Archive for category Motorcycling
Trip to Twisp, WA – 8 days and 2600 miles
Posted by therider in Misc, Motorcycling on November 10, 2011
It has been over 2 years since we did a long motorcycle trip. Both of us missed the open road for a while. When Jim, our friend with an amazingly inspirational life mentioned he was enjoying living in a small town in Washington, our trip was set. Turned out Jim was spot on about Twisp. We both loved it so much I poured over the property catalogs dreaming to own a land with a small cottage someday. Pastures. Farms. Rivers. Lakes. Mountains. It is the veritable dreamland.
Our trip took us on I-5, then 97 via Bend, OR. Spent a night with my ex-coworker Katie and totally enjoyed playing with her two energetic kids. Then more on 97 north, a scenic detour along 26 and 35 around the snow capped Mt Hood, then back to 97, then 153 and 20 to Twisp. What a wonderfully scenic route. Twisp is just the perfect small town. Tight community. A good vibe. We camped 15 miles out inside a forest campground, and for $8 it trumped a motel room easily. With our new 20F sleeping bags, the 35F nights were not even perceptibly cold. We had a couple nice hikes over 2 days. Afterwards we took 20 west to western Washington, then to Ebey’s landing, so we could have the exciting ferry ride to Port Townsend. That was Priti’s first and she loved every minute of it. We were not sure where to stay, so kept riding. Luckily we stumbled on the nice Sequim bay state park much before nighfall and set up camp. Met a nice family next to us and dined with them. Next day we hit up the Olympic national park and did a scenic hike to the top. We could see Canada from up there. What a sight, I wished I had my hang glider with me.
[unfinished]
My crazy commute
Posted by therider in Motorcycling, Personal on November 2, 2011
Working at a startup in SF and living in south bay isn’t exactly a good combination for the daily commute. Caltrain is a lifesaver, but connecting home and office to the train station is where the majority of pain is.
Earlier this year, Priti was dropping me off at Sunnyvale caltrain station at 8am and picking up around 7:30pm. I would take my bicycle in the train and ride 2 miles in SF to reach office. It was working pretty well for a couple of months, but I figured it would be better to let her enjoy a few more hours of sleep. So I started keeping my bicycle at my friend’s house in Mountain View. I would reach there with my goldwing, park on the driveway and take the bicycle 1 mile to Mountain View caltrain. It was not bad, but I grew tired of that 1 mile stretch, twice everyday. Luckily my friend had exactly the kind of bicycle rack I was looking for, light enough and fits the hitch on my goldwing. I had to make an extension out of a piece of common stud and voila, I had a very good solution to my commute. Now I can take the bicycle on the goldwing till Sunnyvale, park the motorcycle at an apartment complex close to caltrain station, and the rest is no more harder than before. I hope this works for a while before I can figure out another better way.
New riding record – 212 miles in 2hr 50min
Posted by therider in Motorcycling on August 16, 2010
I am no ironbutt certified rider yet, and nor do I care. But it was definitely an achievement to be able to pull off a ride-till-empty-tank that I always dreamed about. I normally stop for a little drink or stretching out every 100 miles on a long ride, but this time having already done a 140-mile non stop record, I decided to push a bit further. This was a sheer test of mental stamina since I was physically fine with no drowsiness at all. I could feel the urge to be complacent and stop after 150 miles, but something in me kept me calm and going. It was a great meditation as well, riding in silence (thanks to earbuds) for 2 hours and 50 minutes at no less than 70 mph on I-5, from Gorman to Santa Nella, covering a record 212 miles for me.
Some long distance riders only stop for fuel but I think I won’t be doing this kind of thing all too often unless on sedate interstates.
San Diego ride
Posted by therider in Motorcycling on August 12, 2010
On a long trip after more than a year. This time to San Diego for the alumni conference of IISc where Priti is volunteering. An easy thousand miler and a welcome break from the crazy hectic life we are in now.
The wing got equipped with new front tire and front brake pads yesterday. Working on it in the garage was a bliss. So also loading it up today just before the start of the trip. I was badly stuck with some office work so packed up my work laptop as well, hoping to get some coding done during the trip.
