Review: Blinker Buddy

Although I had been getting much better about remembering to cancel out the turn signals after making turns or changing lanes; I still found myself doing it on the longer trips when in unfamiliar territory or if something distracted me while executing the turn or if I had sat at a light waiting for the green for a while.

So, I went ahead and got this farkle called Blinker Buddy from blinkerbuddy.com and I finally got it working the way I want. Basically, it's a device which vibrates when either one of your turn signals is blinking, it's installed within the rider's seat.

I first got just the basic unit, followed the simple instructions and was working within 30 minutes...the hardest part being cutting a hole in the seat pan to squeeze the blinker buddy into the foam within the seat (I love my dremel tool). Couple of things to be aware of:

1. Make sure you don't go too deep into the foam. This thing vibrates quite strongly!
2. Make sure the sides of the blinker buddy and its wires do not contact any part of the plastic seat pan as the strong vibrations from the unit will wear away the protective rubber coating on the blinker buddy or the wires. I used rubber tubing around the unit and wire to protect it agaisnt contact with anything hard and also to soften some of the vibration I was feeling.
3. Its a very strong vibrating unit, as the instructions say, try powering it up while holding it in your hands before installing.
4. Did I mention it vibrates very strongly?

So, I tried this setup for about a week and it sure did not let me forget that I had turn signals on! However, it's such a strong unit that I found myself switching off my turn signals at traffic lights and only turning them on just before the light would turn green since the vibrations are so noticeable.

After some email exchange with the manufacturer, Jerry, he suggested I get the relay kit that he made. It was only $14 so what the heck, I got it. Basically, once the relay kit is hooked up, it senses when you're actuating the brakes and interrupts power to the blinker buddy only. So, your turn signals/brake light continue to function at a traffic light but the blinker buddy does not vibrate so long as you hold the brake lever down.

This was a good tweak to a good solution! Now I can sit at the long lights, turn signals blinking away but no vibration. Soon as I start moving again, the blinker buddy starts vibrating again and I am reminded to cancel out the turn signal when its safe to do so. Nice. First ride with relay kit in place was this morning and it was great. I highly recommend this device for those of you who keep forgetting to cancel out your turn signals.

Note: There's apparently a further refinement to the blinker buddy in terms of a version where u-brackets are used to hang the blinker buddy under the seat pan but I am not in need of that...perhaps for those of you who find it being within your seat cushion too much. No real idea how it works but Jerry mentioned it if the relay kit did not do it for me.

I am not affiliated with blinker buddy, just a happy customer.

A cruise down to Monument, CO

Today was a beautifully sunny day here in Colorado, though a bit cool, which is kind of fitting since it is the first Fall weekend! I had lunch with my wife and set out on a motorcycle ride shortly after 1300.

The weather was deceptively sunny and beautiful so I chose not to wear my jacket's liner or overpants as I cruised on down to CO Highway 105 picking it up East of Castlerock off of Wolfenberger road 39.370N/104.955W. The road was pretty empty heading South on 105 and I was able to keep some good speed on the turns which were not too twisty for the most part. A very enjoyable stretch of road down to Monument. The breeze had a bite to it as I cruised along but it was not bad at all.

By the time I reached Monument though, the comfort level with the temperatures, in spite of the continued sunny coverage lead me to stop and don my jacket liner and study the map.

I headed back North on 105 from Monument and caught up with a convoy of four corvettes out for a drive. Not sure what was going on with these four cars but there were strictly following the speed limit of 40mph on 105. It did not bother me much since I was content to cruise along behind their convoy and admire the sights at a more sedate pace.

I must have not been paying enough attention to stuff behind me because all of a sudden I was surprised by the roaring pipes of a dualsport motorcycle speeding past me! This squid and his partner on a crotch rocket apparently weren't happy with the cars and I doing only 45pmh at best so they decided to pass the lot of us with a double yellow line in plain sight. Idiots, besides ignoring the double yellow, they cut in and out amongst the four corvettes causing them to lock up brakes at times.

Luckily, nothing bad happened to the squids or worse to us and they roared off out of sight. Soon after this I stopped and took these pictures:

Looking North on CO 105, the rock formation reminded of the skeletal spine of a snake, or perhaps a dragon!.

Looking South on CO 105 towards Monument.

This allowed the speed-limit-abiding corvette convoy to get ahead and out of the way. Once I got back on the road it was smooth riding, I spotted Dakan Rd which was paved till it went out of sight so I took a detour to see where it led. Unfortunately, after a promising twisty start it petered out into a hard-packed dirt road that just lead to some ranches in the hills. Still is was a nicely packed road as opposed to the dirt roads I was on yesterday!

Coming back onto 105 I started feeling stiff/sore and clumsy. I wonder if it was a mild hypothermia reaction for when I had been riding without my liner? Regardless, my riding skills were off, and I experienced a very sloppy turn coming off the hill on Dakan Rd and then once more on Wolfenberger road as I turned N to get on Prairie Hawk Drive (39.381N/104.868W). I had been feeling pretty good about my turning skills as of late but today was a wake up call to ensure the weather does not get taken lightly by me.

