Functionality

Hello everyone:
Just a quick update. We have a short ride video coming. It's filmed and mostly just needs to be loaded to youtube. یЋΑÞ¤WЧЄ۷Я filmed his ride home recently, taking a bit of a scenic route and tried to do a little bit of performance riding. It didn't come across as well as hoped due to urban traffic, but he took as many back roads as he could.

Also, we're constantly working on the website. The Sociable links were down last week, and were temporarily removed and then replaced until the Sociable gadget was back up. I also added an email subscription box and some like/share buttons for Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and Tumblr. I also added the site to Google's search directory and integrated a growing library of meta information to make searching for us easier and more efficient.

Been looking at our stats for the last week. We have a surprising following. We're getting hits from around the world already. It's a small following, but a lot more traffic than we thought, so AWESOME! Just giving a shout out to our overseas traffic- Hello, Australia, Algeria, Italy, Russia and Germany! Thanks for the visits! Did you know that یЋΑÞ¤WЧЄ۷Я lived in Germany? He spent several years living on a Canadian Military Base in Baden-Baden as a child.

For our readers who prefer not to read in English, if you're using Google Chrome, please take advantage of the Google Translate Plug-In or the Google Translate Toolbar.

We also have a growing following on Twitter. I've added several fellow riders on Twitter this week, as well as a Bike Tours group from here on the Wet Coast! Keep it coming, guys! Also, we had a brief talk with a gentleman here who is on a camera crew for Shaw Cable. We have a strong connection now for having the trip filmed! The big stuff is still in talks, and in the inception stage. *sigh* If only this paid mortgages. :P

Rubber side down!

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Finally! An update!

Awwwright, in my own words, here's what went down today:

The local VI Honda Powerhouse had an event today, August 17th. All Honda brand riding gear 50% off, and a 'Come ride with us' event between 4 and 8 pm. A co-worker of mine at my first job agreed to take my shift this morning so I could at least check out the deals with KД§$Ị (ИOVΔ), as she had no riding gear.

She's saved up some money, and was finally able to get some proper riding armour - mainly because of the sale. As we walked in we were greeted by the crew there as they all know me... I spend too much time drooling on their new bikes since getting my CBR125 there. One of them asked if I was there for the ride in the afternoon, but sadly I was only able to get time off from my first job, not my second - so I'd be working during the time of the riding event.

As KД§$Ị (ИOVΔ) was looking at jackets, I was sitting and drooling on the black CBR250 that was on display, when Frank approached me and asked if I could be there at 1:15, as arrangements were being made to get me on a 250 before the big event. I was ecstatic! Gary had arrived with the demonstration bikes shortly before, and now that they were unloaded, Frank had to show him the route for the main event - and they invited me to join them on a brand new CBR250! KД§$Ị (ИOVΔ) snapped a photo as we were heading out, that's me on the left.

Everything that I knew about the 250 until then was just what one learns from paper. Now I actually had one under my butt. As the only bikes I've ridden are a Virago 250 and my CBR125, my comparisons are going to be against the 2007 CBR125.

The CBR 250 I rode today is the top model equipped with ABS, and painted in red and silver, just like the bike in a previous post. The first impression when I mounted it was that the controls are more aesthetically designed than both the old and the new 125. Upon firing it up, it vibrates more than than the smaller bike, but that doesn't surprise me as the piston is bigger. I like the sound. Not a hyper high-pitched whine, but a deep smooth purr. It doesn't feel much heavier than the smaller bike, but it feels more substantial, and I see more of the bike while I'm riding. If I look straight ahead on the 125, I often don't even see it as the entire bike is hidden by the chin guard of my helmet.

Anyway, though I didn't have a chance to really open the throttle 'in anger' I was able to feel a good pull when we got off the back roads and merged onto the highway.I wasn't able to roll onto the throttle completely as Frank was in the lead and taking it easy, so I had no problem keeping up with him on his CBR600.

So it comes down to the following points in which it differs from the 2007 125:

• More vibration.


• More torque and pull on the arms - solid acceleration without that struggling feeling of the smaller bike.


• More substantial feel to it without sacrificing maneuverability, and a more satisfying exhaust tone.
• The brand new CBR125 looks almost identical to the 250 from 10 feet away, but upon closer inspection it is actually on a different frame with several other changes. Despite the different frame, it has the same overall size of the 250.

