Earlier this week I realized the chrome on my levers is flaking off again! I say again because this happened before, though I apparently didn’t write about it. Back in 2009 the levers were replaced as part of a larger overhaul do to some damage and they were replaced with a set of Kuryakyn’s that were supposed to be very good. My 2009 riding season was rather short (due to said service) and everything seemed fine, then came the 2010 riding season and all seemed well. Until mid way through the season, when I swear the levers felt odd. Every time I checked, and others checked for me, they looked fine, so I let it go. But then in the beginning of August while out for a ride it felt like I got a splinter in my finger, when I stopped to check I did have a splinter, a chrome flake splinter! The chrome plating on the lever was indeed peeling off. I ordered some replacement levers from Nicholson’s and waited for them to come in and in the mean time I just rode wearing my full finger gloves. By the time the levers came in the riding season was just about over so I decided to wait to put them on until the 2011 season. Chuck was nice enough to install the new levers for me during the off season and they felt and looked great all season. Now this year I get the motorcycle out, the earliest ever I might add, and after riding it home for the first time I once again feel like the levers are pitting and flaking! When I checked it turns out they are. At this point I am thinking that maybe I just have a high acidic level to the oil in my skin. Maybe? In any event I have decided not to order a third set of levers, instead I have ordered these leather lever covers. I purposely chose these because there are no long tassels, I am personally not a fan of them. So now I need to wait for them to arrive and hopefully they look good when I put them on.
Archive for the 'Motorcycle' Category
Today marks the earliest I have ever been able to get the motorcycle out for the season! Today and the rest of the week are supposed to be beautiful and I am looking forward to being able to ride again. After picking the bike up from Chuck’s and riding home, Melissa and I decided to ride down to Sidetracks for dinner. When we got down there I also did something that I had never done before, I backed the motorcycle into a spot that was part of a line of motorcycles. It was a pretty neat experience to be part of that brotherhood, to look back and see my bike in a line with others. Of course this is also when I had a chance to verify something that I was dreading, the chrome on my levers is flaking and pitting again! I am beginning to suspect that I may just have a high acid level in the oils in my skin. It’s the only sane conclusion I can come to. Not sure what I am going to do at this point, but I really don’t want to replace them again if they are just going to flake again!
So far this summer I feel like I haven’t really had the opportunity to ride the Motorcycle as much as I would like to, either due to unfavorable weather or general life conflicts. Today though we got to take a nice ride out to Melissa’s parents’ house. Round trip it’s about 115 miles, which I know is not really a lot but it is better than nothing. This trip is always a nice one to take on the motorcycle because we ride along a lot of back country roads, so there is typically light traffic and some really nice scenery. My ultimate hope though is to one year be able to go on one of the extended motorcycle trips that my friend Chuck goes on. This year i might have tried to join him if not for work not allowing me the option to join, he will be riding around Lake Michigan with a few other guys, camping along the way. He estimated this trip to be about 1200 miles. That would be one hell of an experience!
Finally had time to get back on the motorcycle today! I feel, due to weather and other restrictions, that I am riding less this year than previous years. I hope that changes as the summer goes on. Riding is one of the few things that helps me to relax and de-stress. Looking back, it appears that this is the first ride since April 29th, that’s almost two months! It was real nice to be back on it though and the 68.1 mile ride was very nice. I don’t have a map of this particular trip though, as I honestly do not remember the route I took. I need to save money and get a GPS that allows me to upload map overlays so I will be more easily able to keep track of where I have gone. Putting the maps in by hand (which is what I normally do) is very time consuming and tedious, additionally it becomes a big problem when I don’t remember the full route like today. It’s hard to remember the route though when we are exploring roads we have never been on before.
Ahh, the first real ride of the season. The weather was beautiful today for a change, so after work I came home and fixed the mirror on the motorcycle (repositioned it and tightened it back down) and then took it out for a kick spin to make sure I had it in the right position and that it wasn’t going to vibrate loose. Then I came back to the apartment and Melissa and I got ready and went for a quick ride, only about 30 minutes long. On the way back we stopped off at a local Starbucks and got an Iced Chai Tea Latte (which we seem to be addicted to lately) and then made it home just before the rain came. Here is what our route looked like:
| Title: | Motorcycle Ride |
| Description: | 04/29/2010 |
Went over to Chuck’s after work today to pick up the motorcycle seeing as it is finally a semi-nice day, of course it is supposed to rain all weekend though. We checked the air pressure in the tires before I left his house, and it was a good thing to as they were about 20 psi low. Luckily Chuck has an air compressor and was kind enough to fill them for me. He was also kind enough to attempt to tighten up my right side mirror as it was very loose. It was odd though, for some reason when I left his place I felt very nervous about pulling out of his driveway and on to the dirt road he lives on, not sure why but once I got out on to the paved road i felt much better. I made it about 1/4 mile from his house when my mirror came loose again, loose to he point that it was of no use to me, so before I do any further riding I will need to get that take care of. Apparently my speedometer is still off as well because when I got home Melissa asked me if I was ok because I was “driving so slow”, I asked what she was talking about and she said that I was pretty much always going about 10 mph slower than the speed limit. I told her that was odd because my speedometer showed that I was doing the actual limit. I have had this looked into once before so I may need to have it looked at again. Other than those few small things I am all set to ride. I do, however, need to get a new pair of boots because mine are worn flat. I’ll need to add those to the shopping list and see how I can manage finances. Now I just need to wait patiently for some nice weather.
