The Wave and Who am I?

Motorcyclists can be grouped into subcultures based on what we ride. Each group has it’s own costumes, values and rituals. The groups are defined not by negotiation or even interaction but by how they perceive themselves and each other.

One ritual shared by all groups is the wave. And it is through this simple act that one can determine alliances. Again, these pairings are determined mostly by perception. Certain groups tend to wave to their own members and sympathetic groups. The major groups (there are subgroups) are cruisers, naked/standard, sport, dirt and touring. Exceptions to bike type grouping can also happen on brand boundaries. BMW and Harley are two main examples. The cruisers can be split at many levels, Harley vs metric, 1%er vs yuppie, etc. But for the purpose of this discussion they will be considered as a single group as they tend to share a common costume and approach to safety.

BMW riders often wave at touring riders because BMWs are often used as non-traditional touring bikes. The other groups often look down upon dirt riders as their bikes are perceived as “toys”. However, BMW GS riders see themselves as dirt riders so they will often wave anyway. How the individuals came to ride a given bike type can also play a part in who they will wave at. Almost no one starts out riding a BMW so they will tend to wave at members of their old groups.

Cruisers tend to be the most standoffish, or so I thought. Enter the Can-Am Spyder. Where does it fit? The RTS is intended as a touring bike. But my experience, so far, has not been as I expected. I am finding that cruisers, specifically Harleys, tend to wave the most. Meanwhile BMWs, my previous group, and tourers, the expected group, seem to ignore me. This bothers me because the cruiser is the one group I identify with the least. So why is that? It may come down to the trike thing. Most trikes are made from Harleys. And I have noticed that the most negative responses were from sport bike riders. So am I really a member of a group I dislike?

Fortunately the group designations fade, as the weather gets cold. At some temperature anyone on the road recognizes the few riders still out as members of the “hardcore” group. A collection that does not care about brand, bike type or social standing. Maybe this is my group, just harder to recognize.

Headsets

I took another three hour round trip back down RPM Motorsports to pick up a pair of J&M headsets. It would be another three weeks before they could make an opening to install the headsets in my helmets. So I will attempt to do this myself. It didn’t look too difficult for my new Shoei RF1100. There are spaces that look like the earpieces will just plop in. Closer examination has proven this to be completely wrong. I will need to hog out some of the foam to make room. This really scares me but those that have tried it claim it is not as bad as it seems. The key is to use a Dremel tool with the ball cutter bit. Maybe I’ll try it this weekend.

This whole thing has me a bit cheesed off but I’m not sure whom to blame. I understand that BRP has sold more bikes than they expected. I understand that the dealer in Durango sells a lot of different bike so they may not know everything about every bike. I understand that the dealer in Denver is busy and cannot always fit me in. But I have spent in excess of $25K for a motorcycle. There are cars that do not cost this much. Is it too much to expect a premium experience? The level of service I have received would have been great if I was buying a $5000 dirt bike. But at what will become $30K by the time I am done, this hardly seems acceptable. The question is who is to blame? I’m not sure I have the answer. Maybe everyone.

Communication Package and More

I had the communication package installed last week. At first glance this looks like $2000 for a CB radio and an intercom. Not a very good value. So why do it? The cost aside, the whole system cleanly integrates with the bike. A second antennal and two discrete plugs are the only outward indication that anything was added. The radio itself is buried in the bodywork somewhere in the back. A new CB menu is available with controls for channel, squelch and the like. The real thing you get with this package is the headsets. Or rather the ability to communicate with the passenger and hear any audio. This includes the radios, iPod and GPS.

Is the cost worth it? Certainly you can duplicate the same functionality much cheaper but there is value to having everything cleanly integrated. No messy wires to manage. Plus you don’t have to worry about parts getting stolen. Still the cost is quite high.

Installation is another issue. I made an appointment with RPM Motorsports two weeks ahead of time as I was taking that week off from work. The Spyder does not trailer well because of clearances with the front end. So I rode the bike down and arranged for a rental car. The plan was to do the 600 mile service at the same time. Total work time, eight hours. It appears that they did not work on the bike as planed and took an extra day. This added to the expense of the car rental.

To add injury to insult they did not have the headsets. They were on back order for another six months. So now I have added $1500 worth of communication gear and no way to use it. The alternative was to use a headset made by J&M. Some initial confusion indicated that they wanted to modify the bike to accommodate the headset. Clearly this was stupid. If it was really compatible, all you would need to do, at most, was to change the plug on the headset. Changing the bike seems like rotating the house to change a light bulb. It all turned to out to be a miscommunication and the headsets are plug-and-play compatible. Great I’ll take those. Oops, out of those as well. I got a call last Saturday and they have the headsets in. Now all I need to do is get them installed or do it myself.