Back at last! The exciting events of the past few months

Hello again, and sorry for the long lack of posts!

I have an excuse, and unfortunately a good one. Back in January, as mentioned, I bough a new, very slightly used, bike, a Kasinski Mirage 250.  Within less than two weeks, before even having had time to transfer the documentation, a monkeyspanker drove into it.  I was at an intersection, just starting to cross it after my light turned green.  The previously mentioned monkeyspanker ran a red light and crashed into the side of my bike.  My wife on the back seat was thrown clear.  My leg was pinned under the bike.

Bike damage: the impact was rather low-speed, but still, the bike was thrown downwards in a way it's not meant to.  Broken footpeg, dented tank, broken front fender, bent handlebars, scratched mirrors, broken side cover, broken tachometer, cracked panel.

Physical damage: my jacket and jeans took the damage, helmet didn't touch the ground until after the collision.  My leg was bruised to hell and I was limping for weeks. (I have one of the best health insurances in the country,  but it was only the 4th clinic I visited that could give me a simple consult to tell me if something was broken or not. Fortunately, no. Strong bones are a family trait)  My wife scratched her foot a bit (gap between sneaker and pant leg) but was otherwise OK.

Well, it would seem fairly obvious that it's the other guy's fault, right?  He didn't see it that way.  The police suggested we make a settlement at the scene so we wouldn't have to file a report.  I offered to settle for the cost of repairs to the bike.  Monkeyspanker refused, insisting his light was green. (Absolutely impossible.  He's either lying or had been looking at the wrong light)  So I made a police report, and he started yapping about how in his country (this one - I'm an obvious foreigner) the legal system never ever works, so if I insist on wasting my time, he's going to get his lawyers on me and get the case appealed into oblivion while suing the city for having misleading traffic lights.

You'd think a charmer like that would get his way, right?  Well, another one of my family's hereditary traits is mule-like stubbornness. So I sued the monkeyspanker in small claims court.  That got his attention - no matter what you feel about the legal system here, completely ignoring it has consequences.

So he obviously got legal advice. Since he lives in another city (São Paulo), once this came to court, he'd have to come here on a working day to show up in court, or try to risk doing it through a proxy, both of which cost fair bits of money.  Plus the money for the lawyers, that are expensive as hell.  So he showed up on my Facebook account, all apologetic and accomodating all of a sudden.  So we negotiate a deal, where he pays for most of my repairs but saves some face, in a pre-trial settlement.  He still can't get out of paying a lawyer to close the case on the trial date.

So in short: he ended up paying much, much more than the initial settlement in lawyer costs and repairs.  I still got paid for most of my repairs, though less than I could have got in a winning case IF he had actually paid up (all sorts of ways to dodge that in Brazil, sadly).  I just wanted him to lose a good bit of money, as I figure that's the only way to get a monkeyspanker to pay more attention in traffic, and in that sense I consider this a big success :-)

But this process took months, not to mention the repairs (only totally complete two weeks ago).  Hence my not posting.

My new bike, after repairs, washing, and waxing

Well, the bike is good as new again.  The Kasinski dealerships here really suck.  After the collision they had my bike for several days just to assess the damage, and even after their due date hadn't even looked at the thing. So I took it to an independent mechanic down the street specialising in cruisers, which also happens to host all sorts of motorcycle club events and benefits, and they fixed what they could.  Their welder (a third party) is a magician - he saved the tank and front fender, they look totally new.  All they couldn't fix was the panel and tachometer, though they made it serviceable so it passed inspection for transferring documentation.

Next step was getting a new tachometer.  Nope, you can't buy them separately - no way, no how.  Even though they're just attached by a screw or two to the panel, you only get them with a new panel.  Forums are full of people complaining about this issue.  A new panel from the factory here in Brazil costs R$1,963 (one real is roughly 50 cents US), more than I spent on fixing everything else put together.

