April, Volume 15, Issue 4 G.W.R.R.A., REGION H, TEXAS DISTRICT, CHAPTER W. Chapter TX-W Directors Vern & Suzanne Neal

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1 April, 2014 Volume 15, Issue 4 G.W.R.R.A., REGION H, TEXAS DISTRICT, CHAPTER W Chapter TX-W Directors Vern & Suzanne Neal Hope everyone had a great March. Looks like the cooler weather should be behind us so there should be some good riding weather coming up. Kudos goes out to Robert & Cathy Hood for hosting GWRRA Motorist Awareness training. Also thanks to Lynn Harris for leading the training. Several riders did rides this past Spring Break: Steve & Kathy completed their south Texas Historic ride, while Dan & Ralph did a trip along the Louisiana coast. Lastly we all love our bikes & trikes so I thought it would be interesting to do a monthly write up on a members Bike/Trike. A sort of the bike of the month. You would just say what you have done to make your ride more enjoyable. This can be details from safety chrome to seat improvements, lights to custom paint jobs etc... Many here will have chapters to write.(j.j) I will start it out with a write-up on my ride. Also send a pictures of your bike. Ride safe. This is your Chapter. Vern & Suzanne Neal Chapter Directors Our Meeting Place and Time GWRRA Texas Chapter "W" holds its chapter meetings on the first and third Thursdays of each month. The first currently at Rudy s BBQ, Katy Freeway, Katy, TX (I-10 just east of Mason Rd.). The second will move month to month so see our calendar. The first is our regular chapter meeting while the second meeting is an informal planning meeting/social gathering.

2 PAGE 2 NORTHWEST HONDA North Freeway West Road) Houston, Texas YOUR ONE STOP TOY SHOP HONDA DUCATI Tuesday thru Friday: 9am to 7 pm Saturday: 9am to 5pm Parts: Service: Sales: Fax: (281) (281) (281) (281)

3 PAGE 3 How To Ride Over That Thing In The Road And survive the encounter By: James R. Davis Sooner or later you will find something in the road just ahead of you and you are going to hit it. Maybe a small animal. Possibly something that falls off of the vehicle in front of you. Maybe you have missed a curve and a curb is dead ahead. One of the exercises taught by the MSF includes running over a board (4x4?) and you are told to 'lift' the front-end of your motorcycle at the last possible moment before you hit. I suspect that most of us could actually 'lift' the front-end of a little 125cc motorcycle, but I can tell you that this is one reasonably strong male that couldn't raise the front-end of my GoldWing a meaningful fraction of an inch, from my seat, and neither can you. What's the point of the exercise, then? Maybe it was just badly explained in my particular class, but I'm sure that what the instructor said was that you are trying to 'help' the bike over the obstacle by lifting it. While that is correct, both the explanation and the exercise fell as short of the mark as did my ability to lift the Wing. Remember our discussion about shock absorbers? It was learned that bumps are first absorbed by your springs and that your front-end rises and falls as allowed by how the shock absorber/spring set are designed and setup. If you are traveling at a steady speed your front-end is extended about as far as it will normally be extended and your ability to 'lift' it further is a function of how much weight you can remove from it, not how strong you are. That 'for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction' tells you that if you are able to exert 200 pounds of lift on your grips you will put the same amount of new 'weight' on the seat and pegs while you do it. So, even if you try to 'snap' lift the front while throwing as much of your body towards the rear of your bike as possible, the result will be a TRIVIAL difference in the extension of your front forks. i.e., virtually a waste of time and energy. Still, the idea is RIGHT! But instead of you doing the lifting, you want the bike to lift itself by transferring its weight from the front to the rear wheel. You already know that this happens naturally as a result of acceleration. So, the way you lift the front end without suffering a hernia is to twist your wrist and open the throttle. But you will remember that your front-end is already almost fully extended to start with. Wouldn't it be nice if you could get a whole lot more extension just before you hit that object? Well, of course the fact is that the only way to do that is if the front-end was more heavily loaded (compressed) before you started to accelerate. And how do you get the front-end to be more loaded? Why you hit the brakes, of course. In other words, in the real world if you see that you are going to hit something you will naturally apply your brakes in an effort to slow down before you do so. Isn't that fortunate? For in order to maintain as much control of your bike as possible WHEN you hit it all you have to do is roll-on the throttle at the very last moment (about 1/2 second will do very nicely.) This will result in a weight shift from front to rear, and allows the springs in your shock absorber system to extend. Thus, as you hit the object you have maximum shock absorbing capacity, just when you need it. (Don't forget to shift your weight to your pegs and get that butt off the seat when you do this since when the rear tire hits the obstacle it will receive a severe vertical bounce.)