We hit the road at 5pm. Destination Goleta, CA. GPS showed ETA 10:05pm. From all my previous experiences, that meant midnight. No question about it.
It was a blissful, “zoned in” ride. Except for the temperature games of California. 75F to 60F in no time. A jacket liner break at 60 miles, then a quick restroom break and one last stop for refuel at San Miguel around 160 miles. Then a non-stop 140 mile sprint to Goleta. Went through dense fog and then enjoyed a long stretch oceanside road with dark starry skies and three ships lit up like christmas trees. Had to stop for a minute and turn off the lights just to take in the view.
Reached Goleta at exactly 10:05pm. Now this is a first. A personal record of nailing the GPS ETA doing 300 miles in 5 hours flat. Feels just great. To top it off, our hosts (Priti’s junior) fed us wonderful home cooked Indian food. I stopped short of food coma so I could start this blog entry and try to get some work done.
More tomorrow.
Updates:
Fri, 13th August: Busy day, met up with a friend before showing up for the conference mixer/gathering. After that, we went to see my buddy Venkatesh, whose 11 month old daughter just learned to walk on her own that very day. We then shacked up at my college batchmate’s nice house for the night.
Sat, 14th August: Very long day of conference from 7:30am to 10:30pm, but the food was great. I managed to get some office work done while covering the entire conference in between. Stayed with Ligeo and Divya after the conference.
Sun, 15th August: Long day of riding back home. Met up with roomie at Irvine where he came to meet his cousin. We had a mind blowing lunch at Chakra Indian cuisine restaurant inside the UC Irvine campus. After that Priti wanted to meet her junior so we stopped at Pasadena, also to avoid some nasty traffic. I am lucky I got to do a power nap which helped tremendously. I did a personal record in my riding that evening. From Gorman to Santa Nella, I rode non stop 212 miles on a full tank of gas, in 2 hr 50 minutes. It is a significant achievement considering the mental stamina it takes to sit for nearly 3 hours belting at 70mph or more. Back home at 11:30pm.
Summary: Roundtrip 1100 miles in 3 days, new personal record of 212 miles non stop in 2 hr 50 minutes.
Royal Enfield experience in USA
Posted by therider in Motorcycling on April 11, 2010
Vaibhav, my enfield buddy from Bangalore, craved for a bullet motorcycle after a long 8 years of stay in the US. We picked up a nice 2005 Bullet 500cc from Paradise, CA last weekend. Original plan was to ride the 200 odd miles home on the same day, but thanks to the freezing cold, rain and gusty winds, we only made it to Folsom by nightfall. Left the bike with Vaibhav’s cousin brother there for the week and went back there yesterday.
Saturday started well. Cloudy weather, no rain. Soulful breakfast at Ihop. We needed to fix the sticking throttle first. Borrowed tools from a tire shop, removed the tank and took care of the pinched throttle cable. Problem solved. The mechanics and a few customers stopped by to admire the bike.
We took some country roads to avoid the major freeways. And boy that was a good decision. CA-160 and CA-4 was fantastic. Two lanes, no traffic, lush greenery everywhere. An Indian guy followed us taking photos for a few minutes, totally dumbstruck seeing a bullet. On a photo break, a passing patrol officer stopped to check out the bike.
After 165 blissful miles we were home. Went to Kragen to pick up some necesssary tools and got to work on the bike. We did the following, including a late night visit to walmart for more tools:
1. Carb adjust for idle speed.
2. Front brake cable lubing and brake adjust (clockwise rotation of the link shaft).
3. Oil change to Pennzoil 20w/50 non-synth. Planning to do again after 1000mi to change oil filter.
4. Air filter check (no dirt right now),
5. Pushrod tappets adjustment.
6. Clutch cable tension adjustment.
7. Rear wheel alignment and chain tension adjustment.
8. Replace spark plugs.
The bike is much better after front brake adjustment and rear wheel alignment.
Royal Enfield and Goldwing
Posted by therider in Motorcycling on March 18, 2010
“I find the plethora of buttons and navigation system display on my thoroughly modern GL1800 almost a laughable waste.”
