Dave Geertsen’s Steampunk Motorcycle

I stumbled across this amazing fabricated motorcycle created by Dave Geertsen that floored me. It’s pretty out there, but has a certain appeal to its uniqueness. From their website:

Is it a Harley Davidson, Triumph, Indian, Yamaha, Honda, BSA, BMW or what??? None of these brands are this bike, it is its own entity, a scrap form of gray matter! I have always been motivated to create something people have to think twice about!

Definitely made me look twice!

Winter Storage

That time has come here in Ontario.

Some have already stored their bikes, some keep it ready for any final decent riding days.

Buck has already mentioned a fantastic service for storing your bike through the winter here. This post is for those who, like me, will store the bike themselves.

I don’t claim to be an expert on this, but I’ve done quite a bit of research and am providing you with the info I intend to use for my storing process.

First off, I’ve heard some complaints about ‘Stabil’, the fuel additive that keeps gas fresh through storage. Not that it doesn’t do the job but that bikes stored with ‘Stabil’ run ‘crappy’ after the winter. As an alternative ‘Sea Foam’ apparently works great. It is a fuel additive that, among other things, cleans injectors and carbs, adds lubricity, restores power, removes moisture, cleans carbon, stabilizes fuel, smooths rough idle, and assures fast starts. I’ve had trouble finding it so far but when I do I will post the source (you can check some stores in the shops section of the sidebar).

The instructions for storage using ‘Sea Foam’ involves adding 1/3 of the bottle, filling up the gas tank, and riding for about 5 minutes after warming the bike up before parking it.

I also suggest removing your battery and putting it on a trickle charger throughout the winter. This will insure battery power for the spring so you won’t have to wait to get back on the road again!

If you have a chain driven bike, I suggest thoroughly cleaning and lubing it before storage. Again, this will reduce any work come the spring and get you back on the road immediately.

I’ve read it is a good idea to change the oil for storage. Used oil has certain acids and contaminants that leech out during prolonged idle periods. It has been suggested you put in cheap oil to store throughout the winter, then change with your usual oil and a new oil filter come the spring. See our oil changing video tutorial here.

Another idea is to wrap bags over the exhaust pipes to keep the moisture out.

I’m storing my bike in my clean and dry garage this winter. Ideally you should put something under the bike to keep it off the concrete – like a blanket. I also wrap it in a blanket to prevent any dust and moisture that might occur. I plan on doing some work on it throughout the winter so having access to it will make the work that much easier.

I also like to clean my bike before putting it in storage. I always say, ‘A clean bike is a happy bike!’.

Hope this helps out and if you have any tips of your own please do share in the comments!

Also, keep checking in to Rubber on the Road for work updates and general bike talk throughout the off-season!

Final ride of the season: Night Time Odyssey Through Western New York

Both my bike and I having been idle in Toronto from any long trips for over a month, I decided that I would take the upcoming holiday weekend (thanksgiving in Canada and Columbus day in the states) to take one more trip before it got too cold, and it would probably be my last chance so I was going to go no matter what, premature winter be damned!

So I booked off the necessary days from work with the plan to head from Toronto to Oneonta, NY to visit my brother at college. I also invited my girlfriend along, letting her know of course that she would be signing up for nearly 800 miles in 3 days in very cold weather.

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The trip turned out to be very intense, but just the type of adventure I needed. We left at 7pm on Saturday night after I finished my shift at work with the plan to drive two hours to Niagara where we would spend the night and then finish the trip on Sunday. Well it turned out that virtually all of the hotels in western New York were booked from Niagara to Elmira. So 10 hours later, after sub freezing weather, thick fog, rain, and many hotel desk clerks with bad news (some very friendly and helpful, some complete assholes, and some just plain weird) we pulled into the Mark Twain Motor Inn in Elmira at 5am. I was incredibly impressed with how my girlfriend held up, only starting to get frustrated at about 3 or 4 in the morning when the rain was freezing on our clothes and the condensation on the bottom of my visor was forcing me to tilt my head down to see my control panel, leading my poor passenger to think I was falling asleep.

Needless to say, the next two days were boring in comparison. Having done most of the drive the day (night) before, Sunday was a leisurely 100 mile day into Oneonta and a much less sketchy hotel (bath water did not come out yellow). Even doing the full drive back on Monday was relatively easy, other than long lines at the border, cold at first but we made good time and were able to take the necessary rejuvinating breaks.

It was overall a much welcome exclamation mark at the end of my sadly abbreviated riding season this year. Hopefully it will hold me over for at least a couple of the months that my bike is sitting in storage. Now I can’t help but look forward to that first thaw of next year!