Restless and ready for adventure, four suburban bikers (Tim Allen, Martin Lawrence, William H. Macy and John Travolta) leave the safety of their subdivision and embark on the open road. But complications ensue when they cross paths with an intimidating band of New Mexico bikers known as the Del Fuegos. Jill Hennessy, Marisa Tomei and Ray Liotta also star in this leather-clad comedy from screenwriter Brad Copeland.
thanks Netflix

This is a movie that just about everybody can enjoy.

Without a doubt one of the funniest movies I have seen in a long time.

Four life long friends, who take up motorcycling, decide to go on a road trip to the west coast. They start off in Cincinnatti, and head west. Along the way they run into many of the worst catastrophes that one could run into on the road. Through it all they manage to get through the problems and maintain their friendship. The worst of their problems is the Del Fuegos, headed by Jack (Ray Liota), who is a one percenter. When the Del Fuegos mess with the Wild Hogs and scare them out of one of the groups bikes, he finds himself at war, 50 bikers against 4 RUBS (Rich Urban Bikers).

Some Cameo’s from the Paul Teutul Sr. and Paul Teutul Jr. of OCC (Orange County Chopper fame), who are a bit out of sorts for their typical personalities. This only serves to make their appearance that much funnier. Peter Fonda shows up as well to save the day.

This movie will appeal to bikers and non-bikers alike. It will appeal to those of us that like stupid comedy and those that do not. Highly Recommended

Closing in on 1000 Miles

It has been a long (at least in my mind) drawn out journey from 50 miles to 1000 miles. I am very pleased to report that my Harley-Davidson SofTail (FLSTN) has done well - so far. As you probably surmise, I am still a bit aprehensive about the ability of the H-D to fill the shoes of the Honda. Whether the reader likes it or not, the comparison stands. I realize that the motorcycle is not a Honda, but for the coin, it needs to be better. I have managed to personalize the scoot to a small extent, in the way I am planning. I have put together a spreadsheet with (so far) the Harley-Davidson goodies that I would like to adorn the bike with. Again, I am pleased to report that the first thousand has been extremely fun, pleasing, and rewarding. After one thousand miles I have gotten used to and come to appreciate the riding position including the pseudo “sit up and beg” of the handlebars.

I started Friday’s ride going into work. After work I motored up to Medina for the appointment to do the 1000 mile service. On the way, just north of Orrville on State route 57 the scoot rolled over 900 miles. I pulled off of the road to a side street and snapped a couple of shots. I wonder what goes through the mind of some of the on-lookers as I photograph the motorcycle as it progresses to the magic 1000 mile mark. The trip was pretty uneventful, I am starting to be much more careful about my attention while I am on the road.

Got up to the dealership with 919 miles, close enough I guess. The service department wanted me to leave the bike over night, I was not expecting this. When I set up the appointment the day before the gentleman I spoke with assurred me that the work could be done while I wait, after conveying this to the man in charge, they agreed to get the bike in. I looked around the parts and accessories as well as the motor clothes trying to decide what I would get the next day during the double points saturday. The dealership is offering a reward system, based on how much you spend, I am trying to take advantage of it. After a while, I went over to Buffallo Wild wings for a small dinner. The motorcycle wound up being done early, it also ended up being cheaper than they quoted, considerably cheaper. After taking care of business, I was talking with Ron (the man who sold me the scoot), giving Kudos to the service department. I am the type of person that likes my stuff to remain in excellent shape, so any time that any body touches my scoot it makes me nervous. I am pleased that the service department at Century Harley-Davidson seems to understand this. Other than being very pawed up by greasy hands the scoot does not seem to have any further damage. The service man put an extra 5 miles on the scoot, these are the first miles put on the bike with a butt other than mine in the seat. Probably won’t be the last, I will let my friend Tom ride it.

Ron explained that the motorcycle would show considerably less mechanical noise than it did before. The break-in oil that Harley-Davidson puts in the engine, primary, and transmission is very thin. They put Bel-Ray in the transmission and Harley-Davidson Dino oil in the engine and Primary. Just an aside, seems the primary and engine could share oil, wonder why they do not.

