martinkap

VFRvixen, you have nailed it. I swear for Victoria secret thongs. Cannot ride in anything else :beer: I am afraid, the gold bond thread is resurected now B) M.

Not that it matters and not that I expect anyone had noticed, but to those who sent me "where are you?" I would like to say I am back. Not only that I am officially returning to VFRD after nearly 2 months break but I have also ridden my Hawk last weekend and had FUN! Let me restate that; I had major fun riding! Something I have almost given up on. Most of you have been riding your whole adult lives and riding is not only a hobby to you, it is part of you. But I started riding three years ago and even though I have encounter some setbacks, till this spring I loved riding with whole my heart. However, I have always considered riding as my hobby. As a hobby which suppose to make my life better, more fun and more rich. Life is too short to do something which we don't fully love. My love of riding received a first major scar this spring: I lost a friend on the racetrack. He was a total stranger who offered me his help after I lowsided at CMP track last year. I still remember hearing his "Hi, my name is Todd, do you need help?" while I was duct-taping my roadrash from ripped jacket. He helped me straighten up the shifter and we kept in touch. The next time we saw each other was the day he died. With 9 months delay, I can say that Todd's death shook me more than I have realized. It rooted fear in me which was fueled by seeing and hearing about others getting hurt over and over again. If I was to summarize this year - it would be one big accident report. I became sensitive to every broken bone, every roadrash, every lowside. And even though I did 10 track days this year, I became slower and slower and slower. Suddenly, I have acquired this 'grandma' riding style on the road, frozen with fear that behind every corner there is car standing in my lane, or major sand trap or deer staring at me ... I was crippled with fear not only for me about also for my fellow rider. So, at the end of this year, I rode more and more by myself. I could not bear the feelings of responsibility for others on the road and my lines were crippled by my own fears. It all culminated this fall at WDGAH. In a freaky accident Love2rideh82crash was taken down by a truck crossing into our lane. I was done. I finished the weekend, locked the VFR into a garage and took a break. Until the last weekend, I pretended that motorcycles do not exists. As a last instance after 2 months break from riding, I decided to go to CMP track to see if I can still have fun. I also felt like I should go for the memory of Todd. I went and I had fun! I had much more fun than I expected and the most fun on track I can remember. Suddenly the whole track connected into an uninterupted line of turns and I felt one with the bike riding around! I was giggling like a little girl in my helmet and keep on giggling ever since Granted I was not the fastest one and through out the weekend, I have never exceeded about 60% of my riding abilities, but I had no "oh-shit" nor 'blond' moments. I could have maybe go faster, I could have brake later for the turns and I could have lean further, but I am no Rossi nor Stoner. I decided to ride for fun and I had amazing blast riding well within my comfort zone. I was proud of myself when, after bandaging Ricks arm, I was able to distance myself and go back to riding without the year-long fear. I did feel bad for him but the feelings were not crippling my lines nor my mind. And when a total stranger came to me and said "Hi, my name is Todd", my heart stopped for a minute though but I suddenly knew that my life went a full circle. I probably will never win MotoGP :idea3: , but I am back! :wheel:

You can remind him that I am the one who had the spring powdercoated to bright orange (he nailed that color amazingly - I think the spring looks better than the paint now) I am sure it will make him happy that I liked his work. Martina

Hi J, I have an excellent results on powdercoating my shock spring (yes, I did have my rear shock spring powder coated orange for my Hawk) with this company: http://www.grandstanddesigns.com/. Pete, the owner tried extremely hard to match the color of my bike and he did really excellent job. The communication was perfect and the spring is flawless... it is actually not easy to powdercoat a spring... They are located at: GrandStand Designs LLC 2435 Highway 34 Box 124 Manasquan NJ 08736 PHN: 732.722.2955 FAX: 732.722.2314 Hope that helps, Martina

