And back in storage again. It's been a horrible summer for riding, just didn't have the time. Been having too much fun with the now 14 month old addition to our family. At least I can say I didn't sell my bike, which is more than I can say for the guys I rode with.

Maybe next summer will be better.

And done...

It seems early, really early, for me to be putting the bike away. In truth, it is. I could conceivably get another month out of the season, possibly more, but I'd be really risking it. If we did happen to get a big snowfall that stuck around, I wouldn't have a way to get my bike to storage. Considering my storage area is now about 30 minutes away through back roads, riding there once the snow sticks is out of the question.

Last stop of the season.

A friend and fellow riding buddy was nice enough to offer me winter parking if I couldn't find anything better. So now she is squirreled away in a shed sharing lots of space with a Harley dresser.

Once parked, it was time for a comparison.

Pulled out of storage March 4th, 2011.

Stored November 26th, 2011.

So yeah, crappy season over all. 3254 km for this riding season, very disappointing.. I was really hoping to roll fifty thousand this summer, but I guess I'll have to wait until after winter is done with us again.

And that's it, it's a wrap. She's covered, stored and the battery is out. It was hard to put her away, but it's nice to have somewhere for her to sleep.

Last Run

I had a really good last run with a couple of guys a couple of weekends ago. Put on just over 300 kms of straight riding. I'd never been riding with them before and didn't know what to expect. We rode from Saint John to Sussex for a stop and then it was non-stop to Moncton. A few stops in Moncton at some shops and then a quick stop for gas. After that, it was a straight out run all the way back to Saint John. No stops for coffee, cigarettes or bathroom breaks...straight out run. It was great and something that I always love. It gives my mind plenty of time to wind out and break down things that have been clogging up the works.

That was the last run for both of them. Stablizer had already been put in their tanks and the bikes were to be stored that very evening. It was pretty much the last run for me as well. I lose my heated parking spot at the end of this month and I'll have to move her to a friends house for storage. I hate thinking that my bike will be so far away, but at least I know she'll be safe.

My plan is to get her there this coming weekend, but it looks like Mother Nature is tossing in the usual curve ball. Tomorrow is supposed to be bringing 25-35 cm of snow and 30-40 km/h winds. I'm really hoping that it doesn't stick around, but it doesn't bode well. I don't need to be trying to resource a trailer to move my bike.

Selene is safe

And has been for sometime now. I finally inquired with the superintendant and moved her over to building 2's underground garage. She is quite safe and secure over there and I can visit anytime I wish.

As a matter of fact, I was over just last week to give her a bath and make sure everything was okay. She got multiple compliments and even a offer from someone to keep an eye on her. The only problem I have is that she was out in the bad weather for a little too long. The new signal lights that I bought for her need to be replaced. It didn't take long for them to get corroded and pitted. I'm guessing they don't make those to survive snow and salt. Oh well, at least they weren't that expensive and should be quite easy to replace.

Hanging up the keys

Well, I think I'm done. We have had snow for the last few days and all temperatures have been well below zero.

It kills me to say that my riding season is over, but Mother Nature has the upper hand here and she is playing all her cards. It's damn cold, there is a good foot of snow and a wacky amount of ice. I'm still holding out for a few nice days, but it looks like winter is here to stay.

Currently, Selene is under the veranda covered up with the battery removed. Snow has touched her twice this year due to unexpected storms and the other day I had to shovel out snow that was around her. The only problem is that I can't afford storage yet. With Xmas only a heart beat away, we just don't have the money. The only chance I have is an offer from the superintendant of our building. He mentioned the possibility of storing her in the garage of building one (we are in building two). But that was months ago and I haven't been able to talk with him since. I hope that pans out...it will save us a ton of money and it will keep Selene very close by.

Have I mentioned that I hate winter?

Today I rode...

and it was rather unexpected.

The day started with what was supposed to happen yesterday. Had everything gone the way it was planned, Selene would have had her new tires on and I would have had the rims polished. Of course, we all know what happens to the best laid plans.

Me and Joey went down yesterday with full intentions on removing the wheels, but that changed once I realized that I didn't have the proper tools. For the first time ever, Selene was up on her jack and fully stabilized. That entire ordeal took about an hour and a half and a whole lot of creativity, but nothing more then a forceful shove would knock that bike over.

With that done, I pulled out my socket set and quickly realized that all my sockets were too small for the nut holding the axle in place. Also, none of my adjustable wrenches would fit. Dejected, we took Selene off the jack and vowed to return the next day with the proper tools. That meant a shopping trip and a full day delay to my plans.

Flip to today and us browsing Sears and Canadian Tire auto centers which taught me a lesson: tools are really expensive. You see, I don't skimp. I refuse to buy cheap tools because I fully believe that you get what you pay for and if something is going to fail on you, it will do it when you need it most.

