MRA X-creen Wing Replacement

If you've read my previous posts, you know that I bought my MRA X-creen second hand.  Once I got it mounted properly and the wing adjusted to my liking, I have really liked it.  I did notice that there were a couple of tiny cracks around the screws that clamped the mounting hardware to the wing itself, but I accepted that as part of purchasing on the secondary market as well as part of the significant cost savings.  Over time, the cracks have increased significantly to the point that I became concerned that the wing might eventually break loose.

I went to the MRA website (www.mra.de/en) to see about ordering a replacement part, but I only found where you can order the entire X-creen.  I clicked on the Contact link and submitted a request for pricing on a replacement wing, and I received a reply from Nicole asking me to send her pictures of the wing and the cracks as they may be able to replace the part free of charge.  I sent her the pictures (shown above), and she sent me another email saying that they would replace the wing for free!  I love it when a company stands behind their products, no questions asked.

The part arrived a little over a week later, and instead of just the clear plastic wing, it was the wing plus the mounting hardware that is screwed onto the wing.

When I went to replace the wing, I couldn't really see how the locking mechanism came apart.  Mentally, I had an idea of how it should go together just based on how the locking mechanism works, but I didn't want to force anything and break something else.  I went back to the MRA site and started looking at the installation instructions for their other products that use the same mechanism and finally found an exploded diagram of the locking mechanism.  As it turns out, it is assembled as I had visualized it, and the diagram and associated instructions confirmed my suspicion that the pieces simply snap into place.

X-creen Mounting Hardware - Exploded Diagram

The key to the whole thing is part 2, which is the locking knob for adjusting the angle of the wing itself.  The instructions said to turn it so that it is in the open position (parallel with the length of the shield), but I found that it would not budge.  When I turned it to the locked position (perpendicular to the length of the shield), it came out fairly easily.

After removing the locking knob on the other side, it was a simple matter of removing the shield from the arms.  You need to be careful when removing the shield, because part 4 will be loose and can fall out of the arm.  This is the piece that the locking knob slots into in order to lock the shield into place.

Installation of the new wing was a simple matter of reversing the steps above.  I found that I had to pinch the locking mechanism at part 4 and the outside of the new wing in order to get the locking pin to insert fully.  This makes sense since the pin serves that very function.  With the arms and wing adjusted back to what I believe is their original positions, everything is ready to go again.

I want to thank Nicole at MRA for the excellent customer service!

Thoughts on the Cardo Scala Rider G9 and NoNoise Motosport Ear Plugs

I could write an entire review of the G9, but I don't really see the point in doing so when there are reviews out there that far exceed what I could write.  So if you want a full on review, I would suggest you go read the excellent review over on www.webbikeworld.com.  Now it's been a while since I read the review, so I apologize if I cover anything that was already mentioned there.  So like the Shoei GT-Air, this is a fairly pricey bit of kit, but I think it's well worth it, particularly if you have someone who would be willing to go in on the G9 Powerset, which bundles two units for less than the cost of two separate units.  Unfortunately, I didn't have such a person, so I had to bite the bullet and purchase a single unit.  When I got mine, the going rate on the Internet was about $250 for the single, and $400 for the PowerSet.  So basically, you could get a second unit for $150 more, which is a savings of $100 or $50 per unit.  Fortunately, I was able to pick mine up at the IMS where I was able to take advantage of the show discount. As of this writing, I believe there's a new G9x out, but I have no idea what the enhancements are.  I make it a policy not to look at what the next generations of items I own offer so as to keep the feature-envy to a minimum.

UPDATE:  Cardo released a firmware update for the G9, which added some of the features of the G9x.  I believe the only difference between the updated G9 and the G9x is that the G9x has replaceable plug-in speakers, but don't quote me on that.  It would be best to verify that for yourself if that is something that is important to you.  To be honest, your only option at this time is most likely going to be the G9x anyway.

Cardo Scala Rider G9 mounted on Shoei GT-Air

The decision to get the G9 was pretty much made for me as you may recall from my IMS posting.  I had considered the Sena SMH-10, because it got great reviews, plus they make a headset that wraps around the back of the head like regular computer headsets, which I thought would be great for talking to my wife if we ever took a trip where I could ride the bike while she follows along in the car with our son.  I ultimately ended up with the G9, because my friends, Kari and Jess, had already bought the G9, and I wanted to be able to talk to them.  Wouldn't it be great if all of the headset manufacturers could get together and decide on a common frequency instead of everyone having their own proprietary frequency?  See also Cell Phone Providers.

