Riding season - Winter Time

December 6th 2012 and my motorcycle is still in full on operational stand by. That means I have yet to fully winterize it and throw the cover over the top for the 'winter'. I usually do that once the first snows come to my area and the road crews decide to liberally salt the surfaces to prevent icing . The down side to that is the salt is both slippery and highly corrosive to aluminum parts like engines, wheel rims, etc. on my motorcycle. So the first salt usually spells the end of my riding season until the rains of spring come to wash the roads clean once again.

As the winter approaches I am ready for the down time. Just this past weekend I took what I felt was going to be my last ride for the 2012 season. I managed to get in nearly 200 miles just cruising around the countryside near my home.  That wouldn't seem to be a huge deal hwoever for a late late season last ride it was marvelous. These past few weeks I have been carrying fuel stabilzer in the sadddlebag, and whenever I need to refuel I add the appropriate amount just to be sure the bike is ready to go into the short term storage that I practice for the winter months. Thus far I have burned up 3+ tanks full of this mixture; but this recent one looks like it may the last for this year. The weather service is calling for snow over the weekend and that would likely signal storage time for me.

This will not be an issue for me this year. I am really looking forward to taking the bike out of service for a while. I have a short list of service items that I have been avoiding for various reasons as I extended my riding nearly to Christmas. But the time is rapidly approaching when I will take the bike and strip it down to accomplish several tasks that the bike needs done.

One of the main things I need to do is to tear into the bike and remove the meter panel to access the speedo housing. There are several burned out bulbs inside the housing and I struggle reading the speed, tach or other instrumentation at night. While I am in there I also plan on trying to clean and thus fix the clock display that works poorly when the conditions are wet or humid. The clock/channel LCD panel will short out when the moisture accumulates on the circuit board inside the meter panel and then not work, or work so poorly as to be unusable.

 

While I am tearing it apart I plan on removing the radio and sending it to be cleaned, tuned, and bulbs replaced inside it as well. The vendor who does this service for Goldwing radios is also going to add an AUX line in to the radio for me which will eliminate my need to have a cassette adaptor in order to have my iPod or MP3 music inside the system for listening through the helmet headsets.

 

 

My current set-up for the GPS also neds some modificatiuon as I changed to a better newer gps this past summer. Here is a picture of how it was set-up for the old unit. The new one requires 4 screws through the back and is larger, heavier and much nicer so I plan on improving this home made engineering GPS bracket. The new one will be taller, lean back at a better angle and be lower and tighter to the panel that supports it . This will keep the GPS from rocking and shaking while riding as it does now (I hope).

 

There are other things I need to do to the bike while it is pieces in my garage, cruise air fliter, sub air filter, fuel filter , and a general clean up will all be on the list, A new front tire in spring and perhaps new bearings on the wheels and steering head bearing replacement  will finalize the to do list for the 2013 riding year.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



Riding in the darkness

Daylight savings time means commuting home in the dark. In the morning on my way to work I am fortunate enough to come in after the sun has risen and the day is underway. The warming sunlight is welcome and easy to ride in as visibility is excellent.  However during these late fall days in Wisconsin it getes dark around 4:00 PM and I work until 5:00 or later so that means riding in the dark.

My ride home from the office takes me through some dark and dangerous areas as I pass from the more city like suburb where my employment is to the muchmore rural area I live. As I transition from one place to the next the traffic thins, and the street lights fade and the buildings give way to fields, trees and farms. During the summer it is very peaceful to ride away from the noise, hustle and bustle and congestion of the populace and into the calm countryside. In the late Fall  this brings with it a whole new danger especially once the hunting season starts.

The darkness hides the animals waiting in the ditches for their chance to cross the street. Deer especially seem to litter the shoulder during the fall as they become more active looking for a mate, finding food sources as the farmer harvests the fields, and in general keeping ahead of hunters who are seeking to have them as a trophy and sausage.

Of course this forces them to the roadway, and they seem to not be able to discern when it is safe to cross, often walking out into traffic without looking, and suffering the consequences of such dire actions. Dead deer carcass' are commnplace in Wisconsin in the fall from the many car-deer collisions and I worry about becoming a statisitic caught up in this folly known as fall rutting season.

Before adding driving lights

My only defense from a deer suicide is to se them coming. That means lights and more lights shining through the darkness to illuminate the deer well before they get to the road.  Several years ago I had a close encounter with one as I rode home while passing the remnants of a corn field recently harvested by the local dairyman. I spotted the deer standing not 5 feet off the edge of the road as I went past at 55 MPH. The troubling part was that I never saw it until I was nearly on top of it...!



