Tag Archives: riding

The Heretic

Posted on by motopsyco

This has been in the back of my head for a while and I’ve wanted to share it with the world but I’ve been a little afraid to, afraid of what some of my friends and fellow motorcyclists might think. What I’m about to confess to you may seem wrong but I can’t help myself. It’s time for me to go public with my point of view, damn those who might think less of me, I know I’m not the only motorcyclist who feels this way.

The Motorcycle Gospel of the Highway 1:29, states “Though must enjoy hustling thy motorcycle at maximum velocity down the gnarliest, curviest, most challenging mountain roads you can find.” To which I, Floyd The Heretic must reply, “fuck that shit.” Seriously it’s just not that much fun for me. Yes I’ve done it a few times but the thrill is gone after 1 or 2 trips down a road with no scenery except for road signs warning me about the next hairpin turn or switchback ahead of me. Doing this over and over is boring. B-O-R-I-N-G.

sign 11 turns 318 miles

I am The Heretic a sign like this is just fine with me.

Give me a nice Saturday morning with my wife on the back traveling down a nice country road full of idyllic scenery, through some small towns, historic districts etc. Maybe plan a stop at a restaurant or a bike show between 50 and 200 miles away. You know a good relaxing ride where you occasionally go slow enough to smell the roses, rotting roadkill animal corpses and the food at the diner on the corner in that little town that you’ve never been to before.

Even though I don’t want a road with endless curves to give me a total body workout a few nice sweeping curves are welcome. So is mile after mile of arrow straight 2 lane blacktop through forests, fields and villages. On a hot summer day in the south nothing beats coming across a long tunnel of trees throwing shade over a narrow blacktop road gently winding its way through the swamps of the Pee Dee & Low Country here in South Carolina. It’s like a little piece of heaven on 2 wheels. Another ride I really enjoyed last year was touring the Gettysburg National Park and surrounding countryside on my Honda Shadow. Great winding roads and lots to see along them.

As a frequent motorcycle commuter my rides to and from work are enough to get my heart rate up and scare the shit out of me sometimes so when I set out to do some recreational riding it should be relaxing. If I want to be tired, sore and drenched in sweat after riding a motorcycle I’ll ride a dirtbike or go do a track day somewhere. (Both of these are things I enjoy doing sometimes.)

There I’ve said it, now I hope someone out there understands how I feel. I’m not a Sunday morning squid out to prove myself against the mountain. Nor am I a barhopping biker riding with my friends from tavern to tavern. I’m just an ordinary everyday motorcyclist who rides because I love it and ordinary everyday riding is my favorite thing to do. If that seems like a heresy to anyone then I’m proud to be the heretic.

 

 

Start of the Winter Season

Posted on by motopsyco

It seems as though the start of the winter season here in S.C. has been pretty decent so far. There have been a few chilly days and a fair amount of rain but most of the time it’s been really nice just a little nippy in the morning on most of my riding days but I haven’t had to break out the snowmobile gloves yet. Next week I think I’ll install the winter liner in my riding suit and try to locate those winter gloves just in case it turns really cold and stays dry.

<motopsyco's Joe Rocket jacket>

It’s Dec. 5th and I may have to put the insulated liner in sometime soon.

Yes all of your supposedly sane friends look at you like some kind of idiot or freak when they see you riding around on a motorcycle in the winter time, even here in the deep south. There are occasional times when I wonder about myself for doing it, but it’s just so much fun to ride a motorcycle! Not to mention the maintenance headaches I save from not winterizing or having to do start up service in the spring. If by some chance I were to move to a location where the snow and ice would make it dangerous to ride the bikes would go into storage for the winter but here in SC we have way too many 60 degree days for me to do that.

Life has been going really well around the farm lately, and I picked up a new shop truck to replace my semi-trusty old van. Just plain white regular cab Toyota work truck. Of course since I live by the motto, “stock sucks” the modifications have already begun starting with a tonneau cover and some cargo control updates.

<white Toyota Tacoma Regular cab>

I couldn’t forget the blogs web address!

<skull & crossed wrenches motopsyco>

Deer Hunting season went really well this year & we’re stocked up on meat for the year, so now it’s time to do a bit of cool weather trail riding. The last 2 stroke dirtbike I had was a Kawasaki KD100 that I got when I was 12 or so. Since then it has been all big 4 strokes until this year when I picked up this little blue Suzuki. This was supposed to be a restoration project but it has turned out to be such a hoot to ride just like it is, that I’m reluctant to get started on it. All of these years I was never a fan of so called “ratbikes” but now I am forced to admit there is something very liberating about riding a motorcycle on which the cosmetics just don’t mater! Tree limbs, briars, mud, dirt, dust, or dropped objects in the shop as long as it fires up with the next kick or push of the button who cares. I still love, admire and plan one day to own more beautiful bikes, but everyone should try living with at least one rat for a while.

<motopsyco suzuki ts185>

in the woods Dec. 5th 2014 8:30 a.m.

