victory vegas clutch cables suck

grrrrrr

above my fingers you see a broken clutch cable. let me rephrase that, another broken clutch cable. i have a 2006 victory vegas. i love that bike. it's fun, i've put 20,000 + miles on it. what i don't love is that in the 5 years that i've had it, i've broken 3 clutch cables. w.t.f.? it's not like a ride the clutch or anything stupid like that. seriously, i use the clutch when shifting, and that's it. when i'm at stop lights, i sit in neutral. and yet, i have had three frickin cables brake. two have broken at the connection to the handle, and this one popped down by the transmission. this leads me to believe that their cables are crap. but what can i do? it's not like there are alternate cables i could use (there aren't). victory makes crap clutch cables. i won't even get into their cheap rear brakes they use.

broke vegas

so i was driving to my night class this evening on my motorcycle. i was about two blocks from my house and had just made a right turn onto a rather major street. my bike starts wigging out a little. it's sputtering. it's coughing. it's wheezing. it made some strange, loud noise.

i'm frantically trying to figure out what's going on.

at this point, as i'm almost stopped or stalled, i notice that my clutch grip is just loose. as in, i squeezed it to disengage the transmission when i stopped at the corner, and for some reason it hasn't stopped squeezing. even though i have.

fortunately, there's a side street right there i can coast/sputter onto. from there i see that the cable normally attached to this handle, is no longer there. where has it gone? i have no idea. i guess it went down the cover sleeve.

none the less, i can't really shift gears. i mean, i sort of can, but it's not really driveable. or i'm not cool enough to drive it this way. so, i got it into neutral and push it home.

by the time i get there, i'm a beet red, sweaty mess. and i still need to drive to class. even with the air in the car cranked, i don't think i wasn't sweaty and red for the first twenty minutes of class.

and now i've got to get my bike fixed. drat.

riding my vegas

heading east on hwy 180 in fresno, ca.



music by anthrax, covering black sabbath's 'sabbath bloody sabbath.'

dropping vegas

so, i was getting off my bike today, and thought i had put down the kickstand. turns out i hadn't. so, i did a nice little roll on the ground, fortunately without injuring myself or the laptop in my bag. even better, i don't even think i scratched my bike. the mirror was loose, but I think that will tighten back up.

full face helmet bandit

so, be careful out there. you may be mistaken for a suspect in a crime while doing the simplest of things.

this morning, i left a little early for work because i knew i needed to fill up my motorcycle. i stopped @ a little arco not too far from home, and went in w/my cash to prepay. however, since i was trying to rush, i didn't take off my helmet.

i went back outside, gassed up, and then went into the cashier to get my change. he gave me my changed, and seemed very relieved when i was heading out the door. he caught my attention by saying, "hey buddy, i thought i was going to get shot."

i was like, "huh?"

"didn't you hear about that robbery?"

"nope."

the cashier then grabbed a newspaper, flipped open to the local section and showed me the story. here's a quote:
"According to witnesses, a male suspect entered the store while wearing a motorcycle helmet and asked for change. The suspect then revealed a gun and shot the store clerk and the security guard.

The suspect took money from the cash register and then left the store on a motorcycle heading west."

uhh, oops. one dead, one wounded. didn't hear that on my morning news, although i did hear about cuba. guess it was just timing.

so, i told the cashier i was sorry to scare him. and went to work. driving north on my motorcycle, though. he was relieved.

but, since i'm thinking about morning news, heather and i saw one of the most ricockulous ads last night. one of the channels is advertising their morning show in a very odd way. the commercial starts out with a guy watching his morning news and they're giving some story about how some one died. then the announcer voice comes on talking about, "why start your day like that? start your day with a blast!" or some other nonsense like that. because, of course, no one actually wants to start their day with news. i want b.s.! (if i can, i'll update this with video of the commercial.)

heidi montag can sing!

or, at least she can pretend to. prepare yourself for about 2 minutes of crappy lip syncing.



don't know who this is? well, good for you. (well, bad for you because it means you watched the video and can't read.) she's heidi montag. psuedo d-lister from mtv's staged reality show the hills. i guess she has an album out now. and boy can she move her arms.

btw, yes, bill simmons put me onto this video (not personally, jerks). and he made elaine benes jokes. although i don't hear it here so much, it's circulating that she was boo'ed mercilessly afterwards.

