My wife and kids were in the Tahoe. The DVD player was playing "High School Musical" to entertain the kids. The trailer behind the Tahoe held my wife's V30. My Wing was in its natural state, and was ready to head out into its element -- the Interstate, for which it is aptly named.
I had to mail something from the post office before I left town. As I pulled into the post office parking lot I heard a horrible squeal from the speedometer cable. I have heard this squeal before, in cold weather, from my own V30's cable. So I knew the sound.
10 minutes later, out on the interstate, I shift into 5th gear and discover my speedometer is reporting 0 mph. Ugh, my speedometer cable has given up the ghost.
Ironic, my wife's did that a few weeks ago. I replaced her cable with a spare from my own derelict V30, and restored hers to operating condition.
Now here I was setting out on a multi-day journey and no speedometer.
I think I remember that at 4000 rpm I'm doing about 65 mph, so I'll use the tachometer in place of a speedometer. Actually, I think I'll just go with the flow.
I stopped for refreshment at a rest stop about an hour from home.
"Is that 100th Anniversary?" a trucker asked me.
I looked at him quizzically. Was he asking me whether my bike was a 100th anniversary edition? Really, when is Honda's 100th anniversary? I'm sure it hasn't happened yet. Harley's, of course, was in 2003.
Then I realized he was asking about my T-shirt, which I purchased when attending Harley's 100th anniversary party in Milwaukee, in 2003.
"Yes," I answered.
"Were you there?" he asked me.
"Yes, I was," I answered. "Were you?"
"Yes, I sure was," he replied.
I'm sure he wondered about a Honda Gold Wing rider wearing a Harley 100th Anniversary T-Shirt. But he did not voice any questions.
He said, "Ride safe. You might wanna get out your rain gear, it's raining up North."
"Really?" I said, "I am heading North."
This, of course, was obvious, since we were at a rest stop where all traffic had exited from and would be returning to I-65 North. The southbound and northbound traffic did not intermix at the rest stop.
Before I left I inspected the speedometer cable.
Checked the bottom first, down by the front axle. Nothing out of place.
Checked the top. Well, would you look at that. The cable has detached itself from the speedometer housing altogether. Sheepishly I screw the cable back into the back of the speedometer housing. I take off down the on ramp back onto the interstate and voila, I have a speedometer again.
Just A Little Rain
I moved swiftly and effortlessly up I-65 at interstate speeds. Such a stark contrast to my fateful interstate run on the Raven, on May 5. In that run, I was buffetted by winds and it felt like the turbulence from each passing semi would rip my head off.
Here I glided by, among and between four-wheeled cages and 18-wheelers.
At US-24 I headed west, and before long I was getting wet. Nothing like some of the deluges I've been caught in before. The sky looks patchy to the west, so I'm betting this won't last long. I think I'll continue to ride and not don my rain gear.
By Goodland it was a steady rain, so I pulled off at a filling station (no need for more gas yet) and ducked out of the rain. From the cover of the canopy over the pumps, I called my wife on the cell phone. She was ahead of me; we were making no effort to travel in lock step, each of us were setting our own stops as needed.
She confirmed, the rain was not so bad ahead.
I left off the rain gear. The rain was tapering off, to a light misting. So I threw my leg across the saddle again and pointed the nose west.
Here I glided by, among and between four-wheeled cages and 18-wheelers.
At US-24 I headed west, and before long I was getting wet. Nothing like some of the deluges I've been caught in before. The sky looks patchy to the west, so I'm betting this won't last long. I think I'll continue to ride and not don my rain gear.
By Goodland it was a steady rain, so I pulled off at a filling station (no need for more gas yet) and ducked out of the rain. From the cover of the canopy over the pumps, I called my wife on the cell phone. She was ahead of me; we were making no effort to travel in lock step, each of us were setting our own stops as needed.
She confirmed, the rain was not so bad ahead.
I left off the rain gear. The rain was tapering off, to a light misting. So I threw my leg across the saddle again and pointed the nose west.
Cannot trailer 2
We own a 5x8 trailer with steel squarebar frame and wooden deck and sides. We have trailered on or the other bike before.
This time we hoped to trailer both side by side.
So we could trailer bikes to Grammas house, where would leave the kids for 3 days while we toured the countryside on a rare getaway. Our first ever overnight bike excursion.
