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In this issue of StarCruiser, Ben Harper presents his final installment of safe group riding. Blaine Chaisson regales us with his adventures during a nine-day, 5,000-km road trip from Upstate New York to Eastern Canada. Wayne Horlick's Gangster Road Star was selected as this issue's Star of the Month. As you can see from his long list of modifications, customizing is his passion. Yours truly reviews the AIRHAWK Motorcycle Cushion as an alternative to purchasing a third-party seat.
Finally, I would like to acknowledge the work of Larry Cohen, who peer-reviewed articles in this issue. The concept of "peer reviewing" is important to any newsletter, magazine, or journal. Volunteer peer reviewers enhance the accuracy and credibility of a publication by bringing their expertise in a particular subject to bear upon an article. Generally, commentary material--such as descriptions of road trips or the Star of the Month--do not require peer reviews, but any article that has technical content benefits greatly from an extra pair of eyes. If you would like to volunteer as a peer reviewer, please contact me at
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Submissions Are Welcome
As always, I am actively seeking articles for future editions of StarCruiser. Click Here to see submission guidelines for general articles as well as columns, including:
- Bike Mods: Articles about modifications to improve the function or appearance of a Star.
- Commentary: A personal experience, observation, or opinion related to motorcycles.
- Constellation News: Keep readers informed about constellation activities.
- Humor Me: Jokes or funny anecdotes.
- Member Profile: Nominate a member to be profiled (you can even nominate yourself!).
- Original Fiction/Poetry: Any motorcycle-related fiction or poetry.
- Products and Services: Descriptions of any motorcycle-related products or services.
- QuickTip: Anything to help members ride better and safer.
- Road Trip: Narratives about your travels atop your motorcycle.
- Star of the Month: Nominate a member's motorcycle for Star of the Month (you can even nominate your own motorcycle!)
I look forward to hearing from you.
Sincerely,
Brad Connatser
IRSA No. 14726
The Problem with Under-Inflation
By John Bolegoh
In the last installment, we looked at the effects of tire pressure on motorcycle safety and performance. In this installment, we will dig a little deeper on the performance side of things and look at some of the consequences of riding on under-inflated (and over-inflated) tires.
Riding on Under-Inflated Tires
Riding on under-inflated tires is extremely dangerous with a number of serious (or even fatal!) consequences:
Too Much Heat = Trouble
Under-inflation causes excessive flexing of the sidewall, which results in heat build-up in the tire. Heat is the number one enemy of tires. Higher temperatures expose the body of the tire to greater damage from normal road impacts, cause accelerated tread wear, and can cause hidden interior separations that can result in premature tire failure. Riding on under-inflated tires for prolonged periods greatly increases the chance of suffering a blow out. And as any rider knows, a blowout can cause a total loss of control and result in a serious accident.
Resistance to Road Hazards – Pothole Alert
Under-inflation lowers a tire's ability to handle various road hazards. For example, hitting a pothole with an under-inflated tire can cause the tire to buckle over the rim flange, causing extensive internal tire damage and eventual failure. In some cases, hitting a pothole with an under-inflated tire will instantly cause the tire to rupture.
Hydroplaning – Slip Sliding Away
Low tire pressure reduces the speed at which a tire maintains full contact with a water-covered road. This situation is commonly referred to as hydroplaning and is one of the main hazards of riding on wet roads. The reason that an under-inflated tire hydroplanes is that the larger footprint area results in a lower ground contact pressure, reducing the tire's ability to push the water away from the contact area. Motorcycle tires are designed to provide their optimal wet weather traction when they are proper inflated.
Adverse Handling – I Didn’t Want To Do That!
Riding on under-inflated tires can significantly affect the handling of a motorcycle. A bike that feels stable while riding in a straight line may react unpredictably when cornering with an under-inflated tire. As a general rule, cornering with an under-inflated rear tire will cause the bike to over-steer (turn more sharply than anticipated), whereas cornering with an under-inflated front tire will cause the bike to under-steer (turn less sharply than anticipated). Either situation is extremely dangerous for a rider not expecting this change in handling.
