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.

Tuesday, October 14, 2014

New England Pie-O-Rama

If you are ever looking for an excuse to ride (like there are not enough of them), you can always trust the brilliant minds on ADVRider to come up with something specific, enticing, and just plain entertaining. Like this example: New England Pie-O-Rama

Simple, eh? Ride, stop someplace, eat a pie, post a review, and it will be added to the ADV pie map :)

Well, since I like riding, and I also like eating pie, I could not resist.

Here are my three recent contributions:

Entry 1 - Ray's Seafood Restaurant at Rye Beach, NH:

When you say beach, this is what usually comes to mind:

But alas, it is October in NH, and this is a family-friendly site, so the only pie I'll be reviewing is the cool Keylime Pie served at Ray's in Rye.




The day started cold, but turned out to be rather nice by mid-day. I rode a total of 367 miles for that pie. But I was in good company, the pavement was dry, and the leaves in color provided some spectacular views.

So, what can be said about this pie?

The pie was served cold, as it should be. The crust was deliciously light and pillowy with the right amount of crumble when I bit into it. The lime was not overwhelming, and despite eating this pie after consuming some crabcakes and fried shrimp, it did not make me feel stuffed, or uncomfortable. All the textures were right, and I would vote for this pie as a refreshment during the hot summer months.





 Entry 2 - The Foothills of Warner, Warner NH

Blueberry Pie:
 

This pie was served warm but not hot. Just right to warm you on a cool autumn day. The pie had a traditional pie crust (home made) and was baked in-house. The pie was full of blueberries and blueberry juice, which just tickled as it dripped down my chin. There was a hint of cinnamon in there, but not overwhelming the taste of blueberries. Not too sweet, not tart - this pie was just right.

Entry 3 - The Sunflower Cafe, Jaffrey, NH

I must admit that I'm a long-time fan of this establishment. There is something special about a small town cafe which has life jazz music and lobster/asparagus crepes on their Sunday brunch menu. And while I usually take their other deserts (a thin sliced caramelized pear with a Crème brûlée crust is one of my favorites), I took one for the team and ordered a pie.

The four berry pie-ette (or a small, personal size pie filled with four different berries) was simply the best of the three samples taken for this post. Served warm without any cremes to distract from the experience, it was bursting with tender berries mixed together in a wonderful melange of savory flavors bringing to mind images of autumn days and berry picking. The crust itself was flaking on the sides, firm on the bottom, and sprinkled with sugar/flour crumbs at the top. Baked to perfection, it was neither too dry nor too juicy. This pie reminded me of European pies, as it had just the right amount of sweetness and all the flavors worked together like a symphony for my taste buds.  Recommended.


Friday, October 10, 2014

A shoutout to Generation Cycle in Perris, CA

Last weekend, I did one of those guilty pleasure rides. Well, what I mean is a ride to an awesome breakfast place - Parker's Maple Barn in Mason, NH, followed by a ride to Ray's Seafood restaurant in Rye, NH. It was a nice day, the miles kept coming, and the old belly was happy. 367 miles of smooth, twisty New Hampshire roads.

On my way back home, my neutral light started flickering when in gear. I pulled over, could not see anything wrong, and cautiously proceeded home.

When I got home, I took the sprocket cover off and discovered that my neutral switch was toast. The wires were literary coming out of the RTV/Epoxy housing. Lucky I made it home, as the bike needs the neutral switch to start.

I checked online and with my local dealer, but all the usual places had the switch on 5-7 days backorder, plus shipping. Not happening - New Hampshire is about to get covered in snow any time now, and I did not want to miss even a single day of riding.

I found a used switch listed at Generation Cycle on Wednesday. http://www.generationcycle.com/
Not particularly fond of eBay, I called the shop and spoke with Jerry.

Despite having thousands of parts in stock, Jerry pulled the switch off the shelves as we spoke, packaged it, and shipped it to me via USPS priority mail. This was Wednesday afternoon, EST.

I got my switch today, Friday, at noon. It's already installed and the bike runs again.

For the price of less than a half of a new unit, I got a used replacement part delivered faster than a dealer could have done.

So, if you are looking for used parts, give these guys a try: http://www.generationcycle.com/

I couldn't be happier. 

Thursday, October 2, 2014

Installing V-Strom handguards on Bandit 1200S

Once again it is the time of year when the weather starts getting colder, especially on the early morning rides. Maybe I got spoiled with heated grips and handguards on my BMW bike, but riding the Bandit 1200 on a chilly morning made my hands feel numb. Time to get some handguards.

Like many before me, I decided to go with the V-Strom factory handguards. Why? well, they do look "factory", are large, and can be had fairly cheap.

Here is my very simple install - a few minutes once you have it all gathered together:

First, you will need some longer lever studs, as the stock ones are too short once you install the handguards. The handguards mount with the lever studs themselves. You can either order them from Suzuki, or, like I did, grab some 8mm bolts and have the turned down on a lathe . . .


To this:
Then thread the lower part with a 6mm die. Notice, the stud part is longer by 0.150", or the thickness of the handguard plastic:
The right side mounts without any modifications, but the left side is slightly larger. Drill a new 8mm mounting hole here:
And cut off the stock hole, plus a tiny bit of plastic to clear the clutch master cylinder:
I also have custom made bar-ends, so I needed to slightly enlarge the bar-end hole in the handguards. This is just a few thousands of an inch, and I made sure the handguard would not pull off the bar-end. Here is one of my ends:
Then, all you need is a couple of minutes to install the guards on the lever studs, push the bar-ends through the ends, and tighten everything together. I pushed the handguards slightly out toward the bar ends. The plastic is flexible enough to just bend slightly.
Here is a closeup from the front:
And the finished look. It comes across as "factory" and that's okay. These guards are strictly for weather related discomfort. I run real handguards on my ADV bike, but the Bandit will never see off-roading. :)
From the front, you don't even see the bar-ends, but they are there to help with vibration.

That's it - told you it was simple.