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Random Ride Picture

Posted: October 2, 2015 in Motorcycle, Motorcycle Rides, motorcycle touring
Tags: Harley, Harley Davidson, Motorcycle, Motorcycle Ride

My motorcycle ride to Shanghai…or HOW in the heck do you lose one glove??

Posted: August 18, 2015 in Motorcycle Rides, motorcycle touring
Tags: Café Racer, Harley Davidson, motorcycle blog, Motorcycle Ride, motorcycle touring, Shanghai, sport bike, Sportbike, West Virginia, West Virginia motorcycle ride

The view of the Shanghai skyline.

I have always been interested in going to Shanghai but a trip to China is not in my future. So a motorcycle ride to Shanghai West Virginia would have to do.

Leaving the house the early cool air hid the fact that it was going to be hot, the mid 90sF according to the weatherman. I headed west toward Martinsburg, WV where I stopped for a quick breakfast.

SOMEWHERE between getting off the bike and getting back on the bike I lost a glove. I back tracked into the restaurant and searched all the places I had walked and sat and then back out to the bike but, NO GLOVE…what the heck?!?! There was only so many place the glove could be and it was nowhere to be found. Dang. This made no sense, how do I lose one glove!

Giving up on ever finding my glove in the Bermuda Parking Lot of missing gloves, I rode out of Martinsburg on US Route 9 looking for WV Route 7. Somehow I missed the turn onto Route 7, maybe it was the awesome rolling road and wonderful scenic vistas. But no worries…….it is the journey not the destination, right?

Route 9 took me into Berkley Springs, WV were I turned onto several different roads ending up on WV 13 which was also Shanghai Road. Shanghai Road climbs up the and over the steep mountainside with a lotof switchbacks.

If the pavement had been in better condition this would have been an INCREABLE ride. Shanghai Road has MULTIPLE 150-170 degree turns with serious elevation changes, both up and down the mountain, and almost no traffic! The tarmac on Shanghai Road was so poor that that a good bit of fun was sucked out of the ride, some but not all. A better conditioned road and this would be a sport bike heaven.

Dropping down the other side of the mountain you end up at the cross roads of Black Creek Valley Road and Tuscarora Pike which is also SHANGHAI, WV. Not too much in Shanghai other than a small scrap yard, a Mom and Pop country store and farms. I stopped at the store for some water and a snack. Back on the road I rolled back through Martinsburg and on to home.

A couple notes of interest. First is, part of this ride was on the George Washington Heritage Trail (an American Byway) and second I went past the Morgan County Observatory. The Observatory was closed but it looked very cool way out in the middle of nowhere.

There is not a lot of pictures from this ride as my wife/photographer was out of town. After this 175 mile ride I can now claim I have been to Shanghai….. Shanghai, West Virginia.

: Morgan County Observatory (from their website).

Motorcycle Product Review: Newfacelook Kevlar Riding Pants

Posted: August 15, 2015 in motorcycle touring, Product Reviews
Tags: Harley Davidson, kevlar, kevlar riding pants, Motorcycle, motorcycle blog, motorcycle pants, motorcycle riding, motorcycle touring, sport bike, Sportbike

Kevlar Motorcycle Riding Pants

I was in the market for a new pair of riding pants. I have one pair of Bilt “Iron Worker’s” Kevlar riding pants but camo is not something you can wear everywhere. I know that Kevlar/Aramid pants range from $300 and down, I was looking for something in the under $100 range.

Scanning Amazon I ran across Newfacelook and their line of jeans and cargo pants. The price was right and the reviews were more favorable than not so I decided to give them a chance. I did notice that a lot of the reviews stated that the pants ran small so I ordered a size up. Boy those reviews were right, they run very small. I normally were 36 and I ordered 38s, my best guess is that these are closer to 32s… no way I was getting them on. I had no issues returning the pants.

