captial city bike fest...

capital city bike fest - 26-27 September 2008

sites from the bike fest

buffalo bike...

yes, it can actually be ridden...

nationwide insurance bikes...

car powered by harley...

not sure if this would be classified as a motorcycle or car...

pole dancers...

rat bike...

widow maker cdr...

catchin' up...

it's been a while since i've last posted.. lots to catch up on - mostly pictures...

patriot ride - 26 September 2008

patriot ride was that same route as last year - in fact, pretty much the same as last year with the exception of the number of people that showed up. probably not even half as many - most likely due to the threat of rain.

on to the pictures...

pow/mia bike...

ray price speaking to the riders at the national guard armory...

everyone listening to ray price...

ray price's trike...

i guess dog is man's best friend... the dog didn't seem to mind riding around on the back of the bike...

time lost...

about three years ago, i added a clock to my bike... the other day, i was tinkering with the bike and noticed it had stopped... should be simple enough to replace the battery, right?? not quite...

after fiddling and fumbling with the clock, going through two batteries, i'm left with a very expensive, albeit waterproof, picture frame...

rocker...

on my way to ray price to demo the rocker c, i was questioning why i was going... i originally scheduled the demo ride because it was one of three ways to get the 105th anniversary dvd from harley. now i was wondering if this was really worth it... since it was scheduled and i was almost there, might as well go through with it...

i get there, traver gets me squared away with the paperwork and we're off... as we're leaving the parking lot, i notice how heavy the front end appears, like it just wants to flop over. this is, apparently, because of the wider rear tire and something for me to be aware of as we ride...

the seating position on the bike was comfortable although the seat itself was a little hard. i don't think i would be able to ride on it very long without taking a break.

i don't know if i like the handlebar configuration. when you're sitting on the bike, the rider is reflected in where the handlebar meets in the center. i guess for those that are vane, they can look at themselves while they're out riding around... it's just not for me...

the smooth ride made up for the hard seat. unlike my road king, the bike doesn't vibrate when you're stopped. just a nice smooth ride all around. you could feel the power when the throttle was rolled on.

the lean angle, or the lack of lean angle surprised me a bit. as we went through one sweeping turn, i was rolling on the throttle, leaning through the curve and i hear the pegs scraping a bit. well, not really the pegs, but the 'hero' tips - i think that's what traver called them. little metal tips that extend down at an angle from the end of the peg. i'm guessing these are to let the rider know they're getting close to the pegs. i was surprised because i didn't think i was really over that far.

overall, a nice bike. i enjoyed riding it. i would definitely ride it again. but i don't know that i would want to owe one. at least not before i got some other bikes...

so i came in to get a free dvd by doing a demo ride. i left having a better appreciation for the rocker. and i think i got more enjoyment from the demo ride that i will the dvd.

sunday ride...

yesterday started out crappy and put me in a bad mood - hard to believe, huh?? it turned around when wife came home after running some errands and said let's go for a ride...

having a couple hours, we decided to head up to virgilina and grab something to eat at gatrell's... it was a beautiful day for a ride - sunny and cooler temps. and it was made all the better since i got to spend it with the wife...

we make it up to gatrell's and call the kids. between fumbling around with the phone calls and text messages before heading in, since you can't get reception inside the building, it took us a couple minutes to get inside. as we approached the door, a big guy in a yellow shirt and cowboy hat opens the door. i'm sure he was wondering what was taking us so long and came to investigate. we exchange pleasantries and head in...

i usher my wife through a couple rooms and a small hallway to the 'dining' room in the back. we pick our seat and order. realizing i left my wallet in the bike, i head out to get it.

on my way back in, i reach to open the door when i noticed it has a simplex lock. i also start noticing the 'private club' signs. hmmmm, maybe that's why we got a slightly strange look as we blew past the guy on our way in...

i ring the bell and wait, reading the signs and trying not to stare at the security camera. funny how times slows when you're in a situation like this.

the door finally cracks open and the guys in the yellow shirt and cowboy hat peers out, "can i help you?" looking through a three in crack in the door, i quickly respond with, "uhhh, i think i left my wife inside." he laughs, opens the door and invites me back in.

on the way back to the table, i ask him about the 'private club' status and what it takes to join. simple as filling out some paperwork and five bucks for a family for a year. now that's hard to beat...

we introduce ourselves and learn our new friend is alan, owner and namesake of gatrell's. he tells us that the changes were made recently to help keep some undesirables out of the place. he figured even if he had to sit in there all by himself, it would be worth it. turns out that in the three weeks he's been doing this, he's already garnered a thousand memberships.

