Warmer weather

We had a respite for a couple days. I know some of you wear panties and can't get out on the bike when it's below 60, but for me personally, it felt like getting parole to just ride to work this morning, going a little too fast in the two or three good curves I got on my commute and scraping the floorboards of my Suzuki Boulevard.

What excuse do you have left?

You're still driving your car, SUV, or truck? If you're reading this blog, I know you either have a bike or have been thinking about buying one. If you're not riding at $4.00 per gallon, sell or give your bike to someone who will use it! Quit making excuses.

"people drive crazy sound here" - you have more maneuverability on a bike or scooter and take up less room. You have a better chance of avoiding a collision if you're properly trained and keep alert.

"What if it rains" - seriously? If you're going somewhere important like a job interview, you can take gear to protect you. Otherwise you can show up at Wal-Mart wet. I guarantee there are worse looking people there. If you're headed home just get on dry clothes when you arrive.

If you need to pick up lumber at Lowe's or two cartfulls of groceries I get the car. If you're soccer parent duty, you can't get them all on your Harley. I get that. But if you have the bike and it lives in the garage 90% of the time, it's better for you and the bike if you just send it on its way.

Kathy's Birthday at Red River Gorge

This past weekend we hopped on the bikes and rode to a little cabin in Daniel Boone National Forest. The area is called Red River Gorge and it's known for the beauty of the wilderness and several natural stone bridges, arches and chimneys.  You can view pictures here.

We came in through Winchester Kentucky and rode by the Ale8-1 manufacturing and bottling plant.  Nada Tunnel is a unique sight you must see. We stayed at Red River Gorge cabin rentals. The whole area is (as they say) Red River Gorge-ous.

We had a fantastic time and saw a lot of natural beauty and winding twisting roads (some of them gravel) in a very short amount of time.

Oil change complete

I replaced my OEM oil filter for a K&N filter. I had to purchase a special tool from Cycle Gear to remove the Suzuki filter because as you can see in the picture there is no way to grip it otherwise.

The K&N has a bolt-like fixture on it to help in removal next time.

Oil change time

I had to grab a couple things from Cycle Gear to change the oil on my Suzuki C50 and Kat's Honda Helix. The price of full synthetic is outrageous. Do you pay this price for your bike?

Still, it really should be done before Friday when we leave for Daniel Boone National Forest and Red River Gorge.

Mothers day 4 --flowers for my mom

It had been a while since I'd visited my mom. The grounds were grown up quite a bit. They are always having problem with keeping them up. I grabbed a couple pale roses and put them in mom's vase.

Mothers day riding 3 --end reward

At the end, we got lunch and ice cream at Shel's in Veevay. It's a great place we stopped back in September on the first night of our honeymoon...

Mothers day riding 2

We got into some fairly hazardous gravel roads that had a significant upwards grade to them. My bike is heavier and I didn't want to drop it so I rode ahead in search of level ground to wait for Kat. On the way up we were passed by three 4 wheel ATV's and met an SUV coming down!

I got around the bend and the Cardo Scala G9 headset cut out and I couldn't hear my girl. I got to a mostly  level spot, jumped off the bike, and as I got closer I could hear she was in trouble. I hurried as quickly as I could on the gravel and found her still at the bottom. Her bike was leaned over with the left side barely touching the ground. She was bracing it to keep it up.

She did a fantastic job of gently setting her Honda Helix down so there were only minor scratches. Kudos to my wife, Kathy, who took a possibly dangerous situation and neutralized it. She's such a trooper and said she would take gravel roads again if necessary, but like me, doesn't really enjoy them on a street bike.

Riding on Mothers day

Since my beautiful new bride loves to ride also, we told the kids we would meet them in Veevay Indiana around 1pm, and took the long twisty roads there.

REVIEW: Tyre to Travel GPS Software

A lot of you folks may know that I really like to plan intricate routes for my GPS taking all these odd little backroads I've never been on before.  Before my honeymoon trip to Niagara Falls and back, I purchased a TomTom Rider Motorcycle GPS.  Bundled with this is a software called Tyre to Travel (or just Tyre).  It was originally developed by Jan Boersma in 2006 right before I started riding, and I used it with my original Tom Tom One in a huge waterproof Otter Box mounted to my scoot's handlebars.  It was ok, but not great.  The thing I always wanted was to plan a route in Google Maps and somehow transfer it to my GPS without seventeen or twenty steps.  It was pretty good software at the time but it was still not very easy to do this.

