Superfunkomatic - Observations of the Socially Inept

well two things that are worn out – me and the tires on my motorcycle.

i’ve been battling some type of wierd sinus/allergy thing which makes me look like a blowfish and feel like old rotten fish. it seems to be seasonal, but i can’t figure out for the life of me what is causing it. really annoying.

this past friday my tires on my motorcycle finally bit the dust. luckily i caught it. i just happened to be looking at the rear tire and noticed the centre of the tire was worn through to the core. pretty dangerous since wearing through that thin balloon-like layer would likely cause a flat or worse a blowout.  these dunlops 204d tires lasted an amazing 14,777 kilometres (9181 miles), which is by far the longest lasting tires i’ve had on either of my bikes.

i’ve replaced them with ‘longer lasting’ michelin pilot roads, which should hopefully last as longer, or possibly longer than the other tires, though i find that almost impossible to believe.

it’s odd that with the exchange rate at 1.05 against the US dollar that we are still getting gouge on things that are traded between countries as part of the ‘free trade agreement.’ the set of tires i bought is available in the US for $270/set, yet here the single rear tires is $235. basically the tires in canada cost around 75% more than buying from the US. they come from the same place, we’re supposed to have liberalized tariff and tax laws for exchange across the border, yet we’re still being gouged here in canada. our dollar has been almost at par for 9 months now, yet big US and Canadian businesses continue to price things as if the exchange rate was $1.35 like it was 2-3 years ago. very frustrating.

what’s even more frustrating is that companies like UPS and Purolator/Canada Post charge exorbidant border prep fees for goods crossing the border into Canada so many US small businesses won’t ship motorcycle gear across the border. ugh! which means for the most part we’re stuck buying things at artificially elevated prices from Canadian retailers.

after this final week of classes i’ll be able to go out for a couple good test rides in preparation for my 3 week US trek in the middle of August. i’ll get a few longer rides under my belt before tackling 19-21 days of 300 mile days. can’t wait!

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