Born to be mild

I've recently heard that a few times from folk I have not met before. I was at the Whitewater Brewery for fish and chips two nights ago sitting at one of the outdoor tables when I saw two gents pull up on their Japanese sport touring bikes, all funny angles and the promise of deadly speed, and park behind me. A few minutes later an older couple exits the restaurant and approaches the truck I parked beside. The old duffer is giving my bike some heavy eyeball when I noticed that he didn't even look at the other two cycles. Today at lunchtime I was backing the bike into a parking spot when a very attractive young woman gave me a smile that made me feel sixteen years old (in an aww shucks kind of way). Poor girl, she would want to take that back once I ballooned out of the jacket and exposed my fat bald head. After the meal as I was getting back on the bike two city workers were heading to the chip truck when they took the time to compliment me on my bike. Sweet! On a less s...

...not counting the ride back from the dealership. Since getting the bike I have mostly used it to visit folks or go to and from work. Day before yesterday (Friday evening) I got on the bike and rode to Westmeath, a right on Lookout road until it's end at Powers road. Left on Powers to Grant's Settlement road. Right on Grant's until County Road 7 (to F's Falls), Follow 7 all the way to just outside Cobden, turn right on Hwy. 17 and stop at The Whitewater Brewery for a cold Farmer's Daughter on tap. Saturday I followed the same route until just after Foresters falls on 7 - then I made a left onto Queens Line , then a right on Magnesium Road (county road 48). Then I crossed Hwy. 17 and made a left at Haley's Station keeping on County Road 61. At the end of 61 I made a right onto Highway 60 and followed that to Douglas where I thought I could get lunch and a beer at The Douglas Tavern. Sadly no food beyond potato chips is served and they don't take debit. Kee...

First, the good news. You might recall that I had mentioned that I felt I had overspent somewhat on the bike. When I left the dealership I felt as though I was 2 grand poorer than I aught to be. I am no fiscal genius, so I thought I would go over my paperwork and when I came in for my first service, ask the F&I guy at the dealership to go over the bill item by item just to clarify my confusion. Yesterday I get a call from Travis, the Finance and Insurance manager at Freedom Harley - Davidson of Ottawa letting me know that I was due a refund of 2 grand and tax. Such a load off my mind, and off my credit card. No harm, no foul and I was quick to let Travis know that the dealership would be seeing that money back in relatively short order in parts and accessories and servicing... and storage eventually. Maybe this would be a good time for a shout out to the good people at Freedom Harley - Davidson in Ottawa. Mitch (a new addition to their team) was the man who greeted me and event...

...and I don't mean any rascally rabbit. Riding without a windscreen, wearing a ½ helmet, bugs are a real issue. I picked three off of my face just from the ride home from the dealership last Thursday. I start looking online for some face covering. I find one with fleece on the inside thinking I would appreciate the cushioning. Of course when I get it in the mail... it is for cold weather use... more surprising, I had pre-loaded my motorcycle jacket with a big bandana. I'm not always on the ball. I have since invested in an honest to goodness Buff. Having only seen them on the TV show "Survivor" I knew they can be worn many ways. I got the UV protection one so I might use it as headgear once I'm off the bike. I don't have a lot of cargo space so everything I can get to serve more than one function is a blessing. I went on my first night ride last night. The speedo emits a nice soft amber light and the LCD readout is legible (just - my eyes, not the bike...

OK, not a single part on my bike is a Screaming Eagle upgrade, in fact it is bare bones stock because none of the accessories I ordered are in yet. It also seems like I have miscalculated - and the bike is costing a bit more than I had bargained for. Having said that, she's home and she's all mine. For the next 600 km I am still breaking in the engine and am being careful not to bog down, over rev or run at a steady RPM for too long. That will take me half way to the first service when my gear should be ready for installation. Gear includes: Black moustache engine guard, indoor/outdoor bike cover, quick-release windshield, Bluetooth helmet mount microphone & earphones and one or two other doo dads as you needed to have $2000 (and no less) worth of parts and accessories to qualify for $2000 off the bike price. Pretty neat offer.  The drive home was thrilling. I have only ridden this on three occasions, the weekend is busy until Sunday and that looks rainy. unsmili...

there was a desire for a large V-Twin. I began riding motorcycles in my teens, licensed for bike (Class M here in Ontario Canada) years before I began driving cars. Took to a bike immediately. Almost immediately. There was the "finding first" issue. I think maybe one trip over the front handlebars, I would need my friend Sean to confirm. Aside from my introduction to using a clutch I was pretty adept at riding. The strangest things came naturally to me. Nobody had to teach me counter-steering, or to speed up to get out of danger. My first bike was a CX500  Honda. The previous owner had outfitted it with a "Windjammer" frame mounted fairing and saddlebags. The first person I let drive it other than myself dropped it and "PRESTO" no more saddlebags. Imagine the bike below in deep red and that looked a lot like it When I was 17, I really wanted to take fencing lessons, the instructor had set up shop 40 minutes away - not far from where my father ...