Canyonchasers News

Devon. Its a region in South-West England, and their latest road safety video from Devon County Council encourages motorists to look out for motorcyclists. Motorcycling is as popular as ever but motorcyclists are among the most serious casualties on the roads.they have released a great motorcycle awareness campaign. Moto-friendly ads are not all that common, so we try our best to bring as much attention as possible to the goods. View Video »

Retrofitting a tachometer to the SV (that was at one time tachometerless) turned out to be a bit easier than originally anticipated. Once we found a tachometer that would work on a two-cylinder engine, fit into the existing space at a price we could afford it was only a couple hour job to get everything working as smooth as an ice cold beer on a hot summer afternoon. Now we can't wait to take the bike out and see if knowing how fast the engine is turning will help get around a closed course any quicker. But for now, you can read all the details on retrofitting the Sunpro CP2012 Tachometer in our work-shop section.

What started out last fall as a track-bike on the cheap has evolved into a bit more that originally planned. (Like that never happens). We began with a discarded 2001 SV650 but did a whole lot more to the bike than spray it green. We chose a theme; military. Using the power of "the google" we found the original World War II paint codes and stencils to create a track bike unlike any other we've come across. We also looked for and hunted down the coolest track bits we could get our hands on, including a ZX6R front end and ZX10R brakes (It'll stop on the proverbial dime!). To see all the groovy photo's and read more about our venerable SV project bike visit our SV Workshop section.

The job's not done yet, but the progress is noticeable! Its no secret that the original damper rod forks on the SV are lacking, and while GSX-R forks are the most popular upgrade, we found a set of 636 forks with no home. We've spent the better part of our winter fidgeting in the garage retrofitting the inverted cartridge forks to little SV. Its not as hard as one would think, and there have been a few hiccups along the way, but so far things are looking really good. We are now only a few parts away from completing the project, but you can see where we are now by visiting the work shop section of this page or you can go directly there by clicking on the SV ZX6R suspension link.

So, you are more than just a fair weather rider, or you ride in an area, such as Utah, where a days riding could send you from triple-digit heat to snow-on-the-side-of-the-road cold. Carrying multiple pairs of gloves is a pain, besides you have to stop to swap them out, and if it warms up, you have to stop and repeat the process all over again. I hate that. But I also hate cold hands. So unless you own a bike that came from the factory with heated grips you suffer through it, right? Wrong. Just about any bike can have heated grips fitted for less than a good pair of warm riding gloves. Plus, you can turn them on or off at whim. Few things are as nice as riding along the coast or a mountain pass, the temperature drops and to combat it, simply reaching for a small toggle and choosing either high or low for your hands happiness. Surprisingly, having warm hands makes a much bigger difference on overall comfort than you would think. Read all the details in our WorkShop section.

After about nine-months, the Speed Triple has entered the foray once again. But this time it is sporting a new paint job. When I purchased the bike, the shop neglected to inform me that the bike was originally Nuclear Pink and had done a hasty respray of black over the rancid pink paint in order to sell the leftover 2001 model. After only one year of riding, the Pink was popping through everywhere, so I decided to let Steven have a go at it. But what color to choose? It's easy to decide when you have two or three choices, but when any color in the world is an option, its a bit harder. Well, he finished and I must say that choosing Ducati special edition Matrix paint was a fine idea! (besides, the Speed Triple was in the Original Matrix Movie). The bike looks even better in real life, but the true joy is the quality of paint that Steven did on the bike. It is absolutely stunning! See all the pics here.