Saturday, October 11, 2008

I qualified for my Ham Radio license today

This is not really about motorcycling, except that I got the idea to do this from a post on the Wild Goose Moto Guzzi discussion board. I've been thinking about some way to have communications on my street bike for a while. Emergency communications mainly but, ultimately, I want to be able to do bike-to-bike with other riders.

I looked into a lot of different walkie-talkie radio systems. The cheaper units (under $150) all got bad user reviews. I concluded that they are basically junk. The more expensive ones cost as much as handheld Ham sets and you still have the issue of having to have matched units to talk to anyone else.

In my research of available options I saw a post by a Guzzi rider showing the water-resistant, mil-spec Ham unit he uses. The idea of having a licensed radio that could reach repeaters and such seemed like a good idea, especially since the best riding roads are often off the cell phone grid — at least if you have a Sprint cell phone.

I like the idea of having a license to operate it. The test is not hard. Anyone who puts in even a little effort can pass it. But that's the deal, you have to put in at least some effort and it's clear that operating a Ham radio is a privilege, not a right. The privilege comes with an obligation to know the rules, abide by them, and act responsibly. I like that. And there is a lot more to Ham radio than just walkie-talkie function.

I'll get to explore that over the coming years, and I look forward to it. I don't have anyone to talk with yet — at least not on the bike. But that's ok. I don't have a radio yet. I don't have a call sign either. But the FCC will assign that in a few days. I'll post it here when I know it. In the mean time, let me know if you're an operator interested in motorcycles. Maybe we can have a rag chew.

Monday, April 14, 2008

Wearing the Leatt

As noted the other day, I spent last weekend at the Diamond Don's Riverport AHRMA national. What a mudfest! I'd like to say that I had a great race and finished in the top three in my class, but that was not to be. I was running well in the first moto of Sportsman 250 Novice when I stalled the bike in a corner. Getting restarted cost me several positions and I ended the moto in 6th. When I went to the line for the 2nd moto the bike died in staging, re-fired after 20-30 kicks, and died on me about 2/3 of the way into the first lap leaving me to push it home. So that didn't go all that well.

But even with that I still put in about 10 good laps wearing the Leatt brace for the first time. I mean it was the very first time, I had not even fitted it onto my neck prior to doing my first lap of practice at DD's.

So, how did it feel? It felt like nothing, really. I didn't even notice it was there. Previously I wore a rather bulky set of hockey-style shoulder pads. These pads offer great protection if you're a hockey player, and they offer good body protection. But the giant shoulder cups always interfered with my head movement, really limiting my ability for left-right rotation. It was always really annoying.

With the Leatt I had absolutely no interference with normal head movement. It was actually a great improvement over the hockey pads. In fact, the Leatt was less restrictive in head movement than even the CE-approved shoulder armor in my street riding jackets. My big complaint about those jackets is just that - I can't rotate my head enough to safely see over my shoulder when I need to.

Given that the Leatt was way less restrictive than any of my previous riding gear I guess it's small wonder that I didn't notice it at all. I felt more comfortable on the bike than I have in a long time. The downside, of course, is that I have less protection for the shoulders. I did wear a smaller, modern chest protector from EVS, and I have an RXR Protect flak jacket-style protector to try. But neither does much for the shoulder area.

Still, that's a trade-off I will make for better neck protection, less restriction, and raising my survivability ratio in the event of a major header.

Sunday, March 9, 2008

Update on the "Cone-head" Helmet Liner

From Don Morgan, inventor of the cone-head motorcycle helmet liner technology, comes an e-mail update on this interesting approach to helmet safety. According to Don, the response to his appearance on "The New Inventors" (which named the cone-head 2007 Invention of the Year) has been huge, with interest from around the globe. A helmet using the technology will be released later this year into the Australian and NZ markets. He has signed a license agreement with an overseas helmet manufacturer which allows them to determine when and where helmets become available.

I hope Don's licensing agreement is not exclusive, or at least provides for limited exclusivity. It would be a shame to see this development get only limited testing and exposure due to a tie-up in licensing. For a bit more background on the technology see this transcript from an ABC-TV interview and Cone-head helmet not a bonehead idea in the Brisbane Times.

Tuesday, March 4, 2008

Guest Response: Which Helmet Is Safest?

After reading the Sunday, March 2nd, Muddy Waters blog titled "Which Helmet Is Safest" I did a little research to find out the AMA's position and recommendation on safe helmets, and helmet testing. Boy did I come away surprised. So much so, that I feel compelled to hijack this thread away from helmets and onto the AMA's part in helmet safety. I went to the AMA rule book for help, here's what I found.

E. Competition Apparel
It is the sole responsibility of the rider to select a helmet and apparel which will provide appropriate protection. The AMA does not endorse or certify any manufacturers or products. The rider must rely on his own judgment in the selection of any helmet and apparel for durability and safety.

