Steel lined gloves

As I had mentioned some time back in my previous post, I had recently purchased a vest for my friend Eelman and gloves for myself.

These gloves are generally impossible to find here in Malaysia and I was lucky enough to get in contact with a place that makes them. They are generally gloves where the protection for the fingers and knuckles that are usually made of carbon fiber (in my previous gloves) or PE are replaced by stainless steel.

The first time I saw these gloves was while I was watching biker buildoff. Matt Hotch was wearing them at the end of the build and they were then made by Icon. The model name is Icons TiMax which is now no longer in production.

When I first got the gloves, I was quite happy about it. Then when I touched it, I was surprised by how soft they were. Apparently they WERE real leather… it was just that I was not used to it as gloves here in Malaysia are generally bought and stored for a long time and eventually harden before you ever buy them. The only unfortunate thing was that though sizes in Malaysia, I wear an XL, these were one size too big for me. I had gotten quite worried about it but a good friend of mine says that after riding in the rain (which is like everyday here), it will slowly shrink. From what I can tell right now, they are slowly but surely shrinking. And if it doesn't shrink enough, I’ll just do the old warm water and rubbing alcohol trick.

Well, it has been a week (or less since I'm not always going to work) since I had worn them, the gloves are starting to feel ok and I'm getting used to wearing it. At first, I was concerned because my old gloves were racing gloves with the thicker, rougher leather that provides grip for the throttle. After a week of trying them out, I don't feel weird with the gloves anymore and feel that it is a part of me now when I ride. They also keep me warm in addition to my jacket as the long gauntlet covers the sleeves at night.

As I had mentioned, though the grips of the glove does not have the thicker and rougher palm section, the palm section is sewn with another layer to help a little. Quite like a slider for when one falls.

The fingers were sewn in sections to allow easy movements of the fingers and the gauntlet is very very wide to allow my thick jacket sleeves to go in.

Now, riding to work and all over the place has become slightly more fun as it attracts even more attention as I am riding. Talk about bling.

By Vy

Visor Water Resistance

For most people with open face helmets, you will sometimes notice that riding in heavy rain, there will be some rain water that will drip into the inside of the visor... thus blurring vission.... this isnt to stop the rain water from fully entering, but hindering it slightly.

Things needed:

1. Rubber strips
2. Silicone double sided tape
3. Shears
4. Helmet (duh)

• Cut the length of the rubber strip that you need
• Cut the thickness of the rubber strip to what you need
• Line the strip with double sided tape
• Stick it to your helmet

Simple right? Yet so many people dont do it... because they never think about it....

Do it now, you will thank me when it rains.

By Vy

Vest review:

I have recently helped a good friend of mine purchase a leather vest from a supplier. It just so happens I was looking for steel lined gloves. I was very very inspired when I first saw them being worn by Matt Hotch in one of the biker buildoffs. And found a company making some that were similar. But that's another story.

The thing is, here in Malaysia, the choices of design for vests are very limited and can range from 150 to 200 bucks for even a smelly used one that looks like it was worn by a girl in a mud wrestling match. Thus, since I had some contact with a supplier of leather products, we both decided to try buying a part each. Me with my gloves, and my friend (Eelman) with his vest.

The night I received the parcel, I quickly rushed over there to give it to him. This is what I have found so far:

The vest comes with a button up style fastener instead of a zip up. In my opinion, though it is slightly slower than having a zipper, it definitely is something very different. The buttons are very sturdy and hold on tight.

It comes with 3 pockets: 2 up top and 1 inside like a gun pocket but not really. The front 2 pockets are on the chest area with buttons for sealing as well. The inner pocket is an open type pocket something like those of a normal textile jacket.

This vest although slightly thicker than general vests is very soft and seems to have been pre-conditioned. However, it is a good idea to maintain it by applying mink oil to it.

The build of the vest resembles a T-shirt that has had its sleeves cut off. Thus just a little different. People here seem to be calling it the “sons of anarchy” look. I wouldn't know.

By Vy

Waterproofing

From my previous post, I had mentioned on how to change the bulb from normal halogen bulbs to HIDs.