I hate getting the Wing up on the trailer, it is so big and heavy. I bought a new ramp just for the purpose (the 2x12's weren't strong enough) but still the bike bottoms out as the oil pan crests the ramp onto the floor of the trailer. I hate when it does that.
But I got both bikes up there, side by side, and both of them strapped down tight with ratcheting tie downs. But grab one and tug on it, and the bed of the trailer flexed enough to make me think -- these bikes will bump into each other not from any flex in their moorings, but from flex in the bed of the trailer.
Our wooden mulch-hauling trailer just would not do for hauling two bikes.
By now it's nearly 9 oclock and we consider our other option to be me riding mine, my wife trailering hers, with kids of course riding with her in the truck.
But I've had about 6 weeks of hell at work, up to and including today, and I'm tired. I don't want to start an incursion into deer country at night, with my body and mind as fatigued as this.
We'll stay another night. We'll make the journey tomorrow.
This time we hoped to trailer both side by side.
So we could trailer bikes to Grammas house, where would leave the kids for 3 days while we toured the countryside on a rare getaway. Our first ever overnight bike excursion.
I hate getting the Wing up on the trailer, it is so big and heavy. I bought a new ramp just for the purpose (the 2x12's weren't strong enough) but still the bike bottoms out as the oil pan crests the ramp onto the floor of the trailer. I hate when it does that.
But I got both bikes up there, side by side, and both of them strapped down tight with ratcheting tie downs. But grab one and tug on it, and the bed of the trailer flexed enough to make me think -- these bikes will bump into each other not from any flex in their moorings, but from flex in the bed of the trailer.
Our wooden mulch-hauling trailer just would not do for hauling two bikes.
By now it's nearly 9 oclock and we consider our other option to be me riding mine, my wife trailering hers, with kids of course riding with her in the truck.
But I've had about 6 weeks of hell at work, up to and including today, and I'm tired. I don't want to start an incursion into deer country at night, with my body and mind as fatigued as this.
We'll stay another night. We'll make the journey tomorrow.
The 82's At Oxford, Ohio
Hueston Woods State Park.
Kawasaki Spectre "Rat". Fuel cutoff valve is a pair of channel lock pliers. Rear shocks are rust. Exhaust is high-heat paint black. Seat has rips revealing yellow foam underneath.
But that sucka will move!
Honda GoldWing Interstate. Front master cylinder leaks. Scratched tank and saddle bags. Valve covers leak. Left exhaust was damaged by battery acid, and sloppily repainted by previous owner. But that sucka will move!
Larry's 82
Kawasaki Spectre "Rat". Fuel cutoff valve is a pair of channel lock pliers. Rear shocks are rust. Exhaust is high-heat paint black. Seat has rips revealing yellow foam underneath.
But that sucka will move!
My 82
Honda GoldWing Interstate. Front master cylinder leaks. Scratched tank and saddle bags. Valve covers leak. Left exhaust was damaged by battery acid, and sloppily repainted by previous owner. But that sucka will move!
The 82's
My brother-in-law Larry suggested that he and I ride from Indianapolis to Heuston Woods state park in Ohio for our family reunion.
He arrived at my house at about 10 am. We fetched his current rat from my screen porch, where he has been keeping it. His current rat, by the way, is a 1982 Kawasaki Spectre 1100cc. It is a rusty critter with blacked out exhaust, crusty carbs, and a leaky fuel valve. It's missing a side cover and has ugly yellow-orange foam hanging out of rips in the seat cover. But that rat can fly!
Despite having the fuel line pinched off with channel-lock pliers, the bike had puddled some fuel and oil on the concrete floor of the screen porch. When he sat the bike up on its center stand, fuel poured out of the airbox where it had accumulated.
"Will we even be able to get it started?" I asked dubiously.
"Sure!" he said, ever optimistic.
Sure enough, he cranked it for about 10 seconds, and VROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM the Kawasaki inline 4 with 4-into-1 exhaust roared to life.
He backed it out of the screen porch and we were on our way.
We both needed to gas it up before we hit the road, so we stopped at the local convenient mart for gas. He discovered his wife had his wallet, so I bought gas for both of us.
I put 3 gallons of 87 octane in my 82 GoldWing. He sniffed and requested high octane fuel.
"It's a high compression engine, and my brother told me to put 92 octane in it," he told me.
