... unfortunately the cars didn't fare as well...
I had ridden the bike out to the Hatboro Car Show. The morning was spent wrenching with Kendra, adjusting the cafe bars and mirrors and replacing the oil tank side cover, whose original paint had flaked off. A good cleaning made her look great. Brass brushes work wonders on rusty chrome!
Arrived at the car show, left when it got crazy crowded. Afterparty was at Brian Isserman's, and after a few drinks and facing the long ride home in the dark I decided it best to park the bike and leave it there.
Good thing, as the corner of our street flooded with 4 or more feet of water. Had the bike been chained where in it's usual spot, it would have been lost.
You can read a little more about what happened to the cars here...
Monday, August 2, 2004
Tuesday, July 27, 2004
Wrenching
Managed to get off the awful sissybar. The bike looks a lot sleeker now. I'll hold onto the sissybar, simply because it's so, well, awful!
Also managed to get on the new bars, grips and mirrors. Will take some fiddling to figure out the best position. On the ride today, couldn't see anything out of the mirrors but my pits.
All that's left now is a good cleaning and replacement of the flaking sidecover.
Also managed to get on the new bars, grips and mirrors. Will take some fiddling to figure out the best position. On the ride today, couldn't see anything out of the mirrors but my pits.
All that's left now is a good cleaning and replacement of the flaking sidecover.
Wednesday, July 21, 2004
Finally home
So it’s here.
My MINI had to go into the shop tomorrow (to get a check up before this weekend’s track event), so Kendra grabbed my jacket and helmet and met me at the dealership. Then, we made our way back up to Hiway to collect the bike. After a short wait as Mike finished up with another customer, the R5, in all her glory, was rolled out to the street. After gathering up paperwork, making sure everything worked, putting a little oil and gas in it, and paying the man, I hopped on, kicked her over, and stalled. Whoops. Another kick, and I was speeding out into the gathering dusk, leaving a thick greasy plume of blue smoke behind me. Poor Kendra - she was following in the convertible.
For my first ever ride in traffic, I opted to take Street Road all the way over to State Road as my way back to the Northern Liberties. I didn't think I was quite ready for I-95, plus that route also goes directly past the house in whose garage the R5 had been lanquishing these many years. All was good - the R5 is a bit jerky, doesn't really like cruising at a steady speed. But the brakes are good, and acceleration is pretty good. When feeling brazen, I could keep up with everyone at 50mph no problem (hey, what do you expect for my first ride?)
Street Road was fine, I stayed right and no one gave me a problem, or rode my tail or anything. Surprising, actually. The bike smokes quite a lot of stinky stuff, and it got pretty bad at the intersections with long lights. Didn't stall at all after the first few times coming out of Hiway's driveway (!) getting used to the clutch.
Got to State Road. Starting to get dark. This is another first. Nothing to do but grin and bear it. Kendra is still behind, somewhere in the smokescreen. It's taking a while because I'm going relatively slow. We wind our way along the river and eventually get to the more thickly urbanized areas of the Northeast. Almost home. Then, all of a sudden, we're stopped at Aramingo - repaving the whole thing. Damn! OK, turnaround and try some of the side streets. No go. Pretty much lost now. Everything leads to a dead end. Finally after some backtracking, actually manage to get onto Aramingo, before the repaving. They're letting people thru that way. OK. But then I notice everyone merging into one lane. Now, eveyone is cutting me off and snaking around me as I sit in traffic. Smoking like hell. Getting hot in my jacket and helmet. Once I finally am able to stop the hemmorraging of cars in front of me, I start moving... only to happen upon Aramingo completely torn up for resurfacing... exposed tracks, manholes, everything. Screw this. One minute later, I'm on 95.
And it's fine. The bike is up to 60 or so. Running strong. Felt great. Got off an exit later. Finally home. About four hours since I started. Absolutely exhausted. Forearms hurt slightly, a little from the clutch, but mostly from the vibration of the bike.
Lock her up. Cover her up. Go to bed, cuz I'm doing it all again in the morning!
