Motorcycle Thoughts

North American Tour 2010.

Holy back on tour bat man! Rush, on tour oh yeah

Neil, Alex, Geddy

The greatest musicians on earth bar none. Sorry for those that don’t like them thbpbpbpbpbp! Planning a trip to either Columbus on August 29 or  Pittsburgh on September 16. I was sure that the Snakes and Arrows was the last we would see of Rush, my bad and my delight. Then to top off the experience, “Moving Pictures in its entirety”! This is the album that most of us of my generation started on getting into Rush.

Moving Pictures

One of the memorable moments in my life was in high school, I was arguing with somebody about Rush (he happened to be a Judas Priest fan).  Yes this is high school and this is what boys do in high school, too bad.  Anyway, he asked me “what is Rush’s most well known song?”. I told him “thats easy, ‘Tom Sawyer’”, so he stopped the next girl on campus, asked her “Do you know who sang ‘Tom Sawyer’?”. She responded (in a very sarcastic high school girl way “Well, yes, Rush” looked disgusted and walked away. He looked at me dumbfounded, I was smiling. Yes, I know, how stupid, well it is just one of those memorable moments.

Rush Signals

My first Rush album was not ‘Moving Pictures’ it was ‘Signals‘, the follow up album to ‘Moving Pictures’, I wore that cassette completely out.

Then to top it all off there is a Rush documentary coming to television.

Rush: Beyond the lighted stage web site

Rush: Beyond the Lighted Stage video

Q: what the motivation to keep doing it?

Alex Lifeson: Chicks!

Well, the evening of 4/19 came, lets get up to speed. In the course of the time that passed between Rod getting Baby back and today, Baby started having some problems with her charging system again.

Pearl in the Drive

The same code as before (this started happening down at Daytona), P052 or something. This indicated a low voltage at the injector, in addition the battery light was coming on. Rod had purchased a new battery (if nothing else it was a little insurance) and installed it. Rod called John at Hale’s and told him the problem showed up as before, Jon was apologetic. Rod tested the battery and it was showing a straight 12 volts while the engine was running, so there was definitely something wrong with the charging system. John told Rod to bring it back at the same time that I brought Pearl in and he would get it in.

So here we are on the night of 4/19 and Rod called earlier, said he would meet me at Bob’s (Bob Evans). Read the rest of this post »

My bro Rod B. has been having a major problem with his scoot for years (it is a 2006 Road King Classic), the problem has been getting worse in recent times.

Rod and Baby

Let me see If I can get you up to speed;

The King is a beauty it is a very nice blue, and because of that blue Rod calls her “Baby”. Rod bought Baby brand new from Adventure Harley-Davidson in New Philadelphia Ohio. Since he got the scoot it has not really run right, the motor has (when warm) coughed at random on take off sometimes stalling without warning. Apparently Adventure adjusted the throttle cable and called it “fixed”. Read the rest of this post »

I guess I don’t get it…

From L to R Rod, Baby, and Pearl

I realize I am just a customer that spent upwards of 20k for my motorcycle (twice) and have spent another 10k on the Sportster for the wife.

I guess I don’t get it…

I have spent literally thousands of dollars on stuff to make my beloved Pearl mine and more money than I care to admit on clothes.

I guess I don’t get it…

Maybe an open letter to the customer service department – no – to the owner of my favorite dealership: Century Harley-Davidson. Why do I have so many problems with your service department? I have had more problems getting these people to take care of my bike than I did with Honda dealerships. Apparently it is not just me either, my bro Rod B. has a beautiful 2006 Road King Classic, he calls her Baby. He has had problems with two different dealerships now. Bought his baby at Adventure Harley-Davidson in New Philidelphia Ohio. The bike has never been right. Took it to Freedom Harley-Davidson in Canton Ohio. They made it worse than before. It is much better now that he and I have taken matters into our own hands.