Even though they did not fit, they did look well made. I took a close look at the seams and how the Kevlar was attached to the pants, based on my impression of the build quality I decided to give them another chance. This time I ordered size 40 (wow) and they fit like a normal size 36, imagine that.

I wore the pants on a bunch of local day rides and then during our 1700 mile motorcycle vacation. I like them, they have held up well in the heat and the rain. They are comfortable and I do not even notice the armor.

I have not had a chance to try out the Kevlar and armor, thank God, but both seem to be of quality, not that I am an expert on either. I “FEEL” that I would have some protection if/when I go down.

Now of course they are not perfect. A couple of the downsides, besides the sizing, they wrinkle to easy and the Velcro for the armor pouches gives me the impression that it might not hold up for the long run, I will have to wait to see on that.

Without testing the protection I have to give the pants 4 out of 5 stars. For the price I really like them enough that I will likely buy another pair.

: Our dog Emmy points out the stitching.

Motorcycle Product Review: Viking Bags Sport Tail Bag

Posted: July 12, 2015 in Motorcycle, motorcycle touring, Product Reviews
Tags: Café Racer, Harley Davidson, Motorcycle, motorcycle blog, motorcycle luggage, motorcycle touring, sport bike, sport tail bag, Sportbike, viking bags

First I have to say that I am a bit late on this motorcycle product review. I have had the bag for a few months but I wanted to wait until we could really put the Viking Bag Sport Tail Bag through a real test. (Also available at Motorcycle House)

If you follow this blog you know we just finished a 1700 mile tour from our home in northern Virginia to Myrtle Beach, SC then to the North Carolina and Tennessee mountains before heading home. This bag (their model AXE-23) was strapped to the top of our tour-pak for every mile of the trip.

We gave this bag a real work out. We experienced conditions of 100+F degree heat, multiple rain and thunderstorms, twisty mountain roads and this bag hung right in there.

OK, so what do I think about the bag. While the video will give you better details here are some of the major + and – of the bag.

+ It fits the Harley Davidson Air Wing Tour-Pak Chrome Luggage Rack really nicely.

+ The bungee cord tie downs really gave the bag a snug fit to the luggage rack. I NEVER had concerns of it coming loose.

+ The hooks for the bungee cords are coated, which provides added protection against scrapes and scuffs to chrome or paint.

+ It holds a LOT more than it would appear to hold. The design of the expansion sides gives the bag an extra 6 inches of space. Look at the video and you will see why their design is better than any other expansion side that I have seen.

+ The rain cover works well and did not come off in 70+ MPH wind.

+ The no-mar, anti-skid bottom did not scuff the chrome and helped hold it in place.

– The clips to add soft saddle bags. I would have liked to have had a female connector to use them as a secondary tie down or the ability to remove them completely.

– The side pocket zippers had tuck in spots to prevent wind “tinkle” but none of the others had that option.

– The bungee cords had little caps to protect the ends of the hooks and thus your paint and chrome, it think that was a great touch for protecting our bikes. But, two of the four tips came off during the ride.

During our ride I was considering giving the bag a 4 star rating. But, after we got home and I had time to reflect on the bag AND get my wife’s input I have no problem at all giving the Sport Tail Bag (AXE-23) a 5 out 5 rating.

That extra star came about when I realized that I was thinking of giving the bag away before the ride began and after it was over we decided that we are going to keep it for our future rides!

You can checkout some of their other products (like sissy bar bags) here.

Motorcycle Touring Vacation: Part 3 – Breakdown on the Highway

Posted: July 5, 2015 in Motorcycle, Motorcycle Rides, motorcycle touring
Tags: breakdown, Electra Glide Ultra Limited, Harley Davidson, Harley Owners Group, HOG, motorcycle blog, Motorcycle Ride, motorcycle touring, roadside assistance, shift linkage problem

Towed away!