So I found an online dealer, www.hyosungsource.com, which I highly recommend.  New panel there: R$570.13, plus R$165.16 shipping.  I threw in a new side panel, a side attachment for my sissy bar (which had broken from previous rust and vibration, not the collision), and some other parts I know I'll need like spark plugs.  ALL THAT TOGETHER, with shipping from the far side of the planet AND that third party's profit margins beyond what the factory gets AND the extortionate Brazilian import duties, cost far less than just the panel bought and built domestically in Brazil - I ended up paying half the price of the Brazilian panel, roughly a third of the price of all the parts purchased domestically.  I'll recover some of the cost by selling my (functional) old speedometer to another guy who refuses to buy a whole new panel because of a separate element.

Which is a lengthy way to say that the Brazilian economy is screwed, certainly in terms of industry.

I also saved money on repairs by fixing the last things myself :-)  My correspondence course in motorcycle repair (a gift from my lovely wife, provided by Instituto Universal Brasileiro) is paying off already.


Other lessons learned:

• Always assume that everyone else in traffic is a blind homicidal idiot;
• Kasinski, while they sell decent bikes, are awful in terms of post-sales support;
• Once again it's proved that, in any matter, there's a Korean who can do it better;
• Paypal sucks. (my payment to Hyosungsource was delayed for weeks by them)

I hope to be back to posting more regularly, now that I have fewer things to worry about in my free time.

Happy driving, all!  Take care in traffic out there.

Happy New Year! A Tale of Two Cycles

Happy New Year!  I hope everyone has a great and safe 2013 full of excellent motorcycling.

Sorry about the lack of posts recently, things have been quite full because of the holiday season, and then work.

Well, over New Year I went to Praia Seca, near Araruama, by bike, with the wife and luggage on the back.  A fun little trip, although rather uncomfortable in the backside by the end.  The 150cc bike was fully capable of the trip, though it was pushed to the limit much of the time (especially uphill), despite the speed limit never being higher than 80 km/h.  It really is a city bike, not an intercity one.  You can see the tour log of the trip back, here.

Arrived at Praia Seca

On the way home

I did reach a new maximum speed on it later, though - 93 km/h, after compensating for the 5km/h error in the speedometer.  In a tunnel, on excellent tarmac, although with my brother-in-law on the back.

Well, the Mirage 150 is a great one-person city bike, and was a fantastic bike to learn on.  However, something has happened: I'm now the owner of a Mirage 250!

I was just browsing the used bike ads out of curiosity, and saw a Mirage 250 for sale at a low price - low mileage (under 8,000km), but the owner wanted to sell it quickly as he was going to travel.  On the spur of the moment, I went and had a look-see and a test drive.  The bike was in good shape, apart from some rust issues which seemed to be completely cosmetic.  The engine appeared impeccable.  Only the horn wasn't working, as it had rusted away.

Well, with rust stains on the left rear shock, a malfunctioning horn (which the seller replaced while we were negotiating), the 2013 taxes not paid yet, and a motivated seller, I managed to negotiate a price which was almost robbery.  It helps that Kasinski isn't a very sought-after brand and that their second-hand products don't sell well.  So: I have a new bike!  It's been raining too much recently to get a decent picture, but as soon as I have one, I'll post it.  Reviews of the two Mirages will also follow soon.

Happy motorcycling!

Lack of respect and common sense in traffic in Rio

Sometimes, there just isn't anyone in the right.

My boss told me about something he saw on Sunday, on Avenida das Américas, a busy road with 4x3 lanes.  A motorcyclist ran a light that had just turned red, hitting the side of a car that had just started going on a green light, with the impact likely at around 60-70km.

The lady that got hit?  Did a U-turn to look, then drove off.

My boss, who was in front of the car that got hit?  Stopped to look, didn't get out (excuse: had small kids in the car that he couldn't leave alone), eventually drove off since he felt unable to help.

Other traffic?  Simply drove around the accident at the highest speeds possible, nobody stopping to help or even to check if the motorcyclist was alive.

Pedestrians?  Stared.

Nobody actually did anything.  No idea if an ambulance or the police were actually called.  The lady whose car was it left her bumper with license plate at the accident, so she would be easy to find - if the police could be bothered to follow up these sorts of cases.