Came across this perfect comparison of riding the modern goldwing GL1800 and an old classic Royal Enfield chugging along on a rural county road. I can 100% relate to this experience. I still believe my 40,000 kms in 2 years of riding in India has made better memories than all the four different modern bikes I have ridden here in the US for 6 years. Last year we did our longest journey on the goldwing – CA to NY and back in 30 days covering 10,360 miles. Even that seems not a big deal now. We did not even write up our daily experiences in detail, maybe because there wasn’t much exhilarating details to remember, except for a few specific days.
http://www.royalenfields.com/2010/03/royal-enfield-ride-on-wisconsin-roads.html
X-Country USA 2009 status archive
Posted by therider in Motorcycling on February 26, 2010
In July 2009, we had a long motorcycle trip from west coast to east coast and back, covering 10,360 miles in 30 days. Thanks to iphone and facebook, I can recount the details of the days from the status updates. Here is an archive of the updates during that time:
Very productive day today. new battery and front tire done. ordering rear tire + wheel from ebay. helped piyush installing hard bags on his VFR.
Instamapper.com rocks. Just set up a gps tracker for our month long cross country motorcycle ride. http://bit.ly/O9d9w
New rear tire should come today. Bike should be ready by evening. Dry run of packing to follow afterwards.
Feeling infinitely lucky to have a wife who is excited to be on a motorcycle trip for 30 days.
Seems like I can lose weight and stay young on a motorcycle: http://bit.ly/73jOX and http://bit.ly/10WZFS
Started at 7am. Breakfast stop at Benicia.
175 miles done. I-5 is a bit sedate.
At Weed, CA. 325mi done. Touched 97F peak at Redding. Morning was 58F.
At Chemult, OR. Blinded by greens and blues. Don’t wanna leave Oregon.
Got rained on day 1. Awesome. The smell of wet soil took me home in monsoon. This IS home.
Day 1 over. 555 miles. Staying at Bend, OR at my coworker’s place.
Day 2 begins. Shivering cold in Bend.
Breakfast stop at Madras, OR. Wish there was a dosa/idli restaurant.
Chilling at Kennewick near Pasco WA. In 2007 I almost bought an yellow Goldwing from here.
Watching awesome fireworks beside lake flathead. 50 more miles to Whitefish, MT.
Reached Whitefish, MT. 670 miles in 17 hours. Will camp at a guy’s place who I sold my Canon 5D last year.
Idaho rocks. No bullshit tax. Cheap gas. 75 limit roads, even on mountains.
Chilling at Whitefish. Slept at 2am, woke up at 7:30. Will visit Glacier NP today.
Damn, are all the prettiest American girls living in Whitefish ?
At Choteau, MT now. 200 miles today. Scenary overload all day. Glacier NP and then beautiful roads in evening.
Wish there were tech jobs here at Montana. This state is too good. My head is hurting with pretty overload.
Bfast stop at Great Falls, MT. 60 miles today.
Instead of Monday morning blues we are drowning in the greens of rural Montana. And popcorn clouds made for us…
Loving the life on the road. This is how we wanna live, work hard and ride harder.
Visually drunk and totally fallen in love with Montana. My previous favorites Colorado and Oregon got pushed down in my list.
Piyush’s VFR got a leaking right fork seal. Ouch. We did two quick fixes and hope he can get it fixed properly at SLC on his way back.
At red lodge, MT. Camping beside a river. 385 miles today.
The VFR fork leak got fixed by a masking tape trick. Thanks a ton to Goldwing yoda Susan Coles.
Soaking in the sights and sounds of nature. Never camped this close to a river.
Damn the night was one of the coldest I ever spent out. 48F is the morning temp at 5:10am MDT.
Sun is probably rising from west today. Priti wants to shower in this 48F morning at the campground.
Yellowstone turned out to be least fun in the trip. The slow road is painfully sedate on a motorcycle. Not sure I will ride here again.
Yellowstone SUCKS on a bike trip. 80 miles through the park at 35mph. NEVER again on a bike !
