Pics!

Here are some pics of the new ride...

Not sure why my house looks orange-ey...oh yeah; it's my wonderful camera at work once again!




You can't see them in this pic, but the windshield is splattered with many, many bugs. Sorry little guys!

What's that in the background? Why, it looks like a truck with a busted steering box! Anyone care to make an offer?


My window here at work looks out right over the bike parking area. The first time I looked out this morning, my first thought was "Where the hell is my Fatboy and who parked their bike in my spot???" Oh yeah...

900 miles on the odometer. I might wind up going over a bit, by the time Wednesday night gets here... D'oh.

Ride Hard, Take Chances

Freezing

Didn't take the bike out yesterday (Friday), the weather was too lousy. But I did have it out today. I had to ride out beyond Worcester to help a buddy who was moving. Gassed up for the trip, rode through some snow squalls on the way, but things calmed down by the time I got to where I needed to be. We loaded some large furniture and a couple of refrigerators, drove to their new location and hoofed everything up to the top floor (why is it always the top floor?) and got things set up. When that was all said and done, it was time to bulk the odometer some more.

Gassing up again, I rolled back down 495, picked up 95 and just headed south. Crossed into RI and then into CT. I didn't make it down quite as far as Zig and I did the other night, but it was well past Foxwoods. The temps were falling slowly, but when they're only starting out in the mid 30's, they really don't have to fall very far to get your attention. And the wind? Yeah, there was lots of wind.

I'd had enough (and still had to turn around and retrace my steps), so I pulled off, figuring I'd find some gas and maybe a Dunkin Donuts for a hot chocolate, and then I'd just loop back to 95 north and head home. Well, there were no DD's in the area, but I did find a gas station - but get this; it was 10 cents more expensive if I used my credit card. I didn't think any places actually did that any more. I was so disgusted that I just left. Besides, I still had enough gas to make it home...or so I figured.

I got to see my odometer click over automatically to the Reserve indicator again when my fuel dropped way down. What I didn't know, is that when that display drops below 10 miles left (before your tank gives up the ghost), it changes to read; "Low". And I got to see that happen tonight. Great - so I've got something less than 10 miles of fuel left...hmmm...I was close to my exit, but I was pushing things a little too close for comfort so I took Zig's exit and hit a gas station just off from there a bit. Filling up, the bike took 5.5 gallons (apparently that Reserve odometer is a bit conservative, eh?), and I'd gotten 175 miles. Not as good a mileage rate as the Fatboy got, but this bike does have a bigger engine. And a bigger air cleaner/EFI mapping setup. And it's very cold out there. I'll have to see if the mileage improves once the temps come up in the summer.

And now I'm home, almost sitting on top of the wood stove as I type this. Freezing? Yeah, just a bit. I need to get some food into me, take a nice hot shower, and then things will be good again.

Current mileage on the bike; 720. If I put 160 on tomorrow, that should leave me in good shape. Then the commuting mileage for Mon/Tue/Wed, plus the ride down to the dealership Wed night, should put me right on the money. That's the plan, anywho. But we all know what happens to plans...

Looking forward to the summer temps, that's for sure. Now it's time for grub and shower. Catch ya later.

Ride Hard, Take Chances.

Day 2

Up and out the door this morning, gotta roll up some more miles. Weather says rain moving in from the west, so what else to do? Head west! Go until I hit rain, then turn around and hightail it back home (that was the plan, anyways). So I shot up 495, picked up Rte 2 and headed west. It was pretty chilly out, and eventually my toes were beginning to yell at me, so I figured it was time to find a place to get a hot chocolate and maybe a breakfast sandwich. Hey, look at that; Dunkin Donuts, next exit. Cool, that'll work. Ok, took the exit...sign says DD is to the left. Ok, headed left. Another sign; DD is up a side road, to the right. Ok, took the right. Another sign; DD is to the right, one more time. Ok, took that right...and found myself on an on-ramp, sending me back onto Rte 2, but headed east now. WTF? What just happened? What happened to DD? Did I just fall victim to some kind of sick joke? Because if I did... Actually, if it was a joke, it was a damn good one and I totally fell for it. Oh well. I guess I'll head East for a while. (I did manage to find a DD a short time later, got myself a hot chocolate and sandwich, and was back on the road in no time.)