So I decided to add some driving lights. The Goldwing is equiped with some pretty decent headlights to begin with at 45W lows and 55W high beams. I had spent the extra money to upgrade these to 55/65 and the Silverstar high output bright white bulbs. There are 2 bulbs in the headlight assembly so running with my low beams on I had 110 watts of forward facing bright white light at all times. But that wasn't enoogh ...So I added some driving lights I found at Wal*mart. These Optronic Platinum Burners were rated at 55 Watts each and I mounted them to the front on a reshaped chrome trim under the fairing , just below the levelof the headlights.




Driving Lights Mounted

NOW I had 220 WATTS of forward facing bright white light wioth just the low beams on. And I further complimented this arrangement by carefully aiming the Right hand side light outward into the ditches and fields to illuminate those pesky critters as they contemplated making a street crossing.

Another advantage is the average car driver; who would not be accustomed seeing a motorcycle out in the late fall typically, will easily see me coming as I am sure I must look like an airplane on final approach with landing lights blazing as I trundle down the roadway.

Resistance = Heat

Working on the GL1100 Interstate has immensely expanded my knowledge as I have been forced to learn more by doing. I feel the best lessons are the ones learned first hand, although sometimes I wish it was easier to acquire some of this knowledge.

The probelm presented itself as an intermittent headlight. It would turn off while riding at the oddest moments and then come back on at other times when it was unexpected. I spent hours and hours tracking wiring from the headlight bucket back, Fixing bad connections and poor splices as I went. And I thought I had it fixed - but whe I was test riding it for something else I was working on I noticed the Volt meter was reading higher than normal, and when I investigated I found the headlight was out - again.

 

So after some thinking and reading and discussing with fellow riders I figured out the problem must be in the fuse box. When I started to look closer I was shocked to find a badly corroded glass fuse connector on several circuits. And I realized these were the source of the problem. Often the bike would show voltage changing from high to low and this was showing the fuse box actually was allowing electric flow at differing rates as the fuses heated and cooled and the connectors all heated to very dangerous temps.

As I investigated further I soon saw the results of this loose fuse and corrosion as it created extreme excess heat and had started to damage the fuse box itself. This really worried me as I had to resolve this problem before a fire started and someone got injured.  The only thing I could think to do was to replace the entire fuse box - and in the process I wanted to update the fuses to modern blade style automitive fuses so I searched out an alternative box to add to the 1980 Goldwing.  The challenge was to find a box that allowed for ganging the first 4 lines together (a procees known asa "bus") as seen on this photo - see the bar along the bottom ?

 

This proved to be more of an effort than I first thoought - finding an inline 6 place fuse box with a bus or jumpers was almost impossible - in fact so difficult that I decided to create my own ganging line and use a 6 place inline box I found on Amazon. This required me to make a 4 line connector that leads from the 1 main power wire to 4 seperate fuses - so my meager soldering skills were put to the test. I elected to solder and heat shrink everything I could as I built the new fuse box in order to keep it as safe as possible for the future.

 

I simple then cut one wire at a time and created a new line into the fuse box with crimped connectors and shrink tubing all covered in a protective wrap of electrical tape appropriately colored for hot (red) or ground (black).  These crimp connections are not ideal (soldered is better) but I have alot of confidence in my crimps as I have experience with them on my old 1200 and on my current 1500 and I have learned how to do them so they will last.  Here you can see me preparing to make one of the first cuts as I worked my way across the fuse block.

 

Eventually I was able to get all the wires reconnected to the new block and even added some extra accesory slots on the far right for adding low amperage electrics like GPS and radios and auxillary lighting witrh LEDs. Once this was done I took the bike out for a test ride and noticed almost immediately the power was better, the lights were brighter and I knew I had made an awesome upgrade on this old but new-to-us bike.

 

 



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In the magazine ! Not exactly what I planned...

In early spring I usually take my motorcycle out of "winter storage" and start getting it ready for a new season of riding. This takes place in late February or early March...whenever the weather starts to break and I can stand the temps in the garage long enough to get something done...

In 2012 the weather was pretty good early and I had a lot to do on 2 bikes (mine and my sons) so I got them out and started to work toward our riding season. As luck would have it we had a sizable snow fall followed by a few really nice days, and the conditions outside where pristine and enticing. Seeing an opportunity I moved my bike outside to take advantage of the high contrast between the crisp white snow that had fallen overnight and the Sparkling Pearl Blue of my motorcycle.

I carefully snapped a series of pictures and took great care to format several with a lot of open space at the top of the picture. I knew that the Goldwing Road Riders Assn magazine "Wing World" preferred this type of picture so they could position their header along the top without covering the photo itself. This is what I was hoping for..a cover shot!

