Muffler Man II

I had to revisit the "Muffler Man" blog entry because two readers, "BeemerGirl" and my friend Wayne mentioned that he looked like "Alfred E. Neuman", the fictional mascot and cover boy of Mad Magazine. Wiki here.   After a little research, here's the background of Muffler Man. Wiki here.

According to Roadside America website, they're big. they're scary and there are hundreds of them.  The site has a page on the "origin of the species" that you can read more here.
Apparently, in 1999, Steve Dashew stumbled onto the site, he was the owner of International Fiberglass, the company that turned out thousands of commercial statues in the 1960s and 70s.  International Fiberglass took a single statue mold created for a cafe and parlayed it into a roadside industry.  Roadside America interviewed Steve which you can read here.
The first figure was a Paul Bunyan, done for the PB Cafe on Route 66 in Flagstaff, Arizona in about 1962. Most of the statues were derivatives of that one mold. You can find more info on this site

There was Miss Uniroyal, in bikini and dressed version.

The Alfred E. Neumans, "Happy Half-wits", which apparently one is/was in Seaside Heights and held the Paul Bunyan axe, I have to take a ride there to see if he's still standing, and the one I saw in Jackson.

They were also made for various other establishments.  Here's two common ones, the "Indian Brave" in Bemidji, MN and "Salsa Muffler Man", Malibu, CA.

During my research I ran into Roadside Architecture website which has lots of information on Paul Bunyan Muffler Man and on giants of the road including the huge gorilla at Mighty Joe's Gas Grill & Deli in Shamong, NJ which I have run into a few times. I don't have a picture of my bike in front of him.
Visit Roadside Architecture website here if you interested in getting pictures of your bike in front of a giant, they are found all over across the country.

Mighty Joe's

Now it's time for you to go out and post a picture of your bike in front of a giant, leave a comment here with a link to your post.

List of sites mentioned:
Wikipedia - Alfred E. Neuman link
Wikipedia - Muffler Man link
Wikipedia - Paul Bunyan link
Roadside America - Origins of the species link
Roadside Architecture - list of giants of the road link
Ratrun - You will find a pretty big list of Muffler Man on this link

Muffler Man

A few months ago I was reading Fuzzygalore's blog when I saw a post about a Muffler Man she had found in California.  "Fuzzygalore's blog entry"
It wasn't the first time she had mentioned Muffler Man and in another post she had mentioned Paul Bunyan. The guy looked familiar and it piqued my interest to find out more.  I knew I had run into a Paul Bunyan on my cross country trip but had no idea what he represented.  I wasn't born in the US but always had great interest in American history, it was time to find out, you can read more here: "Paul Bunyan Wiki"
After looking through my trip archive I found out I had run into Paul Bunyan and his animal companion, Babe the Blue Ox, in Trees of Mystery, a roadside attraction in Klamath, California.  "Map location"
"My blog entry"

Paul Bunyan in Klamath

According to Wikipedia "the first figure was a Paul Bunyan character designed to hold his axe and then derivatives of that figure were widely used to hold full-sized car mufflers, tires, or other items promoting various roadside businesses"

Fuzzygalore had also mentioned there used to be one close to where I live near the Six Flags Great Adventure park in Jackson, New Jersey.

Well, it's Friday, a balmy 55 degrees, time for a road trip and find out if the "Muffler Man" is still there.  Turns out he is there but no longer holds anything, I'm not even sure why he's there or what he advertised in the past.  He is located a block away from the entrance to the Great Adventure park in a fenced in area all by himself.  He is all alone but still showed a smile.

Since the gate was open I rode my bike in and parked in front of the 20 foot Muffler Man just for perspective, the fella is pretty big.

And then for fun I put him on my bike, he was looking at my bike with interest and that's the least I could do to help the lonely Muffler Man.

I left the place and headed to my mom's home a few miles down the road for some coffee and cookies, she's always happy to see me and always has a bag of Milano cookies waiting for me, today she had the Mint Milano's, if you haven't tried them you should, they are super delicious.
Here's an artistic view of the Muffler Man taken with my phone and created with "Camera360", a camera application for Android.

"Muffler Man on Wikipedia"

Trax Luggage

I finally received the luggage rack that had been on back order for a few weeks.   There had been some problems with the initial batch and after some concerns by customers the company decided to modify the rack.  I had seen the SW-Motech TraX bags for the first time mounted on a Super Ténéré in Australia on the ADV Rider forums and immediately fell in love with the look.

I first saw them in standard aluminum color but after I saw them in black powder coated aluminum I knew I wanted them for my bike.  From the beginning I had pictured my Super Ténéré in full black guise and the TraX panniers would suit the Super Ténéré with the rugged look and continue with the dark theme.

