Sorry.  It has been a while since I posted.  This has always been a little hit or miss.  It's been a busy year, so I'm just going to put it all out there. In the early fall, I had geothermal installed.  The picture above is a big ball of tubing.  They dug 5 trenches 2 feet wide, 4 feet deep, and 150 feet long, each.  Needless to say, my front lawn was destroyed.  And I volunteered. I also had a few solar panels installed. Then my sister and I headed south.  We got to explore a bit in the Appalachians.  Fall color change was late, but by du ..read more

 Of course styles change and product appearances follow each other, sometimes to the point where they all look alike.  But I feel Honda, with their up coming Hawk 11, is guilty of straight out copying the MV Agusta Superveloce.  Sure, the MV has an additional side fairing and the MV guys probably aren't going to care because the Superveloce is still better looking and likely a more enjoyable ride.  But this is pretty blatant to me.  Doesn't Honda have any shame?   OK, they are not the same.  The Honda is blue ..read more

 I have been working on the KLR to get it prepared for exploring on dirt. I even had a chance to ride it briefly with the new knobbies on both pavement and dirt. I felt like the relative dirt rookie that I am. It will take some practice to get comfortable. I have also been scheming on shipping the KLR out to Colorado, leaving it there for several years, and going out each summer for some exploring. I am also thinking about taking a 2 day dirt riding school. On my way to the school, I thought about riding over Hagerman Pass. I remember Hagerman Pass as a pretty easy dirt road that I last d ..read more

 In truth, I'm impressed with the Harley PanAmerica.  It seems competitive with the BMW GS and the Ducati Multistrada, at least the L-2 version.  It's not great for serious off road, but then most customers won't use it that way anyhow. I feel like the engineers at Harley have been constrained by the 1930's era Harley design and that has really held them back.  With the PanAmerica, those constraints are off and I think that they have done some good and original thinking.  The engine is quite good and so is the chassis and electronics. But I have to admit, the stylin ..read more

 Someone on the MC Chassis list came up with this link.  The bike in the simulation is a one off being built by an individual using a Triumph 675 engine.  Not stated if he hopes to race it in Moto2, but it is a pure race bike.  It uses a SaxTrak front suspension which is a combination of telescopic struts with an A arm to the frame connecting just above the tire. The simulation has a slider on the bottom that varies brake/drive and you can see the g's shown at the c.g.  I don't know how if the simulation is correct in all aspects, but it looks pretty right.  One t ..read more

Since July, I have been thinking about this issue and an electric car still seems like a good idea.  In fact, once I got my mind around the idea, buying another fossil fuel car just seems wrong. But then, there may not be a good choice out there for me, at least not yet. When I started researching EVs, I thought about what things would be important to me in choosing a electric car.  Of course, most important would be fitting in the car with my height and neck/headache issues.  Not many cars are truly a good fit, so this isn't trivial.   Next would be a good driving fee ..read more

 The last few posts have been more about people than projects, so I thought I would go back to the motorcycle that started this blog.  Or more correctly, this blog has been about travel and projects, but since much of my travel has been on a motorcycle and motorcycles have also been projects, there are more than a few posts on the KLR. In truth, I find it hard to sell projects, especially cars and motorcycles.  I kept Gidjet for more than 30 years.  I have had the KLR since 2003.  When I bought the KTM in 2016, it replaced the KLR for club riding and other motorcycle t ..read more

 Today would have been my father, Art Brown's, 100th birthday if he had not passed in 2015.  To be honest, I had forgotten his birthday for the last few years and had completely missed the idea that this year would have been his 100th.  This post is about remembering, about ongoing family connections, and "traditions". I may have forgotten his 100th birthday, but I remember him in little ways everyday.  He was a wonderful father and he and I were as close as father and son, and as friends, as any father and son can be.  From him I got my love of audio, my foundation i ..read more

I have reached the time when I am losing friends and family. Today, I am remembering Mark Doman. I met Mark in college and we have stayed in touch over those many years. Mark was a special person, adventurous, very intelligent, creative, open, and accepting of everyone. He was always doing something interesting, but was always more interested in hearing about what someone else was doing. He was a person that I admired so much. I would like to be more like him. Mark was also one of the best engineers that I have ever known. Along the way, his career varied from making snow to designing roll ..read more

What I like in a car, or motorcycle for that matter, is different from the vast majority out there and not what usually sells. At times in my past, that has provided challenges to me professionally. For example, when asked to tune a pick up truck. I don't even like pick up trucks, much less understand what drives people who buy them or what the character of a truck should be. It makes it hard to put yourself in the customers shoes and do a good job. The thing is, I like to be actively involved in the process of driving. When done well, driving is like a dance between two partners, a tango if ..read more