As soon as you feel your bike handling a little strangely, it's a very good idea to stop and check the tire pressures. Even though the tire may not look like it has lost air (today's stiff sidewalls often don't show much deflection), make sure to check with a good quality gauge. If you were using an active tire pressure monitoring system, you would have received a low-pressure warning and would have pulled over to check out the situation.
Reduced Tire Life and Increased Fuel Consumption – Ouch!
Riding on under-inflated tires can dramatically shorten the life of a tire. 20% under-inflation can reduce tire life by up to one third. For some bikes, this can mean tire life dropping from 10,000 miles to 7,000 miles. As well, a motorcycle running on under-inflated tires consumes more fuel and increases the level of exhaust emissions that are released into the atmosphere.
All Tires Lose Air - Naturally
It is important to realize that air loss occurs naturally through the sidewall of virtually every tire, regardless of brand, price, or quality. This air pressure loss can be between 2 and 4 psi (0.14 and 0.27 bar) per month. Because the loss happens gradually over time, it often goes unnoticed until the tire becomes dangerously low. Because most riders check their tire pressures infrequently, this normal loss of air can have disastrous consequences. If a tire loses more than 2 psi per month, the tire, valve, or wheel may be damaged so make sure to take your bike in to a service center for a complete tire and wheel inspection.
Tire Over-Inflation – Too Much of a Good Thing
Riding on over-inflated tires can also be dangerous. Over-inflated tires reduce riding comfort and stability and are more susceptible to cuts, punctures, or damage by an impact. Over-inflation can also result in uneven tire wear and a reduction of a tire's contact area with the road, resulting in reduced grip while cornering.
I’m Going To Tell You One More Time
At the very least, invest in a good quality tire pressure gauge and check your tires before every ride (make sure your tires are cold when you check them). Or better yet, install an active tire pressure monitoring system. Motorcycle tires only work properly when they are inflated properly – just a few psi (or kilopascals) can make a huge difference.
Send Us Your Flat Tire Stories!
If you have an interesting story related to a tire problem while riding, we'd love to hear it. Send us your best flat-tire story, and I'll compile them into document for future distribution. If we publish it, we'll send you a SmarTire gift and put your name in a draw for a free SmarTire for Motorcycles, Active Tire Pressure Monitoring System. Send your stories to:
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In next month's installment, we'll look at the importance of tire pressure in relation to load (both passengers and gear), as well as discuss some practical tire care tips.
John Bolegoh is SmarTire's Technical Services Manager with over 30 cumulative years experience in the tire and tire-monitoring industries. To contact John with a question, email
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. SmarTire offers the world's first active tire pressure monitoring system for motorcycles. Please visit our site at www.smartire.com.
Ride Safety: Part Six: The Importance of Ride Rules
By Ben Harper
Those of us who have been riding with others understand the pleasure of riding with a group of like-minded people. As your group of riders grows, however, you soon discover that some of your companions don't necessarily ride the same way you do. In an organized group like a Constellation, you can also add the real dangers of litigation in the event of an accident. Because we can't change the nature of people, we can at least establish a common standard under which we agree to operate. This is where Ride Rules come in.
Ride Rules, in their classic sense, are simply a set of terms under which the group agrees to ride. They can include many things and can be as simple or as elaborate as you wish them to be. However, there are some common points that should be included. These include, but are not limited to:
- Definitions of your ride officers, and explanation of their respective roles.
- Detailed explanations of all hand signals and their meaning, as well as the proper procedures subsequent to the use of each signal.
- Detailed, "idiot-proof" explanations of all procedures, such as departure, planned stops, pre-ride inspections, and so on.
- Plain-English statements regarding the authority of the Ride Captain, the ability of officers to remove riders who are impaired, the cancellation of any ride that has no qualified ride leaders, and so on.
If your Constellation does its work, your ride rules may provide you with a great recruiting tool. Rocky Mountain Dark Star has received approval of its ride rules with the people in Colorado who are responsible for rider education, which gives our Constellation a tool to give to our sponsors as well. Our dealers can now advertise that they sponsor an association approved as a "safe-riding" association, which has great appeal among returning riders and new riders alike, particularly if other groups appear in the local papers as accident statistics.
