Motorcycle Journeys Trip Logs

Category: Gear Review

  • Ztechnik windshield + new Nolan helmet trial 2

    Brownwood to Alpine on the Big Bend ride and additional thoughts on the Ztechnik + Nolan combination in 25 MPH sustained wind with gusts to 35 MPH.

    I adjusted the angle of the windshield a little by adding a 1/4 inch rubber spacer to the top mount and getting slightly longer screws.

    While I like the windshield and the fact that it is not right in my face like the Parabellum was, the amount of wind that is hitting my shoulders and upper arms is significantly increased.

    I also notice some differences with the Nolan helmet — with the side wind I felt like a bauble head doll. When we turned into the wind I felt like I had to hold on to the motorcycle to keep from being pulled off — that’s how hard the wind was striking my upper body. The muscles across my collar bones were actually fatigued from the buffeting. And my neck muscles were getting tired from my head being snapped back from the wind gusts.

    The offset to this is the noise is greatly improved inside the helmet.

    I started having problems with my left ear bleeding from ear plugs toward the end of the Canada trip. On the short ride down to San Antonio (10 hours round trip) it was bleeding again. I am already using children’s ear plugs, but thought they might be long enough they are touching the ear drum. I cut some ear plugs a little shorter and found them to be equally as quiet, but no pain and no bleeding.

    So even with the shorter ear plugs I was still able to hear my music even when going into the head wind — with the Parabellum/Caberg helmet combination I couldn’t hear at all in high wind and head winds were completely hopeless.

    So while I’m definitely getting hit with more wind on my upper body, there seems to be a great improvement in what’s hitting my helmet. Or maybe the Nolan is just quieter.

    For those of you who may have read the negative report on the Nolan N-103 on adventure rider along with the guys suggested modifications — I added rubber gasket connecting the bottom and top seal and notice no difference. I love having a flip front helmet so I’m happy putting up with a little noise for the convenience. I think maybe that guy just needs to stick with full face helmets.

  • Ztechnik windshield + new Nolan helmet trial

    I replaced both my Parabellum windshield and my Caberg helmet recently.

    I just wasn’t comfortable with how close the Parabellum was to me. If I slammed forward I was going to shatter my helmet visor on the top edge of the windshield — it just didn’t seem smart. The poor Caberg had served me well, but the 12,000 mile trip to Canada pretty much finished it off and it was falling apart — also didn’t seem smart.

    I researched windshields  and decided to go with a Ztechnik that wasn’t going to be released until January 2010. There was a delay due to required mirror extenders that weren’t released until February. I waited and ordered both and was a little dismayed when I realized the extenders weren’t necessary. I have no idea why they list them as required when I can go from a full left handlebar lock to a full right handlebar lock and the mirrors come no where near the windshield. They were nice about it and I’m returning the extenders for a full refund.

    The Ztechnik looks great, works with the OEM handguards, and is well reviewed on other motorcycles.

    I love flip front helmets and after looking at all available models the Nolan was the only one with the features I want. I wanted the recessed tinted visor, padding on the chin straps, and most importantly a good fit. It felt great when I tried it on. I was pleased it comes with a fog lens — wish I would have had that in Canada. It will be interesting to see if it helps. Since I stress in rain and fog maybe nothing will help except calming down and not breathing so hard.

    The real point of both changes was to reduce helmet noise. I love to listen to music on long trips and if it was really windy, especially a head wind, I could kiss that idea goodbye. There would be so much noise in my helmet I couldn’t turn the music up loud enough to hear it. I wear ear plugs or I’d probably be deaf after a windy ride.

    Friday I took off for San Antonio on a windy, gusty day. It was so windy that when I opened the visor to drink from my Camelbak I couldn’t breathe through my nose while drinking because so much wind was rushing up it. I never had that happen before so I’ll assume it’s a result of the new windshield.

    I do feel my head got moved around more than it did with the previous configuration, but to my pleasant surprise I had excellent sound all the way down to San Antonio. And I loved not having a windshield right up in my face.

    The ride was less windy on the way home so it was a better test. The sound was good in my helmet, but the windshield definitely was feeding wind to my neck and shoulders and the windshield vibrated when I got over 70 MPH.

    I’m going to do a little adjusting with the windshield. Put some additional spacers under the top bolts to tilt it just a little upward. I just got finished making a couple small modifications to the Nolan and I’ll see how both do next week. But the bottom line is that helmet noise if vastly improved with the Ztechnik and Nolan.

  • Cooking while camping on motorcycle trip – review

    There are several things we took that worked out great.

    Pre-Trip Preparation

    I purchased a food dehydrator – I didn’t spend a lot of money on a dehydrator, but after researching made sure I got one with a fan to circulate the air as the food is drying — it speeds the process and dries the food more evenly. Drying takes a while so this is a project to start well before the start date of the trip, but the dried food was light to pack, rehydrated well, and was a healthy, economical alternative to packaged meals.

    To help with drying food I got information from Backpacking chef.com – Chef Glen has dehydrating instructions, recipes for breakfast, supper, dessert, and bark, and cheerfully answers any questions you may send him by email. We even dried ground beef using Chef Glen’s instructions and we able to use it until the end of our two month camping motorcycle trip. Great information.

    I would recommend Backpack Gourmet by Linda Frederick Yaffe – great instructions, great suggestions, and great recipes for dishes to dry and pack. Each recipe includes how heavy the finished portion will be to pack.

    Cooking on the Trip

    I already liked my Jet Boil for my single use, but we used it a lot on this trip. Boil water in the morning for coffee then put a pan on to make oatmeal. Boil water for tea and then boil pasta dishes for dinner. It does have it’s limitations when a skillet is needed (the skillet can be a little small for preparing a big dish). We ended up breaking out JF’s MSR stove when the skillet was needed to prepare a meal. But overall this is an easy to light (even when it’s windy), easy to use, efficient way to heat things up when camping. I was able to find fuel cartridges along the way so I came home with 2 spares.

    If you like coffee I would recommend the Bodum Travel Coffee Press -> I wasn’t sure these would even make the packing list (I thought JF might laugh at the idea) but we ended up using them once or twice a day at least. They made wonderful coffee in the morning and tea in the evening. After that they were great drinking glasses to mix an electrolyte drink. An indication of how great they worked — JF asked if he could take one when he headed out after the trip.

  • Compression bags – review

    Compression bags – After 12,000 miles my opinion is if you don’t have everything possible in a compression bag, beg, borrow, or whatever to pack what you can compressed. My relatively little 23.5 x 12 x 12 Hydra II bag carried 2 sleeping bags, 2 sleep mats, 2 fleece blankets, 2 pillows, Apollo lantern,  and fuel cans for the Jet Boil. No way this would have happened if the sleeping bags, sleep mats, pillows, and blankets weren’t compressed. I made all the compression bags custom to fit what we were taking — it takes a little ripstop nylon, webbing, and ladder lock buckles. I will never travel on the motorcycle without them. Next project is to find a way to compress clothes without trashing them.

  • Black Diamond Apollo Lantern – review

    The Black Diamond Apollo Lantern is a wonderful light to set on the picnic table or hang at the top of the tent. We were able to eat dinner, play cribbage, do dishes, all by the light of this little lantern. In two months of every night use the pack of 4 AA batteries had to be replaced one time. (Note: we both had headlamps so the lantern was not the exclusive source of light.) As advertised it’s about the size of a soup can when closed and easily tucked in between sleeping bags and sleep mats.