Corbin and Suzuki C109R

Well, I really should be writing more on the Küryakyn, but I'd rather take a small breather and talk about Corbin products. Why? Well, I hit on the most important feature Küryakyn has to offer. They have other stuff that is quite valuable. I'm hoping that they get some air filter units for the C109R that are as cool as what I've seen Küryakyn do for other bikes. But for now, I wanted to talk about an accessory brand known as Corbin.

http://www.corbin.com/shop.shtml

Corbin has been around for a while. They make some of the best seats, bags, and fairings available. So that's what I'll be showing. Now my bike has a blue/white color scheme with studded black seats. If at all possible I will show pictures that reflect that.

1. The Duel Tour Saddle seat. It's a nice seat. It costs about $500. It has a lower back rest for the passenger and driver. This is a good (and bad) thing. On the plus side your back is supported. On the negative side, it is a lot harder to mount your ride unless you practice yoga. I almost did not include this product here. I will tell you why. There is no studded seat option. They do have a million options for textures and colors. I can have a blue rattlesnake leather texture if I wanted. But no studs. My bike looks good with studs. :(


2. The front fairing. Normally I'm not a fan of a fairing. They give me this old man shiver. But considering the way this bike looks with the fairing and bags, etc, it looks pretty nice. It is pricey coming in between $1400 and $1600. There is one up side to a fairing over my current wind shield. My current wind shield blocks all wind to my face. This prevents my helmet vents from cooling my face. So I get hot and have to crack my face shield.




3. Fleetliner Saddlebags. 10 years ago I'd rather be caught dead then on a motorcycle with leather bags. Leather bags were a sign of old school hog riders. The fandangled new modern shiny hard bags were a by product of elderly retired cross-country guy/gals on their 1k lb gold wing. But becoming a parent changed things for me. I crave the ability to have some kind of baggage space on my bike. And not some tank bag (which scratches the paint) but real actual cargo space. Having embraced the classic cruiser style, my leather bags that I use fit the theme real well. The problem is they obscure where my helmet lock goes and have no locks. They look like old school leather bags, but they actually have a form fitted shape with some plastic clips hidden underneath the fake belt-buckle style clasps. So why upgrade? Well, they prevent me locking my helmet and can't lock. That means when I go to the movies, store, or anywhere that my bike will be out of sight for more than 5 minutes, I dare not leave anything in them. The fleetliner bags are the premier bags in the motorcycle bagging world. They are large enough to put a full face helmet. They contour with the body of your bike hugging it closely. They lock. They are water proof. The downside? $1600. The only feature they are missing is being able to snap off quickly in the event I want to cruise and show off my big fat rear tire.



4. Fleetliner Trunk. This is a great looking trunk. It works with the Suzuki backrest or the Corbin backrest. It matches the color of my bike. You can also fit two full-size face helmets in it. It locks. The downside? Well it is $1600. It also doesn't come with a better backrest for the rear passenger which is quite common with this size of a trunk for the passenger. As far as I know, it doesn't snap off either.






The full picture? Let me show you.

Before & After:



My opinion? Well, I just don't know. I like the way my bike looks now. If I could figure out how to lock my helmet and get some black-leather bags that lock and have studs, I'd be happier I think. But the corbin gear is pretty sweet looking.

Küryakyn and the Suzuki C109R (Part 1: Grips only)

I'm very excited to write about this vendor because they sell the best grips available for numb hands. My right hand goes numb after 20 minutes or so. I let it down to my side, make a fist, and it's normal again for another 5 minutes. I hope the problem subsides as I lose more weight, but for now it is a problem. A throttle rocker has helped out a bit, but not entirely. A throttle lock, or even a real-actual cruise control mechanism, would completely alleviate this problem. I just hope I don't need carpel tunnel surgery. *shrug* I suppose this is what I get for using a keyboard all day 7 days a week.

So, without any more delay. Let's talk about Küryakyn products. There are a lot of products available on their website. http://www.kuryakyn.com Select your bike type, and notice near the top you can see they have tabs for lighting, grips, footrests, controls, chrome, touring, maintenance/shop gear, and performance. This is an amazing list. Not every thing you see is available for every bike. And for my case, the C109RT is a relatively new comer so the list is shorter than you'd think. I will also be skipping stuff I don't care about so much.

1. Küryakyn Iso grips are the talk of the town so-to-speak. Every time you google numb hands and motorcycles, you see this grip. Installation is easy and they look great. They are relatively cheap as far as motorcycle accessories go. Do they work? Reviews point to yes. I haven't seen one negative review and I've looked. The cost is $74.99.



1a. Let's not move on too quickly though. This accessory has accessories. First, there is the throttle boss. This let's you control the throttle with your fingers or palm giving you variation in how you ride. The cost is roughly ~$20 depending on whether you want the small or wide version.

1b. Helmet locks! Considering every bike has one, why are these of interest at all? Because my saddle bags block my helmet lock completely. $40 each




Part 1 is over pretty much. I may add to it. But this sums it up.

Cobra and the Suzuki C109RT

So I've been browsing motorcycle accessories. But as I go, I realize that things blur together and I don't really have a record of anything I've learned or found. So what better place than to here on my very own blog.

Today I want to spend some serious time looking at Cobra accessories. They've been in the business for 25 years now. So let's go take a look.
www.cobrausa.com

1. The lightbar. Now this thing is cool. It gives the front of your bike a more aggressive look, and you get more light. More light is always a good thing when it comes to motorcycle safety. The downside is it is $285. But it sure does look snazzy. I don't really envy the idea of tying into the electrical system though.



