I just click away taking 1000's of pictures - with a 4 gig high speed card, then maybe one in five is in focus, then one in ten of that is worth sharing. I have 1000's of pictures taken while riding and plan to make a video with all of them, it looks like a time lapse on my Mac when cycling through them.
As for speed.... well I'd say I had a camera hanging off my bike for at least 1000 of the 4500 miles I rode and never really "slowed" down because of it. Over 100 and the arm would slide back a little, but no real issues. I'd say I'm lucky that my D40 still works, my Canon P&S didn't fair as well, and I wasn't able to successfully shoot any video, but it was already damaged before the trip. Sacrificing a nice camera to get THE SHOT is worth it IMO, but then again I don't have children's college fund to worry about...






















On another note, I went to denver BMW today to get stuff to change the oil, and besides being open on 4th of July, they insisted that they would change the oil right then and only charge my 1/2 hour labor to do it. I was going to DIY somewhere but what the heck... Great dealer, nice showroom, great service! I also worked out to store my bike there while I'm on tour... took care of all the things I needed to do in one place, good stuff.
The other thing I wanted to mention because it happened again today is about some GS riders...
I've lost count how many guys with nice and shiny, clean GS's have told me how bad I need a GS after looking at my bike and hearing wear I've been. At first it was funny, but as I heard it more it became annoying, coming from guys with every farkle and not a spec of dirt on their bike.
Finally today when I heard the same crap, I showed the picture of my bike at 45º angle going up a snow covered loose rock mountain on my iPhone, and told the guy to leave the Adventure riding to me on my Roadster, and you go have fun keeping you GS sparkly clean, getting it ready to take the big trip to Gillette and stay in a hotel. Not to be a dingle, well maybe, but I think he got my point - I keep my opinions about what you ride and how you ride it to myself unless asked, or at least drunk...


Who needs a GS?




-Joe

[Dr. Strangelove]

Thanks for the info and looking at your rig, I think my Ram Mount is fine. It is the same setup, but different technology. And that was my experience re the many shots to get a usuable one. I tried video with the panasonic P&S but the vibration was just too bad at speed

Can you have your foot on the peg while shooting or does your leg get in the way. The arm I am using for the ram mount is a short one. The positive--its paid for and prob has less vibration than a longer one. The negative; some nice shots of my L boot.

happy to hear you say that re the GS. They are so cool, but they are too tall for me. And I do enough hiway stuff that I think the higher revs because of the gearing on the GS for a given hiway speed would bother me.

Re the tour: I'd say Break a Leg! but well, hey, you've already done that sortof

John

[Lost Rider]

Can you have your foot on the peg while shooting or does your leg get in the way. The arm I am using for the ram mount is a short one. The positive--its paid for and prob has less vibration than a longer one. The negative; some nice shots of my L boot.

yes, what you see is what i shoot, no foot or leg, no cropping. This mount is very adjustable so I can put it exactly where I want it. I was shooting at 18mm with a VR lens - vibration reduction, so maybe that helped with the shots.


BTW, my site is updated with many new pictures.

[Dr. Strangelove]

yeah, the VR lens probably did help a lot. I was shooting video with the panasonic P&S and many times it was steady, but with throttle changes--there were many, I was on a twisting road. I got a lot of vibration. It has image stabilization, but I don't know if it works in video mode. And, Man! that is an expensive paper weight if it fall off or gravel hits it.

Thanks again

John

[Lost Rider]

And, Man! that is an expensive paper weight if it fall off or gravel hits it.

Or when a huge RV is traveling illegially on a single lane gravel road over a pass clips you...
It was the camera and mirror or a 3000' drop for me off the side of the road.




Happy 4th!

[DSKYZD]

Sad that your bike trip is over. How's that foot holding up?

Also, how has all your gear performed? I know your kit is pretty well sorted but is there anything that stood out on this trip? Good or bad?

[Lost Rider]

Sad that your bike trip is over. How's that foot holding up?

Also, how has all your gear performed? I know your kit is pretty well sorted but is there anything that stood out on this trip? Good or bad?

My foot is OK, sore but improving....

Gear. I did have a few new things on this trip...
The thing that stands out the most is the Gerber Gator Combo Axe II. I usually carried a small saw, but with this ax, I spent almost nothing on firewood, able to chop up fallen wood into useable fuel. It easily paid for itself on just this one trip.
The new Shoei MultiTech helmet worked real well, being comfortable and quiet like my RF-1000. This is my first flip-up and I like the convenience.
This was the first time I've taken a MacBook Pro on my bike for a long trip, and am impressed that it worked well in the extreme condition, and took the abuse of riding off road for 100's of miles with no errors, and only minor damage to the plastic case it lives in. I doubt I'll be taking it again... not really needed unless there's business to do on a trip, and with the new iPhone it just won't be necessary for me. I won't go through the trouble just to record my GPS track, and on my next long trip in January I really wont want to have it with me where I'm going....

The BMW 51L Sportsbag worked very well, and will be much better once I trim my pack down, lose some of the gadgets and the Mac so it's not filled to capacity. I think I might be putting the Pelican box back on the back and losing the H2W's bags, just because it is way more convenient to get at the small stuff, and I'm going to need at least one hard/lockable case in January.
The Nikon D40 also took the abuse, dirt, dust, rain, even a hard blow from an RV, and still is taking nice pictures.

There wasn't any big failures or problems on this trip, just a few plugs in a tire...

