The front tire on my 2009 Kawasaki Concours has been wearing out and after 9700 miles, I no longer had much confidence in it. The back tire still looked pretty good, but I shopped around and decided to pull the trigger on new tires. The tech at Waldron Kawasaki suggested that I take the old rear tire home as a spare in case something happens to this new one and I don’t feel like shelling out the money for another tire right away. 10,000 miles isn’t a lot, but it’s not too low for a sport bike or a “super sport touring” bike which is what the classification of this bike.
The Bridgestones that came with the bike weren’t great and the compound on the front tires for the 09 model is notorious for being too soft and wearing out quickly. I opted for the Michelin PR3’s after quite a bit of internet research and talking to the guys at the shop.
First of all, it looks visually like it might be some kind of rain tire. The tire is siped and can move a lot of water on wet days, but it’s still very durable for hard riding and will last a long time. When people see the tire, the general reaction is that there is too much tread and there can’t be enough grip. However, a UK magazine did a wet weather test and was able to lean the bike over in the rain and drag a knee. Another reviewer took them to the famous Spa race track, ran a bunch of laps, and then ran thousands of miles with them on normal roads. Not too shabby!
The tire is dual compound which means the middle is a harder compound for long life and the sides are softer for increased grip in the corners. Reviewers also say that this tire is incredibly quick to warm up and you get good grip almost as soon as you leave the driveway.
Since this is the first time I’ve ever purchased new tires for a motorcycle, I don’t claim to be any kind of expert, but it’s cool to see how much technology and progress there is in the tire world. I was surprised that I could feel a difference when I rolled out of the dealer, but I don’t know if that was just because the tires were a different shape. The old ones were squared off a bit. Whether I’ll be able to tell a difference beyond that or not, I hope these last me for another 10K miles and beyond!
It’s been almost four years since I wrote a post called “
When I moved out on my own, my parents got me a 9V cordless Makita drill. It served me well through a ton of projects, but after 10 years, the batteries are worn out. It was either buy some new batteries or upgrade. After looking at the prices, I went with the latter and decided to keep the old drill around for smaller projects around the house.
They say when you buy a house, the three most important things are location, location and location. I have about a five minute drive to Home Depot so I’d say our location is pretty great! The people there are starting to recognize me, and well they should. Here’s a breakdown of my transactions at Home Depot since we moved got the house at the beginning of October.
We gave nephew David a kid sized Camelbak for his 6th birthday, and it reminded me of a post I’ve been meaning to do for a while on how to properly clean a hydration pack. Before I met Tyla, I don’t know if I cleaned mine more than once or twice. Turns out she doesn’t like drinking moldy water. Who knew? We now have quite a few of these bladders and I’ve gotten a lot better at keeping them sanitary.
Crystal Mountain recently installed a giant air bag. They put it underneath a jump so that people much younger than me can practice their jumps without much fear of injury. I just had to know what it felt like so last weekend Tyla and I went down to Crystal along with a couple friends from work, Andy and Aim.
It’s so nice to have contractors that you can trust. For any heating question, I call up Chelsea’s Dad who owns PMG Mechanical (206) 624-5040. When we bought the house, I asked him to come over and inspect our equipment. He recommended replacing the water heater immediately and said the furnace would last us through the winter but not much more. These recommendations lined up directly with what we heard from our inspector.
We ended up with a Carrier Infinity 80% efficient two stage furnace and a Carrier Infinity suitecase air conditioner. Brent recommended that we go with the 80% furnace over one of the high efficiency models because they just haven’t nailed the reliability of those models yet. The two stage furnace will give us a big boost because it only runs at partial power most of the time, but for the rare occasion when it gets really cold, the furnace kicks in full power. The fan is also incredibly efficient and costs almost nothing to run. The air conditioner is an extra small and quiet model that is normally installed in commercial locations where size and noise are a factor. In our case, it we only had about 5 feet to our property line and I wanted to still get yard waste bins and the lawn mower through. After it was installed, we still have 3 feet of clearance to the fence. It’s definitely a splurge but I’m betting we’ll think it was worth it as time goes on. Plus, we’ll be the party house when it’s hot outside! The final bit that we added to the bill was an electronic air cleaner. It increases air flow through the system, creates an allergy free environment, and is very easy to clean.
For the first time in my life, I own dirt! Yard care is a chore for some people, but after years of living in apartments and the condo, I’m excited to have a chance at taking care of a yard. We’ll see long long that feeling lasts!
Kirkland 5k
Tyla’s company operates a booth every year at the Kirkland 5k and they encourage their employees to run. This year Tyla, Chelsea, Nancy and Megan all ran. Tim and I watched from the side of the road and snapped some photos.