New Blog & New Bike

I came across an interesting blog via the Vulgar Curmudgeon. I've only perused it briefly but it looks like the guy does a lot of the same type of things that I do. That is, a bit of everything. He seems to have a much better understanding of things electrical than I do, so maybe I can increase my knowledge by checking out what he does. I've added a link in the sidebar to So Many Hobbies.

I do like the tap wrench he has in the photo above - looks to be a pair of file handles added to the wrench to make it easier to use. I might have to rig one of those up myself.

The weather was warm enough to get the new bike out for a little shakedown ride the other day. Even though the bike is fuel injected it has an enrichening lever on the handlebar for cold starting. The manual says to use it for the first start of the day or when the temps are low. It doesn't want to idle like you would expect a fuel injected bike to until it's warmed up well. It acts more like a carbureted bike in that regard. However, after it's warmed up it ticks over nicely and will pull from way down low and has the nice torque spread that you would want from an "adventure" bike.

I adjusted the mirrors to my liking, cleaned off a shelf in the cabinet for the saddle bags, hooked up the battery tender and then put the cover on it. I did check out what it would take to mount up my bicycle panniers on the tank guard. I think I've come up with a pretty simple solution. I've got a couple of other jobs I want to finish first, and then I'll see about tackling that. With the bags front and rear I'll have enough room to pack all my gear for a week's camping. Plus, the hard bags have clips on the lids to tie things down. I'll see about picking up some nylon straps with the plastic snap locks to use and then I'll be set. I've done quite a bit of bicycle touring, maybe a bit of motorcycle touring in the future.