April 8, 2019 – First ride of MN Season!
First ride of the year today. Didn’t go like I had imagined, but could’ve been worse.
This morning I sent a text to Anita asking her if she had taken the day off. Feck, no such luck. It turned out to be the warmest day of the year so far. The sun was out, the air was warm. Sure felt good to be outside. I couldn’t stay at my desk today.
I left work at 10:00 am (my noon) because I wanted to get started as early as possible. I suspected that there would be some issues crop up from over-wintering so I wanted to get a move on to ensure a ride today. My boss is outrageously awesome to me and knows that I need my riding fix and had no problem with me jetting out early. I’m really fortunate in that respect.
Last fall my 2011 Street Glide was leaking a small amount of gas from the quick connect on the tank. I had disconnected the fuel line the last time I rode so it didn’t leak gas in the garage over the winter. The biker who lives across the alley from me told me he had the same problem with his scooters of similar years. Evidently I need a special tool to replace it and it’s about $140. Ouch. Also, since it’s Harley Davidson, the o-ring isn’t sold by itself. Nope. Silly, but then Harley makes more cash by making me buy the whole setup including the quick connect. Fortunately, The neighbor happens to have the tool and kindly offered to loan it to me. My hope was the leak hadn’t gotten any worse over the winter but as soon as I reconnected the line the gas I knew the o-ring had completely deteriorated further, as evidenced by the gushing of the gas. Last fall it didn’t leak while running. No such luck this spring. Riding it to the shop to pick up the part was impossible, so I decided to take Jim’s 2008 Street Glide. Wow, am I grateful there’s a back up!
I rolled Jim’s Glide out into the sunshine and started to put my layers on. I don’t wear chaps, so I tend to go heavy on layers of Cuddle Duds™. They are lightweight and I’m a freeze baby so I need a lot of layers. I hate being cold! I had three layers of the Duds under my jeans, two layers on top under a long sleeve over shirt, and my leather jacket on. Jim bought me a new pair of Dr. Martens™ so I was sporting those too. Time to break them in!
The bike fired right up. I rode her up to the gas station to fuel up and while there checked and aired up the tires. The changes in temperature here do a number on air pressure in tires over the winter. I walked around the bike and jiggled bits around to make sure nothing was loose and I looked for anything out of the ordinary, wear, and any fluid where it shouldn’t be. Everything looked and felt good, so I headed out over the Mendota Bridge.
My target was Bear’s Place Motorcycle Shop in St. Paul. Bear is an old school biker somewhere the low side of 70. He knows Harleys up and down, especially older bikes. He does all the work on my Shovelhead these days and I was grateful to find him. He really is an expert. And a character. I’ve never had a mechanic explain every nut, bolt, and detail to me like he does. When I get a bill from him I know exactly what it’s for, what it looks like, and why it needed to be fixed/replaced. If I don’t understand something he draws me a picture. I can’t recommend him highly enough. He is a no bullshit, stand up old biker. He makes me laugh, shake my head, and teaches me something every time I go in there. I go to Bear because I hate giving Harley my money. I know, seems odd since I ride a Harley. I’d just much rather give my cash to someone who works hard, rather than a company. At any rate, Bear didn’t have the part because that part is exclusively sold by Harley. Surprise… not. It was pretty damn entertaining to stand there for 30 minutes though and hear Bear expound on a particular bike club, what kind of women he likes (and the many and varied reasons he doesn’t like hippie chicks), police bikes, and why Harley sucks. He is animated, passionate, and a scream. I’m always entertained when I go there. He is not at all politically correct and doesn’t give a shit if you like him or not. He cares about his opinion, not yours.
Next stop, St. Paul Harley-Davidson. Shocker that they didn’t have the part in stock either. The parts guy (who I think is somewhere around 12) said the computer showed one in stock at the shop in Eden Prairie. Time to head there. By that time it was somewhere around 1:30. Still plenty of time to ride. My plan was to ride out to Eden Prairie and pick up the part, then just keep riding outside of the metro area for a few hours until rush hour was over. Best laid plans and all that.
I hopped back on the Glide and headed down Century Blvd to pick up 494. At the stoplight before the ramp onto 494 I noticed that the voltage dropped and the battery light had come on. Crap! It was sitting between 11 and 12 volts. Not good, but enough to get me home… I hoped. Getting stuck on the side of a freeway really sucks. I’ve been there a few times with the Shovel so was not looking forward to having it happen on the Glide. I bumped up out onto the highway full of hope and the voltage gauge jumped to 15 and the light went off. Then came back on when the voltage dropped again. I remembered Jim had said the bike was doing something similar and turning it off and restarting would take care of it. Turning it off didn’t seem the wisest idea as I was doing about 70 mph. I was also hesitant because as long as it was running, I was getting it closer to home. I wasn’t confident that it would restart if I shut it off. The voltage meter jumped up to 15 again a couple times on the ride home and we made it to my garage. Whew. I’m used to a Shovelhead and 98% of the time know what to do when it goes to shit on the road. The Glide is a new thing to me and not at all similar to the Shovel as far as mechanics go. I’m not so confident that I can get the Glide home without a trailer.
That was the end of my first day of MN riding for the year. I did go to Daytona Bike Week this year with Jim, and will write about that soon. Sure was nice that spring has come to MN. Did I mention we’re supposed to get another 12” of snow midweek? WTF!!
Heidi