New rider in Saskatchewan, and a couple questions.

[Wildfire]

kpinvt: I like the idea of the hand-warmers on the wrist for a temporary solution. I might keep a couple of them in an emergency kit.

I only got one more short ride in since the last post. Nothing exciting, just a bit of pavement and clean gravel. The loose patches sketch me out a bit but like I said before I am really new to using a motorcycle. I am sure my confidence will grow over time, but if I see a good deal I might pull the trigger on some good tires before the metzlers are worn out if a good deal presents itself.

Here is a pic I took of the NC last week:


And one out the kitchen window this morning, I guess it's time to put on the winter tires.


Oh and handlebar risers joined my list of future farkels and are on their way from a forum member. I will be curious as to the difference they will make in the spring.

 

[Wildfire]

So I decided that I should use this thread as a learning journal. As well as a place to keep track of the changes I have made to the motorcycle.

Recent changes to the bike

Over winter I added 2" Rox handlebar risers and raised the front of the seat, It's hard to be sure how much difference those two mods made since it was 6 months between the before and after rides but I feel they were both significant improvements. Now I feel the foot pegs could be a bit lower for a more comfortable seating position but maybe I should try raising the seat a bit more with an air-hawk cushion instead.

I also installed some Acerbis Vision handguards with LED lights and Oxford handwarmers. The handguards made a huge difference in wind hitting my hands and forearms compared to a naked setup, and the high and wide auxiliary lamps can't help but make me a bit more conspicuous on the road. I haven't ridden in the cold since installing them to really utilize the hand warmers but they warm up nicely when tested.

First ride of the season

Friday was my first day off since moving back up to Denare Beach and a beautiful 14˚C and I decided to take the bike for a ride out to Cranberry Portage in Manitoba. The highways there are all the twisty crumbly roads full of potholes and construction that northerners love. I had forgotten just how bad highway 10 going south of Flin-Flon really was, especially in the spring and started wondering if it was such a good place to get more comfortable riding a motorcycle.

It turned out to be a great choice as you learn so much more about a bike doing pothole slalom and going over gravel sections than you would over boring "good" pavement. I might have forgotten how the bike handled when I first got it in the fall or I might have just been too cold to notice it most of the time but it really struck me some of the similarities riding a motorcycle through curves and dodging potholes and doing the same on a unicycle.

One of my major passions is riding unicycles both off-road and quickly on-road as a form of transportation. One of the things that people often ask is "how do you steer that thing" Generally my answer is "mostly with my hips, adding some fine adjustments with the handlebar, pushing down the direction I want to go". I was surprised to realise that I was doing the exact same thing with two wheels and a motor as I do with one wheel and pedals. I found counter steering was so natural I didn't realise I was doing it.

I experimented a bit holding my body still and trying to steer only with arm inputs, using my hips and holding the bars as lightly as possible, standing up and using weight on one foot of the other. This was great fun, the bad roads gave me plenty of potholes and hazards to dodge and my familiarity with the bike continually increased. I also recieved my first "biker wave"

On the big frost heaves where the road was built over swamp I found that I could go quite a bit faster than I would with a car, semi-standing and letting the bike follow the road. In the completely broken sections the suspension seemed to have a nervous breakdown and not know what to do, I guess it's not set up for stutter-bumps and I hope not to encounter that kind of thing without warning in a corner. I wonder how much the valve kits being discussed in other threads help with this.

Throughout the ride I couldn't help but notice the pressure on my chest and neck from the wind. It didn't seem to affect me too much over the couple hours I was riding but I could definitely imagine it being a major source of fatigue after 4-6 hours on the road. A new windshield will definitely be going on some time this spring.



Life changes

I got up to Denare Beach on sunday on week ago thinking I would spend another summer up there as a Crew Leader for the Initial Attack fire crew. It's a great area and the road too and from was a big influence in why I decided to get an NC700x. Tuesday I had an interview for a job in La Ronge, Wednesday I was asked when I could start, Thursday I had a letter of offer, I had Friday off, and now I have moved into a new house and start my new job as Regional Duty Officer on Monday. I guess I won't be riding the Hanson Lake Road as much as I thought I would be.

Instead of living on base I am now a short 6km commute, the kind of commute you might use a motorcycle for... I had not intended to use the motorcycle to commute but can't see any reason not to use it that way. The pavement here is much nicer than in the Flin-Flon area but really only goes south. What pavement there is to ride is really quite nice making a longer travel street bike less necessary than on the east side of the province. On the other hand if I want to go north, east, or west, into some truly spectacular country the roads are rough and soft, not the beginner friendly gravel roads of the south.

I'm definitely going to continue to get more comfortable riding on paved surfaces but I might be putting more aggressive dual sport tires on a bit sooner than I would have to open up a few more possible destinations in the area. My new schedule is also more conducive to bi-weekly adventures with a full 6 days off every other week

 

[TN Thunder]

Have traveled through your area but in the summer while pulling and RV. I purchased a Giivi windshield but it is acryllic. I would suggest polycarbonate as it is much stronger and has built in UV. I live in mountains of East Tenn. and it gets cold here. I purchased Heated Gloves and added a aux. power outlet to handle the gloves. Where you live I would probably have both, heated grips and heated gloves. Freezing fog is not comfortable and makes you tighten up on the seat a bit as you also don't know how the roads may be. Enjoy your new toy.