The first hurdle I had to cross was getting the unit mounted.  There are two methods available: a glue-on plate and a clamping plate.  The glue-on plate is pretty much a permanent solution, but it just wouldn't work with the way the GT-Air is designed.  I think it's probably more intended for half-helmets.  That left the clamping plate.  On some helmets, it's a simple matter of removing the cheek pad, clamping it on, and replacing the cheek pad.  The GT-Air would not be one of these helmets.  There's the outer shell, and then the skirt of the cheek pad inserts between the outer shell and the inner EPC foam liner, which isn't really much of a space.  The thin end of the clamp is probably around 1/8" thick, which seems like trying to shove an elephant through the eye of a needle when you're looking at this brand new, perfectly flawless, really expensive helmet.  I admit it.  I put off mounting it for the better part of two months as I had to convince myself that I wouldn't totally screw up the EPC liner while inserting the inner part of the clamping plate.  On the bright side, I did try out various mounting locations to see where I would ultimately want it, so I had that decision out of the way.  I finally decided to experiment on my old RF-1000, which wasn't quite the same since the EPC liner already had quite a bit of play just from general use over 7 years, but it did fit without anything breaking.  After that, I gritted my teeth, and slowly inserted the backplate in between the shell and the EPC liner/cheek pad skirt.  To my surprise, it went in quite easily and settled right in.  I screwed in the mounting plate, and that was it.  No muss, no fuss, no bad cracking of brand new EPC liners.  I decided to mount the boom mic instead of the wired remote mic just to keep it simple.  Having ridden with it for a while now, I think I may just keep it this way, although I do need to check to see if the remote mic's foam is smaller.  The boom mic's foam rubs my chin, which can be annoying.  At any rate, the current setup works just fine, and Kari has no problem hearing me.

The speakers went in quite easily.  The GT-Air actually has these little pockets build into the EPC liner, so all you have to do is remove the foam placeholder, apply the velcro, and stick the speaker in.  Easy peasy.  You route the wire between the speakers as far over the top of the helmet as possible as it doubles as the radio antenna.  I have yet to try listening to the radio.  I should really spend some time with the manual...

After getting the comms mounted, I plugged the G9 into my computer to configure it.  This was about as quick and painless as it could be.  I was even able to add Kari and Jess to its address book, which made it really easy to pair up with Kari the next time I saw her.

The next order of business was to pair it to my iPhone 4S.  Bluetooth on, pair, done.  Can't ask for anything simpler than that.  The best part of it all is that with a press of the call button (top middle), I have Siri ready to take a voice command.  This, of course, requires that you set the phone to allow Siri from the lock screen, which isn't the most secure thing to do, but you can live with it or turn it on/off as you need to like I do.

At this point, I've only used the comm system for two things:  inter-bike comms and listening to music.  I've had a call come in on my cellphone, but I couldn't remember what to do to answer it, which is just as well, seeing as how I was riding a motorcycle at the time.  Kari tells me that when Jess has called her from the bike as a test, she wouldn't have been able to tell Jess was on the bike if she hadn't already known.  I think I would probably pull over to take/place a call anyway.

Lesson Learned #1:  Crank up the volume on the iPhone before riding off.  You want the phone to be at max volume so that the helmet volume is regulated by the G9.  If you don't, the iPhone (or any Bluetooth device, I would think) volume will be woefully low even with the automatic adjustment for ambient noise.

Lesson Learned #2:  Those foamy earplugs work a little too well.  Until now, I had worn noise isolating ear buds with my iPhone providing music.  Since this wasn't going to work with the G9, I switched back to my foamies.  These worked a bit too well, which made conversing with Kari a bit touch and go at times, relegating our conversation to something you would expect to hear between a couple of really ancient people using horns in their ears to talk.

"something something something something," Kari would say.

"I'm sorry, can you say that again?" I would reply.

Repeat ad nauseum

I didn't want to give up the ear protection, because I'm rather fond of my hearing.  I saw these NoNoise Motosport Ear Plugs at TwistedThrottle, which are supposedly tuned to kill frequencies most associated with riding a motorcycle while making it possible to hear things without them sounding like Charlie Brown's teacher.  I ordered up a pair, and I have to say that I'm very impressed.  There's still some muffling, which is to be expected, but the level of noise is way low even compared to the noise isolating ear buds, and I can talk to people with them in and the helmet on without constantly saying, "Sorry, I got my ear plugs in and can't hear a damn thing you're saying!"  They're probably the next best thing to custom ear plugs, which I would definitely get if there were some way to integrate them easily with the G9.