As I noted in Part 2, we left the Wheels Through Time Motorcycle Museum headed north on the Blue Ridge Parkway. But my internal navigation system “honed through years of military training” (LOL) kept telling me we were going the wrong direction. The crazy GPS lady was stating we were headed in the right direction but my trust was not there.

So going against the rules of my “man card” I stopped at one of the overlooks with several bikers taking in the awesome view. After a bit of small talk they confirmed I was headed in the right direction…so much for my instincts LOL. BUT, I was not completely wrong, turns out that this portion of the parkway made a long southern dip before turning to the north. So…vindication!!!

The next day we left the hotel at about 8 AM and hit Interstate 40. WOW, if you have to ride on an interstate highway let them all be like I40. Lots of elevation changes, even more gentle twists and turns on good to great tarmac, I40 is a motorcyclist dream of how every interstate should look. The next time I head to that part of the country I will roll through there again.

That wonderful feeling you get when the bike, the road, the weather and everything else comes together for the perfect ride came apart about three hours into our sojourn when the bike came apart. I was feeling an odd tap on my boot but when I looked down there was nothing there, when Debbie looked she said my shifter looked loose. Turns out it was more than loose, the linkage had come apart!!!!

I was in 6^th gear and unable to change gears! I saw an exit coming up and decided to try and baby the bike off the highway, down the exit ramp and into a gas station. I was afraid that if I had to stop that the bike would stall and I was in no mood to push. Luckily, there was no traffic at the bottom of the ramp and with a wide turn I made it through the exit and was able to roll to a stop in front of the Hartford, TN Citgo.

As soon as I was off the bike it was clear that this was a big issue around a little part. Somehow the linkage that connects to the shaft that connects to the heel/toe shift levers had disconnected. The torx screw that is used to tighten the linkage to the shaft was still there, the whole thing just vibrated right off.

The multi-tool that Harley gives you with the Ultra Limited was of no help. One bit was to small, and the next bit was to large, even so I am not sure I would have been able to fix the problem with the tool based on where I needed to be to reattach and tighten the screw.

So, as Harley Owners Group members, we called in for a tow. A few hours later we were talking with Joe at Smoky Mountain Harley Davidson of Pigeon Forge, TN. Less than 30 minutes after it was off the tow truck it was fixed and ready to ride.

From what I can tell, based on comments on Twitter, Facebook, user forums and HD techs this is not an uncommon problem. In fact I have had several people comment that, based on my roadside breakdown, that when they checked their linkage they found loose connections. IF YOU HAVE AN FLH… CHECK YOUR SHIFT LINKAGE!

Anyway, the entire ordeal lasted about 6 hours altogether. Which put us behind our semi-planned scheduled. We stopped for the night right after crossing into Virginia and then rode the all the way home the next day… through some rain of course!

The entire trip was 6 day and 1700 miles in length. We spent some quality time together even if the weather and traffic and breakdowns put a crimp in our trip. We had a good time and look forward to our next adventure. Hopefully with less rain!

: The linkage just came off.

: Joe, Smoky Mt. HD service manager.

: Going to lunch while waiting on the bike… we barely order before it was fixed.

: Smoky Mt. Harley Davidson

: Our ending mileage.

Motorcycle Touring Vacation: Part 2 Beach to the Mountains & a Motorcycle Museum

Posted: July 4, 2015 in Motorcycle, Motorcycle Rides, motorcycle touring
Tags: blue ridge parkway, Dale Walksler, Electra Glide Ultra Limited, Harley Davidson, Motorcycle, motorcycle blog, motorcycle riding, motorcycle touring, smokey mountian, wheels through time

(Although I could subtitle this Beach to the Mountains via a lot of traffic and a lot more rain)

After a few days chill-laxing on the beach (Part 1)….without the excitement of sharks, we packed the bike up and headed to Smokey Mountains. In particular, we were headed to Maggie Valley, NC and the Wheels Through Time Motorcycle Museum.