My MINI had to go into the shop tomorrow (to get a check up before this weekend’s track event), so Kendra grabbed my jacket and helmet and met me at the dealership. Then, we made our way back up to Hiway to collect the bike. After a short wait as Mike finished up with another customer, the R5, in all her glory, was rolled out to the street. After gathering up paperwork, making sure everything worked, putting a little oil and gas in it, and paying the man, I hopped on, kicked her over, and stalled. Whoops. Another kick, and I was speeding out into the gathering dusk, leaving a thick greasy plume of blue smoke behind me. Poor Kendra - she was following in the convertible.
For my first ever ride in traffic, I opted to take Street Road all the way over to State Road as my way back to the Northern Liberties. I didn't think I was quite ready for I-95, plus that route also goes directly past the house in whose garage the R5 had been lanquishing these many years. All was good - the R5 is a bit jerky, doesn't really like cruising at a steady speed. But the brakes are good, and acceleration is pretty good. When feeling brazen, I could keep up with everyone at 50mph no problem (hey, what do you expect for my first ride?)
Street Road was fine, I stayed right and no one gave me a problem, or rode my tail or anything. Surprising, actually. The bike smokes quite a lot of stinky stuff, and it got pretty bad at the intersections with long lights. Didn't stall at all after the first few times coming out of Hiway's driveway (!) getting used to the clutch.
Got to State Road. Starting to get dark. This is another first. Nothing to do but grin and bear it. Kendra is still behind, somewhere in the smokescreen. It's taking a while because I'm going relatively slow. We wind our way along the river and eventually get to the more thickly urbanized areas of the Northeast. Almost home. Then, all of a sudden, we're stopped at Aramingo - repaving the whole thing. Damn! OK, turnaround and try some of the side streets. No go. Pretty much lost now. Everything leads to a dead end. Finally after some backtracking, actually manage to get onto Aramingo, before the repaving. They're letting people thru that way. OK. But then I notice everyone merging into one lane. Now, eveyone is cutting me off and snaking around me as I sit in traffic. Smoking like hell. Getting hot in my jacket and helmet. Once I finally am able to stop the hemmorraging of cars in front of me, I start moving... only to happen upon Aramingo completely torn up for resurfacing... exposed tracks, manholes, everything. Screw this. One minute later, I'm on 95.
And it's fine. The bike is up to 60 or so. Running strong. Felt great. Got off an exit later. Finally home. About four hours since I started. Absolutely exhausted. Forearms hurt slightly, a little from the clutch, but mostly from the vibration of the bike.
Lock her up. Cover her up. Go to bed, cuz I'm doing it all again in the morning!
Tuesday, July 20, 2004
Getting close!
Stopped by the shop yesterday to check up on the bike... all the parts are here - front tire and float needles. Mike and Mike (the Japanese bike specialist) worked on the thing last night and today... it’s inspected and ready to go! As an aside, Mike (aforementioned Jap bike guy) told me to hold on to this bike, as it will be worth something. Agreed.
However, as the bike sat with a full tank, everything got flooded up with fuel again, making it hard to start. Mike disassembled everything again and cleaned out the exhaust baffles. He wants it to sit overnight to be sure it will start and everything works well prior to my picking it up.
Got a chance to look up close at the paint on the bike when I was there last night. Most notable is the bubbling on the cover on the oil tank. Right now there’s a prime example of a whole tank, cover, emblem good paint and all, on eBay, so hopefully I can get that replaced.
Got the 699 Superbike grips... and, of course, despite UPPER CASE EMPHASIS on the order form, still received closed-ended grips. Not that it's hard to cut out the end of gummy rubber grips, but how hard is it just to get what the heck you order?
The Hiway show was rained out last weekend, and is postponed to this weekend. I can’t attend, however, as Kendra and I will be at a PDA track day up at Pocono Raceway. Kendra got a helmet this past weekend, for the dual purpose of attending the track day and riding passenger on the Yammy. Perhaps (and this is her suggestion) she can move to getting a bike of her own...
