 carried them to the door to go outside. They popped as we were going outside. They popped as we started to put them on the ground. Do I need to continue?
But the worst problem was when they popped as they were freezing and froze to the ground, making them totally unusable. In short, popped regular balloons cost more in time, emotion and materials.
So as a young mother, I wanted to teach my children about the science and beauty of ice lanterns but to make the experience more enjoyable. I discovered a unique type of balloon that worked perfectly and jerry-rigged a freezing base that helped shape them and kept them separate from the ground.  The fact that my choice of balloons were also made in the USA and biodegradable sealed the deal.
But that particular brand was elusive and expensive. Yes, quality matters. I drove all around the Minneapolis-St Paul area cleaning out the few stores that carried that line.
The joy that I felt when I actually found them on clearance was indescribable!
Then my husband mentioned that I was breaking the bank with the time and gas I spent driving around and he agreed to help me buy them in bulk directly from the manufacturer - Oh joy and rapture.
Now I had a huge box full of perfect balloons that had the name icelanterns.com emblazoned on each one. They were even the color that worked the best - light green!
Icelanterns.com became wintercraft.com when we developed the Globe Ice Lantern Kit. And thank goodness, because we manufactured the perfect freezing base to go with it!
So, now both elements work in concert - WINTERCRAFT - a wonderful system that pairs a non-breakable and reusable freezing base with the perfect balloons to easily make beautiful globe ice lanterns.@lookatdirt you could always grab a TU250X with luggage, higher bar, knobby tires.
Traxx, Chillis and villageidiot like this.
while it’s fun to play around with, it’s 50 years old!
I just want to take a break to smell the roses and putt down the road.
RedDogAlberta, dp064, klaviator and 4 others like this.
I met a guy years ago in Vegas who took a CRF80 and CRF100 and put street legal kits on both and were plated. He was selling the 80, keeping the 100.
Something like the KLX140G was one I've wanted to do that conversion to. Mini dual sport.
You can get the Beta 125 RR-S. I've been almost ready to pull the trigger on that bike many times. It performs better than the TW/VanVan type bikes. Beta is getting bigger every year in the US too so parts availability keeps growing.
ggrider, dp064, gulfcoaster and 5 others like this.
You movin to Japan?!
I get people following me around where my wife is from(far from Tokyo or any tourist areas). Nobody speaks English so I can't engage with anybody except my wife and daughter.
You'd be like Andre the Giant. Might really get some crowds following.
We were in the mall and going to get lunch. I was ready to have a burger after weeks of Japanese food so we checked some places and Burger King was empty. Went and ordered and all of the sudden there was a huge line behind us.
So not too different than normal for me.
dp064, Dirt Road Cowboy, HBSURFDAD and 6 others like this.
Ever stop at somewhere like badwater basin on the harley and have a tourist bus unload. You know how many pictures you get taken of you?
Davethestick, Dirt Road Cowboy, klaviator and 3 others like this.
If people can't get their sh...stuff together from top to bottom in this country that is where we'll head. A safety net if you will and I'll start an export biz over there.
I can't blame you Brian, I ABSOLUTELY love Japan... I lived and worked in Gotemba just below Mt Fuji for two years from 2011 through 2013, this was my view everyday driving to work.
I had to learn survival Japanese and simple etiquettes so I could get around by myself and be able to do important stuff like: sumimasen, nama biiru kudasai...
While I was there, I brought the wife over a couple of times and we did the touristy things. We even climbed Mt Fuji on the Subashiri Trail up to Station Number 5 before the wife started getting altitude sickness at 2000m...
ggrider, NSFW, dp064 and 12 others like this.
Of course, biiru!
Nice place to work with that view. Ever go near the suicide forest? Supposedly so thick in there people can't find their way back. I've been wanting to hike in there. Always been really good with spacial awareness.
Did you ride motorcycles at all while there?
dp064, Dirt Road Cowboy, klaviator and 4 others like this.
I used to drive those busses so I'm getting the heck away from them on my time!
Some cultures will just start screwing with your gear like it is a kids 25¢ ride.
dp064, B10Dave, Dirt Road Cowboy and 3 others like this.
Never got around to that side of Fuji... I explored Namazu, Susono, Hakone, and around the Five Lakes... When I ventured out further, I took the bus down to the train station and went all over like Yokohama, Tokyo, Kyoto, Hiroshima, visited all sorts of castles, and shrines. The Japanese has got mass transportation down pat!
Never got to ride a motorcycle over there, I should have though...
B10Dave, Dirt Road Cowboy, klaviator and 5 others like this.
The air is really clean over there. Everything is.
Most car engines are below 1 liter and most motorcycles are less than 250cc.
Haven't been by the Fukushima plant and don't intend to!
I find the Japanese car culture in movies like Fast and Furious to be so over rated. You hardly ever see really high performance or large cars there.
Even if you had something of the sort you can't use it anywhere other than parking lot flexing or that one road called the "ring" near Tokyo late at night when there isn't much traffic.
I haven't been to mainland Japan, spent a year on Okinawa courtesy of Uncle Sam (USMC). Everything you said was true of my experience. I loved it!
ggrider, Chillis, gulfcoaster and 4 others like this.
I'd have to give the nudge toward the Beta. No experience with the 125, but I absolutely love what they're doing. Hopefully they don't grow too much because right now they are able to get under some of the EPA restrictions. They're coming over perfectly tuned. Also, the BYOB program is absolutely genius.
dp064, VEGASHOTWHEELER, MYUMPH and 6 others like this.
I need to make a couple and put on my bikes next too this.
gulfcoaster, KICKNBACK, Webman and 6 others like this.
@VEGASHOTWHEELER We are overdo for a pie run.
Chillis and VEGASHOTWHEELER like this.
Last Friday nights back road ride in the country with the Edmonton Grom Gaggle saw 26 bikes out - 21 of them Groms. They're looking at a new record possibly tonight with a beautiful summer-like day in store.
JRowland, gulfcoaster, black 8 and 4 others like this.
That is a solid turn out. How long will the riding season last?
JRowland, dp064 and Traxx like this.
It varies. I've ridden to Jasper and Banff in early November (granted it was chilly) and also seen -20º at Halloween. September is historically a summer-like month of beautiful riding as the leaves change. Mid 70's F today with blue skies.
JRowland, black 8, dp064 and 5 others like this.
We're about to get started or continue... our desert wintering indoors is about to be over. Or is over.
I'm not 100% healed. Knee and lower leg still a little swollen. Ankle and foot still swollen and painful.
Road ride shouldn't be an issue at all.
Still waiting on the Husky to be done. Waited too long on figuring out the muffler to put on. Tired of waiting so I had them put the Yoshimura on.
ggrider, JRowland, klaviator and 8 others like this.New analysis method for personal protection equipment for use on via ferrata

Climbing on fixed—rope routes (via ferrata) in alpine mountains has become a very popular sport in the last decade. Special safety equipment is mandatory for this activity and numerous shock-absorbing devices are available on the market. To date no deep understanding of the functioning principles and therefore on the influences of external factors on the performance of the devices is known for any of the shock absorbers sold on the European and international markets. This investigation presents a systematic test programme in order to evaluate the influence of the major parameters on the performance of these safety systems. These are the type of the braking system, the fall height, and the mass of the climber. A calculation method is