The trip home was uneventful, I decided to take the highway home to give the scoot some high speed time. Very comfortable trip, I am really enjoying the ride.

Getting Closer

Saturday morning the motorcycle got the paw prints washed off of it. I am starting to develop a procedure with the air blaster, but it is still in its early stages. I need to figure out how to prevent pushing the water from one side of the bike to the other. Other than that I feel that the procedure is developing and will soon be worthy of documenting.

1000 miles at last

Bike clean I headed out, headed up the usual trip to Medina for the final trip to 1000 miles. Taking the usual route, up SR83, to SR585 to SR57 to River Styx, where just south of the train bridge on River Styx, the Odometer read 1000 miles. Pulled off the road into a subdivision, up a hill, and with the train bridge soaring high in the background I snapped off the 1000 mile shots. The trip up to Medina from that point was pretty uneventful. I purchased some chrome hardware for the air cleaner, the primary cover and the cam cover, along with a set of swing arm pivot bolt covers (pics). I put one of the swing arm covers on in the dealership, the other will need the bolt moved slightly to be installed. I did not bring a big enough allen wrench for the air cleaner, so it will have to wait.

This marks the end of my documenting the individual miles, I intended to document the first 1000 miles of the bike. I will document the interesting rides and any other events of interest with the motorcycle from this point on. I still have many other things to write about, for example I have not documented the milestones for the Goldwing, nor the trip to North Carolina, so I would like to free up some time for that. I would also like to write some stuff about my family, and life. I cannot do that spending all my time writing about the bike.

I am beginning to trust the bike more and more. I certainly hope the bike does not ruin that trust, it is a nice bike. I truly enjoy riding it.

I would like to offer the following items for sale. Most are posted on CraigsList for the Akron Canton area. Please feel free to contact me with questions or offers (all offers are considered).

• Sound Board SoundTracs MR-Series. This is a high end professional level soundboard for studio mixing. CraigList Posting $993.00
  
• Honda TRX250R four wheeler. This thing is nice, and fast. CraigList Posting $2500.00
  
• Nice set of tires off my car, plenty of tread left on these puppies. 206/60 R 16. CraigList Posting $150.00
  
• Motorcycle Lift Craftsman $93.00 (pics and link coming). Sold
• Engine for 85-86 Honda ATC200x three wheeler will fit other ATV’s (pic and link coming). $400.00
• Honda 1983 ATC200X, over all good shape but not currently running, third gear messed up. (pic and link coming). $500.00
• 1994 Chrysler Lebaron GTC Convertible excellent shape 67000 miles (pic and link coming). $5000.00

All prices negotiable, respond to this blog posting with questions or contact information (I will not publish the postings).

A bit of a catch up

Been a bit of a span between now and the last posting. Haven’t been able to do a lot of riding due to personal obligations and the weather. It has been extremely muggy in North East Ohio until this week. All of a sudden the weather is amazing, absolutely beautiful. The rides have been kept to short putts into town for assorted this and thats. Did stop by the auto parts store recently and picked up a tube of LocTite Blue. The instructions for most of the stuff that I have put on the bike have called for the use of LocTite Blue, I imagine because Harley-Davidson Motorcycles are know to be shakey bikes.

I recently read an article in one of my old motorcycle magazines about the 2000 Fatboy. The article was talking about the new (at that time) TC88, which is an ancestor to the engine in the Softail. In 2000 Harley-Davidson came out with the twin cam to replace the Evolution motor (wiki Harley-Davidson Motors, which was in the 1999 Fatboy tested by the magazine. Because of the vibrations in the solidly mounted Evolution motor the 1999 Fatboy loosened two of its motormounts. In 2000 H-D put out two different motors with the Twin Cam design, the TC88 and the TC88B. The TC88B included a counter-balance to offset the shaking and calm the softail whose motor is still solidly mounted. The TC96 and TC96B are stroked versions, of the TC88 and TC88B motors. As I have mentioned before, the Softail is a very smooth bike, not smooth like my Goldwing but smoother than what I expected in a Harley-Davidson.