When I became a member of the Iron Butt Society and joined their discussion email list, I found that nearly all those guys used Garmin GPS and software, so I switched.  The software I installed and used on my Garmin Nuvi 550 (one of the only waterproof GPS units under $400) was really professional and allowed the granular tweaking I do for routes.  The trouble was it was nearly impossible to plan anything on Google Maps and transfer it.  I tried web apps galore and some manual procedures to no avail.

Today, with the TomTom Rider (which is an excellent MC GPS if for only the Winding Roads route feature) I can seamlessly transfer the route I've planned from Google Maps into the Tyre Software and then right into the GPS unit ready to select and ride.

Weekend riding

About two months ago we moved into a new (to us) home. Since then about the closest I've come to riding on the weekends is running errands.  One good bit of news: my wife got me this new tool chest for my garage.

Product Report: Bilt Typhoon Jacket

Bilt is one of the house brands of Cycle Gear. They offer a 5 year full warranty on manufacturer defects on their entire Bilt line...so buy them up, right?

Maybe not. I originally got the Typhoon on sale over a year ago on sale for $99. I am a big guy and the jacket fit great. I take a 4XL in this jacket, or the Joe Rocket or Power Trip jackets (both made by the same company). Note I said "this jacket" and not Bilt jackets. Even in a size larger the other Bilt jackets do not fit. I have purchased jackets up to size 7XL from leatherup or jafrum and they fit about like a 3XL.

One thing about this jacket: the thing keeps you bone dry. I've never had another that kept me this dry even in heavy rain.

It rode well for about three seasons (fall , winter, spring for me) and then the side seam blew out. I wore this jacket snug and that's the way you should wear a MC jacket. I didn't know if it was the fault of fat or  fate so I took it back in. The guys at Cycle Gear here in Louisville took it back no questions asked. I was delighted.

I wore the new 4XL for one season. Same issue. This time they suggested another jacket, giving me my full price I spent originally. I tried several on and none fit. They ordered me another.  This one lasted less than a week and this time the Velcro that closes the storm flap unravelled and came loose.

When I came back in dragging yet another jacket and expressed my irritation, they ordered me another jacket. This time in a 5XL. I've worn the 5X a while now and the only issue is one of the cuff snaps fell off.

The quality of these specific jackets is suspect. Still, for $99 per 5years it ain't that bad of a deal. And having to ride back over to CG, look at all the stuff on sale, check out other guy's bikes, and just plain having an extra reason to ride is not something I'd complain about. I count the purchase as a wash. Not good, but not bad.  Still, I would not really recommend the CG Built Typhoon jacket if there's another that suits you at that price range.

Sunny ride in

It was a nice sunny ride into work today. I hope this weekend is good.

Pouring Rain

First work day after I get my bike out of the shop and it's pouring rain and thunderstorms.

This is stupid. It's almost May!!!

The new Suzuki C50 B.O.S.S.

If I had the $$$$, I would trade my 2008 in on one of these bad boys right this second.

http://www.suzukicycles.com/Product%20Lines/Cycles/Products/Boulevard%20C50/2014/C50B.aspx

Shifting with a new clutch cable

Just a quick observation....

My clutch cable must have stretched out over the last 25,000 miles so gradually that I didn't notice the change until it was close to failure.  I'll tell you when I did notice a difference...when it was replaced!  At first I was having a hard time shifting because the travel was a lot bigger than it had been.  It seemed like I was letting the clutch out forever before it started to ease into gear!

I may do a little research and see if its able to be adjusted without screwing up the clutch plates like the previous owner did by skipping the original maintenance and not getting it dialed in properly.

Clutch cable replaced in record time

Inga at Yamaha Suzuki of Louisville was able to get my bike in and get the clutch cable replaced very quickly. She said that normally it would take 2 weeks but they would be able to work on Saturday. I gotta call earlier today that said the bike was finished. They just got the part in yesterday. This is very good news and means I won't be down during the weekend while it's supposed to be great weather.

Starting my wife's Honda Helix

My wife received a Honda Helix as a wedding present from her awesome husband. We took it along with my Suzuki motorbike on our 1700+ mile honeymoon to Niagara Falls and back. It was awesome.

This past weekend we visited the new bridge across the Ohio River at Madison Indiana. As you know, my clutch cable broke, and I had to trailer my bike into the shop. The next day my wife tried starting her scooter and it wouldn't start. It would turn over just fine. She thought she perhaps left the lights on and it had worn down the battery. I put it in the garage and hooked it up to the battery.