I wound my way back to 495 and opted to head back down south. What the heck, I'll go check out the Cape. Made it all the way to the Cape, crossed over the bridge and thought; I might as well go all the way out to the end - all the way to P-town. Seemed like a good idea, but when I made it to Rte 28, the speed limit was only 50 and I soon realized I wasn't going to be able to roll up the miles as fast as I'd be able to on a real highway. So, it was a u-turn and a return to 495 to head back north again. I got back to my neck of the woods at noontime and realized that I needed to catch up with Zig, as he was letting me use his truck to grab my new water heater. Grabbed the truck, picked up the water heater, dropped the heater off at my house, dropped Zig's truck back off to him, rode to the gym to make up for the workout I missed this morning, then it was back home to meet my buddy the plumber so we could get the water heater installed - which we just finished up at 8 tonight. Whew. Long day.

So it was only a half day of riding, but another 250 miles for the day. Not bad (450 miles in the first 24 hours of ownership) but I'm not where I wanted to be , either. We've got snow showers overnight tonight, with cold rain all day tomorrow. Saturday and Sunday are supposed to be better so I'm going to have to make up some real mileage on those days before the work week starts. Wednesday night is drop-off time for the 1k service!

While riding today, I came up with a list of things that I like about the new bike, and things I don't like. First, let's go over the stuff I don't like;



Ok, now let's mention the stuff I do like;
- It has a top gear indicator to let you know when to stop trying to shift up (for those of us who have trouble counting up to 6).
- The automatic volume control which increases/decreases the volume depending on your speed. (Sure, this has been standard on some things for a while now, but it's new to me and I really like it.)
- When my low-gas indicator light comes on, the tripometer automatically switches over to a display which shows how many more miles I can travel before I go bone dry.

Oh yeah; I took the rear tour pack off the bike and wow, what a difference in handling. The center of gravity is brought way back down now, and things are nicey-nice. I don't know how you guys (King, Joe Patch, Danny Lau, etc.) can ride with those things on there all the time.

I'm going to have to look into getting a thinner seat - the stock seat is too thick and it puts me up too high (or maybe my legs are too short). Sometimes I can't put both feet flat on the ground so that's something that needs resolving.

I guess that's enough for now. I'm tired, and I'm starting to ramble, so I'll wrap things here. I hope everyone is having a good week and that the warmer weather is working its way towards you. Tomorrow will be a not-pleasant riding day, so I think the time will be better spent working in the cellar some more. Fun, fun. (I know you're jealous.)

More updates over the weekend.
Ride Hard, Take Chances

Broken Truck? No Hot Water? So what - New Bike!

I was waiting at the door of the bank this morning when they finally opened (on time). I managed to convince them to hand me a check and then it was off to the dealership. I then handed them the check and they handed me some paperwork. Next stop was my insurance company, to switch my policy over from the Fatboy to the new bike. Once they’d given me their stamp of approval, it was off to the registry for the final blessing; a new registration. Having secured that, things were looking good. I just needed to wait for Zig to get out of work so he could run me back to the dealership, and I’d be the proud owner of a new HD. Did I mention that things were looking good? I did, right? Because that was when the crap hit the fan.

Walking back out to the parking lot, I could see that my truck was puking fluid onto the tar underneath the engine. Radiator fluid? Was I overheating? The truck hadn’t seemed to be running hot… Getting closer, I could make out a reddish tint to the fluid. Great. Well, let’s take a look-see and find out what’s up. Looking underneath, I could see the steering box was hemorrhaging fluid. Wonderful. Well, let’s get this puppy back home quickly, while I can still steer.

Pulling into the driveway, I breathed a sigh of relief. Ok, the steering problem was an issue that would have to be dealt with, but it didn’t have to be dealt with right now. Just focus on the new bike and find my happy place. Things will be ok.

And speaking of the new bike, I’d need room in the garage for it, which meant the Fatboy needed to be moved down to the cellar. So I headed down there to start moving some things around…and that was when I found the puddle underneath my water heater. Are you kidding me?? TWO things in one day? What the hell? The funds are already tight as hell from the new bike purchase, and now I’m looking at two major repairs in one day? Oy.

Happy place…happy place. Must find happy place. Ok, doing a quick check around the house, everything else appeared to be in order…no more nasty surprises. Back to the plan; I moved some things around in the cellar and moved the Fatboy down to it’s new (and hopefully temporary) home. Even did some yard work to pass the time until Zig would be out of work.

The call came in; Zig was on his way. He soon arrived to pick me up and we hit the road, with me riding ‘bitch‘ on the back. We got some funny looks on the way down to the dealership (I guess it’s not often that Zig has someone so good looking riding on the back of his bike). We met the folks at the dealership, did the handing off of the keys, they took my pic (for their customer wall) and then Zig and I saddled up. We’d opted to head south to avoid the city traffic, so we cut through some side roads that would lead us back to the 4 lane.

