Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Italian quality

Friday afternoon, 3:40. We'd just left Frauenfeld West and had hit the autobahn. The bike wasn't even warm yet. The Termignoni growled obediantly along. Brmbrmbrmbrm...BAM-BAM-BAM.

Heck no, not again.


Bossi, who soldered the attachments so I got to Zurich the evening after all, commented, "Great Italian quality. Properly speaking: Bullshit."

Yeah, yeah, I give in. The next day I ordered a Remus, so I don't have to spend my ten days in Sardinia worrying that my exhaust is going to excuse itself.

It's a pity about the sound.

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Rhombus

My lack of posts here hasn't been because I wasn't driving. The Beast's been out almost daily for the past three weeks. I haven't been posting, however, because I can't get myself to take a camera everywhere. I should have had it on Monday morning, for example.
That night, my Precious had to sleep in the parking lot next to the road, because my driveway was snowed over. (On Saturday, Winter put in a last effort before the beginning of Spring.) I wrapped the bike in blanket; it wasn't the first time it'd be staying the night out in the open.
Well, on Monday morning before 6 a.m. I found the blanket white with frost, the grips frozen and both tires iced over.
The Buell fired up under protest. Such a good little bike. As soon as the engine started emitting heat, both manifold pipes glowed red. I've never seen that before, and I'm sorry I don't have a photo of it.


Today the Beast got new rear blinkers. The Rizomas I'd had since August 2009 were faded, full of moisture and the left one was broken. I never did like their shape, so I wanted a different sort.
Remo of R + R Mototeam GmbH told me the Rhombus LED minis from Kellermann were waterproof. Kellermen cost a pretty penny; twice as much as the Rizomas. But these are good-looking indicators.
I'll add a compliment for the service at R + R Mototeam. Solid work, a complimentary bike wash - and believe me, the poor Beast really needed a bath - and when Remo noticed my number plate was once again rattling against its mount, he replaced two screws and tightened the whole thing.

The company is new, but with service like that, it should flourish.