It came to a full charge overnight but I didn't have time to check it.  This week I tried several times to start it with no luck. I tried adjusting the idle on the carb. Nothing doing. I was starting to worry it might be time to get the gaps set.

Last night I looked it over again. That's when I noticed the kill switch had been pushed!!! My bike won't even turn over if the kill switch is on.

Clutch cable

I ordered the clutch cable from parts department on Monday morning.  I caught the guy before he sent the order out for the day and he spoke positively about how quick it'd be in because I got to him before the order was put in.

I called today and the darn thing is not in. Grrrrr....

Suzuki of Louisville - Down Two Weeks?

The gal at Suzuki on English Station road here in Louisville is pretty nice. Her name is Inga and I talked to her today.  I hitched my bike up to a rented uHaul trailer and towed it over with my truck. I called the parts department earlier this morning and ordered the clutch cable. The guy said it was lucky that I called when I did because he was just getting ready to place the order. So now my clutch cable should be in tomorrow. I talked to the service department and they said it it's generally going to be two weeks before they get to my bike at this point. I explained how it is my daily driver and I use it everyday to get back and forth to work in the service guy said that they could probably work me in sooner. When I spoke to Inga she told me again it would be 2 weeks.

I told her that when I spoke with the service department they said they would try to get me in sooner because it is my main vehicle. She said that they might be able to get to it on Saturday afternoon later in the day. So now my bike is in the Suzuki shop until at least Saturday. I really hope they are able to get it done then and let me pick it up because I'm missing out on a lot of time.

Clutch cable

This is something I never had to worry about on my maxi touring scooter. The clutch cable broke on my cruiser just getting back into town. I sailed through a couple red lights and had to stop/start the bike in gear a couple times. By the time I got home I was getting pretty good and easing from one gear to another. Finally with the driveway in sight, I got it into neutral.

Now I must get the clutch cable replaced at the busiest time of year. That really pisses me off. I rode the bike all through many days of this nasty winter (not as many days as I'd have liked) and I don't want my daily driver to be down in prime weather.

Besides this I'm taking my wife to Red River Gorge for her birthday next month.

Milton, KY to Madison, IN Bridge

My wife and I took a ride from Louisville to Madison Indiana across the Milton-Madison bridge which was just replaced. Madison is a great little historic town. The weather was perfect.

At a stop in Sulphur, KY my top box came loose and dropped off. An old man told me he lived three doors down and would go home and look for a bolt. I found the knob on the inside of the trunk just came untightened and with a few turns was fine. 

We rode across the bridge which neither GPS nor Google recognized and then through downtown. No restaurants were open due to the holiday so we grabbed a burger at the golden arches in Hanover.

Today was a good day to ride

Despite a call for rain, it was a good day to ride...  I commuted to work. Its not quite time to head home yet, but its gorgeous outside. Even if I get hit with a little rain on the way home, it will still be great.

Time to ride

Looks like the new bridge going over into Madison Indiana is open. I think its time to ride. Too bad I'm busy hauling furniture around this weekend. Maybe in a couple weeks...or on Sunday...

http://www.wdrb.com/story/25262768/milton-madison-bridge-expected-to-re-open-thursday

Overdue Maintenance

My Suzuki needs front brakes and an oil change. Kathy's Honda Helix needs a new CVT belt and probably roller weights. I have to get this regular maintenance done soon, especially now that I have a garage and tools where I can find them...

Another missed day

I have gotten into a bad habit. I'm very ashamed. Since 2007 when I started riding, I took pride in the fact that I rode all year round. I knew people who perhaps had a really sweet bike, all the gear, and had ridden a lot of roads, but I knew that they had used a trailer to haul their bike, and I honestly felt better than them.

This winter has been harsh with ice and snow on the roads even here in Louisville. There were many days I could have ridden but chose not to risk it.

I know if I don't ride for a whole, I'm not right. I get irritated easily, stressed easily, and get on peoples nerves. I could have ridden today but chose to take the Ford. Now I'm angry with myself, and I will be more disappointed on the way home when its over 50° and sunny.

Lazyness and not wishing to throw on my jacket and chaps is part of it. The other part is comfort. But I really need to ride every dry say...there will be tons of rain coming this spring...

Another rider is born

For her 16th birthday, we purchased an inexpensive Chinese scooter for my daughter. The idea is that since we just moved, she will be able to occasionally take herself back and forth to see friends a mile or two away at our old neighborhood. She will also be able to ride to practice and home again. It might also allow her to have transportation for the purpose of getting a part time job this summer.  She has a full face helmet and mesh Tourmaster jacket. She will be getting gloves soon... So far she seems to be handling the bike well.

