Seat dye..

Caving to the peer pressure, i got some black dye & hit the seat. ..only took about 1/2 hr, very little dye, & it seems to work ok.. not coming off.. not fading, yet. Anyway, here it is.

Video Camera

I use the contour hd.
I like the way it handles varying light conditions.. better than most cams i've had in the past. It has a very smooth transition between bright sunlight & shade, which you get a lot while riding.

The main con with this unit is determining if it's on. It has a beep, but it can be hard to hear when riding. The light is also hard to see. When it's on standby, you just slide the switch forward to begin recording. Easy even with gloves.

I like the simple, all in one unit. I can get 2 hrs of video on an 8g. card. The usb rechargeable battery lasts that long without recharging. 2 hrs is a *lot* of video. I try to just take clips of 2-3 min. max.. sometimes in a very interesting ride i'll go 5 min. Other times i will just go 20 seconds or less for a quick view.

It attaches easily & in a variety of ways. I have a simple velcro strap that wraps around the chin bar on my helmet. ..easy to put on & off. It's rated as water resistant, but will not go underwater. I've had it in the rain & it seems to be ok.

Overall, for ride reports, i think i prefer stills. they are sharper, easier to take in details, & easier to take. But the vid clips enable me to get more of a feel of the ride & the views. I'm a lazy photographer.. i don't mess with the shots a lot, just crop, resample, & post. The videos i seldom crop, unless there is a long boring part with a short interesting part. Then i might crop out some of it. Mostly i just upload the vids as they are.. another reason to take short clips.

I've tried to figure out a good way to mount my point & shoot & use it as a camcorder, but a chest mount is too low, & a helmet mount is too high & hits stuff. Handlebar mounts vibrate too much.

I like the high def feature.. though it makes big files & take a long time to upload. But they catch much more detail.

If i were doing more professional type of work, i'd probably go for one of the lipstick cameras, with a microphone lead inside the helmet, so you could narrate or comment on the video. Those have a recording unit that fits in a pocket or clips to a belt or jacket. But the contour hd has pretty decent sound, great video, & is easy to use. I would get another. I like the profile of it better than the gopro, which is more like a small camera mounted to the helmet. But if money was no object, i'd get the lipstick camera system.

I'll post up some pics of it later, with my mounting system.. i'll also compare it to my older vid camera.. the Oregon Scientific ATC2K Camcorder. My earlier videos were with it.

Install fmf programmer

I've been getting by without a programmer for almost a year.. even though i have opened up the airbox, added a header, pipe & removed the ais & exup, i hadn't gotten around to the programmer.  Mostly because they were $200, & i was too cheap to spring for it, & too poor to justify it.  But Dennis Kirk had them on sale, so i put in an order.  It came yesterday, & i put it on early this morning.  I haven't had time to ride it & see how it compares, but i'll show the step by step install.

You have to take almost everything off.. seat, side panels, tank shroud, loosen the tank.  I'll assume those are commonly known procedures.  I decided to mount it on the side, by the battery, under the left panel.  I had made more room in this section when removing the exup, side stand switch, & the usual other mods.  I pulled off  a relay.. i think.. that is right by the battery, turned it 90* & pushed it back in place.

I put the sticky velcro patch right on the plug cover on the relay, then stuck the programmer on it.  The manual suggested putting it in front of the battery.

I've seen them mounted in lots of different places.  I don't figure on adjusting it much once it is set to my preferences, so it will be fine under the side panel.

Next i routed the cable under the frame & along the top tube.  I zip tied it in a couple of places.  Unplug the fuel injector connector, plug the programmer between them.  easy..  Make sure the connectors click in to place.. you have to push them pretty hard, because of the rubber sealing ring inside the connector.  Don't be afraid to squeeze them together.

The connector is under the tank, so you have to take off the tank mounting screws. It can just tilt out of the way.. don't have to disconnect anything else.

Then run the ground wire to the negative battery terminal.  Just unscrew the terminal screw & put the connector under the screw.  It's ready to run.

I bent the red power wire from the battery so it didn't rub or hit the programmer.

Then, as added protection, i stuck some foam weatherstrip on a few spots.. probably doesn't need it, but it will keep it from rubbing or hitting any button, while still leaving them accessible.

That's it!  I put it all back together & it started right up.  I'll report later on how it works.. if i notice any difference from stock.

For now, i'm leaving it with the factory defaults.  I'll tweak it later.

seat report!

This week Tom & I took a ride to sheep's bridge.. it was a total of about 250 miles, with a lot of freeway, winding, bumpy dirt roads, & some really gnarly boulder field crossings.  How did my seat work, you might ask..  Well, i think i have found a very good balance for riding long rides mixed with technical terrain.  This ride had both, & this seat fit the bill.  I hardly thought about it, except when marveling at how comfortable my behind was at the end of the day.  On the long easy stretches, i slid back in the seat & sat in comfort.  In the gnarly sections, i slid forward & had an easy reach to the ground.

Here's a pic Tom took of me going down the rocky section after the bridge.  I'm slid forward & can 'paddle' with my feet & stay steady.

I thought earlier that i might trim some of the back off & make it a bit narrower.. but now i think i'll leave it alone.. My bottom isn't that tiny & it really likes the room.

I also noticed the bumps didn't make me stand as much.. at least the bumps you get on long dirt roads ~ 40mph.  The seat soaks them up, & the combination of the gel pad, the foam under, the kydex pan, & the closed cell bottom foam all disperse the vibration.

I don't think i'll need a sheepskin cover.. this is the best motorcycle seat i've ever sat on.. compared to any custom seat & i've sat on a few.