the video here was posted on sept 19. a shorter version was posted on the 18th. i'm curious as to the actual date, because i was in vegas the previous weekend. in fact, we walked by that nightclub not too long before it opened on the 15th (saturday). it's located inside of the luxor. had we waited in a long line of skanks we might have seen this live! well, we probably would have been turned away for not being dressed nice enough.

now where did i put that?

i met up with tim & two of his friends in vegas this weekend. he wanted to celebrate his 30th birth day. it was a fun time, and i got a few stories. like, there's a whole lot of funny that happened at the restaurant i took this photo in. i won't tell you now though.



so, i was riding my motorcycle to vegas. that's right, i took my vegas to vegas. i was a nice ride, especially the way there. the way back was quite windy, and i just wanted to be home. since i was on the bike, i needed to figure out how to carry luggage. i was traveling light (two shirts, a pair of pants, etc.) so i was just packing my clothes in a messenger bag. i bought a cargo net deal to strap the bag to the back seat.


(actual cargo net)

the system worked very well on the way over. i also had my camel back, so i'd have water on the trip. i put my valuables (wallet, phone, $) in the pockets on the camel back. on the way back, it seemed to work well, too. that is, until i was about an hour from home. i stopped for gas in bakersfield, and hopped back on the highway. i don't know why, but about 30 miles down the road i had some weird feeling to check on my bag. reach back behind me and all i feel is seat. crud! where did i lose my bag in the last 30 miles? what's in it? do i just cut my losses or go back and try to find it. it was mostly clothes, but i knew there was a credit card receipt in it as well. i freak out about stuff like that, so i knew i had to go look for the bag. but, i didn't want to ride all the way back to bakos. i got off the highway and headed back towards bakersfield. i decided i would go half way back, and then head towards fresno and see if i could spot it. it was night (8ish) and it's pretty difficult to look for a dark blue bag while driving @ freeway speed. twice i thought i saw something, but neither were it. one was a tire tread. i was pretty discouraged, and was almost back to the spot where i realized that the bag was missing. i think i was an exit away from where i turned around, and then i saw it: some of my clothes! i slowed down, pulled over, and walked back. now, the clothes and stuff was across 3 lanes of traffic, so i'm walking and trying to see what's there. i crossed the highway and started picking up clothes. i got it all back! well, i did lose one pair of socks, and my swimsuit was tore up, but everything else was good. and, i found the credit card receipt. super sweet. what i didn't find was the bag itself. gone. i also lost my u-lock that i use to lock up my bike. and, i saw half of the pliers that i had with me (one arm of it completely gone, i left it all behind).

and i still have the cargo net. it let my bag go, and just sorta slid down.

VMA recap

so, i forgot that the vma's were on tonight, sorta. i was getting ready to watch the train wreck that is rock of love on vh1 when i was reminded that we would not be watching rock of love because the vma's were on. so, with about fifteen minutes of pre-show remaining we flipped it on. what follows below is my running diary. i'll try to keep each update brief. i'll also compare to my picks.

8:48 -paris hilton is there. and, sheesh not using the baby voice. good for you.
8:51 -panic at the disco is there. surprisingly, they're not all decked out in make up. maybe they're trying to distance themselves from the vaudeville scene. but, 3 out of 4 are wearing little girl jeans.
8:56 -john norris has his makeup on though. nice eyeliner buddy.
8:59 -n'syncin park, err, linkin park is there. 2 of 4 have faux hawks. that's so 4 years ago.

9 - britney spears kicks the show off with a lip synched number. really, she didn't even have a microphone to pretend. okay, she did, but there's no way she was singing. she looked a step slow on most of the dance moves. brooke hogan called and she wants her look and crappy dance moves back.

9:04 - sarah silverman appears. and holy ish did she talk mess about britney. but overall and underwhelming opening monologue.

9:08 - alicia keys says "on blast." and she explained how there a 4 different parties going on during the show. so, it's like we're there.

9:11 - eve & some chick i didn't recognize (turns out she's a pussycat doll) gave out the award for monster single of the year. winner: rihanna - umbrella. i'm 1 for 1 so far.

