a break

after all that writing and typing, i decided to take a little break from the blog. it drained me to continually write that long about our trip and i didn't want to see the blog afterwards...lol.

a few things have happened.

our car (98 dodge neon) gave out on us. it blew out a spark plug and stripped the cylinder block. for the time that it was out of commission (about a week) we only had the bike. we haven't had a string of weather that good all summer. it never rained once the whole time and we had some really beautiful runs on the bike.

friday we went out to pick up the car and go shopping in preparation for the eldridge's harley davidson 1st annual poker run. i picked up a few odds and ends for Selene which included a new headlight and a cheapy set of saddlebags.

Sylvania Silverstar H4 (9003)

this thing should be standard on all motorcycles. it's not a brighter light, it's a whiter light and it illuminates the road so much better then the OEM headlight...the difference is unbelievable. the installation was pretty simple, even though the MOM doesn't even give you a clue of how to do it. i was pretty much guessing at what things to unscrew to take out the headlight. you would think that seeing the manual tells you how to change your oil, it would also tell you how to change out a burnt out light. nope.

here is a shot of the saddlebags on Selene.

Selene with saddlebags

they aren't the best things ever and i only paid 80 bucks for them, but they really paid off on the poker run. it was nice to have a place to put everything we needed for the day and not have a backpack strapped to the back of the bike. they will do until i get the hardbags for next summer. here is a shot of the national cycle hard bags i want.

National Cycle Hardbags

they come in gloss black, so i wouldn't even need to get them painted. they also match Selene's lines perfectly.

The gathered riders

the ride was on saturday and went from 11am to around 9pm. we had a police escort all the way out of the city. it was a site to see around 200 bikes going straight through the city with all traffic blocked so that none of us would get separated. there were various stops along the way to get the next card in our hand with long rides in between. it was mostly back roads as well, the only times we hit the highway was to bridge over to the next back road. there were a couple of nitwits in the pack that didn't seem to have an idea of how to keep the pack together, so i opted to stay up close to the front where the more seasoned riders were.

The barbeque

the ride itself ended at the free barbeque. from there it was a free for all to meet at one of the watering holes in saint john. there were prize draws and the winning hand was figured out, which happened to be four aces! there was no beating that.

me and joey won a harley davidson roll up mat/blanket and a harley davidson motorcycle cleaning kit. the kit was worth 15 bucks and the mat was worth 20 bucks, so we made back our money that night...hehe.

as always, there are more pics on my flickr page. joey's aren't processed yet, but will be soon. she has some shots of the ride itself.

3 comments:

Vinod said...

what brand of hedlight bulb did you get? I'd like to get one too! I spent the weekend putting some accessories on the bike as well...windshield, saddlebags and highway pegs!

Countersteer said...

What do you think about non-white bulbs (a PC term?) I have a double headlight- one white the other amber. I've never seen my bike on the road from the front, but they tell me its more noticeable and more easily distinguishable as a bike rather than a one-eyed cage. I don't notice a difference in illumination but maybe because I'm used to it? any thoughts?

Giest said...

vinod: the headlight is a Sylvania Silverstar H4 (9003). absolutely worth picking up.

countersteer: i can see where the amber/white mix would be more noticeable and stick out better then a single white. my bike has the front signal lights always on as well. that makes two amber lights and a large central white light. when it comes to the illumination, i've noticed a big difference from switching out the bulbs. the stock one was fine, but doesn't illuminate the road as well as the new silverstar does.