Sturgis 2010, I Love this Place

This is my first Sturgis trip. From the moment I arrived I had a smile on my face. I expected the Black Hills to be like the California hills, dry and hot. I found green, cool hills. well paved roads filled with bikes, and really nice people.

Baby Needs New Boots

While doing some maintenance I found a rear shock absorber boot had torn. The bike has just over 60,000 miles and things are starting to wear out, so I check things often. Naturally, the local HD Dealership told me to buy new shocks because they don't sell the boots separately from the shock.


A few days later I stopped in at Xtreme Custom Iron, in Rohnert Park, California. It was the first time I had been in the shop but the owner Doran Benson treated me like a king.
He showed me around the store and work area. When he said that he had lots of take off parts, I mentioned that I could use a shock absorber boot, he pulled one off an blown shock and gave it to me.
I put the replacement boot on and found a really nice shop with good people.

It's Not Brain Surgery

I had never pulled off the fairing before. The Batwing fairing looks solid and substantial, it is neither. I figured that the fairing was like the skull and contained the brains of the bike. I thought that maybe opening up the fairing might be something better left to, a doctor maybe, or a real mechanic. But when the oil pressure gauge light burned out I scrubbed up for surgery.

It turns out that pulling the fairing apart is easy. The windshield comes off with three bolts, then four bolts hold on the fairing. The headlight is part of the fairing and simply unplugs.

The gauge light bulb replacement was straightforward, pop out the plug from the back of the gauge, insert the bulb and pop it back in, easy.

Then I saw the broken stiffening bracket. The bracket is clearly badly designed, so I replaced both sides. This brings me to one of my main beefs with the Motor Company.

Harley Davidson has been building the Electra Glide for over forty years. You would think they would know everything there is to know about how to build an Electra Glide. Then why would you find things like this spindly, poorly designed bracket on a bike that has been in production for so long?

You can see the old style bracket and the new beefier bracket. Below you can see where the bracket installs on the inner fairing,

It's not brain surgery.

Are you listening Milwaukee.

Cushman Riders Descend on Town of Sturgis

Associated Press - June 17, 2010 6:15 AM ET
STURGIS, S.D. (AP) - There's a roar of a different color reverberating through Sturgis this week. Instead of riding on Harley Davidsons, more than 1,000 people are cruising around town on Cushman Motor Scooters. The Cushman scooter started production in 1936, but club member Carl Redman says it took a little while for the craze to set in. The company quit making the scooter in 1965.

When I heard that Cushman riders were having their rally in Sturgis, I imagined what the streets would look like lined with Cushmen, er, Cushmans, whatever. So I went to a web cam that features Sturgis in real time.

What would the streets would look like lined with... shall we say "industrial vehicles?" The turnout appeared to be slightly overestimated. The street seemed to be lined with ones of scoots, while twos cruised the boulevard. Maybe the bars are all packed and the industrial vehicles are parked out back.

Ok, ok, I thought I would have a little fun with the scooter guys. But the fact is that I think Cushman scooters are cool, and I doubt that they care what I think anyway, but if I had a Cushman I'd be at the Cushman Rally. I would also bet that if the Sturgis Harley Rally was limited to those bikes made from 1936 to 1965, there would be far fewer in attendance.

The Bridges of Highway 5

Highway 5 runs through California, Oregon and Washington. All the way from Mexico to Canada, but the section between Buttonwillow and Redding is where these bridges are located. There are several dozen bridges, each several miles apart, that allow county roads to cross the highway.
The country is open and treeless, the bridges nondescript. And that is why you will find a California Highway Patrolman under or behind several of these bridges. The question is; which ones?

1500 Miles in 24 Hours

I just finished a 1500 mile in 24 hour ride. The 1500 miles in 24 hours was tough. You have to keep moving, no stops other than gas or you won't make it in time. I did a 1000 in 24 in February but the 1500 was a lot harder.

I left at 5:45 PM from Healdsburg, California and after a long circle trip through the desert, ended at 4:45 PM, 23 hours later in Redding, California. I did the whole ride within California.

It seemed that every Highway Patrolman in the CHP was on duty on HWY 101. It was dark, with no moon and quite cold, but I was able to keep a good pace anyway.

Part of my plan was to go through Los Angles early in the morning to avoid the heavy traffic. I also wanted to get to Blythe before the sun cane up to avoid riding right into the sun and to have the sun at my back on the trip to Bakersfield. The plan worked well and I arrived in Blythe just before dawn. The sun came up on my right as I arrived in Needles.