What should have been a 5-6 hour ride turned out to be a nearly twelve hour ordeal. Unfortunately there were multiple accidents on our route, one of which resulted in multiple deaths and closed Interstate 26 for about 8 hours.

In addition to the traffic issues we also had a lot of rain in fact you can quantify the rain into the following:

2 rain showers

2 thunderstorms

5+ “sprinkles”

1 wet t-shirt contest

The reason for the wet t-shirt contest was we became tired of putting on and removing the rain suits. If it was not raining the sun made the suits intolerable and the last shower…we just decided to ride through.

One highlight of the day was, I thought, the built in infotainment system. The system worked very well, within the limits of the road network, and rerouted us through different parts of South and North Carolina. With the exception of a 30 mile section of I26 we were on the move most of the time. But that 30 mile section left my clutch hand very tired and sore (I required a couple of pain pills that evening). At dusk we gave in and got a room about 8PM and hoped for an early start to get to Maggie Valley.

We left the hotel for a quick McDonalds’ breakfast the next morning and met another couple on their own bike vacation. They were on the return leg of their trip, headed back to north Indiana on their GoldWing Trike. Back on our bike we were at Maggie Valley and the museum within an hour.

If you love motorcycles then you must visit the Wheels Through Time Museum. The bikes that Dale Walksler has assembled is nothing less than fantastic. But, what puts it over the top is that they all run, in fact he started a couple while we were there! He rode a 1930’s Harley trough the main lobby and out the front door. We also saw him riding a 1920 Harley with youngster in the side car. Unfortunately Dale’s Discovery TV show “What’s in the Barn” was canceled.

There is no way that I can do justice to the quality of these museum with just a few paragraphs. If you are in this area of North Carolina/Tennessee for the awesome riding you must stop by and check out what the museum offers.

After a few hours we needed to mount up and put some miles down. This day the weather was perfect for riding, cool, clear and wonderful. We were headed to the Blue Ridge Parkway but decided to ride through the Smoky Mountain National Park and the Cherokee Indian Reservation to stop by Cherokee Harley Davidson, where I picked up another pin. We jumped on the Parkway and headed north crossing the highest point on the parkway and riding through multiple tunnels.

Although the speed limit is 45 MPH the parkway is still a great ride with awesome views of the Smoky Mountains. We either passed, or met at the overlooks, several hundred other bikers out for a great ride.

Motorcycle Touring Vacation: Part 1- Home to Myrtle Beach.

Posted: July 2, 2015 in Motorcycle, motorcycle safety, motorcycle touring
Tags: beach, collier harley davidson, Harley Davidson, Motorcycle, motorcycle blog, motorcycle riding, motorcycle touring, myrtle beach, myrtle beach harley davidson, south carolina

Debbie and I left our home in the early morning and after a quick fuel stop for both us and the motorcycle we were head for the beach. We had checked the weather the night before as part of a debate between using the full face Nolan helmets or our half helmets. As the forecasted temperatures for our path of travel and the beach itself was to be in the low to mid 90s(F) we chose the Nolan’s. Well, the weatherman was not right on the temperature projections. But for now those helmets and light jackets were very comfortable.

Our route was south on US 15 then US 17 then I95. Traffic was, mostly, light and we rode for three hours before stopping at Prince George, VA for fuel and a visit to Colonial Harley Davidson. We have stopped by that dealership on several occasions but this was the first time we had caught it open. The entire stop lasted about thirty minutes and we were on the road again.

As I may have mentioned in other blog posts (and as you can see on the Facebook version of IJUSTWANT2RIDE) I collect dealership pins. I did not have one for Colonial HD or next stop at Roanoke Rapids, NC and Collier Harley Davidson. I was able to procure a pin at Colonial, Collier was out of stock. The girls working at Collier did say they would email me when the pins were in stock.