"Huh," I mused, "My magna was a high-compression engine and it ran on 87 octane. But as you wish." I swiped my card again to pump 2.7 gallons of premium into his tank.
Our route was set. We'd slab it down I-465 then take US-52 west. We didn't really want to do the whole trip on the superslab.
He was without a windshield at interstate speeds and I remember how that felt when I made that trip on May 5, with no shield. I felt like the wind was gonna rip my head right off my shoulders.
"I'll let you lead," he said at the stop light. "I'll stay in your right mirror."
Once on the interstate, when we reached the flying interchange between I-69 and I-465, he couldn't resist flying past me, leaning, and rolling on the throttle. He pulled away from me like I was standing still.
...more to come...
He arrived at my house at about 10 am. We fetched his current rat from my screen porch, where he has been keeping it. His current rat, by the way, is a 1982 Kawasaki Spectre 1100cc. It is a rusty critter with blacked out exhaust, crusty carbs, and a leaky fuel valve. It's missing a side cover and has ugly yellow-orange foam hanging out of rips in the seat cover. But that rat can fly!
Despite having the fuel line pinched off with channel-lock pliers, the bike had puddled some fuel and oil on the concrete floor of the screen porch. When he sat the bike up on its center stand, fuel poured out of the airbox where it had accumulated.
"Will we even be able to get it started?" I asked dubiously.
"Sure!" he said, ever optimistic.
Sure enough, he cranked it for about 10 seconds, and VROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM the Kawasaki inline 4 with 4-into-1 exhaust roared to life.
He backed it out of the screen porch and we were on our way.
We both needed to gas it up before we hit the road, so we stopped at the local convenient mart for gas. He discovered his wife had his wallet, so I bought gas for both of us.
I put 3 gallons of 87 octane in my 82 GoldWing. He sniffed and requested high octane fuel.
"It's a high compression engine, and my brother told me to put 92 octane in it," he told me.
"Huh," I mused, "My magna was a high-compression engine and it ran on 87 octane. But as you wish." I swiped my card again to pump 2.7 gallons of premium into his tank.
Our route was set. We'd slab it down I-465 then take US-52 west. We didn't really want to do the whole trip on the superslab.
He was without a windshield at interstate speeds and I remember how that felt when I made that trip on May 5, with no shield. I felt like the wind was gonna rip my head right off my shoulders.
"I'll let you lead," he said at the stop light. "I'll stay in your right mirror."
Once on the interstate, when we reached the flying interchange between I-69 and I-465, he couldn't resist flying past me, leaning, and rolling on the throttle. He pulled away from me like I was standing still.
...more to come...
Trip Planning Software or Website
I'm a member of Honda Riders Club -- I might be the oddball in that regard. It seemed like a good idea for me, driving ancient bikes as I do. I have already been rescued once ... on my abortive attempt to reach Burr Oak.
One of the things their glossy brochure promised was a fancy trip-planning website that would let you choose a route based on fastest, most convenient, or scenic.
Reality is their website doesn't measure up to the promises. There is no way to choose a routing, it just always grabs the slab whenever it can.
Do you all have a recommendation for trip planning website or software? I do not own a GPS but would consider one. However, even if I could shake free of the cash I don't think I could choose one and buy it and install it soon enough for my next trips.
Thanks in advance...
One of the things their glossy brochure promised was a fancy trip-planning website that would let you choose a route based on fastest, most convenient, or scenic.
Reality is their website doesn't measure up to the promises. There is no way to choose a routing, it just always grabs the slab whenever it can.
Do you all have a recommendation for trip planning website or software? I do not own a GPS but would consider one. However, even if I could shake free of the cash I don't think I could choose one and buy it and install it soon enough for my next trips.
Thanks in advance...
Reading the Techron Label
I bought a bottle of Techron for the first time.
Now I'm about to ask a handful of really dumb questions. I must be in a particularly anal-retentive mood tonight...
Why do they tell me to pour in the techron first, then fill the tank? Can I add techron to a full tank instead?
The bottle says it treats 12 gallons of fuel. Should I use only half of the bottle for 5.5 gallon tank? It would be maggot-like to make a single use treatment last for *3* tanks.
How often should I do this? I've heard folks say every tank. I've heard folks say once a month. The bottle says every 3000 miles.
Now I'm about to ask a handful of really dumb questions. I must be in a particularly anal-retentive mood tonight...
