Roadside Assistance...of a sort...

Some of you may have heard the news that AAA is now offering coverage for motorcycles.  (Actually, perhaps some of you didn't realize that your AAA membership didn't cover motorcycles before now.)  Anyway, yes; AAA now offers roadside assistance for motorcycles, and for the low annual coast of only $30 per year!

Huzzah!

But hold on there, my friend.  Let's look into the details a bit, shall we?  First off, your simple, every-day-man membership (otherwise known as Primary Basic) isn't good enough to garner motorcycle coverage.  Nope, you gotta upgrade!  That's right boys and girls, you have to give them more money first!

How much with the upgrade cost you?  Well, that depends on whether you go with the Plus, or the Premier memberships.  The Plus will run you an additional $82 dollars a year, and the Premier will run you an additional $112 per year.

Ok...sooo...maybe that's still worth considering?  Well hold on to your seats, bunky, because we're not done.

Another requirement that must be met is you have to have all members of your household enrolled in the same level of coverage (Plus or Premier).  Now for someone like me, this part is inconsequential because I am my household.  But for someone who has two or three folks living in their house, the costs add up quite quickly.

Ok, so moving beyond the cost aspect, let's see what we get for all of our hard earned money...
 - battery jumpstarts and tire inflation
 - fuel delivery (I know someone in NY that could benefit from this)
 - towing, up to 100 miles (200, for Premier membership)

Huh.  Well, it sounds like they've hit the main things; they'll either jump you, feed you, or tow your ass home.  Let's look at the detail in the Terms and Conditions to see if there are any surprises...

#1) Ha, right off the bat, this is listed as a Limited Offer.  Why limited?  Because they're not offering it to anyone that lives in NY.  (I guess everyone hates NY.)  This will be bad news for Mark.  :-)

#2) Well, coverage only extends to the motorcycle itself, not any recreational vehicles or trailers.  (Well...if I had a trailer, with me, I'm thinking I wouldn't need assistance...)
Hmmm...the battery will only be jumpstarted if the its easily accessible and it's safe to deliver the services to the bike.  (I'm thinking if it's not safe, then the bike is off-road, and now we're back to a recreational vehicle...which isn't covered...)

#3) This part is just white noise; rambling about enrollment, renewal and cancellation.  They can, of course, cancel your coverage at any time, at their discretion.  But you can cancel it, too, so I guess that's kind of even.

#4) Service terms, dues, and other fees, are (of course) subject to change without notice.  (I don't think this is even - I'm pretty sure if I tried to change the terms, or the amount I have to pay, they wouldn't accept my changes.)

#5) First off, let me say that I'm shocked that the Terms and Conditions only have 5 items listed, and not the usual 15 pages of miniscule print that you need a microscope to read.  (#5 is just something for New Jersey residents who currently have RV roadside assistance.)

Well there you go.  AAA's new motorcycle roadside assistance program.  Take it for what it's worth to you.

Me?  I'm going to stick with the "call a brother" roadside assistance program.  Because I'm pretty sure AAA won't show up with a 6-pack and a pair of hands that're willing to get dirty with me as we dive in to things and get my bike rolling again.

Ride Hard, Take Chances

Compartmentalized Blues

The latching mechanism on the USB compartment broke about a month and a half ago, and when I had the bike in for it's last service, the dealership said it was covered under warranty.  Sweet!  They said they'd get that ordered for me and let me know when it was in.

Here we are a month later and, having heard nothing from them, I gave 'em a call to see how things were going.  Well, it was no surprise to hear that the part had come in a while ago.  Ok, so; next question.  Is this something they could do while I waited?  The guy said hold on, he had to check.  After a solid 5 minutes of on-hold, he comes back and said that since they have to pull the whole fairing off to do the replacement, I would need to drop my bike off this weekend and they'd get to it sometime next week.

Say what?

I'm not about to go without the bike for a whole week just so they can squeeze it in when/if a slot opens up on one of the tables.  I told them I'd have to check my schedule and get back to them, and they said ok, sounds good.

Hell, I bet I could swap out the old with the new in no time...but I'd probably void the warranty by opening up the fairing or something, so I don't think I'll go that route.

So now I'm left with...when the hell do I get this thing fixed?

I wonder if they'll hold on to the replacement compartment until December...

