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13 May 2009
New Gear & Oil Changes, Filters, & Tools

The familiar voice on the phone was Doug from Steelhorse Classics, "Your stuff is here." What a delightful way to start a conversation.

Ordering stuff from catalogs is not as much fun as pulling it from a shelf or rack and taking it home; that's immediate satisfaction. Catalog buys require patience, because you do have to wait; sometimes a lot longer than you want to if the item is back ordered. But this order came in within a few days from the time Mike put the order in.

I ordered an Alpinestars jacket and boots, as well as oil and a filter for the MV Agusta. Everything came in on Wednesday… Christmas in May…Or it will be if everything fits correctly….

The jacket is a summer weight mesh style textile jacket. It has a rain proof removable liner and CE armor at the elbows and shoulders. There is a provision in the back of the jacket for a back protector to slip in. It is going to be a lot cooler on those very hot days of summer wearing this mesh jacket instead of my leathers.

The one I had ordered was in black and white but for some reason they stopped making it and now its solid black. It fits well, especially considering we used the conversion chart in the catalog to convert a U.S. size to European. I'm a very svelte Euro L whatever that is…

The boots were SMX 5 plus, again made by Alpinestars. These were the same as the ones I already have. Which, I just happen to like very much; in size Euro 44. The new boots are a little different; the toe box is more rounded and the boots are waterproof now.

That's a good thing being waterproof; there were several occasions when I would have appreciated the old ones being waterproofed. More than once I helped pull a motorcycle from a drainage ditch full of water. I still can't figure out why anyone would park a motorcycle in a drainage ditch full of water; but a few fellows I know did just that.

The old oil filter wrench. The new one on an oil filter.... Here it is being used on the MV The band on the oil filter can be seen in the picture above The MV naked.... MV on her stand on the table.

After tightening the new oil filter and setting its band, pouring in 3 and half liters of oil I was finished with the oil change. I went on to do the MV's first drive chain cleaning and lube, since it was already up on the table.

Getting the MV on its track stand while it was sitting on the table resulted in some thinking, and some help from Flo. The MV's stand does not have wheels, so it won't just lever up the bike and then pop over like my other stands do.

With the MV up in the air on the table this became a real frightening experience. I really didn't want to knock it off the table. I reset the hold down straps leaving a little slack; just enough to let the bike rise up on the stand; but, still prevent it from falling over. I also lashed the front wheel into the Condor wheel chock to prevent the bike from being pulled out of the chock.

I inserted the stand, and pushed… I need to be a lot stronger to make this work. I got a lever and popped the stand into place. Now the bike was sitting very solidly on the table with the back wheel in the air. Making it a lot easier to clean the chain; now I could get to every part of the chain while standing in one spot. Rolling the back wheel with my hand allowed me to clean the sprocket too.

After cleaning the chain and renewing the lube on it, it was time to replace all of the bodywork I had removed to change the oil. I have to give MV credit here; the bodywork came off easy and went back on easy. They have the body panels figured out. If only my R1 was that easy. Of course the body panels got a nice coat of wax as they went on and I spent a great deal of time buffing them to a nice shine.

Saturday morning I found myself once again headed towards the Hampton Roads Tunnel; like I don't get enough of it during the week. I was headed over to Sunrise Cycles to meet up with Mike so we could do a 1 hour version of a motorcycle infomercial. I have to hand it to Mike he carried the ball and did a great job.

Now I know why we don't have any windows in our studio; I was preoccupied by the accident that happened outside the window on Little Creek Road. Seems a gal trying to cross the street and was hit by a car. Then just as we were finishing up the wind blew the Suzuki tent up and over some folks, then into the plate glass windows of Sunrise Cycles. How the glass didn't break is a mystery to me; because, I saw the glass shake pretty good when it got hit.

I left Sunrise Cycles before all of the Biker Appreciation Day evolutions began, the bike show and the barbeque and the drawings. But I did manage to walk around and visit with a lot of folks who listen to the show and came by to say hi. Of course I talked to any rider who wanted to know about the MV, imagine that…

Sunday morning, I headed out nice and early to do a check ride. I was checking my favorite back roads to see how much has changed. Starting next week the Sunday morning rides will begin again and I didn't want to be surprised.

The air temperature was a cool 65 and the MV just loved it. I didn't see the engine temperature get above 185 as long as I was at a moderate speed (55). Once on the back roads and letting the bike run, it did drop as low as 179. That's not too bad; this bike runs hotter than the "Beast" does.

I did a near perfect pass through the "Twilight Zone" and enjoyed the morning ducking birds, and turkey buzzards. I think birds like me; it seems everywhere I go they seem to come right to me. Sometimes they get so close I'm ducking to miss them. Remember the one last year who actually committed suicide by flying into the Beast's mirror. I have stopped counting the number of close encounters I have had with buzzards.

The road surfaces looked good and the area has only changed a little. That little, however, will spell a much bigger change in the future. I think we will be hunting for other places to ride within a few years. It seems where ever there's a nice quite place with great roads someone has to build houses on it; and that's just what is happening in this area. Slowly the farms are getting chopped up and new homes are popping up.

Progress is good; but, no cow, stalk of corn, or field of cotton ever complained about a passing motorcycle's noise or speed. More residents in the county will most likely help the county's budget, but it will bring more children and domestic pets and controlled speed areas.

After having some fun in the back country, I headed back to the house. I really didn't want to ride the MV into Norfolk. I was afraid of getting caught up in stalled traffic and as it turned out I was right.

Once I got home I switched bikes. Rolling to Norfolk on the PC was just a little different from what I had been experiencing earlier in the morning…The PC definitely doesn't come with Brembo brakes nor is its engine designed by Ferrari; the sedate Honda was a shocking change of pace.

On the way home from the studio, the fear that I had, turned out to be a reality; getting off the HOV lane and back on to 64, it was 5 mph and stopping every twenty feet all the way to the tunnel. I watched the temperature gauge on the PC climb but it never overheated. Of all my motorcycles the PC has the largest cooling system of the three. The poor old MV would have been parked for some time waiting for the traffic to start moving at a real pace.

I don't understand what's happening on 64, but even on Sunday's the traffic seems to slow down entering the tunnel and almost come to a complete stop for no reason. What really puzzles me is why they stop just as they are about to enter the tunnel and then just as they leave the tunnel mouth they speed up over the posted speed limit; what gives?

All winter we never had a backup. But now it seems even during the week it backs up for no reason. Perhaps we have beach traffic and tourists already, but school hasn't let out yet for the summer…..

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