A quick bout of frustration and a phone call later; I find out that taking Selene to the dealership and getting the tires done there is actually cheaper then me buying the tools. Done deal. I can always ask for more tools for my birthday or Christmas.

Half an hour later we are at the storage place with Selene's battery and are quickly putting her back together. It took a few pushes of the start button and some nice words, but she sleepily came to life and was more then happy to navigate the hallways to the garage. I quickly gear up and hit the road.

-9 C (16 F) with the wind in mid March, I'm riding and it felt good. Free once again. It was hard to believe that the night before it had been snowing enough to cover everything. I got Strange looks from everyone, but at least they were looking. I guess it's hard not to notice the only bike on the road.

At the dealership I got the usual comments: Hardcore, crazy, committed. It was all in good fun and I love seeing the looks on their faces when I ride up and walk in.

So, there you have it. My last couple of days all summed up nicely. I don't have any pictures because I quite simply forgot to take any...oops. Brand new camera and I don't get any shots of my first ride of the season...heh. I promise to get pictures when I pick her up. I'm sure Selene will be more then happy to show off her new set of shoes.

Happy Anniversary

Well, here I am, one year later. I'm still a biker nut, I still have my sanity and things are actually going pretty well.

To celebrate a little, I've updated the look of the blog. If things don't look quite right, you'll have to bear with me. I'm still going to be making little changes here and there and I'm really hoping to turn this into a three column blog, but I have no idea how to set that up. If anyone has any ideas, I'd be glad to hear them.

Time was on my side yesterday, so I got a chance to get down and work on Selene for a while. The biggest thing I have left now is the wheels. Once they are off, I'll be able to clean them and get the new rubber put on. My lease on the storage unit is up at the end of March, so I'm hoping that the weather is going to be agreeable and let me ride her out of there.

Speaking of the weather, it's been super mild here with lots of rain. Needless to say, we have lost a lot of our snow. Can't say I'm sorry to see it go. The faster I can get back on two wheels, the happier I'll be.

more maintenance

last sunday blessed me with some spare time to spend with Selene. this is only the second trip i've been able to make to her storage area in order to do the maintenance that i need/want to do. i packed up my usual stuff (coffee, munchies, music and tools) and headed off.

this trip was a test of how anal i can get when i'm cleaning something. as i was sitting next to Selene grooving to Deadbolt on my mp3 player i noticed how dirty the cooling fins on the engine were. knowing that these fins were mostly for looks (liquid cooled engine and all) it struck me that they should at least look clean. after poking around a bit, i noticed that there were several allen bolts holding the fins in place. i pulled out the bike's tool kit (yes, mine actually came with one) and removed the bolts. the fins came off rather easily and gave me this odd look at the engine.





so i sat there and cleaned and cleaned. i found out how difficult it is to get clean those damn little fins and realized that it was too late to stop. in the several hours that i was there i only got the right upper rear fins and most of the lower half cleaned. it was a real pain to get between the fins and getting the corrosion off the exposed aluminum was killing my fingers. to be fair, i really didn't have the right tools to clean between the fins. a screw driver and cloth have to be used very carefully...you really don't want to scratch anything. so yeah, i think new cleaning tools are in order.

the unfortunate thing is, that's all i got done. i spent an entire evening there and it felt like i got no where and there's so much more to do! not to mention the fact that i still haven't got my jack from my parents to remove the wheels for cleaning and new rubber. i want winter gone so much that i'm not thinking about how much time i need to clean...lol. of course, life always throws you a curve ball or two, like last week with joey in the hospital. no details here, but she is now doing well and back to her complaining self ;) i'm gonna get smacked for that one...

i know most people wouldn't even try to clean that hard and others would call me nuts for doing it, but i really care for the bike and want it to look as good as possible. i don't do it for anyone else but myself. it bugs me when she is dirty and it really irks me when i see rust, corrosion or chips. i've already turned one bike into a fixer-upper due to my own stupidity and i won't allow it to happen to this one.

and it's done

it finally happened. it's officially too cold for me to ride. there's something about -10 to -25 degree (14 to -13 F) weather that makes it really hard to mount up and be comfortable. Selene spent the better part of a week at the shop because two days after i dropped her off the weather took a turn. we don't have a lot of snow, but the cold weather is making it stick around.

i have to hand it to Eldridge's Harley-Davidson, though. they were nice enough to deliver Selene right to the storage place at no charge to me. here is a shot of the truck pulling in.

once we rolled her inside, i started her up for one last ride. it was quite a treat to navigate the hallways between storage units and i had several tight turns to negotiate.

finally she was backed into her new home and here is joey actually tucking Selene in. who says your wife and your mistress can't get along. ;)

all that took place on thursday the 18th and i hated to leave her there. the only solace i can take is that it's only a couple of months and i'll have her on the road again.

