The Back Road to Pendleton

Sure, we could take the interstate to get from Indianapolis to Pendleton, but where's the fun in that?


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This route is much better:

Take Olio Road to 104th street.  Turn east on 104th Street.

104th street becomes Connecticut Avenue.

Take Connecticut Avenue east, across, SR 238, where it becomes Lick Creek Road.

Lick Creek Road follows the river, and is one of my favorite stretches of country road.

Lick Creek emerges at SR 13 as County Road 1030 S.  Turn left (North) on SR 13 for about 100 ft.  Turn right on County Road 1000S.

Follow 1000S east to County Road 750W. Jog left on CR 750W, and immediately turn right again on Reformatory Road.

Follow Reformatory Road east to County Road 650W.

Turn left on 650W; continue North to Fall Creek Drive.  Take Fall Creek Drive all the way to SR 38 in Pendleton.  Turn right on SR 38, into downtown Pendleton.  Follow signs for Falls Park.

Take me home country road. . .

River Road

I guess I like bridges. Especially old iron bridges on country roads. It reminds me of my childhood. These days they're also associated with roads that follow the river . . . Which make good motorcycle roads.

Cute Couple

Honda Rider's Club of America featured this happy couple on their website. 

Problem Solved?

Based on feedback from the Sabmag group, and from www.st-owners.com . . . I checked the battery connection on my ST1300.

I had been having intermittent reboots where the bike would die when at idle.

I removed the seat, and what do you know . . . the negative terminal of the battery was flopping around loose. Fired it up and let it idle for a while afterward . . . and everything seemed fine.

It'll take a while for me to be certain of the fix, since the problem had been intermittent. But, wouldn't it be great if it were that easy to fix?

I hope I didn't jinx it!

Vanguard Clothing

Mysterious rebooting ST1300

I've finally gotten some saddle time on my ST1300, and I will say I
love it.  I can't say enough good things about it. 

Last night as I returned home, I paused outside the garage door, bike
idling, clutch pulled in with my left hand while my right hand fumbled
in my jacket pocket for my garage door opener.

The bike died abruptly.  I hit the starter again to pull into the
garage and noticed that the computer had reset.  Clock was reset back
to 1:00, trip meter was zero.

What the heck?

This is the second time it has happened, both times at the same
location, both while I was fumbling for the opener.

Could the garage door opener interfere with the bike?

Today I took a ride again.  I parked the bike in a parking lot and let it sit for about an hour.  When I returned to the bike, I started it and let it idle.  It idled for about 2 minutes and then did its mysterious reboot again.

Well, that rules out the garage door opener theory. 



Maybe it's a loose battery cable?  Maybe it's a loose something else?  Maybe there's a glitch in the main computer. 

If it were just the clock and trip meter resetting I wouldn't care.  But the bike is also dying, abruptly, as if I had hit the kill switch.  I don't want to have to worry about the bike dying while I'm riding in traffic.  I don't want to be on pins and needles worrying whether it'll die at the most inopportune time.

The first step is to check the battery connectors.

The perfect gauge

Honda put god's perfect speedometer on the ST1300. It's analog, easy to read even in full daylight, and it sweeps a full 270 degree arc.

Sport Commuter

The Honda ST1300 is classified as a sport touring motorcycle. I'm enjoying it, though I'd classify my riding more along the lines of 'Sport Commuting'. While 1300 cc's might be overkill for a trip which never exceeds 45 mph, the hard bags hold what I need for work -- my iPad, and any notebooks or planners.  It also holds my rain suit.  The windshield and fairing protect me from the weather.