About Me

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Henry Martin spends his nights writing fiction and poetry, which predominately deals with the often-overlooked aspects of humanity. He is the author of three novels: Escaping Barcelona, Finding Eivissa, and Eluding Reality; a short story collection, Coffee, Cigarettes, and Murderous Thoughts; and a poetry collection, The Silence Before Dawn. His most recent published project is a collection of Photostories in five volumes under the KSHM Project umbrella, for which he collaborated with Australian photographer Karl Strand, combining one of a kind images with short stories and vignettes. He is currently working on his next novel narrated in two opposing points of view. He lives with his family in the Northeast.

Monday, September 27, 2010

Monadnock to Mount Washington, NH

On 09/11/2010 I took the first of many (hopefully) 'fall' trips on my G650GS.
The bike itself calls for an adventure -- a little bit of hills, a little bit of lakes, a little bit of dirt -- what better place than New Hampshire.


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This particular trip commenced in Keene, NH. I started out early in the morning and headed west on Rte 9 towards Concord. Thanks to decent riding gear, a review of which is coming later on, the brisk morning air moving past me at 60 mph did not bother me at all, despite the temperature being in the low 40F. With Keene behind me, the road follows gently sloping hills and scattered lakes and ponds, offering some spectacular scenery. Nonetheless, keeping my destination in mind, I kept going.
My initial plan was to take 93 North and cross the White Mountains on Re 112. Plans and motorcycles, however, often do not agree with one another.
Nearing Canteburry, I noticed a slight wobble coming from my front tire. Since I was going fairly fast, I decided not to push my luck and pulled over at the next rest stop. Upon close examination, I discovered that my front tire developed a series of cracks along its sidewall, very close to the rim. Not really seing any other option, I decided to keep going and hope to find a dealership along the way. While this may sound crazy, I'm not insane, so I pulled off the highway and headed towards Meredith keeping my speed below 50mh.
While I came across three motorcycle dealerships, none had the proper tire size in stock, so I kept going farther up north. Finally, just before Conway, luck smiled at me.
A small Yamaha shop on the side of the road not only had the right size tire but also had the time to install it for me. Well, an hour and a few cigarettes later, plus $170 lighter, I was back on the road again.
It was around noon and going back to the highway or crossing the Whites on 112 was out of the question. I pushed fast forward making it to the Mt. Washington Auto Road in a decent time. The weather was spectacular with close to 70F and clear summit. Temp at the summit was just below 50F and winds stayed close to 30mph. A perfect day for a climb...a two wheeled climb that is.
I paid the toll ($10), put on a long sleeved shirt under my jacket, saddled up and hit it.


I drove Mt Washingon once before, in a car, but going on a bike was a whole new experience. The lack of a metal cage provided for amazing views (some scary) and I almost felt that I could feel everything around me. The climb itself took about 30 minutes as I stuck behind some cars, and when I reached the top I got off and went exploring the scenery.




Unfortunately, just as my luck had it earlier that day, the clouds moved in fairly quick, and visibility changed from great to near nothing. Well, down the mountain I was. 









From Mt. Washington I headed to Gorham where I had a late lunch break. Since most of the day was now gone and I still had over three hours of riding ahead of me, I cut across to Twin Mountain and headed for Franconia. From there it was smooth coasting down 93 to Concord and Rte 9 back to the Monadnock region.
New Hampshire is a beautiful state. In a day I was able to cross two completely different mountain regions and the lake district. I only wish I had taken more pictures, but due to the complications early in the day, I was short on time. Next up, the seacoast.

Saturday, September 25, 2010

G650GS light bar










The 2009 BMW G650GS came with a headlight that is adequate for night-time driving on paved roads, however, it lacks in providing both daytime visibility to other drivers, and nighttime driving on secondary roads where side illumination is critical when the potential of an encounter with wildlife exists.
Considering the various options on the market, which range from inexpensive to very expensive, I settled on KC Hilights model 330 I found at a local car parts store. Unbeknown to me at the time of purchase was the fact that KC no longer produce smaller wattage bulbs for this particular model. The store clerk assured me that I would be able to secure some 35W bulbs, this, nevertheless, proved to be false.
While I waited for the bulbs, which were never to arrive, I manufactured an aluminum lightbar that mounts on the frame, requiring no modification to the bike itself. Due to the ease of availability, I decided on a 2" angle with 1/8" thickness. Perhaps a larger thickness would be needed to properly secure heavier lights, but the KC were lightweight, so 1/8" was sufficient. I loosely based my design on the RCU lightbar, a picture of which I found on the net. I wanted my bar to extend past the width of the forks, yet remain "tucked" underneath the fairing, so the lights would stay protected in the event that I wold put the bike on its side.
For brackets, I used the same 2" angle aluminum cut to size, and secured to the bar with 6mm stainless steel bolts. Brackets mount to the frame via 8mm x 70mm grade 8.8 bolt, with stainless washers where the bracket meets the frame. Blue Locktite was applied on threads with the bolts torqued at 17ft/lb.

This is when I found out that the bulbs would never come. Having the bar made to fit the lights, so to speak, I was not about to give up. Unfortunately, the other options involved spending too much money, in my opinion, for a set of small driving lights. A trip to all parts stores within 10 miles left me with nothing, so off I was to Walmart to purchase a set of small Optronics lights that would fit the lightbar I shaped for the original KC's. I call this a temporary solution.

To my surprise, the Optronics are much brighter than expected, even though I switched the stock 55W H3 bulbs for 35W H3 bulbs. I would still like to find 35W bulbs for the KC HiLights, nevertheless, I'll be running these in the mean time.
Overall impression is hat the bike is more visible during daytime with much improved nighttime illumination.






Sunday, September 5, 2010

Tires, ADV

Scorpion MT90


Shinko / Golden Boy SR244

Mefo Explorer MFE99

Kenda K270 front and rear