Charlie!

This. Is. Charlie.




I saw Adri's keychain doll thing and wanted my own! So I bought gimp and asked my girlfriend to make me a gecko. She said she would if I found instructions so I looked! No luck. I couldn't find anything the search results were all over the place and had nothing to do with what I wanted. But, lucky for me my girlfriend is creative and managed to figure it out on her own modifying instructions on how to make a cobra.
So yeah! That's my story! He rides well, doesn't flop around or scratch Keke because he's made from plastic and he fits pretty well in my pocket. At least now it's harder for me to lose my key!
Here's his under, and from there I say Goodnight!





Until next time,
'Live to Ride, Ride to Live'

Stay back!

The newest addition to Kenna thus far, is my CBR 150 integrated tail light I picked up online over the winter.




The install wasn't too bad. I forgot to take pictures during, but I'll try and explain what I did and saw back there.
First off, the new light comes with a nice plug and play set-up if you were replacing the tail light of a 150. Meaning, the wires were nicely wrapped with a plastic rectangular plug that coincides with the original on the 150 at the end. Also, all wires are colour coded the same as the 125 which makes it really easy.
To start, remove the back seat and bolt holding on the tail light. Then pull it straight out. There are two snap plugs in each side to make sure you pull straight so you don't break them. Once the light is partially out disconnect the wires where the light and bike meet. It's a plastic plug style too.
From there I proceeded to cut the plastic plugs off the new light and bike.
Do this at your own risk! You won't break anything but undoing the swap will be a little harder due to you removing the simple plugs
Next, get organized by spreading the wires apart and matching the colours. If you're keeping your existing indicators like I did you'll have to cut the plastic plugs off them too. Match up all the green wires and twist them together. The other coloured wires that get matched up are the two orange ones and two blue ones from the original signals and the bike. Now connect the corresponding coloured wires from the new light to the bike. For now simply twist them together, cover them with tape and test to see everything is working properly before you continue.
Once you've decided everything works solder the wires together BUT remember to put the heat shrink sleeve on one side first otherwise you'll just have to wrap it REALLY well with electrical tape. Then put the new light back in place and remember to keep and use the rubber washer from the old light, where the bolt goes.
I used the tools that came with the CBR 125 but you can use whatever.






Here is a picture of the new light, more can be found in Kenna's Picasa photo album top left of the page.





Until next time,
'Live to Ride, Ride to Live'

Start of Season 1

The weather is increasingly getting better as the days go by which means there have a lot of opportunity to hit the road and ride! I've been out a few times now and relearning the stuff from last year. It's not that hard once you're out there. It kinda comes flowing back, 'just like riding a bike' they say, although I don't think they were referring to this kind of bike.



Morning rides are my favorite, when no one is out and the roads are all yours and your free to work on different things, turning, leaning, riding position. Obviously if I'm I can expect to see other riders, and I do. People are really friendly, which makes it hard to always give a 'hey' when riding. Half the time I'm too focused on not screwing up to flip a finger as they ride by, but I do manage to get a few in there. All and all it's been a great start and I'm looking forward to riding with other people, instead of alone... But riding is riding and I'm glad I'm doing it, alone or with a buddy it's all good!

I've added some new photos the Kenna's Picasa Photo Album. It's the scrolling image link top left side of the page. Check'em out some are pretty good! IMO
Here's one of my favorites.




Until next time,
'Live to Ride, Ride to Live'

Oil Changed!

I changed the oil on my Honda CBR125r the other day! Pretty quick and easy! Nothing special. I used Mobil for 4 stroke engines 10W-40 1L.
The run down:
Put something under the bike to catch the oil
Use a 17mm socket to undue the oil retaining bolt
Let it drain and undue the oil dipstick at the top to help it drain
Once emptied reinstall the bolt from the bottom
Using a funnel, empty the 1L of Mobil 10W-40 into the bike through the oil dipstick hole
Put the dipstick back on and turn the bike on for a few minutes 3-5
Once warmed up turn the bike off, lift it so it's level (have a friend help you) and take out the dipstick
Wipe if off put it back and check the level
Watch out that you're not spilling the oil everywhere as it will be almost to the top

Once everything is cleaned up and put away the next step is go riding!