Also, if your Constellation promotes itself as safety-conscious, your reputation may eventually spread throughout your area, encouraging people to look you up who hadn't considered doing so before. Many riders do not seek out groups with which to ride, simply because they don't trust others to ride safely. With a proper set of ride rules, you can overcome those fears and gain many more members in the process.
In conclusion, every group of riders needs a standard by which to ride, or chaos ensues. With a good set of Ride Rules, everyone can enjoy the ride and know what to expect on the road. That assurance is a precious piece of comfort, and will increase your enjoyment of your riding experience.
For further information on Ride Rules, contact me, Ben Harper, at
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Editor's Note: This is the final installment of Ben Harper's series on safe group riding. To see more, please visit the Web site of the Rocky Mountain Dark Star Riders at http://www.rmdarkstar.org/.
Humor Me
Growing Old
Have you been guilty of looking at others your own age and thinking, "Surely I can't look that old?"
I was sitting in the waiting room for my first appointment with a new dentist. I noticed his DDS diploma, which bore his full name. Suddenly, I remembered that a tall, handsome, dark-haired boy with the same name had been in my high school class some 40-odd years ago. Upon seeing him, however, I quickly discarded any such thought. This balding, gray-haired man with the deeply lined face was way too old to have been my classmate. After he examined my teeth, I asked him if he had attended Lawton Senior High school.
"Yes. Yes, I did. I'm a Wolverine," he gleamed with pride.
"When did you graduate?" I asked.
He answered, "In 1961. Why do you ask?"
"You were in my class!" I exclaimed.
He looked at me closely. Then, that ugly, old, wrinkled son of a bitch asked, "What did you teach?"
Products and Services
Review of the AIRHAWK Seat Cushion
By Brad Connatser, ISRA #14726
Butt and Seat: A Love/Hate Relationship
My buttocks and my will to ride are like demons and angels fighting on my stock tractor seat. I love to ride my stock V-Star 1100 Classic, but my rear end gets bummed out after about 30 minutes of interstate travel. The area south of the small of my back and north of the valley goes numb. If I don't stop and indulge my primate instincts to stand, I start to feel a dull pain as well, which distracts me from the joy of riding. What to do?
"That's easy," you may say. "Buy a better seat. Get a Corbin or a Mustang." People love their third-party seats. When someone posts about third-party seats on the ISRA forum, exclamation points abound. "I can't live without my Mustang!!!!!" But a third-party seat can be expensive (over $400 for the models acclaimed on the ISRA forum). Even so, I'm not guaranteed the comfort I so desperately seek. Perhaps I have a bottom that is what statisticians call an outlier--a sample very far from being "average." In fact, on a long haul to Kentucky, I was thinking just that--my posterior must be among the most frail on earth. So did I plunk down 400 Washingtons for a new bottom cradle? Not on your life!!!!!
A Cheaper Alternative
Thumbing through a J&P Cycles catalog one day, I came across the AIRHAWK Motorcycle Cushion, which J&P was selling for about $160. The more I read about this accessory, the more I agreed with the concept: Floating my rump on a cushion of air cells would relieve the intense pressure between the seat of my bike and the seat of my pants. As the manufacturer of the cushion says:
"The last mile feels like the first, thanks to AIRHAWK's exclusive DRY FLOATATION technology. Patented system eliminates painful pressure points and promote consistent blood flow for a longer, more comfortable ride. Memory foam can't do it. Gel seats can't do it. Only genuine AIRHAWK can do it. And it's portable - use it anywhere else you sit."
--http://www.rohoinc.com/recreational/index.jsp
AIRHAWK's Cushion Features DRY FLOTATION Technology
If there were such an event as "whipping out a credit card" at the Olympics, I would have earned a gold medal. I was on a Web site and entering my credit card number in a state of euphoria. Did I pay extra for the fastest shipping method possible? Damn straight. In two days, I received my genuine AIRHAWK cushion--just in time for a little ride I now like to call "the floatation fiasco."
