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.

Saturday, July 27, 2013

G650GS pics









Sunday, July 21, 2013

Charity Ride 2013

Every year I throw together a little ride to benefit a local charity. This year I chose Helping Hands Center as the recipient, and I asked riders participating in the ride to donate non-perishable food items. As in the past, this year's ride was a success in both participation ad donations. We had nine riders on dualsport bikes (all of us met on ADV) and the food donations totaled three large cardboard boxes. So, a big THANK YOU to all the participants.

To lure riders over, I scouted about 60 miles of local trails, abandoned class VI roads, and as little paved connectors as possible. Thanks to my trusted sidekick CJ for helping me scout the area for some challenging terrain.

The day started out nice but the weather soon turned warm. This has not stopped us from completing 95% of the route, but by 03:00 pm we were pretty beat and decided to call it a day. Although there was enough enthusiasm to do a second ride in the fall, so I take it the guys liked what I had planned for them.

Despite all the rain we've been having, the terrain was surprisingly dry. We started easy, on a few class VI roads so everyone could warm up. Once we knew the riding ability was there, we had a quick lunch and headed deeper into the woods and off the beaten track. Overall, there was not a lot of mud or water, but we still had sand, rocks, ledges, gravel, and everything in between.


 Starting easy on a grassy path.
 An old class VI road through the woods.
 A happy DR350.
 URNUTS showing us that KTMs, as submersible vehicles,  are way overrated.
 Is this deep enough?
 Junyah showing the KTM how it is done. Go WR!
 Mrs. M slipping to the side...
 ...and coming out after a short pause.
 Ross proving that speed is your friend.
ADVRich testing the depth and seeing whether the sweet Britannia fairing on his WR has a built-in periscope

 Lunch break. At this point, there were eight of us left.
 Mrs. M no longer concerned about riding in the sand seems to be having fun.
 ADVRich playing in the sand.
Just a shot to show you how large the sand pit really is.


And Junyah showing us how to park a WR when you only have a limited space. After a careful consideration of his argument and style, no other rider decided to try his unconventional parking method.

It was a great day of riding in a good company.

Wednesday, July 17, 2013

Anakee 2 problems

Last year, on 06/20/2012, I purchased a set of Anakee 2 tires for my BMW G650GS at a local dealer. While I enjoy the savings one can find on the Internet, I firmly believe in supporting local businesses, so I try to make as many purchases as possible locally. This particular dealer in question, American Trikes and Motorsports in Keene, NH has always been good to me.

Well, being a dual-sport rider, I tend to save the Anakees for the occasional long-distance trip, and I run TKC80 most of the year instead. After taking one trip cut-short on the Anakees (less than 500 miles), I returned to the dealer and had them switch to TKC80. At that time, I mentioned that the front Anakee has a weird wobble and appears to go up and down at certain speeds. This was mostly an issue at speeds around 40 MPH with the throttle fully closed. I mentioned that I suspected the tire was out of round. Needless to say, with a fresh set of TKCs on the rims, I did not worry about the Anakees much. After all, the dealer said that if the tire was out of round, they would talk to the distributor.

Fast forward to last week. With a long trip planned for mid-July, I returned to the dealer and asked them to remount the Anakees and check the front for being out of round. The dealer mounted and balanced the tire (probably did not check for out of round) and I drove home. When I installed the wheels on the bike and went for a ride, I noticed a wobble. In fact, the wobble was bad enough that when I let go of the handlebars, the front would shake violently. The most aggressive wobble occurs at speeds between 35 and 55mph, but is still noticeable at speeds above 55mph. The wobble is hardly perceptible at speeds lower than 30mph, but the front again feels as if it is rising and falling with each rotation of the tire.

I rode home, again cutting my ride short, took the front wheel off, and brought it back to the dealer. Once again, the dealer check for balance and tire was balanced properly. I mentioned that it was out of round, and reminded the dealer of our conversation when we first took the tires off. He then called Parts Unlimited (his supplier) and was told that Parts Unlimited would not stand behind the product because the warranty period was out. The dealer, to my knowledge, informed them that the tire has less than 500 miles, still has all original mold "nipples" and is not worn at all. Parts Unlimited again declined to replace the tire.

The dealer than told me to contact Parts Unlimited myself, which I did via their website. It has been two business days and I have not received any response from parts Unlimited. I hope that the company will stand behind the product and offer to replace the tire. After all, 90% of the parts and gear I purchase comes from their warehouses.

Measuring the tire, I have found that the tire has a high spot, which is about 10" long and rises 4.6mm above the rest of the tire. The tire is out of warranty by three weeks.

Do you think Parts Unlimited should replace the tire or at least offer a partial credit towards a replacement tire?  

Wednesday, July 10, 2013

Dangerous puddles

Last weekend, my riding buddy hit a hidden danger lurking under the mucky water of a mud puddle. The danger I speak of happens when a 4x4 vehicle gets stuck in the mud, and the driver spins the tires way too much, digging deeper into the soft layer. I, myself, have gotten stuck in puddles that did not appear deep enough to worry, and one time I even managed to swamp my bike entirely. This time, my buddy managed to save it, and came out of a potentially dangerous situation unscathed.

The puddle in question was about 3-4 inches deep on both ends. As he rode into it, his front wheel suddenly dropped about 30 inches, his front suspension bottomed-out, and he slammed his chests in to the handlebars. Had he been going faster, he would have been thrown off the bike. Fortunately his speed was prudent and his reaction quick.

Here is a crappy photo of the moment of impact:


So, what is the point of this story? Watch out for water, you never knows what hides in there. We had ridden in this area many times, and crossed the very same puddle a few times without any issues. Maintaining speed  appropriate to conditions is one thing out in the open, but please slow down before any water crossings, especially if you cannot see what lies beneath the surface.