Camping in Calaveras Big Tree State Park

In preparation of our summer trip we wanted to test some of our camping and motorcycle gear. During this two week trip we will probably camp about half the time if everything goes as planned and that means we had to check some of our gear for usability and comfort.

Therefore, two weeks ago we rode the bikes to the Sierras again. We decided we didn't want to go very far or very long but just on a nice weekend trip.

Saturday was a pretty good day, the weather was warm in the Bay Area and fairly hot in the Central Valley.

Filling up the two beasts along the way.

Time for a break

Wasn't that soft ... 

After a nice day of riding very simple roads, some curves but nothing as crazy fun as we normally ride in the Bay Area we arrived in Calaveras Big Trees State Park along HW4. 

The campground there was actually pretty nice. Campsites under the trees, not too much dust, nice and big campsites and the neighbors weren't too close, either.

Home, sweet home.

Cheers!

Obligatory Coffee

We also bought some firewood for later which turned out to be a good idea as it got fairly cold once the sun was down. It was great just sitting by the fire and enjoying the evening there. The Kermit Camp Chairs were super comfortable and showed that they are worth their price!

We might not take the leg extensions on the summer trip to save some weight, but if we have space / no weight issues, we might just take 'em for the added comfort.

Nice and cozy place to enjoy the evening.

On Sunday we headed further East on HW4, planning to cross the Sierras here and then head back West on HW108. 

Good plan overall ... but scroll down and see for yourself.

Andrea's BMW

The author and his mighty cat

Along the way it got colder and colder and then started raining. We got in our rain gear which worked just as expected because after fighting for ten minutes with the gear, finally getting it on and back on the bike it pretty much stopped raining. That's exactly how rain gear is supposed to work ... ;-)

Definitely visible!

Now, precipitation and cold temperatures coming together can only mean one thing:

Snow along HW108

Yes, it actually started snowing at some point on 108 and we were very happy when we got over Sonora pass and back into warmer areas. 

Strawberry Inn - Highway 108, California

The Strawberry Inn was a very welcome break after the cold temperatures and slightly slippery roads (although most of that was due to rain and mud on Highway 4). We stopped here and had lunch and a good Cafe Latte.

Back in Sunnyvale, we only had very few items on our list to get for the longer trip:

• a small hatchet or axe to split firewood and pound the pegs for the tent into the ground when a thunderstorm comes up in the middle of the night and we add 14 more pegs to the 4 we had used to set the tent up initially (luckily, we only got a little bit of hail, not much rain, and not much wind after an hour of thunder and lightning)
• some harder tent pegs as I bent three of the aluminum ones during the night action while getting hailed on; yeah, the ones linked here are prohibitively expensive, so we got for just in case we need them for super hard ground somewhere
• a better pillow for me (got an air pillow now from REI, we'll see how that works out)
• take the flip flops with us, as the Teva sandals take too long to dry after a shower
• take more food, including coffee and breakfast so we are a bit more independent and can also save a little bit of money when we are camping anyways

Overall a very good test for our gear, pretty everything has worked out great. All the gear fits in our panniers and the one Ortlieb bag for long and bulky items. The longer trip can come! Really looking forward to it.

Bling ...

Öhlins TR-119 still in the box

New vs. Old

Installed - no, it's not in the way there

Initial Impression: Very good. More to come after a few hundred miles with the new shock.

Six Months ...

Today it's been six months since my surgery. I'm feeling pretty good so far. Much more exercise than before but I'm still feeling very unfit. Anyways, some day it'll show that I run four miles three times a week ...

Tour Preparation - Kermit Chairs

For our summer tour this year we are planning to do a mix of hotel/motel and camping. We'll definitely take the full camping equipment just to be sure that we get a decent place to sleep every night - we have  hotels booked for the first three nights only. After that we really don't know where we'll be.

We basically had everything we need in terms of camping equipment like tent, sleeping bags, and sleeping pads, but missed one item on our trips last summer: a decent set of comfortable camping chairs. Whenever we took a break from riding in really nice places, we sat on the ground, or on whatever was available there, not very comfy.