When I installed most of the goodies on my bike, I did not have any LocTite blue but since the bike lacks the vibrations, I wasn’t too worried about it. Monday, I applied some LocTite to the Saddlebag fasteners (to the fender support) and to the foot peg bolt. I still need to apply to the front fender mounting hardware that I installed. The way it looks I will easily use up the tube I bought.

Riding to Work

I have started riding the bike into work, since I now have saddlebags to hold my lunch. First time into work was Monday, August 14^th. Nice morning to ride, a bit foggy and a slight chill in the air. I find that a chill in the air makes the ride that much more pleasant, and cuts down on the volume of coffee that it takes to get me going in the morning. After work, I tried to get the plates transferred, but no dice, no title yet. This is something that I have not quite got used to in Ohio is the way they handle titles. Ohio is a title holding state, which means if a lien is on a vehicle, Ohio will give the owner a memorandum, and holds the actual title until the lien is paid. Recently, I found that when a title is transferred to a new owner the signature on the title must be notarized. This all is different from Michigan where I am from. In Michigan the title has the lien holders name on the title, and the signature for transferring the title does not require notarization. I have decided to use the plates off the Aero, because I feel the wing is a great contrast to the Harley-Davidson. On the way home the SofTail turned 800 miles, just before I got to our road on SR 83 (amazing coincidence here). When I got home, I snapped some nice shots. I would really like to do a photo shoot with some nicely posed shots of the motorcycle, professionally.

I did put the Aero’s license plate on the Softail, for the time being it also has the Cobra frame, but this frames chroming is crappy, I do not recommend this to any body. The frames chroming is flaking off of the frame and has been from day one. I intend to get a backing plate for the license plate to add some chrome to the back of the plate, which is quite ugly, and quite exposed.

Filled it with Gas, at the fuel station at the top of Madison hill. It got about 37 miles per gallon. Not bad for mostly city driving, I have also got into the throttle a bit more lately trying to stretch its legs.

Rode into work on Tuesday, quite a bit chillier this morning in North East Ohio, at 52° and foggy. Fired up the Softail this morning, kind of concerned about waking the kids up. Their rooms are right over the garage at the house. I take the bike outside, but in the summer, the windows are open could still wake the kids up.

The ride in was crisp and foggy, lots of dew and moisture in the air, pants got wet looks like I stepped in a deep puddle. Coming up the hill on US30 toward Apple Creek Rd. I was really taken by the sunrise. A spectacular reddish orange ball partially opaqued by the few clouds that were in that part of the sky. The sun was peeking up just above the Apple Creek Rd. overpass. Just that moment a horse and buggy crossed the overpass right in front of the sun. If I had a camera at that moment and time to stop, it would have definitely been an amazing shot. Continuing on US30 I noticed the remnants of the fog as the sun continued to rise on the opposite side of the road, looking like very low hanging wisps of cloud, breathtaking as they hung over the fields and pastures. Looking back toward the sun the partially opaqued potion of the sun was even more evident as the lower half unencumbered by the clouds shown a vivid and bright orange. It is this kind of vista and connection to the world that keeps me on a motorcycle. The words do not exist or are beyond my vocabulary that describe the experience this morning or my recent (still unwritten) trip to North Carolina through the mountains. Hopefully, one day, I will be able to put pen to paper or words on the screen to properly describe these experiences. You cannot fully appreciate the wind, air, cool temperatures, or the scenery that awaits you, until you get on and ride. The cage is way too insulating for the appreciation.

Thinking about a Name

Recently it had occurred to me that I should name the bikes. I have come up with a name for the Goldwing, I will call it Angel, as in Blue Angel in reference to the bikes blue color and its peaceful calm, when riding it as well as its rock solid reliability. A name for the Aero and the Softail still escape me. For the record my cars name is Cloe (cloe-ee) a reference to the model (Acura CL) and the year of the car (03) so in Leet speak CL03 or CLOE.

Day started out a bit foggy, but quickly shaped up.

Going to Medina

Took off with 590 miles on the bike heading for Medina. Took SR83 (seem to do that a lot), ride started off pretty rough, seems an abundance of slow people on the road lately. I have noticed that I seem to be getting a bit reckless lately. I have been taking steps to fix that . I got off SR83 on 585 and continued to SR57 to River Styx. It did not take long on River Styx before the bike turned 600 miles. Stopped and took a shot of the speedometer.