Until next time,'Live to Ride, Ride to Live'

Insurance

Let me start by saying, DO NOT INSURE WITH CIB BROKERS!!

That being said allow me to explain.

It started with me needing insurance this season because the TD insurance I set up in October was really Fing expensive. After looking around for companies at the Toronto Motorcycle Show I decided to go with Jevco. Knowing nothing of insurance and insurance brokers I called Jevco to get set up. They were surprised I had called them directly, apparently they 'don't deal directly with the public.' They informed me I needed to call a broker from the broker list. So I did, and there I found CIB Canadian Insurance Brokers.
I called and gave them my basic personal info and they said they would contact me soon. A few days went by when someone finally called. Her name was J Seymour. She was not very personable on the phone. She sounded very sad and sorta run down, none the less I didn't heed the warning signs of potentially horrible service and gave her my basic bike info. I must have waited 4 days or so for her call before I called her and left her a message inquiring about how the insurance process was going. A few days later she called me with the quote and said if I wanted to continue the process to email her the bike VIN. Obviously I wanted insurance! How could she miss that fact?! I had made my intentions about getting insurance VERY clear from the beginning. I mean, so obviously clear that you'd have to be a complete moron to not understand that. None the less, she said that anyway. Later that night I emailed her the stuff she needed and the process officially started. I'm my email I had made it clear that I needed to be informed when I would have to make the first payment, because not all my money was in one account. Another few days pass and she finally emails me the paperwork. I looked through it and found several mistakes and written in information when everything else was typed up. I emailed her back informing her that there were several mistakes including my license class and birthday. She said it was fine and to write in the corrections. By now I definitely should have jumped ship...... I'll continue this soon....



Until next time,
'Live to Ride, Ride to Live'

My new CBR logo!

I was just chilling at work one day thinking about my helmet design, when I decided that I wanted a CBR 125 logo on it, but not Honda's. I wanted something simple and cool, with sharp lines and that was modeled off the 125. Once I figured out I wanted all that it was relatively easy to come up with a basic design.
I came up with this in about 5 minutes using paint.








After showing my buddy and girlfriend (who's 100x more creative than I am) I decided I needed someone who knew what they were doing to make this look the way I want it. From there I contacted a freelance designer on Odesk.com and told him what I wanted. I got this.









From there I consulted my buddy and girlfriend again and got two mixed opinions. One wanted 4 the other 2. Me? I just wanted something cool I could make stickers out of!
After the comments my creative girlfriend sketches up this.









I sent that to the designer and got this.









I picked number 2 then let my girl go to work! And this is the final out come!







Pretty sweet eh?!
Well I think so! I'll probably make stickers and give them away to anyone who'll take them. I'll also add this to my helmet design I'm working on.
If you look close, you can see the C B R with it. Ether that or Tron...
That's it! That's all the updates for now!


Until next time,
'Live to Ride, Ride to Live'

Just messin' about

I was playing around with an app, Sketch me, or something and thought that some of these came out pretty cool. I thought, 'hey I'll post these for no one to see!' lol
Here you go! Enjoy!









These are pictures of my bike, car and buddy's car.
I have more in my Picasa web album on the left.

Until next time,
'Live to Ride, Ride to Live'

Motorcycle Show!

I went to the international motorcycle show the other day in Toronto for the first time. I didn't know what to expect. I've been to the auto show every year and was thinking maybe it'll be like that, but it wasn't. It was unique to the motorcycle culture and not like the auto show at all. The show was awesome! There were bikes EVERY WHERE. Most were for sale and the rest were either custom builds or vintage bikes. There was gear for sale throughout the whole show and I managed to pick up a helmet, jacket and gloves. I got an icon black mat helmet, Tecknic jacket and Black Ash gloves. I spent a little over $300 for everything. Which I felt wasn't bad... I didn't have to pay to get in either! My girlfriends sister's boyfriend hooked me up with a pass. He and his crew were showing off some of their builds. They stunt locally and have a shop out of Mississauga. My jacket has snaps on the arms to make it tighter, vents and armour throughout and a removable liner inside. My helmet has a removable washable liner and removable shield. My gloves...they're gloves... I've attached photos of some bikes I saw, my gear and a stunt bike. There's a link to Stunters Inc site in the side bar as well.























There are more pics in my web album in the left.


Until next time,
'Live to Ride, Ride to Live'