Got home fine but felt sore and stiff for quite a bit afterwards....perhaps it was the cold, perhaps it was the long ride yesterday, or a combination thereof. I must learn to also take more frequent breaks while riding. After all, I think I only stopped twice for less than 5 minutes each time in the space of four hours of riding!

An overly-optimistic speedometer

Today I had my Rino 110 GPS unit with me and I compared it's speed readout and my motorcycle's speedometer reading. As apparently is the case with most motorcycles, my Gretl's speedometer reads 5mph faster than actual speed!

I was holding her steady at 50mph by the speedometer and the GPS unit was reporting 45.4mph or so.

More testing must be done of course since I was concentrating on the road and not on the gps unit which I had stashed in a small pouch on the handlebar and not readily visible all the time. I'll be getting a mounting bracket for the handlebar so I can safely monitor the GPS info while riding.

Out to Limon, almost, and back

Weather: Blustery, cold and spitting light rain.

Set out a little after 10am, all bundled up, heat grips on max as it felt quite chilly as I prepped the motorcycle for today's ride. After looking at the map I had decided to go almost to the city of Limon which is East of Denver on I-70. I was taking CO 86 most of the way, picking it up at Elizabeth(39.361N /104.606W).

The ride was chilly as expected but the riding gear kept me warm enough. The wind however, after about 45 minutes from the start of the ride, started really gusting to the point I was riding a bit leaned into the wind most of the time as it blew with much force out of the North! That wind pretty much "blew" all the fun out of the ride for me. When I was riding in the sunlit areas, all was well in spite of the wind, but once I entered overcast sections of road then it chilled rapidly and the wind seemed stronger. Not sure if it really was stronger, just felt that way as the temperature dropped a bit.

Freese Rd, E of Elizabeth, CO. (39.294N/104.353W)

Worst direction to head into of course was Northwards and the times I did I could feel the wind coming at me from both front-right and left sides. Again, not much fun.

So I finally hit my goal where CO 86 ends at I-70 a few miles W of Limon(39.312N/103.823W). My initial map recon had shown some promising roads to head west on without having to use I-70 to get back home. Alas, it was not too be. I got on I-70 for a little bit (the headwinds were such that I could not get above 70mph with the throttle wide open!) and the next exit was Cedar Point where I picked up CR 134 which turned out to be a dirt road with muddy spots interspersed with cattle guards and not much else except windswept prairie and ranchland. Took CR134 to CR153 and headed North for a bit until I got to the very small town of Agate (39.462N/103.943W). I think I saw perhaps two people, one who was stopping at the small post office to get his mail.

Looking NW from Agate's main drag.

Looking SE from Agate's main drag.

I was quite tired of muddy dirt roads by now and my read of the map showed no paved roads for a while so I got back on I-70. It was only after I had gone down the road W a bit that I noticed I'd missed the old US40 PAVED road which paralled I-70 for quite a bit. Damn. I could have avoided a bit of the superslab and caught it at CR178 instead. Oh well.

The wind continued to try and push me around as I cruised up the I-70 superslab, the headwinds made it an effort to maintain 70mph at times but otherwise I made it to the Strasbourg exit (39.738N/104.326W) with no problems at around 1320hrs. I gassed up there at a Quick Stop (48.2mpg) and scarfed down a small pizza and a coffee to warm up a bit and peruse the map further.

Less than 30 minutes later I was back on the road, this time taking Westbound US36 which paralled I-70 out of Strasbourg for a bit. The road led me to Watkins (39.742N/104.603) about ten miles further west and from there I headed South (blissfully with the dang wind now at my back) on Watkins road until I got to Quincy Road and headed West again and once again got to feel the gusting winds still blowing at me from the North.

Got into Aurora soon enough and home soon thereafter. I was glad to get home and out of the wind. Gretl picked up quite a bit of mud from the "roads" I had taken returning home so I washed her down and put her away.

Quite a ride, much too windy in final judgement, should have stayed home....but it was quite the ride. At points, specially on the dirt roads, I had a very small taste of what the guys who made the journey around the world in the film "The Long Way Round" must have endured. Dirt roads, windswept vistas with not another soul around, rain in your face (or visor in my case) and only a vague idea of where one was.

This was my first trip where I experienced muddy dirt roads and while I negotiated them with no mishap, they're not the most fun thing to deal with....one's tires get quite squirrely and I remembered repeating to myself to not touch the brakes, use engine braking and keep steady throttle to keep the motorcycle going straight when things got a bit slippery.

I think if I keep hitting these dirt roads as I explore Colorado, I must get a mudflap for the front fender. Quite a bit of mud/dirt/small rocks stuck to the bottom quarter of the radiator cover and underlying motorcycle frame. I can see where paint is starting to wear thin on the front of the motorcycle frame in fact, I must repaint that soon.

Must get a mudflap if I keep doing dirt roads! : )