The Threadless Nut

http://www.ridetowork.org/

Lookee that, I completely forgot that today was Ride to Work Day. Good thing I happened to ride in anyway since it was such a nice day out. Fair number of bikes in the parking lot, though not an unusually high number for a nice day.

Ok, I finally decided it was just too hot to wear my current Joe Rocket Ballistic gear and ordered some First Gear mesh stuff from Tonker, Mesh Tex II Jacket & HT Air pant.
I specifically ordered from them because their website actually said that they had everything in stock and my preferred place, NewEnough, was backordered on the pants. Well, don’t believe everything you read on the internet folks, shortly after I ordered I received a mail stating that the pants were out of stock. Of course, I went to the site to see what it said and they still indicate that the are in stock.
Pet Peeve #3457: having bogus stock info on your website. If you aren’t going to be reasonably accurate, just leave it off.

So, I finally did it. Today I picked up a new to me, 1999 BMW F650 from AJ Cycle in Gill, MA. It’s black, the fastest color, and I think it will be a good bike for me. Since it was snowing out when I brought it home, Erica suggested, yes really, that I put it in the living room. Am I a lucky guy or what?

http://show.motorcycleshows.com/

Went to the motorcycle show at the Javits Center in NYC today. Very worthwhile trip if you are deciding what bike to buy. A big chunk of the show is bike manufacturer’s booths with all their bikes lined up for folks to poke, prod, sit on, and tip over. Yes, I saw several folks tip bikes over. I don’t think anyone got hurt, but there are certainly a few brand new bikes around that might have to be discounted a bit
There are also a bunch of displays from other types of manufacturers, like folks that make helmets and gear. The helmet displays were especially useful as you can try on all sorts of them and find out what fits right and is comfortable.
The rest of the space is various smaller vendors selling all sorts of equipment and accessories, from jackets, to parts, to custom molded earplugs.
I was able to really narrow down my bike choices. There were several I sat on that just weren’t comfortable at all. So, I’ve basically trimmed the list to the Suzuki Vstrom, BMW F650 and the Kawasaki KLR650.

Stay tuned as the quest continues.