Still alive

I've taken a little break from blogging, nothing too serious.  All is well in the riding world and otherwise.

The saddle bags are fixed and look as good as new.  The place that fixed the gouges also fixed up the "extra" holes that we drilled into them.  You wouldn't know they ever existed.  I'm not completely pleased with the job, but it's much better then having several glaring scratches on the side.  I also picked up a wrench that fits the bolts for the bags and they are now quite snug with very little vibration.  All I had originally was a very small thumb wrench that I couldn't fit in between the bags and the fender.

The pipes are once again spotless.

Cleaning done with the help of my good friend Autosol.

The shifter is also, dare I say, bent into a better position.  Before the spill I couldn't fit the toe of my boot under the shifter to push up.  Now I can do it with ease.  The only thing remaining is the fender, but that will have to hold off for a bit until we get some extra money.  For some reason you can't just order the front piece.  You have to buy the set of two, with one for the front and one for the back.  Just plain silly and expensive.  Double the price to cover up one scratch.

I also seem to have really messed up my wrist.  On a ride back from my parents house the other weekend, we encountered some inclement weather.  It was cold, raining occasionally and very very windy.  Without a windshield, I'm literally hanging onto the bike for dear life.  For some reason I wasn't using my throttle lock as much as I should have and now I'm suffering for it.  I can't even pick up a cup of tea without getting agonizing pain in my wrist.  Actually typing this hurts.  So it looks like I'm going to have to be a lefty for a while and give my wrist a bit of a break.  It's not going to stop me from riding, of course...  ;)

I still haven't gone out to practice my turns, but then again time hasn't exactly been on my side...or the weather for that matter.  My last three days off were a mess of thunder storms.  Very entertaining to watch, but not so entertaining to ride in.  Won't get much of a chance on my next few days either.  A CMC member will be in town to visit, so we're hoping for a good few days of riding weather.  Here's hoping Mother Nature agrees with us.

I thank all of you for the support.  It's good to have people that understand what it's like to drop a piece of machinery that is "almost" a part of the family.  And to Allen; I hope Autumn gets back to new soon and it's good to know that only the your pride took the real beating.  Best wishes to you.

And with that update, I leave you with a nice HDR shot of Selene and Joey.

The Road

So there it is, the place where Selene had a bit of a lie down.  It happened a few feet below the dark patch of pavement.  In an odd bit of irony, one of the places that could fix the saddle bags was in the same area that we had the "incident".

As for the repairs, here's the deal.  I'm not getting a new front fender as the cost is a little on the prohibitive side.  Instead, I'll be purchasing the National Cycle chrome fender tip.  It will nicely cover the scuff mark on the the fender and should look good as well.

The shift lever is going to take some doing.  I can't seem to bend it back in place and I don't have the tools to be able to do it without scratching the hell out of it.

The last thing is the saddle bag.  We spent most of yesterday searching for an autobody shop that could get them back to original condition.  It took some doing and a bit of travel, but we found a place that will fix them up for 200 bucks and also fix the "extra" holes me and my dad drilled in them.  They should be ready by tomorrow, but I won't be picking them up until Monday due to work.

Once that's done, it's back to the parking lot for turn practice.

Update

I can't say I'm over this.  It still bugs me and I keep seeing everything replay in my head.  Keep wondering what I could have done differently.  The only thing that comes to mind is that I shouldn't have been turning on an incline.  I know it can be difficult and at low speeds it's even harder.

But it's done and now we have to fork over more cash to get Selene fixed up.  Money that should be going to a new seat or Joey's training course so she can get her license.

We were out for a nice ride at night and I steered us into an area that I wasn't familiar with.  We were kinda lost/exploring when I decided that we should just turn around and go back the way we came.  I tried to pull a U-turn and the weight shifted too much.  I tried everything to stop the bike from going down, but there was nothing I could do.

Joey managed to step off the bike, due to the saddle bag keeping the bike up.  I stepped off as well, but mainly due to the fact that I was trying to keep Selene up.  She made contact on four points; the front fender, the shift lever, the clutch lever and the left saddle bag.  It's not a great amount of damage and she is still very much road worthy, but my heart sinks everytime I look at her.