After I submitted the picture I herd nothing from the Editor nor staff at the magazine, and was not sure they even had received it, but I placed my confidence  in the e-mail system and patiently waited. I felt that if they were going to use my shot it would be during the winter as it was a snow shot, and that I just had to be patient and wait it out...

Then one day I got an e-mail from a buddy who told me to turn to page 52 of the just released October issue of the magazine.... The editor had decided to use it a cover page for an article written by one of the Goldwing experts they have on staff instead of a cover shot....

Nice try anyway....

Financial realities - Old motorcycle love is expensive

It has been quite some time since I last posted and I have learned several lessons about loving and restoring (rejuvenating?) oldish motorcycles.  The old 1982 CX500 Custom that spent some time in my garage and being ridden by my 18 years old son is now gone and an even older GL1100 Interstate Goldwing from 1980 has taken it's place.

It seems the CX500 was outgrown rapidly ( at about 6000 total miles ridden) and that was somewhat expected anyway. It was that reason that found my son cruising the internet on Craigslist and tripping over an ad for a 1980 Goldwing. It seems the owner was using it to commute daily into the city from his home in the crowded suburbs and was tiring of dodging traffic with a large touring bike. He was seeking to sell the Goldwing, and find a smaller more nimble bike that would deliver excellent fuel economy as well as reliability and maneuverability. The CX fits that bill remarkably as the courier services knew in the lat 70's and early 80's as this was eventually the primary use of this bike.

After several exploratory e-mails were traded, my son asked me to go look at this bike he was thinking about trading his CX for...(he owned the CX even though is was registered to both of us in order to reduce insurance costs). I asked to read his e-mail exchange and found that not only did this deal look legit, it was a guy I knew from the Goldwing club going back several years.

So we went to look at this bike -

After the test ride, the negotiations led us to conclude that after stripping off some of the extras hanging on the CX, we could make the trade even up --so that is how this bike came to live in my garage.

Trade made, and registration complete, we started into the task of making this bike as up to date and reliable as possible. During this phase of riding and testing we soon discovered that the overall maintenance on the bike had fallen woefully behind.


Simple things like brake fluid levels, coolant, and brake pads were neglected. The clutch cable need replacing, and adjustment, and the valve tappets had not been adjusted for some time. The tires needed replacing , but we knew that going in,  but the other more simple things are the ones that I worried about. It is more about the lack of caring, and not so much about the expense of caring that I worry about. If these bikes are neglected and just ridden hard and put away, they tend to break down rather sooner than later.

So - I was relegated to doing ALL the maintenance that had been forgotten or ignored for some time in an effort to at least create a time line base for our regular intervals going forward.

Here is where the costs come in and a dose of reality appears. I am convinced the previous owner was not so concerned about the riding the  bike , as much as the cost  of maintaining the bike going forward . He had reached a precipice of potential debt as one looks at all the things that needed doing.  And if his financial situation was not liquid, it would be back breaking.  Here are the things we have decided to do and the approximate costs so far... bear in mind I have not factored in any LABOR hours as I do all this work myself...

Clutch Cable - $20
Oil change - $20
Radiator flush & fill - $20
Rear final drive flush & fill - $10
New brake pads (3 sets) & Master cylinder rebuild kits (2 sets Front & rear) & caliper rebuild kits (3 sets) - $250
Tires (pending spring) - $175
Final Drive Moly - $10
Brake fluid flush & fills - $10
Clutch cable adjustments - $0 but several hours
New battery - $100 (in spring)

Add - ons -
LED lights - TBD
Handlebar CB Radio - $0.00 - we already owned it at about $300

So in total a little over $600 to get it road worthy and dependable again...

That is the hidden cost of an older motorcycle. These costs are static across any bike one may own however these maintenance items come up at differing intervals if you already own the bike and the costs are not so apparent. And if one is tight on cash as many are recently due to the economic downturn suffered these past few years these items can be shuffled into the future. But they can not be ignored forever, and I think that is the hurdle the previous owner faced, and did not want to deal with, when he traded off his much more valuable bike for a cheaper model.

Considering the actual investment coast of both bikes at this point it seems we have the better end of the deal... The CX represents a total investment of about $1200 so that becomes the base cost of the GL. Add on the $600 and we are into the GL for under $1900 and the real worth of it in the spring sellers market would be $2200 approximately. The added benefit is that my son gets to ride a bigger, better smoother bike when we travel together next summer, and probably increase his ability to go farther in any one day without testing the limits of his endurance.




Ergonmic comparison CX500 Custom vs GL1100 Interstate

Just a little something to think about

I found this on an internet forum in someones signature line. I thought it was cool and to the point so I copied it here for future consumption...