[Dan-A]

Chi,

If you come out to CA let me know, I am riding with you! Or better yet, if you are somewhere out west, tell me where and I'll meet you.

[Lost Rider]

I am in San Diego at the W hotel (hardly roughing it, I would prefer a tent ) , but my bike is now in storage at Denver BMW. For me, a tour bus is home and transportation for the next 6 months... We looked into renting some bikes today, and you can rent a r1200r for $189 per day - I didn't have it in me to waste my money for such a short time. You can rent a Ducati 1098 for $200, ( with $3000 deposit) but I'm holding out until vegas or scottsdale to rent a dirtbike.
Dan, if you can make it down to Irvine on tuesday, we could meet up and I'll show you around the show... PM me.

Cheers!
-Joe

[Dan-A]

Dan, if you can make it down to Irvine on tuesday, we could meet up and I'll show you around the show... PM me.

Cheers!
-Joe

PM sent.

[celticus]

Joe, How are those new levers working for you? Worth the money if there is nothing wrong with your old ones?
Mark

[Skippy]

I love the pictures on your website ChiTown absolutely great stuff! Looks like you are having a blast out there.

[Ves]

I love the pictures on your website ChiTown absolutely great stuff! Looks like you are having a blast out there.

+1 on that... some of those photos seem almost unreal... wow..

[Lost Rider]

Joe, How are those new levers working for you? Worth the money if there is nothing wrong with your old ones?
Mark

They are quite nice. I have the right lever set short for 2 finger operation, and the left extended for 4 finger use.
If I had used my own money to pay for them I would have no regrets... plus the bling factor.





Thanks guys glad you like the photo's, those are just a few....
I've been working on going through and organizing/uploading them to prepare for a report, along with making video from the 1000's of still's with the bike-mounted camera. With over 4000 photo's this is quite a task, I'm now almost halfway through... updates soon. Since I'm working very long hours, many of which is running around with a 20 pound Sony studio video camera on my shoulder, I just haven't had more than a few hours now and then to work on it, or the will. That pesky work thing keeps getting in my way of motorcycle related things...
None of you wouldn't happen to be extremely wealthy and would like to put me on payroll to ride my roadster to far away places and document it, would you?

Cheers!

Joe

[thepeacebullgrunt]

About protection I bought a Rev'it Cayenne Pro Jacket in Black/Black this week and received a pair of Vendramini boots Marathon... they are very nice to wear.

I feel like this thread went far ahead from where it started but I just want to say that like it happened to ChiTown all of my "crashes" leading surgery and hospital cares were one at 000Mph starting the bike, not awake and upset with something... I slept on a patch of grass while backing up in neutral and fall on the grass with elbow right on a root.... I heard a "PoP" sound in my arm and indeed my elbow just popped out of its ligament. (7 weeks in a cast for this one)

The second crash was during nightime at 15mph riding in between cars while traffic jam was at its maximum and rain was drizzling... my front wheel was quiet worn, way ahead someone open his right door to litter a coffee cup so my reflex was to brake and prevent and I was right on time for that but my front wheel got stuck under one of those reflexive dots that was unglued probably from the rain.
The bike slowly escaped and crashed on its side...while falling my shoulder hit something on the ground... Probably a glued reflexive stuff again. Result was 3 broken area's in the bone connecting with shoulder and a 3 hrs surgery to pin all that jazz. (I was wearing a velvet suit that night...shame on me)

Voila ! so far I do my best to never crash again and recently decided to wear the best in term of protective gears.

Next investment !
will certainly be a Rev'it Infinity suit.

[thepeacebullgrunt]

And by the way with my Vendramini boots I received a pair of leather sole for cushion and perspiration.
but since I ride everyday and obviously wear my boots everyday too they don't have time to really well dry inside and I feel a moisture all day long.

So what is the trick with those leather soles ?
Should I remove them every night to let them dry well outside ?
Should I buy a few of them and alternate ?
Should I keep the sole inside at all time and buy a second Vendramini pair then alternate boots ?
Should I get some good wood forms to keep the shape and suck in the moisture.

Its really annoying to feel humidity all day long in my boots.

[famousperson]

And by the way with my Vendramini boots I received a pair of leather sole for cushion and perspiration.
but since I ride everyday and obviously wear my boots everyday too they don't have time to really well dry inside and I feel a moisture all day long.

So what is the trick with those leather soles ?
Should I remove them every night to let them dry well outside ?
Should I buy a few of them and alternate ?
Should I keep the sole inside at all time and buy a second Vendramini pair then alternate boots ?
Should I get some good wood forms to keep the shape and suck in the moisture.

Its really annoying to feel humidity all day long in my boots.

Take the leather out each night to let it dry. Alternating with a second set would help. Wooden shoe trees don't suck up much, if any, any moisture.

[thepeacebullgrunt]

Thanks famousperson !

I knew I had a humidity problem since 2 or 3 days with those nice boots... leather is dry now but the kind of fleece inside is still a bit humid around the toes.

I tried to stick and hair dryer not too deep in it and in mode slow/warm for +/-10mns and it seems to speed up the process pretty well.

Which is nut is that if you buy from Vendramini you can select how many leather inserts you need but from my US retailer nothing is proposed... ... its almost like you have to make your boots yourself ! geeez !

[AmostThere]

I use boot dryers made in Norway. I've had them for 20 years and they work great. Similar to these: http://www.dual-star.com/index2/Rider/e ... ryers1.htm but mine say "The Ronning" on the sticker, perhaps now discontinued. Check on Ebay.