Bye-Bye, Blogspot

I moved to RookKilla

back in the saddle (and/or this site)

I completely abandoned this blog yet again - there is a lot going on in my life right now, and I have a feeling the next few months will have a big impact on my life. So, to catch up:
I am now a proud owner of a blue 2004 Yamaha FZ6.
I bought it at a very reasonable price in the beginning of July and I've already put 1.5k miles on it. I absolutely and positively love it! There is the beauty

Even before I completed the purchase, I joined www.fz6-forum.com. This is one of the best online communities I've ever seen! The amount of information is astounding and everybody is very helpful.

Of course, the first thing I did was to start getting accessories and mods:
Givi V46 Topcase with brake light repeater and a back-rest for the passenger- for touring and commuting.
Gorilla Alarm - yeah, I learned my lesson. Sure, it will not stop a determined thief, but at least it will scream
Centerstand - gotta have one, especially for maintenance.

Speaking of maintenance, one of the things I had to do was replacing the head bearings on the FZ. I have a feeling the reason why PO was willing to part with the bike at such a low price, was the need to replace them (the bearings). Oh well, $25 for the bearing kit by All Balls (ironically, the new bearings are roller bearings, not ball bearings) and a day of work, which lead to my learning quite a bit about the machine itself.
Here, FZ6 half way through the "surgery". The patient's pulse is stable, the body is partially suspended from the ceiling by straps (this is why one needs a centerstand):

And the only way I learned what I needed to do and (more importantly) how, was, the FZ6-forums.com I can just hope to contribute my fair share to this great community.

Antique Machinery Association Museum, Kent, CT

Riding Around CT

Yes! I got a new (used) motorcycle. It's a 2004 Blue Yamaha FZ6.

Quebec City

Montreal

Philly Trip

Photos from New York Photo Safari

If only I find the person...

... who stole my KLR from the train station.

Nothing quite like the sinking feeling you get when you don't see the motorcycle where you left it.

On 6/14/2010, around 6 pm somebody stole my Green 2008 Kawasaki KLR 650 from the train station by simply loading it into a U-Haul truck and driving away (as reported by a person who witnessed it and called the police)
I showed up after 10 pm, and spent about 5 minutes going through my morning routine, not sure if my tired brain was playing jokes on me.

Together with the bike gone are the following mods (yes, the KLR riders love to outfit their bikes):

• SW-motech crashbars - they saved my ass twice - once in a slow speed fall and once in an encounter with a deer.
• SW-motech sideracks - awesome quick-snap racks to mount the cases I made out of Pelican cases
• GPS mount for my TomTom Rider 2
• DIY break-lights repeater/modulator
• Nolan N102 NCOM helmet
• Black Alpinestars Spinner Jacket

Total damage in accessories is about $1,300!!!!

Already put in a claim with Progressive, we'll see what comes out of it. I'm still hoping they will find it, and hopefully with minimum damage. This is my first bike, afterall, and there is some sentimental value.

This sucks!!!!

metric to inches conversion relevance

This morning I had to convert centimeters to inches, so I used Google and noticed a very interesting relevance result:

What does this tell you about the searches people do? ;-)

West Wing

I got hooked on The West Wing - queued up a few seasons on my netflix already. Yesterday, I was watching one of the earliest episodes (Mr. Willis of Ohio) and one of the phrases caught my ear:

Mandy: Two million dollars for a volcano monitor in Alaska to warn passing airplanes
about ash?

Still relevant, don't you think?

San Francisco

Photos from SF, where I left my heart laptop.

My beloved Kawi KLR, aka KiLleR, aka The Swamp Thing, aka The Tractor

Went riding on Saturday. It was awesome. I love motorocycling, even in a middle of the winter. Once again saw how simple and reliable Kawasaki KLR is.
It's been sitting in unheated garage since the fall (and I have to say, I didn't do a very good job winterizing it. Ok, fine - I didn't do anything to winterize it). Rolled it out of the garage - tried to start it. Sure enough, the battery didnt last long. So, I squeeze the clutch, start rolling it (w/o getting off it, just by walking) press the ignition and release the clutch. Guess what? It started! after a 6 foot roll on a horizontal surface, not even down the hill. I love this thing! I think I'm going to keep it, just because it's so simple.