So, after some checking and a bit of moaning about the price we got a pair of Kermit Chairs. This is a very comfortable and solid chair, handmade in Tennessee. Very high quality and really nicely finished.

Kermit Chairs - his and hers ...

We got leg extensions for both, this photo here shows the difference in seat height:

Leg Extensions

The chair is super nice even without the extensions, but they might make it a bit easier in some situations or when we want to sit on a hillside: just put the front extensions on only and the chair is good to go.

They arrived today and we tested them in the living room - perfectly comfortable and exactly what we were looking for. They will be put to good use on our upcoming trips! This is how equipment should be: solid, high quality, worth the price, and very likely to outlast our desire for camping over the next 20 years ... ;-)

And even better: the two chairs will fit easily into our Ortlieb Rackpack duffle bag, together with our two Therm-A-Rest sleeping pads and room to spare.

Daily News

Completely unrelated to motorcycles but worth mentioning anyways – if you are looking for a very interesting daily newsfeed that brings up interesting topics but isn't long or boring, try Next Draft. I love that it gives me a few news articles / ideas / topics (10) per day that are interesting to read, already slightly summarized so I can find out whether it's worth reading them or whether I'm interested.

2013 R1200GS "Wasserboxer" - Initial Impressions

The 2013 BMW R1200GS ("watercooled" boxer) arrived at our local dealership (San Jose BMW) and yesterday was the day for test rides - an email was sent out to customers to stop by and ride it. And that I did. I actually wanted to go there for the social aspect and to take another look at the new GS, not really planning on riding it as I didn't have much time.

But when I got there, Chris asked whether I'd like to ride it and as nobody was in line at that time I decided to go for it and give it a spin. The immediate feel was that the seat is now firmer than on the old one and narrower in the front while the ergonomics fit really well, handlebar spot on where I expect it to be, foot pegs a little high (or seat a little low), but the seat was in the lower of the two settings (according to Chris it doesn't make that much of a difference any more, not like the old one), screen was dialed down low.

First blip of the throttle surprised me - super light action of the throttle, engine spins up very fast. I was a bit surprised by the light throttle action, but got used to it within a few hundred meters. No big problem so far. But, what I noticed when leaving the parking lot and in the first turns: that thing felt dog slow when turning in. Wow, the old GS didn't feel like this, the Tiger doesn't feel like this, I immediately disliked it. The whole front felt weird to me. No feedback (I'm used to that part of the Telelever), but also that slow turn in - hmmm, not a good start into the test ride.

I did some side streets in San Jose, then got on the highway (280 and 17) to try out wind protection and high speed handling. Wind was super loud so I leaned forward while riding and turned the windshield adjuster until the shield was all the way up - much, much better then. In that settings windprotection and comfort were really good for standard equipment. Very little noise, nearly no buffeting at the helmet, good protection for upper body and legs. On the way back I noticed some heat on my left leg, just above the boot (Sidi Adventure GoreTex, so a very high boot) and around the knee. Probably air coming out of the left side water cooler being blown there. I was wearing the Sidi boots, jeans + knee protectors, so hard to say  how it would feel with riding pants. Might be not so nice with very light weight pants or mesh pants. But don't read too much into this, I didn't have enough time on the bike to tell whether that was any real concern.

But again I noticed that the steering felt really heavy, especially when speed went up a notch, around 70mph it felt like it wouldn't want to change course at all. Some might say that this is "stability" while I noticed it very negatively.

Now on the highway the new engine really shines. It vibrates quite a bit but it wasn't annoying, and okay, I'm coming from a Triumph triple, so pretty much everything feels not as as smooth. The engine still feels agricultural in its behavior. A little grumpy at low revs, some engine/transmission/drivetrain lash, but spinning easy and good to ride at mid revs. And very, very powerful. There is absolutely no comparison to my Tiger, this bike feels like it has twice the power + torque, not 30% more. It's a very fast bike, quick acceleration and power everywhere. This is nice for the hooligan in me, but utterly useless in 90% of my normal riding. BMW definitely got a step closer to the Multistrada with that.