Before I stopped to take a photo I noticed a Motorcycle ahead of the car that was in front of me. The Motorcycle was triked and looked suspiciously like a Sportster. Now, the only triked Sportster that I know of in this area belongs to a great gal named Edna. I have met her several times at the Blessing of the Bikes in Kidron. I believe she attends the Kidron Mennonite church, but not sure. I kind of figured that she was going to participate in the ride leaving from Century Harley-Davidson. Sure enough when I arrived at Century she was there. Didn’t bother her though.

After I turned on SR18 I got stopped at the light to turn onto the road that leads to Century. I got the green arrow for the left turn and proceeded. As I was making my left turn, I noticed a cager (looked like a very old lady) moving into the intersection. It didn’t look like she was planning on stopping, too late, horn blasting, I accelerated as hard as the bike would let me. Fortunately, I escaped that one. Damn her! Still shaking, from this close encounter, I continued to Century.

I really enjoy looking at the bikes that arrive, gives me an opportunity to look over somebody else’s work and get some additional ideas of my own. Because of my unquestionable love of old iron, I especially enjoyed a 1937 Harley-Davidson that was parked there. Several guys were razing the owner about it’s condition and leaking fuel tank etc. I thought it was positively beautiful. On to business, I needed to get the reward points tacked on to my card. I also needed to spend the $50 gift certificate that was mailed to me. I could not decide on what I want next for the bike, but I certainly enjoy the choices, something that I did not get at the Honda dealers. One of the major details that I really have problems with on the bike is the zinc plated hardware that dots the bike. Especially, the handlebar clamps and front fender hardware. Since I seem to have a lot of the major stuff for the bike already (saddlebags and windshield) it is now time to chip away at that nasty hardware. Need to proceed carefully though. Another area that I am having problems with is the pivot bolts and front axle. Haven’t quite decided how to proceed in that area. Anyway picked up the fender hardware and handlebar clamp bolts in chrome. Found out I am at 960 points, they are saying to wait until 1500 before I redeem them. Packed up and started off again.

Going to North Canton

Headed east on SR18 toward Akron, bike is really sweet running since it is over its break-in. Kind of concerned about the abrupt snap into first gear. First gear also has a whine, and fifth gear is rather loud. Got through the construction on SR18 and got on I-77 south, toward North Canton where I will find Freedom Harley-Davidson. Quite a trip, seems it was about 30 miles. Got to North Canton and turned on to Sunset Blvd. The Freedom was quite busy, nice place, a bit smaller than Century H-D. Talked with a fellow that traded in a Goldwing for his 1993 Ultra Classic. Bought a shirt off the clearance rack and checked on some jackets.

Going to Dover

Headed off again toward Canal Fulton, headed down US-21 toward Navarre. Through Navarre to US-250 and back onto I-77, I did not want to remain on I-77 through Canton, too much construction. South on I-77 toward Dover to the the SR-39 East exit and on to Adventure Harley-Davidson. Wow, nice dealership. I liked the layout and the gorgeous women waiting on patrons. It was long after lunch so I indulged on some of the popcorn and watermelon that they were giving out. Got me another shirt from the clearance rack. Stayed for a bit and chatted with some of the other riders, I also enjoyed looking at the bikes. On the way down on I-77 a person in a car was yelling something at me, and pointing toward the bike. I looked around and noticed the right hand saddlebag was open – Oh crap, what did I lose. A quick check of things at the dealer, revealed that nothing was missing (amazing).