I do think that the volume of the G9 could be a little higher.  On windy days, the wind noise can make it difficult to hear conversations.  The set did come with some little pillows to put behind the speakers to get them closer to your ears, but I have yet to try it.

I have had some instances where the Bluetooth connections seems a bit flaky.  The nice comms voice-in-my-head will announce that the phone has been disconnected, but it never says when it's reconnected.  This happened over and over during one ride, but hasn't happened again.  Another time, I could not get the voice commands to work no matter what I did.  Siri would acknowledge, but the confirmation would always be "Music Off" or something like that.  Again, it hasn't happened again, so who knows?

Overall, I'm very pleased with the G9.  Its learning curve is pretty steep, but it seems to be worth it.  Coupled with the GT-Air and a set of NoNoise ear plugs, it's a great solution to a complex problem.

Thoughts on the new lid: Shoei's GT-Air

So over the past few months, riding weather has been hard to come by for me as it has managed to rain on just about every available day I've had.  The big dry spell lasted from late October into late December with the only perfect riding days being used to drive out of town, including the trip to the International Motorcycle Show.  As you may have read, I bought a new helmet at the show -- Shoe's new GT-Air.

So just wearing it around the house, the GT-Air fits very similarly to my old RF-1000.  Having said that, the fit seems to conform to my head a little better than the RF-1000.  I wore an XL RF-1000, and I wear an XL GT-Air, so if you're looking to upgrade your RF-1000 or RF-1100, you should find the corresponding size GT-Air to fit as well.  For what it's worth, I also tried the RF-1200 and Neotec and found their fit to be similar as well as the sizing.  As is typical with Shoei, the inner liner is very plush and comfortable.  I wear glasses, and I do not have any problem with the padding on my temples.  I have discovered, though, that the GT-Air is a bit taller physically than the RF-1000 as it takes a little shifting around to get it situated just right so that I can latch the lid shut on my Givi topbox.  This is due to the position of the top vent, which is centered and more on top of the helmet than on the RF-1000, which had dual brow vents mounted more forward and to the sides.  The weight isn't appreciably different.  I think I read somewhere that the GT-Air is lighter, but I find in practice that the difference isn't noticeable.

The first opportunity I had to wear it out on a ride came just before Christmas.  It was pretty cold (for Texas, so low 50s) and really windy (20mph gusts) which made for some pretty miserable riding on the superslab on the way out to the more fun and twisty roads.  This helmet definitely earned its name.  This thing flows serious amounts of air.  In my RF-1000, I could ride all year round with all of the vents in the open position, and it was fine.  In the winters, it was cold but not too bad.  I didn't get very far down the freeway frontage road before I had to snap the vents closed.  I could actually feel the air flowing across the top of my head.  Looking inside the helmet, there are three large vent channels, and the inner liner helps with this effect as well.  Even riding today with temperatures in the upper 60s/lower 70s, I didn't feel the need to have anything but the chin vent open.  I have high hopes for this helmet come the triple-digit summer temps.

From a completely subjective standpoint, the GT-Air seems to be quieter on the highways, but there's still a fair amount of wind roar.  The neck roll seems to do a better job of keeping the turbulence on the bottom at bay as shrugging my shoulders up when at speed doesn't produce as pronounced a reduction in road noise as on the RF-1000.  It does make it a little tougher to pull the helmet on, but it's worth it.  One thing I've noticed is that the chin strap feels like it's a little further back towards my neck than the RF-1000's, and the little strap retention snap is a bit further up, almost in the helmet, making it a little tougher to secure the end of the strap.  It's a minor thing but worth mentioning.

The visor is bigger in both directions than on the RF-1000, but since I wear glasses anyway, that doesn't really make a big difference to me.  I have discovered that the pin lock anti-fog shield that I've installed doesn't want to seal up against the visor in one area at the bottom by my right cheek, resulting in a small triangle of fogging.  I need to see what I can do about that again.  Just a word of caution:  the pin lock shields scratch REALLY easily.  I was cleaning the bottom of it with what I thought was a very soft cotton towel, and it left what I initially thought were streaks on the edges of the pin lock.  Unfortunately, they turned out to be scratches.  It's still worth in, though.  I installed one on my RF-1000 and never looked back.  It was nice to only have to worry about my glasses fogging.  The other visor comment centers around the internal sun visor.  I didn't really think I would use it much, but I figured it would be a nice feature to have for when I forget to change from my regular sunglasses to my sunnies after a lunch break or something, which has been known to happen from time to time.  Two of my most recent rides were for extended periods under very sunny skies.  Even with my sunglasses on, which have the polarized tinted Transitions lenses, I found myself using that internal visor to cut down the light even more.  It's great, because it fits over my glasses without any issue, which was a concern for me initially.