You see things vacationing on a motorcycle in a way that is completely different from any other. In a car you’re always in a compartment, and because you’re used to it you don’t realize that through that car window everything you see is just more TV. You’re a passive observer and it is all moving by you boringly in a frame.

On a cycle the frame is gone. You’re completely in contact with it all. You’re in the scene, not just watching it anymore, and the sense of presence is overwhelming. That concrete whizzing by five inches below your foot is the real thing, the same stuff you walk on, it’s right there, so blurred you can’t focus on it, yet you can put your foot down and touch it anytime, and the whole thing, the whole experience, is never removed from immediate consciousness.

--Robert Pirsig, "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance"

Speed vs Comfort

Motorcycling often seems to be a study in paradoxes. Riders must constantly be evaluating conditions, measuring and assessing risks and rewards, and making decisions that will affect them both immediately and long term.

One of these paradoxes is fashioned when trying to cover long miles in one day. The evaluation centers on the decision of which type of road to ride. The Interstate highway system, or the regular back highways and county surface roads that dice up our countryside. One must consider the pros and cons of this choice and decide which works best for the circumstance presented.

Beginning with the Interstate system, this was initially created by the Federal Highway Act in 1956.  The idea was to create a national system linking the entire United States fostering better travel conditions and easing troop deployment should a crisis arise.  The speed limits on the Interstate typically are considerably higher than local roads and often take the most direct line from one place to another. This higher speed and straight-line methodology fosters the most efficient method of moving from one city to another.  If you really need to make quick time of covering miles, the Interstate is the best choice to do so. 

However, the things that make it a good choice also make it a bad choice for some motorcyclists and travelers. The higher speeds and increased traffic can cause a lot of wind buffeting which can cause fatigue as the rider fights the bike through the airstreams of many passing trucks and cars. The higher speed can also make a normally comfortable bike at lower RPMs vibrate considerably at the sustained higher speeds of the Interstate system. This vibration can also cause fatigue and excess wear on the machinery as it is working near the top of the design limit range.

Local highways and county roads offer benefits to the rider however, there is a cost that must be reconciled. Often times these roads cut through rural areas and pass directly through small towns and communities along the way. Some feel this is the best way to actually experience America as compared to zipping past at high speed on the Interstate. By rolling slowly through the neighborhood, the rider can see the local flavor, feel the breeze coming off the water, and smell the cut grass and flowers as well as the factory nearby. Hearing the noontime whistle while rolling through a small town harkens one back to a simpler time, when information was passed person to person rather than instantly via social media.

The lower speeds, decreased traffic and buffeting combined with a more tolerable RPM range on the riders bike also pays dividends in the form of creature comfort. The ride becomes easier and more pleasurable and the experience seems to count more. Most of my best motorcycle riding memories is of this type of travel, not the mindless miles pounding down the interstate.  

This leisure comes at a cost as well… By slowing down along these back roads; one also assumes the longer hours spent in the saddle to get to the same place. The Interstate rider will pound along at a higher speed on a more direct line and arrive well before the back road rider. This is the conundrum presented when trying to cover long miles per day. How best to do it…?   

Extra parts –

Motorcycle repairs and maintenance often brings with it a certain level of satisfaction. The personal pride in knowing you did it yourself. The knowledge gathered from the process, an intimacy with your machine earned from being inside the working bits and pieces of the machinery. An attitude of self-reliance as the repairs were accomplished without the aid of a factory technician, or dealership mechanic; not to mention the many service related dollars saved from doing it yourself. By not paying that dealerships going hourly rate, one can save significant dollars that will be much better spent going into the gas tank for extra pleasure miles rather than paid to someone who really has less at stake than you do when considering doing the job completely and perfectly.

And that brings us to the nagging question of shade tree mechanicism (yep I made that word up).  That heart sinking moment when one gets to the end of a project and there are extra parts laying on the workbench… It happens. There are as many reasons for it as there are home do-it-yourself mechanics.
Lack of organization-Lack of familiarity with the proper assembly- Lack of manual consultation.  

It seems that every project follows a similar pattern –

Prepare the work area –

Get the bike set-up and the tools out. Have the coffee brewed and the radio set to an appropriate channel (For me it is usually the oldies rock station) Organize the newspapers required to catch fluids if you are going to work on anything that may leak or spill. Rags, and supplies and new parts should be ready (Which for me means sitting on a nearby worktable so that I can see them and not forget them).  And anything else you may need or want as the time goes by.