However, in order to have these bulbs, you will most probably have to remove the waterproofing or the back of the spotlight totally. Thus a DIY waterproofing is needed.

Me having OCD when it comes to things like these found that my waterproofing actually kept out all the water from the spotlight compared to the normal standard one.

What you need:

• Good thick plastic bag (the type used for keeping goldfish or drinks.. not d very easily biodegradable ones)
• A plastic pipe of any round plastic cover
• Lots and lots of wire tape.

What to do:

• Shape the HID bulb to the correct shape if you don't already have one that fits (note the one on the left is shaped to fit) be careful with the length of the bulb, it may cause issues like arching when you install it)

• Grab a rubber hose or plastic cover (in this case I used the bottom part of the container of the HID bulb) and make sure it has a snug fit to the back of the spotlight.

• Cut the bottom of a plastic bag out so it makes an unbroken circle.

• Wrap the plastic around the butt of the light

• Pulling the plastic bag backwards slightly, slide on the hose/cover you made. The plastic bag will slide to the front a little when you have fit the cover on properly.

• If the plastic is protruding out the front of the cover you made a little, fold it back. Then wrap the entire butt of the headlamp starting from the cover you made. Make sure when you circle with the tape you expose only ¼ of the tape you are taping over. This will ensure that more area is covered and waterproof. Twist the plastic bag up tight against the wire then continue wrapping. This will help as it will be a snug fit.

• Done

By Vy

Headlamp Install

The Cyclops headlamp that came with the bike didn't light up much of squat when I was riding at night. So I set out on getting a pair of projector headlamps from a car accessories shop. So here is the guide on how to hook these up.

Things needed:

Thick wires (don't be cheap and buy those thin sorry excuses for wires) in whatever colors you want.

A relay or two (2 if you are using dual HIDs) if you are unsure if which rating to get, tell them it's the one for installing the air horns for cars.

Basic tools i.e. screw drivers, allen keys, socket wrenches

Fuse (optional)

Wire Tape/ Shrink Wrap

Step 1: Make sure the bulbs work, if not, get bulbs that work. Also, waterproof the sombitch by wrapping a small plastic bag around the area where the leads will come out. Using some good (not the cheap) wire tape, wrap up the whole thing well and good. (fig1)

Step 2: If you are using HIDs like me, you will need to run a relay through as motorcycle wires are not good enough to channel enough power to the ballast. The setup is simple, run a thick wire from the battery to the relay (you may install a fuse just in case 35a should cut it), connect it to connection 30 (power source), connect the lead from the stock headlight to 85 and connect 86 and the ground cable of the ballast to any grounding point of your choosing on the bike. Then, connect the positive terminal to connection 87 (normally off). Test your headlamp. (fig 2)

Step 3: Wrap all spliced wires with wire tape or shrink wrap and make sure all your wires are tucked nicely. Clipping of your cables on anywhere can cause a lot of issues. Once all that is done, tighten all your bolts and bring a wrench along with you when riding at night. It will take a few tries before you get the position of the light right.

 Fig 1

Fig 2

 where i put the relay

me working on the bike

Before.. with the Cyclops headlamp

End Product

By Vy

Been So Long

Wow, never realized that it had been so long since I had posted anything on bikes. Well, since I sold my bike I had been in a rut for a while. Lack of riding is like having withdrawal from drugs. Everyday I drive my car, I don't feel very happy.

Mid December, my wife had surprised me by telling me that I need a replacement for my car. As it was old and one of my friends wanted to sell me his. Since his was full of performance mods, it was quite an interesting buy except it was the same model of car as mine. After a lot of thinking, and sleepless nights, my wife then gave me an ultimatum, either choose the car or get a bike. Without further thought, I had chosen my bike. Although, just so I could hear what I chose as the right thing, I had asked a good friend and mentor of mine Mr Eel.

Confirmed that I wanted the bike, we proceeded to look for one that I liked. Thanks to Mr. Eel, I had gotten a good buy on a Dragstar/V-star 650 from his friend. There are some kinks here and there to iron out but that's fine.