9:21 - the cops from superbad talk about voting for best new artist. we're watching a replay on the west coast, so, they'll be no voting for us. well, is it taped? i mean, i can't imagine that it started @ midnight eastern, even if it is being done @ the palms in las vegas. which i've been to, not like you care.

9:23- robin thicke & jennifer hudson present the quadruple threat award. justin timberlake wins. i thought kanye would. in his speech j.timberbox challenges mtv to play more videos. i'm 1 for 2 so far.

9:25 - fat old boy, i mean fall out boy plays thnks 4 tha mmrs, which i'm told means thanks for the memories, live.

9:30 - foo fighters do a song, they're not nominated for anything. but, pat smear is playing with them, which we were shocked about because he left the band a few years back.

9:33 - kanye west and 50 (fitty) cent present the award for earth shattering collabo to beyonce & shakira - beautiful liar. 1/3 now. j.timberpool was robbed.

9:43 - chris brown performs. like charlie chaplin. i mean, he was dressed like it, and danced about while he pretend to sing. just like the before the talkies. and it mixed into rihanna's song.
(let me interject that kelly sweet, an artist i've never heard of, has an album coming out on a music sales website i've never heard of. and she does a cover of aerosmith's dream on. that's probably a bad idea.)

9:56 - three of the girls from the hills come out and give the award for the male artist of the year to...justine timberlake. and timbaland comes out with him. 2/4. when they showed him earlier in his "party" and t.i. was rapping he looked very, um, uncomfortable. and alone in a crowd. now he tells mtv to play more videos again, not the simpons or reality tv. kinda funny that some pseudo-reality "stars" gave him that award. maybe even ironic (doncha think?). 2/4.

10:06 - shia lebeouf announces the winner for female artist of the year. damn. damn. i said anybody but fergie. and she does. if this were an important awards show i'd be pissed. wha? there's no such thing as that? 2/5. really, i had a 80% chance of picking this one by anyone but fergie and failed. this may not bode well for my upcoming vegas trip.

10:18 - megan fox (from transformers) introduce a show @ rain, which is supposed to be some never been done thing. it's timbaland. and linkin park. not really sure how this has never been done. unless they just mean at this venue.

10:23 - two of the guys from entourage present the vma for best group. fall out boy. i want to punch myself in the face. 2/6. and they say big ups several times.

10:25 serj tankian is sitting in w/the foo's. earlier they had c-lo. that would have been a cool room to hang out and see performances in.

10:33 - nelly introduces alicia keys. and, the only thing he can say, repeatedly, is that she's lovely and talented. genius. he should be in p.r. keys was aight, but she morphed her song into george michael's freedom (aka freedom 90), which was a cool little throwback.

10:44 - jamie foxx and jennifer garner come out and jamie talks about a fight between kid rock and tommy lee, and about white folks acting like black folks. really, he joked about white guys acting like black guys by fighting. and he asks some guy in the crowd who won they fight and the guy starts shouting something. i guess there may have been a fight. but, these two are actually entertaining on stage. and plug their movie the kingdom at least 4 times. then they announce best new artist. but not before plugging the kingdom again. and j.garner calls them gym class fallout. that's funny, too. it almost makes me feel alright about being 2/7 on picks right now.

there's only 10 minutes left in the schedule and we're going to a commercial break. and we still haven't announced: choreography, director, editing, vid of year. this doesn't look good for ending on time.

10:56 - mary j. blige somewhat incoherently introduces dr. dre. i'm not sure why. she doesn't say if he won something or is being honored. but dre looks like he's been lifting some weights and is quite yoked. dre gives out the award for video of the year. rihanna. i forgot to make a pick on this one, but probably would have gone with one justin - dance or justin timberlake's - what goes around. 2/8.

11:00 - puff daddy, puffy, p.diddy, diddy, doodle, whatever his name is announces that he was supposed to be there with kid rock but since he's not there, young joc is. and we need to stop white on white violence. and violence in rock music.

11:04 - diddy (sean combs) announces the next performance featuring nelly furtado, timbaland, justin timberlake, and some others.