OK, this specific case seems like attempted suicide by motorcycle, but that doesn't justify that nobody stopped to help or do anything.  Really, here in Rio nobody has any respect for anyone else in traffic.  Just the other day I nearly got hit passing an intersection at a green light because a driver felt like doing an illegal left turn into oncoming traffic.  Yesterday I got nervous waiting at a red light because cars, buses, and vans were passing me at 70km/h - they apparently feel lights are for Christmas trees, but at that speed, if someone had clipped my mirror I could have been tossed into traffic from the opposite lane.

The insanity is general - once on a bus I was stuck in traffic for half an hour, because a bus had run a red light to cross the main artery through the city centre, but couldn't fully cross because of traffic - and so ended up blocking the road for nearly the full half hour. 3 fire engines and several ambulances, all with the emergency lights and alarms on, were stuck as long as I was.

There's just no respect for anyone's safety in traffic here.  What can be done?

Just another day on the road in Rio de Janeiro

Cruising on a sunny Sunday

So, we had a fairly sunny Sunday here in Rio.  I spent the morning at the Hippie Fair in Ipanema with the family, then lunch in Copacabana, and then I got to take the bike out for a cruise.

Ever hear of CheckMyTour?  It's a cool little smartphone app that lets you track, save, and publish your trips, designed for use by motorcyclists, but open to anyone.  It tracks you by GPS, and you can add photos and comments along the route as you like.

Here's my tour for today, available for all to see.  Feel free to comment or check out my other tours.

During the week I had bad luck with rain on the way home from work, especially getting caught in a squall on Thursday - apparently 27mm of rain in 15 minutes. My bike really doesn't like wet weather - it seems like it sometimes gets at the electrics, shutting everything down, and regularly drowns the engine, which means I have to leave the choke wide open and keep the engine at high revs to not stall. I hope the weather is better this week.

I've also had some bad luck with traffic. The worst thing that actually happened was dinging my mirror on a taxi overtaking me illegally, but with unsignalled lane changes and other nuttery, I have two things to say to every driver in the country:
1.  Hang up the damn phone;
2.  Pick a lane.  That dotted line?  It's supposed to be to the side of your car, not down its centreline.

Looking forward to another week's driving!

Servicing my bike at the dealership - Brazilian style

This week I took my bike to get serviced, the 3000km review.  The bike was in apparent perfect shape, except for sometimes having trouble shifting into 2nd gear from 1st, so it was mostly a formality, and a check to see if the dealership's mechanics would find any budding problems.

So, the next day I picked it up from the dealership.  They'd changed the oil, looked at the shifting problem, and gone through the general review.  And wrecked it.

Now the shifter pedal has been moved so I have to use my whole leg to shift gear instead of just the tip of my boot.  The engine idling speed has been tuned down to the point the engine dies at the lights 2-3 times every trip.  They've loosened the gear mechanism, so I need less pressure to shift gear and it's easier to shift into neutral - except now it feels worn, rickety, and crap. The problem shifting into 2nd remains.  But hey, at least it was expensive and time-consuming.

This sort of half-assedness is, unfortunately, endemic to Brazil.  It makes no business sense, of course.  Kasinski makes some profit selling its new bikes - but not as much as other companies, since they're trying to be competitive on price.  They don't sell used bikes, as far as I know.  They don't have parts available (I've been trying to get a rear saddlebag for months, but they never have them in stock - "they're on backorder"), so they don't make money off that.  Now I see that their mechanics suck - so unless you're insisting on making use of your warranty on a new bike (which doesn't cover the price of standard servicing anyway), there's no point ever taking your bike to the dealership.

The mechanics in Favela Mangueira are far cheaper and more experienced, plus they're at least attempting to be competitive.  I overheard a phone call while picking up my bike, the gist of which being that the mechanics at the dealership simply don't know if a certain part from a Mirage 150 will fit on a Mirage 250 - both bikes they're supposed to work on.  They don't work on the 650s at all, nor do they sell them at this dealership.

