You might be a redneck pilot if…

Some oldies but goodies.

Your stall warning plays Dixie.
Your cross country flight plan uses flea markets as check points.
You think sectional charts should show trailer parks.
You've thought of using moonshine as avgas.
You have mud flaps on your wheel pants.
Your toothpick keeps poking your mike.
You've thought about just taxiing around the airport drinking beer.
You wouldn't be caught dead in a Grumman 'Yankee'.
You use a Purina feed sack for a wind sock.
The side of your airplane has a sign advertising your septic tank service.
You constantly confuse Beechcraft with Beechnut.
You think GPS stands for Going Perfectly Straight.
You refer to flying in formation as 'We've got us a convoy'.
Your matched set of luggage is 3 grocery sacks from Piggly Wiggly.
You have a black airplane with a big #3 on the side.
You fuel your airplane from a mason jar.
You've got a gun rack hanging on the passenger window.
You have more than one roll of duct tape holding your cowling together.
Your preflight includes removing all the clover, grass and wheat from the landing gear.
You figure the weight of mud and manure on your airplane into the CG calculations.
You siphon gas out of your tractor to put in your airplane.
You've never really actually landed at an airport, although you've been flying for years.
You've ground looped a Cub after hitting a cow.
You consider anything above 100 feet AGL as 'High Altitude'.
There are parts on your airplane labeled 'John Deere'.
You've never really actually seen a sectional, but have all the Texaco road maps for your area (but they're 20 years old).
You answer all calls from female controllers with 'That's a big ten-four little Darlin'.'
There's exhaust residue on the right side of your aircraft and tobacco stains on the left.
You have to buzz the strip to chase off all the sheep and goats.
You use your parachute to cover your plane.
You've landed on the main street of your town for a cup of coffee.
You fly to family reunions to meet girls.
You've won the 'Bob Wire' award at a spot landing contest.
The tread pattern on your main gear tires doesn't match. Or, there is no tread pattern on your main gear tires.
Your best com radio has 90 channels.
You have fuzzy dice hanging from the magnetic compass.
You have a bale of hay and a hound in the baggage compartment.
Your instructor's day job was at the community sale barn.
You've got matching bumper stickers on your vertical fin.
There are grass stains on your propeller tips.
There is a brown-stained Styrofoam cup strategically stored in the glove box.
The FAA still thinks your mailing address is your parent's house.
You think ZULU time means something to do with Africa.
Your hangar collapses and more than four dogs are injured.
Your airplane has a sticker that says, 'I'd rather be fishing'.
You navigate with your ADF tuned to country music stations.
You think 'Ultralite' is a new beer from Budweiser.

2012 Motorcycle Racing Series

Just now watching race 1 of the SBK Superbike World Championship in the Netherlands that I recorded a week ago.  Half way through and what an exciting race.  10 bikes fighting for first place.  All of the major motorcycle racing series are starting out with closer racing that I've seen in the past few years. 

I watch a few 4-wheeled series too.   Right now I’m keeping up with AMA, MotoGP, WSBK, IndyCar, F1, and Grandam.  I plan to attend IndyCar up in Fort Worth in a few weeks, and later AMA motorcycle racing at the new track in New Orleans.  I doubt I’ll be able to make it to the F1 race in Austin this November, but I’m not totally giving up on it yet.

Future US space flight

We’ll see if this is really NASA’s next capsule.  I hope they can use it, but I’m really rooting for SpeceX

Source SPACE.com: All about our solar system, outer space and exploration

Trying an inline sticker from the Weather Underground

And there should be a weather sticker here:

Did you see it?

New blog about the SV650

I started a new blog to be just about my new motorcycle.  Here’s the link:

http://sv650project.blogspot.com/

Update – parts arriving

Quick end of day update.  The tires arrived at the dealer today.  I may try to go out there tomorrow during the day and have them installed.

Also, the sliders arrived in the mail today, as well at the Snake Skins for the gas tank. I’m ready to get to work!