So overall, I love this helmet.  I sometimes I wish I had gone with the Neotec, but I still question how often I would use the full-face flip-up feature.

Pros:

• Shoei's latest technology
• Shoei's reputed build quality and fit/finish
• Flows a ton of air
• Fits my head very well
• Has the emergency removable pads (hopefully won't need to use this feature)
• Comes with a pin lock shield (was an additional ~$110 for my RF-1000 as I had to buy the new visor as well as the shield)
• Inner dark tinted visor
• Still fits in my top case, but barely
• Inner liners are all removable, so easier to clean

Cons:

• It's one of the pricier helmets on the market, but I believe it's worth it
• My pinlock is being difficult and not sealing properly at the approx. 5 o'clock position
• Chin strap feels a little different from my RF-1000; a little tighter towards the neck
• Chinstrap retention snap difficult to engage
• ADDED:  It would be nice if the Hi-Viz options had more of the Hi-Viz color.  I'd probably even go for one that was the inverse of mine -- Hi-Viz body with black offset stripes.  Maybe even retroreflective stripes.

I tried to capture all of the things I wondered about while I was considering this helmet versus the RF-1200 or a marked-down closeout RF-1100.  I also finally got around to installing the Scala Rider Cardo G9 comm unit just in time for my ride today.  I will be posting some observations on the Cardo G9 soon, so check back later! :-)

UPDATE (2014-05-15): The pinlock issue has been resolved!  This spring has been really bizarre for Texas with one week being in the upper 70s and 80s and then the next down in freezing temps.  Try this one on for size.  This morning's low was 49F, which tied a 125 year old record for low temperature for May 15.  The high yesterday was 13F lower than the average.  Why am I telling you all this?  Because with the low temps and the high humidity, fogging happens quite easily, so resolving the pinlock issue is huge.  I broke down and sent an email to Shoei support, and they sent me a link that described how to adjust the tension of the pinlock shield!  Yes, I'm guilty of not following the rule of RTFM.

Apparently the pins are designed like an engine's crankshaft with the barrel against which the pinlock shield rests being offset from the pin's actual center.  By default, the pins are set so that the barrels are farthest apart from each other, which makes sense as it makes it easier to actually mount the pinlock shield to the visor.  I removed the shield and cleaned it and the visor of smudges, bug juice and fingerprints.  Then I set about reinstalling the shield.  Once the shield was on both pins, I then rotated each pin 180 degrees, which basically pushes in the edges of the pinlock shield, causing it to snug up to the visor.  So technically, this adjusts the pinlock shield's compression.  And in my defense, the pinlock shield on my RF-1000 went in and sealed against the visor without any adjustments whatsoever.  That's my story, and I'm sticking to it.

After a quick visual inspection, the pinlock shield's edge is obviously sealed against the visor much better than before.  I put the helmet on, closed the visor tight, closed all the vents, and started breathing.  After a few minutes, the helmet got all nice and humid, but the visor remained clear.  A quick check in the mirror showed that the areas of the visor that were left exposed were all fogged up, and there were no regions of leakage around the entire perimiter.  I'm a happy camper again!

Other than that, the chinstrap retention snap has gotten a lot easier to engage.  I'm not sure if it's a function of just being used to it now or something else, but I'm no longer fumbling around trying to get it to snap into place.

2013 Progressive International Motorcycle Show

This post isn't specific to the V-Strom 650, but it is motorcycling related, so I thought I'd throw it in anyway.  Besides, the weekend weather here has been absolutely dreadful lately, which has resulted in no riding for me whatsoever for almost 6 weeks now, so at least this is something I can do that involves motorcycles.

Last month, the 2013 Progressive International Motorcycle Show stopped in Dallas, TX, so I packed up the family and made the road trip to see what they had to offer.  I was really hoping to find some great deals on new riding gear.

The show was at the Dallas Convention Center, so we decided to check out rates at the Omni, which is connected to the DCC.  It just so happened that the hotel was offering a pretty substantial discount on a regular room, which made it cheaper than any other hotel that I checked in the downtown area right around the DCC.  The fact that we could walk indoors to the show made it all that much better.  By the time we finished eating breakfast, we could hear the rumblings of the many people who had ridden their bikes to the show.  I would have been jealous were it not for the fact that it was overcast, cold, and looked like it could rain at any moment.  Did I mention that we could just walk over there while remaining comfortably indoors?