Heading back

Off again, found SR39 and started heading west. OHMYGOSH, were there some incredibly slow people on that road. By the time I got to Sugar Creek I knew that I was not going to be able to stay on that road. Stopped in Sugar Creek for some fuel, after a fill up, proceeded toward Berlin. The motorcycle took 2.72 gallons, and had 122 miles on the tank, this means the motorcycle got almost 45 miles per gallon! Wow, not bad, I admit I have been easier on the bike, this was mostly highway style and the bike is through its break-in. I don’t think that the engine and drivetrain is quite loosened up yet, but this is still impressive. One of the interesting things about SR39 is the incredible hills rolling through Holmes County. Another thing about SR39 is the incredible amount of tourist stops along the way, I doubt that I will ever get to them all. In Berlin, I could not take the traffic any more, so I turned on SR62 this is heading east, wrong way, but I know a route that will take me through Mt. Hope. Along the way just north of Berlin, across from the Amish park, the bike turned 700 miles really starting to rack up now. Stopped and took some pictures. Headed off again, through Mt. Hope, looks like the tractor show was happening, and the tractors are heading out, fabulous, more slow traffic. Headed north out of Mt. Hope, and got off on the route through Amish ville. Headed toward Fredericksburg, this countryside is amazing, never get tired of seeing the horse and buggies on the road. Wished there was a bit more advanced notice of them though, seen one too many accidents involving these buggies. In Fredericksburg headed up Fredericksburg road toward the Amish produce on the corner of Fredericksburg Rd. and Messner Rd. where I picked up some corn for dinner. Just fits in the saddlebag, heh, who would have thunk. Then home.

The new hardware

Started out with the handlebar clamps, removed them one at a time, replacing and tightening as I go. Need to get some LocTite blue to seal all this work. The motorcycle does not shake much at all, the engine is called a TC96B, which apparently means that the engine includes counter balancers. I am really surprised at how little this motorcycle vibrates, the Aero shakes more than this thing does. There is just enough shaking and vibration in the motorcycle to let you know it is there, but not too much to make it irritating. The pictures do not do the upgraded hardware justice. It is quite striking how much of a change that this created.

Now for the fender hardware. Again, the pictures do not do this upgrade justice. I am a bit surprised that Harley-Davidson does not use a different system of assembling the bikes. The fender is attached to the bike using a nut and bolt. I would imagine that faster and cheaper, would include a nut that was integrated into the fender metal.

I like the traditionalist approach with this bike, being a person that appreciates the traditional crafts. Seems that things in the past were made to last. I am a antique tractor fanatic also, I own a 1950 Farmall - Cub, that after over 50 years is still running like a champ. Where as it seems that modern manufacturing techniques have a built in obsolesence - sad. One example is cell phones, I consider cell phones disposable. Enough ranting.

The fender hardware was quite easy to change out get rid of the old allen headed bolt, reuse the nut. The most difficult bolt was the left side back bolt on the fork. This bolt is right above the brake caliper. A bit of care, and patience, and done. Again, as noted above, the result is quite striking.

Quick trip to the coffee shop

Really like the new bolts that I put in the handlebar clamps. They really do make a difference, I think this bike will really look nice when I get the work done that I want to do. I am going to take a conservative approach to the chrome, I feel that chrome needs to be carefully applied.

Headed to the coffee shop, but first stop by the City news for a magazine. Had a nice stay at the coffee shop and headed home. Bike now has 728 miles on it.

Saddlebags showed up today.Oh boy, Oh boy.

Couldn’t wait to put them on but wanted to make sure I documented the installation.

Started off with the box, opened it and there were two smaller boxes in the larger box.

The saddlebags were packed individually, pretty heavy box.

The first that I opened was the left side. Looked inside the saddlebag there was the support bar wrapped in foam, but no hardware… Uh oh! Opened the box marked ‘right side’ pulled out the saddlebag, a bit heavier. Opened up the bag, and pulled out the right support bar, bag of hardware, instructions, and a container of Leather dressing.

Laid them all out for a picture.

The saddlebags are hard bags covered with leather, they hinge from the outboard of the bike, not much room in there. Looked over the instructions and got to work. First thing I noticed was the bags will not work with the ‘Screaming Eagle’ exhaust and gives a part number. Uh oh!

Decided to start on the right side despite the instructions insistence to start on the left.


Apparently, Harley-Davidson made a change to the exhaust bracket on the 2007 Softail Deluxe, a lot easier to install the support bracket, simply installs on the exhaust bracket with some nuts, bolts, and spacer. Here is a hint: The instructions say “don’t tighten yet”, don’t tighten yet, nothing. The left side is a piece of cake (relatively). Remove the bolt that holds the passenger peg on, using the longer bolt in the kit, put the peg back on, tighten the bolt down, then from the back add the saddlebag support, and the supplied nut, again, don’t tighten anything.