Dig right in –

For my Goldwing is usually means taking off the seat and plastic body panels in an attempt to get TO the mechanism needing work.  Then it’s into the repair itself. Some times, I know the proper tool, and sometimes I need to make 2 trips to the toolbox before I get the correct size. It is actually easier on the Goldwing as 2 sizes cover a lot of the misc nuts & bolts.  8 and 10 mm are common to Honda motorcycles so I always have those out. The 12 and 17 are used and of course the metric Phillips head.  This is where things get fun. If I know what to do, the time goes by easily, unless of course the unexpected pops up…Things like an oil filter stuck so hard all the Kings horsemen were required to loosen it. And the dropped washer that rolls out of the garage and into the lawn that takes 15 minutes to find. That is part of the joy and challenge of the home repairs.

One of my habits while removing parts is to put the needed fasteners with the part I have removed on a nearby table, which I have set up specifically for this purpose. I stand the table nearby but off to one side so I have to take a few steps to get to it. That way I know my actions are deliberate and thoughtful and I believe that will help me remember where each part is, and how it goes back together. Usually….However there are those surprise parts that fall off as you remove a part or fastener. Those washers that roll away, or drop into the inner workings of your bike, never to be seen again. And of course – SPACERS – the very bane of my existence. It always seems that there is a set of spacers that I was unaware of that fall near my feet. Casually I pick them up and place them on the table behind me, with the tools and supplies and rags. Not deliberately walking them to the parts table so I have an accounting of them...No instead they are placed haphazardly and absentmindedly onto the tools table because they fell while I was engrossed in making sure the light didn’t crash to the cement below.  

Reassembly –

The fun part of the project. Everything is done. The wrench twisting, the screw turning, the grunting and groaning. Even the sweating from the effort of un-sticking fasteners without breaking anything (an absolute art in itself)  Knowing the job was well done and brimming with satisfaction and pride in the success of the effort, the home mechanic effortlessly begins to re-hang the removed parts. In fact this is a good time to polish each piece so out comes the cleaner and every inch of each part of plastic, and chrome is shined as it goes back on. The evidence of fingerprints wiped clean and forever from the body panels so as to not betray the intrusion. Briskly the parts seem to fly back onto the  bike – ever less to do as the project really picks up steam and momentum. Each part replaced is a marker of triumph for the home mechanic. Finally the last part is bolted on, and the seat remounted so the bike is now ready for riding again.

Clean – up

The drudgery of the job is always the clean up. My way of doing it is to gather the garbage and start a waste bag. I toss out wrappers, and used parts as well as dirty paper towels, and empty containers. Then the bag awaits further stuffing as I begin to return the tools to their permanent home in the tool chest. I like to have a rag in hand and I wipe them off as I place them back in the proper drawers. Knowing I put them away clean helps assure me they will be ready when I am for the next project.  Soon they will all be back in place and I can go out on that test ride…

Then I see them – those spacers I so carelessly placed on the wrong table! Damn my inattention! How could I leave these off the bike? Why did I not notice them as I reassembled the housing?!  What should I do now..?

Here is where the human aspect of motorcycle maintenance becomes apparent…I ask myself this telling question… “How important are these spacers?” Of course I already know the answer. The designer wouldn’t have put them in if they weren’t needed. But it means I have to take the tools back out, and the parts off again…

And the cycle repeats……

Weather & Compromise – The condition bank.

How often is the weather exactly perfect? Not often enough that’s for certain. And if the weather is just right usually, why do so many local folks (regardless of where you go, the people are always local folks as you are the visitor) talk about the changeability of the weather? You know you’ve heard it… “If you don’t like the weather just wait a few..” . You know the rest – I know you do!

If you ride a motorcycle, you have to contend with all sorts of weather conditions. Often it is too cold, or too hot or perhaps raining or windy. Far too infrequently is it just perfect. So in order to be a rider one has to compromise and ride in less than ideal weather conditions more often then not. Otherwise, you would rarely ride anywhere. (Some motorcycle owners are like this but in my world fair weather motorcyclists are not really riders – but it may account for the vast number of low mileage bikes in the world especially around Milwaukee).

Here is what generally seems to happen. There are times when the weather is just a bit too cold or warm to be completely comfortable. As a rider, I try to dress for the conditions and ride anyway. Sometimes I get the dressing guesswork correct, and other times not.  It seems that the perfect match of weather and riding gear is a very small window of opportunity and a shift of even a few degrees can make a big difference in how we ‘feel’ the weather. Once I am rolling and get a real impression of my choice of attire for the ride I ten must satisfy myself with the knowledge that I learned a bit more about what to wear in order to be comfortable.

I usually soften my self-evaluation with COMPROMISE. If I dress too lightly and my arms are getting a bit cold, I say to myself.. “Sure it may feel too cool right now, but remember this when you are riding in HOT conditions some future day”. Therefore, I compromise with myself – I like to ‘bank’ those miles I am riding in the cold for days I ride in the heat. For ME – being a little too cold is better than being a little too hot. I know if I get too cold, I can add clothes, but there is a limit to what I will ride without. I ride with all the gear, all the time – I would rather sweat than bleed.