So here I was; on my bike and getting a feel for the new ride. Throttle? Amazingly quick and responsive. That will definitely take some getting used to. The downshifting isn’t an issue; I seem to be able to find that level quite easily. As for upshifting…well...that will take some time as well. I keep catching the lever with the side of my boot. Granted, I’m still making the shift, but it’s not clean. Also; I’m sitting up much, much higher than I’m used to - I’ll have to look into after market seats to see if I can lower myself a few inches. So after all this analysis, what is my opinion? I don’t like it. No seriously; I don’t like how this new bike rides. What the hell have I done? Have I made a huge mistake? And then a memory floated up from the deep recesses of my gray matter; I hadn’t liked the Fatboy when I first picked it up, either. It was too different from the Shovelhead. But I’d soon realized that it was a better riding machine and I’d quickly settled into a much nicer riding experience. So perhaps that was all I needed with this new bike, right? Time would tell.

And speaking of ‘time’, allow me to back up a bit; Zig and I have a deadline. We have one week to log 1,000 miles. You see, we’re heading down to New Jersey to check out a concert and want to be able to open the machines up for the ride down. Which means we’ll need to have completed the break-in period and have the first service done, beforehand. So we’ve already made the service appointments at the dealership - and the clock is ticking.

Back to tonight’s ride; Keeping an eye on the tachometers, we gently hammered down 95 and soon fell into our normal riding rhythm; side by side. We reached the end of Rhode Island and didn’t even pause. Pushing into Connecticut, the miles really began piling up behind us. After close to an hour, Zig gave me the “Stomach needs food” signal and we peeled off at the next exit. We located Sal’s Pizza in lovely Old Saybrook, and kicked back for a bit. He jokingly asked if I was planning on putting all 1,000 miles on in one night. I shrugged and said sure, why not. Then he informed me that he had hockey that night, so we would need to head back. And head back we did, the machines easily clicking the mileage up as we crossed back into Rhode Island, and then into our home state. We parted ways at Zig’s exit and headed off to our respective homesteads.

I’m happy to say that by the end of the evening, I’ve warmed up greatly to the new ride. There’s still a lot of getting-used-to that will need to be done, but overall, I’m very happy with it. I’ve got 200 miles logged in the first night of ownership, and I’ve got tomorrow off from work. The weather looks like it’ll cooperate for at least the morning, so I’m going to bulk up the odometer a bit more.

Apologies, but my camera doesn’t play well with this laptop, so I’m unable to get pictures up before Monday. Please bear with.

Ride Hard, Take Chances

Mixed Emotions

I’ve got an appt to pick up the new ride tomorrow and it dawned on me on the way in this morning that today was the last day I’d be riding the Fatboy. Sure seems odd. I mean, I should be excited as all hell about the new bike, but right now I’m more bummed about giving up the Fatboy. (That may all change within the first few miles of riding the new one, though…)

Zig has been tooling around on his EGC for about a week now and hates it. Ok, he loves it. We decided to head out to breakfast this past Sunday and it was cool to check out his new ride in motion. He’d taken the big tour pack off the back and the bike looks better for it; much sharper and sleeker.

Breakfast wound up being in Buzzard’s Bay – a short 40 miles from home. We’d actually planned on heading all the way out to the Cape, but with temps in the 20’s, our tingling toes (on top of our grumbling stomachs) convinced us to pull over a bit sooner.

Hot chocolate and an omelette for me, coffee and eggs for him, and our internal combustion engines were fueled and ready again. As we strolled back out to the bikes, we could almost feel the gazes of the other diners following us, their heads shaking softly in sympathy for the two bikers; pleasant enough guys, sure. But obviously retarded to be out in this weather. (Or something like that.)

So that’s where things stand at the moment. I’m taking the rest of the week off to try and get some riding in. ‘Course, Mother nature doesn’t seem to want to cooperate…

No worries; I'll keep my fingers crossed and we'll see what happens. I'll get some pics up soon...

Ride Hard, Take Chances

Logic? We don't need no stinking Logic!

A thought occurred to me yesterday…Zig and I cancelled our trip to Scotland because it was going to be too expensive. We opted to stick around in the great US of A, instead. It would be cheaper, after all, right? Ahh…but then we decided that our USA trip would require an upgrade to brand new baggers. So in essence, this ‘cheaper’ plan of ours is actually going to cost us about 4 times as much as a trip to Scotland would have. (I’m not sure where the logic in that is, but apparently I’m now qualified for a management position.)