Waiting for old faithful to erupt.
Enjoying the ride through grand Teton park. Light is not right so will come back for sunrise and sunsets.
At Casper WY. 350 miles done. Got 43.3 mpg on highway instead of usual 38. Woot. Thought slow park roads gave earlier 44 mpg.
Casper to Douglas WY – 50miles. Dialed in 80mph cruise and it felt like flying a private jet.
Camping at KOA of Douglas WY. Beautiful location, free wifi, heated pool. After a 400 mile day I could not ask anything better.
Watched a beautiful sunrise. Now heading to Sturgis, South Dakota.
Marathon day tomorrow. 700 miles to Chicago to meet up with parents.
Had a solid sleep, ready to start in 15 min.
I totally absolutely hate construction zones and sun in the face. Would love to live in a permanently cloudy place !!!!!
Ice cream stop at DQ. Worthington, MN. 200 miles done. Minnesota is very green.
On autopilot almost whole day at 80-85mph. Wing is eating miles for breakfast.
Snack break at Albert Lea, MN. Boiled eggs taste better with tortilla chips than salt alone !!!
Fastest day of the trip so far. 440 miles in 8 hours. Lunch break near la crosse, MN.
Last fillup at Monona, WI. 630 miles done in 12 hours, 150 more to go. Still have lots of energy!
At Chicago. 775 miles in 15 hours. Longest so far.
Change of plans: leaving Chicago on Monday instead of Sunday.
Got a good look at my face. Resembles grilled chicken.
Doing oil change myself at a shell service station. They gave me a pan, gloves, rags and a cardboard. Cool.
Chicago feels like Kolkata. Got cooked in traffic on a short trip to change oil.
2nd day of lazing around in Chicago. In a train, going to meet up with a school senior who was a student of both my parents.
En route to Cleveland, OH. Had a feast of a lunch at my school junior’s place in south bend, IN. Feeling sleepy every 20 miles
Getting robbed by tollbooths in IL, IN and OH. Damn things are making us pay every few miles.
Started hating east coast already. Lost count of the cash gone in tolls, and am not even in NY/NJ yet !!! Can the gps help avoiding tolls ?
Staying with sister’s batchmate and family at South Euclid, OH. 395 miles today and 4125 miles so far.
Mentally still in pacific time. The road lag is not going away easily.
Reunited with a school friend after 7 yrs. At Ithaca, NY now. 400 miles today, 4525 miles so far.
Met up with a ST13 rider at Fultonham, NY. Enjoyed sone awesome rural roads and also had a scary little ride on gravel road.
Having mac chicken at a service area on I-88E at Schenectady, NY.
100 more miles of awesome Vermont twisties before Nashua, NH.
At Nashua, NH. 360 miles today, 4880 so far.
Off to stony brook.
Stony Brook, here I come. Lunch at my favorite Chinese buffet Yin Yang.
Got fried in traffic around NJ-NY. Turned off engine many times to prevent boiling the coolant.
Took I-495 and northern state pkwy. Memories, memories…
Priti forgot to show ezpass when getting on NJ turnpike I-78 from Bayonne. What to do to avoid fines ?
Going to manhattan with friends. Time for some street photography which I should have done long back.
Charmed by NYC at night. I think I like this city more than SF which has no season at all.
Had a fantastic thai dinner at Yum Yum Too near 9th and 46th.
1am feels like 7pm in NYC. Awesome.
10mph on I-95 near Rutgers. HATE it. Should have taken 206 at 45mph
. Goodbye east coast. I will likely not miss ya. Finally got rid of the congestion on I-95 and at walt Whitman service area. 100 more miles to Maryland.
Escaped from mile long 10 mph toll plaza queue insanity at last. Entering Maryland.
Dear Priti, repeat after me 50 times: we will never ever ever ever ever even think of living in NY/NJ area !!!
At Baltimore. Meeting Ja from Stony Brook after 3.5 years.
Met mejomashi and family at Ellicot city, MD. Now with Ayan and Aritra at Ashburn, VA.
