Episode 91 - Stoking the fires of motorcycle awesomeness
November 6, 2011
This week, The Pace Podcast discusses Mosha, the elephant with the prosthetic leg, and how Mosha’s life has changed since her unfortunate accident. After Mosha, the guys talk about... wait, no, none of that is true at all. James and Chris do, however, discuss Hong Kong’s adoption of Brammo electric bikes for urban patrol use. The news is rife with V-Strom goodness, both the newly designed 650 and the big-boy legacy 1000.
Speaking of big-boy toys, Triumph releases a new Tiger, and it’s bigger and better than ever. Honda gives us.... (insert drumroll here)... a new Crosstourer based on the concept bike shown at last year’s international motorcycle shows. Oh, and E-15 is going to end the world. Fortunately, Mosha is ready for the challenge.
Linkeedinks...
- Hong Kong police using Brammo electric bikes
- http://www.motorcycle-usa.com/808/11438/Motorcycle-Article/Hong-Kong-Police-to-Use-Brammo-Motorcycles.aspx
- http://techcrunch.com/2011/10/26/brammo-grabs-28-million-from-polaris-industries-to-power-development-of-electric-vehicles/
- The V-Strom 1000 returns to the USA, minus the rebirth found in the 650
- V-Strom 650 ADV
- Triumph releases a new big Tiger
- Honda confirms the CrossTour concept is being produced
- Beware E-15 ethanol fuel? (next week)
- S1000RR test ride by Chris Harr
- Chad Owen - a Canadian in Korea
- Brett Byers - Thoughts from a returning rider
- Justin Varner - outfitted much like James’ bike, and trip ideas
Hey Guys,
Couldn’t stop nodding my head and laughing to your discussion on the poor driving habits of the drivers on your commutes. It seems these habits are not restricted to the American North East. Here in Edmonton I run into the same things continuously on my daily commute. Another pet peeve of mine is people that don’t come to a full stop at 4-ways.
2012 DL650’s in Canada, here we are getting a similar model also bearing the Adventure moniker but the details are kind of sketchy. In the overview it says aluminum side cases and engine guard but the picture shows plastic side cases and top case but no engine guard. The features just say side and top cases so I would assume that it would be the plastic set, no mention of the engine guard. Price is $10,899 as opposed to $9,099 for the non-Adventure DL650. Here’s the link:
http://moto.suzuki.ca/Product%20Lines/Cycles/Products/V-Strom%20650/2012/DL650SEA.aspx?category=touring
Thanks for the heads up on the Canadian pricing of the newly worked VStrom. I’m surprised that there might be question. But honestly, we’ve seen so much inconsistency on Suzuki’s website over the last few years that I guess it really shouldn’t surprise me any more.
I’ll have to go back and listen to what you said about E15, but I think there is a lot of misinformation being distributed. E15 would not burn hotter than gasoline, it actually burns cooler. The increased temperatures would come from the engine management not adjusting for the additional volume needed, and the mixture would be lean, causing the higher temperatures. If properly tuned for it will burn cooler.
E85 requires approximately 25-30% more volume versus gasoline, therefore I would suspect that most engine management systems would be able to adjust for the slight increase in volume needed for E15 as it would be a fraction of what E85 requires.
I look forward to what you find out and will discuss next episode.
I was commenting on information from the linked-in article. They don’t go into specifics about where the heat is generated, exactly, whether it’s strictly due to the fuel or from engine management, just that heat is expected to be a real concern.