Ride Hard, Take Chances

Pete Gets Hitched

Matt and I headed down to Pete's house this past Saturday for his wedding.  I hadn't seen the big lug in some time, but when we pulled up to his house, he was out in the street, helping to direct where bikes should park.  And man...talk about a smile!  We shook hands as I coasted on by him and then we proceeded up the driveway, following the bikes in front of us.  Once the plan became clear, we took our places beside the other bikes already there, staged along opposite sides of the driveway, facing each other.  A gauntlet was forming!  A gauntlet of bikes which the new bride and groom were going to walk down after they'd tied the knot.  Cool!

Setting the kickstands, we turned to greet Pete, who had come up the driveway to greet us.  Handshakes were forgone, replaced by hearty hugs and hellos.  Man, this was one happy guy!  He looked so completely elated - it was truly a great sight to see him so excited.

He had lots of things to take care of so we didn't hog too much of his time.  Looking around, we spotted...hey, is that a bar?  Why yes,  yes it is.  We should go check it out!  So of course, we did.  Many, many times.

I took advantage of the lead-up time to the ceremony by walking around and snapping some pics of the bikes that caught my attention.

Oh yeah, first; the gauntlet of bikes;

I liked the teal on this old goat...

This bike and sidecar is driven by a guy named Vincent.

I "met" Vincent on my first trip out to the Rendezvous.  He was riding out with a buddy that had a trike.  We weren't all riding together, but we happened to keep hitting the same gas stops along the way  (this was back when I had the Shovelhead and my gas stops were much more frequent than they are now).  At any rate, I didn't exchange any discussion with either of them at the time, but I did notice them.  Why did they stand out? Because they each were missing a leg.
Since that ride out, I've noticed Vincent at the 'Vous every now and then.  One year, it was very, very late and I was stumbli...er...strolling back to the campsite from the watering hole and I stopped to talk with Vincent.  He was playing some kind of musical instrument (I don't recall what, but I don't think it was a guitar), and we got to shooting the shit.  I asked about his buddy and unfortunately, his buddy had passed.  I gave him my condolences and we hung out for probably an hour or so, talking about this, that, and the other thing before I took my leave and ambled off into the darkness.

Ok, back to the bikes...

Just imagine the stories this beast could tell...

I liked the contrast of the deep crimson against the gloss black on this one.

I love the old stuff, and I love the body on this one...I love everything...except that front end.  I can't even begin to imagine trying to turn this thing around.

I thought this was pretty cool.  Hanging out with it's older brothers, kind of thing.

Ta da!  The ceremony!

I didn't get a shot of them walking down between the bikes because I had one hand on the throttle and one hand on the clutch.  (There was just enough of an angle that I'd had to leave it in first gear to keep it from rolling away.)  Seeing as how I certainly didn't want to be "that guy" that mowed down the bride and groom, I figured it'd be much wiser to put the phone away at this point.

After the ceremony was done, we all mingled, said hello to old friends not seen in a while (many from the Pot Belly Pub - I really do need to get down there more often), and basically had a great afternoon.  The rain came down off and on, but there was room under the canopy when it was hard, but most of us didn't care that much when it was just light, and meandered about anyway.

When the afternoon had gotten long in the tooth, Matty and I figured it'd be better to head closer to home.  So we shot to Natty Green's for dinner, then headed over to Aaron and Chrissy's for a bonfire to round out the evening.

What a day it had been.  Bikes, beer and...a bride!  Great times with great friends.  It doesn't get much better than that.

Ride Hard, Take Chances

ClearView Windshield

The Clearview windshield finally arrived yesterday.  It's been so long since I'd ordered it, I'd actually forgotten it was due to be delivered until I got home and saw it...resting against the outside of my house.

So much for giving instructions that the porch was unlocked and it should be left inside.

Anyway, moving on.  This looks like an important note - too bad it's been obliterated and is difficult to read.  Good thing I've got my trusty razor knife here to open up the box...

Whoa...it looks like someone stuffed a squid in here.  Look at all them tentacles.

Ta-daaaa!  A windshield!  A windshield with a really, REALLY bright red sticker on it...

Oh yeah; this company allows you to do returns, but you have to leave the protective coating on the thing to do so.  Yep; they want you to leave the coating on, install it, ride it around with the coating on it...to see if you like it.

Ok, I'll give it a shot.  Voila!

It doesn't have as much curve as I'd been expecting from the diagrams and pictures on the website...

It's definitely wider than the stock one, that's for sure.  I'm really digging the extra plastic extending out further to the sides.  That's gotta help with the wind!

Hmmm...driving with this coating on, is goanna make it interesting trying to see...

