Los Angeles to Alaska

The biggest excuse/justification/reason or whatever for buying the Beemer is my plan to ride from Los Angeles to Prudhoe Bay Alaska. It's a route that's been done many times before but I've personally never undertaken a journey like this especially not on a motorcycle. The furthest I've driven by car has been 2,000 miles when I moved out to L.A. from Illinois. I'm having a hard time deciding wheather I should ride back or try to book a cruise to get back to L.A. Seems kinda lame but I've been told the Alaskan cruises are an incredible experience. Lucky for me there's lots of guys that have done it so it's just a matter of doing the research. Time of the year I go because of seasonal road closures will be another consideration in planning as well as how much distance I want to cover everyday and how long I want to visit certain places on the way. Hopefully I'll have a good friend or two along for the journey.

BMW R1200 GS Adventure!

I will fully admit my obsession with the Long Way Round/Long Way Down documentaries. I've seen LWR at least 10 times all the way through and LWD 3 now. So it's natural to assume my love of the GS comes from watching that. Actually it all started in 2001 when I saw a GS ADV @ a BMW dealership back in IL during college. It's an extremely "mean" looking bike. By that I mean it looks exactly like what it is intended to be used for.
So I've been on this motorcycle buying rampage trying to find a bike I really like and want to keep for many years to come. The scooters are definitely a blast around the city riding in large groups making them easier to spot, but lack power to be safe while solo-riding. The Harley 1200R Sportster is definitely a great bike and would be a great choice except for the anti-long-distance-comfort factor. So then I tried the XR650L and while it's also a great bike, it feels cheaply made. Mostly the transmission. While I have no doubt it's very dependable, the shifting just feels very notchy and as always with Honda, it's tough to find neutral.
To solve this endeavor I decided "hell with it" I'm gonna go test drive the beemer and see why everyone loves it so much. Mistake or blessing is yet to be decided but needless to say when we got back from the 15 mile test drive I told Ron @ Brown Motor Works that he wasn't allowed to sell it to anyone and I'd be back the next day to write a check. So here she is, the 2007 BMW R1200 GS/A





I thought the bike would be quite cumbersome to ride because of the weight but I was happily suprised when I took off. It's definitely not light but it really isn't any different other than minor adjustment of riding technique. I would definitely say that it's not a bike for shorter people just like any enduro bike. I'm 5'11" w/32" inseam and I feel I'm just tall enough to ride safely. The seat is adjustable by a little but mine is all the way down. I got mine with the onboard computer so checking tank range, oil level, time, outside/engine temperatures, and even fuel economy can all be done easily with one button. I was also lucky enough to get a late '07 model which the final drive plug has been relocated to the 6 o'clock position. *score!*
Two things I thought were absolutely silly to have on a bike have turned out to be some of my favorite features. The gear indicator and the heated grips. The gear indicator is very useful especially when you're a clutz like myself who forgets to down shift sometimes. And the heated grips while sounding just lame as hell allow you to wear light spring-time gloves in winter and still be comfortable.
My favorite thing about the bike is definitely the transmission. It's so much more smooth than the XR and Sportster transmissions. Maybe not a fair comparison for price differences but it's all I really have to compare to. My friend's Yamaha R1 trans was the closest to the BMW as far as quality/smoothness though.

All for now, I'll be sure to post up further impressions and when I get new parts for it in the future. Some goodies from Touratech are on their way courtesy of my lovely girlfriend as an xmas present. I also have the BMW Zumo GPS to mount up to the bike so I'll post pics of that as well.

Chexx Bubble Hockey!

So my friend Jeff found this restored '83 Chexx table on craigslist. We went to see it and immediately fell in love and bought it. Not only is it fully functional but the guy selling it was a true enthusiast who really knew his stuff. The drive home in the pickup while seeing people's reactions was almost as good as firing the machine up when we got it to Jeff's place. Childhood memories were brought back instantly and now it's time to make new ones!


The players move up and down the ice as well as spin around. We're going to get the players custom painted in a Minnesota North Stars vs. Pittsburgh Penguins theme!


The scoreboard displays the score and what period you're in. It also lights the table surface from above. As you can see it also wears the "Electronics by Moog" emblem. From '83-'88 Robert Moog's company (famous for his modular synthsizers) made the electronic components for the game. I was told the ICE company that makes the Chexx table was close to the Moog factory which formed this business relationship. Cool!


The crowd sounds interact with the magnetic puck. When the puck enters the goalie's crease they gasp, when a team scores they cheer, and if you get denied a goal attempt or just want to hear the crowd boo......one would press the "Boo" button!!! Genius!!!

Team Fortress 2

Well I've been a long time fan of the PC game Half-Life and most of the Mod games that have stemmed from it. So TF2 is no different. I played the hell out of TF Classic so I have much appreciation for the changes and improvments made. Probably the best part is the ability to track your stats. Not having grenades is hard to get used to but the gameplay seems to be much more skill-dependant now. The stylistic cartoon characters and maps are very well done and even adds to the fun factor for me.

If you like first-person shooters and more so the half-life 2 engine, definitely check this game out!

2007 XR650L

Picked up an '07 Honda XR650L this weekend!! If only I had purchased this bike when I started riding. It has bare-bones essentials making it very easy to start out on. EPA restrictions really dumb down the motor but with a few mods we'll take care of that :)

P.S. All my favorite mountain rides are closed because of the fires....grrrrrr!

Chantry Flats Ride

This is a short ride that I like to do on weekend mornings. Just from Temple City up to the Park at the top of Chantry Flats Fire Rd. About 25 miles round trip. When you're heading up Santa Anita Ave. it's impossible to resist Goldstein's Bagels on the right side before you hit Colorado.






Here's the '08 Yamaha Majesty! Just got it 2 weeks ago and I've already racked up 750 miles on it. You can see I've smoked out the rear turn signals and taken the Majesty badges & Windscreen off.


I just noticed this Dam the last time I went up. It's much bigger than the photo implies but a cool sight still.

My Intensions for this blog.

Never thought I'd have a reason to make one of these but I've decided to use this space to document things I do and interests I have. I ride scooters and motorcycles alot which is probably the majority of what my posts will contain. Things like logging rides with photos and maps will probably be most common here.

Some of the other things I plan to write about include:
4x4 Trail Rides
Jeep Modification
Radio Control Hobby
Movie/Music/Video Game opinions
Vinyl Toy Collecting

I consider myself an accomplished hobby photographer and I hope to use this as a way to further my skills.