Winter Ride

What a difference a week makes. Last weekend snowed in under 15". But the roads are clear, yesterdays rain cleaned off the road sand and it's warm enough to ride.

Got my new side mount solo bag mounted & it looks great....

December weather...

Three straight weekends in November with warm riding came to an abrupt end with a heavy wet snowfall.

I guess this gives me time to change the oil and other tinkering that the Sporty needs.

One Fine Day...

Late November and it's 65.

A perfect day for a ride through local Battlefield parks. Spotsy Courthouse battlefield was a great place for an afternoon ride.

Gettin' Cooler...

The weekend weather is stayin' nice so after I replaced the front brake pads on my truck the reward was an afternoon ride.

It was a little cooler but still clear & crisp. A lot of bikes out today.

74 & Sunny...

Three days of grey, cold, rainy & mostly sucky weather and today the sun came out and warmed everything up for a sweet late November ride.

So I headed out and by the end of the day racked up about 175 miles.

Days like this is the reason you don't pack up the Sporty for the winter.

70 & Sunny...

I still had to work today but it was such a great November day I decided to take the very long way in. Headed east on some backroads and before I made it Back to the 'Burg 75 miles had gone by.

I stopped by Famous Dave's for some BBQ and then headed in to work.

Lee Drive...

It was such a clear & cool day I decided to take a long way to work & ride my favorite road in Fredericksburg.

Lee Drive...

Winter's settin' in...

This years riding season is just about over. Cold, rainy & windy are not my favorite elements to ride in. But, if it's sunny I'll be riding to work.








I figured out a creative way (I think it's creative) to cover the cutout for the rear fender turn signal posts.

I made a cover out of sheet metal and attached my old tank emblems.

Fall Colors Ride

Another great day to hit the mountains and check out the fall colors. It's not the peak of the season yet but it was very nice.

It was just cool enough to make it another perfect ride

Fall = Perfect Riding

Sporty's runnin' great so it was time to hit Skyline and enjoy a perfect day...

I am complete again...

My Baby came back from the shop today and the universe makes sense again.

Just in time for the perfect Fall weather.

The trees are just starting to turn and the mountains should be a blast of colors for the next few weeks.

New Front Wheel

Before I finally broke down and took my baby to the shop to get the primary fixed I got a great deal on a 21" American Wire 80 spoke chrome front wheel.

Hopefully she will be home before the fall colors break out in the mountains.

The Culprit...

Here it is. This is what a burned out throw out bearing looks like.

Now comes the majority of the work. Taking the clutch completely apart to clean all the particles of metal that used to be the bearing case.

Trudging along...

I started on the tear down & removed the primary cover. So far the only damage is the burned out bearing.

Next step is the clutch basket removal.

Replacement parts won't be in til next week so I have plenty of time to get it ready.

Ready for Sugery

The new parts will be arriving next week. So I have her up on the lift ready.

I will be taking the primary cover off soon and start breaking down the clutch.

Down for the count...

The clutch decided to stop working yesterday. I thought it was a broken clutch cable.

Further inspection turns up that it is the clutch throwout bearing.

Rain, Rain, Rain...

Sunny & mild all week long and planned a sweet 350 mile ride. But rain and heavy overcast clouds ruined that plan.

I could go in the rain but it just makes it miserable. Besides I don't want to have to clean & polish for 8 hours after the ride is over.

Sunny day in the Mountains

With all the rain and thunderstorms when the skies cleared a ride in the Shenandoah Mountains along Skyline Drive seemed like a great idea.

Even though it was low 90's in the valley by the time you're on the drive it was put on a jacket time.

The day was perfect, lots of sun, cool air up high & a lot of bikes.

Takin' the long way home...

If you are not in a hurry to get home the Blue Ridge Parkway is the road you should travel. Sweeping curves, magnificent vistas and a relaxed pace make it one of the great journeys.

Weekend Dragon Ride

Tail of the Dragon / Cherohala Skyway video

U.S. 129 south / Robbinsville, N.C. video

3 days 'bout 1500 total miles. Caught in a hard downpour on the Asheville mountain overpass, neck, legs & hands aching but it was all worth it.

I rode more mountain twisty roads than ever before. The Dragon, Cherohala Skyway, US 129 south & Blue Ridge Parkway.

(notice the GoPro mounted on my helmet. That's how the video is taken.)

Packed & Ready...

Dragon ride is 3 days and counting. The weather is sketchy at best but I'm ready to go.

Some Gave All

Nicholas Mason & Josh Frazier are 2 of Fredericksburg's soldiers that gave the ultimate sacrifice for our country.

The Frazier-Mason Some Gave All ride is a way to honor their memory and help other soldiers. 

About 1000 motorcycle riders showed up for today's ride to honor our Fredericksburg area soldiers killed in Iraq.

Rolling THunder XXII

It was a great day to visit the Nation's Capitol and pay our respects to out Veterans. 

I placed my tribute to my uncle at the WWII Virginia monument and Ken made his way through the Vietnam memorial.

Rolling Thunder XXII video

Getting ready for the Dragon

It's about a month to the Dragon run & Rolling Thunder XXII is coming up so I needed to put a new set of shoes on my ride.