The Super Ténéré has the exhaust muffler on the left side and it's of considerable size due to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) requirements, which sets noise emissions standards for motorcycle exhaust systems.  The luggage system has to take the muffler into account and that requires the panniers to be of different size to maintain symmetry.  The left pannier is 37 Liters and the right side is 45 Liters.

I added the top bag which is 38 Liters and allows for the storage of my helmet.  I will be adding helmet locks to the sides of the top Altrider rack so that on long trips when the panniers are loaded I will still be able to safely secure my helmet to the bike.  It's one of those convenience things that come handy when you have to park the bike in dubious places.

All the locks on the panniers and the racks are keyed the same.  The panniers can be easily removed by unlocking one lock that locks the pannier to the rack.  The racks can also be easily removed by turning quarter turn screws and unlocking the Anti Theft Protection lock.  On shorter rides I might just want the top pannier for convenience and the bike looks much better without the side racks installed.  On other bikes the racks stay with the bike regardless if you carrying the panniers or not.

The three panniers came with soft bags that fit inside to facilitate carrying stuff off the bike. SW-Motech offers add-on soft bags that compliment the panniers and can be strapped to the top of the side panniers to increase storage space.
Overall the TraX system offers a lot for the price.  Lots of storage, sturdiness as proven by many that have traveled around the world and the looks to compliment the Super Ténéré.
Spring can't come fast enough, it's going to be a painful winter.

A few mods on the Tenere

A big apology to all my readers is in order for I have been away from the blogs for a while.  I lost my job a while ago and my head has been preoccupied with other more important things.  I had just bought the Tenere and started the modifications when my company decided to outsource my job to a big consulting company.  I kind of knew it was coming but it was still unexpected and also at the wrong time.
Oh well, things happen for a reason and I'm sure I will recover and new things will show up for the better.
I haven't been riding as much as I wanted, been mostly doing short local rides around New Jersey.  I do have a few ride reports to complete but my head has not been in the right place for me to blog.

I started looking for an adventure bike when I had the idea to go to Prudhoe Bay after reading many ride reports on the ADV site and I have always had the picture in my mind of how I wanted the Tenere to look like, black was going to be the theme.  With that in mind I started looking for protection and luggage for the bike.  I wanted the equipment to be rugged and to be able to take any punishment I might put the bike through since I intend on keeping the Tenere for a long time.  For protection I decided to go with Altrider parts.
First thing I installed was the skid plate powder coated in black.  It's a very well made part and very strong.  It will protect the headers and the oil filter from rocks and other flying debris.

The bike needed some side protection in case of a fall.  The Altrider crash bars are built from one inch stainless steel tubing, hopefully they will never rust.  The Tenere has the radiator and fan mounted under the left side panel and the crash bar will protect it from a side fall.  They are designed to distribute the weight across six mounting points, three on each side and are powder coated in black.

Since this bike will be going off road and there will be times when I will need to stop in soft sand, I had to do something about the kick stand.  Even though the Tenere kick stand has a pretty large foot print, it can never be big enough in soft sand, bigger is always better.  Altrider makes the perfect side stand foot to keep it from sinking or falling on soft surfaces.

Yamaha decided to put a plastic/fiber luggage rack on the bike and on the first edition some customers outside of the US reported broken racks.  For the US, Yamaha redesigned the rack but it is still made of plastic/fiber.  Since I will be adding big aluminum panniers to the bike, a stronger rack was a necessity.  Once again Altrider came to the rescue with a very well built and strong aluminum rack with lots of places to hook bungee cords.  The rack has a small area underneath that allows for the storage of a little toolbox or compressor.

I had ordered the luggage from Twisted Throttle but the manufacturer had encountered a problem with one of the parts on the mounting rack and that delayed the delivery of the part.  With the rest of the luggage stashed away in the garage waiting to be installed and with the protection on the bike it was time to hit the local roads and do some adventuring.

I rode a few dirt roads to get used to the bike and to play around with the traction control and the ABS.  I am loving this bike a little more after each ride but lets not kid anyone, it's not a light bike and commands respect on the dirt.  For more aggressive dirt riding I will have to install a set of knobby tires.

Until I install the luggage I have to limit myself to short distances and that implies staying in New Jersey.  I do have a few nice roads close to my house and I have been taking advantage of my free time to ride them.

Soon the luggage will be installed and I can start planning some longer trips but unfortunately winter is fast approaching.  Losing my job at this time was definitely at the wrong time.

