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Man, what a busy last couple of weeks have been. I was out in California for the LA Calendar Motorcycle Show and Red Bull US Grand Prix up at Laguna Seca while Adam was out in Gillette for the BMW MOA Rally.
We were very well received at all three very distinct and different events, showing the versatility of the TPX across the three major street segments.At the LA Calendar Motorcycle Show, we had perfect weather and the show was nicely complimented by the lovely calendar girls working the show. After all, the name of the event is called LA Calendar Motorcycle Show for a reason. We had a lot of custom builders interested in incorporating the TPX into projects that involve speed and performance themes. I think it won't be long before we start seeing TPX on custom bikes all over the place.
I had the option of taking pictures with some of the show bikes at the LA Calendar Show, but I opted for the calendar girls instead.The following weekend, I was up in Laguna Seca for the Red Bull US Grand Prix. I've always loved this event and this year was no different. The races were all exciting and in the end, Mat Mladin ran away with the AMA Superbike race while Valentino Rossi won a very exciting Moto GP race, where he was tire to tire with Casey Stoner pretty much for the most of the race until Stoner took an unfortunate fall on lap 24. He was able to quickly get back on his bike but by then, Rossi was out of reach. Unfortunately, I had to man our booth and couldn't see the race live, but I got to see most of the race on one of the big screen TV's at Buell's booth right across from our booth.
The Laguna Seca Raceway Girls comforted me for not being able to watch the Moto GP race.The TPX was also featured on Mark Becknauld's custom 04 Yamaha R1 in the Yamaha tent. The bike was entered in Yamaha's custom bike build contest. Mark's bike was probably the only bike in the competition that was ridden to the show instead being trailered to the show. Unfortunately, Mark didn't win, but big props to Mark for building a real, ridable custom bike.
The TPX on Mark's custom R1.As for the TPX? Well, I wasn't able to get a bike for the 2 weekends in California, a major bummer, so the TPX didn't get to spend any time on a bike. It did, however, spend a little over 1,200 miles in a car during this time, and the TPX did its thing, especially right around the race track, where Monterey Sheriff's department and CHP were out in force, handing out tickets left and right. I heard numerous horror stories of fellow riders being pulled over heading in and out of the track for merely going just a few miles per hour over the posted speed limit. But not a surprise since I have received 2 speeding tickets half an hour apart leaving Laguna Seca a few years back. This was before TPX time.
I installed the TPX on this 08 Concours for one of the customers that bought the TPX at the race.
Anyway, it was great to be back in California and after 2 weekends of being surrounded by bikes but with no bikes to ride, I can't wait to get back on the bike this weekend!
Me and my new friend, Fat Bob!
A couple of weekends ago we went out to El Paso for Speed Measurement Laboratories' 2008 Radar Detector Shootout. Speed Measurement Laboratories, or SML for short, is the leading independent radar and radar detector evaluator in the country. They have over 20 years of experience in radar and radar detection technology, and is the leading expert in providing independent analysis and research to the radar and radar detection industries and government agencies. Their Shootout follows strict and rigorous guidelines in evaluating radar detectors in the marketplace today and provide unbiased results for everyone to see. They don't sell any of the products that they test, so there isn't any incentive for them to askew any of the results.This year, SML wanted to really test the TPX, as it is the first true motorcycle radar detector to participate in the Shootout, and had arranged for a Suzuki Hayabusa and a BMW R1150RT for testing. They couldn't get their hands on a Harley to round out the three street segments (sport, touring, and cruiser) for the Shootout, so they asked us if we can somehow get a Harley to the event. Using all the resources that I had, I was able to get a 2008 Harley Davidson Fat Bob, but it was out in Phoenix. No biggie, it just meant that I get to ride it from Phoenix to El Paso!
What's the TPX doing on a cop bike?Now, I haven't been on a cruiser in a while, and believe it or not, I was excited about the opportunity to ride the Fat Bob. Not that I don't love my SV anymore, it's just that I've ridden it for about 6,000 miles this year already and I'm looking forward to a change of scenery.