I digress, back to the problems I am having. Pearl has an occassional problem with an aweful noise on warm startup. The noise happens at random times, I accept that this makes diagnosis troublesome. Read the rest of this post »

H-D on the Horn cover of Pearl

While I am not an economy and business expert, I do like to learn as much as I can about all things related to business and economy, after all they affect us more directly than most of us realize. I have studied the history of several of the most interesting businesses in recent history including Chrysler, Allis-Chalmers and International Harvester as well as Harley-Davidson. I watch certain stock tickers on my phone and on the computer one of those stocks is (of course) Harley-Davidson stock (NYSE:HOG). My iPhone and computer use Yahoo finance to supply the information, among the information is related articles as well as stock status.

Last year about this time HOG stock was down to over 8 per share, this is down considerably from some of the “norms” that Harley-Davidson has experienced. Read the rest of this post »

close up of the air cleaner

The headlight

I went out in the garage with my iPhone and walked around the bike looking for great shots, fortunately it is not hard to come by. One of the goals was to get a shot of all occurrences of the Bar and Shield logo on the bike or where the “Harley Davidson” logo appears. I put these photos on Flickr, I think they look great, but then I took them. Here are a couple of samples.

You can see the entire collection on my flickr page here

I know I have pictures of Pearl as she progresses through the miles but the earliest I can find at this point is 5000 miles. So I will at least put this out there.

5000 mile mark

By 5000 miles I had removed the engine guard that was causing me all sorts of distraction. As I mentioned in the earlier post I have never had a bike with the engine guard and when I rode the bike I could not help but look at it. Besides it was additional chrome and bulk that I did not want. The bike already has enough heft with the fairing and the saddlebags, so off she came. The part of the bike has been sitting down in the basement ever since.

Custom Gear Shift Linkage - Slotted Black Anodized

When I bought the bike I wanted the shift linkage that I just paid $120 for off the Softail, Ron was nice enough to help me with that. The linkage was the new (at the time) black linkage with the milled out Harley-Davidson bar and shield logo. Harley-Davidson calls it Custom Gear Shift Linkage – Slotted Black Anodized

Again, I wanted this bike to be the anti-Harley Harley, but exactly what does that mean? Well to me the one defining characteristic of a Harley-Davidson is an air cooled engine. An aside here, I wonder how the new V-rod Revolution engine will fit into the future of Harley? Anyway, 45 degree air cooled single pin engine is a strong characteristic of a Harley-Davidson. Read the rest of this post »

Well not quite new but new since the last post. Gone is the 2007 Softail Deluxe that wound up laid down at the begining of last year. That will be another post, I have pictures and a complete story. Nope, now I turned that in last year for a shiny new 2008 Harley-Davidson Street Glide.

Oh is this bike wonderful…

Ron Orvis

Purchased on June 7, 2008 from my favorite motorcycle salesman Ron at Century Harley-Davidson. I was looking for a Street Glide, I like the idea of having a radio, not that I use it as much. I was also not all that happy with the Softail ride and handling. The Street Glide shares it frame and suspension with the rest of the touring bike line up. One of the more important options that I wanted was ABS, none of the other Harley-Davidson’s have it but the touring bikes. On the Softail I noticed that it was very very easy to lock up the rear wheel. In fact it was so easy that I usually did not even notice it. I also believed that condition contributed significantly to the demise of the Softail. I loved the look of the Softail, but honestly after the Shadow-Aero and the Softail the retro thing had pretty much run its course. Read the rest of this post »

It has been a while since I updated my blog, no excuse other than, been riding all year and enjoying my scoot.

I did give up the Softail Deluxe in early June. I really liked the bike, but I grew tired of the ‘retro’ thing and the lace wheels are a pain in the ass. The black paint got a bit old, it is my second black bike. The bike also had an issue that was getting on my nerves that Harley-Davidson refused to acknowledge as a problem, the transmission was really noisy in 5th gear. This is a real and nasty problem. 

The bike did suffer an accident in the early part of last year but it got fixed very well by Century Harley-Davidson.  I was going through an on-ramp nearby on the way to work. I hit the onramp a bit too hot and found some gravel left over from the winter. long story short, the motorcycle

Sunday October 21st, 75 degrees here in North East Ohio. What an amazing day, fall is in full swing, the trees are absolutely exploding with Color. Decided late in the week after seeing the forecast for the weekend that Sunday was ride day. Right after Sunday Morning on CBS was over I started hearing the bikes running beautiful State Route 83, which is less than a quarter mile from the house. That served to get the blood boiling… time to go.

