Did another trip today as the weather was just too good to let the opportunity pass. This time I decided to do the trip I was looking at for quite a while.

When my mom was here in September, we went to the Joseph D. Grant County Park and the road there is just gorgeous. Highway 130 goes from San Jose up to Mount Hamilton, then continues east. I turned north on Mines Road and had really a lot of fun. Overall, it was a short trip on the normal highway / freeway here to get to 130 and from then on about 65 miles of curvy, twisty road. Pure fun and definitely one of the best motorcycle roads I've ever been on. Read on ...

As Andrea is in Seattle at the moment, I did a day trip to the coast on the F800GS. It really brought many smiles to my face - the ride was fantastic, the weather pretty good most of the time - it was only slight chilly at the end.

So, where did I go?

I'm absolutely aware that there is nothing like the perfect touring bike as the definition of such a beast is different for any single rider. Having different statue, height, weight, arm and leg length, everything depends on the perfect fit. But - couldn't we dream of a bike that is a bit more customizable? Something every Honda Civic, Smart Car, even the cheapest cars in the world have? There you move the seat forward and back, you can move the steering wheel up and down, mostly you can adjust the seat height and so on.

So, let me define a bike I'd personally love to see with some basics:

Here are some very useful tips for car drivers I collected from Ultimate Motorcycle and really like to repost to bring them to as wide an audience as possible:

• Over half of all fatal motorcycle crashes involve another vehicle. Most of the time, the motorist, not the motorcyclist, is at fault. There are a lot more cars and trucks than motorcycles on the road, and some drivers don't "recognize" a motorcycle - they ignore it (usually unintentionally).
• Because of its small size, a motorcycle can be easily hidden in a car's blind spots (door/roof pillars) or masked by objects or backgrounds outside a car (bushes, fences, bridges, etc). Take an extra moment to look for motorcycles, whether you're changing lanes or turning at intersections.
• Because of its small size, a motorcycle may look farther away than it is. It may also be difficult to judge a motorcycle's speed. When checking traffic to turn at an intersection or into (or out of) a driveway, predict a motorcycle is closer than it looks.
• Motorcyclists often slow by downshifting or merely rolling off the throttle, thus not activating the brake light. Allow more following distance, say 3 or 4 seconds. At intersections, predict a motorcyclist may slow down without visual warning.
• Motorcyclists often adjust position within a lane to be seen more easily and to minimize the effects of road debris, passing vehicles, and wind. Understand that motorcyclists adjust lane position for a purpose, not to be reckless or show off or to allow you to share the lane with them.
• Turn signals on a motorcycle usually are not self-canceling, thus some riders (especially beginners) sometimes forget to turn them off after a turn or lane change. Make sure a motorcycle's signal is for real.
• Maneuverability is one of a motorcycle's better characteristics, especially at slower speeds and with good road conditions, but don't expect a motorcyclist to always be able to dodge out of the way.
• Stopping distance for motorcycles is nearly the same as for cars, but slippery pavement makes stopping quickly difficult. Allow more following distance behind a motorcycle because it can't always stop "on a dime."
• When a motorcycle is in motion, see more than the motorcycle - see the person under the helmet, who could be your friend, neighbor, or relative.
• If a driver crashes into a motorcyclist, bicyclist, or pedestrian and causes serious injury, the driver would likely never forgive himself/herself.

Keeping those in mind keeps people like my alive!

It's grapefruit time in California. Since christmas we drink freshly squeezed juice about twice a week and haven't bought a single fruit ...

Right now we don't have enough oranges to make a good mix, so we might add orange juice as the grapefruit are sour and a slightly bitter. But the resulting juice is great.

Today Yamaha introduced the new XT1200Z. A touring bike for the "adventure" market. Obviously targeted at the BMW R1200GS and other liter dual sport bikes.

Unfortunately, it got a little bit heavy with around 260kg. Hopefully this includes the side cases and the other fancy stuff which might be optional when the bike's on the market for a while. Nothing new regarding when it will be coming to the US market, I bet not before 2011, though. We'll see.

The nice things I really like, are:

• shaft drive
• water cooled engine
• spoked wheels with tubeless tires
• probably acceptable wind protection
• side cases at least seem okay
• well known parts, the shaft comes probably from the FJR, the engine looks a bit like a bigger TDM, so there shouldn't be too many problems

I really like the concept, though the weight is pretty bad. An R1200GS Adventure weighs about the same but has a 50% larger tank. An R1200RT weighs a bit less but has a 50% larger fairing. Nevertheless, it might carry the weight low and therefore be not too bad. Hopefully they'll have demo units when the bike comes to the US.

Why does that not surprise me?

It was a good day today: a 5.11a on sight and clean, a 5.11b on sight and clean, another 5.11b with just one fall. I'm happy with that.

Took two breaks on an overhung 5.10b though as my elbow didn't cooperate all too much ...

Those guys can drive ...

Something you really don't want to happen is dropping a hex head driver while fastening the screws for a V-Strom windshield with Madstad bracket. What can happen is - you hear it fall, you don't see it anymore and it's gone through an opening above the headlights. It goes then down between the headlights and sits there and there is no easy way to get it out again ...