Catching up--Spring 2012

On September 14th last year, I married an amazing woman who I have known since 1986. She's ridden on the seat behind me several times in the past.  We went to a rally on my scooter from Louisville to St. Louis.  That was a lot of fun.  We took time to tour Anhauser Busch and rode across the Wabash river on a rickety old wooden bridge.  Later we went to Gasoline Rally on the same bike. After months of riding two-up on that scooter and knowing how much she love it, I decided to ask her to marry me.  It was my mistake that on the same day I was readying to propose, I decided it would also be a good day to change the oil on Lois, my 2008 Yamaha Majesty.  When you put the oil filter back in backwards, all ends poorly.  Yes, I destroyed the engine in my scoot.

I went through several bad months, really unfit to be around other humans.  I really didn't have the money to replace the scoot that fall.  I found an old vintage Suzuki GS850 on Craigslist and scraped the money together to buy it.  It was a rattly old bike, but the main problem was that it had an out-of-state title that the guy I bought it from never bothered to transfer into his name.  It was nearly impossible to find the real owner or get in touch with the guy I purchased from.  After months of riding it around the block once a week, I sold it to some guys who didn't care about the title and were going to use it for a racing bike.

Shortly after, my taxes came in and I had a little cash to spend on a new used bike.  I looked high and low.  I was in the market for a Suzuki Burgman 650 or a Honda Silverwing scooter.  Normally you can find one or two here and there on Craigslist or Cycletrader.  I was having no luck in my price range.  I decided, against a substantial amount of trepidation to widen my search to include shifters.  I had ridden a scooter since 2007, and I have driven stick shift cars, so I figured it would be no big deal.  I decided that I wanted a bike as close to a scooter as possible.  My bike would be shaft-driven, not chain.  It would have fuel injection.  Lastly it needed not just skinny pegs, but floorboards.  I also needed storage room.  What I found to meet these criteria and still remain inside my budget was a 2008 Suzuki Boulevard.

The bike I found was in the Indianapolis area.  It only had 2400 miles on it.  My though process was "What can you mess up in only 2400 miles?"  Well apparently you can burn out the clutch if you never take it in for initial service, spending maintenance money on a touring package instead of getting the clutch adjusted.  On the way home the clutch failed.  This added almost $500 to my purchase price for the clutch and initial service.  The previous owner was an idiot.  He also did not put the bags on correctly.  One had gotten into the pipes and burned.  Speaking of pipes, he also decided to increase the volume using a method which entailed drilling out the baffles in the stock muffler instead of upgrading to a new set of pipes.

I was desperate and determined to make this bike my own.  After I graduated with my  Associate degree in Information Technology, I took a week off.  I did around 1800 miles in seven days.  Most of it was in cold, nasty rain.  I rode the first day to Tunica, Mississippi, avoiding most of the rain.  I stayed at the Bally's casino.  The room was nice and only $25 per night.  I ate at the buffet and played a couple games of slots.

The next day the riding was good until the afternoon.  I saw Leland Mississippi, birthplace of Kermit the frog, and ate Chicken Cracklins--a local culinary treat that I've not found (or wanted to find) anywhere else.  I crossed the Mississippi and rode the the south east corner of Arkansas for a while.  I ate lunch at J.J.'s Lakeside Cafe on US-65 in Lake Village just across from the welcome center.  You could walk out onto the huge deck area of the center and get almost within splashing distance of the Mississippi River.  I didn't stay too long though because that's when it got colder and started raining.  About the time I could not take the chill any longer, I found a little town in Homer Louisiana.  The only place I found on that strip of US-79 was a little place call the Hillside Motel.  The Indian fellow running the place said he had only one room left, despite an empty lot.  It was pouring down rain so I took it at $79.  The only good thing about the place was the heat.  My review is on google...
https://plus.google.com/114842555732848669953/about?gl=US&hl=en-US

In the morning, the weather was not much better. I've done the Iron Butt Saddle Sore ride which is 1000 miles in 24 hours, but the intention of this trip was to visit states I'd never been to, and to see things I'd never seen.  My mood was not yet totally killed off by the weather, so I stayed on the back roads. I'd already seen parts of Louisiana and just a bit of Arkansas.  I was close to Texas and wanted to cross that state off my list.  I crossed into Texas on State Road 1, which turned into 77.  The weather had been miserable, but started to lighten up.  I found this great little diner named the Dixie Maid, which is very sadly closed now.  My review is on google still.
https://plus.google.com/108349719528899610481/about?gl=US&hl=en-US&ved=0CHIQzwk&sa=X&ei=LYxFU-TVNaaDwwGNhIDwCw

