Motorcycles are scars. Cars are definitely pain, but Motorcycles are scars, and I learned that the hard way. No, I didn't have some crazy motorcycle accident, but at the same time, I had a crazy motorcycle accident. See, did I have a motorcycle accident? No, but at the same time, yes. By definition, it involved my motorcycle, and myself, and therefore, yes, it was a motorcycle accident, however, here is where it gets ridiculous, it was self inflicted. The bike tipped on me, and instead of just moving back and letting it fall down, and just picking it up, I decided, nope, Imma catch it and pick it up.
Well, that caused what is known as a Distal Biceps Tendon Rupture. It tore from my forearm, and caused the muscle to retract up my arm. Talking about this is bringing me back flashbacks, and twinges of pain in my arm as I describe what happened.
Well after picking the bike up I still, unknowing the damage, rode the bike anyway, not realizing how absolutely bad the damage was. Why did I? Because I know my wife needed coolant for her car, and I didn't want to disappoint, so away I went.
When I got home, tho, that's when I looked at my arm, and that's when I nearly passed out, called the wife, and requested her take me to the hospital. My arm is now absolutely aching just remembering what happened and reciting it. It's remarkable what the mind can do, and how powerful Memory is.
At the hospital I was admitted into the Emergency department immediately, with a direct injection of Toradol into my arm, then the scheduling of seeing a surgeon in the fracture clinic.
That's when I learned, Surgery is in the forecast, absolutely, and so we booked it. September 11th, 2025, I am now in for surgery.
This was a bittersweet day, as it also marked the day that my YouTube channel was officially Monetized, and I was now in the YouTube Partner Program officially. So there I am under the knife, and the 1000th subscriber decides to click the Subscribe button putting me over that 1K mark! So exciting.
I was in a sling-cast thing that I couldn't move my arm at all, and it would ache. After that, tho, it went from a cast wrapped in a compression, to immobilize it, to a brace that can restrict movement, preventing from extending my arm beyond a certain flexion, stopping me from possibly damaging the healing process, but at the same time, I had to start Physical Therapy, which I am still, as of writing this, doing on my time at home.
I haven't been able to return to work, although I'm given the green light for modified duties, I cannot do much of the way of any duties at work, unable to lift, carry, sustained carry, push, etc.
I think maybe in a few more weeks from the time of writing this, I might feel a bit better of returning back to that kind of environment.
It's great to have full motion of my arm, but it's nowhere close to strong at all. I cannot easily shovel snow, my arm gets very tired, easily, and so a task that would normally be of no difficulty, is a significant chore. I cannot open a jar with a tight light, I have not the grip and twisting strength.
I did learn one thing, tho, it was that, yes, just because I *CAN* technically lift a 600lbs Motorcycle, doesn't mean I should, and I highly recommend that you don't attempt to do the same either.
I'm worried about what it might do to me in the future when it comes to my mental state when motorcycling, because I love to ride my bike, but I think I'll be able to get over it. It was, after all, honestly, my fault, ultimately.
Anyway guys, until next time.
Stay Tuned.
Monday, December 15, 2025
The Story Of My Injury
Friday, December 12, 2025
Stabilize Your Motorcycle's Fuel This Winter
Well modern gasoline contains Ethanol, especially up here in Canada, where it's actually the only fuel you can get, with Non-Ethanol Fuel basically Banned. Sure, you can buy canned gas, but at $40/gallon I don't think so, not happening any time ... ever!
So instead, use a fuel stabilizer. What this will do is help with water absorption from the air.
After adding the fuel first to the Burgman 400, and shaking the bike around for a bit, I
fluid, coolant, the works! Hopefully I won't need to replace the battery on the old girl.
Then, on to the 650 inside the Garage. I poured in the rest of the fuel, and this is where things got a bit sketch, and I learned something for next season.
overpowering, and light headed making, especially when I noticed that the Burgman 650 might be burning oil, either out the tailpipe, or it's leaking onto the exhaust from somewhere.
That's going to be an interesting video, because if it's engine out, then it's being overhauled. New timing chain, new valve seals, relapping the valves, new piston rings, new water pump, new oil pump since I'm going to be in there, and I'll inspect the CVT belt, maybe might as well replace that as well since I'll have the engine out, and it'll save having to do it later.
