[Richmonder]

Happy new year to all the forum members! Let's make it a safe and Valkyrie-riding year. I heard enough tales of accidents and near-accidents last year for all of us. Hoping everyone will be riding more and posting more tales and pix of great adventures.

I just got back from a 3 mile walk along the James River here in Richmond with a neighbor and her dog, Carlos, a Jack Russell. Not a cloud in the sky and 63 degrees on January 1! I'd be out riding this afternoon but the streets are still very wet and sloppy from heavy rain yesterday. Carlos spotted an alien creature he wanted to meet.

I did get the bike out Friday to quickly test out my new Shoei Neotec 2. What a remarkable difference from my old Shark Evoline. The quiet factor is incomparable. The ergonomics are much better, and because it is a size larger, it doesn't compress my forehead like my Shark did after only a half hour. I am very pleased with this purchase and look forward to improved audio on my video recordings, and much less noise to worsen my tinnitus. It is so well sealed that I almost have to lift the visor a notch to get some fresh air flowing, even with both vents fully open. I see why they furnish a Pinlock insert! I had decided this was the helmet I was going to buy after trying it on in a local accessory store, and they wanted $799 for it. I waited patiently for a deal to show up, and eventually found it as an "open box" deal at a California retailer for $629 (a great price already), and they even gave me a 10% off code. No shipping and no tax! Got it shipped for $566. No better deal to be found anywhere! I've installed the Cardo Spirit comm system and the Brake Free light on the back, and now just need to order a GoPro mount and some more Sugru adhesive to hold it. Who knew getting a new helmet was so involved! The one "issue" I have discovered with this helmet is its ratcheting chin strap, which does away with the double D rings. I always used those rings to run my cable through for locking it to the bike. Now the only way to run a cable is around the chin bar, which is less than ideal due to potential for abrasion of the surface.

What's on your riding and accessorizing agenda for 2023?

Richmonder

 

[Ride-Of-The-Valkyrie]

I just bought the Cardo also, for my spare HJC. When visitors come if they want to ride with me we'll be on the comms. Depending on how it the installation goes, I may start wearing my HJC as my primary. It's very comfortable too.

This is my Cardo unit I bought on Amazon. I did a lot of research. It was between this and the Sena, but I was concerned with the Sena because they said it was water resistant, not water proof. The reviews on Amazon were pretty stellar.

Amazon.com

They say the Cardo intercom is universally compatible. That's what I'm, shooting for.

Carlos thinks that's just a big doggy.... a very big doggy.

I shot this pic of Peaty in the backyard last night.

 

[BaldyOz]

I got a full refund from our local AMX superstore on the Shoei GT Air 2 and the compatible Sena unit. I was very disappointed with both the wind noise of the helmet and the sound quality of the Sena. It took an email to Sena who were not interested at all .. what does that say about there after sales service … and a visit to the store and an email to the manager who referred it to the main Boss. Luckily for me it was the main Boss of all the State stores who originally sold me the helmet etc.

So .. money back and I have done nothing since, the Shark helmet I have is totally suitable and if I do get a Comm unit it will be the Cardo Packedge.

Weather is warming up here, 35 celcius today and hotter for the next week, bit to warm for long day rides, but I’ll get some seat time in.

Hope 2023 is a great year for you all. Stay safe.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[srteach]

I have some hard bags to mount on my Valk. I plan to use frame mounting points to make a custom mount that does NOT use the grab bars or their mounting location. I will be posting the experience when I get around to purchasing the steel and making the mounts.

 

[JoelEspinoza]

Happy new year to all the forum members! Let's make it a safe and Valkyrie-riding year. I heard enough tales of accidents and near-accidents last year for all of us. Hoping everyone will be riding more and posting more tales and pix of great adventures.

I just got back from a 3 mile walk along the James River here in Richmond with a neighbor and her dog, Carlos, a Jack Russell. Not a cloud in the sky and 63 degrees on January 1! I'd be out riding this afternoon but the streets are still very wet and sloppy from heavy rain yesterday. Carlos spotted an alien creature he wanted to meet.

