Archive for July, 2013

Fairing Mounted Mirrors

Posted: July 10, 2013 in Product Reviews
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We had some work done on the Ultra Classic Limited. Over the next few days I will describe what we had done by Frederick Harley Davidson.

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Mirror with LED Turn Indicators

The first item is the fairing mounted mirrors.  We purchased this because I was having issues seeing out of the standard mirrors. I am 5’8″ and sit well in OEM saddle but I needed to lean left or right to get a clear view of what was behind us. Because of that I have not been comfortable with knowing what was going on behind me.  I have been associated with the fairing mounted mirrors on the Street Glide and I did not have a problem using that type of mirror. So I had the standard mirrors replaced with the fairing mounted type with illuminated chrome covers (Part Number 92600-10).  The illumination provided is amber LED running lights which also function as another turn signal indicator.

So far so good, we had the 115 mile ride this past weekend during which I was continuously doing the minor adjustments one does with mirrors.  I have the right mirror just where I want it but the left one still needs tweaked, but I am sure I will get it right soon.

My early review of this product would be 4 out 5.  I would have liked the LEDs to be a bit larger in order to be even more visible.

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Weekend Motorcycle Ride To….

Posted: July 9, 2013 in Motorcycle Rides
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…nowhere in particular.  We did not start out that way; we had intentions of riding to Camp David (the presidential retreat in Maryland). I know that we would not get in to Camp David but riding up to the gate would have been cool.  But, speaking of cool, it was anything but, by 10AM it was 85 degrees with 95 the high. So we thought better and decided to run around with no particular destination in mind.

115 miles later we had passed through a dozen small towns in Maryland and Virginia including Lovettesville, Point of Rocks, Poolsville, Brunswick, and Frederick.  We stopped at the Monocacy Aqueduct (part of the C&O Canal) and dipped our feet into the cool water of the Monocacy River while sitting in the shade of the aqueduct itself. It was a fascinating notion that we were, basically, setting under what use to be a river that flowed over a river to move goods to and from Washington DC in the 1800’s.

While we were in Frederick we stopped by Frederick Harley Davidson. At the dealership we bought a magnetic tank pouch (part number 76000193) to hold my phone to the tank. I wanted this in order to connect the phone, and its music, to the Aux input with more ease vice pulling the cord to my rear pocket.

The pouch held very tightly to the tank and the neoprene like surface between the tank and the magnets gives me faith that the pouch will not mare the paint. The clear face of the pouch allows the user interact with the device. The only draw back is that in the heat of that day the phone got very hot, which killed the battery quite fast. Now I need to get a USB port to push into the cigarette lighter and a cord to charge the phone while it is playing.

After visiting the dealership we had lunch at the Mariachi restaurant. We have eaten there in the past and the food has been good today, maybe because we were so hot, it was only ok.

In the end Debbie and I had a nice day out on the bike going

nowhere in particular.

A weekend ride…close call!

Posted: July 1, 2013 in Motorcycle Rides
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I slipped in two afternoon motorcycle rides in this past weekend. I was hoping for longer rides but the weather was very fickle with strong thunderstorms projected for both days. Counter to what is typical for my rides….we did not get wet.

On Saturday I rode with guys from the neighborhood (Don, Charles, and Don’s brother-in-law Gordon who is visiting from Georgia).  We pulled out of Leesburg, VA about 11AM headed south on US Route 15.  It was not long before we had our first exciting moment of the day!

We were less than five miles south of town when an accident occurred right next to us.  Two motorcycles were stopped to make a left hand turn with a SUV stopped behind them.  A car, whose driver must have not have been paying attention, skidded hard into the SUV, which, luckily, did not hit the motorcycles. The car began skidding as it passed Don (on the lead bike) and hit the SUV as I passed (I was the trail bike).  I pulled hard to the right to distance myself from the shrapnel from the collision.  There had to have been less than two seconds from skid to crash.

The folks on the motorcycles stopped to turn left were very lucky the SUV was behind them it was a close call.  The silver car would have hit and killed them; there is no doubt in my mind!  We thought about stopping to help but the location really prohibited stopping on the right and Route 15 North had dozens of cars backed up immediately so we rode on.

Lunch at Red Horse Tavern

Red Horse Tavern

At the intersection of Route 15 and US Route 50 we turned west and headed to our lunch stop in Middleburg (established in 1787).  This part of Route 50 passes through “serious” horse country, it is nothing to see Polo matches, jumping competitions and such as you ride along. In Middleburg we had lunch at the Red Horse Tavern, which was ok and reasonably priced.

From the Tavern we left Middleburg and traveled through multiple back roads finally ending up on Snickersville Road (a Virginia Byway).  We followed this road to its intersection of Route 7 where we turned east back to Leesburg and Payne’s Biker Bar then back to home.

On Sunday Debbie and I rode one of the local “loop” rides we like to take.  It is a 45 mile ride that essentially begins and ends at Point of Rocks, Md.  I will write about this particular route at a later date.

Lunch at Red Horse Tavern

Red Horse Tavern

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