Why do they tell me to pour in the techron first, then fill the tank? Can I add techron to a full tank instead?
The bottle says it treats 12 gallons of fuel. Should I use only half of the bottle for 5.5 gallon tank? It would be maggot-like to make a single use treatment last for *3* tanks.
How often should I do this? I've heard folks say every tank. I've heard folks say once a month. The bottle says every 3000 miles.
Traversing Chicago By Bike
My wife and I plan to ride from Indiana to Milwaukee. This puts us going through Chicago, or going way the f*** out of our way to go around Chicago.
I'm interested in suggested routes from people who are familiar with the windy city. Also, for those who are not, are there tips and pointers you have for plotting a major metropolitan crossing? I am not sure that big slab is the way we want to do it. I'm sure Chicago's not alone in this distinction, but the driving there is aggressive and stupid fast, even in a cage.
My wife's V30 is without a windshield, and she has expressed a preference to avoid interstate traffic. Maybe a dawn crossing is best, after the drunks are home, before the mad lemmings start their insane commute.
Suggestions welcome.
I'm interested in suggested routes from people who are familiar with the windy city. Also, for those who are not, are there tips and pointers you have for plotting a major metropolitan crossing? I am not sure that big slab is the way we want to do it. I'm sure Chicago's not alone in this distinction, but the driving there is aggressive and stupid fast, even in a cage.
My wife's V30 is without a windshield, and she has expressed a preference to avoid interstate traffic. Maybe a dawn crossing is best, after the drunks are home, before the mad lemmings start their insane commute.
Suggestions welcome.
Incredible Shrinking Bike
Okay, so I've been riding my Wing exclusively since I bought it on June 18.
Today I replaced my wife's V30's speedometer cable and took it for a lap around the block to make sure it was working.
The minute I sat on this bike I started laughing. It felt so small. So much smaller than it did just 3 weeks ago.
Guess I've gotten used to the bigger bike.
My wife took it out for a couple of laps around the lake tonight and commented that the seat hurts her tailbone. She expressed concern about our 500 mile trip to Wisconsin, coming up at the end of this month.
I might look into a custom seat for her, but there's no way to get that ready in 10 days.
Does anyone else have a suggestion? A product out there that would safely add some padding to the seat?
I joked with her that I could buy her one of those fuzzy seat covers like I had seen on Gold Wings when I was shopping for a Wing.
I also thought about strapping a plastic lawn chair to the bike -- since I'm bound to hear that suggestion from the group as well.
But I don't know if there are jelly doughnuts that can strap on the seat, or anything like that. Anyone have any experience with such?
Today I replaced my wife's V30's speedometer cable and took it for a lap around the block to make sure it was working.
The minute I sat on this bike I started laughing. It felt so small. So much smaller than it did just 3 weeks ago.
Guess I've gotten used to the bigger bike.
My wife took it out for a couple of laps around the lake tonight and commented that the seat hurts her tailbone. She expressed concern about our 500 mile trip to Wisconsin, coming up at the end of this month.
I might look into a custom seat for her, but there's no way to get that ready in 10 days.
Does anyone else have a suggestion? A product out there that would safely add some padding to the seat?
I joked with her that I could buy her one of those fuzzy seat covers like I had seen on Gold Wings when I was shopping for a Wing.
I also thought about strapping a plastic lawn chair to the bike -- since I'm bound to hear that suggestion from the group as well.
But I don't know if there are jelly doughnuts that can strap on the seat, or anything like that. Anyone have any experience with such?
Brother In Law's Garage
A respectable sight. An honorable tradition. My brother in law has two 1982 KZ1000 Spectre's in his garage. From them he hopes to make one solid bike.
Crappy Mileage GL1100I
I was disappointed to see that my new-to-me GL1100 is getting only about 30.5 mpg.
I am commuting 13 miles each way, to and from work, stop and go.
I was trying to convince myself that this mileage was to be expected, but the more I read, the more I think that this is low.
Suggestions?
New plugs? Air filter? Anything else?
Bike was overhauled, carbs synced, new filters and everything 1 year ago (previous owner).
I am commuting 13 miles each way, to and from work, stop and go.
I was trying to convince myself that this mileage was to be expected, but the more I read, the more I think that this is low.
Suggestions?
New plugs? Air filter? Anything else?
Bike was overhauled, carbs synced, new filters and everything 1 year ago (previous owner).
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)