what really adds to this place are the events he has going on and the family-friendly atmosphere. every weekend all the way through june they have bands scheduled friday and saturday nights. once a month they have a car and motorcycle show. during the week they have dinner specials. quite a place. we're going to have to get up there a little more often.

after enjoying some of their good food, we decide to head back. as we're gearing up, we decide to take the long way home, heading around the kerr lake and over the dam.

it was a great afternoon, a beautiful day to ride. certainly a lot better than the way the day started. made even better because i got to share it with my wife. i can't wait to take more rides like this with her...

a wise man once told me...

actually, a wise man more than once told me some words of wisdom that have saved me, whether it be a few bucks, a lot of headache or a bit of both...

two recently that i want to share... the first once occurred earlier this summer, but i got to recount last weekend. my bike was parked and some people were looking it over. the discussion turned to the toe/heel shifter. one guy told me he was going to remove the heel shifter on his bike and was asking what i thought. why he cared what i thought i don't know - he's got to ride it and be happy with it. but since he asked...

i told him that i don't use the heel shifter. i too had considered removing it. my concern was how to pretty-up the shaft when i removed the heel shifter. i knew my father-in-law didn't use his. i figured i would see what he did with his bike.

upon inspecting his bike, i saw he still had the heel shifter... he told me he has no plans to remove the heel shifter, even if he didn't use it. his reasoning being you never know when you're going to need spare parts. i chuckled. i decided to leave it on more out of fear of him ribbing me about removing it every time he saw my bike.

not even a week later, i'm traveling home from northern virginia, on a two lane road, my wife caravanning behind me. a goose decides to meander into my lane and stops. at this point i'm having to make decisions on which way the goose might decided to go, which way i'm going to do. i'm quickly slowing down, hitting both brakes, squeezing the clutch and attempting to downshift - pressing my left foot down quickly but only finding air. holy crap!! i look down, no shifter peg!!!

i safely navigate around the goose and find the first pullover. as i'm pulling over, i'm hearing my father-in-law's words - you never know when you're going to need spare parts. thankfully, since i left the heel shifter on, i can move the peg from the heel to the toe and continue my journey home.

chalk another one up for the ol' man...

i noticed last weekend that my right rear turn signal wasn't working properly. after some quick diagnostics, i determined it was the run/brake/turn signal module i installed several years ago. i was all set to buy a replacement module. the only thing holding me up was the debate between the r/b/t module and replacing the brake lights and turn signals with leds - cost being the main factor.

again my father-in-law kicks in his words... they have their web site imprinted on the side of the module. i should call the company and tell them to send me a replacement. i've had the module on the bike for a few years, i don't know if they're going to do that.

i decide to do the next best thing - i'll search the internet to see if there are any reported problems with the unit. quickly finding nothing, i end up at biketronic's web site looking for a forum. nothing.... i stumble on their contact us form and decide to give it a shot.

i explain my situation and fire off the form. not even two hours later, a response... they have a lifetime warranty, send them my address and they'll send out a replacement. how can it get any better than that??

chalk another one up for the ol' man.

i'm gonna have to keep listening to him...

out for a ride...

went out for a ride yesterday. well, more like running some errands, but it was a chance to get out on the bike... two things stood out on my short journey.

first, i love where i live. where else can you get stuck behind farm equipment chugging down the road at twenty and not really care?? i had considered passing on a double yellow. but then i thought why?? all that would accomplish is i'd get where i was going sooner. and since i was running errands "in town," why would i want to get there sooner. i just followed behind, thinking about how farming seems to be a dieing lifestyle.

second, i'm glad i don't live "in town"... the traffic and the people all up in themselves while they're driving, thinking they're the only ones on the road. or maybe just that they're privileged on the road and everyone else should bend to their wishes.

specifically, almost getting run off the road. or into oncoming traffic. as the road merges left from two lanes to one, some bozo in a lexus, nc plate sva-1091, just pulls into my space. any chance of them using a signal?? no. any change of them checking for other traffic before they change lanes?? no.

luckily i was expecting that behavior from the driver. maybe it it was being able to observe them for a mile or two and noticing they didn't have any regard for traffic around them. maybe it was the cell phone crammed in their ear.

i followed them, not by choice, for a couple more miles. all i can say it that my stereotyping was confirmed, at least in my mind, as they turned into wakefield.

once i got out from behind them, my ride improved. maybe because i was getting out of traffic and getting closer to home.