But what the hell, I took it out last night and it seemed not-bad.  I can definitely notice a huge difference on my left side, there's almost zero wind noise at all.  I can still feel/hear the wind on the right side, which is odd - I checked to make sure I had the windshield centered, and it was.

I left the protective film on and rode the bike in to work this morning, and then again at lunchtime, running some errands.  I'll probably keep the windshield (meaning I can lose the film!) but I wish it did a little more wind blockage.  I think if it were maybe an inch taller, it would be just about perfect, but even one more inch taller and I'd be looking through the windshield, rather than over it - which I can kinda do now.

Something else I noticed is that some of the air that's whipping past my right ear is coming from below the fairing and riding up the body of the bike, as well as up my leg.  Before I buy the leather lower covers for the crash bars, I'll rig something up (probably out of cardboard) and see if that helps, or makes things worse.  It's always very tricky when trying to figure out wind.

Something else I may look in to are the adjustable side louvers that some guys have.  I think King has them on his Ultra, too.  Not sure if they exist for the Street Glide but I'll find out.

So there you go; definitely an improvement, but not absolute perfection.  I like the increased wind protection but it's going to take some getting used to, looking over this thing.  (I can't cut anything off of the top because that would compromise the slight forward curve at the top of it.)

Oh yeah - I still need to get this out onto the highway and open things up to see how it handles the high winds.  Maybe I'll do that tonight.

Or maybe I'll just go grab a beer with the boys.  It's been one of those weeks.

Ride Hard, Take Chances

Blackbeard Run

We don't attend many m'cycle runs any more but occasionally we'll check one out now and then if it's a good one or if there's some kind of connection to the Chapter.  As was the case yesterday; our  Road Captain works with a guy (as I understand it) whose cousin was KIA in Afghanistan.  They put on a memorial/charity run in his honor each year and we haven't been able to make it down for one reason or other.  And we almost didn't make it this year, either, due to attending the funeral of our Secretary's father.  And while we weren't able to do the run, proper, we did still catch up with the rendezvous location where the run ended.

We got there before the run arrived which gave us a chance to scope things out.  At first, we chatted with the soldier's cousin, Tony, and he filled us in on the life and death of the fallen soldier.  From there we mosied up to where the main reception would be taking place.  This appeared to be a well run event, with lots of volunteers covering all aspects of the expected throngs.  We ambled inside to the air conditioned bar, made friendly with the bartender for a bit, and hoisted a couple of drinks.  When the approaching rumble from outside announced the coming horde, we headed outside and watched the bikes roll in.  The organizers had commented on something like 600 bikes, but by our estimates, it was much closer to (maybe) 300 at best.  The food line, however, was immense, and just didn't seem to end.  Good thing we'd been able to hop in near the beginning.  But the organizers did a fantastic job of keeping the food bins filled.  The offerings were quite good; sausages, hot dogs, burgers, cheese burgers, chips, and free water or Gatorade.  There were two bars inside, and a beer tent out in the eating area, so all in all, things were flowing smoothly.

We didn't stick around long as we had to get back to our own zip code.  I snapped a few pics on the stroll back out to our bikes for ya;

I liked the colors on this one but I think I've seen it done at other runs, too.  Or, maybe it's the same bike and the owner just really gets around a lot.

I couldn't decide if I liked this bike or not.  I liked the low, sweeping side bags, but I don't like the huge front tire (despite hearing that supposedly it makes for a smoother ride).  The other thing I didn't like, is that it must have been some kind of kit bike, or something like that.  For there was another bike in front of this one, which was exactly, and I mean EXACTLY the same, but in a different color (dark olive).  Every tiny detail was mirrored between the two bikes, with the exception of the color.  So that kind of turned me off as well.

So there you go; the Blackbeard run.  We enjoyed ourselves and will see if we can't make it next year for the full run and afterparty.

Ride Hard, Take Chances

Vids...maybe...

Let's see if I can get some videos to load.

The first one is on I-88, headed from the motel to exit 23...ok, nevermind, that one's apparently too large (over 100mb).

Let's try a couple from the backroads off of the highway, headed to Batter St...well, the first one falls under the 100mb limit, but the second one doesn't so I'll see if I can just get the first one to load.

Nice, that appears to have worked.

Now let's try a couple from when the storm hit us in PA.  Damn, the first one is small enough...

...but the second (better) one is too big.  That's the one where we've pulled up into the landscape place and you can see the waves of rain plowing across the parking lot.  Oh, and the lightning...as we're huddled under a metal roofed shed.  But we all survived, so it's all good.