Without further ado, here are the pictures:

As you can see, things aren't too bad.  The saddle bag is the worst of it.  The impact and drag actually gouged out a layer of fiber glass.  I'm not sure if it will be easier to order a new one or get this one repaired.  We've decided not to replace the front fender simply due to the fact that the cost is outrageous.  It would cost $627.05 CAD to get a new one.  Over six hundred bucks for a plastic fender!  I have no words to describe how insane that price is.

It's going to take some pull to get that shifter back in place and I can polish off Joey's boot marks.  I'm quite used to that anyway.  I'm guessing some fine grit sandpaper will help me remove the scuffs on the the clutch lever and the kick stand.

So there you go.  That was our wonderful night.  As I said before, aside from some very sore muscles, we are fine.  Honestly, my ego was hurt more then anything else...and it's going to take a while for that to heal.

Earlier

So, here is how beautiful Selene was looking earlier this evening

About an hour later I was fighting to keep her upright while Joey fought to not get trapped underneath her. The brand new saddle bags helped prevent that from happening.

Pictures of the damage and an explanation will come when I get up the nerve to go look...

On a side note; we are very sore, but fine.

Last Saturday's Ride

So I'm a slacker...sue me.  You won't get much anyway...hehe.

Last Saturday there was an early bird ride sponsored by Eldridge's Harley-Davidson/Honda.  It was a the first ride of the season and come Hades or high waters I was going to be there.
Speaking of Hades...damn, it was warm!  It was officially our warmest day of the year.  It easily hit 30 C (86 F) and made me regret gearing up with all my warm stuff.  I was just glad I didn't wear my leather riding pants...yowch!

The day started off much earlier then normal for a Saturday.  Everything started at 11AM, but they were expecting a big turn out.  That meant me and Joey were up and out the door before 10AM.  Believe me, that is much earlier then I would ever get up on a weekend, but I wanted to make sure we were registered and ahead of everyone else in order to keep the day from getting frustrating.

The day was planned as such:
11:00AM: Registration
11:30AM: Barbeque and Show & Shine
1:30PM: Ride starts
Coffee and Doughnut stop halfway in Sussex, NB
Meet up back in Saint John at the Aquarius Bar with prize draws.

I entered Selene in the Show & Shine, but was doomed from the start.  She was the only metric in the bunch and she was parked between two custom Harleys.  The one to her left was a $30, 000 factory custom springer and on her right was a 2000 Road King that had just had a custom fairing installed that cost $2300.  Yeah, she didn't stand a chance.

For the ride we had a police escort out of town.  There is nothing like having traffic in all directions halted so you can go through a red light or stop sign.  After that, things kind of deteriorated in my eyes.  The ride itself was way too fast.  On our back roads the speed limit is around 80km/h, but we were easily doing 100km/h plus.  I have no problems with going fast and can easily keep up with the best of riders.  I also have no doubts about my skills, but a group ride should not be running at those speeds on iffy back roads.  I also prefer to keep up with the main group instead of getting left behind, but I was stuck behind someone who obviously had issues with negotiating turns with his motorcycle.  On a straight stretch, he would gun it to catch up to the main group, but slow down once a turn came up.  I can respect that and I will always be repectful of etiquet on a ride, so I won't pass someone who is having trouble because that can only make things worse.  I just find it frustrating.

Here is the biggest problem of the ride though.  The halfway stop was not for coffee and doughnuts like the flyer said.  The stop was at the Thirsty Mule Saloon in Sussex, NB.  It was nice to be able to get something to eat and drink, but seeing so many people drinking alchohol during an H-D sponsored run was very...unnerving.  I'm glad that everyone went their separate ways to go back to Saint John, but the last meet up was at another bar!

I'm seriously debating about not going on another of thier group rides.  I don't really have an issue with drinks after the ride is over, but during just isn't right and shouldn't be allowed.  Double that when talking about rides sponsored by a local dealership with Harley-Davidson attached to the name.

All said and done we were sun burnt, wind burnt, saddle sore, downright exhausted and somewhat annoyed...but we still had fun.

Created with Paul's flickrSLiDR.