Softail Log – August 14th
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 14th. 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.