Now for the saddlebags, one side at a time to keep the fender in place. Remove the second from the front and the last Torx bolts that connect the support to the fender. Pick the large Hex head bolts and a set of washers, carefully hold the saddlebag in place, and thread the bolt into the fender, front and rear. Repeat for the other side, don’t tighten, in fact, keep them quite loose. Four allen head shoulder bolts are in the hardware. Them and the foam pads are needed next. Get on the ground thread the shoulder bolts through the saddlebag support, through the foam pad, and into the bottom of the saddlebag. There are two sets of holes in the bottom of the saddlebags, use the outboard set, I imagine the inboard set are for use when the docking hardware is used for the sissy bar. Thread those shoulder bolts in, again loosely. On the right hand side I found that a standard allen wrench (not one on a tool) was necessary and I really had to loosen up both the saddlebag and support to get at the bolt, too close to the exhaust.

Now tighten up the Saddlebags to the fender I torqued them to 25 lb/ft with my trusty craftsman wrench. Next tighten up the support to saddlebag shoulder bolts, I just snugged them, they were supplied with a dab of loctite. Finally, I tightened up the support bracket bolts connecting to the bike, Torqued to 20 lb/ft. Had to dig around for the key, found just one, will need to get another made.

They definitely do not hold much, but I believe they will increase the utility of the bike. Being able to take a few things along will be nice. I also do not believe that the axle nut dress ups will be needed, nor will the bolts that dress up the pulley. I believe that I would still like to have the chrome belt guard. I will still like to have the swing arm bolt cover. Overall, I believe that I like these bags a lot, they really make the bike look a bit more finished.

This was dated November 11th, 1994.

An email to my brother-in-law. He was looking at a Honda TRX-250X, I went to look at it for him. I wrote this too him, I liked it so much that I have kept a copy of it all these years. Pardon the terrible english and punctuation issues.  I was not so concerned about that at the time.

Here it is:
It is to say that it came to pass that the great ATV giant would fall with the terror of the righteous, and they shall lament. Then as the dust settled, came a light and the light was the giant awakening after a brief slumber. All arose to rejoice the arrival of the giant, and the giant waved its wand and it came out of the flash of light in the year of our lord 1987 and it continued till the year of our lord 1992 when out of the light came a blue and white flash. The flash streaked toward the people of the dirt, and they bowed. The giant saw that it was good. I stood there in awe of its beauty, and to its stunning blue and white color and I liked it. I looked over and under to find flaw but it was good and I loved it. It came to pass that I could find not one reason why the blue and white machine should not be yours. but lo I should stop and caution the man about his machine! and caution him I will for tonight it was not to be, for the key, the key to the beauty was not to be found, and I was sad. Not to fear says I, not to fear for there is T’morrow and morrow there shall be for thou shall meet thee at my castle promptly in the morrow and we shall travel by chariot to the north, yes, the north and the key shall appear before us and I shall find if the great giant hath wrought forth a beauty in form as well as function. We shall find out, Oh yes we shall.

Darn hot today, think it is 92°.

Went for ice cream and fill it up with some fuel. Stopped by the ice cream parlor on Liberty St. in Wooster. Pretty good ice cream, but needs more low sugar flavors besides vanilla. Put 2.26 gallons of fuel in the bike with 81.4 miles on the tank. The thing requires premium fuel which kind of sucks.

There seems to be a bit of a creak coming from the rear suspension shocks, will need to have that looked at on Saturday.

Planning on going to Century Harley-Davidson on Saturday morning for a ride. From there proceed down to Adventure Harley-Davidson in New Philadelphia to get a shirt. Then a trip out SR39, out to the camper to mow the lawn, may stay out there for a swim, perhaps for the night, not sure.

I am getting to like the bike more and more it has a feeling about it. Can’t wait for the bags, ordered them today, hopefully they will be here tomorrow.

Brand new Month, The SofTail is now 2 weeks old.