The only other drama occurred on Hwy 5 just north of Sacramento. I needed gas and tried to refuel in the town of Woodland. I wasted a ton of time in a maze of badly designed streets, intersections and heavy traffic. I left Woodland without getting gas. I rode to Zamora and the engine stopped when I hit the brakes at the end of the off ramp. Fortunately, even though there was almost no gas in the tank, it had just sloshed away from the pickup and there was enough gas to restart the engine and get to the gas station.

Back on Hwy 5, I was worrying and doing all kinds of mental calculations to see if I could get to Redding on time. There were no traffic tie ups and I made it with about an hour to spare. I went well over 1500 miles because I wanted a good cushion because I know my "Certified" Harley Davidson speedometer is off by quite a bit.
I'm getting my paperwork in order to submit to the Iron Butt Association. I checked their website and didn't find anyone else who had done the 1500 miles completely within California. That would be pretty cool if it is so.

This was a tough ride, but I learned a few things. Even though I sometimes get a backache going for coffee in the morning I can go a long ways too. I think it is how you set your mind. I'm learning a lot about my mind. But I guess that's what life is all about.

Stupid Tech Tips

This is a really simple tip, because I'm a really simple guy.
Just mould a sheet of aluminium foil around the new oil filter then slip it under the old oil filter. Turn the old filter loose and let the dirty oil drain into your pan.
You could buy a plastic version for twenty bucks and clean it after each use, but this is better. Just crumple the foil and toss it.

This trick works on my '04, but when I helped my friend do an oil change on his '07 we found that the Motor Company had changed the casting to give more clearance for the crank position sensor. The foil could not be pushed completely under the filter resulting in a puddle of oil on the garage floor. So check first.

Harley Davidson Rules the Night

The weather has been warming and the rain has gone away. So on a perfect night my friend Greg and I decided to take a ride to Sonoma. Greg said he was taking his Ducati, but I wasn't surprised when he showed up on his Road Glide.

IBA Certified

The certificate finally came and I hung it in my garage right next to my autographed photo of Craig Breedlove. I may not have gone 600 mph but I feel like I accomplished something.

Mike's Suzuki Savage

I stopped to see if there was anything I could do. His name is Mike and he said he just got his Suzuki Savage running. I think this is a cool little bike and no matter what direction Mike takes it, it should turn out should be a good alternative to the more expensive HD's.

Mike's got a lot of ideas. I think he's got a great start. I especially like the fishtail exhaust.

Lake Berryessa Spillway

Its been a very wet winter. All the reservoirs are above 100% capacity, so I thought of the Lake Berryessa spillway, called the Morning Glory Spillway. My friends Ryan, who just sold his hot rod Nightster and Greg, who just got his Road King, rode with me to see if the spillway was in action.

The Morning Glory Spillway is one of the most..., well I really don't have words to describe it. My Daughter, Lee, thought it looked so scary that she said she wouldn't swim anywhere in whole lake.

I've never seen the spillway working, so we took a ride to see for ourselves. The photo below came from the internet.

Too bad, the water just wasn't high enough to crest the spillway, but you can still see the size of this thing. One day I hope to see it in action.

How to Keep Your Motorcycle Clean

When I pulled into Laughlin my bike was dirty from the rain and road. I noticed that there were very few other dirty bikes. Did they all pull into town and hit the car wash? I don't think so, they trailered.

I was all set to blast these poseurs as sissies, but I'm glad I took time to think things over. After all shouldn't motorcycling be an all inclusive sport? Shouldn't there be room for everyone. After all there are sport bikes, antique bikes, dirt bikes, European bikes, choppers, bobbers and more. Why should anyone look down on those who get their pleasure by trailering their bike to an event and pretending they rode there?
...So from now on when I see a bike with, maybe, 4000 miles on the clock and the owner says he has been to Laughlin, Sturgis, and where ever, I'll just accept that he enjoys motorcycling in a different way than I do.

Planet of the Apes

The Apes were the dominant species in Laughlin. Seems they are taking over, must be evolution. Survival of the coolest.

Nice Bike

...I spotted this really nice hardtail in one of the casino parking lots in Laughlin and pointed my camrea. The owner, who was sitting on the bike, saw me about to take a picture and jumped off and started backing away so that I could get a photo of his bike. I told him to stay in the photo. I think the people are just as interesting as the bikes.

Nice bike, Nice guy!

The Odd, The Unusual, The Different, I Love 'em

Here's the bike that Harley would probably have built if the economy hadn't tanked, a touring VRod.

The ratiest of he rats and a three wheel scooter thingy, and also a really nice Honda dream, they all brighten the day.

The pointy tail lights of the '59 Caddy are as American as it gets and somehow look right at home on a Harley.