Someday when I am riding and it is really HOT – I will simply remember the ride when I was a little too cold and it seems to make one ride or the other somehow better. It is an easy withdrawal from my riding weather bank.  On those days when I am too cold I think of those rides when the humidity was over the comfortable index and think of how it could be worse. With this little mind game I am able to find enjoyment in a lot of differing weather conditions – and thereby find myself riding my motorcycle a lot more often than those who would not ride in cool or hot temps.

Motorcycle Haiku - Japanese Poetry

I currently own 2 Honda motorcycles- a 1996 GL1500 Goldwing, the epitome of grand luxury touring motorcycles. A purpose built machine that defines the category and sets a standard for all other manufacturers to strive to match. And a  1982 CX500 Custom which is a vintage cruiser from the late 70’s and early 80’s that was a radical design concept for motorcycles of the day with it’s liquid cooling and shaft drive. Today’s CX variant motorcycle have attained a cult-like following with devotees across the globe sharing information and admiration for these bikes through the internet.

I was reading an online article about Japanese poetry - the Haiku - and it's very simple form and function process'. The Haiku is meant to "strip away" as many unnecessary sounds as possible and to leave behind a pure and elegant message on a subject. This passion toward elegant simplicity is culturally Japanese and shows itself in many forms in the products they build, as well as this poetic art form. As I own two Japanese motorcycles, I thought this might be a way to experiment with my writing, and honor the creators and designers of my favorite toys.

Traditional Japanese Haiku requires a rigid form with rules dictating certain elements like a mention of a 'season' of sorts within the poem thus always rendering it about nature and time.

Evolved Haiku has corrupted those rules and offers more simple rules that only dictate form and some very expansive functions :

Simple Haiku form - 17 syllables

Line 1 = 5 syllables– set the context
Line 2 = 7 syllables– add depth to content
Line 3 = 5 syllables– summarize or juxtaposition.
So I wanted to play around with a few just to offer something to all you motorcycle enthusiastic souls...

CX500 Variant Specific Poems

Twisted Twin Form

Engineers Inspiration

Beholders Beauty

The Café Racer

Simple, Elegant, Light Weight

Speed Personified

CX500

Middleweight motorcycle

Faster than you think

Liquid cooled, shaft drive

Radical innovations

Less garage, more ride

Cult like following

Devotion to the design

Riders love affair

Goldwing Inspired

Luxury riding

Comfort for mile after mile

Flying too close to the ground

One thousand miles

Long distance super hero

Ironbutt rider

Required tool kit?

Credit card, cell phone, some cash

Full reliability

Big heavy beastie

Dancing Hippopotamus

800 pounds wet

Simple or complex

The Goldwing can be either

Riding or wrenching?

Lead to learn – The Following Syndrome

Over the course of many trips, both in a car and on my motorcycle, I have finally realized that being the leader or running alone is a much better way to experience the travel as one passes through any geography.  There are significant advantages to being a follower, however being the lead increases travel passion.

Being a single rider (traveler) is akin to being a Lead rider as the process of leading oneself engages fully with the process due to its potential impact should something go badly. A lone traveler must be focused and engaged on the travel process to assure the trip works as planned.

The process of following; either a single leader or as a part of a group dynamic has many advantages over being a lone traveler. The group features company, people with whom to talk, and the comfort of knowing if trouble arises, there will be someone there to help. The group ride has many of the same features as following a single leader and for the purposes of this post, they will be synonymous. Having someone else lead is easier and offers the follower an opportunity to really become a sightseer while rolling down the road. The follower has only to keep track of where they are in proximity to the leader. By casually monitoring the leader, the follower is free to dedicate attention to the passing landscape. The follower has very little responsibility as compared to the leader. Simply ..to follow…!

The leader conversely has tremendous responsibility to either the single follower or the group. The leader must plan the route, and continually monitor the progress to ascertain the plan is properly executed. The leader makes decisions in route as the planned activity is shaped by weather, problems, and other outside factors.  Keeping the follower or group in tow, and adjusting plans to accommodate others personal needs , like comfort stops, or hunger pangs, the leader must constantly make adjustments to the plan, and weigh the consequences of any changes as it affects the days ride; all the while compromising with the follower. Further the leader hopefully has some knowledge to share with the follower about the local area, particular area features, or even topography. When doing this via motorcycle it adds another layer of chance – weather!