It does not take one too much time to realize that New York is one of the most tolerant cities in the world. Or simplier said, the Newyorkers just don't care. They don't care if one wears the latest designer clothes or the dirtiest rags. Would you like to put a pink feathers in your hair, paint your face black and white and drag chains behind you? Please do, but do not expect that anyone will turn their head after you. No one will care. Only tourists with maps will take pictures. Pink feathers, painted face and chains are not enough to become one of the elite New York freaks. The ones who make natives to turn their heads. It is very safe to say that till yesterday I have never crossed that very distant line and draw attention to myself. Even when I was in full leather motorcycle outfit, hopping through New York streets on one foot, in one hand holding helmet and supporting myself with a broom in the second. Even then, I was just part of the everyday crowd. However, I am afraid, yesterday evening it happend. I became one of them. One of those freaks who make the natives to stop in what they do and just gawk. And yet, I did not feel out of my element; Part of my daily life is reparking the motorcycle from one side of the street to another - four times a week. Street cleaners and the police are good enough reason to wake me up in the middle of the night horrified that I forgot to repark the bike, put on the t-shirt and run into dark streets to do the chore. Last year I made the effort to always go home, put on some leather jacket, take a helmet and repark the bike with at least some protective gear. This year, I have become slopy. I just stop by the bike on the way from work and repark it. Usually I don't have to ride more than several yards. But yesterday night, the parking gods were against me - the nearest free spot was about 500 yards away and in the 'wrong one way street' direction. I made sure that no police was in sight, jumped on the bike and nicely coasted to my spot. 500 yards later, I felt like I am on fire - almost everyone along my short ride was staring at me. I was surprise and tried to determine what is wrong. And then I realized that for a random pedestrian, a woman riding in the wrong direction on a motorcycle, wearing just a t-shirt, short skirt, high heals and having red purse dangling of her shoulder, well, she must have been at least a surprising sight. You know, one of those freaks you don't see anywhere else than in New York... :goofy:

Did you try to spray inside with something like lysol/febreeze type of spray and let it dry out? You definitely want antibacterial spray (bacterias stink) and something what smells pleasantly than original smell... Look for the first product here: http://www.dudco.com/Chemicals/Fabric/Fabric.html Other than that I recommend professional leather cleaners ... Maybe over winter. Martina P.S. Thanks god that my sweat smells like roses :goofy:

I think the main culprit of the life difference between the tires is the Florida's heat... Hot road will eat your tires almost twice faster. I do run M3's on both of my bikes and I do like them but they always start sliding when still about 30% left on the rear tire - they do turn blue. A tire specialist explain to me that maybe I put them through harsh heat cycle (track days) and then let them sit and that the oils are coming out from the tire, thus turning blue and sliding a bit ... I would be interested if anyone has the same experience... Btw, I did get about 4K from the tire before 30% left. Martina

Hm - not sure how many kids he has but I did manage to figure out that he is married ... Oh well, if you mean how many of us were there then I think something around 50 people split into two groups: 'street' and 'advanced'... Great school, I learned a lot from many instructors plus as a bonus, Jason gives excellent hugs... Martina P.S. I did the 2up ride with him and it was one of the scariest things I did in my life.

Breaking or accelaration is the only way to heat up your tires as I learned from Jason Pridmore in the STAR school this weekend. Swerving from side to side does nothing - well maybe causes crashes of noobies... Martina

Let us know how are you satisfied with the suit once you tested (hopefully not hard tested on the pavement) :thumbsup: Martina

OH wow - I was so wrapped in my problem I FORGOT to do the search first ... Oyama description of how wet and soaked everything was is absolutely perfect. My story starts a bit differently but ends exactly the same - I would not be able to write it better... So, now back on the topic - someone mentioned in Oyama thread to not use any man made chemicals on the leathers.... In local store, they had KIWI leather lotion which suppose to clean and replenish the oils in the leather, prevent drying and cracking ... They don't say what it is made off but I would say it is chemical ... Can I use it? Martina

Thank you all for valuable info. I have hung the leathers in my hallway (stretched a mop handle between two open doors and hung the hangers on that) and I have put my gloves on the electric fan which only circulates the air but does not heat nor shoots cold. I will put some newspapers into the boots and gloves overnight. I will go out and buy the leather conditioner (in a RiteAid?) and apply it... Should I be afraid of a mildew? Martina