Something for the future when the time comes.
The next important thing is the battery tender. On the Burgman 400, that's as simple as opening the glove box, and connecting the tender to the plug wired directly to the battery, and closing the connection inside the glove box to prevent water from causing corrosion on the connections, where as on the Burgman 650, I haven't wired anything for a Tender on the battery, so instead, we have a gator clamp tender for that one, it does a really good job of charging batteries too! I have used it to top off my son's E-Bike. Yes, i know, it's 48V, but I did the batteries one at a time. 4 batteries, 12v each, 48V total cell.
So the steps are;
1) Fill Fuel
2) Add stabilizer and mix
3) Run for 1-3 minutes to allow stabilizer to run thru fuel lines and injectors
4) Put Battery On Tender, or Remove and Store on Tender
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Pretty simple steps! If you're looking for a stabilizer, then you can try StaBil, such as thru the Affiliate Links at the bottom of the post.
Winterizing your motorcycle will help insure that it will start come the spring without needing any kind of fuel system cleaning, or a new battery because you let yours go completely flat..... again!
Anyway Guys, ride safe, and...
Stay Tuned....
Amazon Affiliate Links;
6v/12v Gator Clamp Battery Charger
Tuesday, December 9, 2025
Behind The Mikeanic
Behind The Mikeanic Video Blog-Post
When I thought about starting up a YouTube channel, I thought I would need fancy video equipment, and audio equipment, and that's where I was wrong. Turns out that I had all the equipment I would need to start up a decent little YouTube Channel. One phone. That's it. That's all you technically need is a phone, with a camera on it.
Of course, that all depends on what type of channel you're planning on having. If you are just streaming, technically speaking you can use a webcam, which most laptops have, but you do need some kind of a camera, and if you're portable, then you need a portable camera. This is why your phone is the best option, as the vast majority of people have a phone with them, which has a camera on it.
Editing, well, there are a lot of free editors, with CapCut being the one that originally came to mind, however much of the features to use on CapCut have been Paywalled, unfortunately. And it's not a one-time payment either, no, they decided to implement the "Subscription Service".
If you have a PC and can copy the files onto your PC, you can also use other free software, like DaVinci. Funny thing is that Windows 11 actually comes with editing software known as Clips. I have no idea how it works, as I have not used it.
So I have a few cameras, honestly. Over the years I have collected a bunch of old phones, ones that I used to have.
I have an old 2013 Phone, the Nokia Lumia 1020, which was a phone, built around a Camera. It was purpose built, actual XENON Flash, not a LED flash, and a mechanical leaf shutter. It's a pretty impressive device, but it is definitely now showing its age. As of writing this post, it has been having some issues where any recording into the 30 minute range will cause a low-battery warning, even tho it should not be showing it, so it's requiring constant wall power, but it still has a place in my recording rotation, since it can capture in full HD 1080P30.. sure, it's not 1080P60, but I can live with 30, and you don't actually notice in the videos when most images are static, plus it has a (for a phone) large sensor.
Next on the list is my little Iphone 2 SE, which I have a serious love/hate relationship with this phone. Mostly I hate the phone, but I love having it because it's nice having the second camera, however I have had a lot of issues with it, where it'll actually delete the video while I was copying it over to my computer for editing. It has happened many times, which sort of just says that I have a lot of issues when it comes to iPhone. My kids don't let me touch theirs, as every time I do, something goes weird on it. My eldest, his phone will be working perfectly fine, then he'll hand it to me so I can show him something, and it'll just stop responding.. So I think the relationship is definitely mutual.
Next is my main phone, the S23, which I use as my, well, every day phone. It shoots in full 4K60, or even 8K if I wanted! That's insane, but when I think about it, 8K? That just sounds like a whole lot of extra space on the phone I really don't need to take up, or space on my Hard Drives! 4k60 is enough, both the iPhone and the S23, it's a lot, indeed!
I use a pair of wireless microphones, really inexpensive off amazon, and they have a dongle that plugs right into your phone, so it creates a easy wireless connection that is quite stable, and since it's dedicated, it isn't prone to interruptions and dropping, unlike Bluetooth.