Got stuck at 5mph construction zone traffic for an hour on I-66. The awesome cloudy weather kept me calm. Don’t know how people go to work.
Got blown over at Luray Caverns at Virginia. Raining now, gonna be an awesome monsoon ride to Durham, NC.
Raining cats and dogs, taking a bite at burger king near Luray Caverns.
Checked into 360 motel at Midlothian, VA. 220 miles today, 5960 miles so far.
Midlothian VA to South Hill VA. 90 miles non stop in 70 min. My fastest sprint so far. Reward: bfast at Dennys.
Slept like a log at Kools’ place in Raleigh. Fully charged up for the ride south.
Rode into heavy downpour before walterboro SC. Taking shelter below an overpass due to very low visibility. Quite fun.
Staying at Savannah today. Bike tires wore unevenly and it is wobbling a bit. Have to fix it tomorrow.
Perfect day. Just as I pulled into Florida welcome center the rear tire blew. Guess the puncture was there for a while.
Got lucky about the location to fix my puncture myself. Also met a Goldwing rider with yellow wing and trailer.
Fixed puncture but tire won’t hold air. The big gash blew it. Now trying to reach a local gwrra member with trailer. Honda dealer is 30mi.
Omg ! A local wing rider has a spare wheel with rear tire and he is on the way!!! Wooooot.
The local winger came with wheel. We swapped the wheels in 10 min. Now at Jacksonville Honda getting a new Bridgestone.
The wing rider had the spare wheel because he switched to a car tire (dark side).
Don, the local winger is a pilot as well. He even rebuilt a plane!!! This GWRRA membership is fully worth.
The best things in life are priceless. We meet the nicest of people un the strangest of places and situations.
On the road again. Zero wobble. Whether or not I shoulda examined the rear tire more during wobble does not matter now. Had a helluva day.
Don is the symbol of how life should be lived. We talked about motorcycles, aviation and boating as well. His wife does woodturning too !!!
Tire lesson #1: if front wobbles check rear tire 10 times.
Don had car tire on his wing for last 7k mi with no issues. Am convinced enough to get one next. 3x miles, more traction, tilts fine too.
At chuck’s place in Satsuma FL. He rides an yellow wing with an yellow car-shaped trailer. My fav color and combo. 225 miles today.
On US-17 to Orlando. 80F, 80% humidity and just trotted beside a goods train. Feels home.
Reached temple terrace FL near Tampa after a non stop 120 mi ride from Kennedy Space Center. Rode through some hellish thunderstorm as well.
Don said priti should get her moto license before car and also should study towards a pilot’s lic as well so I can fly
Planning to ship all camping gear home tomm to reduce the excessive weight of the suitcase. We are unlikely to camp in this southern heat.
Shipped 20lb of stuff home. Suitcase should be much lighter after redistributing rest of stuff.
Bailing on Clearwater beach. It can be out of the world but 25 miles through town at 15mph is making me sick.
FL-98 is 10x better than I-75. Glad I ditched Clearwater. Still have my sanity and also prevented coolant boil-out of the bike.
Having a refreshing icee at Old Town, FL. Love these small towns, nice people and relaxed life. And no parking hassle ever.
Got first speeding ticket just when I thought the day was getting better. FL-98 is too good to ride near limits. Struggling to save the day.
Trying very very hard to enjoy the most gorgeous sunset at the same spot I stopped in 2005 on my first cross country bike trip
Stopping at a nice little town Appalachicola, FL. But it is Friday and inns are $$. Florida is giving me a bittersweet experience.
At the shore of the gulf of Mexico, st George island, FL.
We got our Clearwater with 1% crowd. Patience pays off.
With Suparno and Tusi at Baton Rouge, LA. Long day today, 510 miles.
Friend at Dallas is on-call today and got busy. We were unsure where to stay, then Priti found a contact at Uncertain, TX by a lake
Had an incredibly awesome stay at Uncertain, TX. The boat ride on the swampy Caddo lake was beyond any kind of our imaginations.
Priti called Florida clerk of court to ask if online traffic school is possible for my ticket. And they said yes !!! My trip got saved !
