BMW Motorcycles of Las Vegas held an open house yesterday with free food and drink, free dyno runs,  a raffle, plenty of cool old bikes, great vendors, and lots of great people   I wasn’t about to miss out on a fun time like this

28 April 2012 - 1969 BMW with a sidecar

28 April 2012 - 1969 BMW with a sidecar

28 April 2012 - 1950 BMW R5 1/2

28 April 2012 - Unknown vintage BMW motorcycle

28 April 2012 - Unknown vintage BMW motorcycle

28 April 2012 - Unknown vintage BMW motorcycle

 If you like vintage BMW motorcycles, this was the place for you to be yesterday   I really don’t know all that much about these specific bikes, but if you’re interested there’s a great documentary here

28 April 2012 - My V-Star 650 Classic on the Dynojet mobile dynomometer

28 April 2012 - Horsepower and torque curves for my V-Star 650 courtesy of Dynojet

28 April 2012 - Horsepower and torque figures for my V-Star 650 courtesy of Dynojet

 I’ve wondered for quite some time just how much horsepower my V-Star has.  There are no factory figures published anywhere that I can find and everyone else has just been guessing.  Some thought it might be mid 40′s.  Turns out it was quite a bit less than that.

The averages for the three runs were 33.62 HP and 34.1 lb-ft of torque.  I’ve only had 33 HP hauling my 550+ pound motorcycle and my substantial posterior everywhere 

I actually had a pretty good laugh at myself over this because I’d been worried before I got a motorcycle that the 423 pound (with fuel etc.) G650GS only has 50 HP and I thought that might not be enough

28 April 2012 - BMW R1200C

 An “R” designation on a BMW motorcycle means that it has a horizontally opposed, two cylinder engine with a shaft drive to the rear wheel.  They’ve been making this type of engine since the very beginning just after WWI.  Over the years, there have been several different styles of bikes with this powertrain and some have lasted longer than others.  The most popular is the R1200GS which is a dual sport on and off road bike.  They also currently make a sport tourer called the R1200RT and a roadster which is the R1200R.

The R1200C was dropped from the lineup a few years ago with BMW citing the unsuitability of the engine for the cruiser tastes in the U.S.  They’re not too expensive (relatively) on the used market and I’d really like to have one someday

28 April 2012 - Advertisement on the Dynojet mobile dyno truck

28 April 2012 - Dynojet mobile dyno truck

 I did remember to get a couple of pics of the Dynojet setup!  Really, these guys are great

28 April 2012 - Akrapovic Morsus custom motorcycle

28 April 2012 - Akrapovic Morsus custom motorcycle

28 April 2012 - Yours Truly on the Akrapovic Morsus

 Last, but certainly not least was a surprise to me.  Akrapovic is a European exhaust manufacturer.  They mainly make systems for sport bikes, but have branched out recently to make systems for bikes like Harley Davidson and the BMW K1600GT and GTL.  They showed up to show off the new products and they brought a treat for everyone in attendance.

The Morsus is a custom motorcycle that Akrapovic commissioned a while back which won quite a few awards.  I’d seen pictures of it online and even the video above, but I never thought I’d see it in person so I was very happy to have this opportunity

That’s all for now, but I’ll try to post more soon.  Have a great day everyone

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17 March 2012 - A nice, rainy ride home from a Saturday at work

 There’s a lot going on in my life right now, but I’m going to try to post much more than I have so far this year

The weather forecast in California over the weekend called for rain and the real world didn’t disappoint!  Management at work requested volunteers for some overtime over the weekend and I figured I’d do what I could to help out and reap a bit more money.  It was work.  That’s all I’ve got to say about that.

There was also a sleep study jammed into the weekend as well.  It was supposed to start at about 2030 hours, but didn’t start until half an hour after midnight.  Starting with two hours sans CPAP, the test finished with four hours on the CPAP.  No, I didn’t get too much sleep.  Add to that the fact that Monday and Tuesday were to be 10.5 hour days including lunch.

I knew all of this was supposed to happen on Saturday as I headed home from work.  The skies had held the promise of rain all day long out here in Las Vegas, but it wasn’t until I walked out to my motorcycle that the clouds overhead delivered on that promise.  That was something I had hoped for all day as I looked out the windows

Riding is wonderful anytime with very few exceptions.  Variety is the spice of life.  Weather in Las Vegas can be hot and it can be cold, but it’s usually clear.  I don’t have much in the way of rain gear, but I also don’t usually mind getting wet because it’s different and I like that.  Saturday let me go play in the rain again which was a most welcome diversion from the normal pace and flow of life, even if it was only for a couple of miles and a few minutes

It’s time for me to go get some sleep and prepare for another day at work tomorrow.  At least it’s going to be a normal shift instead of more overtime

Have a great Wednesday, everyone

31 December 2011 - Medevac helicopter at the Red Rock Canyon overlook

 I had hoped to ride through the scenic loop before going to the overlook on the main road, but when I arrived at the entrance plaza I was informed that the loop was closed due to an accident.  I headed on up to the overlook to wait before seeing if the loop would re-open and found quite the scene.  It turns out that the accident involved a rock climber and all the emergency responders decided to use the overlook as a base of operations.