In fact, I have a couple sets I use, depending on what I'm doing in the video;
Check the affiliate links before for gear I'm using and mention in this post.
The Microphones I think are the biggest difference in audio quality you can get. When you're using your phone for recording the video, the audio is very improved using a microphone, and it doesn't have to be a really expensive one. Granted, the ol' Buy it Nice, or Buy It Twice adage is true, but the cheap as chips mics are actually really good, and you won't feel bad if you accidentally drop it, or break it. I've only had clips break, never actually had the microphone break, personally.
But the single, best upgrade you can have to your video is audio quality.
Myself, when it comes to Audio, however, I go a step beyond, as I let the phones and cameras record audio using their own built in microphones, as they're very good at picking up ambient noise, without filtering. Noise like birds chirping, engines running, cars driving by, wind, etc. They capture it all, where as my voice audio I have it on a dedicated microphone that is being recorded to a separate phone that I use only for audio recording, and nothing else. It's terribly slow at being a phone, and as for being a camera, well, it is frustratingly bad, and I just couldn't deal with all the shortcomings of its recording capabilities to continue to use it after I had retired it from being my daily use phone, when I acquired the S23.
Going back to some of my earliest videos when I was recording without dedicated microphones, I remember having to boost the audio, and it would often sound hollow, or tinny, which was frustrating, both to myself, the creator, and for those watching, as they had to strain to really hear and make out what I was saying.
Now this is where I have started to diverge from the beaten path lately. I have started using, and looking into picking up, a dSLR. My son brought one home from school, and so I've been tootling around with it before it goes back, and I have made a huge discovery on the quality of the video. It's massive in difference, however it's also massive in difference in entry costs, of course today you can get some very impressive old dSLRs that record in 1080p, and the sensor size makes a whole world of difference in video quality. If you have a dSLR already, or a Mirrorless camera, then you're already got a step up over those with just a cell phone!
The other thing I have been experimenting with is a GoPro style action camera, which I wear attached to the brim of my hat, which I use a mounting screw from a tripod mount to hold it. It allows the viewer to "See what I see as I see it" sort of view, however I have to remember they can't look sideways with their eyes, I have to move my head. It is great for SOME types of video, but not others. I find it's really good when I have to get in really difficult to record places, and I'm having to look at what I'm working on, say, inside the engine of a car, or under the car. Or when I'm mowing the lawn, or blowing the snow, it gives a First Person view of the action.
Tripods are also a very important thing to have, if you plan on having a static camera, or if you're doing repair videos, or showing things and need two hands, or many other reasons to have a tripod, mainly because it adds a lot of stability to your shots. I've also learned that putting a camera on a shaking lawnmower does not make for good videos...
Editing is one of those things that you kind of learn as you go along. You also learn different ways to edit, which suit *Your* style. That's the most important metric, is this is your style. Just because I use multiple cameras with microphones and tripods, action cameras, and a dSLR now.... That is just a style, and brand, that I've built for myself, and find that I like that kind of flow. Remember, tho, for every camera you have, that means more hard drive storage space, and a more dedicated editing flow you're going to need to develop. It takes time, but if I can do it, you can do it!
Now the best part was the reward for my persistence, and consistency of uploading a new video every week, for almost 2 years.. My channel has finally passed the threshold required for Monetization and entry into the Partner Program with YouTube. That's right! I crossed the 1000 Subscriber mark with 4000 watch hours On September 11th, 2025!
What a fantastic moment that was, even tho that was not a great time for me, as I had suffered a pretty serious injury when moving my motorcycle, however that is a different post entirely, or even this video here.
I know it's been a bit since my last blog post update, I've been meaning on making more on a more regular basis, but I've been really pushing my recording lately, and trying to bring up releasing 2 videos a week, hopefully at sometime soon in the new year, once I can feel a few things out with the flow of the video and how I'm going to record it.
So with that,
Stay tuned....
Amazon Affiliate Links;
Small Lavalier Microphone - Recommended
Small Lavalier Microphone - Inexpensive
LED Video Lights - Decent'y Bright
Milled Aluminum Tripod Mount Phone Holder
Lightweight Carbon Fibre Tripod