11:11 - the show is over. huh? did you forget something? or 3 somethings?

what have i learned from this awards show? justin timberlake likes to beatbox and wants more videos on mtv. the official title of the next indiana jones movie is indiana jones and the kingdom of the crystal skull. they must tell the winners beforehand because only 1 winner wasn't there and i'm glad fergie wasn't. the kingdom comes out soon. the kingdom comes out soon. kid rock and tommy lee got in a fight over pam anderson, their mutual ex. mtv cares so little about best director, best editor and best choreography that they didn't even show the awards even thought they only give away a total of 11 awards. oh yeah, and britney's career may be officially dead (or it should be based on that terrible "performance").

lucky

so i think i am riding my bike to meet tim in vegas. thought i should change the oil
before I went. mentioned a rubbing sound on the rear wheel. they check it out. the verdict: rear brakes almost nonexistant. so, getting that done, too.

here's photo's of the old brake pads


side view



yeah, there should be about a quarter inch of pad there. nope, just touches left in a few spots

Vega$

hey, in case you forgot, or didn't see previous invites, i'm meeting up with tim (you know, from pa.) in vegas for the weekend of sept 14-16. if you're interested in joining us, give me a holler.

a good day for a ride

i had a little free time today, and the weather was great, so i jumped on the bike and headed east.



then i turned around and came back. nice little 3 hour ride.

video video

so, i saw an interesting story on fresno famous. there was going to be a peta protest over @ fig garden village today. they offered $5 to the first person to upload some photos to their flicker group. i thought, "i'm not doing anything @ this second, why not cruise over there and shoot a few pics?" so i hopped on the bike and did. on the way home, i thought i'd catch some video of me driving my vegas, and so i did that too. it's not the greatest, but it's interesting. there's a few seconds where i reach over with my left hand and grab the camera so it's steady.

triumph rocket 3

the la times has a spiffy review of the new triumph motorcycle. and holy crap, i thought my vegas' 1634 cc was a big beast of an engine. this thing has 2294 cc engine. yow! watch the video, too. it's actually a better review than the article, in my opinion. i'd be curious to actually see the bike in person, get an idea about size. the reviewer, a lady, seems very small in comparison to the bike. i mean, i think this bike is probably a big ol' beast (bigger engine & weight that my vegas) but how much bigger?

vegas 1, hyundia santa fe 0

so, today was an afternoon of accidents of sorts.

i was going to track practice, and was riding my bike on the freeway. as i exited the freeway i took my normal offramp. the street that it dumps you on is currently under construction (again). well, traffic was backed up on both the offramp and the street. so, as i was going down the offramp and coming to a stop i was in pretty heavy traffic. the vehicle in front of me, one hyundai santa fe, was trying to move over a lane, while it was also slowing in traffic. the traffic in front of it came to a quick stop, and so they did as well. uh oh! ed's following a little too close, and is trying to avoid locking up the brakes and sliding into the santa fe, or just outright crashing into it. what will happen next to our hero?

well, i didn't lock them up, and i didn't slide. unfortunately, i bumped the santa fe, leaving a little bit o' tire and some wear marks (scratches?) on the bumper. dang. double dang. but, my bike seems to have emerged from the incident unscathed. so, we traded info and off i went to practice. when i got there, i called my insurance agent to let them know to be expecting a call. i figure it'll be a bumper repaint. of course, in today's world, some company will charge a grip of money for that.

at track, one of the other coaches tried to cut or smash my finger off. you see, due to idiocy, we share the infield of the track with the soccer programs. so, despite it being our season, there are a few scrimmages scheduled. this doesn't really seem like a problem, except that it means we have to take down part of our discus cage. and, due to further idiocy, we've had to build a cage that has poles that aren't sleeved into the ground. apparently, having concrete 6" under the grass was unacceptable to the soccer coach. too dangerous. so, we have these 20' poles that are attached to rolling bases that weigh about 75-100lbs. but, with the netting up, there is a danger of it toppling over in a strong breeze (it's like a sail). so, we drive these 2' metal stakes through the bases to further anchor them down. to get the stakes out, you take down the net, and then rock the pole until they're loose and can be pulled out. pretty simple, right? well, we were taking out the first set of stakes, and i had already rocked the base/pole until the stakes were far enough out. i had even pulled one of the stakes completely out already. as i grabbed the second stake, the other coach, thinking that it wasn't free yet, pulled back on the pole to rock the stake loose. yow! finger smashed in between metal stake top and base of pole. so, for the next 30 minutes or so, my finger was feeling pretty numb. fortunately, it only bled a little, and it seems mostly alright now. heck, i'm typing right now.