Riding season is almost here, well not really but I am already thinking about it, and one of the things I am thinking about is safety. Typically on nice days when I ride the motorcycle I don’t wear a jacket, not because I don’t have one but because it is not very comfortable. When I bought the bike the dealership threw in a Joe Rocket ballistics jacket, and while I am sure it would be effective should I ever go down (I don’t want to test this theory) I find it uncomfortable to wear, so I don’t. I typically wear it when the weather gets cold at the end of the season and I take the expressway to drop the bike off at my buddy Chuck’s house for the off season and that’s it. I have even rode the bike in to work on some rather chilly mornings without it because I don’t like the way to fits when I am riding.
Hopefully, today, I have fixed that problem. A friend at work was selling this leather jacket that he purchased from Hudson Leather and only wore twice because he didn’t like the way it fit him. The price he was selling it for was substantially less than the store price, and seeing as it fit nicely I decided to take my chance. I need to break it in some (as he literally only wore it twice) and get used to the weight of it, but it is a real nice coat. While I am still not positive that I will wear it all the time, especially on those really hot days as I am rather warm to begin with, I am sure it will come in handy on those chilly morning rides into work.
The next things I need to work on are: a new pair of riding boots (the soles of mine are pretty much worn flat, though I have had these boots for almost 9 years); a luggage rack for the back and the saddle roll to go on it. That way I won’t need to wear a backpack to carry my lunch to work.
That was one of the coldest motorcycle rides I have ever taken! It’s 40 degrees out and raining, so it must have been a good time to bring the motorcycle over to Chuck’s house for the winter, as he is being so kind to let me keep it in his pole barn again this year. I think last year when I brought it to Chuck’s it was cold then too, I remember it was definitely raining harder, though it might have been a little warmer. It’s kind of sad though, because I hardly got to ride at all this season due to the weather and other things not allowing for the time. Even though it was a very cold ride, it was still nice to be back on the road. However, it had been so long since I last rode that I had to jump start it three times before it would stay running, that is the most I have ever had to jump it. Hopefully next season I will get to ride more than this season, but in reality any ride time is better than none.
I got the motorcycle back this morning from Nicholson’s. Everything looks great and the short ride that I was able to go on (just riding it back home) the new handle bars felt great. There is a huge difference now in how my hands and arms are positioned on the grips and so far it feels great!
That being said, the whole ordeal of getting the work done at Nicholson’s has left a very bad memory and I am not certain I will go back there for service again. The short version of a very long story is that they have had my motorcycle since March 21, 2009 and I am just getting it back today, almost three months later.
I had to go in and talk to the service manager (Warren) twice, the sales manager (he was supposedly the highest manager in the store the day I went) (Wayne) once, and the actual store manager (Brandon) once just to make sure my repairs got done. The store places a lot of blame on a single service department person that they recently terminated. While I am not sure if it really was all this persons fault or if he became a convieniant scape goat, the fact is that their service department was shoddy.
The overall work on the bike seems to have been done well once it was done, getting it done timely was a huge issue and a battle. During one of my meetings with the service manager I had to make sure the parts where there, and it was a good thing I did because the parts that the service department were supposed to order, they hadn’t. I have been told they are working on revamping the service department and getting more able technicians in to help fulfill work orders, so I guess I will just have to wait until the next time and see if I want to try them again or not.
On the other hand, there parts department was excellent! Ordering parts from them in the future should be no problem at all.
I got a phone call from the insurance company yesterday and they told me they had finally finished the estimate on the motorcycle. While an initial estimate had been done months ago before it was even taken to the shop, at the shop they performed another crash inspection and they found damage that the insurance adjuster had missed, so the insurance company had to go out and verify this new damage and write a second check. Now that all the estimates are done, today I went over to the shop and finalized all of the parts selections and talked to the parts guy, Joe, and the sevice technician, Sid, to get everything finalized. Now I just have to wait for all the parts to come in and the work to be done. With any luck all the work should be done by the end of May, probably before I am back from Philadelphia and New York, but I won’t be able to go pick it up until after then. While I will have and already have missed a couple of nice riding days, I will still have at least 3 months of ride time. Hopefully I can put some miles on it.