Getting off the highway and on to some twisty mountain roads again the steering came up first. It felt like I was taking corners way wide because I couldn't get that thing to lean over. Not a nice feeling. I got a little used to it further into the ride and my lines became better, but man, what a difference to the old bike and to my Tiger. I very, very much prefer how my Tiger handles, and if I recall this correctly the old one was more comparable to the Tiger than to the new GS. The bike I rode had standard suspension, not the new dynamic ESA, and it had the Metzeler Tourance Next tires. I'm not certain wether tire pressure or suspension setup was correct, so that might also be something to look into.

What I also noticed when riding the mountain roads was that the gear box was clunky compared to the Tiger 800. If my memory doesn't let me down here it felt about as clunky as the 2010 GS I owned, just in a different way, shifting came with quite a bit of noise and resistence, drive train lash didn't help here either. It was the first time in 13 years (last time on a R65) that I felt a shaft drive as a negative. It felt loose, clunky, throttle on/off transitions where harsh and accompanied with a noticeable clack when the final drive caught again. Right now I'm used to a properly set up chain, the differences were obvious and not very good. But I think that might just be a matter of getting used to the different feeling again.

I turned around halfway up Bear Creek Road and rode back. Ah, the much missed tight turning radius again. That beast feels like you can turn in on a dime. The general turning radius is super small for a bike that size, not like the oil-tanker like radius of the Tiger. Back down, I already noticed that I got used to the handling a bit more, cornering lines were much better, but still not feeling like I think they should. Back on the highway, the engine took over again, very impressive what they have done with the new boxer.

Some testing of the brakes also revealed that they are absolutely superb. Incredibly well defined, very powerful, and of course, thanks to the Telelever, virtually no dive.

As mentioned, this was a standard model that didn't have the new dynamic ESA. Suspension spring rate felt soft, damping felt harsh, rebound seemed kind of okay, but there was a little bounce tendency. I never really liked the BMW setup for damping on the GS, but will defer to the time when I can test ride a bike equipped with the new Sachs dynamic suspension.

Overall, I got off the bike and wasn't that impressed. I was happy to get on my nicely tuned Tiger again, feeling the smooth engine, the easy shifting, the great wind protection, and the well tuned in suspension.

Still, I'm looking forward to a longer test ride on a bike equipment with active suspension and maybe broken in and beyond the first oil change and setup. That'll tell me more.

And one more thing to keep in mind: given the hype around this new bike, I just expected it to blow me away. And it didn't. That was maybe the biggest letdown.

Gearing up for the Summer Tour

After some thinking and head scratching on what luggage to get for the F650GS for our planned summer tour (California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona) we decided on Jesse Luggage.

The main reason was that they provide adequate space without getting too wide, plus they are top loaders which comes in handy when stuffing in camping equipment and other assorted bits and pieces. The other nice thing is that we got them keyed all the same, Jesse keyed the F650GS cases for the same key as my Tiger cases - very handy.

Our Trusty Steeds

The cases on the F650GS are an overall width of 96cm, not really narrow, but not too bad either for a volume of over 80L. The Tiger has probably about 95L usable volume and is (after installation of a smaller exhaust) at 94cm width (96.5cm with the OEM exhaust).

~ 240L Luggage Volume – Way too much to use all

We installed the cases today, it's a well thought out rack system attaching to the OEM luggage mounting points, got them adjusted straight and nice. Looks good on the bike.

F650GS in Full Touring Trim

Another good thing is that the Micatech luggage liners I had for my old R1200GS cases fit fairly nicely in the bottom wide part of the new cases, so we'll probably get some liners for the upper part to get our stuff easier into a hotel/motel room or into the tent. Saves us a bit.

Didn't get too wide ...

I really like the Charcoal color Andrea selected for her cases and wish now I had gotten the same. But the black ones on the Tiger look good as well.

