"Vulcanized" Again! (May 28, 2010)

Photo of my bike that I took on May 28, 2010....first ride since the last one on April 17 which was the ride with Steve to Mac's Speed Shop. Thanks to general time it takes to get a bike fixed (early spring or summer is bad time to have problems) and of course the "Tale of Two Cities" which is my life now, took some time to be able to get back and get it. Good thing is though got some maintenance done on the shaft drive (preventative) and got the electrical problem (which turned out to be a replacement bad battery fixed). Got in a nice ride, in fact missed a great photo along the way, but riding is nice when it has been some six weeks.

Took the photo here and at bottom at Grumpy's Custom. Was very pleased with the work done there, the price was outstanding, and no complaints. I had replaced the battery, but it had died was the initial problem. Turned out after they checked out the electrical system which was fine that it was a bad new battery. Got me another one from Ride Now, got it in the bike, and serviced the shaft drive (grease on the splines). Work was first rate! They also do custom work such as this Bobber here which they are working on, will be quite a ride when it's done. Think I will be returning to Grumpy's Custom for my future work, one of the best shops in the area!


I also liked this custom bike at Grumpy's, and think they will do well. You can see many of their bikes at local bike nights and various shows around the region. Charlotte has a lot of good motorcycle events, and I plan to make a few during the next few months.
Looking forward to Hog Happening next weekend, but in the meantime, have some riding here to catch up on, and hopefully will be able to do some of that this weekend. Nice to be back in the wind again, and looking forward to some good rides during the summer. Be sure to be safe, as there are a lot of bikes out this time of year, but drivers in cars can pop out from everywhere!

Bike show at Hooters/Chesterfield Towne Center (May 22, 2010)

Out exploring in the car today (bike is still in the shop, and besides..both are in Carolina) but got out for a while doing some exploring in the Versa. Saw a couple of nice motorcycles (a Harley with ape hangers and a nice Ducati) and those are on my Photo Page (which there is a link to on this page), and came across a bike show at Hooters at Chesterfield Towne Center. Did not know about it, but saw the bikes on the way back to the apartment...heard the band and stopped in. Had a few nice custom bikes, but I really liked this Kawasaki KZ-1000 LTD. Just a nice looking piece of work! You don't see bikes this nice from that era very often.

I also liked this Harley-Davidson Rocker; which is one of the newer motorcycles from "The Motor Company", and its a nice looking motorcycle. I like the design (I believe this is the work largely of Willie G. Davidson) and of the newer Harley's it is one of my favorites..though this design is two or three years old. My favorite remains the V-Rod, and there was a neat looking orange one at the show, but I have featured those on these pages before, and wanted to show off another of their designs here. There is a passenger seat under the "solo seat" which folds out in a very interesting way. The bike comes in two types the Rocker and the Rocker C (C standing for Chrome).
Last bike I am featuring here is a Honda 300. Amazingly this bike is still running, though seems that old Honda's never really die. Thought this a very nice version of a very important bike in the Honda line. I remember seeing those running all over, and get a kick out of seeing them now...drum brakes and all.
Show was nice. Of note, there were some motorcycle gangs there; I gave them a healthy dose of respect, having found that long as you don't give them grief you don't get any. I used to see a lot of Outlaws in Indiana when I lived there, but few motorcycle gangs (at least in the Concord area) at local events. The occasional 1%er does snow up though from time to time, but usually not in large numbers. At any case was surprised at the show, and enjoyed the event. Nice to stumble on something like that on a nice day in Richmond, VA.

Non-Riding Weekend in Virginia (Mothers Day 2010 weekend)

Yeah, spent the weekend in Richmond; bike has spent its weekend at Grumpy's Customs in Charlotte, NC. What I thought was a battery problem has turned into a charging problem, plus an opportunity to get maintenance done (greasing the splines) on the shaft drive while they fix the problem (which is either the voltage regulator or the stator). Good timing, as I could not ride it anyhow. However, while in Richmond on a very windy Sunday (Mother's Day) saw quite a few bikes out riding, such as this Kawasaki Ninja. Read this week that in March Kawasaki (which has been putting out a slew of new models) was the #1 selling Japanese brand in the US. When I ride I ride a Kawasaki. Its an 05 Vulcan Classic 1500, and this is the first problem after some 21,000 miles.
While out saw this Harley-Davidson, like those this being one of the V-Rod based water-cooled Harley's. Line is getting bigger though they are still not popular with most of the HD faithful, though water-cooling sure improves both the power the bike can put out, and the reliability of the engine over the air cooled motors. It is one of the reasons we don't drive cars with air cooled engines. While relaxing with my favorite beverage on a laid back and windy Richmond afternoon, I watched some motocross on Speed Channel and chatted with the rider of this bike. Hopefully my bike will be out of the shop soon, and I will be back in the wind again as early as possible. Got a great ride planned for the first weekend with June; that will be huge.

Carolina Classic Bike Show (May 1, 2010)

A mixed sort of day; on the bad side, planned to ride my motorcycle to the Carolina Classic Bike Show in Spencer, NC, which was held at the NC Transportation Museum, but seem to have a charging problem. Bike will be going into the shop later this week, but from what I am told is not a major repair problem. Things do happen, but can be fixed. These bikes are a prime example. Had a great time at the show, where I saw bikes such as the Triumph at left. Museum has a number of "planes, trains and automobiles" plus a few bikes as well. It is a great museum to visit (was once a working train yard) and you can see one of the trains (which offer rides) also in the photo.
Bikes in the show covered a wide range, being many from Italy (Ducati, and Moto Guzzi), and a lot of German and British bikes, plus some great Japanese bikes. The Japanese bikes included a number of classic two-cycles such as RD-350's and Kawasaki triples, and other bikes such as this Honda CB-X inline six. Most were ridden in (in fact in the background you can see a Kawasaki 900 and a Kawasaki triple). I posted a lot of other photos at the photo page; but what I enjoyed a great deal was hearing these bikes running...really brought back some great memories of some fun bikes. Many of these bikes I had ridden back in the day.
Bike shows are a great way to see some great old motorcycles, and to get into the history of some great motorcycles. In fact, not only was the show great, but had a fun time exploring the NC Transportation Museum. Just outside of Salisbury, NC it is a great place to visit if you are interested in transportation of all types.