I did get the bike out Friday to quickly test out my new Shoei Neotec 2. What a remarkable difference from my old Shark Evoline. The quiet factor is incomparable. The ergonomics are much better, and because it is a size larger, it doesn't compress my forehead like my Shark did after only a half hour. I am very pleased with this purchase and look forward to improved audio on my video recordings, and much less noise to worsen my tinnitus. It is so well sealed that I almost have to lift the visor a notch to get some fresh air flowing, even with both vents fully open. I see why they furnish a Pinlock insert! I had decided this was the helmet I was going to buy after trying it on in a local accessory store, and they wanted $799 for it. I waited patiently for a deal to show up, and eventually found it as an "open box" deal at a California retailer for $629 (a great price already), and they even gave me a 10% off code. No shipping and no tax! Got it shipped for $566. No better deal to be found anywhere! I've installed the Cardo Spirit comm system and the Brake Free light on the back, and now just need to order a GoPro mount and some more Sugru adhesive to hold it. Who knew getting a new helmet was so involved! The one "issue" I have discovered with this helmet is its ratcheting chin strap, which does away with the double D rings. I always used those rings to run my cable through for locking it to the bike. Now the only way to run a cable is around the chin bar, which is less than ideal due to potential for abrasion of the surface.

What's on your riding and accessorizing agenda for 2023?

Richmonder

View attachment 14222

View attachment 14223

View attachment 14224

I am super jealous, wish I had helmet options.

I did a basic padding add and recover of my seat for ~$50 in foam and leather a couple weeks ago:

Just tonight I got the prototype Galfer front braided stainless steel lines in and installed. They are darn close, they just need to shorten one line maybe 1/4”-1/2” or so and add a couple bolts to the kit and it will be good. Requires one minor bracket tweak for non ABS bikes, and 2 for ABS bikes.

You can see where this hose is just a bit too long:

This is the ABS specific bracket that needs a little tweak, just to hold the wheel sensor wire:

On the top side where the hardline leaves the frame the bracket needed a little tweak too:

Here it is with the new line:

This weekend will be bleeding and testing them.

 

[Richmonder]

I am super jealous, wish I had helmet options.

I did a basic padding add and recover of my seat for ~$50 in foam and leather a couple weeks ago:

View attachment 14230

Just tonight I got the prototype Galfer front braided stainless steel lines in and installed. They are darn close, they just need to shorten one line maybe 1/4”-1/2” or so and add a couple bolts to the kit and it will be good. Requires one minor bracket tweak for non ABS bikes, and 2 for ABS bikes.

You can see where this hose is just a bit too long:

View attachment 14231

View attachment 14232

This is the ABS specific bracket that needs a little tweak, just to hold the wheel sensor wire:

View attachment 14233


On the top side where the hardline leaves the frame the bracket needed a little tweak too:
View attachment 14234

Here it is with the new line:
View attachment 14235

This weekend will be bleeding and testing them.

Sure wish I had your mechanical skills.

Why don't you have helmet options? Do you require an extra larger size that just isn't available with most manufacturers? With so many competitors on the helmet market, there must be some out there.

Richmonder

 

[JoelEspinoza]

Sure wish I had your mechanical skills.

Why don't you have helmet options? Do you require an extra larger size that just isn't available with most manufacturers? With so many competitors on the helmet market, there must be some out there.

Richmonder

Honestly none of this is outside someone with even basic mechanical skills, as long as you go slow, make sure you are using the correct size tools and keeping things clean it is pretty doable for anyone. Honestly the hardest part was making sure to not get brake fluid on the brake pads, which you can bypass removing the caliper first then cracking the lines over a bucket, and to take apart the front headlight cover to get to one fricking bolt in there. Once you know the headlight top cover needs a wedge behind it and slides forward, and you need to take off the fork cover bolts to lift up the headlight, even that is pretty basic.

And yea, my head is enormous and also long oval. The only helmets I have found that I can even can get onto my head and not sit on top like a yamika are HJC 5XL, and those require me to remove a substantial amount of padding. I took my MSF course in an HJC i10 5xl with all of the padding removed, as that was literally the largest helmet available online at the time, since then I have got an HJC i90 5XL (which were out of stock at the time of my MSF), which is still uncomfortably small, but sorta fits.

