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Review of the Genuine Blur
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RabParticipant
There are many variables and no one company is going to offer consistently the best rates; even for you when you get a different bike.
I had previously thought that I’d get a better deal by dealing directly with insurance companies instead of through agents (cutting out the “middle man” as it were), however on both my house and motorcycle insurance, I’ve been proven wrong, and by quite a large financial margin.
For anyone in California, I’d recommend you check out Mike Felder Insurance in Concord, CA. He’s a motorcycle-only insurance broker and got me a screaming deal compared to the quotes I was getting from insurance companies that I’d called.
Unfortunately, I also had the need to claim on the insurance he arranged for me. I called the insurance company’s claim line, they asked me if I wanted to shop around for repair quotes myself or go with their “concierge” service. I opted for the latter and they arranged for a professional motorcycle repair shop to pick-up the damaged bike which they later returned complete with new (not salvaged) parts and looking just like the accident had never happened. Completely trouble free.
RabParticipantDidn’t you know?
Fasteners on modern motorcycles are made of cheese.
RabParticipant–
RabParticipantI too have an Olympia Motosports jacket and pants; the Airglide.
It’s held up very well for me and was my primary commuting jacket for about 3 years. No rips, no detached velcro, no loose stitching, no holed pockets, no problems.
Good gear in my opinion. Shame it’s made in China though.
RabParticipantI have the Alpinestars Bionic Vest and it has a very substantial CE certified, articulated back protector and chest panels. The chest panels are certainly adequate but less substantial than the back protector; it also has some soft padding over the shoulders. Alpinestars use this same back protector in all of their high-end racing gear too, so you can be sure you’re adding some serious protection. I wear this under an armoured, vented touring jacket in the Winter on my freeway commute.
I tried the Icon Field Armor and that’s a reasonable choice if you’re on a budget, but the Alpinestars went further up and down my back and was easier to put on.
The icon goes over your head and then velcro’s round the sides (every time) from what I remember. The Alpinestars Bionic Vest just zips up like a jacket; it has fully adjustable, elasticated, velcro side adjusters which are set and forget. I like it a lot and am pretty sure it completely saved me from a back injury when I went down in the wet on the freeway last year.
RabParticipantI agree that once moving, a well vented jacket can cool you better than a mesh jacket and is likely to offer better protection, however, like weaponzero says, we all have to stop or go slow at various times and that’s where mesh wins out.
So! If you’re going on a long fast trip, your well vented 3/4 length touring jacket (sans liner) is probably just the ticket. If you’re likely to be in stop and go, then a mesh and cordura armoured jacket is the way to go. If you want to *look* cool, then sweat it out in the leather jacket
No doubt leather provides the best protection though and a perforated leather jacket is fine on the move (up to a certain point).
In the really hot days, I’ve worn a wet T-shirt underneath my jacket which helps but soon dries out, so this summer, I might try one of those “cooling vests”; probably not for the office commute though if they wet your clothing.
RabParticipantI’m still trying to get a handle on battery life.
I know I had a “3 year warranty” battery fail on me in less than 3 years and I’ve heard from others with similar stories, yet you (and others) have spoken about a 5 year life-span.
I commute 5 days a week on my motorcycle with the odd week-end ride too, so that’s probably a factor in my reduced longevity.
Re. advantages/disadvantages, sealed gel cells might be safer in an accident I guess.
RabParticipantThanks for the explanation.
Batteries I’ve bought in recent years came to me already sealed and charged so I assumed they were gel cells. Could be that they too were AGM and that the dealer had done the acid filling for me I guess.
RabParticipantThe Bonnie is a great second bike in my opinion, but then again, I’m biased, it was my second bike after ~6000 miles on a Honda Nighthawk 250.
I’m not a loud pipes guy, but a better sounding muffler is mandatory for a Hinkley Bonnie in my opinion.
May 1, 2010 at 6:50 pm in reply to: How soon after getting your first bike did you go out on the freeway? #26097RabParticipantI would say, do fast two-lane roads first.
Once you’ve gotten used to the speed and the different steering inputs required at speed, then you can add the freeway experience which adds merging traffic and high-speed lane-changing into the mix.