I was surprised to discover that not only has the AMA not been at the forefront of motorcycle helmet safety but their involvement has been almost been non-existent. In over 80 years that the AMA has been in existance, they have played almost no part in helmet developement. In fact at this time they are soliciting for DONATIONS to fund a US study. The helmet study is expected to only cost less than $6 million of which the Feds will pay half. The question that comes to mind, as why didn't the AMA fund this study years and years ago? Why doesn't the AMA use some of the pile of money they collect from sanctioning Supercross to fund such studies?

Unless I have it all wrong, I thought the mission statement of the American Motorcyclist Association is to "protect and promote the interests of motorcyclists while serving the needs of its members."

If the AMA isn't taking action or funding studies to protect the motorcycle riding public, what good is the AMA? Frankly, I am astounded at the inaction of the AMA on an issue that affects all riders, racers, and parents of riders and racers. So what have they been doing all these years? I'm not really sure, but it doesn't really seem like they have been serving the needs of its membership.

Sunday, March 2, 2008

Which Helmet Is Safest?

Looking at the new Bell Moto-8 got me to thinking again about the controversial issue of helmets. Mainly because the Moto-8 is at the higher end of the price range for motorcycle helmets, and there is really no objective way of determining if your money is truly buying you more protection. In a non-scientific survey of my friends in the riding community there’s more or less general agreement that a helmet which retails for $250 is at least 2x better than a $100 helmet, maybe as much as 5x better due to materials, workmanship, etc. But there is considerable disagreement on whether a $500 helmet is even 2x better than the $250 unit.

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Protective Gear From Indy - RC-Evolution, Shock Doctor, Moto-8

There were a handful of new safety products announced at Indy. I didn’t see them all but I did get a chance to see a couple of them up close and talk to the manufacturers. EVS Sports announced their RC-Evolution Race Collar, a less expensive competitor to the Leatt Brace. The RC-Evo is similar in design to their RC3 foam collar, but has much larger plastic support pieces and a molded helmet cradle similar to the Leatt. The pre-production prototype on display at the show was a little rough – it’s definitely not as nicely finished as a Leatt, but it retails for $200 less as well. It’s terrific to see more neck protection options coming on the market. We do not know nearly enough about the effectiveness of these devices and it can only help to get a broader range of ideas and price points into the market. For my money everyone on a dirt bike should wear some form of neck protection, but we don’t have enough data to say for sure what type of protection. Not everyone is willing to pay for a Leatt and I’m glad to see less expensive options beginning to appear.

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Monday, October 8, 2007

My New Leatt Brace Arrived Today

My new Leatt brace arrived today. Ordered it from BTO Sports. I also ordered an EVS Revolution 5 body armor which is designed to fit around the Leatt.

Last Friday I got my new Organic air-cushion body armor from RXR Protect North America. RXR got me setup with one to test with the Leatt. The plan is to try the Leatt with both pieces of body armor and see which works best and what I think about each, and then do a little report for the VMX community. We old guys have to watch our bones. Once you get past 40 your bones start to get brittle, even if you have good bone density. Get-offs that you would have walked away from at 35 will put you in a hospital at 45. And that's no fun. So safety and protection are the name of the game for the happy VMX racer.

Friday, October 5, 2007

Got My RXR Protect Body Armor Today

Got my RXR Protect Organic chest protector today. Thanks to Chris Favro of RXR Protect North America for fixing me up with a sweet deal so I can test this with the new Leatt Brace. After talking with Chris we determined that the best path forward was to just get one and see how it worked. The RXR is not designed specifically for the Leatt, and some riders have liked it, others not. I promised Chris I'd test them together and share my findings with the VMX community via this website and McCookRacing.com. Unfortunately, it looks like that's going to be a little ways down the road, as work and travel are making it almost impossible to get any saddle time and it will be hectic until the Holidays. But hopefully I can get in a little riding before then.

Monday, October 1, 2007

Protect Yourself - Vintage Racing and the Leatt Brace

Today I ordered some modern protective equipment – a neck brace and a couple of different chest/body armour units to try with it. The neck brace I bought is the Leatt, the new and somewhat controversial HANS-style device invented and patented by South African Dr. Jeff Leatt. For core protection I ordered an EVS Revolution 5 that is designed for the Leatt, and an RXR Protect Organic.

First released about a year ago, the Leatt has gotten a lot of publicity and raised a lot of arguments both for and against its use. Former riders such as David Bailey and Danny Chandler have spoken out strongly in favor of the brace. As far as I know there haven’t been any riders speak out strongly against it, but it certainly hasn’t been adopted by riders everywhere, for a variety of reasons.

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