(Non?) Performance
The instructions for the AIRHAWK are very clear. You should not fill the matrix of airtight cells full of air but only with enough air to keep the top of the cells from touching the bottom of the cells. With such little air in the AIRHAWK, it appears to be limp and hardly promising. I overfilled the cushion on purpose so that I could adjust the height of the cells downward as I sat on the cushion and incrementally released its air through an adjustable air nozzle. Once I got the cushion adjusted, I plopped it onto my tractor seat, mounted my bike, and took off for a thirty-minute ride.
Airhawk Seat Cushion Installed as Instructed
At first, I was encouraged. Fifteen minutes into the ride and no pain. But after 20 minutes, 25 minutes, 30 minutes, the familiar sensation evolved. On the return trip home, I slumped over the gas tank in disappointment. I parked my bike in the garage and flung the AIRHAWK onto a shelf.
But Wait
I didn't use the AIRHAWK for a long time after that experiment. Not until I moved into a condominium and unpacked the AIRHAWK from a box labeled "garage stuff" did I figure out the root of the failure. Having an outlier backside, I looked at the problem not from the angle described in the AIRHAWK literature but from my own singular experience with the numb-butt syndrome.
I've been riding motorcycles for a long time, on and off since I was twelve. I used to take long rides on my Yamaha 125 street/trail bike, and I don't recall ever having my bottom doze off while traveling on this bike or any bike that I owned (and I've owned seven). So what's the difference? Is it age? I didn't think so. It was the seat. Take a good look at the photo below. Notice the area spanning this anonymous rider's blue jeans. That's the area that goes numb on my bum. On this kind of seat--which is the only kind I ever sat on until I got my V-Star--there is no pressure on that area. No pressure, no pain. But on the cruiser shown next, the back of the seat builds upward, and that bulk of foam is the culprit of my discomfort.
The Dead Zone From Riding on a Stock V-Star Seat
Pretty but Painful Stock V-Star 1000 Classic Seat
Yep, I thought, I'll have to get a new seat. But then I thought, you know, when I rode those motorcycles with the no-frills seats, my bottom shared the load with my hamstrings, the backs of the top of my legs. So I once again installed the AIRHAWK, but this time I scooted it up onto the tank such that its back end did not touch the scoop of the seat. Now, when I saddled up, I sat a little closer to the tank, but the dead zone of my backside was touching neither the AIRHAWK nor the seat. In this configuration, the AIRHAWK did provide some relief, although I still felt some numbness when I drove for more than 45 minutes.
Creating An Air Pocket for Better Bum Circulation
The Perfect Combination
Recently, I purchased, installed, and reviewed a product from BikerBrackets.com (see the review at Star Cruiser Issue 6.4). These kick-out pegs mount on the bottom of the floorboards. For in-town riding, I leave them retracted, but when I plan to travel for more than an hour, I kick out the pegs. I don't use them like most people use pegs. I've seen people riding their hogs and metric cruisers with their legs all stretched out. That's fine, but the reason I bought these pegs is so that I can press hard against them and thus lift my bottom off the seat for a few seconds, thus allowing my circulatory system to recovery down below. On a recent trip to Asheville, North Carolina, I tested my theory on a little ride I now like to call "levitation heaven." (I don't really give my trips names, but it seems appropriate for making my points.)
Conclusion
Testing my theory was a smashing success. I rode all the way to Mars Hill (just north of Asheville) with only one stop for fuel. Riding along at the speed limit (yeah, right), I would sit in my normal position--feet firmly on the floorboards--for about twenty minutes or so. Then, I would push my bottom off the AIRHAWK for less than a minute. I could feel the blood rushing into starved capillaries. That was all it took. I felt as though I could ride forever.
So if you are considering purchasing the AIRHAWK, caveat emptor (let the buyer beware). I did not have much success using the AIRHAWK as it was designed to be used. But then again, I didn't really use the kick-out pegs as they were designed to be used (although I did test them as they were designed to be used for my review of them). It was simply a happy meeting between two contraptions that helped me to obtain outer peace. My recommendation for anyone suffering the numb-butt syndrome is to find someone who has installed a third-party seat and then ride the bike. It will be more difficult, I think, to find someone who has purchased an AIRHAWK cushion, but if you can, it is a simple matter of placing it on your own bike to determine whether it works for you or not (the cushion has a non-skid surface and stays put very well). If you're like me and don't have any friends, then do the research. Go to local motorcycle dealers to see if they have any used motorcycles with third-party seats installed. Or perhaps you can find an accessory dealer that stocks the AIRHAWK cushion. In any event, be it known that when it comes to motorcycle mounting, one seat does not fit all.
