Saturday, February 21, 2004

Yikes,

I haven't updated with any blogs for a while! My birthday was on Thursday, 29 years old. :) Seems like not too long ago I was just turing 21 and before that it was 18. I read somewhere that after 21 the rest of your birthdays just fly by, how true. One of my friends was surprised to know that I was turing 29, most people think I'm younger by a few years than my actual age. This has it's good and bad points. One of the bad points is getting carded and sometimes at work people don't take you seriously since you look younger. Good point is you don't look older than your age. :) It's funny when I mention my age to people. If you didn't know my age most people would say I look like I'm in my early 20's. It's easy to mistake someone's age, at the local motorcycle meets I remember one rider with a new bike, appeared to be in his late 30's. When reading a local motorcycle page I saw a link for his web site and after reading it, a very nice site by the way, he was actually one year younger than me! Maybe my age guessing skills are off?

For my birthday I went to dinner with my Mom, and got a cholate birthday cake. :) Since it was on a weekday I'm saving for celebrating on a day off or on a sunny day. Also I need to take some time off from work, I'm maxxed out on vacation time. For my vacation I'm planning some fun things. Number one is to visit my buddy in Southern California, San Diego to be exact. I'm planning to ride my bike down and is going to be my longest trip on a motorcycle. So far I have ridden about 350 miles in a day, and for the trip don't expect to go much further. Two choices I have is either follow the coast going down, which will be an awesome view, or take the fast and yet much boring Highway 5.

Another idea for a vacation is to take a train ride some place. I would like to visit the Sacramento train museum by taking Amtrak there. Tickets are bit expensive but it would be fun. When I was in grade school I had a field trip to the state capital and stopped by the train museum but that was years ago. As the summer approaches I'm thinking of more vacation ideas, I'll post them as I find some.

Motorcycle stuff

Here's an update to the Aerostich review. I posted before that I first ordered an 38L one piece which was fitting snug but when wearing my back protector a bit too tight. So I decided to order a two piece in size 40R with a zip in ellipse. A ellipse is a zip in spacer to make the suit easier to lean forward on aggressive sport bikes. After wearing the new two piece suit I think the fitment is a bit different from a one piece. As with my Joe Rocket textile gear, the two piece suit is more snug around the waist area from the addition of a zipper. Also after getting in and out of the two piece suit it feels like the additional zipper in the middle makes the suit harder to wear.

When wearing the two piece it seems better for touring or when your on the bike for hours. The one piece is usually recommend for sport riding and getting to work/school. I'm starting to think about returing the two piece for a one piece, only problem is this will be my third suit and the shipping prices are starting to add up. The last suit I shipped back cost about $20 for USPS and insurance. While it is expensive to keep shipping suits back and forth I think it's worth it to have the correct size. As for the color I'm between black with silver or hi-viz yellow with black. Hi-Viz is that yellow/lime green color fire trucks are painted with. According to stats of safety, Hi-Viz painted fire trucks have 300% less collisions in traffic than the standard red painted trucks. Interesting point but makes me wonder who runs into a 10 ton firetruck painted bright red?

Rob



Saturday, February 07, 2004

For the past week I have been coming down with a slight cold, on Thursday I took the say off from work to rest. Today, Saturday I'm feeling much better but my head is still stuffy and didn't feel up to riding to school. Hoping things clear up soon, I want to go riding with the Doc Wong group ride on Sunday! If I don't go riding all is not lost, I can study more on my visual basic. After down loading the Resource Kit I found some great videos, lots of step by step instructions. Should be helpful since I'm so lost in VB .Net and not sure where to start.

Since I was sick and resting on Thursday I called Aerostich to let them know I am returing the Roadcrafter suit for another size. After speaking to the guy over the phone he suggested I go with the 40 regular size. Another change I did was instead of getting the one piece I choose the two piece with the ellipse. A few reasons I decided upon the two piece. First, one zipped together they are just as easy to wear as the one piece but you can take off the jacket when needed. I asked around and many people recommended that the two piece is more useful for everyday riding and the one piece is better for riding to work. I haven't tried on the two piece so I'll make my choice after I receive the suit. All they had in stock was the black/black pants and a red/black jacket. I wanted the black/black pants but not sure about the jacket, really wanted the Hi-Viz/black jacket for city riding. Depends how the red looks but I might just stay with red/black.

Aerostich Roadcrafter, first impressions

I should list some notes about the Aerostich Roadcrafter suit, keep in mind I didn't get a chance to ride with the suit since it was too small, just a test fitment.

First item I noticed is the suit weights more than my Joe Rocket two piece suit. The material is a bit rough, and from what the instructions list, takes a few hundreds miles to break in. Compared to my JR suit the material is thicker and seems more durable. The JR suit and the Aerostich use very similar material for the ballistics portion, I think 1050 codura? The armor is much better in the Aerostich suit, a slightly thick form with hard plastic on the main contact point. From what people have told me about their crashes in the Roadcrafter suits, I have heard very positive feedback about the armor.