So on Thursday I got into Phoenix and picked up the Fat Bob. First thing that I did was to install the TPX onto it. The installation was simple and took me about 20 minutes. Once it was installed, I was on the road! I was decked out in my full face helmet and sportbike jacket, and I was thinking to myself I must've looked real funny on the Fat Bob with what I was wearing. But who cares, I'm on two wheels and that's all that matters.
TPX on the Fat Bob.
The weather in Phoenix on that day was a warm 107, without a single cloud in the sky. I was thinking that I'm in for a warm ride all the way to El Paso. Not so. The ride was one of the most interesting rides I've ever had.
The ride was nice and toasty for the first hour or so, then, as I got close to Tucson, I start seeing dark rain clouds on the road ahead. Sure enough, before I knew it, I was riding in a severe rain storm. Not only was there rain, but also thunder and lightening all around me. I know it's always a bad idea to ride in a lightening storm, but the Shootout was the next day and I couldn't miss it, so I braved my way through the storm.
About an hour later, I rode out of the storm. I was soaked from head to toe and believe it or not, cold. But the weather warmed up quickly and soon I was dry again. The TPX? Weathered the storm like a champ. Now that the road is dry again, I decided to see if the Fat Bob was capable of reaching the 120mph mark indicated on the speedometer. Yeah, it's capable of doing 120. Took a while to get there, though, but it did. After verifying the top speed, I settled down at around 95, as it felt like it was a speed that the Fat Bob was "comfortable" with.
And this is where Wayne thought he was going to get his first ticket of the year. How is it possible if he was riding with the TPX you might ask? Here's what happened. So I was cruising at around 95. The traffic was light with a vehicle here and there. I was cruising along, catching up to vehicles ahead and passing them. The road was long and straight so that I could see vehicles up ahead from ways back, and I'm sure they can see me catching up on them from their rear view mirror. So I was passing and passing vehicles, then, as I was catching up to this one particular vehicle, I started to realize that it was an Arizona DPS. The DPS was doing the speed limit of 75 and I'm sure that he saw me catching up to him from way back. Of course, I once I realized that it was a DPS I just hung back and maintained distance. Even though the DPS wasn't running radar, I'm sure he could've still giving me a ticket for going faster than he was. So I was hanging behind him and just waiting for him to pull over on the side of the road, let me pass, then pull me over, but he never did! He went off the freeway right before we reached New Mexico and I was thanking him in my mind for not pulling me over.
By now, it's late in the afternoon and with the remaining rain clouds in the sky, it started to get dark. A few miles into New Mexico I see signs on the road reading "Severe Dust Storm Possible". Oh really, I thought to myself. How severe can it get? Well, it got pretty damn severe. Shortly after, the wind started to blow, and the wind got stronger and stronger, and along with the wind came dust. It got so dusty at a few points that I couldn't see more than 25 feet in front of me. Needless to say, I wasn't doing anything near 95 on the Fat Bob. I went across the entire state of New Mexico seeing mostly dust, and nothing else. And literally, as I got to Texas, the dust storm ended, but the wind was still there.
At this point, I was tired and it was getting late, and the fact that I had to fight the wind didn't help the matter much. But, all rides must come to an end, and I did finally reach El Paso. The next morning, under daylight, I realized that the Fat Bob had a healthy tan from the dust storm the night before.
Things didn't get much easier the next three days. The Shootout was a grueling process that involved a lot of patience and standing under the El Paso sun waiting around. But it was well worth it. I'm not at liberty to discuss the results until they are officially released by SML, but what I can tell you is that the TPX performed really well and we are pleased with the results. As soon as the results are ready, I will post them here.
During the Shootout we also had several photo shoots of me on the Fat Bob and the Hayabusa. We'll see where those pictures end up.
TPX and the Hayabusa, a match made in heaven.