Road Trip
Road Trip to Eastern Canada July 2004
By Blaine Chaisson, ISRA #17085
The trip officially started about 12 years ago when my two friends (Peter T and Peter Z) and I first had motorcycles and decided we should do a road trip to the Atlantic Provinces from Upstate New York. Up until now, marriage, kids, and selling our bikes kept us from our passion. On August 2003, we sat down and decided that it was time and planned the trip for the following year. The three of us didn't even have bikes yet. That's when I bought my V Star 1100 Classic, and the trip was on.
Saturday, July 17th, 2004
I got up at 5:30 a.m. and waited for the boys to arrive. Soon after that, and we were officially on our way at 6:46 a.m. EST. We cruised along the # 401 until we hit the exit to the 1000 Island Bridge at Gananoque, Ontario. The view from the bridge was pretty spectacular. We were in upstate New York heading east toward Vermont, making stops every 200 km or so to refuel the bikes and give our bodies a chance to recover from riding. We hit Vermont and really enjoyed the twisty roads leading down and through the Appalachians. We hit Wells River around 8:30 p.m. and checked into our motel room. I did a quick calculation: We had traveled 1,000 km that day.
About five minutes after we left the motel, we cruised the # 302, which was one of the best motorcycling roads I had been on. The # 302 brought us to # 5, another beautiful road twisting back and forth that followed alongside a large river. It seemed with every new bend in the road we came across a more picturesque scene than the corner before--it just got better and better.
Number 5 led us unto # 3. We made into Bar Harbor, Maine, and found the motel we had reserved. The attendant mentioned we could probably get the early-bird special in town for lobster if we got there by 6:00 p.m. It was a beautiful evening that ended a great day of riding.
Monday, July 19th, 2004
It was spitting rain while we boarded the CAT for 7:00 A.M. We were off to the upper deck to grab some breakfast and check out the boat. I have to say the CAT was awesome. We crossed from Bar Harbor to Yartmouth in about 3 hours.
We traveled at a pretty good clip from Yartmouth to Halifax, but the 46 millimeters of rain that fell did put a bit of water in our boots. When we arrived in Halifax, we hooked up with my Uncle Tom, and in no time, we were dried off and enjoying fresh lobster and mussels. A great end to another day's ride.
Tuesday, July 20th, 2004
We had coffee and toured Halifax a bit, which turned out to be great. Halifax's boardwalk was everything you would expect of a harbor with tugboats, Theodore Two, and some well-maintained tall sailing ships, the maritime museum, and lots of shops with nautical stuff. It was a relaxing and enjoyable atmosphere. We had fish and chips on the boardwalk for breakfast/lunch.
Back on the bikes and on to Truro and then the Canso Causeway. Somewhere between Truro and Canso, Peter Z ran out of gas. Some quick thinking by Peter Z and we were draining gas from the petcock on my bike into an emptied water bottle.
We made it to a gas station about 15 to 20 km away. Then we were on our way to the Canso Causeway connecting southern Nova Scotia with Cape Breton. It's the deepest causeway in the world.
We had a choice to take the major highway north of the lake, but we opted for # 4, the secondary road that led south towards Sydney. It was 150 km of twisting, turning, uphill, and downhill. It was a bit broken up in one spot, but it was a fabulous ride.
We got into Sydney decided to head toward Louisburg and get a small motel near the ocean. The air was getting colder, and the fog started to set in as we got closer to Louisburg. As we headed into town, I noticed some bikes in a parking lot, and we pulled over to check it out. After talking to the couple in one of the cabins, Peter Z made a quick phone call and had us set for the night in a two-bedroom efficiency room with a kitchen and small living room for $85 .We grabbed some really tasty pizza from a small place in town and called it a night.