My favorite piece of the Aerostich Roadcrafter is the ultrasuede collar. My biggest complaint about my JR jacket is the unadjustable collar. From other reviews I have read about the Roadcrafter this seems to be the biggest complaint area, lots of people say it's too stiff. I did find the material stiff but nothing to the point of causing problems or rashing the chin area. The Aerostich Roadcrafter has lots of pockets but seems like most of them are very shallow, allowing only items such as a thin wallet. It should be noted that the instruction manual does describe the pockets taking a back seat to safety, which is why they are so shallow and thin.

The fitment and sizing of the Aerostich Roadcrafter suit was close to my size except I forgot to size in my back protector. Wearing the suit takes a bit of practice, it's really simple after you understand the method. Just follow these steps, right leg, right arm, left arm, zip up the suit. It's really that easy! Another slight problem I had when zipping the suit was the boots, because of the thick shin protectors the zipper was a bit tight.

The only major problem I had with the suit is the size was too small with my back protector in and the back of the suit was too tight. I ordered the next suit one size larger and then ordered the ellipse which is recommended for sport bikes. Should take care of both problems.

Once I receive my second suit, next week sometime, I'll post a follow up review.

Rob

Sunday, February 01, 2004

Name the movie quiz!

First quote, it's pretty easy.

1.

Choose life. Choose a job. Choose a career. Choose a family. Choose a f***ing big television. Choose washing machines, cars, compact disc players and electrical tin openers. Choose good health, low cholesterol, and dental insurance. Choose fixed interest mortgage repayments. Choose a starter home. Choose your friends. Choose leisurewear and matching fabrics. Choose DIY and wondering who the f*** you are on a Sunday morning. Choose sitting on that couch watching mind-numbing, spirit crushing game shows, stuffing junk food into your mouth. Choose rotting away at the end of it all, pishing your last in a miserable home, nothing more than an embarrassment to the selfish, f***ed up brats you spawned to replace yourself. Choose a future. Choose life... But why would I want to do a thing like that? I chose not to choose life. I chose somethin' else. And the reasons? There are no reasons. Who needs reasons when you've got heroin?

2.

How long could we maintain? I wondered. How long until one of us starts raving and jabbering at this boy? What will he think then? This same lonely desert was the last known home of the Manson family; will he make that grim connection when my attorney starts screaming about bats and huge manta rays coming down on the car? If so, well, we'll just have to cut his head off and bury him somewhere, 'cause it goes without saying that we can't turn him loose. He'd report us at once to some kind of outback Nazi law enforcement agency and they'll run us down like dogs. Jesus, did I say that? Or just think it? Was I talking? Did they hear me?

3.

You fill me with inertia.

4.

I didn't see it.
It's a two f***ing ton van Tyrone. Its not as though its a bag of f***ing peanuts now is it?
It was at a funny angle.
[All three turn and look back at the truck.]
It's behind you Tyrone. When you reverse, things come at you from behind.

Yes, I should be finishing up my homework but I'm taking a break.

Rob

Some more Top Fuel facts.

One dragster's 500-inch Hemi makes more horsepower then the first 8 rows at Daytona.

Under full throttle, a dragster engine consumes 1 ½ gallons of nitro per second, the same rate of fuel consumption as a fully loaded 747, but with 4 times the energy density.

The supercharger takes more power to drive then a stock hemi makes.

With nearly 3000 CFM of air being rammed in by the supercharger on overdrive, the fuel mixture is compressed into nearly-solid form before ignition.

Cylinders run on the verge of hydraulic lock.

Dual magnetos apply 44 amps to each spark plug. This is the output of an arc welder in each cylinder.

At stoichiometric (exact) 1.7:1 air/fuel mixture (for nitro), the flame front of nitro methane measures 7050 degrees F.

Nitro methane burns yellow. The spectacular white flame seen above the exhaust stacks at night is raw burning hydrogen, dissociated from atmospheric water vapor by the searing exhaust gases.

Spark plug electrodes are totally consumed during a pass. After ½ way, the engine is dieseling from compression plus the glow of exhaust valves at 1400 degrees F.

The engine can only be shut down by cutting off its fuel flow. If spark momentarily fails early in the run, unburned nitro builds up in those cylinders and then explodes with a force that can blow cylinder heads off the block in pieces or blow the block in half.

Dragsters twist the crank (torsionally) so far (20 degrees in the big end of the crank) that sometimes cam lobes are ground offset from front to rear to re-phase the valve timing somewhere closer to synchronization with the pistons.

To exceed 300mph in 4.5 seconds dragsters must accelerate at an average of over 4G's. But in reaching 200 mph well before ½ track, launch acceleration is closer to 8G's.

If all the equipment is paid off, the crew worked for free, and for once NOTHING BLOWS UP, each run costs $1000.00 per second.

Dragsters reach over 300 miles per hour before you have read this sentence.

Top Fuel Engines ONLY turns 540 revolutions from light to light!

The redline is actually quite high at 9500rpm.

*Note some of these facts might be wrong so don't take them too seriously. When in doubt ask a professional!

Rob