Skip to main content

That's a nice bike...


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 sweet note... yesterday I noticed the first chip in the powder coat of the lower swing arm. I gave it a daub of touch up paint and I think only I can see it now. This bike isn't going to get younger, I should resign myself that things are going to happen and I should just concentrate on the enjoyment part of the ownership.

Back on track... there were bigger bikes, there were shinier bikes and there were faster bikes at the Harley dealership the day I bought this one but I'm positive that there was no bike better suited to me. She's all that and more.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

News and notations

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...
Post a Comment
Read more

March, in like a lamb?

I downloaded a countdown app for my iPhone so I could see how long before I get my motorcycle out of storage. The problem is that I don't know when that actually will be. It all depends on the weather. As a result I used the LAST accessible day I can get it out of storage. I think the last allowable day without incurring further storage fees is the following Monday, but May 12th is my birthday and a Saturday making the 150 km trip to the storage facility an interesting birthday present. Two months... how dreadful. Now I know for a fact there are folks on the road a lot sooner than my birthday so this is what has been bouncing around in my head as I grow more desperate to have my bike back. I don't just need warmish weather, I need ALL the salt rinsed off of the roads. The last thing I need is to accelerate any kind of rusting. Snowstorms in early to mid April are not all that uncommon but we have had several mild winters in a row. Apparently springtime is the time for fl...
Post a Comment
Read more

In the beginning...

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 ...
Post a Comment
Read more