This is my HCJ i10 5XL, if you notice it isnt much bigger than my actual head, and actually shorter top to bottom, so my lower jaw hangs out the bottom, and even with no padding both the front and back of my skull are pressed hard against the EPS hard foam inside.

 

[Richmonder]

Wow, I would imagine a 5XL IS hard to find. I just bought the largest Shoei which is a 2XL, and while it is way more comfortable than my XL Shark, I still wonder what a 3XL would feel like. This one is snug but not tight. I feel for ya.

Richmonder

 

[KUGO]

Honestly none of this is outside someone with even basic mechanical skills, as long as you go slow, make sure you are using the correct size tools and keeping things clean it is pretty doable for anyone. Honestly the hardest part was making sure to not get brake fluid on the brake pads, which you can bypass removing the caliper first then cracking the lines over a bucket, and to take apart the front headlight cover to get to one fricking bolt in there. Once you know the headlight top cover needs a wedge behind it and slides forward, and you need to take off the fork cover bolts to lift up the headlight, even that is pretty basic.

And yea, my head is enormous and also long oval. The only helmets I have found that I can even can get onto my head and not sit on top like a yamika are HJC 5XL, and those require me to remove a substantial amount of padding. I took my MSF course in an HJC i10 5xl with all of the padding removed, as that was literally the largest helmet available online at the time, since then I have got an HJC i90 5XL (which were out of stock at the time of my MSF), which is still uncomfortably small, but sorta fits.
View attachment 14236

This is my HCJ i10 5XL, if you notice it isnt much bigger than my actual head, and actually shorter top to bottom, so my lower jaw hangs out the bottom, and even with no padding both the front and back of my skull are pressed hard against the EPS hard foam inside.

Interesting post, Joel. I, like others, have admired your fabrication skills and, perhaps more importantly, your willingness to give it a shot. Wish you were my neighbor who needed a few bucks and would wrench for friends!
As to the Head-Bucket issue, thanks for posting the photo of you with your helmet. It makes your problems with sizing much more understandable, and I have a a larger-than-average head and am picky about the "feel" of a properly-sized helmet, especially when in the wind. When I find something that works, I know it immediately. Perhaps, with your fabrication skills, you could make your own helmet! You know, a little Bondo, re-bar and paper-mache, and with all you know about Superglue, I'm thinking you could fashion something up that would be a custom fit AND eye-catching!

 

[JoelEspinoza]

Interesting post, Joel. I, like others, have admired your fabrication skills and, perhaps more importantly, your willingness to give it a shot. Wish you were my neighbor who needed a few bucks and would wrench for friends!
As to the Head-Bucket issue, thanks for posting the photo of you with your helmet. It makes your problems with sizing much more understandable, and I have a a larger-than-average head and am picky about the "feel" of a properly-sized helmet, especially when in the wind. When I find something that works, I know it immediately. Perhaps, with your fabrication skills, you could make your own helmet! You know, a little Bondo, re-bar and paper-mache, and with all you know about Superglue, I'm thinking you could fashion something up that would be a custom fit AND eye-catching!

I have been taking things apart since I was a little kid, and around 12 or so I started putting them back together. My mom says right after I hit 12 a line of previously broken toasters and other devices came out of my room fixed, that was also the same year my stepdad started having me to do mechanical work on my own, the first I remember was removing and replacing a turbo 350 transmission on our 70s Chevy van. It is hard to even imagine handing a modern 12 year old my toolbox keys to swap out a 120lb transmission that required balancing it on his chest while laying on his back under a van out in a field with no supervision, but my stepdad clearly trusted me to handle it, and I did it just fine, so it seems that trust was warranted. That was a VERY different time.

Lol I have actually considered making my own helmet. Someday I will check with Koroyd and see if they sell directly to end users, if so I could make a fiberglass or carbon fiber shell designed to take all the vents, visor, etc from the i10 and mold them into a longer and taller shell lined with Koroyd. If I get that far then making the internal padding would be pretty easy.

 

[KUGO]

When you're too young to know that "you can't do that!", and there is no one around to reinforce that ridiculous adult platitude, it's amazing what you can accomplish! And I hope you had/have a good relationship with your stepdad, as he could easily have had an issue with an overly-large, rule-bending 12-year-old in the house. "Well, he didn't electrocute himself with the toasters. Dammit! Hmmm. Maybe I'll have him swap out that old tranny in the van. Yeah, that'll get him outta my hair!"