I love my 125, I really do. It's a great bike. I've put 29,300 kilometers on it, and though inanimate, feels rather like a faithful horse, one that you plan on caring for until one of you no-longer functions - but as soon as the 250 was parked after the ride, I started estimating how much I could get for it if I were to sell it, so I could get the CBR250.

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Extreme Frontiers

Egads! We're a little late on this one. Sadly we did not even know about it, which just. Just. Just breaks our hearts. Charley Boorman is doing a bike tour from Cape Town to Victoria Falls. He took the East to West route through Canada, and finished his North American leg in Tofino.

This is the part that kills me. He started Vancouver Island from Duncan (50k and 46 mins drive from here), rode through Nanaimo, and to Tofino. In order to come through here, he would have been riding past our house. PAST. OUR HOUSE. *cry* So not only did he complete 50% of our trip without us, but we missed him completely due to work obligations, when he did so. یЋΑÞ¤WЧЄ۷Я and I spent the better part of this day crushed about it. :S To top it all off, we originally planned to do the trip this summer. Had things financially fallen into place, we would have been arriving back here at about the same time as Charley's convoy. Crushification. Even worse, poor یЋΑÞ¤WЧЄ۷Я missed the convoy by 30 minutes. He had about a 20 min drive to work on the highway, and would have been in the convoy all the way to the North end.

The entire trip, which is still underway, is being filmed and then aired on British Television (Channel 5) next year. Here's a little taste of the convoy that followed Charley to Tofino (this is in Port Alberni):





www.charleyboorman.comCharley Boorman on TwitterExtreme Frontiers on BigEarthExtreme Frontiers FacebookRuss Malkin on Twitter
We are not giving up, even in light of this tour. The tour is really as it is described. They went to some extreme Canadian destinations (i.e. Camping on a glacier). Our trip, while perhaps not quite as cool, will be geared a lot more to tourists. In order to get the sponsorship funding we need, we have to be able to make it appealing to tourism Canada (and show the world what Canada has to offer- or at least some of). I also have to stay on reasonably major routes, for medical reasons. Our involvement with the Canadian Diabetes Association is still very much intended (though it hasn't happened yet).
We have done some talking with the people at VI Honda, and everyone is excited about our trip, and feels it would be a really worthy series to capture. The Exteme Frontiers tour really re-lit a smoldering flame for our hopes of completing this project. Charley Boorman aside, it will be really cool for the world to see Canada from a Canadian's perspective. Fret not! We cannot lose hope. Canada has no claim to Extreme Frontiers, so we forge our own path. We still think it's freaking cool that the guy who inspired our trip actually went on it. :)
In other news: Thanks to VI Honda, I finally got some riding gear. One day only sale today on all riding apparel. I got a great red and black textile jacket for $140 with taxes. :) It looks a lot warmer than it actually is. The lining was a little sticky, but it actually felt quite cool, and broke the wind a lot better than I was expecting. I almost went for a warmer riding jacket that had a plush vest inside, but most of the riding I do is during the summer and I needed my jacket to breathe. Besides, there was a $50 price difference. :P

Some repairs to do. The bluetooth in my helmet somehow became disconnected. Some minor rewiring to do. Although, I must tell you, in the event I were to purchase a new helmet, I would probably buy something different, or just skip the bluetooth all together. The bluetooth is too quiet. While riding it is next to impossible to hear the speaker, and I am on a pretty quiet bike. Also, after a single season riding with that helmet, the rubber on the button became hard and brittle and it cracked rather unceremoniously when I tried to use it the first time this summer. For a plain helmet, it's still pretty decent. It doesn't fog much, though on a wet day it does love to spit water at me where the visor meets the lip. Good ventilation and it's comfortable. When it was brand new, going full throttle on the tarmac, it used to push hard into my forehead and hurt, but I think that's just break-in. It doesn't do that anymore.
Up next: Test ride on the new 2011 Honda CBR 250. I will say, that despite the pictures and my original distaste for the look of the bike, in person, I was fully swooning. The headlight area is still not as attractive as the previous 125 line, but it is still pretty. The seat is a little wide in the thigh department (at least for me) but with legs up it was pretty comfortable. Squishy seat, though it had back handles and no bar (the 125 had a removable seat bar).
Got on a Ducati 848 today. I almost had to be wrenched off of it with a crow bar. Just sayin'. That bike was just shy of a sexual experience.
KД§$Ị (ИOVΔ)

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