After the Shootout on Sunday, I rode off in the Fat Bob back to Phoenix. The trip took two days as I didn't leave El Paso until late Sunday afternoon and finished off the ride the following morning after spending a night out in Benson, AZ. It was a beautiful ride back, as I had perfect weather with not a rain cloud in the sky.
Total tally for the trip: 1,526 miles on the Fat Bob, a thunder storm, a crazy dust storm, numerous passes on the El Paso desert, and no ticket!
We earned another praise from another motorcycle magazine, this time it's RoadBike. We received a full evaluation and they recommended their readers to "get your own TPX... and you'll save a bundle in nervous energy."
You can read about the evaluation in the August issue of RoadBike, available now on newsstands nationwide.
Ever since I've moved out East everyone here's been telling me how great of a ride the Dragon is and I have to go and experience it. So, when our friends at Twisted Throttle asked us to help them out at Deals Gap during Honda Hoot, I jumped at the opportunity.
The SV at the Gap.
I left at the crack of dawn on Thursday figuring that it'll take me about the entire day to ride to the Gap from New York, and that I'll hit the Dragon before the sun goes down. Sounded good while I was planning it but didn't turn out that way. I hit some traffic in Pennsylvania, where they were doing some road constructions and that held me up for some time, then, I didn't realize that I-40 didn't connect through Knoxville and I had to take a detour, and when I got there, I took a wrong turn and ended up missing Highway 129. After getting myself back on track onto Highway 129, I missed a turn off and ended up on Highway 411. By the time that I found my way back to Highway 129 again, the sun had gone down and I realized that my first encounter with the Dragon was going to be in the dark after about 800 miles of riding.
So, my first encounter with the Dragon wasn't under ideal condition by any means, and I knew that I was getting tired, so I told myself just take it easy and don't do anything stupid, especially with my poor night vision. So I entered the Dragon and took the turns easy. I see single tire skid marks on almost every sharp turn, and they were reminders to myself not to go too fast. After what felt like an eternity but maybe just about 5 minutes in reality, I was getting really, really tired, cold, and hungry, and wanted the ride to be over with. But no, there were more turns, and the Dragon just seemed to go on and on and on. Finally, after who knows how many more turns, I finally made it to the Gap. By then, it was around 10:30, and I was greeted by Erik and Matt of Twisted Throttle with pizza slices and cold beers.
The following day, I was tired from the ride and knew I had a long day of work, so I was off the bike. But on Saturday morning, I was rested up and went on a couple of runs on the Dragon. Man, did the Dragon ever live up to the hype! There were good mixtures of sharp, blind curves with tight sweeps that really made the ride fun. Not to mention the perfect weather and beautiful scenery, and riding fresh during the day was definitely different and better than riding tired in the darkness. I was totally enjoying it.
What made the trip even better was the outstanding staff over at the Gap. Brad, Ben, and all the guys there are all riders and not only do they take care of their customers, they are also a fun bunch. Make that a crazy bunch. If you enjoy roller coaster rides, try to find an excuse to have Ben take you through the Dragon in his Crown Victoria. It's well worth it. Just make sure you don't do it on a full stomach.
It was a fun weekend and I'm glad I finally got some fun riding under my belt. I would definitely recommend anyone a fun filled motorcycling weekend at the Gap. You can camp there or stay in their clean and reasonably priced rooms. They've got a great restaurant and friendly staff to go with it, and not to mention camp fire under the stars every night.
Oh, and the TPX? Sniffed out cops not only on the Interstates, but also on the curves. Yes, there are cops all over the Dragon to remind you to not to ride beyond your limits. They are not really there to spoil your fun, but really to keep the few squids in check as crashes come fairly regularly. There's even a Tree of Shame at the Gap, featuring destroyed bike parts and x-ray photos, to remind you not to go too crazy on the Dragon.
The infamous Tree of Shame.
Anyway, final tally for the trip: 1,752 miles, 6 passes on the Dragon, and no ticket!
