First Service (1600 km) & accessories.

Thursday I dropped off my bike at Freedom Harley Davidson for it's first oil change & hopefully to get a few of my accessories installed. Saturday I dropped by to pick it up and ALL the accessories were either waiting for me or on the bike. YAY.

Nothing is without trouble, the helmet I wanted was (I was told) not compatible with the bluetooth headset as one needs pockets in the ears to put the speakers... so I purchased the recommended helmet. When the headset arrived it was an earlier iteration, a simple set of headphones that DO NOT work with my helmet. A bit of a waste of cash and a sad misunderstanding. I will either buy a new headset or a new helmet - whatever is cheaper.

A cleaning was part of the service, the bike looked all shiny & great when I took it over to my brother's place. Later that day on the ride home I encountered some rain. Not much but it made the bike look really dirty. Upon washing the bike I noticed this:

The washer under the screw that holds the seat in place was slipping out. I realized that it would never last as long as it would take to get the bike back to the shop - so armed with my largest flathead screwdriver... I proceeded to fix my bike. The washer is "C" shaped and it holds up the part underneath that is threaded and accepts the seat screw - I found that out by removing the screw and hearing it drop to the ground. Then I discovered how to get it back in place (remove seat - remove a bit of electronics - hold piece in place with one hand while sliding washer into groove to hold the piece in place with the other hand. replace screw.) and VOILA, I have mad skills.

I am certainly getting to know all the area backroads, and I am increasingly less pleased to see rain. I know it's necessary - but it could happen from midnight to 6 am. That would be nicer.

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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...

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...

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 ...

Born to be mild

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