Wednesday, August 17, 2011

la cruz verde


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do you have a few hours to burn in the afternoon and weather is great?

its been a while now since i started this blog, and being from madrid and writing about motorcycle rides, this has to be mentioned.  la cruz verde has to be one of the most popular places for motorcycle riders in the area.  infamous for its dangerous curves, famous for its fun and enjoyable turns, always depending on which side you look at it from.

photo by "d"

to kill yesterdays august afternoon, "d" and me went to check out the beach in madrid... yes, madrid has a beach.  its fresh water and (one of them) located on the shores of pantano de san juan.  chilled by the beach while others went for a swim and decided to take on a little trip in the area and show "d" around.

from pantano de sanjuan we headed towards robledo de chavela, famous for its space agency antenas, and from there on to el escorial, famous for everything that happened way before any human vehicle flew.  this time travel road is what we all call la cruz verde.  short section of the m-512 but a blast to ride along.  you might see some careless riding and you will stumble upon the occasional flower arrangement, remembering someone who lost a life on the road.  it will be good to keep an eye on your soroundings to avoid an unpleasant experience.  however, it is worth the time.


once you pass the cruz verde bar, you will get great views of the monasterio del escorial from the top of the hill, which in my opinion, is much more impressive than to see it up close.

photo by "d"

the monasterio del escorial was built by king felipe II.  this is also where all spanish kings are burried. you can see all the black marble coffins inside at the panteón de los reyes.

photo by "d"

probably the last great sight before heading back to the city is the road crossing over pantano de valmayor... the icing on the cake.

Monday, August 08, 2011

la canalla ::: the process ::: taking shape

paint job done.  round oil tank to be mounted and now looking for a EFI sportster tank and speedo.

to lower the handle bars or not to... that is the question.

designed by reefonline
all actual work is done by  iron cycles




struts from rocket bobs


struts from rocket bobs


Friday, June 10, 2011

madrid - montreaux jazz ::: intercom

attaching the iphone to the handle bar was one part of the dilema.  so how do we get to listen to the instructions? we had to look for an intercom set up which would allow us to comunicate (pasenger-pillon) and listen to the navigation instructions.

for this trip we will be using a cheap intercom which will allow us to conect the iphone to the system through a 1/8" stereo jack which we bought in lidl some time ago. so far it has worked alright. however, the plan is to upgrade this some time in the future. the idea is to get our hands on a set of bluetooth intercoms which will provide several solutions simultaneously.

  • connectivity between passenger + pillon + other drivers
  • the ability to connect different speaker/mic options

as of today, and after a lot of researching on-line i have found that the sena smh10 is probably the best option. i have also read really good reviews on the cardo g4, but this one does not allow to change the mic/speaker system.



many of you might be wondering, why change the mic/speaker? well... being a harley rider, i am unsure about how the engine and wind noise will affect the performance of the mic, so i thought... why not plug a throat mic instead of the regular mic? im sure this will most probably ensure a clear communication between rider and pillon.

so i found an intercom set which includes a throat mic, but it aint bluetooth. it is manufactured by firefox technologies and seems like a quite affordable option, but then again, it still lacks the bluetooth feature to be perfect.

another very attractive option would be the imc motorcom bts 300ps which has the option to plug in a different selections of headsets/mics, although i have not found much info on them on the web, so ill keep looking for product reviews before making a final decision.

Thursday, June 09, 2011

madrid - montreaux jazz ::: iphone motorcycle dock

we continue preparing the trip.

"la canalla" has been in the workshop. bmw marrakesh brown paint, side mount plate holder and new round oil tank in which we plan to fit and relocate the ecm. this way i´ll be able to keep the rear fender to the minimum expression while having the posibility to put on the detachable sissybar for traveling. with this project we are trying to prove that looks can go hand in hand with being practical, and thus having a bike which will turn heads as well as being able to ride it loaded with luggage to far away destinations.

when thinking of riding through france, switzerland and italy, cash comes to mind. tolls are known to be some of the most expensive in europe, and we want to avoid this since the essence of this blog is to guide you through the best and most beautiful roads on a budget and in as little time as possible. we also want to avoid boring expressways and want to enjoy the transition from the coast in the languedoc-roussillon to the swiss alps. for this we decided we will make use of technology. this is quite unusual in our travels since we have always believed in following our instinct and knowing that getting lost has a positive outcome. however, since this time we are traveling further and we have a tight deadline to get to places, we are setting up the tomtom gps on our iphone 4 and we will follow instructions on how to get to valence, bern, milan and saint tropez.

we have read on different iphone holders to atach the phone to the handlebar and finally chose the one made by 4lock. it costed 37€ plus 19€ for shipping charges to madrid. it should still be on the way, so we will review the product once we have it with us.

Wednesday, June 01, 2011

madrid - montreaux jazz ::: the plan refined

so the day is getting closer

finalising everything and getting the ride ready. "la canalla" is now in surgery: new paint, new oil tank, lower suspension and final version of the rear fender are in the works. on the meantime, we are planning the return of our trip in a different way. we are thinking of visiting more friends. so the itinerary would go as follows.

july 6th: bern - milan
july 7th: milan - saint tropez
july 8th: saint tropez - barcelona
july 10th: barcelona - madrid


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Wednesday, May 25, 2011

madrid - montreaux jazz ::: the plan

so it´s been decided.

on friday july 1st we will be on our way to montreux jazz festival.  the goal? to visit some really special friends and catch james blake in concert.
the itinerary (always subject to change)

july 1st: madrid - barcelona
july 2nd: barcelona - valence (france)
july 3rd: valence - bern


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base will be set in bern and from there we will engage in different activities in the area including bike rides and montreaux jazz concerts.

july 7th: bern - avignon
july 8th: avignon - barcelona

we will be assisting barcelona harley days and hopefully catching up with friends over there.

july 10th: barcelona - madrid

will be documenting as much as possible.  keep checking updates to see how the trip evolves.

Thursday, April 14, 2011

evolving

vance & hines 2-1 competition series and mesh air cleaner
stock pipes and air cleaner

2008 harley davidson cross bones flstsb
new pipes and air cleaner