The free motorcycle parking lot filling up in front of the Dallas Convention Center

I hate to admit it, but I didn't really take too many pictures while I was there.  For the most part, I had already seen most of the new bikes that were there.  The main ones that I wanted to see but hadn't already were the Star Bolt cruiser, the new Suzuki V-Strom 1000, and the Yamaha FZ-09.  I'm not really a cruiser kind of guy, but if I were to get one, I'd give the Bolt R-spec serious consideration.  I found the V-Strom 1000 to still be a bit of an odd duck aesthetically speaking, but it was very comfortable and did not feel any bigger than its 650 sibling.  I liked the FZ-09, but it actually felt a bit on the small side.  I am curious, though, to hear how its triple cylinder engine sounds compared to the Triumphs.  I apologize for the lack of eye candy, but I was more focused on sitting on the bikes and helping my 5 year old son on and off the bikes without knocking anything over.  I really would have liked to have had the opportunity to sit on the Moto Guzzi Stelvio 1200 NTX and KTM 1190 Adventure back to back with the likes of the V-Stroms, Triumph Tigers, and BMW GS, but neither Moto Guzzi nor KTM were there.  If they were, I totally missed them, which is not entirely impossible.

They had some stunt riding demonstrations as well, but because they were inside the same hall, it was extremely loud, and my son wanted nothing to do with it.  Sorry.

We did enjoy looking at all of the custom-built motorcycles that were displayed throughout the hall. Again, cruisers and choppers really aren't my thing, but you could not help but be impressed by the craftsmanship involved with these one-of-a-kind machines.  Very impressive!

Progressive had a really cool slot car racetrack set up, complete with lap timers for the cars.  My son wanted to give it a shot, so my wife stood in line while he watched the races from trackside.  They even had cameras set up around the track which were displayed on overhead screens.  When his turn came up, he drew the middle car and ultimately came in second.  Not bad, considering the car came flying out of the slot on the first turn, and he had to wait for it to be rescued.  It was all worth it for the prize -- a lollipop.

By this time, he was starting to lose interest, so we headed over to Al Lam Honda.  They had a big shop set up and were offering a show special of 25% Off all inventory.  I was encouraged as there were some specific items I wanted to get.  The primary item was to get my wife a riding jacket so she could go riding with me.  We bought her a helmet last year, but she wasn't able to find a jacket that she liked.  The secondary item I wanted to get was a new helmet.  My Shoei RF-1000 is now seven year old, which is well beyond the recommended 5 year lifespan for a helmet.  While we can debate the merits of this 5 year limit, I am convinced that helmet technology, design, and materials has improved a bit over the past 7 years.  Plus, Shoei had just announced the new GT-Air and RF-1200, so I was hoping to try them on and maybe even get one at a discount.  Finally, I wanted to get a 3/4 length high-viz jacket.  There wasn't really anything wrong with my Tour Master Intake Air jacket, but if I could find a good deal and make myself that much more conspicuous, then that could only be a good thing.

We were able to find my wife a high-viz armor mesh jacket by Fly.  While not a mainstream brand, I've read about them, and they seem to get good reviews.  Hopefully we won't ever have to test the armor and fabric durability (knock on wood).  I tried both the GT-Air and the RF-1200, and while both fit pretty well, I decided to go with the GT-Air, which actually seemed to fit more like my RF-1000 than the RF-1200 did.  Plus, it has an internal sun visor and has received great reviews for its ability to move air within the helmet, which is pretty crucial for the Texas summer heat.  They only had the GT-Air in S/M/L and one graphics style, but they not only ordered the size and graphics style I wanted, they also gave me the show discount.  While I was browsing the jackets, I came across a single high-viz Tour Master Sonora, which is basically a 3/4 version of my Intake Air, including separate wind/rain liner and quilted liner, and it was the right size.  Score!  As we made our way to check out, I spied the Scala Rider G9 comm set, which also was discounted for the show and priced lower than anywhere else I had ever seen it.  My wife scored big points by telling me, "Go ahead and get it.  It's a great price!"  Now I'll be able to talk to my friends Kari and Jess when we go riding.  Jess had already researched comm sets and decided on the G9, so it was either get the G9 or not be able to talk to anyone!  Seriously, though, it's a great headset with a very robust set of features.  All I have to do now is figure out how I want to mount it.  Overall, it was a good haul.  The guys were very helpful and friendly, and they saved me a lot of money.  Or should I say they enabled me to spend a lot of money?  Cha-ching!

Got to see a lot of great bikes, share one of my hobbies with my family, purchase a riding jacket for my wife, and upgrade my riding gear all in one afternoon.  Not too shabby.