No more bad moods and fights with Priti for a while
Reached Midland, TX and got a motel. Incredibly sleepy day today but 530 miles done. 8670 miles so far.
At monahans sandhills state park. Feels like visiting the gobi desert in Rajasthan except for the cool 75F temps.
Lunch at a Mexican place by I-10. My god, the waitress is hotter than Salma Hayek !
Getting roasted in blistering 101F Texas heat now.
Had to ride 2 miles on unpaved road. Not fun on wing. Parked little far from house since it is a steep gravel slope to the house from road.
Imagine. 10pm. Moon playing hide-n-seek. 3 ladies and us sat in a natural hot springs pond in the woods for an hr. Au naturale, except me!
Had a beautiful morning ride from Bayard to Silver City on mountain spirits scenic byway. 75F at 6000 elev. Now on US-70W from lordsburg.
Had a refreshing light snack at a small town Duncan, AZ.
Getting oven roasted at 104F desert heat in AZ. Picking up another chilled soda at Globe, AZ. 100 more miles to Scottsdale.
50 miles from Scottsdale. Temp when moving is 108F but not too bad since it is dry. We can survive.
Reached Scottsdale, AZ. New record temp 113F but still better than humid 95F in Florida.
Anyone want a quadruple bypass burger from heart attack grill at Chandler AZ ?
Priti’s iPhone 3G did auto shutdown and won’t come back up. Anyone knows how to hard reset it ?
Thanks everyone for the iPhone reset tip. I tried all those but the phone decided to ignore everything for a couple hours, then booted up.
Staying at Caltech/Pasadena with Priti’s ex-roomie from IISc. 415 miles today, 9920 so far. Will cross 10k tomm the 30th day of the trip.
Walked a few blocks for a juicy chicken burrito. Walking back is not fun. Burp.
Met up with 2 friends of Priti in Marina Del Ray and Los Angeles. Starting for home now on 101.
Telling the GPS to route home, finally !!!
101 is nice but has lots of slow sections. Should have taken I-5. Still 270 miles to go.
Last fueling done at Soledad, CA. 100 more miles to home.
At Gilroy. Waiting for Piyush at a gas station.
Reached Sunnyvale at last after a 30-day, 10360 mi xcountry motorcycle trip. Running to a friend’s daughter’s first bday party.
Finally, home. Can’t believe the trip is over.
Xcountry trip – mileage log
Posted by therider in Motorcycling on July 12, 2009
Xcountry trip – July 2009
Start odo 33400
7/3: 33955 (555)
Bend, OR. Stayed at Katiez place.
7/4: 34625 (670, 1225)
Whitefish, MT. Camped at Donz land.
7/5: 34825 (200, 1425)
Choteau, MT. Big sky motel.
7/6: 35210 (385, 1810)
Red Lodge, MT. Camping.
7/7: 35450 (240, 2050)
Lewis lake, Yellowstone NP. Camping.
7/8: 35850 (400, 2450)
Douglas, WY. Camping at KOA.
7/9: 36350 (500, 2950)
Chamberlain, SD. Belaire motel.
7/10: 37125 (775, 3725)
Chicago, IL
7/13: 37520 (395, 4120)
South Euclid, OH
Met Dolon, tukun. With tatan da today.
7/14: 37920 (400, 4520)
Ithaca, NY. At Sourinz apt.
Saw Niagara today.
7/15: 38280 (360, 4880)
Nashua, NH. At Damanz place.
Met moto Matt at fultonham, NY
7/16: 38555 (275, 5155)
At Rajat unclez place at Boonton NJ.
Met Alison at Stamford CT then Sankar uncle at Mahwah NJ.
7/17: 38780 (225, 5380)
At Hillsborough, NJ with bati da and Tandra di. Visited Stony Brook.
7/18: 38870 (90, 5470)
Went to Bayonne to talk to toll booth. Stayed at Hillsborough.
7/19: 39140 (270, 5740)
At Ashburn, VA with Ayan/Aritra.
7/20: 39360 (220, 5960)
360 Motel at Midlothian, VA.
Visited Luray Caverns.