Wednesday, July 21st, 2004
I was pleasantly surprised by Fort Louisburg. I was expecting a walled garrison with the odd building or two, but it was more like a complete town with upwards of ten taverns and a running bakery. The fort was originally built by the French in 1736 but had been destroyed a couple of times before it lay unused for a hundred years or so. It wasn't until 1961 when the government of Cape Breton decided to reconstruct the site in order to provide employment and give folks a sense of their heritage and pride in their roots. It is well worth the visit.
We headed north from there into North Sydney to look at the large ferry that travels to Newfoundland and then on to wards the Cabot Trail.
There were a few scary moments for each of us as we tried to navigate the corners on the mountains.
A moose darted across the road and almost got hit by a touring bike that was only 100 meters ahead of us. About five minutes later, we saw a black bear cub on the side of the road and stopped to take a picture or two.
We had decided earlier that we would likely spend one night on the Cabot Trail, so as evening approached, we stopped at the closest motel. I shot the breeze with two older guys from PEI who were riding the Cabot Trail about the cost to go to and return from PEI. The cost was small, thus we decided to head there tomorrow the next day.
Thursday, July 22nd, 2004
We went along the Cabot Trail to the Cheti-camp, had breakfast, and continued along the coastline. Smooth wide turns were the order of the day. We connected up with # 104, which took us to New Glasgow for the ferry to PEI. At 1:00 p.m., we were on the ferry heading for PEI with a couple of sea otters or seals joining alongside the ferry. I should mention that motorcycles are the first vehicles onto the ferry and the first ones off as well. I guess because we are so special.
We were off to Cavendish to the home of Anne of Green Gables and its author Lucy Maud Montgomery. L. M. Montgomery's homestead, where she lived with her grandparents, was surrounded by beautiful pasture, and the sea was within view just across the highway. With Cavendish behind us, we crisscrossed PEI south and east to reach the Confederation Bridge that connects PEI with New Brunswick. The bridge itself is 13 km long and is quite an engineering marvel. It was 5:45 p.m. by the time we crossed the bridge and we reached New Brunswick. On to Moncton and the Bay of Fundy we headed.
We reached a group of cottages called the Chocolate Inn about 7 km before Hope Well Rocks around 8:30 p.m., and Peter Z got us a cottage--for less than what they were asking--and three breakfast coupons. They call this the Chocolate River Inn because the river is full of this reddish brown mud. It was a long ride from the Cabot Trail in Cape Breton to PEI to New Brunswick, but the blueberry pie, strawberry shortcake, and ice cream was all that was needed to top off the day.
Friday, July 23rd, 2004
We had a leisurely breakfast and took our time getting our gear together because we didn't need to get to Hope Well Rocks until closer to 10:00 a.m. As we were putting our gear onto the bikes, it reminded me of the old western movies where the cowboys are on a cattle drive and pick up their gear in the morning for the long day of herding the cows. Each of us followed our ritual of packing our bags as tightly as possible, making sure to leave regularly used items like a camera close to the top of the bag. Then it was time to clean off the visor and windshield from yesterdays bug remains. Then we were off to the Hope Well Rocks Park, which was about 7 km away.
Bikes parked and the admission paid, we headed down the hiking trail at Hope Well Rocks. We eventually went down a couple flights of stairs before we reached the beach, where the tide had receded back to the ocean. The beach was full of people taking advantage of the low tide for the next 2.5 hours before they would have to leave again with the advancing/rising tide. The tide rises and falls some 20 feet twice a day, the most of any tide in the world. There are a number of rock outcroppings topped with vegetation along the beach, and in fact one is nicknamed Flower Pot Rock.
Hope Well Rocks was the last official destination on our itinerary, so the remainder of the trip was very open to whatever we felt like doing. We didn't have any specific plans, but we were generally heading west on our way home. We decided to stop in Fredericton, New Brunswick, and visit the garrison and some of the historical buildings. The garrison was no Louisburg, but it was interesting nonetheless, with a few attendants in period costume to fill you in on life and times of that era.
We walked around the city core a bit before we realized that we were absolutely starved. We found a restaurant that was open called the Blue Door. We really lucked out on the restaurant because the food was fantastic.
Even though it was still early in the day and we probably could have put another two to three hours of riding under our belt, we looked for a motel and decided maybe even go see a movie. The show was exciting and entertaining and just what we needed after seven full days of riding. We grabbed some food and called it a day.