4 PAGE 4 [I suppose it is obvious, but since you are going to experience a vertical jarring of the bike and you are going to be lifting your butt off your seat just before that happens, you will want to have all of your fingers wrapped around your grips at the time - not covering any levers.] But why not just stay on the brakes all the way, you ask? At the very least this will insure that you hit the object with the minimum of speed possible. What's wrong with that? The shock absorber system is compressed almost as far as it will go during hard braking. That means there is essentially no more travel left to absorb the bump. That, in turn, means that you will FEEL and be affected by that bump - just as if you didn't have any shock absorber at all. You will remember that this means that the entire bike will rise and fall at least as much as the height of what you hit because it is no longer 'sprung weight'. And it is just such bike motion which usually translates into loss of control! Another, but equally important reason you do not want to have your brakes maximally applied at the time you hit the object is that you are then at, or past, the point of a skid. When you hit you will certainly pass that point and end up in a skid. It takes only a fraction of a second of front tire skid to totally lose control of your motorcycle. If you happened to be going is a straight line when you start a skid, your chance of recovering and not going down is actually pretty good. But if the skid is the result of your front-end being lifted off the ground because of hitting something, the odds that it will come down with the front wheel pointing straight ahead is not very good at all. The third reason you do not want to be braking when you hit is that the object may well be alive and your tires will act like erasers as they go over it. Indeed, the 'object' you hit might even have been human (before you 'erased' it.) Five things to do if you are going to run over something: 1. Use maximum braking in an effort to stop before you hit it. 2. Wrap all of your fingers around your grips - do not 'cover' any levers 3. Roll-on your throttle starting about 1/2 second before the impact and shift your weight onto your feet. 4. Roll-off your throttle right after the front tire surmounts the obstacle (shifts weight to front and lengthens the rear shocks). 5. Control stop (if you want to) after BOTH tires return to the ground. Copyright by The Master Strategy Group, all rights reserved.

5 PAGE 5 May, 2014 Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat Upcoming Events for May 1st Chapter Meeting 8th-10th Texas District Rally, Tyler, TX 23rd-25th Arkansas State Rally, Harrison, AR 15th Planning Meeting Check our web site calendar for last minute events. 3 If you re a rider in Texas, motorcycle insurance from Suzanne Sansom Insurance Services Inc. can protect both you and your bike. At Suzanne Sansom Insurance Services Inc., we believe that good insurance is no accident and our dedicated agents will take the time to find you insurance products that are reliable and affordable. We are an independent agency and we will shop for the top carriers in the country to satisfy all of your personal insurance needs S. Mason Rd., Suite 260 Katy, TX Phone: Fax: suzanne@sansominsurance.com Motorcycle ~ Life ~ Auto ~ Home ~ Commercial

6 PAGE 6 The Presidio, Goliad

7 PAGE 7 King Ranch USS Lexington

8 VOLUME ISSUE ISSUE 3 3 TEXAS CYCLE CHROME PAGE 8 Wing and Cruiser Accessory Headquarters Chrome, Safety, Convenience and Maintenance items or Northwest Freeway, Houston, TX :00AM - 6:00PM Monday - Friday / 12:00PM - 5:00PM Saturday / Closed Sunday April Birthdays John Bourg, 17th Loyd Beal, 25th Kathy Wilkening, 25th Steve Wilkening, 26th Anniversaries None we know of

9 PAGE 9 By Vernon Neal We all have personalized our bikes & trikes. This is the first in a series where you can let us see what you have done to your ride. My ride is a 2010 GL1800. I purchased it March 2011 as a leftover bike. One thing you may or may not know is the 2010s were the last model Goldwings made in the USA. They have since moved assembly back to Japan. It is a Level 1 or a basic model. My bike may be the only bike in Chapter W with no added chrome. The only exception are the highway pegs. Most of my changes are for my comfort or performance enhancements. This is my second Goldwing. The first thing I add to all my bikes is the MUTH mirror. (side mirrors w/ blinkers) Additions I have made to the bike include a Traxxion fork brace(this helps slow stability handling), Centramatic balancing system on the front & rear wheels( this is a balancing system that balances your tires with each rotation). My Garmin Zumo 550 GPS uses a Texelent brand handlebar holder. I use the Butler drink holder. We use his and hers highway pegs. (Kury Ergo II) Added were the Honda CB/Antenna, and accessory outlet installed in the left pocket, Honda Voltage meter installed on right panel, Pack it Rack Luggage holder for multiple day trips for that extra bit of storage, Belly pan, storage pocket inside of the trunk, Honda brand spoiler/led kit, a led license plate run light, EC Fog lights, power accessory inside trunk for charging and look closely sometimes I run a run-flat car tire on the rear. For grips I don't like the Kury grips they are too big for my hands. I use Puppy Grips(foam slip on's) Attached to the left grab handle is a J&M passenger volume and CB control.lastly I have blacked out a few parts(lower/front cowling & frame covers) by sanding/priming and painting them black. I would like Traxxion front suspension with All Balls Bearing for the future. There you have it.- Vernon Neal

10 PAGE 10 Katy home of the 2014 Goldwing and the Can-Am Spyder RT KATY FWY Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat Sun Mon HOURS 9:00 am 6:00 am 9:00 am 6:00 am 9:00 am 6:00 am 9:00 am 6:00 am 9:00 am 6:00 am Closed Closed KATY, TX Phone: Fax: About Us Located in Katy, Texas since Wild West Honda is an authorized dealer for Honda, Kawasaki, BMW, YAMAHA, KTM, Sea-Doo, & Can-Am. Click, Call, or Come on by! OFFICERS Position Name Phone Number Chapter Directors Vern & Suzanne Neal (713) Assistant Chapter Director Ed & Kerrie Johnson (832) Treasurer Cindy Harris (386) Membership Enhancement OPEN Newsletter Editor Steve Wilkening (713) Chapter Educator Lynn & Cindy Harris (386) Chapter Historian Jim Vardaman (281) Ride Coordinator Roger Caron (832) Webmaster Steve Wilkening (713)