Ok, just two vids, I guess.  Enjoy

Rendezvous '15 and the Adventures Thereafter

I owe you a write-up on the ‘Vous adventure as well as the travels subsequent to that weekend.  There’s not much to say about this year’s Rendezvous.  It’d been shaping up to be a weird year, long before we even hit the road.  Suffice to say there were a number of things that happened which I won’t get into detail about, but between all the folks that were unable to make it at the last minute, personality conflicts, tempers flaring and then lousy weather added to the mix, it just felt like an off year.  There were lots of laughs mixed in, though, it wasn’t all weirdness.  But I’m hoping next year brings a return to the fun that we’re all used to.

Yeah, and about that weather.  So much for the forecast looking good, two days beforehand.  No sooner had we hit NY than I found that the forecasts had changed to now include heavy rain for Thursday night (which thankfully hit us during the wee hours of Friday morning), but also a major cold front which swept through and brought torrential rain and nastiness from about mid-afternoon on Saturday, right through the long ride to Olean on Sunday morning.  Well, not for everyone.  Those that took their time apparently broke through into sunshine half way to Olean.  I’d chosen to just hit it, on the advice that the front was moving west to east and that I’d eventually punch through to sunshine.  Well, the front lasted just long enough to see me drenched all the way to Mark and Mary’s doorstep.  Oh well, it’s only water.  And they had beer waiting for me, so things were good.

Zig and Kate arrived later in the day and we all caught up and had laughs and fun.  We didn’t do too much more riding that day, but did get a visit from our favorite Sherriff; Bryan!  He even returned later that night (on duty) to check on us and make sure we weren’t causing too much trouble.  (How much trouble can you get into playing one-card, drinking Jack Fire, and reciting tongue twisters?)

Monday saw us get up to see Tommy at his restaurant, and were joined by John Seth, and it was great to see him.  After we’d had our fill of food, it was off to the graves.  And as an added treat, Jerry was feeling good enough to break the Trike out and join us!  That was a very cool high point!  From there, we headed back to his house and visited with Barb for a bit, then it was off to King and Pat’s house to say hello to Pat for a while.

After that, it was off to the Hinsdale Legion to knock back some frosties with Steve and Erin.  King joined us for a bit but, being smarter than we are; departed before the rain came.  Yep; more rain, but of course I’d left my rain gear back at Mark and Mary’s to dry out.  D’oh.

As we were headed back to their house, I noticed in my side mirror that Zig had dropped back, and then pulled over.  There was a car that had pulled up next to them and they appeared to be talking to each other.  Before too long, the car pulled ahead and got up to where I was and who should be inside?  The Lampacks!  Steph, Ma, and Britta.  Apparently the car had been going in the opposite direction and Britta, jokingly, had said “Hey look, it’s Dave” when they went by me.  At the last second, they realized it was me…and then saw Zig and Kate, so they flagged them down.  We all shot the chit for a while and then it was time for hugs (Britta’s favorite thing) and goodbyes until next time, and then off to Mark and Mary’s for the night.

Tuesday morning saw us up early and on the road…ok, not on the road just yet.  We sat back for a bit to let the torrential rain (more rain, yay!) subside a bit.  When it appeared things were settling down, we took our chances and headed for the roadways…and didn’t even reach the end of the Two Mile before the skies were peeing on us once again.  Love/Hate NY!  :-D

The ride to PA wasn’t too bad; the rain peeled off after a bit and despite some confusion with the directions, managed to meet up with Kate’s father Larry.  We all said hello and headed off to his house.  And then it started to rain again.  But not too badly, just enough to make us wet enough to need to change before hanging out and having lunch with the rest of the family; Rhonda and Ryan.  And what a spread!  Breads and cheeses for sandwiches, and beer to wash it down with!  Oh yeah, Larry had had a cooler waiting for us as soon as we pulled into the driveway, packed with iced beer.  Yeah, that’s how you greet dusty (if not dampened) road travelers.

After lunch, Bryan had a ride to take us out on.  We’d been watching the radar and man, was there ever a nasty line of storms sliding northeast, just below us.  I joked that what would happen was that as soon as we left and headed north west, the entire front would shift and chase us.  Ha ha ha…it’s funny ‘cause it’s true.