Leave at least 2 seconds between you and the car in front; 4 seconds in the wet.
To do this, you watch the car in front of you pass a fixed object at the side of the road (e.g. a road sign or whatever). Then you start counting in your head (or aloud as the mood takes you): One Kangaroo, two Kangaroo (or whatever long word you want to use), spoken at normal speed (the idea is to count two seconds).
If you’ve passed that same fixed object before you’ve finished your second “Kangaroo”, then you’re too close to come to a stop without hitting the car in front if it suddenly comes to a screeching halt.
These sudden screeching halts can happen quite often on the freeway in these parts and usually result in a domino effect which makes it very difficult for those at the back of the line to come to a stop quickly enough (sometimes leading to a pile-up).
I know. I went down in the wet last year due to merging into an inadequate space while trying to exit the freeway. As soon as I did, some dipstick of a driver somewhere up ahead must have cut dangerously into traffic causing everyone behind to hammer on the anchors, and causing me to slam into the back of the car in front due to inadequate stopping distance between me and the car in front.
$4,500.00 worth of repair bill; fortunately picked-up by my insurance company. That was on a bike that I bought for $6,999 OTD almost two years ago. The stock muffler alone cost $850 and the plastic fairings cost an arm and a leg too. Thankfully, I was unhurt apart from a dinged finger which fortunately didn’t break. All the gear all the time (ATGATT) folks.
Anyway, if you ever find yourself in a situation like that (sometimes you have to go into whatever gap is available if you want to exit the freeway, or else you’ll miss your turn-off), then you should try to swerve into the emergency lane or the space in between the cars (the white line area), where you just might avoid a collision.
Another good idea on the freeway is to frequently look far ahead up the roads (~12 seconds ahead I believe is the recommendation) so that you might be fore-warned of impending danger.
I hate to sound all doom and gloom, but if you’re sensible, freeways (and motorcycling in general) aren’t such a big deal. If you aren’t sensible, then you could die or end up permanently disabled.
Better to be one of those slower, safer guys than to be a dead motorcycling super hero although being one or the other is a constant psychological struggle for me (but hopefully not the dead part).
May 1, 2010 at 5:56 pm in reply to: How soon after getting your first bike did you go out on the freeway? #26096RabParticipantUnless that is, you want to go deaf as you get older.
Hearing loss is cumulative and irreversible.
RabParticipantAt least in cars, it used to be the case that batteries died gradually and you could tell that they were getting weaker by the way they turned the engine over when starting. Nowadays, they just seem to drop dead without warning.
I know that hindsight is 20/20, but I learned from similar experiences with cars, that it pays to add the battery to your scheduled maintenance plan.
Seems like replacing the battery after around 2.5 years is a sensible thing to do (he says with the benefit of hind-sight). Also, when the battery’s new, paint the date on it so that every time you lift your seat, you can check how old it is.
Don’t know how old the battery is on your “new to you” motorcycle? Then replace it and paint on the date you replaced it.
Might seem a little over the top, but I’ve been stranded in the middle of no-where on a motorcycle on a couple of occasions and it ain’t much fun.
I’m surprised that you guys are talking about filling batteries with acid though, surely it’s far better to go with a sealed, maintenance free battery isn’t it?
RabParticipantA roadside assistance contract via your insurance company or free with AMA membership, etc. is an absolute must IMO.
Another thing I’ve learned based on my experiences, always carry a cell-phone and inexpensive (Lithium) AA battery-powered charger.
This technology looks like it could be useful too:
RabParticipantYup, as you’ve said before, textile is more versatile.
If you’d have been wearing somethng like my Olympia Motosports Airglide jacket, you could just have pulled over and taken out the waterproof/windproof liner and worn the armoured mesh and cordura shell only (if you had some luggage space to stash the liners).
I like the idea of the weight loss thing though
Here in CA, we can legally lane-split, so it’s less of a problem until we get into the 100+ degrees days of Summer, when nothing barring a wet tee-shirt underneath, will keep you cool.
RabParticipantNice Video. Thanks for posting.
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