7/21: 39885 (525, 6485)
Ramada inn at Port Wentworth, GA near Savannah. Went through heavy rains. Bike wobbling badly.
7/22: 40110 (225, 6710)
Staying at Chuck’s house at Satsuma, FL.
New rear Bridgestone at 40k miles got at Jacksonville Honda. Exciting day. Met Don Elrod who helped me with a spare wheel and guided to the Honda dealer.
7/23: 40380 (270, 6980)
Sheetal’s place at Temple Terrace, FL.
Visited Bama at Orlando, then Kennedy Space Center. Amazing place.
7/24: 40730 (350, 7330)
Gibson inn at Apalachicola, FL
Got first speeding ticket near Perry, FL on FL-98 in Taylor county. 83 on 65, $236 fine.
7/25: 41240 (510, 7840)
With Suparno and Tusi at Baton Rouge, LA. Reunion after many years.
7/26: 41540 (300, 8140)
With Billy and Dottie Carter at Uncertain, TX
Amazing Caddo lake boat tour with Jim.
7/27: 42070 (530, 8670)
West Texas Inn at Midland, TX
Very sleepy day. Lots of rain around Dallas.
7/28: 42540 (470, 9140)
Sally’s place at Bayard, NM
Hot springs pond at 10pm !
7/29: 42875 (335, 9475)
Parimal uncle’s place at Scottsdale, AZ
7/30: 42905 (30, 9505)
Ravi and Shreya’s place at Chandler, AZ
7/31: 43320 (415, 9920)
Debaleena’s apt at Caltech. Pasadena, CA
8/1: 43760 (440, 10360)
Home sweet home !
My Honda Goldwing GL1800
Posted by therider in Motorcycling on July 2, 2009
Here goes my two most precious assets. The ultimate touring machine. And my wife who never gets tired of sitting for hours in the back seat.
I bought this 05 GL1800 ABS anniversary edition on 5th July 2008 with 24k miles on it. This page is intended as a quick lookup for specs/accessories/maintenance.
Important Specs
Tires: FRONT: 130/70-HR18, REAR: 180/60-R16
Battery: OEM: Yuasa YTX20HLBS, Other: Westco SVR YTX20LBS
Latest maintenance done
2009-07-01: New rear ME880 @ 33.3k mi
2009-06-29: New rear brake pads, Fresh gear oil 80w/90 @33.2k mi
2009-06-28: New front ME880, new battery (Westco SVR) @ 33.2k mi
Accessories I installed
1. Fused 12v plug in left glove box, trunk, beside battery
2. Baker mirror wings
3. Kuryakyn highway pegs
4. Trunk rack, trunk support system
5. Garmin 2610 GPS on RAM mount
6. Utopia driver backrest
7. Khromewerks passenger arm rest
8. Belly pan
9. Hitch rack
10. Right angle exhaust tips
No fuss rear wheel removal of Goldwing
Posted by therider in Motorcycling on July 1, 2009
Having a hitch rack on my goldwing, I was very reluctant to remove the wheel in the traditional way, for the extra time to be spent removing the hitch hardware. I considered raising the rear a bit with help of 2×4 wood pieces but that too sounded not-so-easy.
Susan Coles of our CA2Q goldwing chapter shared a cool video of GL1800 wheel removal. Some guy laid the bike down on the right side, with the front and rear crash bars resting on mats. He then raised the rear wheel by deploying the centre stand while pushing down the bike more on the right. Then it was a 5-minutes-5-nuts job to get the wheel out.
Here is the video: http://home.comcast.net/~pidjones/t2.wmv
It worked out perfectly for me. I used two pieces of 8″x8″ scrap laminate wood on some cardboards. It did not even feel scary to let it down and also to get it up. I made a small mistake though, I should have done this with the tank near empty. While the bike was down, some gas leaked out. It was a bit scary but after the bike was upright again I let the gas dry out and it started just fine.
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Hi, I'm Joy, a Javascript engineer at Zoosk. While code pays my bills, I enjoy hang gliding, photography, motorcycling, woodworking and home renovation. Welcome to my blog.
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