On the way out of town headed North toward Arkansas, I found a shop run by a Native America, selling primitive trinkets.  I got little presents for my family, and a hot cup of coffee.  I saw some of the Ouachita National Forest which was cool, having read Blue Highways.  I saw some of both Oklahoma and Arkansas.  I took advice from locals that told me Hwy 71 was nice.  The weather was good at times, but still cool.  The temperature didn't bother me unless I was wet. I got over into Oklahoma near Fort Smith and knew that I had to keep going North into Kansas.  The weather again was bad so I made some time on the interstate.  Everybody told me that Kansas was pretty unremarkable.  I decided I had to at least touch into Nebraska, so I plotted the GPS to the closest little town which turned out to be Rulo which is  historically remarkable for being a campsite of Lewis and Clark.  They had some crazy bridge construction going on when I was there.  I saw the making of the new bridge but I got to ride over the old bridge.  The town was a mud pit and very small, but really cool. 
Besides Kentucky and Tennessee, I had so far on my trip visited Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas, Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, and Nebraska.  I had a one more state I wanted to see that I had not already been to.  I cut through Missouri towards Iowa.  I wanted to visit Antique Archeology in Le Claire.  I was getting a little road-weary at this point, so I hopped some interstate slab.  Le Claire was an odd little town.  I was a little perturbed about Antique Archeology.  I did not expect anyone from the show American Pickers to be there, but when I saw a gal looking like one of the co-stars of the show, I was irritated when she turned around and I found it was just some worker they hired and made to dress like the chick from the show.  All the items from American Pickers had NSF (not for sale) tags on them.  They had one leather Bell Helmets track bag but I knew I'd not be able to get it on my bike.  I picked up some show swag and hit the road.

I was in my final leg of the trip.  I was pretty worn out.  I'd already went over my intended time out.  I planned on five to six days and I was just barely into Illinois.  I could do it in one day if I hit the road hard and weather was good.  Those things didn't happen.  I got just past Chicago into Indiana and although the bike didn't run out of gas, I sure did.  I paid for one more night of lodging and hunkered down for another rainy night.  The next day I made it home. 

One odd note.  I experienced a decent degree of varying temperatures during my trip.  At the beginning, the oil light came on several times.  Each time I checked the oil and it was fine.  Finally, after a call to the shop, I discovered that the light was also the temperature light.  My 850cc water cooled bike was overheating a bit.  Especially at interstate speeds when it was warm.  A lot of the time I didn't see it come on because it was cold and rainy.  On the very last day when it was warmer my temp light kept coming on--so much that I though it might cause damage to the bike.

I stopped at a rest stop.  That's when it hit me.  I had bought a tool bag right before the trip and mounted it on the forks.  This was blocking the wind to the radiator!  After I removed the bag and strapped it to the seat behind me, there were no more temperature lights.  On my trip I saw the hills of Oauchita, an oil rig in Texas, swamps in Louisiana, the Mississippi river, and many little rural towns.  I ate some strange foods (crawfish, chicken cracklins), experienced good and bad weather, and talked with interesting people everywhere. I rode, gambled, froze, sweltered, walked, slept, and on some occasions drank (when down for the night).  I had gear that worked really well, and some that didn't.  My rain pants were so bad at one point I went into a truck stop across from my hotel and bought a roll of duct tape (to tape the inside) and a big jar of Vaseline (to coat the outside and my gloves).  I can't imagine what they wondered I was going to do with that.  I was bone tired every night and enthusiastic every morning.  I had cold fingers and toes, and leg cramps.  I saw beautiful sunrises and breathtaking sunsets.

It was a good ride.  Pictures here: https://picasaweb.google.com/109808883991400303808/MCTripSpring2012

Back into riding and writing...

Ok, well my feet have never really left the pegs, but with full time work which included a career change and full time school plus getting married, accumulating another child, the death of a great four legged friend and the acquisition of another plus a new house, side businesses, and teenage insanity...well let it just suffice to say I've been too busy to write much.

I've got a total of approximately 50 or 60,000 miles under my boots now. A lot of that lately has been commuting but even those miles have suffered due to an abnormally cold and icy winter. I'm hoping spring lays off the rain for the most part.

My goal is to start writing more and keeping on keepin' on.

Safe roads to y'all.

Bad weather on the way to my final!

Screwed!!!! Lol! This will be awesome!!!