My New Toy

I picked up a super clean 07 Suzuki SV650S from Columbus Cycle Shop out I-10 on Saturday 1/15/11.  My other ride is a 06 VFR800 outfitted with full bags and topcase and while I have fun sporting around on it, the sucker does weigh 600 pounds so I was looking for something lighter to play on. I also wanted something for track days, which is what started me looking at SV's. Plus I didn't want to break the bank. I didn't intend to buy something in this good a shape, but I got a good deal and the sucker looks like new. I didn't want a GSXR or similar because I'm not looking for top speed, and at the age of 40, comfort is always a factor!

Here it is from a photo that the dealer had on their site.  It’s currently crammed in my garage and the weather has been blah, so I don’t have any good pictures that I’ve taken yet.

So far I've only ridden it home from Columbus on Saturday night, in the rain. I'm an all-weather rider on the VFR so I was comfortable and I had a support vehicle along but we made it hope uneventfully. I won't say it was as comfortable as the VFR, but I had no complaints. I think we have a happy relationship in the future.

I'm going to keep it street legal so I can do more than just track days and I look forward to taking it up to my group's annual trip to ride the Dragon at Deal's gap. I think after pushing the VFR around those curves, this lightweight is gonna have me all giddy.

I'm already on the mod/farkle route. I normally like stock-looking bikes and don't make big changes, but I might be different on this one. It already has the fender eliminator kit along with the LED signals front and rear. I've also ordered a set of TechSpec snake skins for the sides of the tank for better grip, as well as a 3M headlight kit from thetankslapper.biz. I have the Skins on my VFR and like them, and the headlight covers have prevented several scratches and nicks on the VFR headlights so I'm putting them on the SV as well. Tape for track days come right off the 3M without damage to the film.Frame sliders have been ordered to help protect it should it get dropped.

After I get a few miles in the saddle to to figure out my riding posture, I'll send the seat off to Spencer (at greatdaytoride.com) to have him put gel into the seat for me (75 bucks). And eventually that humongous muffler has got to go as well.  There’s LOTS of options down that route.

Oh, and tires. It still has a set of the D220's and I don't know if I trust them. I had a set of hard Metzler Z4's be partially responsible for an off I had in the past, so I'm a definitely a fan of something stickier. I run Bridgestone BT-016 on my VFR and love them.  I was thinking to do something different on the SV. I started looking up prices for the BT-016, Pilot Powers, and some others.  In the end, I just let final price be the deciding factor and ended up ordering a set of the BT-016 rubbers for this one as well.  We’ll see how they hold up on this lightweight.  This motorcycle isn’t going to be used regularly for commuting so straight line tire life isn’t as much a factor as it is on the VFR but I’ve still had good performance from the Bridgestone.  Of couse when it hits 100 degrees in the summer, this semi-naked bike may get ridden more simply because there’s more air flow around the rider.

Anyway, stay tuned.  The stuff I ordered should all be in by next week at the latest and we have a lot of work to do.  Just to start out, I’m changing all the fluids (oil, brake, coolant) so I know exactly what’s in the motorcycle and when it was put in.  Plus there’s the ordered stuff that’ll need to be installed, and in a month or 2, we’ll have to work on getting a new muffler on it.  Sounds like fun

First Motorcycle Passenger.

My oldest son rode with on my motorcycle for the first time yesterday.  In fact, he is my first passenger ever. 

We just went a few miles to meet some folks at a restaurant.  He's close to 60 pounds so it wasn't a big difference, but I did notice that I used about 1000 more rpm before shifting than I normally do by myself.  I got just enough for the v-tec to kick in at 7K and I think he liked the way it "growled" more when it went into 4-valve per cylinder mode.

His comments were, "Your bike is noisier than Mommy's", "Your luggage rattles over bumps", and after crossing a bumpy railroad track, "your seat is harder going over bumps."  No complaints though.  I think he could see just a bit better than on the ST because the pillion is higher relative to the rider on the VFR than the ST