2. Then there is the cobra floorboards for the passenger. I've been really wishing that when I go on a date with my wife that she would have a nice place to rest her feet. And when I get ready to take the kids on the back, they'd do better with a flat resting spot for their feet rather than a peg. The downside? $300

3. Fuel Management Mod, the Fi2000R. Why is this so important? Because when you change the exhaust or air intake, you mess with the fuel-to-air ratio for the engine. You get pings and strange sounds from the engine or with it burping and stuttering. The Fi2000R is only one mod of many that fulfills this role. Is it the best? I have no idea (that is for another blog). But it is worth mentioning. The cost is $234. Some of these fuel management mods have modes for fuel efficiency or more power. That is kind of cool.


4. New exhaust means more power and more aggressive sound. It is imperative you get a fuel manager mod too though given the fuel-to-air ratio changes by quite a bit. There are a huge variety of exhaust kits for the C109RT. How do they compare? I'm not sure. But there are lots of options, all ranging around $650. How does it compare to the competitors? I don't know that either. That's for another blog.


So what's next? Küryakyn!

Modifying my motorcycle

I rode my motorcycle to work again today. I love it. I never thought riding would be so much fun ever again. When I first came to Albuquerque, I was learning to drive in a much bigger city. It was intimidating. But with this bigger bike, I feel much more at ease.

But the more I ride, the more I find little nuisances that bother me ever so slightly. Nothing sticks out and demands to be changed or fixed. But I sit here wondering what I can do to this wonderful machine to make the experience even better.

1. First off, I can't hook my helmet to the bike. The helmet lock is hidden behind the bags. It was a poor design decision. There are alternatives. There are helmet lock extenders but that means keeping track of them. Some people use a rubber pad lock on the case guard (whatever that is) and hook their helmet to that. You can buy custom helmet lock tips for your handle bars too. Or I have even found where you can add a new helmet lock to any bolt on the bike (which gives me a few ideas).

2. The wind shield is a bit too tall. Or maybe I'm a bit too short. I'm not sure which. But the wind shield could be a bit shorter. I don't notice it much during the day, but at night my eye height clips the top of the wind shield (which completely obscures the road for me). I find myself sitting up as straight as possible to see over it or ducking down. There are other wind shields that you can customize their height and even clip on and clip off with ease. That is nice. To be honest, I wasn't sure I'd like a wind shield. They seem old and fuddy duddy. But once you have one, and hit the interstate, it is really hard to go back. It makes the ride amazingly better. Some custom wind shields have a tool bag and/or some air vents that you can open or close to let some air come through and cool you off.

3. The grips I have are nice. They came with the bike. But I find my hand going numb after I ride for a while. The time it takes, depends on the weather. The more I ride, the longer I seem to be able to go without it completely going numb. Part of this may be because my wrists are getting stronger, or it could be the weather. Or, it could be that I'm becoming more confident in this bike and so I don't have a death grip so much anymore. I did add a $5 palm rest to the right side, but it doesn't fix the problem only helps it out. I've read about these Kurykan Iso grips that are supposed to be better. Also, there I am considering an addon to the bike for a breakaway cruise control throttle lock (not true cruise control) that just slips over the right side and is disabled when you pull the hand brake or disable with a button on the device. True cruise control is potentially available within the year or so, but will cost 5x as much and is very invasive. It would be nice though, especially for long rides. I plan to ride up to Moab with the bike sooner or later.

4. Saddle bags are nice. My bike came with them and they have this old traditional look to them. They look like old style leather bags. But the truth is they have a fitted form and under neath their old style belt buckle clamp, is a plastic clip clamp that holds it on. Two snaps seal the deal. They are perfect in almost every way. The only problem is they don't lock. I've seen bags that have locks on them. But they are hard bags (often colored to match the bike). I'm sorry but I like the leather look. But it would be nice to "lock" the bags. I don't know how often I would ever use that feature. But when I go to the movies, it would be nice to put my jacket in there and (if you look at #1) lock my helmet to the bike. Then again, even with the helmet locked, do I trust people to not just cut the chin strap?

5. No luggage rack on the back. I'm not entirely sure this is a problem. But it'd be nice to be able to place luggage in the seat behind me when I don't have a passenger. (or hell even if I do, it'd be nice to put a bag on the back). I have seen them for the M109R but the motorcycle accessory manufacturers seem slow to support the relatively new C109R (and C109RT).

6. Garage door opener? I've heard tell of a way to make your garage door open and shut with the bright beam of your motorcycle. But heck, I can't even get my wife's van to open the garage door either and it has a built in garage door open button. The trouble is the garage door opener is a closed system / cheap. I may have to replace it. But right now I have to stop in the drive way and call my wife to open the garage door. It is a pain. Is it worth it to ride the motorcycle? Hell ya!

7. Tank cover. I've got a 5 gallon gas tank. It is really big. And I still find myself hugging the tank a lot. I'm worried that over time, my jeans will start to rub the paint off the tank. I've seen a nice leather tank cover that goes up the sides and then up the middle on the top. You can still see the tank sides but closer to the front. It is very nice.

8. Passenger floor boards. I am strongly considering getting floor boards for the passenger. Right now they are just pegs. But the boards would be nice. Especially if I start giving one of my girls a ride to school every morning.

At this point, I wonder why I got the "T" on the C109R. The "T" in C109RT is for tourer. It comes with the bags, wind shield, and back rest. So far, I have considered up grading all of the above and then some. But how much of it is just me having fun with my bike and how much of it is stuff I need. The truth is I don't need any of it. I've got the bike and it works. I may find myself desperate for the cruise control or better grips on a long trip, but that is a year off I think.