And good luck with making your own helmet, and no, I'm not surprised you've thought of doing that! Just remember to do the test-fitting after the Superglue dries completely. Unlike some of us, you have hair.

 

[JoelEspinoza]

When you're too young to know that "you can't do that!", and there is no one around to reinforce that ridiculous adult platitude, it's amazing what you can accomplish! And I hope you had/have a good relationship with your stepdad, as he could easily have had an issue with an overly-large, rule-bending 12-year-old in the house. "Well, he didn't electrocute himself with the toasters. Dammit! Hmmm. Maybe I'll have him swap out that old tranny in the van. Yeah, that'll get him outta my hair!"

And good luck with making your own helmet, and no, I'm not surprised you've thought of doing that! Just remember to do the test-fitting after the Superglue dries completely. Unlike some of us, you have hair.

Lol, I am not going to say we didn't have some friction now and again, but we got along pretty well. When I was 12 I was about 5'10 and about 210lbs, so yea, I was a fairly good sized lad. He was a GM line mechanic in the early 80s and we were poor, we did all our own mechanic work and I was interested in mechanical stuff so I was his assistant from the time I was 8 or so.

On the helmet front I really wish such a thing as an oversized shell/custom shell company existed, but if they do they lay incredibly low because even with as hard as I have searched and as many people and companies as I have asked, no one even has any leads on a company who might do that sort of thing.

While it is unlikely I could ever make a helmet as efficiently as a motorcycle company, the beauty of all DIY options is you get to pick where compromises are made. Motorcycle helmets seem to range in weight from about mid 2lbs to about mid 5lbs in weight. I don't want it insanely heavy or it could cause whiplash issues in an accident, but I sit fairly upright on a motorcycle and my head is already the size of a watermelon and my neck is built to support it, if a custom made helmet weighed 8-10lbs for me it wouldn't bother me a bit, so I can add that extra shell thickness to make sure it is PLENTLY strong enough, add extra thick padding etc, which would make the project fairly viable I would think.

 

[KUGO]

Lol, I am not going to say we didn't have some friction now and again, but we got along pretty well. When I was 12 I was about 5'10 and about 210lbs, so yea, I was a fairly good sized lad. He was a GM line mechanic in the early 80s and we were poor, we did all our own mechanic work and I was interested in mechanical stuff so I was his assistant from the time I was 8 or so.

On the helmet front I really wish such a thing as an oversized shell/custom shell company existed, but if they do they lay incredibly low because even with as hard as I have searched and as many people and companies as I have asked, no one even has any leads on a company who might do that sort of thing.

While it is unlikely I could ever make a helmet as efficiently as a motorcycle company, the beauty of all DIY options is you get to pick where compromises are made. Motorcycle helmets seem to range in weight from about mid 2lbs to about mid 5lbs in weight. I don't want it insanely heavy or it could cause whiplash issues in an accident, but I sit fairly upright on a motorcycle and my head is already the size of a watermelon and my neck is built to support it, if a custom made helmet weighed 8-10lbs for me it wouldn't bother me a bit, so I can add that extra shell thickness to make sure it is PLENTLY strong enough, add extra thick padding etc, which would make the project fairly viable I would think.

I have a friend that I kind of adopted years ago when he moved to Illinois from Istanbul. We all just call him "Turk", and he is about 6' 6" and 300++ pounds of muscle, with a heart of gold. When he first arrived, he could only speak Yes and No in English, at the age of about 25. After taking an ESL class at night at the local university (and bouncing at night at my friend's bar), he went on to work for me in my landscaping business, eventually became the manager, and continued at the university to graduate Top Foreign Student of the Year with a Masters in Economics. Turk has a humongous head to go with his body. When he grew up back in Turkey, he had to do the proscribed military service. He excelled and wanted to continue and join their Special Forces. He was told he was "too big and too big a target", and they probably didn't have a helmet to fit him anyway. When I got him interested in riding and he bought a HD, he had a heck of a time finding a helmet and finally gave up. Illinois doesn't require us to wear one. My point in bringing this up is that it occurred to me that there are a lot of military bases in Texas. I also have to think that the United States military has probably got more options, helmet-wise, than motorcycle shops. Do you have any military friends who could maybe hook you up? If you could find one to fit (I'm picturing something like an Army/Navy Surplus Store helicopter pilot or tank-driver helmet) you could customize it for motorcycling with your fabricating skills. Anyway, it was halftime during the ballgame and I got bored. Good luck!

