New Year, New Look

Today was my first ride of 2010. I don't think I will winterize the Triumph; instead, I will make an effort to get out as much as is practical (and safe) during the winter months, or at least start the bike up regularly. The weather service here forecasts a 1 1/2 day window of clear weather before the rains kick in again - Wednesday afternoon and all day Thursday are expected to be dry and partly sunny. So, I made arrangements at the office to take this afternoon and tomorrow off.

I've lately been considering changing the look of the Triumph. I don't really use the pillion (rear) seat, since my wife is neither a rider nor a passenger. Plus, I like the solo look - it gives off the "bad boy" image that I exude, and tells the world "no passengers allowed" on this ride! Seriously, I do like the look of bikes with solo seats, such as the Harley 1200cc Nightster (a bike I almost purchased) and bikes from the "bobber" genre.

Above, a very cool looking Harley Nightster. Below, Triumphs lend themselves nicely to the bobber look (both photos from the internet):

Going solo on the Bonneville America is quite easy - all I did was remove one bolt in the back, pushed the pillion forward and up and it was off. I can buy finisher bolts that are a bit more classy than the existing bolt for the seat, or even add a small rack or fender bib:

Above photos from Newbonneville.com.

The great thing is that I can convert back to 2 up riding quickly by just bolting the pillion back on. As you have probably noticed, I can't change the style of my hair, but at least I can change the style of my motorcycle.

I will be finally installing some saddlebags (I will report on this soon in a future post), so I will have to see how the bags work with the new look.

I decided to ride into town and see if the new seating arrangement is comfortable, and it is, although I can tell I used the pillion as a mini backrest to plant my backside. But I do like the new look!

Christmas Day Ride

We had a nice Christmas morning. Since the kids are older, we don't have to get up so early to witness St. Nick's arrival - I woke up around 7:30am, had a cup of coffee, and even went to town to pick up a few items for breakfast before the kids got up. Also, it's much easier shopping now - cash and gift cards, CD's and DVD's make up their wish lists.

There was no white Christmas in North Bend this year; the weather has been in the 30's for the highs and sunny. I waited until about noon and geared up for a ride. There was frost/black ice in patches in our driveway, so I took it real easy getting out onto the main road. The road itself was dry, but there were some shaded areas that looked like it could be a bit slippery so I took it slow going down our hill until the road leveled off, and it was dry from there and into downtown North Bend. In addition to being cold, it was very windy, so it felt even colder.

One Starbucks was open, and it was packed both in their lot and in the drive-through. My favorite espresso stand, Huxdotter's, was closed today. I took a photo of the Triumph next to their Christmas decorations, and a car came up through the drive-through only to find that no one was there. The ladies who work here are very nice, and deserve the day off.

Like Huxdotter's, most of the shops in town were closed today. The exceptions were one of the two Starbucks in town, two grocery stores, a Blockbuster move rental store, the gas stations and McDonalds. Most of the parking lots were empty.



A nice view of Rattlesnake Ledge from the empty parking lot:



I was thankful that I could ride today - it's been either too cold/icy or rainy, so this was a nice Christmas gift.

Merry Christmas, Chopper Style!

Santa's got a new ride, and some new elves (maybe the one is Mrs. Claus), but as always he will be visiting all the good little boys and girls tonight. I know you are all on his "good" list, and I want to wish you a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

Could this be the future commuter vehicle?

During the Seattle Motorcycle Show, a company by the name of Compagna ( http://www.compagnamotors.com/) was showing off it's latest vehicle, the T-Rex. Powered by a 1400cc engine, the T-Rex puts out 197 horsepower, and can reach 144mph. Price starts at $52,000, which would probably be the biggest hurdle to my owning one - the other one being trying to fit into the vehicle. In any event, a very cool vehicle, and at least Aaron and I got to get a picture with the T-Rex!

2009 Seattle Motorcycle Show

Saturday morning my son and I attended the 2009 Seattle Motorcycle Show. It was a great father-son outing - we hit the show for an hour or so, he took pictures of me trying out bikes and generally acting silly, and then we went to have a nice lunch at an Indian restaurant in Bellevue before returning home.