I have developed the tendency to blast around my neighborhood without any gear, kind of a throwback to the time when I wouldn’t have been caught dead on a motorcycle wearing a helmet. Yes I still get fully geared up for serious riding but I still understand why some people wont. To each his own, live & let live or die, c’est la vie, etc.

Well that’s the start of the winter season for me, it’s just like summer but with colder shorter days and fewer ravenous biting insects. What is it like for you? Do you ride your motorcycle or do you put it away & wait for brighter days?

Raring to go for October!

Posted on by motopsyco
over the bars

over the bars

Greetings Dear Readers,

Let me apologize for not posting any goodies for you for the past three weeks. The old ‘Psyco has been down and out with a severe case of shingles. Not only have I missed communicating with you, I also missed the first 3 weeks of hunting season, not to mention some of the best riding weather we’ve had since spring. Okay I did sneak the bike out a time or two but trust me when you got shingles you feel every single tiny imperfection in the road. Even a little tar strip felt like riding into a 4 inch high curb. But I am recovering now, & boy have I got some plans for this month.

There are a few event pics to show off from Labor Day weekend. I have scoped out a fantastic Website of The Month, and of course another of my profusely illustrated mechanical how-to articles. It’s gonna be a great month!

Have a fantastic day!

Kawasaki GPZ900

Kawasaki GPZ900

Riding a CRF150! A Psyco Used Bike Test Ride!

Posted on by motopsyco

The last week or two I’ve had the privilege of having a really nice super clean late model Honda CRF150 visiting my stable for a tune up & fresh front inner tube. Since this model is still in production and seems to be the replacement for the venerable old XR200, I though I would take it for a spin. Plus it been years since I’ve had the chance to ride an “adult size” off road motorcycle.

left side view Honda CRF150

left side view Honda CRF150

One thing needs to be totally clear to anyone looking at one of these, they are play bikes first and foremost not motocrossers. The power is low, the front tire is a 19″ etc. Yes I know they get raced in the mini class but those are usually heavily modified. There is a version with the smaller wheelset for the more advanced young riders. I got to admit though with the right suspension mods and tires this thing would make one heck of a trainer for flat track or supermoto racing. If anyone has tried it send me some information, I’d like to see your set up.

Like most of us out here on the east coast I was a woods rider when I was riding dirtbikes on a more regular basis so that is how I am evaluating this bike. Nothing like running a slalom course through a bunch of Loblolly pines while bouncing over tree roots and sliding around in the leaves and pine needles. Did I mention there were a lot of thorns too? Nothing like having completely fixed and  immovable objects to possibly crash into with a motorcycle that you don’t own to get your blood flowing!

a Honda CRF 150 in the briar patch

a Honda CRF 150 in the briar patch

In the woods almost everything was just fine. Right away I could tell the suspension was definitely not set up for shall we say a “bulky” man to ride and if I tried to sit down and ride the forks would bottom out with surprising regularity. The engine has enough grunt and is geared right but chassis just isn’t up to the task of dealing with 235 pounds of fine middle aged stud sitting in the drivers seat.

a large man on a small motorcycle

a large man on a small motorcycle

Still it was a fun ride as long as I remembered to stand up on the pegs going into the rough stuff.

<standing on the pegs for picture>

As long as I kept the revs up and remembered that I could not power wheelie over fallen logs & stuff like that I had a really enjoyable couple of hours threading it through the woods and around the cornfields.

through the woods on a CRF150

through the woods on a CRF150

pine tree slalom

pine tree slalom

Then I decided to hit the dirt roads and see how it felt in the sand & the gravel at (relatively) high speed. This one wearing the original Pirelli tires and on the long sandy stretches of it was nice and stable, even holding the throttle pinned in fifth gear. The only problem was that at wide open throttle in high gear you may may be going fast enough to get hurt if you crash, but you are definitely not going fast enough to get an experienced rider’s heart rate up. When I got to the loose gravel sections though I was kinda glad to be going slow as the front end felt busy. There was never any imminently dangerous or unstable feeling, it was just a little twitchy as the rocks slid around under the tires.

Did I forget to mention the most important advantage that this and an increasing number of other modern dirtbikes have over the old ones?

magic-button-crf150

magic-button-CRF150

Yep that little magic button on the handlebar to fire it up for you. What a wonderful thing for us old guys who have had our crash damaged knees replaced with not quite as good as original equipment parts. The engine is your typical cold natured Honda & wants a good warm up before it will idle, other than that the fueling and throttle response was excellent. Shim under bucket valve adjustment means that you will seldom have to actually adjust the valves unless you are extremely cruel to your equipment or if you modify or overhaul the engine. Just feed it right, oil it, and keep the battery charged when you are not riding it and it will probably last for decades.

Normally I would recommend this bike to anyone whom has just outgrown their 80 or 100 but is not ready to move on up to a 250 class machine or to a lady of petite stature. How ever there is one other class of folks who could benefit from either this bike or it’s CRF230 stablemate. I am talking to all of you parents out there, when you get your kid an off road motorcycle, get one of these for yourself so that you can ride with them. Do it! Going trail riding on a regular basis with you child is the most fun the two of you can have. Don’t take my word for it, just ask my daughter.

Peace Y’all