However, as the bike sat with a full tank, everything got flooded up with fuel again, making it hard to start. Mike disassembled everything again and cleaned out the exhaust baffles. He wants it to sit overnight to be sure it will start and everything works well prior to my picking it up.
Got a chance to look up close at the paint on the bike when I was there last night. Most notable is the bubbling on the cover on the oil tank. Right now there’s a prime example of a whole tank, cover, emblem good paint and all, on eBay, so hopefully I can get that replaced.
Got the 699 Superbike grips... and, of course, despite UPPER CASE EMPHASIS on the order form, still received closed-ended grips. Not that it's hard to cut out the end of gummy rubber grips, but how hard is it just to get what the heck you order?
The Hiway show was rained out last weekend, and is postponed to this weekend. I can’t attend, however, as Kendra and I will be at a PDA track day up at Pocono Raceway. Kendra got a helmet this past weekend, for the dual purpose of attending the track day and riding passenger on the Yammy. Perhaps (and this is her suggestion) she can move to getting a bike of her own...
Tuesday, July 13, 2004
Hmmmm...
Hiway is having a motorcycle show this Sunday. Wonder if my bike will be done by then? Still waiting on the front tire, and inspection...
The 698XL Superbike grips I ordered wound up being closed-ended, despite the description on the site, and they didn't carry the open-ended ones. That's OK, though, as I really wanted to get the 699 Superbike grips... same stuff, just look cooler. They're on their way...
The 698XL Superbike grips I ordered wound up being closed-ended, despite the description on the site, and they didn't carry the open-ended ones. That's OK, though, as I really wanted to get the 699 Superbike grips... same stuff, just look cooler. They're on their way...
Wednesday, July 7, 2004
FINALLY!
Got the call from Langel that my title had finally been posted this past Friday. Got the plate and registration today! Heading over to Hiway now to drop it off and check the status of the Yammy.
Also ordered an M2R MR-25 replacement shield (scratched the original up pretty bad), Progrip 698XL Superbike(!) grips for the clubmans (open-ended to accept the bar-end mirrors), and a Kryptonite New York Chain (so you can’t take her, thank you very much). All from motorcyclesuperstore.com.
Also ordered an M2R MR-25 replacement shield (scratched the original up pretty bad), Progrip 698XL Superbike(!) grips for the clubmans (open-ended to accept the bar-end mirrors), and a Kryptonite New York Chain (so you can’t take her, thank you very much). All from motorcyclesuperstore.com.
Monday, June 21, 2004
Tuesday, June 15, 2004
Good ol’ PENNDOT
So it’s been 60 days since I sent for a new title. Of course in that 60 days, nothing has happened. I call PENNDOT and oh-so-friendly-and-ever-so-helpful Reuben says, glibly, “Oh, that title has been purged from the system, since it was inactive for so long. We need to find out more information.” That’s what they’ve managed to do in 60 days. So now I have to wait until Thursday to call back and see if anyone else has a clue over there. Now I’m wondering if I’ll even get to ride this bike this year.
Friday, June 11, 2004
Tasty Lunch
A bunch of guys fom work and I stopped by Fast by Ferracci after lunch today... what a treat. Lots of Yamaha goodies (including branded mesh jackets... damn!) and a bunch of drool-inducing sportbikes. Of particular note was this monster from Benelli which utilizes dual fans at the rear to suck hot air out from the radiator under the seat... wild in both theory and looks.
Wednesday, June 2, 2004
Update
Still waiting on the state to send me the title for the bike so I can get it registered and inspected...
Stopped by yesterday to see how things were going, and Mike had discovered upon properly inflating the tires that the front had a huge crack running along the sidewall. Rather than replace the front with original-style ribbed, I opted to go modern. Most likely Dunlop F-11.
Also looking for a battery tie-down, as the original disintegrated when pulling the old battery.
Stopped by yesterday to see how things were going, and Mike had discovered upon properly inflating the tires that the front had a huge crack running along the sidewall. Rather than replace the front with original-style ribbed, I opted to go modern. Most likely Dunlop F-11.
Also looking for a battery tie-down, as the original disintegrated when pulling the old battery.
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