However – the LEADER has the great pleasure of experiencing the travel in a way a FOLLOWER cannot. The leader’s full engagement with the travel process lends itself to a better experience and a greater learning environment. Because the leader must be completely attentive to the process of travel; the route plan, the stops, the unexpected; the travel itself becomes more intense. The leader is more keenly focused on the process minute by minute and place to place than when compared to the relative safety of being a follower.  Because of this “hyper-awareness”, the leader (or single) traveler notices and remembers better everything the group encounters along the way. The vistas of beauty are more intense, the problems a bit more severe, the food a bit more enjoyable and the sights more memorable. The focus required to be the leader (single) forces that person to live in the moment and feel the fullness of the  experience.

Garage Day..The act of cleaning ones soul

It seems every group of motorcycle enthusiasts has one. That one place, and more importantly, that one guy who has a fabulous garage, all set up for working on motorcycles. It is not uncommon to find riders of a variety of brands gathered in that driveway any time of the night, any night of the week, and especially on a Saturday!.

The local wrench is more than just folklore. He is the center of the community for many. He has all the tools, and the knowledge of just what to do to solve any symptom your bike may be suffering. Usually this fella has a sidekick or two...guys who are almost as good mechanically, but lack the space or the good nature to openly dispense advice, time, tools use, and effort.  These guys are amazing to watch when they are called into action. They can often strip a bike down to bare the problem, and have a repair under way before the novice could find the correct page in the service manual. It always seems they either have the required part on a shelf, in a pile or at a nearby associates place.  Triage and surgery and recovery all in the same afternoon in most cases. And routine maintenance is a delight for them, as they sit back , and watch the uninitiated learn by doing under the tutelage of the masters.  Watching the newbie sort through 4 wrenches before finding the right size, or making a general mess of themselves as the oil change goes badly, and fresh oil seems to always pour straight through an engine that has not had its drain plug replaced.

Certainly this interesting phenomenanon of motorcyclist behavior repeats itself every summer weekend in every town across America.  Close your eyes, and open your heart and you will experience it as well. The camaraderie is a shared experience;  as the insults and jabs are traded within the guidelines of unwritten and universally known rules through out the entire time spent either turning wrenches or playing know-it-all. Bonding over a common interest, and it is not necessarily motorcycles, but rather the call of humankind to be part of a group. To belong somewhere rather than nowhere. The need to gather, and share, and experience as one. It seems rather incongruous that people who guard their independence and singularity as vehemently as motorcycle enthusiasts, the very picture of a rugged individual, would be drawn to this congregation.

However it is this behavior, this act of joining and participation, that validates the soul. It gives shelter from the cold world where dangers lurk around every corner. It offers a larger sense of self, and truer definition of the oblique nature of being human in every person not with standing their daily actions.

The Garage Day is more than just a day or place to repair ones motorcycle. ....

It is also a place to find yourself by looking into others for your reflection.

Winter Plans ...?

The winter months pass by slowly for a motorcycle enthusiast, at least those of us who live in northern climes where there is precious little good riding weather between Novemeber and March. The winter can be a trying period, where ones patience is tested while waiting for riding season to return once again in spring.

In order to pass this time there is always the exercise of "Planning". That is to plan the upcoming summers trip(s). To look over the map and decide where you want to go, and when you want to go there. And what you may want to see once you arrive.  This activity is a fine way to spend those cold months waiting. And to get organized and ready to go is an excellent exercise, albeit a wasted one often.

What I mean is that once a motorcyclist actually gets on the road..the plans are subject to change almost immediately. I realized this on some of my early adventures. That a perfect plan is often useless once you actually get moving. This phenomenon seems  to only affect my motorcycle travels however , as when I travel by car, train or plane the schedules are fixed and firm. The flexible nature of riding a motocycle is what really allows for this variance.  The very act of traveling by motorcycle is by nature one of defiance and rebellion to the conventional. When most people want to go somewhere they choose more safe, and comfortable means of transportation - within the common guidelines of everyday society. A motorcycle enthusiast decides to operate outside those boundaries and ride a less safe, and often less comfortable vehicle.  This simple decision of conveyance is one of style, substance and conviction.   Not so much that one has to act outside the societal behavioral acceptance (lawlessness?), but wide enough of the norm that the rider can take price in choosing the road less traveled....

The Road Not Taken

Robert Frost

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim
Because it was grassy and wanted wear,
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I marked the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I,
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

Everyday Awareness

I have resolved myself to make at least one new post each week. In this manner I will be pushing myself to continue observing, and making note of, the world around me each week. I think that is a keystone for a good writer..to be aware of ones surroundings and notice the little things that make each moment unique and different. A good writer finds the salient points in any moment and condenses them down to their very essence in order to recreate them in the printed form for a reader to digest.