 

[JoelEspinoza]

I have a friend that I kind of adopted years ago when he moved to Illinois from Istanbul. We all just call him "Turk", and he is about 6' 6" and 300++ pounds of muscle, with a heart of gold. When he first arrived, he could only speak Yes and No in English, at the age of about 25. After taking an ESL class at night at the local university (and bouncing at night at my friend's bar), he went on to work for me in my landscaping business, eventually became the manager, and continued at the university to graduate Top Foreign Student of the Year with a Masters in Economics. Turk has a humongous head to go with his body. When he grew up back in Turkey, he had to do the proscribed military service. He excelled and wanted to continue and join their Special Forces. He was told he was "too big and too big a target", and they probably didn't have a helmet to fit him anyway. When I got him interested in riding and he bought a HD, he had a heck of a time finding a helmet and finally gave up. Illinois doesn't require us to wear one. My point in bringing this up is that it occurred to me that there are a lot of military bases in Texas. I also have to think that the United States military has probably got more options, helmet-wise, than motorcycle shops. Do you have any military friends who could maybe hook you up? If you could find one to fit (I'm picturing something like an Army/Navy Surplus Store helicopter pilot or tank-driver helmet) you could customize it for motorcycling with your fabricating skills. Anyway, it was halftime during the ballgame and I got bored. Good luck!

Lol I am not very tall, only 6' even, but in that picture I am about 350lbs and a whole lot of it is muscle, although I certainly have some padding here and there.

Honestly it just seems like helmets are something of an impossible dream. At one point after searching for weeks I was reaching desperation of crazy ideas and decided to start googling pictures of Shaq in a helmet. I know the guy likes cars and motorcycles, he has an enormous head and is a multimillionaire, I figured I could find pictures of him in a helmet and backtrack to where he got it.

Nope. You can search yourself, the closest thing I could find to a full helmet on Shaq was a dinky brain bucket that more closely resembled a Yamaka, and I assume it was for legal reasons more than anything for safety.

It actually got me wondering if that was why he played basketball professionally, as it is the only one of the major 3 sports in the USA you don't ever need a helmet for.

 

[KUGO]

Ok, Joel, you made me think of something, and then this will be the last I belabor this thread. You reminded me of watching "West Coast Customs" on one of the cable-TV car shows. They custom-made a 3-wheeler for Shaq and made the whole episode about it. "West Coast Customs" Slingshaq (TV Episode 2016) - IMDb
Maybe contact West Coast Customs and see if they have any advice on how to obtain a helmet for the cerebrally advantaged. Shaq's gotta know.

 

[KUGO]

"It actually got me wondering if that was why he played basketball professionally, as it is the only one of the major 3 sports in the USA you don't ever need a helmet for."- JoelEspinoza

And, as an aside, I had to wear a "helmet" even when I played water polo on an international collegiate team. They were basically two hard plastic "cups" encased in a sewn piece of cloth, tied under the chin, that helped prevent "cauliflower ear" from the opponents' very purposeful elbow shots. I would never wear one when riding my bike, though, as it would look very dorky. I played football, but got called a wimp by my teammates when they found out I was also on a water polo team. I invited them down to the University of Iowa pool to participate, which they did. In the deep end. (Oh, no!) Could have drowned them all, but was sympathetic to their ignorance. My water polo teammates absolutely had a ball, however. Never heard another word.

 

[JoelEspinoza]

Finished up the brakes, which feel VERY nice, and installed some more aggressive footpegs, I either stand or at least unload my weight fairly often for big bumps around here and the stock ones get so damn slippery with ANY moisture I am just done with them, these feel VERY grippy:

Speaking of my size I also got some cheap mirror extensions, my shoulders are wide enough to obscure much of my rear view so these push the mirrors out for a better angle.