life is funny. you can be pretty attentive to things most of the time. but, in those instants where you may zone out a little, it can turn sour quickly. now, i was actually paying pretty close attention during both of these situations, but still i almost ended up worse off.

my baby turned 500!

well, actually it turned 500 (miles) earlier, i think on saturday. currently, it's @ 657. so, tomorrow it's getting its first check up, i mean servicing.

two wheels good, four wheels bad

something new lives in my garage

and it meets air standards

what i did this weekend

this weekend i took a class (like jay commented recently, i'm a classy guy). the class i took was a motorcycle safety course. it started friday night @ 6 and finished up sunday @ noon. it wasn't through obviously. four and a half hours on friday night, and then from 7 to noon on saturday and sunday. the class was fairly enjoyable, and by the end i felt pretty comfortable on the bike i was riding. the class is for beginners, which i am, and teaches all the necessary skills to be a safe rider. it also tests you on those skills, and if you pass, you don't have to take the driving portion of the dmv test.

in the test portion of the day, there are four sections. each section is graded, and you can miss a total of 20 points and still pass. umm, yeah. i missed 19. which isn't really as bad as it sounds. in the first two sections i was perfect. in the third section i missed 4. but that fourth section, that one almost killed me. well, it would have failed me had i already not done so well. max deduction, 15. basically, it was a turning deal @ speed. you had to get up to a speed, slow using both brakes, enter the turn @ a safe speed. you couldn't go outside of some lines, or decelerate after your initial slow down. well, i did fine, but should have slowed a little more before entering the turn. i got outside of the lines, and in an effort to try and recover, what did i do? decelerate. as soon as i did it i knew i was screwed. but, again, since i had done so well on the previous sections i still managed to pass my test. now i just need to go and take the written test and i'll have my motorcycle certification.

this weekend was my first opportunity to wear what i got with Xmas money. yep, i wore my helmet. i had also bought some gloves, but one of the seams was coming out the first time i wore them, so i went to exchange them. unfortunately, or maybe fortunately, they didn't have my pair in stock. so, i found some others. i'm not as excited about the look, but i actually prefer the overall fit. although i like the new gloves, i was slightly saddened because they're a different company than i had, and i was planning to buy a jacket from the original brand. it's not some sort of obsessive/compulsive deal, but i do like matching brands. but, it's not like the new gloves or the jacket that i wanted had obtrusive labels, etc., so it won't be a huge deal that they're not the same. maybe you noticed i said had wanted. that's right, i bought a jacket while exchanging gloves. while in the shop, i figured i'd look @ coats, mainly to see if the one i wanted was on sale. it wasn't, but it was a lot less than i thought it was. fortunately, heather was there with me, so i asked if it would be cool to shell out for the coat right now (nothing better than coming home after a big purchase and having to explain spending a chunk o' change unexpectedly). she was fine with it, so i found the right size and made it happen. this was actually a little harder than it sounded. i'm sort of in between sizes. one size it too tight with the liner in. but fits well without the liner. the next size up fits good with the liner in, and has a little looseness with it out. so, i went with the larger one, because in cooler months i want to have a liner in, as well as layers underneath. the smaller wouldn't have afforded this (unless i lost some weight, which i'd love to do but there's no guarantee). but, the place i bought it from has an awesome return policy. they'll let you return anything, for any reason, for a year, assuming you don't screw it up. so, if i somehow need that smaller jacket, i can return the old one without any sort of restocking fee and get the newer, proper size.

man, i'm impressed with technology these days. the gloves have kevlar on the palm, carbon fiber on the knuckles for protection. the coat, it's got freakin' titanium in the sleves (forearm, elbow caps, and shoulders). these aren't some wimpy inserts. they're hard core protection. which, i'm happy with because everyone that rides tells me that eventually you will take a spill. at least i'll have protection. the coat is approved to higher, tougher european standards.

so, now i'm only a little ways away from rejoining the world of motor vehicles.

btw, i'm wearing the coat right now. want to break it in a bit so it's comfortable when i ride.

so, that's most of what i did this weekend. i also watched ewoks:the battle for endor with heather, nick, kendall, kasey and potter. and a little bit of football.