tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-191782582011-04-21T16:53:14.574-04:00John Merlin Williams Motorcycling BlogJohn Merlin Williamsnoreply@blogger.comBlogger121100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19178258.post-34974321929145945342008-12-14T17:14:00.015-05:002008-12-14T20:51:30.818-05:00

In the previous post I described the bookends of ownership experience represented by the 1968 BSA 441 Shooting Star and the 1970 BMW R50/5. Forty years later, I have been riding for ten years each a 1999 BMW R1100RS and a 1999 Ducati Superspot 750. They were both purchased new.The Beemer is my daily ride and touring bike. My commutes are very short (6 miles each way) and the touring infrequent.

John Merlin Williamsnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19178258.post-65382375406353720132008-12-12T22:51:00.001-05:002008-12-12T22:55:24.423-05:00

"Turning riders into mechanics since [date of company founding]" is an aphorism most often reflective of the Ducati experience, but is appropriated by just about any group of frustrated riders commiserating in a brand forum thread. I've only owned five bikes in my years as a rider. In the 1960s and 70s these included a Moto Guzzi 125 Sport single, A BSA 441 Shooting Star, and a BMW R50/5. I

John Merlin Williamsnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19178258.post-18400749179543252142008-12-07T22:20:00.021-05:002008-12-11T17:02:22.963-05:00

My father was a fuel-systems R&D engineer for General Motors' Rochester Products division (now part of Delphi) for more than 35 years. Now retired, he worked on or led many product development projects, including Rochester's innovative "Quadrajet" four-barrel carburetor. Unlike most high-performance four-barrel carbs (e.g., Holley, Carter) the assymetrical Quadrajet had two barrels of smaller

John Merlin Williamsnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19178258.post-84250565925556847092008-11-15T19:10:00.014-05:002008-11-16T11:17:57.760-05:00

A year ago, December 2007, as I was putting the beemer up for the winter, the price of regular gas had been bouncing around the $3.00/gallon range. I was not looking forward to a winter of driving the Jeep at those prices. In prime riding season I usually take the bike to work, maybe 75% of the time. As much as I enjoy riding, I've also let convenience enter the picture in the decision to ride.

John Merlin Williamsnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19178258.post-20487406646059270252008-11-09T20:57:00.010-05:002008-11-09T23:27:46.527-05:00

My daily ride is a 1999 BMW R1100RS, purchased in April 1999 and ridden home in a driving rain for my first ride in almost 20 years. The RS, the half-faired "sport"-tourer of the first generation oilhead boxers, was never a big seller in the U.S. I think they imported less than 200 that year. More people were buying the full fairing and touring package of the RT model, or the cafe racer-esque

John Merlin Williamsnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19178258.post-86237857536451942008-10-28T21:34:00.019-04:002008-10-29T21:28:16.615-04:00

It's been a long time since I logged into this Blogger dashboard. A few days after my last post at the end of February (!) our youngest son had a serious solo bicycle accident and we almost lost him. On his way to the community college just two miles from our house, he high-sided on a patch of black-ice on an otherwise dry road just 100 feet from home. He was wearing a helmet, but the weight of

John Merlin Williamsnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19178258.post-46064827734831575792008-02-28T17:57:00.015-05:002008-10-29T21:39:45.931-04:00

I tried listening to music, just once, while riding. We have an Autocom rider-pillion intercom installed on the beemer which Teri and I use to simplify those short, necessary on-bike conversions about which of the last four gas stations we've passed might have the cleanest restrooms. Or whether "bear right after fruit stand" means taking the dirt lane up the hill between the cottonwoods, or that

John Merlin Williamsnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19178258.post-57911690203090566702008-02-17T23:45:00.003-05:002008-10-29T21:40:24.939-04:00

Part I - My back wallSomewhere -- in the garage, your den, living room, home office, basement workshop -- is where you wear your motorcycling heart on your shirtsleeve.During the university's winter break, I took a week off work to, among other things, get in some motorcycling "head" time. I'd been off the bike for six weeks by then. I went with Dave and Tim to the International Motorcycle Show

John Merlin Williamsnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19178258.post-6858412338111436112008-02-12T19:46:00.002-05:002008-10-29T21:41:27.251-04:00

This is the book that made my winter, January 2008.In retrospect, Kevin Cameron's adult motorcycling life, at least the glimpses recounted in "Top Dead Center," is the life I would have liked to have fallen into. I just had no idea that such a life was there to fall into. I grew up in Michigan, bought a used Moto Guzzi 125 in high school and when it wasn't snowing, rode around with a pal who

John Merlin Williamsnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19178258.post-22297185162244202722008-02-08T19:11:00.002-05:002008-10-29T21:42:50.030-04:00

If "Riding with Rilke" by Ted Bishop is the latest personal riding journal I've enjoyed, then "The Perfect Vehicle (What it is About Motorcycles)" was the first. In 1999 "The Perfect Vehicle" was the first motorcycle enthusiast book I'd read since recounting the adventures of Ralph S. Mouse in "The Mouse and the Motorcycle" to our children at the dinner table.As a young rider in high school and

John Merlin Williamsnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19178258.post-10625981197437117422008-02-03T14:21:00.003-05:002008-10-29T21:44:02.325-04:00

Last week a group of riders on the "oilheads" list ("www.snafu.org/oilheads") -- owners of boxer-engine BMWs from 1994-on -- discussed salted and sanded roadways, and cold tires and pavement as possible causes of a minor spill by a fellow rider out on a 40 F degree day. It became clear, after looking over the origins of the posts, that these opinions reflected one group whose local climate

John Merlin Williamsnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19178258.post-29856262806217191042008-02-03T11:55:00.003-05:002008-12-12T20:48:51.586-05:00

Ulrich ("Uli"), a fellow biker, born and educated in Germany, and who now does learning technology research at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, recently expressed my own sentiments about blogging (paraphrased): "I don't understand you Americans. What on earth could you have so much to say about that any of us could have the time or interest to read?" Exactly.So what hypocrisy is

John Merlin Williamsnoreply@blogger.com0