31 December 2011 - Motorcycles at the Overlook

31 December 2011 - Motorcycles at the Overlook

31 December 2011 - Motorcycles at the Overlook

31 December 2011 - Motorcycles at the Overlook

31 December 2011 - Motorcycles at the Overlook

 I don’t know if everyone wanted to see a helicopter take off, but it seemed like every motorcyclist within a 10+ mile range had converged on the overlook.  Cruisers, touring bikes, sport bikes, standards, dual sports and a bit later even a scooter all showed up

31 December 2011 - Medevac helicopter leaving the area

 The helicopter eventually took off and just about everyone else left as well.  Here’s wishing the injured climber all the best and a speedy recovery!

31 December 2011 - My new watch and just about 7,000 miles since I started riding

 I’m not leaving my new watch on the handlebars – I just wanted to make sure a watch would work there   That watch is one of my Christmas presents   It’s a Casio G-Shock GWM850-1 and it wasn’t cheap   For the money, you do get some really great features.  This watch is solar powered and will charge from even relatively dim light sources like fluorescent lights.  It also sets itself daily using the radio signal from the atomic clocks around the world so you know it will always be accurate

The idea of strapping a watch to the GPS mounting bracket worked perfectly, so I went to Wal-Mart and picked up a very inexpensive Casio that’s not a G-Shock but is still waterproof and has an electroluminescent back light that’s easy to activate even with gloves on.  Finally, I have a clock in easy view on the bike

You might also notice the odometer reading – I’ve now officially traveled 7,000 miles on my V-Star!  The odometer read 8436.5 when I first rode it and it was up to 15461.8 when I took this picture.  Remember that my daily commute to work is only about four miles round trip and you can get an idea of just how much I love to ride this fine machine

31 December 2011 - The last evening of 2011 in Red Rock Canyon

 It’s always a treat to have good lighting like this when you have a camera handy

31 December 2011 - Heading south in Red Rock Canyon

31 December 2011 - Panorama - The sun has set on 2011

I couldn’t believe how gorgeous the sunset turned out tonight   These pictures really don’t do it justice, especially when you’ve seen it from the saddle of a motorcycle.  Still, I don’t think they turned out half bad at all

Actually, after watching a few James Bond movies (especially the ones with Sean Connery), going for a good motorcycle ride that produced some pretty decent photos, and chatting with friends on the phone, I’d say today was pretty darn good

That’s all for this post, but I’ll have another one published soon.  Have a great day everyone

Seriously, I don’t know why I get so many confused looks when I say this, but it’s true for me.  I like riding when it’s raining or drizzling.  We get so much dry sunshine and clear skies here in Vegas that a wet day is a nice change

12 December 2011 - The bike had been sitting in a light rain all day

 Coming out to a wet bike after work isn’t too bad, but I would like to look into some way to keep the seat dry.  Of course, I’ll probably just keep a towel or rag in one of the saddle bags if I can remember to put it in there in the first place.  It’s always a bit amusing to see the looks on my co-workers’ faces as they walk out to their cars.  They seem to think there’s something strange or wrong with wanting to be outside in anything but warm sunshine 

12 December 2011 - Time to get some gas and reflect on newly learned lessons

 12 December wasn’t really rainy in the accepted sense of rain.  It was more like an hours-long continual drizzle.  Now, that’s great for lawns and other green things, but it’s not so great for the road.  You see, oil tends to build up on the roads over time if there’s no rain to wash it off.  It’s not too much of a problem when it’s dry because it pretty much seeps into the ground and leaves the surface with plenty of traction.  The first rain after a long dry spell can be a bit of an issue, though.  The oil floats up to the surface and the next thing you know the road is slicker than a politician at election time and you’re trying to navigate a motor vehicle across an ice rink   Normally, this is only a problem during the first fifteen minutes to hour of the first rain as the continual rain will wash the oil away.

The continual light rain and drizzle was just enough to float all that oil up without actually washing it away.  I was acquainted with this fact that I hadn’t thought about when I pulled into the left turn lane to get into the driveway of the gas station.  Cars waiting in that left turn lane had dropped plenty of oil on the road and it had all been brought up to the surface for my skating motorcycling pleasure   As I straightened up and got back on the brakes (always straighten up before braking ), the rear tire decided to lock up and the bike started to fishtail…  I ended up saving the possibly bad situation by slowly letting off the rear brake and allowing the back end to come back in line with the rest of the bike.  It wasn’t a high speed situation or difficult to recover from – Just stay calm and DON’T PANIC

13 December 2011 - ROK Straps came in handy while shopping at Wal-Mart

 the next night was cold, but dry and clear.  I’d picked up my set of ROK Straps down at the BMW dealer a couple of days before and this was my first opportunity to put them to work properly.  The poor clerk down at Wal-Mart looked at me with a rather perplexed look as he eyed my purchases and the helmet in my shopping basket and asked, “How in the heck are you going to fit all that on the bike?!”  I told him most was going into the saddle bags and the soda would be strapped down to the passenger seat   It worked fairly well, but could probably use another strap – that ain’t a light load back there and it kinda wanted to shift around a bit

Well, that’s all for now but keep on havin’ fun and I’ll be back again soon

3 December 2011 - My V-Star with my brother's Accord

 My brother came up to visit on my birthday and it was nice to see him   He was also kind enough to bring up my birthday and Christmas presents.  Birthday presents like the tool kit he gave me and the wind deflectors for my hands on the motorcycle from Mom & Dad

6 December 2011 - Sunset as seen from work as I left for the day

6 December 2011 - Sunset as seen from work as I left for the day

Once again, it was getting rather dark when I left work, but I thought the sunset was nice enough to warrant a couple of pictures   And that palm tree is for you, Kath

Stay tuned for more soon