Halloween Day Ride (October 31, 2013)

 Good day, not a very sunny one, but it was warm and a good time to get the motorcycle and me out on the streets of Richmond. Made a stop at Hollywood Cemetery to check out some of the sights including this grave of General George Pickett. Known for Pickett's Charge at Gettysburg, he is buried there. I am sure that he would have liked having a few Kawasaki Vulcan's during his charge, but it was made mostly on foot, thru heavy cannon fire, and facing rifles from entrenched troops. I think hindsight being 20/20 that it was a very, very bad idea (not that the Civil War was a better one).

Made a stop at the Virginia History Museum...its a fun (and free) place to visit. This is a Richmond built Kline Car, one of the many cars from back in the day. Like motorcycles there used to be many, many brands, but over time they were replaced by the few found today. According to the sign, Ford's mass production technique put a lot of them out of business (and the Great Depression later on got a bunch of the rest. I also liked the old gas pump seen here as well. Nice museum, and has clean restrooms (not that I needed to stop you understand)   

Took this photo on Broad Street, heading to Church Hill where I had a quick lunch at Alamo BBQ. Ride had a lot of challenges, for one thing this must be "repave the roads of Richmond" month...lots of detours, but then again, glad to see that getting done. I rode to a few places, but with stops only ended up with some 25 miles. Do not have a lot of time, but a short ride is better than no ride, and I enjoyed it a great deal.
Skies were overcast, and gray, but as I noted it was warm, and stayed dry during the ride. It was a lot of fun to get out and put a smile on my face.  

Bikes of the Ville, and a Ride to Malvern Hill (October 13-17, and October 22)

 Took a vacation to Louisville to visit my brother who is very sick and also to see my grandkids. We took a walk while there and saw this very fine classic Kawasaki. Also known as the "Eddie Lawson" (named for a great rider who rode Kawasaki's with this color scheme) they are still often seen...and this is a very good example. In fact production just ended on these a few years ago. Fun to see some of these old bikes, and they really bring back a lot of memories. This is a good version of it, and enjoyed checking this one out during a fine day for a walk in Southern Indiana.

 Also in Southern Indiana, we took a drive to Joe Huber's Family Farm, where we got to pick some pumpkins and got some wine and food (also had a very fine dinner at the restaurant there with the family) and we also saw these motorcycles. There is no helmet law in Indiana so you see some (as was this couple) without a helmet though you also see many who do ride with them. When I lived there, and rode I wore a helmet.
Huber's is a very nice place, and spent a lot of time back in my younger days riding motorcycles down those twisty and very scenic roads. 

 Once again in Southern Indiana, while getting some candy at Schempff's Candy (a very old candy store in Southern Indiana, Kaye and I saw this Spyder. We also got to talk to the riders later (a husband and wife) and they showed us some of the storage compartments on the bike. Powered by a Rotax engine (they also made engines for other motorcycles and are also well known for their aircraft engines)  it is a very impressive machine. I liked checking this out, think if I was ever to get a trike this type would be the one that I would take a serious look at.  

 This is the new Ultra Classic with the High Output Engine, and it is partially water-cooled (the heads are water cooled) unlike the fully water cooled engine on the V-Rod line (the Revolution engine). The Radiators for the bike are surrounded by the crash bars, and also of note is that the headlight is a different design. There are a lot of changes this year, but this was the first of the new engine design that Kaye and I had seen. Think its a very cool idea and simular to the work BMW is doing with the Boxer engines (which are also adding water cooling though they were formerly oil cooled).
Saw this bike at Bluegrass Harley-Davidson in Louisville, Kentucky, which was very near the hotel we were staying at.Nice place and enjoyed the visit both to see the bike, the stay at the hotel, and a good lunch at the nearby Mellow Mushroom pizza place (some damn good food). The Louisville stay was a lot of fun and enjoyed a very good visit with my brother and family.   

 On October 22, for the first time in a long time took the Vulcan out for a ride. Took this photo at Church Hil, love this painting which looks even better with my bike in front of it. Church Hill is a very interesting neighborhood, and in fact stopped by Tony's new house which they just purchased there...they are working to get it all ready to move in.
Train is an interesting story...there were some tunnels in the Civil War era, after the war near here while attempting to open the tunnel a work crew and a train were buried in a tunnel cave in. They are all still in there to this day.   

Finally near the farthest point of the ride, a stop at Malvern Hill Battlefield just off of Highway 5 outside of Richmond. You can see some of the cannon's in the background. Was said to be one of the best uses of artillery during the Civil War.
Had worked on the bike not long ago, sure nice to have the new spark plugs in there as it was very smooth, and oil change sure makes it shift better. Like working on the bike, and try to keep maintenance up on it. That is so important, take care of your bike and it will take care of you. Was a nice ride on an overcast RVA day, covered a total of some 45 miles. 