The test ride today took us – as so often – up CA9 over Skyline Blvd to the view point just on "the other side" of Skyline. From there we backtracked to Skyline and rode north to Alice's Restaurant, had some coffee and great apple pie and took Page Mill Road towards home. We were super careful there, saw lots and lots of deer on the meadows on the side of the road, no wonder I had that accident there ...

Four Good Reasons for a Blog Post

I admit I was lazy in the last few weeks. I should have written a bit here and there about a bad experience with the local Triumph dealer where I had my Tiger repaired, but I think that might be for another time. It is repaired now after three times going back to the shop to tell them about bad work, forgotten work, cutting corners.

But, getting back to the four reasons to write a blog post today:

1) Tiger is back on the road again

As mentioned above, it took a few tries in the shop to get the Tiger right. A few times I brought it home, checked it out and brought it back to the shop. A very frustrating experience and I still have to write an open letter to Triumph about this. I will also post this here.

What it comes down to is the renewed fact for me that even if I love a bike on a test ride I will first of all make sure I have a local shop I trust to do service and repairs. Especially warranty work is a problem in that regard as that is only provided by the manufacturer licensed shops. And in short: the Triumph service here in the South Bay isn't worth a penny. I was very close to selling the Tiger out of sheer frustration and getting a Beemer again - at least for that I have a local shop (BMW San Jose) that I have a little confidence in. Decided to leave that for a different time though - when the new R1200GS has matured a little and the first niggles are sorted out by BMW.

But, now on to much nicer topics.

2) First time I rode Page Mill Road after the accident in December

For me, one of the most important steps in getting back on the bike was to ride the same road again where I had the accident. It's one of my favorite roads in the whole area, it's the road I use to ride up to Alice's Restaurant, it's the road we mostly use to get into the Santa Cruz Mountains.

Yesterday I rode that route again and I felt okay. Careful, with lots of anticipation and slower and more careful than I usually ride – but I did it just fine and I feel better now. I also feel better about riding the Tiger again, now that I have that "test" done.

3) Andrea rode the Tiger the first time

When we were up at Skyline Blvd (CA35), I pulled over to the side and we switched bikes. I had offered Andrea a test ride on the Tiger for quite a while now and at one point snagged a low seat on ADVRider.com and now the time had come.

So we switched, I rode the trusty F650GS for a while and Andrea was following me on the Tiger 800. That was weird - seeing the completely different shape in the mirrors, at least when there was something to see in the mirrors when they weren't shaking due to the single cylinder vibration of the GS. The familiar but still unfamiliar look of the dual headlights, the wider stance, the different shape, and hearing the triple whine over the intercom and not underneath me was weird.

Andrea on the Tiger

Andrea managed great. We said that if she wanted we could switch again after about 10 miles on a view point along the way, but we passed that one, and passed more and more places and in response to my question whether she wanted to switch back again, I only heard "Switch? Why? I'm feeling just fine ...".

I guess the experience of riding the Tiger was very pleasurable, no need to switch gears all the time, just sometimes to modulate the sound level a little bit, the silky smooth, nearly vibration free feel of the engine, the otherwise very similar handling of the bike – it looked like Andrea was feeling all right. And she was. 50 miles and lots of nice curvy roads later we arrived at Road Rider in San Jose where we wanted to look for a new, slightly more protective (gauntlet style) pair of summer gloves for Andrea and I finally got my Tiger back.

80 mile loop - Andrea rode 50 of these miles on the Tiger

4) Andrea got a pair of really nice new gloves

And here's now the fourth reason for this post, a nice new pair of gloves:

Held Evo Thrux Glove

It's a very nice feeling and looking glove. High gauntlet with a protective pad on the side, kangaroo skin palm, padded super fabric inlays in slide areas,  hard knuckle protection, more padding on top of the fingers and still great ventilation. A nice new glove for her and some added protection as a bonus.

I have a set of Held Air & Dry on order from Held USA directly, they aren't available at this time but should come back in in March. Hopefully they arrive soon – they are the replacement gloves for my BMW Summer Gloves that I damaged in my accident. Things are coming together again.

