I can’t listen to the news, for all the horse crap with the felonious orange, and his clown car of reprobates, shitting all over our democracy, and he hasn’t even taken office yet. It’s too darn cold to go diving, that makes me happy, but I’m out for a few months. So, that leaves riding the motorcycle, as what makes me happy.
Most days are too chilly for that right now. But every once in a while, even in winter months, we will get a 55-60 degree day, and with the right gear, that is doable without too much discomfort. I have nothing to prove by toughing it out on damn cold days. Nope, too old for that crap. Unless it’s damn important…
My wife, had never been on a motorcycle in her life. I told her after we were married I’d make a motorcycle mama out of her, despite not having a bike at the time. It took me a good long while to make the move and get a bike. But, being on the north side of being a young guy, I figured if I was going to get some riding time in, I better get to it. Wife was OK with getting the bike (2004 Honda Shadow Spirit 1100,) a little “meh” about it really, but we went and picked it up and still managed to sleep in the same bed that night 😉
I had to get my motorcycle riding skills back, it was in my 20’s when I last had a bike, so I spent a good 5-6 weeks (2-3 times a week,) riding the back roads, to redevelop my riding habits. It takes a minute to get comfortable again with shifting/downshifting, learning this bikes gear ratios and how it pulls/accelerates up/down the hills, leaning through the corners keeping your eyes ahead, and looking where you want to go. Should also mention making tight slow speed turns, and even moving the bike forward/back while sitting on the seat. There’s muscles there that had long forgotten they were once called upon to do these things. Once I got comfortable again with it all, I got my motorcycle endorsement, got insured, then I started pestering my wife to go for a ride.
You going to go with me today? You going to go with me tomorrow? She kept putting me off, but she finally decided she wasn’t getting any younger either, and we geared up for a ride. I took her on the back roads at first, keeping it slow. Went through a park near by, meandered along the river. All the while I’m half expecting a “take me home!” moment. It never came. So, I thought, let’s see how far we can get before that moment shows up. I got on a highway, ran the bike up to 55-60, no complaints. We got to town, and I stopped to check on her, get a drink, take a minute or two off the bike. She was fine. We took off again and rode for a good while, putting in 100 miles on day one. She took it like like a champ.
Now, it’s her, looking at the weather, and telling me “it looks like a good day to ride!”
So, yeah. That makes me happy 🙂
We both have protective riding gear, pants/jackets. Helmets of course. The bike has been modified from stock, previous owner had put in a K&N performance air filter, and aftermarket pipes on it. But they apparently did not know that you have to rejet the carbs when you do that. I know, because the tell tale sign of that is the exhaust pipes are bluing pretty good. Now is a good time to be down for a few days, so I ordered all the stuff I need to do the job. Probably after x-mas I’ll get on it. Getting that fixed will make me more happy 😉
I need a distraction from the shit show that’s coming. Felonious orange and co. are going to be quite the spectacle. I’m fine with the motorcycle giving us a happy place. You should probably look for one too…
Evidence Based Reality 
What a nice, happy thing to read today-thank you so much!
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Why thank you Ali. We all need a happy place right now.
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My wife and I rode our BMW all over the United States, from the Rocky Mountains to Maine. We put about 40,000 miles on that bike in about 4 years and had a blast doing it, even when the weather was nasty.
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That’s awesome. I have aspirations of travel.
We recently saw a Honda Valkyrie Interstate in a Wal Mart parking lot, of all places. Even my wife was impressed. I catch one, right place, right time, right price/mileage ratio, might have to jump on it. This Shadow Spirit is tall geared and interstate capable, But at interstate speeds, over longer distances, I think we need a heavier, more powerful, ride, that’s also a bit more comfortable.
We got caught in a downpour a couple months back. Totally unprepared. Nothing to do but stick it out lol. After wiping water from my eyes, for the umpteenth time, I asked the wife “hey! is it raining back there?” We had a good laugh, what else you going to do?
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One year we were coming back from New England. We were coming up though south central Illinois on our way to Wisconsin and rode into a downpour. We did about 150 miles in a driving rainstorm until we got to our son’s place in Beloit. I think I poured about a quart of water out of each of my riding boots LOL.
We eventually traded the BMW off on a new, fully loaded Honda Goldwing. But not long after that my wife developed back and knee issues that made it impossible for her to ride for more than a half hour or so without causing her intense discomfort. that was, alas, the end of our motorcycling excursions.
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Sounds to me, like you could still be pouring water out of those boots 😉
Sorry to hear about the wife’s ailments. I have a chronic back, but I can still ride an hour, hour and a half, before I need to walk around a bit and loosen up. I have meds to take too, or I’d not last long. Hope she is doing well.
The Goldwing is “the” tour bike, I think. Never rode one, but damn they sure look good. Valkyrie Interstate is similar, but not as sleek/loaded.
You dusted off that Norty yet?
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Nope, it’s still sitting over at my sister in law’s garage. It’s probably going to be stuck there until spring.
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Hmm, that comment didnt seem to go through so let’s try again.
The goldwing is probably the best touring bike on the market right now. The valkyrie was sort of an attempt to make the GW platform more sporty. Basically the same drive train and engine as the GW so it would be pretty much bullet proof.
Alas the Norton is still sitting at my sister in law’s and probably won’t get moved until spring now.
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The comment came in under “Someone,” I cleared it 😉 Been a day or two since I been back on here. Looks like WP strikes again.
I like the Valk look. The highly aerodynamic looks on the GW are a bit unsightly to me. I understand there is a reason for that, but looks matter dammit 😉 I would not rule out a GW though… The Valk I/S just wows me on the look. Plus it has GW drive train as you mention.
Poor ole neglected Norty. I’ll send it a get well card to make it feel better 😉
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Being a gear head of sorts, I recently decided to look into what oil I should use in my Shadow. I found this page in my travels, it is quite a read, makes a lot of sense, and thought I’d share it with you for a couple of reasons. First, I figure you might be a bit of a gear head too, and second, there’s mention of the old Norton bikes in there, that might be of interest to you, as per the poor old neglected Norty.
This is quite a long, detailed read, I had to go over it a few times to digest it all.
FWIW, after absorbing all of that oil info, I went with Shell Rotella T6 15-40 on my wet clutch oil change. Don’t know if I mentioned it yet here at WP, but the carb rebuild and jet upgrade was a huge success. Also rebuilt the front caliper, and flushed out all the old fluid. Again a huge improvement over what it was.
https://motorcycleinfo.calsci.com/Oil.html
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