The weather in Seattle has been pretty cold, in the 20's for the highs, not much riding weather, so looking at bikes is a good surrogate for riding. Last year was my first year attending the show, and I enjoyed it, but I enjoyed the 2009 show even more since I am a bit more of an experienced rider.

The major manufacturers - HD, Honda, Suzuki, Yamaha and Kawasaki - were all represented. My son got a picture of me on a 2010 Honda Sabre 1100:

And me on a "show priced" HD Road King:

Of personal interest to me, Triumph and Ural, were missing from this show, which was unfortunate. But some new displays, such as these from the California Scooter Company and Confederate Motorcycles, were very interesting:





Above are two examples from the California Scooter Company. They pay homage to Mustang Motorcycles, a company that in the 50's-60's made a small-framed 300cc motorcycle. The California Scooter is a 150cc 5 speed, with a bobber/chopper look to it. For just under $5000 you get a cool little bike to ride around town on.

Confederate Motorcycles, out of Baton Rouge, create the essence of a motorcycle. This is their P120 Combat Fighter - an awesome collection of steel and motor:

The local vintage MC group always brings some fine bikes to admire - this one a Norton:

Here's a picture of me with Flo, who seemed to be glad I purchase my motorcycle insurance from Progressive:

She did seem to be a bit stiff, however.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Just a quick note to say Happy Thanksgiving!

As always, I have much to be thankful for. I am especially thankful for yesterday - we had a break in the weather, no rain, and even a bit of sun (albeit very brief). Our office was closed at 1pm, which gave me time to get home and get on the Triumph. It's been about 3 weeks since my last ride, so I was really itchin' to get on the bike. It was one of those rides where you really feel thankful for the opportunity to have a motorcycle. By the time I returned, it was raining.

A dry forecast for this weekend, so hopefully I will be able to get out some more.

Hope your day is nice, no matter what you are doing!

Post-Halloween, Post-Daylight Savings Time Ride

With the change back to standard time, most people in North Bend are happy to have an extra hour of sleep. Except perhaps for the fellow above, whose downcast look shows his sadness that Halloween is over.

Daylight saving time in most of the United States ended this morning at 2 a.m. Most U.S. residents set their clocks one hour forward in spring and one hour back in fall. But, contrary to popular belief, no federal rule mandates that all of the U.S. states or territories observe daylight saving time. In fact, people in Hawaii and most of Arizona, along with the U.S. territories of Puerto Rico, American Samoa, and the Virgin Islands—will do nothing to their clocks. It's all standard time for them.

Today was dry and sunny, with the temperature just below 60 degrees F. I had no particular itinerary for this ride, so the pictures below are a bit of a ramble of places that I stopped at.

This bridge crosses the Snoqualmie River just near the Twin Falls hiking area. For those of you who read my earlier post on Olallie State Park, access to Twin Falls can also be made not too far from this bridge.

On the opposite side of this road is a Christmas Creek Tree Farm - North Bend is known as one of the best places to pick up a Christmas tree in Washington state, with no fewer than 6 tree farms in this small town.

Also on the same road as the bridge is what is called "Seattle East Travel Center" or "Ken's Truck Town" for it's previous owner before the TravelCenters America corporation took over the management of this truck stop. Truck Town is right off I-90 at Exit 34, and is just that - a town for the trucking industry, with repair facilities, gas pumps, a motel, restaurant, a driver's lounge, and a chapel. The restaurant is a great place for a homestyle, filling meal. Dining tip - TravelCenters America has just started offering their entire menu in many of their restaurants across America as all you can eat, which suits this non-trucker very well.

Back in the center of North Bend, the oldest church in town at around 110 years of age, North Bend Community Church, continues to provide worship services for the valley:

I continued my ride, stopping at the local espresso drive-through in Fall City. Here I met a gentleman riding a beautiful Honda CBR600:

We chatted for awhile - the owner is new to this area, and was looking for good places to ride, so I offered some possibilities to him. He left before me, and I thanked the ladies who made my coffee and proceeded home - with the change in time it gets dark early!