25k...

hit the 25k mark yesterday...

seems like a big milestone when you're a new rider and have a new bike - something to shoot for. now that i'm there, it doesn't seem like much. the longer i ride, the more i want to ride. i realize it's not about the miles, it's about where you've been, who you've met during those miles.

i look at future miles not so much in numbers, but journies... adventures i can share with my wife. the trips we'll take to get fish sammiches, to the beach or mountains, to see the world's largest whatever, or just to cruise around the back roads, spending time together and building more memories...

check out the ride map to see where i was when i hit the mark....

captial city bike fest...

next 'big' event on the calendar is the captial city bike fest... it's usually a good time... i take friday off and make a day of it. there's a charity ride friday during the day with festivities beginning in the evening. i've volunteered in the past and will probably again this year.

saturday's are fun to take the family - see the sites and sounds. normally we plan on heading down there for a short period of time and end up spending most of the day.

the event is getting bigger and bigger each year. i believe the rally has been a win-win between ray price and the city of raleigh. with the revitalization of the city, raleigh has been open to more events to help bring people in, the rally being one of those events. and the rally has certainly brought people into raleigh that normally might not have shown up.

looking forward to it...

restoring confidence...

i received a call this evening from randy, the service manager at ray price... he read my previous post and had some concerns about what i said.

first, i'm impressed he took the time to call - it shows he's very concerned about his customers and the service his department provides. through our discussion, i got more of an appreciation of the passion randy has for his job and motorcycling.

randy was concerned that i posted my comments and he never had a chance to address the "problems". i have to give him that - it's hard for them to make things right when they don't know about them... i should have talked to him and given him a chance to get things straight.

randy isn't only interested in maintaining a positive image for ray price, he's interested in the safety of his customers. when i complained about the brake rotors being on backwards, he saw a bigger potential issue of the front wheel being on backwards. he asked if i would go out to the garage and check to ensure the wheel was on correctly. once we established that is was mounted correctly, he said if the rotors were wrong, they would be more than happy to swap them the next time i was in.

we started talking more about why i thought the rotors were on backwards. randy educated me a bit further on the instance of when they might swap brake rotors or take other measures to reduce the noise when the brakes are used... i guess i was making a bigger issue than was really there...

we talked about the clutch not being set properly. he asked if a tech had informed me that the clutch would take about five hundred miles to get seated. unfortunately a tech hadn't told me that. now, knowing it was properly adjusted, it just needed time to to set it, makes me realize the tech didn't overlook something...

as far as the leak, they happen - probably more often than we'd like as owners... but it was unrelated to the clutch being replaced, as i first thought. randy took the time to explain what was done to fix the leak and how replacing the clutch wouldn't have caused the leak...

and the muffler bolt being loose... who knows when that happened. i don't know if they removed the muffler to replace the clutch or not. that bolt could have been loose for a long time and i just noticed it. do i expect them to check every single bolt on the bike each time it's in there for service?? no, that would be unreasonable. so maybe my comment about the bolt being loose was a bit unfair...

i do believe the techs working on the bikes are thorough. not only that, they do look over the bike for any safety issues any time a bike is in for service and will address those concerns if found.

what did i take away from randy's phone call today?? first, i think he restored my confidence in the service department. i say i think because maybe i was just making some assumptions. had i taken the time to talk to him or someone in the service department, maybe i would have understood better and not felt like i was losing confidence...

second, i do believe the guys in the service department at ray price take their jobs seriously and put their customers and their customer's safety first...

third, i'm a preferred customer at ray price... i paid a little extra for the plan but feel i got a lot in return. the service departments gets me in quickly, gets my bike fixed and back to me. while it's nice to feel like they bend over backwards to do what they can, i think they take all their customers as seriously... and that's a good thing.

in the four years i've been taking my bike to ray price, i have been very satisfied with their service. while i can't compare them to other service departments, because i've never had to deal with other service departments, i do believe they would be hard to beat...

who says harleys don't leak??

well, i'm starting to lose confidence in the service department at ray price...

after my last service and having the clutch replaced, while getting ready for the york trip, i noticed a couple things wrong with the bike. the clutch wasn't adjusted properly, one of muffler clamps bolts was loose and the rotors on the front wheel are on backwards... these are things i think the dealership should have fixed - maybe with the exception of the muffler clamp bolt...

when i got back from the smoke out, i was unpacking my bike and noticed a leak...

closer inspection found the primary drain plug was loose, almost to the point of being completely out. good thing i got home before that fell off!! so i tightened the drain plug and the other bolts around the primary...

a couple weeks later, i'm riding around and notice it leaking again... this time i take it back in to have them check it out and replace the gaskets - there's something more serious going on here than loose bolts.

while it was in, i had them do the 25000k service as well, a few hundred miles short, but close enough... while it was in, i got to tool around on a buell lightning... fun on the twisty country roads but wouldn't want it as my full-time bike...