Kevin Ash died during R1200GS Introduction

Very, very sad - during the introduction of the new BMW R1200GS Kevin Ash died due to an accident. He was a honest reviewer, great writer, was independent, and one of my favorite motorcycle journalists.

A sad day. May he rest in peace!

New Riding Gear - What a Journey

After my get-off three weeks ago, I needed to replace my BMW Rallye 2 jacket as it was ripped in just too many places, including damaged zippers and rips around buttons:

BMW Rallye 2 after a slide on the pavement

There were a few things I really disliked about that jacket and lots of things I really liked. Replacing it wasn't going to be easy. How right I was with that ...

As I couldn't ride with the broken wrist and the Tiger in the shop (it still is, they are waiting on some parts), I had to satisfy my addiction with something else. So I was online shopping and researching new gear. Things I needed or wanted to replace were boots, gloves, and jacket.

The boots didn't really need to be replaced and I can also use the gloves for a while if I don't need them to be waterproof. But, given that on the two falls I had, one in the dirt with the WR250X and one now with the Tiger, both times I got a very big bruise at my right leg where I should have been protected by the boot. Unfortunately, our Forma boots (older model of these) are very, very soft. They are super comfy because of that, but as I found out the hard way not very protective. In 2011 I got a monster bruise on the inside of my right calf, it took close to a year until I could barely feel the lump anymore. Even today, when I feel very carefully, I can feel a very small lump remaining where that bruise was. The last fall wasn't as bad in that regard, just a 10cm x 5cm bruise on the inside shin. Both areas where the boot should have protected me, and probably did, just not enough.

So, I wanted more protection and waterproof or at least warm boots (because waterproof boots are a bit warmer for my notoriously cold feet (when riding), not that it rains all too much here). Didn't want to go with a full hard plastic motocross boot, but something between that and the ones we had. I thought about the Gaerne Balance Oiled Boots, but they aren't high enough for my taste and also made from fairly soft leather, so not exactly what I was looking for. Next stop: Sidi Adventure Rain. I was able to try them on and really liked them, but wasn't fully satisfied. They use some artificial leather in some places and a not very well breathing membrane. I have read some reviews saying that they weren't waterproof over time, either.

But Sidi also has a full on GoreTex version of the boot: the Sidi Adventure Gore Tex. These are full leather, GoreTex membrane for much better breathability, protection wise between a street touring boot and a full on MX boot, and still fairly comfortable. I have them now on order from BMW San Jose (my preferred dealer) and will hopefully get them next week. The fit of the Sidi is a little bit on the narrow side for me, meaning, they are likely a standard fit, and I'm normally between standard and wide, but still, size 43 fit well enough as long as I don't have to go hiking in them. Great high quality boot with lots of replaceable parts - another thing that makes them more of a long term investment compared to the Forma where I couldn't get replacement buckles after just one year of use.

Sidi Adventure GoreTex

Now the hard part, what makes a good motorcycle jacket? Good question and it totally depends on your typical riding conditions and requirements. Here are mine:

1. I would say about 50% of my riding is in temperatures around 20C (68F) to 25C (77F). 
2. About 35% of my riding is in temperatures around and above 30C, sometimes way above. 
3. 15% of my riding is below 20C, sometimes way below.
4. Roughly 99% of my riding in the last four years did not involve rain, though I have seen snow (believe or not, I have seen snow on a trip back from Southern California).
5. I rarely ride very long freeway stretches and I rarely go off tarmac. 
6. After having crashed in good gear I want the best available protection.
7. Very good fit is important so that the protectors don't move in a slide.
8. General practicality is nice to have.

What this all translates to in my opinion is:

1. The jacket needs to be well vented and not too warm or too insulated. 
2. I don't need a waterproof outer shell.
3. I want a jacket that works really well between 15C and 35C, and "well enough" down to around freezing and above 35C. I can supplement with an outer shell or a heated inner liner, but it's hard to make a badly vented jacket work in hot weather.
4. For protection I want either D3O or SasTec or comparable pads. Especially in the price range we are talking about. I plain don't get how some manufacturers think they can put some cheapo pads in a $900 jacket and leave the back protector out completely. That's nuts. Alpinestars does it. Immediately disqualified. If people want a separate back protector, they can always take the installed one out of the jacket.
5. I don't need many pockets. Putting things in pockets will only hurt me when I fall on them. I don't want any sophisticated buckles or straps or gimmicks for the same reason.