Sure enough, we weren’t on the ride more than 20 minutes before we could see the sky darkening.  At a stop sign, we checked with Bryan and he assured us we were turning away from it and would be home before it reached us.  Well…the best laid plans, right?  Bryan was right in that we had plenty of time to beat the storm.  What nobody could know was that the universe had other plans for us, and that the traffic accident which we came across, would halt all traffic just long enough for the front to catch us.  We luckily were in front of a landscape company and managed to pull into their parking lot and find some shelter until it calmed down enough for us to head back home – still raining, but not as hard as what the radar showed us was looming soon.

We dried off back at the house and then all piled into vehicles and headed to a local bar for dinner.  It was quite good and we were all fully satiated before long.  It was late, so we didn’t stay too long after dinner and were soon back home and preparing for bed.

Zig and Kate’s plan was to take two days to get home, my plan was to do a straight shot, as I had other destinations  I was hoping to knock off before the week was out.  That didn’t wind up working out, but no matter, there’s still time.

Suffice to say that my ride home was long, wet and really, really sucky.  Rain, dense fog, and traffic.  Oh what traffic!  Only 630 miles, but it took me 10.5 hours to do it.  Three times, I was caught up in construction-related jams which had my feet down and my bike off.  Awesome.
Anyway, it was not Thursday and I needed to get my bike to the dealership for a regular service interval. Of course, traffic into Boston sucked and it took me over an hour to get there.  They then said I had to leave my bike overnight but they’d give me a loaner.  Fine.  Then it was an hour in traffic to get to work to get some stuff out of the way, then home for lunch.  And the phone rings.  It’s the dealership; my bike is ready.  Wha?  But you said….nevermind, I’ll come get it.  So back on the road, over an hour to get there, pick up the bike, then two hours to get home.  At one point on the way home (temps in the 90’s), I was stuck in the tunnel, four lanes inching forward and my bike is beginning to overheat.  Then *bam*, the SUV in front of me starts blowing radiator fluid and steam; he’s all done.  Ok, that’s it; time to get out of here or I’ll be broken down next to him.  I rode the breakdown lane (not much of one, it’s only about 3 feet wide and has a concrete wall on one side), finally out of the tunnel but still not moving – and no more breakdown lane.  Nope, this won’t do, time to split lanes.  Oh what fun that is on a bike with crash guards!  Man, sometimes I really miss that Shovelhead – nice and thin!

Long story short (too late, Dave!), I made it home and decided to scrap the rest of the travel plans.  I had folks coming over in about 24 hours for a fireworks party and my house needed some serious cleaning.

That was it for Thursday, and Friday’s party was fun.  The Walpole Fireworks display was quite good this year and we all agreed it was an enjoyable night.

The rest of the weekend was more laid back…and now I’m back here at work…wishing I was still on vacation, even if it meant being rained on again.

Pics and Vids!  I’ll toss up the pics I have (not too many) and will then post this…post.  I’ll then see if I can load some vids I took.  They’re pretty decent sized so I have no idea if they’ll load or not.

At the onset; Me and Tim, lined up and ready for the madness which would ensue...

Dale wasn't too crazy about the way the names sounded out on his room.  Although he did concede that there really wasn't any good arrangement of these names that would sound any better.

Color coordinated accessories...

Erin is very happy after her beer run!  (LOL, she wasn't as happy in the morning...)

Hilary had a request which we remembered late, late in the evening...

Lined up and waiting to get in!

The mad scramble for turf has begun...

Uhm...yeah...

An inside joke for the guys who go to DC...

Nice setup, overall...

Loved the paint job on this bike...

Nice antique in the barn...

I liked how this looked in the nighttime.  Grounds were deserted but the flag was proudly lit up brightly (I have no idea what time I took this at - could've been 4am for all I know.)

Home sweet home...

A baby blow up doll.  Just the implications are sick enough, but the folks using it were going for a creepy/devil effect, and it worked..

As orange as this bike looks in the pic, I assure you it was even brighter in person.

Back in civilization; the offerings at Mark and Mary's!

Bikes lined up at the graves - Jerry's trike is on the far right.

Tuesday departure.  Ahh, what a lovely day for a ride.  (The rain doesn't really show on the pic, but it was pouring.)

Arrived safely at Larry's in PA!  And cold beer is waiting!

The loaner bike from the dealership.  I liked the color.

No reason for this pic, other than to point out that the food store near me (Big Y) sucks.  I couldn't find the Pam cooking spray in the baking aisle.  Nor could I find anyone who worked there to tell me where I could find it.  After scouring the aisles, I finally found it - apparently it now falls under canned fruit.

 

And there you have it; 2015 Rendezvous and the Olean / Pennsylvania adventures!

Ride Hard, Take Chances