I just want to take a moment to encourage everyone riding this holiday weekend to be careful and have a great time.  I hope to get a few miles in, but I’m afraid most of them will be in a car.

I went into bike shop to look at some saddlebags for my bike.  As I was walking in a red bike caught my eye.  It was the Ducati Hypermotard 1100 S.  I’ve seen pictures of this bike before, but it looked so much better in person.

What attracted me to this bike was the cross between an off-road styling and a sport bike.  It has an aggressive, mean look to it and with an 1100 cc engine to back it up I’m sure it’s a great ride. 

If you have ever ridden this bike let us know how you like it.

Over the weekend I had an opportunity to put a few bugs on my new Shoei RF-1000.  Here are some of my observations and opinions. 

What I like…

The RF-1000 is very comfortable.  It is soft and light weight.  The cheek pads are removable for changing and washing.  The quality of the assembly seems to be very good with a lot of attention paid to the details.

While riding the RF-1000 is quite quiet.  I normally ride with earplugs, but around town I don’t feel the same need for earplugs with this helmet.  On the freeway I still prefer the earplugs because wind noise becomes much louder at higher speeds.  I think the noise level of this helmet is largely due to the tight seal that is made when the visor is in the down position. 

The visor is simple to remove and replace.  Shoei sells several visors to fit this helmet.  I’m particular to the silver mirrored visor, but for now I’ll stick with the clear visor.

The chinstrap is padded, a nice feature, but I find that the padding eventually moves to the side of the strap.  I may remove the chinstrap padding if I continue to find that it is always to the side.  I have not experienced any discomfort as a result of the chinstrap padding being off to the side.

The chin curtain and breath guard were both easy to install and latched in nicely.  Once installed, they share a similar fit and finish to the rest of the helmet. 

The bad…

For speeds up to 65 mph this helmet is just fine.  While I was riding at freeway speeds, 70+ mph, I found that this helmet buffeted around allot when I turning my head to the side.  It was even bad enough that I felt I needed to tighten my chinstrap to make sure this helmet was not going to come off.  I could feel lifting of the helmet when I was looking behind and to the side.  While facing forward this helmet was as smooth as I would expect from a good helmet. 

For the most par this helmet is very nice.  I think that buying helmets is a lot like buying a new pair of shoes.  Just as you get them to the perfect fit and comfort it will be time for a new pair.

After returning my Icon Airframe I was still lacking a helmet.  So I set out on a quest to get a new Airframe.  Ryan and I went down to Turn 1 Motor sports in Plymouth, Indiana.  They have one of the largest selections of helmets around here.  Unfortunately they didn’t have my size.  I tried on several other brands of helmets thinking I may be able to find something different than the Airframe.  I ended up bringing home a Shoei RF-1000.

Price wise the Shoei was about $80 more than the Airframe.  But the dealer at Turn 1 said that it is a much better helmet.  From my reading I would concur.  My first impression was the Shoei feels lighter than the Airframe.  Unfortunately I haven’t had enough time in to properly check it out.  I’ll write a complete review of the helmet when I get a few bugs on it.

A few days ago I reported that I had contacted Icon about my Airframe helmet.  I was told I needed to return it to the place of original purchase.  I picked up the helmet at Performance Motor Sports in Holland, Michigan.  Yesterday I took a trip up there to take the helmet back.  I was a little apprehensive thinking this could be a big hassle. 

I was amazed at how easy this process was.  I took the helmet in and they took a look at it.  They instantly found the problem with the cheek pad.  Unfortunately they did not have a replacement helmet in stock so they were going to order one and have it drop-shipped to me.  The helmet was back-ordered from Icon.  I asked if they would refund my money and let me pick up the helmet at another shop that had it in stock.  To my surprise I received a “sure, we can do that.”  That’s what I call service. 

If you are in need of a place with good service I recommend Performance Motor Sports.

While spending a couple of days at the annual EAA Airventure I stumbled upon this folding motorcycle and storage system.  Every pilot needs good transportation when he arrives at his destination. 

The motorcycle was a Yamaha dual sport motorcycle around 250 cc.  When I was talking with the Motopod staff they had not settled on a motorcycle for the final version.  It will be some road legal dirt bike style motorcycle because they tend to be lightweight.  They take the large knobby tires off and replace them with good road tires and add a quick release to the front wheel.  Motopod designed a folding handlebars that lock solidly in place to make the bike fit into their pod.

The pod is made out of nice composite materials, is fairly aerodynamic and can be painted to match the airplane.  The locking system looked like it would stay in place trough just about anything.  I particularly like the winch system for hoisting the pod up.

Motopod has designed this unit for the bottom of airplanes however I think there are other places this could be used.  There is plenty of room under the average semi trailer to secure this pod. 

It will be interesting to see how Motopod is doing in a year or so.  I think they have a good idea but I don’t know if it will catch on.