Been pretty hot out lately, this has caused me to wonder about how the machine will do. The SofTail is an Air cooled engine, both of my Honda’s are Water Buffalo’s. I know that there are Harley-Davidson Motorcycles in the desert and in the heat of North Carolina, they are managing just fine, I doubt that I have anything to worry about. The only thing that really concerns me, I guess, is the Stage 1 kit that the bike had installed on it at the dealer. I do not believe that they did anything to remap the Fuel Injection.  I will need to ask them about this, next time I am at Century Harley-Davidson. Looking through some of the magazines apparently there are kits to modify the signals coming from the Oxygen sensors to richen the mixture. Apparently, the stage 1 kit allows the engine to create more horsepower:

Took the bike out today for a bit of a ride to the car dealer, then to the grocery store. After, it was off to the coffee shop and home. The bike now has about 540 miles.

Went to Medina today visited Century Harley-Davidson, can’t wait to get the saddlebags so I can take the Harley when I want to go places like Medina. I love the Goldwing but I want to ride the Softail.

Found a nice route up to Medina. Take SR57 through Orrville, through Wadsworth (North of 585), past I-76 to a road called River Styx which runs into SR18. Screwed up today and wound up in Medina proper. On the way back took River Styx to SR57 to see where I messed up, got it now.

Trying to make it easier to wash the Motorcycle(s), one of the worst parts of cleaning the motorcycles is drying them. First problem is keeping the towels soft and in nice shape, for 8 years we have had a strict towel washing and handling procedure that minimized the chances of scratching the bikes. Washing the towels involved, the towels and sponges for washing being the only thing in the load. The wash cycle had to include fabric softener. The dryer similarly required that the towels/sponges be the only items in the load and include a fabric softening dryer sheet. This caused the towels water absorption to be compromised. Upon completion of drying the towels they needed to be folded and double bagged (sealed) in plastic grocery bags. In addition to eliminating the towel procedure, I am also trying to reduce my dependence on help from others.

So I purchased an Air Dryer-Sidekick. This is a high powered hair dryer, it really pushes out the air. It filters and heats the air, comes with a neoprene hose, and a fan attachment. Relatively expensive at $89.00 from Century Harley-Davidson, heavy duty construction, seems to be a metal motor container, and soft plastic top housing. Operation is simple, plug it in, add a nozzle (with or without the fan attachment), throw the switch and go to town. The unit only has a 12” cord so a heavy extension cord is a must.

It seems to work fairly well. I will need to develop a procedure for using it. Obviously, drying from top to bottom is a must but there will need to be a method to the madness to minimize the work and time. I will probably write a blog post to outline what I have developed. I like that it eliminates towels touching the bike, just another chance for a scratch. Todays washing was pretty quick, I obviously missed some bugs and other spots. Noticed some spots on the exhaust that will need to be addressed. I will need to figure out some way to filter the water to remove impurities so dried air does not leave spots. Going to look into some car wash solutions.

I also purchased the Auxiliary Running Light/Brake Light/Turn Signal Conversion Kit. This turn the rear turn signals into running/brake/turn signal lights. The kit is super simple, includes new red lenses to replace the amber units, and a wiring box. On my FLSTN (2007) had to remove the passenger seat, then the riders seat to get at the wiring near the battery. The harness on the right hand side of the bike goes to the rear fender simply unplug the harness and plug the wiring box into the harness. I stuffed the box between the rear fender and the battery, I did not need to zip tie it. I replaced the rider/passenger seat and went to the lenses on the bullet turn signals. There is a slot in the amber lens, I used a fairly large flat tip screw driver in the slot, a careful twist of the screwdriver, and off pops the lens. Replaced the amber lens with the red lens. Turned on the ignition, and tested with signals only, and brake/signal combination. Works like a champ, now I have three lights in the back illuminating for running lamps (dimmer) and turn/brake (brighter). Hopefully, this will help get the attention of some cager behind me. Very cool.

Took the bike out today to look at cars, and get a bite to eat at Jakes. Hamburgers are half off on Tuesday. Good dinner. So went to Pallotta Ford on Cleveland Road. Then to Jakes for the burgers, then to the Car dealers on the south side of town and home. Bike now has 523 miles. Can’t wait for the bags.