Like A Band Of Gypsies We Go Down The Highway

Well, I finally got the new battery in the bike and went riding for about an hour this evening - the bike still needs an oil change, new plugs probably wouldn't be a bad idea, and about a full day's worth of detailing (damn my chrome addiction!) but I forgot how therapeutic a ride can be. I've been mobbed at work and am knee-deep in my first serious romantic relationship in quite some time, all of which has kept my mind racing 24/7 lately. Riding is a great release precisely because I can't think about those things when I'm on the bike - I'm too busy watching the soccer mom in the minivan closing fast with her left blinker on.

The ride today also reaffirmed that I'm a dyed-in-the-wool cruiser guy, something I've almost felt apologetic for in the past. Due to my friends & contemporaries' obsession with track days and the latest in literbike technology, I sometimes feel like the dinosaur lumbering around in a herd of fleet-footed mammals that appeared out of nowhere. I remembered a column William Gibson wrote about his obsession with collecting mechanical watches where he said, "They're pointless yet needful, comforting precisely because they require tending." To me, V-Twins are the same way - even the elaborately engineered Japanese ones are remarkably uncivilized. They're loud, inefficient, and archaic. You have to constantly listen to the feedback the bike is giving you and interpret what it means. I can tell you exactly what's going on with my engine by listening to it at speed, loading the engine on a downhill, or snapping the throttle shut in second. I can tell you when maintenance is due by ear while other guys need to break out exhaust-gas analyzers and feeler gauges. Your bike might do 10's in the quarter mile, but mine talks to me. This is everything motorcycling should be to me. Watch The Wild One and keep your eye on Lee Marvin, maybe you'll understand.

Remember that we're all on the road together - it's not what you ride, it's how you ride it.

Like Salsa Picante De Nana Funkenstein

Man, it's been hot here. Too damn hot. I had two co-workers that had their cars go down due to radiator/cooling troubles. I installed a new thermostat & return filters at the compound and had the A/C turned off at the breaker for an hour, and when I turned it back on it took almost 5 hours to get the house cooled back down. So hot I wish this would have worked.

The good news is I was able to find a battery in stock at a local dealership, and it was even cheaper than expected and an OEM part (no modifications necessary). The bad news is due to the heat & other projects, I wasn't able to get it in yet. Meine Freundin is coming over to spend the weekend with me and promised to make me baked chicken for dinner tommorrow, so don't expect to hear from me until the first of the week...

Smashing Through The Boundaries, Lunacy Has Found Me

Bleargh - I went to three different places to pick up a battery for the bike, and nobody had one in stock. The guys at my closest dealership were nice enough to order some for backstock so I didn't have to pre-pay, but when it comes in it gonna cost me a hundred and twenty dollars. My bike is a lot nicer than the claptrap UJM's I had for years, but at least for those I could go to Pep Boys and buy a battery for $25 (of course, I had to buy one practically every year...) The YUASA chart that I looked up the battery on had a footnote that said *hold-down must be modified* - in a perfect world that would mean I have to slightly adjust the rubber strap that holds the battery down, but in my world it usually involves a dremel and working perilously close to the wiring harness & my custom paint job.

Work has been a drag this week - in addition to my regular shift I had to go in for training for the new computer systems that will be going in next month. Ah well, I have a long weekend planned with meine Freundin that I am looking forward to. The plan is to get the bike all tuned up first thing next week, check back for pics (and maybe my first video post?) We'll see...