Well, what's the immediate result of this?
1.  Suddenly buying a Mirage 250 as my next bike seems like a terrible idea.  Sure, it's fairly cheap, and it's the only 250cc cruiser on the market: but I can't count on getting parts or competent service on it.
2.  At first I considered driving straight to Mangueira to get a real mechanic to service the faults that appeared from the service.  (I didn't had time.  Work.)  I really, really don't want to ever patronise a Kasinski dealership's mechanics - meaning they lose that potential income.
3.  From chatting to a colleague at work, I learned how to fix the main problems created.  I've since adjusted the throttle cable to fix the problem of the engine dying (needs more fine-tuning, though), and tomorrow I'll adjust the shifter pedal.

Long-term result?

First, I will absolutely learn more about fixing bikes - that SENAI weekend course on motorcycle maintenance I've heard about.  If mechanics are unreliable, I'd rather fix everything myself if at all possible.

Second, I'm reevaluating what bike I'll buy next - I really would like some more power, as my current bike groans taking a passenger over the mountain to work, and vibrates so badly at 80km/hr that I can't see anything in the rear-view mirrors.  The candidates are:
Honda Shadow 750cc
Yamaha Midnight Star 950cc
Harley-Davidson Sportster 883 Roadster
If I win the lottery or get a fat raise at work: a Harley-Davidson Super Glide.

Maybe next Christmas?

Opinions?  All of them are built in Brazil.  All of them seem to be very comfortable rides - I don't think I want a street bike, though I'll take a few for a test drive.  All of them have a fair number of dealerships, and so should have fair accessibility to spares - less for Harley-Davidson, of course.  All of them are expensive and less economical to run than my current bike...

Cruel doubts!  Let's see where my thinking, opinions of friends and family, and the advice of strangers on the internet lead me.

Maybe Christmas 2016?

Reborn as a wrench monkey

As I sit here smelling faintly of motor oil, I reflect on something I posted earlier: that there is some expectation that motorcycle owners should do more basic maintenance work than car owners, and that I hoped to learn some of this basic maintenance.

Well, it's happened.  I learned quickly after starting to drive this bike that it drinks a fair bit of oil; I've gone through a litre already in just some weeks.  (to be fair, I've been driving it pretty heavily) I've done all the top-ups myself, though I expect to arrange a full oil change soon.  I'd actually like to watch, so I can learn to do it myself in future.

I've also done a number of minor adjustments myself - installing accessories like my tank protector (installed under the seat, which had to be removed) and adjusting the mirrors.  (As in removing them and reinstalling them with a wrench)

Finally, like a complete drooling moron, I left the key in the bike overnight last weekend and drained the battery.  Well, once I got a new battery, I had to add the acid myself.  I'd have installed it myself too, except I didn't have a battery charger and the instructions said to charge the battery before use (presumably to allow the battery to attain a true 100% charge) - so we called a pro who ignored all instructions, installed the battery before the acid had been in the battery for 30 minutes, and then jump-started my bike and told me to run it for 30 minutes.  (I did.  Better than nothing.)  I now expect the life expectancy of this battery to be below average - though I should expect nothing less from a guy who makes his living selling batteries!

Anyway, this is all a contrast to my years of driving cars.  I hardly ever opened the hood, and wouldn't know how to change a battery or the spark plugs.  Hardly ever needed to fill up on oil, so barely knew how.  With my bike, I'm quite happy to go at it with a wrench and screwdriver, and it's simple enough that I figure I can see how it all fits together.  Cars these days are way too complicated and (arguably) over-engineered; two-stroke air-cooled motorcycles are far simpler, and easier, cheaper, and much more fun to maintain.  I smell of motor oil, and I love it.

How Brazil and the BRICS are saving industry!

The past few posts were fairly negative, so here's a more positive aspect of economics in Brazil.  The BRICS - Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa - have the potential to save industry.  Indeed, China's already doing so, and India's catching up.

Here's what I mean: the European vehicle brands - BMW, VW, Renault, and all the supercar firms like Ferrari, Aston Martin, Koenigsegg, etc. - are all largely luxury brands.  Sure, a car made by the VW or Renault groups can be fairly affordable for Europeans, but it's still a major purchase.  Parts are also becoming ever more expensive; 30 years ago cars could have wing mirrors that were just metal and glass, sold for maybe $50; now they all have circuits and motors and wires, and are a major cost to replace.  Skoda used to be the butt of jokes; now it's a high-end brand.  The true value-for-money car purchases are Japanese (the unending stream of Toyota Corollas), and the truly cheap brands are Korean (Kia, Hyundai, etc.), Malaysian (Proton), or from other places in Asia.  Many of these cars aren't even available in the Western world (don't recall ever seeing a Tata, Proton, or JAC in Europe).