Vulcan Maintenance (October 6, 2013)

 Got to be that time, and on a hot Sunday, under a tree, did a bit of routing maintenance on my motorcycle, checked out a few things, and did an oil filter change on the bike, and changed the spark plugs as part of the 4,000 mile service.
If you want your bike to take care of you, and to last, you have to take care of it. That means having the work done, or doing it yourself. I sort of go both directions-depending on the job I either do it, or have it done. My 2005 Vulcan 1500 Classic takes care of me, cause I take care of it. I hope to have a lot more rides on this very good motorcycle.  

 This is after the work and a good wash and wax job. Did not take all that much time, and frankly did not cost all that much money. Last year I had a garage (and or that matter a wife) but still remember how to do the work outside, and it all went well. Glad to have it all shiny and ready to ride again, and looking forward to some fine rides.
After putting all the things away from the work (and have some oil to recycle tomorrow) I decided to get out on it. So got my girlfriend her helmet and off we went to put a few miles on the bike. 

This is the bike at red light. Looks like new and I am glad to say ran real well too. Nothing like a set of new plugs (my V-twin needs four of them, go figure) and oil to put new life into the old girl.
It is a joy to ride this motorcycle, and hope that the work I have done gives me a few more years with her. Has been a good motorcycle over the past 8 years with only one problem (a leak out of a seal I did have repaired at the local Kawasaki dealer a few weeks ago) but other than that it has been a wonderful motorcycle over the last 28,000 miles (though this was done a bit early). Looking forward to the next ride(s) on the Vulcan.  

Motorcycles of the RVA (October 5-6)

 Went on the Altheimer's Walk on October 5, which was a lot of fun and a very good cause. We had a police escort (was a few hundred people there doing the three mile walk, though there was also a one mile walk for those so inclined) including this BMW 650 model (was told that by the cop who also told me even though I had a motorcycle license, I could not "borrow it" to do the walk (which would have made it a most interesting ride.
Nice looking bike though, have seen a few bikes from BMW used as police bikes, but this is my first 650 in that role.  

Went ot Hogtober in Church Hill (a section of Richmond), sure that these two bikes had riders there....a nice pair of Harley Davidson motorcycles. Church Hill is a very old section of Richmond, and has some interesting places to see, and often many interesting things to do. I had a good time at the festival, and during the day saw a number of people riding, even though it was a very hot (90 degrees) for this late in the Fall. Still a good day for those who rode, I rode my Kawasaki Vulcan on Sunday, October 6, but that will be the subject of another post which will be coming up next in this series of posts.  

 Also seen in Church Hill is this Moto Guzzi, a very rare (for the US) motorcycle, made in Italy, and in fact is, as I remember one of the oldest motorcycle manufacturers in the world. Very interesting take on the V-twin engine (BMW also does an interesting one with their "Boxer twin" which by the way is water cooled this year.
Often see a lot of interesting motorcycles in Richmond, even more so in that there is NOT a Moto Guzzi dealer in the city, but it had to come from someplace. Probably like me, came from someplace else. 

Finally during the morning dog walk saw this biker enjoying a Sunday ride on a hot but sunny Sunday morning. I sort of joined him later on in the day, doing some maintenance on my motorcycle.
It was a good day for it, though it was hot, but good I guess to get a little taste of summer even as the leaves are changing and cooler temps have been the norm of late. Fall is one of the best times to ride in the year, but right now we have been enjoying a last blast of summer.
That, you can be sure, will soon change.  

Motorcycles of Concord, NC (Sept 28-29)

Made a long weekend (Sept 28-29) to Concord, had to move the last of the items from my move to Richmond. One of the first things I did was to visit the Memphis Belle (the plane that flew in the movie, not the actual aircraft) and have some photos of that and others on my Richmond and Me blog page. While there there did see this classic motorcycle (and yes, as are so many, its a Honda) which was ridden in. Love these old bikes and like old cars do to some bring back some memories. Never had this bike, but remember seeing a number of them, and had a friend who had one-back in the day.   

 Noted I had breakfast with a friend, the Victory below is his new bike, though he has had it for a while. Nice motorcycle, and I like the Victory line which has some very interesting motorcycles. Think they are making some series machines which have been giving Harley-Davidson some serious competition. I think that is a good thing for all the motorcycles out there.
Victory is now the owner of Indian Motorcycle and has redesigned the old engine (of the new company, the history frankly gets complex) and its a cool looking motorcycle. I plan to see one at the first opportunity.   

Finally, also at breakfast at Punchy's were these Trikes (and also one standard cruiser motorcycle next to the white one). Interesting bikes and certainly would be a good alternative to not riding at all. I like the wheels in the front design, and am told by many that it makes for a more responsive ride than the two wheels in the real setup many use. These bikes also are said to have some serious get up and go.
It was fun to see the bikes, I have many happy memories of riding in North Carolina and sure enjoyed the rides there. It is a fantastic place to own and ride a motorcycle...and I miss it.