Knowing that I wanted to make a blog post today I was keenly aware of my environment this morning as I left the house.  The weather once again was making the world a cleaner place to live, the fog and warm air had combined to create huge beads of condensation on everything. The car was covered in these drops of crystal clear water and I watched as they blew off the surfaces as I gained speed.

Today I was consciously making note of things as I looked for a good thing to blog about . Thursday is to be my writing dayt whenever possible, and even though some of these posts will be abbreviated, I am going to try to write a little something consistently.  Then luck intervened and I found my muse for this post.

As I drove to work this morning I noticed the air was clear, and warm, and it felt very springlike. This of course in encouraging for any motorcycle enthusiast and I too felt the stirring of my wanderlust longing to be in the saddle again after this gentle winter season. I have driven this way countless times over the 20+ years of living in our house but something caught my eye today. There is a section of road the parallels the main highway I was on, it functions as a frontage road that leads to several houses. I think they added this road to keep traffic off the main road which flows by at higer speeds. It is not uncommon for me to see kids waiting for their schoolbus on the corner most mornings, but today soemthing was different.

As I drove pat I noticed a man crouching in the center of the street. He had his dog with him, and on a leash, and they were both being quite still. As I went past I saw why they had stopped there. The man had a large camera mounted on a tripod aiming toward the northeast. He was working on getting a picture of the area. As I said I have driven past this place many many times and never before noticed what a picturesque place it was. But this morning, because the man with the camera was there, I noticed the view he was capturing. It wasn't breathaking nor panoramic. Just an old farm, with a rundown barn, all framed by the rapidly melting snow steaming slightly as the air warmed it.

So that was my lesson for the day...Taught by an anonymous photographer...to look at everything which is seen daily, and to find the uniqueness of it. To see the steam rising, and to realize the light was perfect at that exact moment.  A lesson of awareness.

Hard to believe it has already been one week since I started this blog. The main idea was to have a place to deposit  my motorcycle adventure stories, and then allow people to read them from all over the country (world?).  I found it was cumbersome to try to share a long story like All the Way to the Water - how does one easily send this size to a friend in another state? E-mail files were huge, the printed matter was excessivly costly to mail, and to sned a disc or usb memory stick was pricey as well.  That is the genesis of this blog.

I also thought that perhaps I could share my thoughts and ideas and chronicle them in a place for my friends and family to read as well. In my heart I always wanted to be some kind of writer. I think I can bring a unique perspective to the things I experience, and with some luck present them in a manner which the reader will find entertaining and perhaps even enlightening...That would be a very wodnerful thing for me indeed.

One thought that has been in my mind a lot lately is a very brief experience from mid-January 2012. The winter has been unsually warm, and the weather (or lack thereof) has been something I often pay attention to, which may be a consequence of being a motorcycle enthusiast as I am IN said weather when I am riding.

We had a rain shower overnight that was simlar in feeling and intensity to a more common spring rain shower. It was not a heavy downpour, nor raging storm, simply an extended rain shower with little wind but lots of rain water. When I went outside the next morning I found the air to be wierdly clean, and clear. The rain had washed the world so completely everything looked ...different ...? The road surface was clean, the house was clean, the grass seemed spring like, the air smelled and tasted fresh. Even my car, parked outside overnight, was clean and shiney like it had just been polished..?

I have no proof of this idea, but I think it may be reasonable...I think the rainwater was in a very pure form. The winter cold air is quite dense and will hold scarce few pollutants (hence the better air quality index found in the dead of winters). I think this rain was so clean, so pure, so freash that it had a cleansing effect on whereever it fell. The Ph balance must've been perfect, each drop falling to earth without collecting dust, and pollen and pollutants on the way down. No acid rain, no ash from a distant fire, no fallout from a reactor somewhere half way around the globe...just pure clean fresh water.  Further - I wonder if this was the type of rain that ALWAYS fell on the world before mankind came along and started adding tons of exhaust carbons into the air. When the world was growing and green and lush.  If that is the case..then early man had a wonderful place to develop and grow...perhaps even a "garden" all centered on this simple thing - rain.

Groundhog day 2012.
Perhaps in some ways a fitting spot in time and space to start a blog. After many different writings and postings in cyberspace I found that it was all too non-interactive. I want to share my thoughts, my views, my insights and opinions - primarily about my travels and motorcycle adventures, but also about life and the myriad twists and turns if brings.

As this is an idea and effort in it's infancy, and I have no real preconcieved concepts of what it will be, I can only say it promises to be interesting and the final product at some distant time will provide these answers.

Please pardon the typos that are inevitable and the expected poor grammer - a reader would do well to focus on the content I offer, and not the delivery. Some of the posts promise to be rambling thoughts, and other well conceived plans. Some will be be storys from days past, and others just flights of fancy...

Please enjoy while I continue to Just Explore - never really lost....