Lucy the Elephant

Chris from "Everyday Riding" blog had arrived the night before from Rhode Island.  He is a fellow blogger from Minnesota and was in the middle of a “Big Trip” visiting the New England states.  I had offered him the overnight stay as hotels near the shore can be expensive.  
We had spent the previous evening discussing computers, motorcycles and trips in between drinking and swimming in the pool.  Since he didn't really have a route planned other than ride along the shore, I recommended a trip to Cape May and then take the ferry across the Delaware River to Lewes, Delaware.  I wasn't planning on riding with him since I had other plans for the day but the weather was beautiful and I needed to put mileage on my new Yamaha Super Tenere, didn't take long for Chris to persuade me into leading him  down to Cape May.
We left the house and headed south passing the United States Navy Lakehurst Naval Air Engineering Station, the site of the 1937 LZ 129 Hindenburg airship disaster. Last year I got in trouble for stopping and taking pictures in front of the plane so I pointed out the place and we rode past. Chris got a nice photo using his GoPro camera.  Refer to his blog for more pictures.
I lead Chris through back roads towards Atlantic City making the first stop in front of the Trump Taj Mahal, known as the The Taj by locals.

It was a very hot and humid day, we quickly continued down Atlantic Avenue past all the casinos making the next stop in Margate at the famous "Lucy the Elephant", a six-story elephant-shaped example of novelty architecture.  Chris took a walk to the beach while I stayed by the bike taking pictures of Lucy, the gigantic elephant was originally constructed of wood and tin sheeting in 1882 by James V. Lafferty.
Lucy the Elephant

We continue south but soon Atlantic Avenue comes to a dead end in Longport with the Great Egg Harbor Inlet in front of us.  We stop to take a few pictures and that's when I notice two figurines of the famous "Blues Brothers" on a veranda of a home facing the bay.  You find the weirdest things in NJ.

At this point we had to back track to continue towards Cape May and since my new bike does not have a GPS, I asked Chris to lead us out of the area and continue south avoiding highways.  We arrive a while later in Cape May with our stomachs rumbling, we ride along the beach looking for a place to eat and we both agree on Uncle Bill's Pancake House where the air conditioner was cranking.

After lunch we rode towards the Lewes ferry where we said our goodbyes.  I had suggested Annapolis, home of the United States Naval Academy,  as a end point for the day.  The academy was founded in 1845 and the city is home to some famous buildings, Chris quickly agreed and off he was on his way to the ferry.   

I started my way home stopping at the New Jersey National Guard outpost just outside Cape May for a picture of my new bike in front of the ground to ground missile on display.

I made the next stop in the Pine Barrens at a sign I had ridden past but never stopped.  The Warren Grove Gunnery Range is where East Coast Air National Guard units practice bombing and strafing with A-10's and F-16's fighter jets.   From my parents home in nearby Manchester we can some times hear the explosions, depending on the wind direction. 

I have ridden many times through the Warren Grove area and one thing you immediately notice is how different the landscape is.  The area is home to the Pygmy Pine Forest of New Jersey, where the trees don't grow any taller than five feet.  You can get more info on the Pine Barrens here.

I continue on my way looking for a place to take my bike off road for the first time.  A little further north I see a dirt road going into the Pine Barrens, I quickly take a detour up the trail.

The Yamaha Super Tenere is not a small dirt bike, it weighs about 575lbs, I cautiously give it some gas and immediately the traction control kicks in most likely saving me from an embarrassing moment.  My heart beats a little faster but I have to try it and give it more throttle, I want to trust the technology behind the advanced traction control.  In second gear I give it full throttle, the 100 plus horses kick in, the rear tire wiggles a little, I feel the engine computer interact with the ignition timing and the brakes and the bike quickly accelerates to what are very scary speeds on soft sand.  I quickly come off the throttle and apply brakes, mostly the rear and again the clatter of the brake system being controlled by the ABS quickly slows the bike down. I haven't installed the crash bars, this is no time to do crazy stunts and playing in soft sand without knobbies is just plain crazy.

I continue a little further up the road and then make a u-turn in the process almost dropping the bike when the front wheel encounters a deep pocket of soft sand, almost like beach sand.  I think my heart skipped a few beats right then but I let the bike go where it wants to go and quickly regain full control.

I stop for a few pictures and to regain normal heart beat and then continued towards my parent's home where my mom quickly got me a dinner plate and a cold beer, it was already dinner time.

It was a nice trip of a little over 200 miles for the day with a riding buddy from Minnesota.  Today's ride puts me a little closer to my first service on the bike.  I can't wait until I have at my disposal the full power of the bike at 10K rpm's.

The link to "Everyday Riding" blog entry for the day