Moto Broad

Saw an announcement of a charity July 4th ride in my little town. I was the first sportbiker to arrive in the midst of some fairly rough-looking cruiser riders (I think some of them were women. But I was afraid to ask, because I wasn’t certain), and I sorta felt like the odd kid on the block. Finally, another sportbiker arrived, and seemed to know some of the other folks, but didn’t acknowledge me. He kept running up next to me in the pack when we took off, as if he was warming his tires, or trying to get my attention. I’d glance his way, but he was looking straight ahead. Weird. I’d say there were 50 bikes in all, escorted by the cops to keep the locals from plowing through us. Lots of them were sporting flags, and there were no incidents except a few guys pulling over when their bikes gave out. One guy had to pull out to get gas (gee, didn’t you think of that last night?). But it was a lovely ride through the country, about 50 miles I’d guess, down through Social Circle, Good Hope and I’m not sure what else. And you can see a lot of countryside when you’re stuck in 4th gear, trapped in the herd.

We corralled in a parking lot at the end of the ride, and they all queued up to join the town parade. I thanked the ride leader, who hugged me and encouraged me to come to his church, and then headed home, taking the long way so I could ride at my own pace. I was home by 10:00am. Whee. Big 4th, eh?

I accompanied a friend on a highway ride out to the west side of Atlanta, to the bleak wilds of Mableton. I don’t know who Mable was, but her namesake is fairly grim. But we weren’t going sightseeing; he was running an errand and it was an excuse for a ride. I shoved my earplugs in my ears, and we hit the interstate. My last experience on an interstate hadn’t been fun — it felt like my head was being batted by those giant padded batons you see on stupid game shows like American Gladiator. But with the earplugs, that was hugely diminished. I don’t know why. Don’t care. But it wasn’t bad at all. It was a nice milestone: now interstates won’t bother me, and I won’t take convoluted itineraries just to avoid them.

But on the way back, the highways were quickly becoming packed with holiday travelers leaving town, so we decided to take surface streets. My friend, riding a bit ahead, pointed at a large wandering sheet of plastic, floating across the lane we were in. I saw it too, and after he dodged it, I followed his path as it seemed to be on a trajectory to miss me. But, like an enormous, predatory jellyfish of the road, it whirled back toward me. I veered more, but caught its tail under my front tire. I looked in my rearview mirrors, hoping to see it pinned to the road, but it was gone. And I knew where it had gone: wrapped up in my chain. Continue Reading »

Oh, wait: it’s not what you’re thinking. It’s not a personal care product…

I decided to try out the bike stands my gentleman friend gave me for Christmas; nice ones from Redline that even let you roll the bike around once it’s up. You screw two sturdy spools into the swingarm so the rear stand can roll under and hoist it. But I have to remove the bolt at the bottom of the front fork for the front stand to fit in. I’d rather not, but that’s the deal.

I got the Haynes book for the SV650, which is detailed and fully illustrated; you really can’t go wrong, and – let’s face it – cleaning and lubing your chain isn’t rocket surgery. But I’m sort of a book junkie; I still have the old Porsche shop manuals somewhere for my long-gone 356C, as well as “How to Keep Your Volkswagen Alive,” which I used to rebuild two VW engines. I love the Haynes and Clymer books. The Chilton manuals always stopped when tasks required special dealer tools. But the Clymer manual would trudge onward, cheerfully suggesting that you obtain a piece of 4″ stock tempered steel, use a drill press to place 6 holes at such-and-such points (they’d thoughtfully provide a template), and thus fashion an adequate semblance of the $295 official tool. And the Haynes books are always clearly written, thorough, and well-illustrated. Continue Reading »