in the meantime i've got things to do with her. sunday i spent several hours cleaning her up, but only got about a quarter of the way through my list. i still have a lot of cleaning and polishing to do along with the removal of her wheels. i can't do that without my jack though and that will require a trip to my parents house where the jack is stored.

sunday was very relaxing. i took a coffee with me, my mp3 player and something to snack on. that day i picked up a folding stool so i didn't have to stand over the bike all the time. i had the entire place to myself while listening to Big Bad Voodoo Daddy.

as a list to myself, this is what i have done so far:

• waxed the tank and fenders
• checked the air filter (and almost lost the screw)
• removed the backrest for cleaning
• cleaned the tail light (dusty inside)
• cleaned under the seat
• polished the mufflers
• polished the rear fender rails

i still have a long way to go and one big part of that is cleaning the aluminum rims...they are a real mess. the job should be much easier once the wheels are actually off though.

so right now it's all maintenance, watching biker buildoff and american chopper. please let winter be over soon...

yeah... so storage...

it was 6 C ( 43 F), a perfect day to get out and clean Selene up to get her ready. the plan was to clean, head down to the storage area, leave the car and both of us would take one last ride. this would give joey a relatively "warm" ride and give me a chance to test out the new leather over pants i got for xmas.

it was windy, really windy. i ended up cleaning Selene while tucked underneath the veranda. not the first time i've done that, but it is a bit cramped. i knew i couldn't get everything cleaned up today, but once she was in storage i could work away at my leisure without worries of weather getting in my way.

once i was finished up, joey grabbed her gear and i pulled out some old flannel sheets for Selene to snuggle into while she was in storage.

the first stop was gas. i was already on reserve and i would still need more for friday. i have a maintenance appointment for friday, weather permitting. i get wide eyes and smiles whenever i tell the guys at the Harley shop that i'm still riding.

from the gas station it was a short hop to the storage place. i figured we would park the car behind the gates and then joey could gear up. well, that was not meant to be. i pulled up to the code box and punched in the numbers. a little green light flashed telling me to try again...so i tried again. *flash flash* and again... *flash flash* after about the sixth time i swearing i could hear that little green light laughing at me. there was no way that gate was going to open. joey checked the sheet that listed our code and it was identical to what i was punching in. by this time i was fuming and i really hoped there was a hammer in the trunk of the car to assist me in my final try.

with the code not working and the main office closed, we resolved to go home. there was a whole lot of cursing going on under my face mask on the ride back. i was not a happy biker. what really irked me is the fact that they tested the code and said it worked.

with my swearing done and most of my ire revved out on the way home, we decided to go for a ride anyway. no sense in loosing a good day to ride.

it was rather chilly, but for the most part you could ignore it. the sun was out so whenever we made a stop it was easy enough to warm up. sticking my gloved hands on the engine also helped out.

it was nice, but i really would have liked to get Selene into her new home.

well, wish me some weather luck for friday. as it stands, it's the only day i have coming up that will give me a chance to get out again.

on the road.

not bad, december 18 in the maritimes in canada and i managed to get out for a ride. we had our annual holiday lunch paid for by work and i couldn't think of a better time to pull out Selene and see if she would be willing to start. it took me about ten minutes to get the battery back in and she started on the first try. ah reliability...i love it.

gotta tell ya, i got several odd looks and shaking heads...lol. honestly, i didn't find it that cold. i just put on my new gloves, my leather jacket, shortie, goggles and mask, that was it. the only thing that really got cold was the tips of my ears and even that wasn't too bad. of course, at 5C (41F), it's not like i was going to die of hypothermia out there.

i've got a line a place to store her now, but won't be able to get her there until after the holidays. it's large, close by, has heat and lighting. i won't have any problems getting the work done on her once she is there. it will be like my own personal garage. until then, i hope we don't have any huge snowstorms...

hibernation

so...that time is almost upon us again. the temperatures will drop, white stuff will fall and we will gleefully pick out what accessories we want for xmas. i'm not looking forward to putting Selene away, the freedom and joy she has brought into my life has been remarkable.

anyway, i've paid my price for not storing a motorcycle properly by turning my Kawasaki into a restoration project. I don't intend to let that happen to Selene, so my web searches have brought me to this:

winter storage

that really covers all the bases for me, seeing that i'm a list kinda guy. i'm hoping to get at least another month worth of riding before i have to put her away and that should give me enough time to pick up the things needed. i already have a jack that needs a slight modification so that it can be used for storage. once she is stored, i can look forward to doing some of the maintenance that needs to be done as well. that mean there will be parts of Selene all over the apartment...hehe.

speaking of which...joey wouldn't let me bring Selene into the apartment, even though i had an entire plan on how to do it. something about getting evicted...psssh.

edit: note to self, don't type when half asleep. it don't make no sense...