The bike was readily bobbed by the owner with a hugger rear fender and a seat pan. Everything was powder coated with wrinkle paint. Although it was cool, it's a real bitch to wash. I found myself washing it everyday because of the wrinkle. Even before I had bought a bike I had already thought of a name for it (as an excuse to buy 4)… I named my first bike (regardless what it was) Pestilence. As in the first horseman of the apocalypse and had chosen the color scheme white. Oddly enough, the bike I liked was also white… I didn't chose it for its color.. in fact, I liked it because of its exhaust pipes.

I have been riding Pestilence for a few months now and have slowly been tweaking everything to suit me. I even removed the hugger fender and installed the original fender too. This makes it look longer and I can bring my wife around as well. And because the aftermarket Cyclops light was doing my night riding no good, I had bought 2 projector spotlights for cars and modified them to fit the bike. With low beam being halogen and the high beam being HIDs.

There are some other modifications that are coming up as I have been cooking them since I confirmed I wanted the bike. I can finally build my kite tank and have a very simple yet nice floating fender in design for my rear. However, it will take some time as I would like to focus on riding more than modifications.

By Vy

One Week Chain Replacement

A week ago, my friend Irwan (who has recently been my new boss) had issues with his bike. I was made aware of this by one of my friends that the poor guy had to push his bike with a broken chain all the way to the office. The thing about this is that the location of my office (cyberjaya) did not have a bike shop ANYWHERE. In fact, this large place (a size of a small township) even only had one petrol kiosk.

Straight away I jumped up and offered to help fix his chain. I offered because this was the guy whom; at the time he was an agent just like me offered his bike for months while my car was being fixed with no requests except to take care of it.

Anyway, the following day, I told him to bring the sprockets and chain so that I can fix it up for him. In the evening, we went down to fix his bike. Only to realize that 1, his bike didn't have a double stand and 2, I didn't have a big enough wrench.

Day 2, I brought my big X wrench and a car jack and thought, okay, let’s get it on! I removed the sprocket only to realize that the metal retainer plate was the wrong size. So I decided to try to slide on the chain onto the old sprockets. It was then I found out that the Kawasaki original parts were different from the after market chains and sprocket sets we could get here. The difference was in the length of the gap, the chain and sprockets had a slightly further gap then the after market ones. So the chains couldn't fit on to the sprockets.

Day 3, my friend had forgotten to get the retainer plate but I had brought a grinder and things to remove the broken chain link and maybe try to get the chain to work on the sprocket so he can get to the shop. After 2 hours of hammering and grinding at the chain, it was apparent why the original parts were so expensive. That was quality steel right there. Unhappy, I packed up and brought the chain home with me seeing how it was a weekend and I could work with my stuff in my house.

Day 4 was a day of rest for me since it was a Saturday, then day 5 came along and I had been able to remove the chain with heavy machinery and elbow grease. I had then let the chain sit in a tub of wd40 to refurbish it and it worked out quite well.

Day 6 came along and with the help of another friend, we had tried to attach the old chain back into the bike. It was then that we had found a gruesome reality. The chain being made of such tough material had been lodged between the sprocket and the swing arm of the bike while it was moving.  Before being able to snap the chain off, the chain had damaged the inner part of the swing arm to the point that it was totally crumpled. It had just so happened that it was in the way of the wheel alignment system so we couldn't push the swing arm all the way back to get the chain connected.

Day 7: this was the last straw, I had brought everything including a huge hammer to try to fix the crumple zone. We had also bought a retainer plate each and a spare chain just in case. We proceeded to change the front sprocket and slowly changed the rear one as the chain had eaten up all the nuts. Successfully removing the nuts, we had no choice but to remove one bolt from the sprocket set as it was totally chewed up. We spent quite some time hammering the alignment slider in to try to uncrumple the place but we didn't get much success. Yet after all our efforts, we had finally installed the chain. Though it was super tight, it was workable. Tired but happy, all of us yelled out in joy. One of my friends who had helped had also given me a lesson in old school chain link removal (not workable for original parts).

Never have I ever been so challenged by a string of mishaps that we had discovered. But in the end, because I didn't want to quit and had friends who supported and had faith in me, we prevailed… in the One Week Chain Replacement.

By Vy