Sure, the argument can be made that while this plan will wind up costing us more, we’ll have more to show for it. A trip to Scotland would have left us with vivid memories of fantastic experiences, some probable jet lag, and a lot of photos. Our current plan will leave us with brand new bikes which we can savor for years to come. And Scotland isn’t going anywhere soon, right?

Regarding the aforementioned new bikes; the call has come in from the dealership; they’re ready to be picked up. Zig is looking to get his either today or tomorrow. Myself, I’m still digging for loose change in the cushions at home, strolling the side streets for empties to redeem, and borrowing from strangers on the street. With any luck, I’ll have things lined up by the end of the week and can bring my new addition home. Pics will follow.

Ride Hard, Take Chances

Pulled the Trigger

Well…we did it. Zig and I went to Ocean State HD last night and looked things over. We sat on the various models, fired them up, compared colors and options…and finally made the decision to go with a couple of ‘08 Electra Glide Classics. Zig went with Vivid Black, I went with Pacific Blue. Ocean State sells at list price, so there wasn’t a lot of haggle room for us, but since we were taking two bikes, we had a bit of leverage (we liked to think so, anyways). They made some concessions for us and everyone was happy. We signed on the dotted line and will get to pick them up in a week or so.

The only down side is that I love the Fatboy and would love to keep it. But since I’m hardly made of money, I’ll need to sell it to get myself back into the black. I need to get my hands on replacement tins & tank to pretty things up a bit. (Anyone out there know anyone with an extra set?) Some good news is that there’s still a year left on the warranty, and it’s transferable, so that should help, too. (Anyone know anyone looking for an ’02 Fatboy?)

It’s been some time coming, but the need for upgrading couldn’t be ignored. With more and more (and longer and longer) trips falling into place (Sturgis!), it just made sense to go with something that had simpler - and more - packing capabilities. And let’s not forget the aspect of having a radio. I’m tired of serenading myself on the roadways. Have you ever heard me sing? No. No, you have not. And there’s a reason for that; I suck!

It’ll be the end of a (mini) era, so to speak. That Fatboy and I have covered a lot of miles and seen a lot of things. It’ll be nice to break in new steed, but I sure won’t forget that Fatboy.

Pics will follow once I pick the new EGC up.

Ride Hard, Take Chances

Rockin' and Rollin' Again

Heavy rains over the weekend, led to salt-free roads yesterday. There’s still a decent amount of sand out there, especially in the corners, but that’s not a deal-breaker for getting rolling again. Now the patches of black ice…those are a different story. Nothing like coming around a corner and seeing a nice smooth sheet of ass-puckerage coming at you.

Shot to the gym for a while yesterday morning so that I could climb a fake set of stairs that never took me anywhere. When I’d had enough of that nonsense, it was a quick shower and then back home to roll the bike out. Fired things up and hit the road. Zig was up in NH, skiing with his kids, so I knew he wasn’t around to enjoy this with me. So I did what any good friend would do; I rode over to his house and parked in front of his front door. Used my phone to snap a pic, and sent it on to him. He wasn’t at all jealous. Heh heh heh. Who needs enemies when you’ve got a friend like me? After that, I just tooled around, reacquainting myself with some of the more scenic roads in the area.

Brought the bike in this morning, too; 25 degrees out - leading to the usual “You’re not ok in the head” type of comments from my coworkers, so all in all; things are getting back to normal.

Zig and I have made the decision to go ahead and pick up new rides this year – have I already mentioned that? I need to find a dealership that has an EG Standard in stock so that I can go and check it out with my own eyes. (It’s hard to see details on the website pictures.) I’ve heard that a lot of the metal on those is just polished aluminum, not chrome. And if that’s the case, I’ll probably upgrade to the Classic. Not that I’m a big fan of chrome, mind you, but who’s kidding who; it looks a helluva lot better than the polished stuff. I believe Zig is going back and forth between a Classic and a Street Glide. Time will tell.

Started kicking around some plans for our annual bike trip that me, Ed, Flex and Zig take each year. None of us have a destination in mind yet, so that leaves things wide open. I mapped some routes out through western Mass, up through VT and into Canada for now, but I don’t know if all the guys have their passports or not, so we may have to keep within the lower 48. Plenty of time still to put something together.

That’s about it for now. Apologies to those that are still snowed in, but hang on; the warmer weather is on its way.

Ride Hard, Take Chances