I Made It Into Alltop!

Biker Chickz Blog was recently added to the Alltop website in their new category, Motorcycles. (Thanks Mike Werner for suggesting it) It is quite an honor as not too many motorcycle themed blogs have been added yet.

The Alltop site collects feeds from blogs of any particular interest or topic and displays them all together with the 5 most recent headlines showing for each website. It is meant to help you find new sites that you may not have known about.

Go check them out, you may find other subjects that will peak your interests while you're there.

Green Motorcycles Are Here

In my never ending task of looking for a job in California’s Bay Area, I came across a company that caught my attention. It is a company called Zero Motorcycles located in Scott’s Valley, near Santa Cruz. Since I don’t have the qualifications for the job opening they had, I checked out their website and found that they really have a cool idea here.

The Zero Motorcycle is an electric bike. It is powered by a Lithium Ion battery pack made by Emoli, which is developed for regular landfill disposal. This solves the problem of a lot of ‘green’ vehicles who still have the problem of battery disposal. The Zero’s battery charges in 2 hours, and will take you about 40 miles. The weight of the battery pack is about 45 lbs. making the total bike (Zero X) weigh only 140 lbs.
The company’s first offering is the Zero X, marketed as a dirt bike. It is completely silent, which would be really cool if you were off-road in the woods. It would also be a great commuter around town. The bike cost around $7500 now, with the option of a more powerful German motor giving 10% more power for $8350. The next release will be a street bike called the Zero S, and in 2009 the Zero Way is slated to be released.

The bikes have been selling online since Jan. ’08, and already have backorders. They are seeking to expand their manufacturing facility to try to keep up with orders which are increasing exponentially. You can have a Zero motorcycle shipped to your home for a very reasonable price.
A surprising fact is that in CA and 17 other states, you don’t even need a motorcycle endorsement to ride the Zero on the street. Since it doesn’t have a gas powered engine, there is an intentional loophole in the law. The motor has about 20 horsepower, which is on par with a 250cc bike. As long as you ride over to the right of the lane, as a bicycle would, you are legal.

I was excited when I found out about the Zero motorcycle and the future development of this company. I think they have the right idea and the possibilities are limitless. Using developing technology we could someday be riding electric Harleys. (Well, maybe not)
You will probably be hearing more about this company in the future.

A Whirl Up Whidbey Island

Saturday we woke up early and were ready to ride. With us, it is always a hard decision as to where to go. There are so many choices, and we’ve exhausted all the routes and places that we’ve already been to previously. The choices that seemed to come up were a route over on the peninsula near the Hood Canal. I have been told there are fun, scenic roads over there. The other choice was to take our first WS Ferry ride with the motorcycles, and go ride up the entire length of Whidbey Island. Since the day was already beginning to cloud up, we went for the Ferry ride and decided to explore the Island.

We left home, expecting the day to warm up and the sun to come out in the afternoon. Neither of those things happened. When we started out, it was 52 degrees.

The ride to the Mukilteo Ferry is only about 25 minutes from home and very familiar to us. When you arrive at the holding area for the next Ferry, motorcyclists are allowed to pull into the first lane and wait.

We were the first loaded, right up in the front of the vessel, and the first off. Only the walk-on passengers have more clout. They get first on and off privileges before the motorcyclists.

As soon as we arrived in Clinton, across the Puget Sound, it began to rain. We hadn’t heard that in the forecast. It was OK. I was happy for the windshield that I keep on the bike all the time. It shielded my face from the stinging rain, since I had the half-shell on. Throughout the day it rained several times. I never got wet and didn’t have raingear on specifically. My saddlebags also stayed dry inside.

We rode up the length of Whidbey Island, first stopping in Langley for lunch. It was a wonderful and exhilarating ride. The roads were smooth and looked newly paved in most areas. There are lots of easy curves with long straight stretches thrown in. The roads are either wooded on both sides or open fields and farmland. You really don’t know you are on an island except when you catch a glimpse of the water in the distance once in a while. We caught a quick look at a giant wild turkey on the side of the road, which was totally unexpected. We rode north until we stopped at Deception Pass, which eventually connects the Island back to the mainland near Anacortes.

The bridge is high enough to allow ships and tall sailboats to go underneath. Down below the water is treacherous and very ‘deceiving’. Thus, Deception Pass. There have historically been many vessels capsized and loss of life in this area.

We decided to take a turn towards La Connor and ride through the farmland and fields of the Skagit Valley where they grow all the tulips. Instead we found a lovely field of iris, which are in bloom right now.

I love that road! We kept heading south towards home and found an Old Pioneer Highway that was new to us, but followed parallel to the Interstate. Finally, we had to take I-5 out of Silvana and had a nice freeway ride home in the rain.

It was a very fun day and I love riding those types of roads. Of course, there were hundreds of other bikes we passed throughout the day. All were waving and smiling. We were gone for 5-1/2 hours and rode 154 miles. …… What a great life we have!

Puttin’ On The Bags

Just as I had been promised by the fellow who took my order from US Saddlebag, my bags arrived right on time. They were in a huge box sitting on my front porch when I got home from work.



I opened the box and was amazed at how large the bags really are. These were the standard size bags. I was glad I hadn’t gone for it and ordered the “large capacity” bags. The ones I have were advertised as able to hold a 12-pack of cans, on each side! What more could you ask?

I had my dinner and then decided I would go out in the garage and see about installing the bolt-on frames on my Vulcan. I knew it wouldn’t take too long. The next day was going to be nice so I had planned to ride to work. The saddlebags would sure come in handy for carrying my lunch and small e-bay packages to mail on my way as I passed by the local Post Office.

The frames only required removing 2 bolts from each side of the rear fender. I don’t have tools for the bike all organized in a kit yet. So I had to find the right size Allen wrench to fit. They were pretty tight but I finally got them loosened.

I undid one bolt at a time and then installed the spacers along with the new long bolt and the frame. The new bolts required a different size Allen wrench so I had to scrounge a while to find that one. Those 2 sizes were the only ones required for installation.

The second frame went on just as easily. Once everything was tightened it was time to hang each bag on its frame and attach from inside the bag with turn-key fasteners. It really required a lot of force the first time to engage the shaft until it would turn and lock in place. It fits over a rubber grommet so it was a tight fit at first. There are 2 on each bag. In between these is an actual lock with a key that attaches the bag and locks it so it can’t be removed. The key stays with you.

There is a hanging zippered organizer just inside the bag which keeps the locking mechanism out of sight and is a nice place to keep small items, pockets for extra glasses, camera, etc. I love this feature.

Then a Velcro strip goes along the top edge which keeps it pretty water tight and seals it shut. Next the whole bag zips closed with 2 zippers. The outer flap comes over all of this and has 2 quick release fasteners underneath the buckles. I love the heavy leather which encases the whole bag. The inside is a solid, hard plastic which seems pretty resistant to heat.

The bags fit firmly on the frames so there is no vibration or rattling at all. They are very solid, well attached, and have plenty of room for a quick overnight trip. Overall I absolutely LOVE the bags. They look a little wider from the rear than I had wanted, but I have no complaints.

I used them all last weekend every where I went, and they were awesome. I plan to get a couple of small luggage locks to attach to the inside zippers if I leave anything of value in the bags. I haven’t been able to fit my small helmet inside the bags, which would have been great. I highly recommend the US Saddlebag for a quality and sharp looking product. They’ve thought of everything.