The Avon Venoms are good tires that stick well but my style of riding flattens them out. So this time I'm trying Continental high mileage.

Backroads Tour

Mid-90's today and we went on a tour of the local backroads through Warrenton, Culpeper, Orange & Thornburg. The big disappointment of the day was I finally get R.D. to The Stable for a great sandwich & big surprise it was closed. 

I was all ready for a great "Robert E. Lee". That sucked.

But it was a great day and a great ride.

It's a Good Day to Ride...

 

Ken & I took advantage of the perfect weather to enjoy our favorite ride. What else, but Skyline Drive. 

The only snag was having to bleed Ken's rear brake in Front Royal.

The payoff was lunch at The Stable in Culpeper. An added bonus was a free appetizer of BBQ that the owner was giving out to get an opinion. It was the perfect blend of Memphis & Virginia styles. The pulled pork & their delicious cole slaw and I will have a hard time on what to order next time.

Check out the video of today's ride. I'm still learning how to edit the sound.

Ride through the 'Burg (video)

I didn't feel like sitting in my room watching TV waiting to go to work. The weather was great and I feel like ridin'. I figured I'd get some practice with my GoPro. So here's a little video of River Rd. and Downtown Fredericksburg.

The video has no sound this time. I'm still learning and for some reason when the camera is mounted on the bars or near the motor the vibration makes a loud annoying sound.

GoPro Video Camera

So I bought a GoPro Motorsports Wide video camera. It arrived last Friday and had the opportunity to use it the next day. Right out of the box it worked great.

I did learn that if you mount it to the handle bars the camera rattles inside the protective case. I had to make a wrap for the camera from an old fleece jacket to fix that problem.

The files worked fine in iMovie and it took about an hour to edit the raw video down to about 15 minutes.




Near the end of the video is when the wild grouse flew right at my face. I ducked just in time and the tail feathers brushed my helmet visor.

I'm really going to have some fun with this, I can't wait for the Dragon Run in June.

Good Day, Bad Day

R.D., Andy & I went out for a great ride through the backroad twisties around Manassas & Stafford. Had a great lunch and the weather was perfect.

The bad part. Stopped to fill-up and on the way to Andy's start smelling a strong odor of gas. I look down and no cap, gas flowing down the tank and all over me.

Luckily Whitt's HD was open today and was able to get a new cap.

Met another XLF'er today

Met up with Kristin from N.J. (near Philly) Although I slept through my alarm I managed to get there not too late.

I took her on a tour of some good Virgina back roads. VA 688 through Orlean & Hume was a great ride. 

There was even enough daylight to ride a few mile on Skyline Drive to get some mountain views.

The exciting part of the ride was dodging a wild Grouse that flew right at me. I ducked just enough the tail feathers just brushed my visor. 

A cold ride & breakdown scare

It was supposed to be mid-50's but when the clouds came out the temps dropped. But I still went to Waugh's and back.

Back in the 'Burg I stopped for some lunch and started up for the short ride home and she sputtered out and wouldn't start back up.

The problem was almost too simple. The vacum tube for the fuel petcock had come off and the carb was bone dry. I was able to squeeze my chunky fingers in just enough to get the tube back on and she started right up. 

Tonight's project: trim the worn end of the petcock vacum tube so it fits nice & snug.

Lunch Ride part 2

Yesterday was such a great ride. We decided to do it again. This time after a nice ride we ended up in the 'Burg at Buffalo Wild Wings for some great burgers.

Lunch Ride

Ken & I took advantage of the 70+ temp today and rode about 100 miles. We started out going to Culpeper, VA to stop by a great sandwich shop called The Stable. Anyone that is going through there should stop by, you won't be disappointed.

Then we took a wrong turn but ended up in Orange and stopped by the local Harley dealership and took a break before heading home.

Before & After...

Now that the front is riding better it's time for it to look better.

I finally got off my ass and cleaned up the downtubes. It's not a perfect shine yet. But it will get there.

It's still 1000x better than it was.

Pretty much done now...

I'm getting just about everything done now. Progressive 812's on the back and now Progressive springs in the forks.

The test ride was amazing. The improvement on the handling, braking and ride are like night & day.

I can't wait for spring to get here for some longer rides.

Bike Expo in the 'Burg

Today I met up with R.D. & Jr., Ken, Andy & John for the Fredericksburg Motorcycle Expo.

I met Dave Perewitz and got his autograph on my helmet.

For a February day it was pretty good riding weather. 

It's all better now...

She's back from the shop and even though the wind was very gusty I wandered around for about 50 miles before heading home to get ready for work.

She's gettin' all better now

With all the tinkering, wishful thinking it turned out to be the stator. It was burned up nice & dark (as you can see) everything else is fine and she should be up and running very soon.

Taking her to the Shop...

Well, I guess I'll never be good working on electrical systems. I was hoping to stumble across the problem and get it fixed. But, riding season is coming up and I have 2 long rides planned. Nothing sucks worse than breaking down 600 miles from home.

So I took her to a mechanic today to get her fixed right.

Mid-Winter Blues

There's been a few mild days fit for winter rides but I wouldn't know because I'm still trying to figure out this electrical/no-spark problem.

I'm runnin' out of time, It's looking like I'll need the help of a pro to get this fixed.