Great article on Lane-Sharing/Lane-Splitting/Filtering

Lane-sharing, a legal practice here in California, is a topic much like oil and tires.  Ask a group of riders or drivers, and the conversation quickly gets passionate and emotional.  Most riders have lane-split at least once, and many practice it daily.  I'll admit to lane-splitting often, especially at stoplights.  And here goes the arguments-while some think that's "cutting in line", I do it because far too many friends have been hit from behind at stoplights and stopsigns-with results ranging from totaled bikes to nearly totaled bodies.  Thankful for the power of prayer and good surgeons, nurses and therapists, but that's a whole 'nother post!

So today I'd like to link to what is one of the best, non-emotional and fair-handed treatments of lane-sharing I've read.  It was written by a rider named Andy over at www.Twoslow.com and I've gotten his permission to cite it here.  Two Slow is a group of riding friends up the road in Orange County and if all of them have the attitude Andy has, I hope to ride with them someday or seen them at the IMS in Long Beach.

Ride safe, and be courteous to one another out there!  As Andy points out, we have enough things in our lives causing real stress to get worked up about a bike lane-splitting by or a car "blocking" us for ten seconds!

It's "Movember" so let's grow those mustaches

It's Movember!  For the first time, I'm participating in growing a mustache to raise money and awareness for men's health issues.

Why, you are likely asking, knowing of my failed facial hair attempts in the past.  Well, my friend and a CMA Chapter President Ed "Hoggy" Herrmann is fighting advanced prostrate cancer, one of the men's diseases Movember is against.  Oh, yeah, Ed also was a major league catcher for a few years and was an All-Star selection.  He's one of the toughest guys I've ever met, so talking up men's health awareness while growing a cheesy mustache is only a small thing to do to support him.  If you look at some of the photos from his playing days, or his days riding with us, you'll see he grows awesome mustaches and beards, and actually had a pretty killer fro when he played too!

So check out "our" team (hey, if you join it's "our") and throw some support Hoggy's way!  http://us.movember.com/team/1306625

Gear Review: Grease Monkey General Purpose High Performance Work Gloves

Last week I was removing the fork tubes on my 1999 Harley-Davidson Sportster to replace the oil seals and just do general motorcycle maintenance on the front end.  I didn't have any mechanic's work gloves, so while at the other HD (Home Depot) buying some wood for another project I picked up a pair of Grease Monkey General Purpose High Performance Work Gloves.  They aren't very expensive-I paid less than $15, and the large pair fit my hands well.  This is always a concern, as these gloves are meant to be used holding tools and parts.  A previous pair I owned (I don't remember the brand) were too long for my fingers and soon were used for non-mechanical work which quickly tore them up.  Not the problem with these gloves-nice fit, decent construction so I added them to the cart.

Getting home, I used them for the removal of the front tire, brake piston, fork brace, turn indicators and then the fork tubes.  While the front end of the bike wasn't too dirty, there was some road grime and brake dust and of course fork oil (reason #1 for this project!) involved.  Having gloves on saved on clean-up time, and I was happy with the dexterity the Grease Monkey gloves provided.

Re-assembly was also done with the gloves and some of the challenges may have been as much my unfamiliarity with working in gloves as these specific pair.  Some of the smaller bolts, like on the turn indicators, I took one glove off and worked Michael Jackson style.  Also I had to grease the front axle and opted to use an ungloved hand vice a rag to apply and spread the grease.  But cleaining up was much easier.

So far they seem to be well made and will likely hold up well to the amount of mechanical work I do.  I'd be interested to hear how long any of these type gloves hold up under daily use if a professional or avid hobbyist would care to comment.  I'll also ask when I visit the auto-hobby shop or some mechanic friends.

Ride safe and enjoy wrenching and customizing bikes!

Lots of riding, not much else to say

Finishing a high mileage month, including 5 or 6 days on the road for work.  I've put over a thousand miles on the Connie, including a 300+ mile overnight trip last weekend with some good twisty CA 2-lane highways thrown in, and a few hundred on the Sporty now that the rattle can paint job and other motorcycle maintenance are done.

But don't have any tales of customizing gone awry, specific bike news or anything like that.  Maybe more later this week.