Underwear for the V-Strom

Rev. Brian posted a comment on my previous posting "Summer, Seats, and Stelvio" and included that he was trying to decide between getting the OEM under cowling or a real skid plate.  I started writing a reply and then figured it would make a good posting, since it's been a while since I've added anything to the blog.  This, of course, then reminded me that I never made a post after attending the International Motorcycle Show in Dallas, TX last month, so that's something else to add.  Look for that soon.

Anyway, back to Rev. Brian's conundrum.  Before I go any further, I want to make it clear that the following is merely my opinion based on my experience and observations, be they correct or wildly not.  Much of it is supposition, because I have direct experience only with the OEM under cowling.  If you have better information from which Rev. Brian can benefit, then please leave a comment.  Flames or trolling will be deleted with extreme prejudice.  It is my blog, after all.  :-)

So for those of you who have not read his comment, Rev. Brian is planning an adventure to the Black Hills in June and is trying to decide what kind of underwear to buy his V-Strom.  My advice is to take a good hard look at the type of riding that you intend to do, and then purchase the appropriate item to meet that use case.

For me, very little, if any, of my riding is going to be off-road.  If I do go off-road, it will most likely be limited to fire roads or groomed gravel.  Certainly nothing requiring a 4x4 vehicle, so the risk of high-centering (maxing out the bike's clearance) or sliding over rocks/logs and needing to protect the exhaust pipe or engine casing is practically zero.  In my use case, the OEM under cowling should be adequate protection from any road debris that might get kicked up and threaten the oil filter and/or exhaust pipe.

Seeing as how Rev. B is going to be visiting the Black Hills, I would hazard a guess that he may see some off-road action during his trip.  Even so, the OEM under cowling may be adequate if sticking to roads such as those I described above.

Givi makes a belly pan that I think offers a level of protection between the OEM under cowling and a skid plate.  It's also quite cost effective at $160.99 from OneidaSuzuki.com.

It appears to be a light-weight aluminum belly pan that I think can be mounted without engine guards/crash bars.  It seems like it would provide a bit more off-road protection than the OEM under cowling, but not quite as much as a skid plate.  Having not seen one in person, I can't really comment on just how durable it is.  From posts on Stromtrooper.com, it seems to be fairly durable in light off-road duty.  I still think the OEM under cowling looks better on the V-Strom, but this option might look better with a coat of matte black paint or spray-on rubberized truck bed liner.

Another option that doesn't require engine guards/crash bars is the SW-Motech skid plate, which is available at TwistedThrottle.com for $259.99.

Some posts I have read showed concern for the fact that it attaches directly to the engine case and may potentially cause greater damage than the protection it provides.  I believe that the concept is that the mounting struts are designed to flex in the event of an impact, absorbing some of the energy.  This is SW-Motech's bread and butter, so I'd like to think that they thought this through and did some testing to make sure that impacts to the skid plate would not bust up the engine case.  Maybe I'm just too optimistic.

There are other skid plate options as well -- Hepco & Becker, AltRider, and many more that can be found on Stromtrooper.com -- that require engine guards/crash bars to be installed.  These are probably the strongest solutions, but I guess it all boils down to how the skid plate connects to the crash bars.  It would be interesting to see some crash testing done to find out how each solution performs and up to what impact levels.  The skid plates alone are probably on par with the SW-Motech, but then you have to factor in the cost of the engine guards/crash bars if you don't already have any.

So I guess to summarize, I would rank these as follows:

• On-Road Only -- OEM under cowling is definitely adequate; expensive but looks great
• Light Off-Road -- OEM under cowling is probably adequate; the Givi belly pan would be better, less expensive, but not as factory-looking
• Light to Medium Off-Road -- Givi belly pan on the lighter end; SW-Motech on the medium end; both have that after-market add-on look
• Serious Off-Road -- skid plate incorporated with engine guards/crash bars; after-market add-on or bad-ass adventure look, your choice

Remember, this is just my opinion based on what I've read and what I think about a product based on its manufacturer's description.  Rev. Brian, I hope you found this to be somewhat helpful in making your decision on what to get.