Thought it would be great to take my son on a ride. He is a bit scared of the Harley, for two reasons:

1. a) He got yelled at for allowing his shoe to get too close to the hot pipe (was hard to get that stuff off).
2. b) He is used to riding on the Goldwing which is a lot more enclosed

He seemed excited today though, set him up with my grandpa’s leather which was too big, a helmet, sunglasses, and a smile. We had to get the bike out of the basement, the whole process of getting going seemed to take forever. The Harley was a bit low on fuel so I thought it would be a good idea to stop by the gas station first. Originally I intended to do a Medina trip, but all the scoots heading south caused a change of mind. At the fuel station, filled up and stopped to chat for a moment with a few people on scoots fueling up for the day. One was riding a V65 Magna (Honda), having one I want to get rid of, thought I might try to sell it, they didn’t seem interested so I did not push the issue. Wished them a safe ride and headed out.

Heading south on SR83 I explained to my son that if he needed anything from the house or changed his mind about riding, this was his last chance. He seemed set in his decision to ride today. Joy!

The official Harley-Davidson chronometer integrated in the speedo indicated 11:14 when we passed the turn off to our house, we were off. Heading toward Millersburg I could see the kind of day that we were in for, it was warming up with only scattered clouds. The trees were off the hook with color, just insane color. South of Millersburg is where things start getting awesome on SR83. The twisting, the hills, the color, the vistas, creating a brain full of stimulation that added to the excitement of being on the bike. Got into Coshocton, and noticed that the Harley was getting ready to roll 3000 miles, not much further. Continued on SR16 out of Coshocton, toward SR60 heading toward Dresden.

Once in Dresden, I saw a road heading up a hill off to the left, told the Son “time for a detour”. It was first gear all the way to the top, yes it was that steep, turns out the Inn at Dresden is up there, do not know much about the place, but incredible scenery. Note to self, look into the Inn at Dresden. After snapping some shots, we headed back down. It was first gear and pretty hard on the brakes, but we did it. Headed back out to the road toward Zanesville, getting hungry, and 12 miles to 3000.

Just outside of Zanesville the Harley turned 3000 miles, we pulled off into an industrial park access road for a few shots. Hard to believe that since July 17th I have put 2950 miles on this bike, take away 10 miles that were put on by service techs at Century Harley-Davidson. This means I have put 2940 miles on it at that point. On to Zanesville and eat.

In Z-town (Zanesville) we surveyed the lay of the land in the northern part of the city. Originally I had in mind Panera’s, but the son and I agreed that it was time for some Italian. Turned out to be a darn good idea, there is an Italian restaurant called Adornetto’s. Great food and filling if you are there and in the mood for some good Italian grub, check it out. I had the Ravioli and the Son had the Spaghetti and Meatballs.

After lunch was done we headed back. On the way down my Son noticed a tractor show just north of Dresden. So we stopped to check it out, this was a very good (albeit small) local show. They had a lot of cool farm and construction (industrial) equipment working and on display. We enjoyed it thoroughly.

Heading back out, I thought it would be a nice idea to try a different route back. SR60 heads north, and is an amazing ride, I would say better than SR83. You do not want to go too fast because of the scenery and the twisties. This road is hairier than 83.

Just south of a small Ohio town called Warsaw, a large group of motorcyclists appeared in the rear view mirror. In Warsaw they pulled into a parking lot to stop for a break, this sounded like a good idea, besides I like to chat. Imagine my surprise to find out that a couple of the members were the same folks I chatted with at the gas station that morning. I did not think this was that small of a state!

Two motorcycle accidents to report. Sadly a Harley and a cager seemed to collide on 60 then after we turned onto US62 toward Millersburg a crotch rocket was laying on its side on the other side of a guard rail. I hope both incidents ended up without injury, but they both looked kind of bad. One day I think I will need to write a post about my take on motorcycle safety and my take on motorcycles and safety.

The trip wound up as we continued on US62 to SR83 just south of Millersburg and north to the house. U2 created the song It’s a beautiful day for a day like this, just spectacular.