I know it is a geezer glide.. but really

Back on the bike and headed south it started to get hot. By noon it was in the mid-nineties and we were looking for a cool place for lunch, and fuel. Debbie spotted Shelton HD which was also in an outlet mall area with lots of gas stations and restaurants. While I had the pin for this dealership we decided to stop and take a look anyway and this is where I got the picture to the right.

Back on the road we began to see the most iconic signs on I95. We were getting closer and closer to Pedro’s South of the Boarder. If you have never been there, you are missing a throwback experience to a time before …. well a long time ago. If you are in the area it can be worth you time to explore Pedro’s it will be a fun 45-90 minutes especially if you have kids that need a travel break.

By now the temps were over a 100F (104 at one point). The Nolan helmet were getting quite hot even with the chin bar locked open, creating a 3/4 style helmet. As long as we were able to maintain a speed over 30 it was somewhat tolerable but, unfortunately for us, there are a lot of stop lights and heavy traffic between Pedro’s and the beach. While “All The Gear, All The Time” is a great ideal, we could not comply and were down to t-shirts. But, even though South Carolina is a helmet optional state we did keep ours on. So much for accurate forecasts.

We made it to the beach house, stripped down and took some cool showers. For the next couple of days we hung out on the shore and had some good meals (if you are at Myrtle Beach you have to have breakfast at The Golden Egg, put it on your list).

In Part 2 we will cover our trip from the beach to the mountains.

: Just left the house

: Collier HD

: If you have ever traveled I95, you know what this is.

: Almost to the beach.

: Chill

: Best at Myrtle Beach

: Yumm

: Another kinda of Putt’n around

: Having some fun.

: The Myrtle Beach Hard Rock Cafe

: Just before taking off to the mountains.

Motorcycle Ride: The Beach to the Mountains

Posted: June 27, 2015 in Motorcycle, Motorcycle Rides, motorcycle touring
Tags: Harley Davidson, Maggie valley, Motorcycle, motorcycle blog, Motorcycle Ride, motorcycle touring, North Carolina, south carolina, wheels through time

Today we left the beach and headed to the Wheels Through Time Motorcycle Museum in the Blue Ridge Mountains. BUT what should have been an easy six hour ride turned into a long, hard slog.

350 miles

2 rain showers

2 thunderstorms

1 wet t-shirt contest…

1 interstate highly congested

Another interstate closed due to an “incident”

Plus when it was not raining it to hot wear the rain suits.. thus the wet t-shirt contest.

We stopped at a few Harley Davidson dealerships in a failed attempt to wait out the congestion and cool off. The cooling part worked but the congestion never really let up, a couple bad accidents missed up our ride today.

We had hoped to make it all the way to Maggie Valley but ended up about an hour out when we stopped for the night.

: Black Jack HD

: Storm Chasers!

: Ending milage for this leg of the trip

Motorcycle Ride to the beach

Posted: June 24, 2015 in Motorcycle Rides, motorcycle touring
Tags: Harley Davidson, Motorcycle, motorcycle blog, motorcycle touring, myrtle beach, SC, south carolina, viking bags, wheels through time

Debbie and I left the house at about 6:30 AM this morning on our way to Myrtle Beach (as a first stop, more on that late). We had looked at the forecast and it appeared that the high temps for our trip this day would be about 93F…. wrong…. at one point the bike indicated it was 103F.

We made it to the beach, 523 miles, in about eight hours. We made several stops and took a long lunch to cool off. I drank four bottles of water, two sodas, two glasses of tea and a glass of water today. One has to stay hydrated, right! Of course if you travel I95 you must stop at South of the Border!

After a few days here we are going to ride over to the “Wheels Through Time” motorcycle museum and then maybe up the Blue Ridge Parkway.

Also I am using this trip to evaluate some new “things”. First, Viking Bags has asked me to review one of their “Tail Bags”. Next we are looking at our Nolan helmets a lot closer, this is the longest ride with these helmets and lastly I bought a new pair of Kevlar pants so you can expect a review of those pants in the future.

I know it is a geezer glide.. but really