Category Archives: Motorcycles

Greatest Electric Guitarist in the History of Rock Music

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We push off from Portobelo, Panama on a trimaran with both KLR650s tied down on-deck. We soaked both bikes thoroughly with WD40 to prevent rusting from the salty sea. Setting sail for Cartagena, Colombia on what is supposed to be a 5-day journey - we never knew how wrong we were  but as they say, 'ignorance is bliss'.

South America Trip - Panama to Colombia Boat Trip

Lifting the bikes into yet another small boat proved bloody for our new friend Chris :)

Hoisting the bikes onto the Katamaran

It's exciting to sail out from port, heading out to sea for a country we've never seen before. You can feel the excitement on board, spirits are high. We booked passage on a sail-boat instead of flying from Panama City, the more adventurous option of course. We share the boat with people from all over the world, Denmark, the Czech Republic, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, the US, Sweden, Taiwan, Colombia. Backpackers.

South America Trip - Panama to Colombia Boat Trip

Lifting the bikes into yet another small boat proved bloody for our new friend Chris :)

Hoisting the bikes onto the Katamaran

We've loaded up on food, beer and rum. Panamanian Balboa beer and Ron Abuelo. Lots of it. The last thing you want when you're out to sea is to run out of rum. You can always fish for food but rum? No, you're screwed if you run out.

It is here, 20 miles off the Panamanian coast on a boat captained by Capt. Ron's long lost cousin that I discover, or re-discover, American rock and roll. I don't remember exactly why I'd loaded about 100 old-school rock songs onto my mp3 player but there they were and the crew (most of it anyway) loved it.

South America Trip - Panama to Colombia Boat Trip

Lifting the bikes into yet another small boat proved bloody for our new friend Chris :)

Hoisting the bikes onto the Katamaran

As the boat cut through the bright blue sea we blasted Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix, Rolling Stones, The Guess Who, Eric Clapton and more into the Caribbean sky - the perfect soundtrack for our motley crew on this broken vessel.

We had our troubles between Panama and Colombia but Jimi kept our spirits high...

California Superbike School at Willow Springs

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When given the opportunity to attend Keith Code's California Superbike School at Willow Springs on a BMW S1000 RR I didn't hesitate at all. Thanks to a promotion by BMW USA and Irv Seaver BMW I even got it at a huge discount.

The school is divided into 5 sessions of classroom instruction, on-track exercises and off-track feedback with your instructor.

The classroom instruction goes through the theory of riding a motorcycle and prepares you for exercises to practice while on-track. After the classroom instruction you practice what was taught no-track for about 20-25 minutes. An on-track instructor will watch you and give you instant feedback to correcting any riding-errors.

After the on-track session you have a short 5 minute talk with your instructor for more feedback and pointers for what to focus on when you're back on the track.

I had a blast all day and I absolutely loved the BMW S1000 RR. It had all the options such as traction control and ABS as well as 4 electronic riding modes. While the unrestricted bike has about 190 hp it is cut down to about 150 hp in "rain mode".

I spent most of the day in "rain mode" and the bike was plenty fast although I did notice the computer not providing full power at large lean angles. As soon as the bike was more up-right the engine woke up! I bumped it up to "sport mode" for the last session which felt way faster and I got to work the brakes for real entering the turns. I can only imagine the bike in "performance" and "slick" mode.

The bike always felt light and stable and went exactly where I pointed it (which wasn't always in the right direction)... and the brakes were awesome - instant stopping power!

I had su much fun I plan on taking Level II sometime next year so I'm saving up!

Cannon at the Fort in Portobelo, Panama

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Portobelo, Panama is a tiny port city near Colón and is as slow and sleepy as it gets.

It used to be something back in the day though. Founded in 1597 by Spanish explorer Francisco Velarde y Mercado it was an important silver-exporting port of the Spanish Treasure Fleet. It was captured and plundered by Admiral Sir Henry Morgan, a notorious privateer, in 1668 and apparently Sir Francis Drake was he was buried in a lead coffin somewhere near here.

We loaded our motorcycles onto a Trimaran from the port of Portobelo and set sail to Cartagena, Colombia. For about 10 days we sailed through the caribbean stopping at several of the beautiful Kuna islands on our way. The trimaran, captained by Capt. Dennis and his trusted first mate Angel, has seen better days unfortunately.

But even with a missing main sail, a slightly broken dingy, very broken toilets, a broken radar, a shortage of food and rusty fuel tanks forcing us to keep our diesel on deck in plastic tanks with a garden hose running down into the engine and required someone to stick their toe down to shift into reverse and back, we made it safely to Cartagena to continue our motorcycle trip.

Rollie Free – Motorcycle Speed Record Run 1948

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From the Wikipedia Article -

On the morning of September 13, 1948, Free raised the American motorcycle speed record by riding the very first Vincent HRD (it is debated as to whether it was a Black Lightning or Black Shadow), owned by the California sportsman John Edgar and sponsored by Mobil Oil, to a speed of 150.313 mph (241.905 km/h). Special features included the first-ever Vincent use of a rear shock absorber, the first Mk II racing cams, and horizontally-mounted racing carbs. Free had already developed a style of removing the seat from his mount, and lying flat prone along the back spine – thereby minimizing wind resistance, and placing most weight over the rear wheel.