Saturday, July 24th, 2004
Saturday morning we were fortunate to get our gear ready under a light sprinkle of rain. We had heard the forecast of showers and were prepared for the worst. About five minutes from the motel, we did hit fairly heavy rain, but it only lasted for about half an hour. The rain was heading east under a strong wind, and we were heading west on our cruisers, which was a great combination.
The wind that was pushing the rain clouds quickly eastward pushed fiercely against us most of the way through New Brunswick. It was the most turbulent air stream we traveled through on the entire nine-day trip.
New Brunswick was pretty uneventful. Our uneventful day did come to an end as we entered Quebec. I decided to pull over to the side of the highway and get a picture of Lake Notre Dame. Peter T and I stopped on the downside of the hill. We parked the bikes, and seconds after Peter T saw out of the corner of his eye his bike falling off the side stand and crashing to the pavement on the shoulder. No major damage. Ah well, all part of a road trip I guess.
We forged on through Quebec and eventually reached Montreal. All I remember is being tired. The sun was low in the sky and blocking our view of the highway signs to the point where all of us were holding up one hand to block the sun and steering with the other hand. We made it passed Montreal unscathed and finally stopped for the night in Cornwall. We went to Harvey's for supper, and we were back in our hotel room and ready to get our final night's rest before heading home in the morning.
Sunday, July 25th, 2004
The ride home along # 401 was just the right length for the last day of a bike trip. We got to my house at 3:15 p.m. EST, where we had started from nine days ago. We had traveled 4,910 km.
The trip was everything that I hoped and wished it could be. I thoroughly enjoyed Peter T's and Peter Z's company. We had lots of fun and enjoyed thousands of kilometers of absolutely fantastic motorcycling roads. We had some scary times, we got misdirected a few times, we even had an accident, but that was okay because no one was on the bike at the time. It was a good trip. No, I stand corrected--it was a great trip.
Blaine Chaisson (AKA "The Saw")
V Star 1100 Classic ISRA
Star of the Month
Gangster Road Star
Owner Wayne Horlick
My fascination with modifying motorcycles all started a few years ago with my first bike purchase of a Honda Aero. Fully customized: black chrome and whitewalls. After selling that bike, I purchased an '03 Yamaha Road Star Midnight and it all began. I told my dealer I wanted the bike raked to 40 degrees. They said no problem and wheeled it into the machine shop and performed the work. However, when I said I also needed some Dunlop white walls, they gave me a hard time. They said white walls on a Midnight Star ... are you crazy? Well, with help from Sam from Broward Motorsports, after they delivered the bike to me, I started adding a few items as you see from the list, and I never turned back.
The bike started getting lots of looks and winning awards. I was the owner of a metric accessory store at the time, so it made it a lot easier getting the stuff I needed to make the bike what it is today. For some reason, I'm stuck in the past. I love the gangster look--black chrome with some white walls. On a sad note, I was at a local show at Broward Motorsports and a guy asked if it was for sale and how much. I gave him a price and he said where do i sign. I will be back real soon with another Roadie. Gauranteed.
Modifications
- 40 degree rake to frame
- Beach bars with full chromed switch housings and controls
- Barnett stainless cables
- Kuryakyn twin velocity air cleaner
- Vance and hines longshots with thundermonsters
- Dunlop cruisemax white walls
- Custom world international wheel covers
- Kuryakyn tombstone taillight setup
- Shortened Yamaha front turnsignals
- Looney double d studded seat
- Yamaha chrome floorboards
- Alien faces custom speedo cover
- Bike buddy pro air ride system
- 12 led pods in white for lighting up at night shows
- Arlen ness swingarm covers
- Highway hawk rear axel covers
- Barons chrome rear drive pully cover
- Ness countershaft cover
- Pro-1 rear master cylinder
- Highway hawk rear caliper cover
- Bigbike parts front caliper covers
- Pro-1 horn covers
- Kuryakyn adjure headlight
- Drag specialties custom air scoop
- Dyna 3000 and a whole lot more
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October 2004 - Vol 6, No 5