There were a few options out there that immediately came to mind: The Klim Badlands Pro and Latitude Misano (no D3O armor in the Latitude but a kit is available - shitty policy in my opinion from Klim, especially with gear that expensive and still made in China), the Touratech Compañero and Stadler Concept, and of course the newer version of the BMW jacket I had before, the BMW Rallye 3 Pro.

I had some other options as well of course, but overall, it was narrowed down fairly quickly to these five jackets, as most of the others like RevIT or Tourmaster, or ... you name it, plain don't make jackets I fit in or ones that make sense for my type of riding.

Even though I did include the Klim gear in the list above, it was more a wishful thinking as I don't properly fit into these either. Every single American brand jacket that I have seen so far is either too tight in the shoulders and / or too big in the waist area. Most of them are both at the same time. 

Unfortunately this is also true for the Klim Badlands. That jacket (in size Large) seems to be made for people with my shoulder width, similar sized chest, and about 8 to 12 inches more waist than I have. I have a 41 inch chest and a 30 inch waist and fairly broad shoulders for my generally very slim form. This makes it hard for me to find a form fitting jacket (don't get me started on pants). "Normal men" just don't have such a narrow waist or hips. At least not coupled with my chest or shoulder width. Bummer. 

The Klim Latitude was a little better because it is wider in the shoulders than the Badlands and also has a waist belt to cinch it a little tighter. But unfortunately, in the size Large I could go camping and wouldn't need a tent while size Medium was again too tight in the shoulders. They need a size between the two, they are way too far apart.

Okay, Klim is out. Better that way anyways because I wouldn't have liked to run around looking like a billboard, these jackets have the name and logo about three dozen times all over them. Completely ridiculous. 

The Stadler and Touratech jackets are incredibly well thought out. I would have loved to get one. They have a very light, but very strong and safe warm weather jacket plus an attachable outer jacket that zips to the inner and is made from Gore ProShell. 

Unfortunately, I can't get them in the US other than from Touratech USA and as the reader knows - I don't buy from them. I could have ordered the gear in Germany, for example from biker-land.de, but I  couldn't try it out and it was insanely expensive (close to $1400 with shipping to the US for just the jacket) and that was plain too much. Another important point I read about was that the jacket is said to be not so good in temperatures around 18C to 20C, heavy with the outer attached, too cold with just the inner. I will definitely take a look at them when I'm in Germany the next time, but I didn't want to risk buying gear that expensive without having tried and seen it in person. 

What I settled on in the end was the successor to my Rallye 2 jacket. It is available right now at some places for a really good price (~half the price of the Compañero), has very, very good protection, works well for about 90% of my riding, it fits well enough in size 52 (EU), sits okay on the shoulders without getting too baggy in the waist, has a compatible zipper for my BMW Airflow pants, and last but not least, is pretty much a known quantity for me. 

What's nice is that BMW "fixed" most of the niggling points for me. The jacket is a tighter fit around the waist, much more tapered than the old one with a stretch area there, has width adjustment in the lower and upper arm, can attach the collar velcro when the collar isn't fully closed, has BMWs great NP protectors (made by SasTec as far as I know), has even bigger coverage of the back protector.

It also comes in a non-ridiculous color scheme. I would have liked if the BMW roundels were a quarter of the size, but so what? I can live with that - better than having "Klim" and "K" placed all over the jacket in random places.

BMW Rallye 3 Pro Jacket

Given my sermon above, I think I should really write an article about what I'd personally like to see in a riding jacket - maybe someone out there reads it and incorporates the ideas in a jacket. Yeah, I know, dream on ...

The gloves are still an open question, but I think I have settled on something - as long as I can still buy them in the new riding season.