In terms of motorcycles, it's worse.  Harley-Davidson, BMW, and Ducati are niche brands; almost everybody drives Japanese bikes.

Royal Enfield Classic Chrome.  Great classic styling, 500cc engine.  Image by Royal Enfield.

The BRICS have the opportunity to bridge the gap between affordability and quality, and finally take over a large segment of the market if they play their cards right.  Royal Enfield used to be one of the great British motorcycle brands; it's now an Indian company, and a factory is set to open in Brazil in 2014. Triumph is setting up in Brazil too.  I drive a Kasinski; this is a Brazilian brand that was bought up by the Chinese Zongshen group, and is able to serve all segments of motorcycle types: "Factory customs"/cruisers (Mirage); naked bikes (Comet); Street racers (Comet R series); dirtbikes (CRZ); and scooters, including electric scooters (Win, Prima, Soft).  There's another Chinese brand of motorcycles available here, Dafra, although apparently they're crap.

Kasinski Comet GT 650R.  Great-looking sports bike at a competitive price by Brazilian standards. Image by Kasinski.

The thing is, these are all fairly great bikes, except apparently Dafra.  Sure, even in Brazil the preference is still to drive Japanese, as the tendency is for people to think that Yamahas and Hondas never break down.  However, Kasinskis are cheaper, seem to get rave reviews by users (I love mine too - by far the best of the bikes I've ridden so far), have great styling in my opinion, and are built here, which is nice (domestic investment and employment is a good thing).  I also suspect that their motorcycles (not scooters) are all based around only 3 engine designs, which is great for ease of production and for getting spare parts and service.  Therefore, while Asian mass production of vehicles for export will continue to make a flood of fairly cheap vehicles available, Brazilian - indeed, BRICS in general - vehicles have the ability to be competitive on the domestic markets already (import tariffs help them, to be fair), and with a ramping up of production, could be competitive in Western markets too.  I know that if I was back in the EU and looking for a bike, if I was sure of having access to parts and mechanics, I'd rather have a Royal Enfield for example than a Yamaha, and the price could well be competitive.

Kasinski Mirage 250.  Probably my next bike.  Image by Kasinski.

My point is this: industry in the Western world largely produces expensive luxury items now, because of high labour costs, taxes, and so on.  Cheap stuff is almost all made in China (though Indian Tata make very cheap cars too, for example).  Good value-for-money is generally Japanese - not necessarily cheap, but generally affordable - because of high-tech automated mass production.  The rest of the BRICS have the opportunity to fill the niche of cheap-but-good or niches like cheap-but-great-looking-good-quality-bike (Kasinski Mirage, Kasinski Comet 650R, everything by Royal Enfield) with investment in modernisation of industry and infrastructure.  Funnily enough, in the case of Kasinski it's Chinese cooperation in technology and mass production that gave them a solid boost up; BRICS helping each other without Western involvement.  With this investment - in which I do think Brazil is ahead of India, Russia, and South Africa - and with fairly low production and labour costs, BRICS industrial goods could fill up an ever larger segment of Western markets, and could even supplant established brands.  It also means that industry is doing well in Brazil, India, and China at least, while the Western world continues to suffer from the economic crisis.  ("Brazil: What recession?")

Kasinski Mirage 650.  A "factory custom" for the 21st century.  Wouldn't look out of place in sci-fi games like Deus Ex.  Image by Kasinski.

That's aside from the domestic BRICS effects: a virtuous cycle of production driving up living standards, employment, and wages, which in turn promote more production; more choice for the consumer; more affordable vehicles for BRICS citizens; and the opportunity for Indians to take bitchin' café racers up the Himalayas on holiday while Brazilians take badass bikes racing down Copacabana. Certainly, for me, life is good.

Me parked in Copacabana :-)