Hi all, I am sure you all got one day caught in the rain wearing your leathers. I am sure it is an interesting story but please, don't turn this thread into a "I need to tell you my wet story" My wet long story short: :rolleyes: 1) my leather suit is soaked so much that if I squeeze it, water start dripping 2) my boots are waterproof but not Goretex. Unfortunately my leather pants don't go over the boots, so all the water from my legs dripped into the boots, so when I took them off and turned them over, the water was pouring out. Obviously, they don't breeze so the water is trapped inside. 3) my gloves (expensive Alpinestars gp pro) are soaked so much that water is practically dripping with no squeezing necessary. My concerns are that the weather here is very humid (hard to dry towels in past couple days) and I really cannot efficiently hang the leathers, gloves anywhere. How should I dry the things? I can turn the heater on or the stove on and position it near by or should I spent an evening with a hairdryer? However, I am afraid that leather which dries quickly get stiff and also shrinks (it used to be old torture practice to put a wet leather tight collar on prisoners neck and as the leather dried up, the prisoner got slowly choked). However, if I do nothing the leather will dry for days or start to grow mildew. Definitely the boots are the toughest issue and the gloves are the most precious. I would hate them to be all stiff and not soft. Any advice is very appreciate it. Martina

An uneven level of fork fluids (one fork had just much less than other) caused my lowside in a "sort ot extreme breaking" situation. He should avoid compresing the forks as much as he can. If the fork are pushed and compress and one of the fork seals is leaking, that will result in different compression 'strength' of each fork and end up in the tank slapper or similar... So probably slow ride home is in order. As for me, the lowside was unexpected (but the bike was 3 months new to me and I have never checked the forks) since I was not breaking super hard (I did not lock the front wheel) but it probably saved my butt in bigger scheme of the things as there were 3 deer standing in front of me. Martina Disclaimer: I am not a mechanic so I could be completely wrong. Maybe some of the more mechanically advanced member will chime in.

Hehe, your mom is a smart woman :) She knew what she was talking about ... and about sharing the story - I thought that nothing makes human happier than the unfortune of others ... :D M.

Then your wife must be way more disappointed than even mine :goofy: your wife wasn't disappointed last time I was in FLA....... :salesman: Did you show her your trick where you pee a smiley face in the snow? :goofy: Snow in Florida??? Man, I don't think he woed her that way M.

My typical lunch consists of soup, bagel and a can of sugar-free Red Bull which I buy in the cafeteria located in our building. My mother always taught me not to talk and not to read while eating. However, she was quite unsuccessful, especially with the latter and I have developed a habit of browsing news, vfrd posts and personal emails while eating lunch at work. Turkey soup should not be life threatening, so I do not need to devote it full attention. However, an unfamiliar crunch between my teeth has interrupted my peaceful lunch break today. Probably just a piece of a turkey bone, I thought, but it did feel rather weird. On a napkin, I have spat out what I thought will be little part of a turkey skeleton but to my surprise I saw what looked like 1in long, cooked cockroach. Mushed into the several pieces by my own teeth, I could recognize the head and the whole back. Needles to say, I spat immediately everything, almost threw up and washed my teeth for a very long time. Someone smart once said that shared sorrow is half sorrow. So, I hope that shared disgusting story will become less disgusting. But honestly, in a bigger scheme of the life, half eaten cockroach beats loosing a front in the puddle of transmission fluid anytime. But that is another story ...

See, I wear leather all the time....5'7"/ 165lbs now......back in the "textile days"....6'6"/ 273 lbs..................... :thumbsup: I don't know skutch... you even 'shrunk'... not sure I'd want that... I just don't see how you guys don't sweat wearing mesh either... jeebus, I ride 20 mins to work in JR mesh and I'm like a sweat ball... not even sure what ends up growing in my helmet... couldn't imagine having to wear leathers down here for the commute... in fact today, I fully protected myself by wearing a golf shirt and dockers... but I'm a wild man on the brink of destruction anyway... :rolleyes: Makes other parts of your anatomy seem larger........................ :goofy: :rolleyes: feet ? B) Martina

Yeah, I fully expected to not win the auction. I had made my mind up I wouldn't go much over that. Was sitting at 750 for over a day and I thought for sure someone was waiting till the last minute like I did. I bid with about 3 seconds to spare. My wife wants to kill me know... LOL Do you understand that now it is you, not your wife, who owns probably the most expensive piece of clothing in your house !?! :goofy: Only hope now, that she will not come with Valentino dress home :goofy: Nice suit and great price ! Congrats !! Martina

yes it is almost 100% the kickstand switch, tell them to check if it is only a two wire switch, than by just connecting the two wires together will complete the circuit and keep the bike running. I just talked to Duke. They are still stranded. It does not seem to be the kickstand switch. He noted that the clutch is badly bent so maybe there might be something which is disconnecting the power... He still needs help... I feel useless... anyone? Martina