Summer, Seats, and Stelvio

It's been about two months since my last update, so I thought I'd post a quick update for anyone who might actually be following this blog.  Despite the 100F+ weather we've had this summer (this is based on the ambient temperature reading on my dash), I have managed to get the bike out just about every weekend this summer.  As hot as it was, I actually found that I didn't mind it as much this summer for some reason.  I initially thought it was because I was being diligent about staying hydrated or perhaps the humidity had a role in it, but then it occurred to me that it was quite possibly the bike itself.  As you may recall if you've been following along from Day 1, I just bought the V-Strom back in October of last year.  Last summer, I was riding my Ninja 650R.  Although it was fully faired, the wind protection that it provided was quite different than that of the V-strom.  The Ninja's bodywork directed the wind into my chest, which left my head and shoulders out in the windstream.  Thus, I always compared riding during the summer heat to standing in front of the world's largest hair dryer.  The V-Strom, on the other hand, directs the air above my head, leaving me mostly in the "protective bubble" of the cockpit, and I really need to lift my elbows up to really feel like any part of me is out in the wind.  As a result, I don't really feel like I'm standing in front of a hair dryer like I used to.  I could be totally way off base as to the actual reasons, but the result speaks for itself.  Simply put, I've put on more miles this summer than I probably did all of the summers combined while I owned the Ninja.  In all fairness, we did have a child shortly after I bought the Ninja, which also led to a scaling back in miles ridden, but I found it very easy to justify not riding due to the heat.  While riding back home yesterday, I read "103F" on my dash and merely thought, "Wow, it's actually pretty hot out."  So the bottom line is V-Strom continues to meet my expectations.  Almost.

Last weekend ago, I went on a long ride with my co-worker, Kari, who rides a Moto Guzzi Breva 1100 (beautiful bike, by the way).  We rode down to the coast to Freeport and up the Blue Water Highway to Galveston for lunch at Gaido's.  The total round trip took us about 4h 30m total.  I was finding that within an hour or so the seat had become a bit uncomfortable, which puzzled me as I've ridden 2-3 hours at a time previously without much discomfort that I could recall.  Having thought about it, I thought that it might be because this time I decided to wear my cycling shorts with the gel pad.  My guess is that the gel pad had opposite the desired effect and actually created pressure points between the sit bones, wreaking havoc with the perineal nerve.

Yesterday, I decided to forego the cycling shorts to see how things went.  I still started feeling some discomfort within an hour or so, but it wasn't as bad as before, but not quite as good as I recall previously.  Perhaps my rear end got soft while I was on vacation with my family, or there's a deeper underlying problem that should be fixed.  At any rate, I'm now considering an aftermarket seat that will let me keep up with the V-Strom's 5.3 gallon tank.  Unfortunately, there's nowhere to try before you buy, so there's a bit of a leap of faith involved here.

I've read nothing but good things re: Russell's Day-Long custom seats, but I'd be looking at anywhere from $555 for vinyl to $695 for all leather and would have to ship them my stock seat, leaving me unable to ride the bike until they shipped it back.  They do seem to have a very reasonable buy-back policy, where they will buy back your saddle if you do not find it comfortable after the break-in period, provided that you give them two tries to correct any problems with the seat.

Corbin gets fairly consistently high ratings on comfort and improvement over stock, but apparently their customer service leaves something to be desired.  Again, this is all based on stuff I've read, so don't take it personally.  I'm just sharing my research here.  Their Canyon Dual Sport saddle looks pretty nice, with the tractor-style cupped seating for both driver and passenger, similar to the Russell but without the wings.  It's a little less costly at $493.  There's an option for a heated seat, but I can't really see myself needing that in Texas.  Corbin provides a lifetime warranty to the original purchaser, but no refunds or credits.  I find it very hard to spend that amount of money on a product sight unseen without any recourse should it not meet my needs.

Sargent gets consistently high ratings as well for both comfort and customer service.  They also have a 30-day money back guarantee less shipping.  Their World Sport Performance Plus clocks in at $450 and features some nice touches such as colored piping to match the bike, an underseat storage tube, and available heat option.  I must admit that the Sargent's profile looks suspiciously like the stock seat's, but it's supposed to be wider; their foam comparison diagram indicates that they address the central high pressure issue; and they do have a 30-day return when you order direct.

The last contestants are from Saddlemen -- the Adventure Tour and Adventure Track seats.  I haven't found many posts from people who have either of these seats, but the ones I did find raved about them, specifically the Track.  They both use a combination of gel and progressive density foam.  The gel is used to create a channel to relieve pressure on the perineal nerve (see comment about my discomfort above).  The Adventure Track seat takes this one step further and actually has a physical channel for the front seat, similar to the seats that you now find on bicycles.  The Tour runs $375 and the Track is $400 with optional heat available.  There is no indication on the Saddlemen site that they do returns/refunds/credits, but I was also unable to get the Warranty PDF to download.  On the plus side, I found them on RevZilla.com for $338 and $360 respectively, and RevZilla has a 30-day return policy as long as the item is in new, unused condition with the original packaging.  At $90 less than the next least expensive competitor with a design that takes advantage of existing tech from cycling and addresses the discomfort issue I'm experiencing, I have to say that the Saddlemen Adventure Track from RevZilla option is the most attractive at this time.

