Author: Kelly

  • Motorcycle Road Trip 2012 #2: the Sunshine Coast and Vancouver Island

    Motorcycle Road Trip 2012 #2: the Sunshine Coast and Vancouver Island

    I was lucky to be able to enjoy a second “significant” motorcycle road trip this year.  My brother Colin and his son, Troy, came out to the coast from Alberta on their motorbikes.  Colin had previously ridden up the Sunshine coast and wanted to share that with us, and it sounded fantastic to me.  I…

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  • Motorcycle Road Trip 2012 #1: Washington, Idaho, Montana, Alberta, and back again

    Motorcycle Road Trip 2012 #1: Washington, Idaho, Montana, Alberta, and back again

    My first “real” (i.e.: more than one day) motorcycle road trip of 2012 began on July 30.  Myself, my nephew Shane, and our good friends Jeff and Tim set out on a journey to buy Shane a T-Shirt.  Yes, that was the only actual specific, tangible objective of the trip.  Everything else that happened was…

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  • HARLEY DAVIDSONS LEAK!!!  Kinda…

    HARLEY DAVIDSONS LEAK!!! Kinda…

    I will state this now very clearly: Harley Davidson motorcycles built since the late 1980’s (i.e.: those with the Evolution motors) do *not* habitually leak.  These engines are generally as tight and well-designed as any, albeit with a different aesthetic than the finely balanced Hondas and BMWs of the world. That said: my beloved Road Glide began…

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  • 2011 Motorcycle Road Trip #2: the Coastal Highway and Computer History Museum

    2011 Motorcycle Road Trip #2: the Coastal Highway and Computer History Museum

    My second big motorcycle trip of the year took me down the Coastal Highway (Highway 101).   Road trip #1 had already established that I enjoyed motorcycle touring, so now it was about seeing where that enjoyment would take me.  I still had questions I wanted to ask myself during the ride: how far in…

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  • 2011 Motorcycle Road Trip #1: to Edmonton and back

    2011 Motorcycle Road Trip #1: to Edmonton and back

    2011 is the year I wanted to start taking my motorcycle on some longer, multi-day trips.  I had lots of questions to explore: would I figure out how to pack what I need?  Would the Road Glide be comfortable for the long haul?  And most important: would this kind of riding be the kind of…

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  • Recording my rides: the Race Optics EVO-HD Camera System

    Recording my rides: the Race Optics EVO-HD Camera System

    It occurred to me shortly after I bought my first motorbike last year that video taping my rides might be kind of interesting.  I started investigating the various options, ranging from duct-taping or velcro-strapping an off-the rack home video camera onto my bike, through custom-built video rigs specific to motorcycling.  What I settled on was…

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  • Lung infection and six months on my Harley

    Lung infection and six months on my Harley

    Two weeks ago I came down with a cold, and a week ago I was diagnosed with a lung and sinus infection.  The doctor said it was probably a variety of “mild” pneumonia, what is sometimes called “walking pneumonia”.  So I’ve been coughing, clearing my sinuses, and generally feeling crappy. On the plus side, the…

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  • My other Harley: 2011 Road Glide Ultra

    My other Harley: 2011 Road Glide Ultra

    Earlier this year I completed a motorcycle skills training course, bought a Kawasaki Vulcan, and got my motorcycle license.  I had ridden before back when I was still a teenager, but this time I actually got my license.  Between May and September I rode about 10,000 kilometres- most of that was smaller rides in the…

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  • Motorcycle Lazy Susan arrives

    Motorcycle Lazy Susan arrives

    The last piece has arrived, and my Vulcan landing pad is, for this year at least, complete.  Behold, the Cycle Spinner:

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  • Licensed to Ride

    Licensed to Ride

    I successfully passed my ICBC motorcycle road test on June 15.  It was, like all tests, pretty stressful, but once I was finished the effort disappeared into my rear view mirrors surprisingly quickly.  I’m planning on taking some sort of “advanced” training in a year or two: my feeling is that simply riding can improve…

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