UPDATE (2013-08-25) -- I have since read on Stromtrooper.com that people are having issues with the Saddlemen Adventure Track's fit where the seat meets the tank.  It seems to be a fairly consistent problem with the product line, and apparently their customer support is indifferent at best.  One poster said the guy asked him three times what he would do if the replacement fit exactly the same.  Sounds like someone knows the fit of his product sucks.  I think I'm scratching the Saddlemen off of my list, which puts the Sargent at the top now.

So that covers the Summer and Seats, now you're probably wondering, "What about Stelvio?"  As an avid motorcyclist, you probably know about the motorcycle mecca called the Stelvio Pass in the Italian Alps with its 84 hairpin turns rising to an altitude of over 9,000 feet.  Well, that's the inspiration for Moto Guzzi's large displacement adventure bike, not coincidentally named the Stelvio 1200 NTX.  I only bring this up, because my friend Kari has been trying to convince me that I really needed to get one, particularly because it also is available in a color not unlike that of my alma mater, The University of Texas at Austin.  It really is an attractive bike and loaded with standard features, such as a monstrous 8.5 gallon tank, aluminum side cases that look like they're made by Trex, center stand, adjustable windshield, handguards, sump guard, crash bars, halogen aux lights, 12V power port in the dash, and high end suspension and brake components, all at a price of $15,990 MSRP.  It really is a great deal when you break it down by how much all of those things would cost, many of which you would want to add anyway.  It weighs in at around 600 lbs, depending on who you ask, which puts it right in the running with BMW's much uglier R1200GSA, which does not come with side cases and some of the other standard items on the Stelvio.

While I like the looks of the bike and the fact that it's simply different, I can't help but wonder why I would trade in the V-Strom.  At this time, I don't do any two-up riding, so the 650 is plenty of engine for me.  I have been averaging 53.6 mpg since I bought it, which means I have a possible range of about 350 miles on a full tank.  Probably less, since that would be running it dry, which is a bad thing, but you get the idea.  Meanwhile, the Stelvio would probably get around 40 mpg, which translates to 340 miles on a full tank, so range is a wash as well.  So it seems the only thing I'd be getting in exchange for the additional $8K or so above what I've already spent on the V-Strom is more horsepower and torque.  Since I can't see my wife and I embarking on any transcontinental bike odyssey in the near future, I think I'm standing pat with the V-Strom.  It's a great bike in its own right,  does everything I need it to do (with the noted exception above), and does it well.  So let's change "Stelvio" to "Status Quo".

MRA-Xcreen Update -- Wing Position and Air Flow

Just a quick update here.  I had a chance to take the bike out for a couple of hours today and play with a number of different positions for the wing on the X-creen.  I had originally been riding with the support arms pretty much straight up 12 o'clock with the top of the wing angled slightly backward since this is how it appeared in the pics from MRA.  This worked pretty well, and after installing the spacers, it even seemed to work better.  After several starts and stops to test various positions, I've now settled on having the support arms positioned so they are pointing directly forward with the top of the wing angle back so it's almost, but not quite, parallel to the primary shield.  It's probably about two clicks away from being parallel.  Sorry, I didn't take any pictures, since it was a trial-and-error process.  If you want a picture of the final position, leave a comment, and I'll go take one and add it to this post.

It was fairly windy today, with the winds blowing out of the south, so I was able to test the position with and without a headwind as well as with crosswinds.  This new position seems to push the air high enough that the air intakes on the top of my Shoei RF-1000 can catch it, but it leaves the helmet itself alone.  I'm not sure, but I think this works better than the original position due to the wing being further forward.

I have also come to the conclusion that the primary source of any buffeting is now the mirrors.  Installing the mirror extenders helped tremendously, so I may experiment with angling the mirror stalks in a little more to see if that helps.  I also considered buying some Saeng Micro-Swirl Generating Edging and putting it on the front of the mirrors to see if that helps.  Then again, the temperatures are quickly ratcheting up into the 90s, so it's probably worth it to have a bit of wind for evaporative cooling.

UPDATE:  At the request of Mark Collins, I took a picture of my current wing position setting for your reference. As you can see, the support arm is pointing directly forward, almost parallel to the ground.  The wing is angled at about 45 degrees from the arm, which gives it a little upward angle relative to the primary shield. In case you missed it in the original X-Creen post, I'm 6'-0" with a 32" inseam, so your mileage may vary with this setup.