Christmas Shopping

It’s time to share my new obsession, Triumph Bonneville. I see one in my future. Will it be an SE or a T100? Only time will tell. Last Thursday, December 22, I drove down to Paul Blouin Suzuki/Triumph to test ride a Bonnie and an America. I was accompanied by my friend Cappy, aka Black Douglas. I know it seems ludicrous, test riding motorcycles in late December in Maine, but in spite of the freezing rain the day before the salesman at Blouin encouraged me to come down. As we headed south, the freeway continued to improve and by the time we arrived at around 12:30 the roads were clear and the temps were in the low 40s.
After receiving a little sales pitch, I rode the Bonnie first. I slowly proceeded to the parking lot exit getting comfortable with the controls and turned right on to busy US 202. This took me up a fairly steep hill. No issue with the Bonnie in first, second or third. It seemed to have a lot more low-end torque than I'm used to. As I headed west I was fighting a stiff head wind and I really missed the wind protection provided by the windshield and fairing on my NT700. Several miles down the road I turned on to state route 17. It goes north thought a small town and then up and over a big hill with a similar descent on the other side. I rode out about 3 more miles and then headed back. The total trip was about 10 miles.
 In addition to all the low-end torque, the transmission was butter smooth. I didn't notice any "snatchy throttle", the controls were almost perfect. There seemed to be a wide zone in which the various gears were content. As I left the traffic light I began to wind it out. The acceleration was terrific. I notice a 35 mph limit sign so I backed off. As I exited that speed zone and rolled on the throttle the acceleration was awesome. The bike seemed to surge out from under me. I was hitting 70 mph and the bike was still in 4th gear, ready for more. I don't think I ever hit fifth except to figure out what gear I was in. I negotiated a U turn and headed back, the bike turned on a dime. A gentle push on the handlebars was sufficient to change directions. I like the upright ergonomics and I concur with Suzie that the seat is hard but satisfactory. I cruised back to the dealership totally in awe of the experience. I'm sure you know how one can sometimes build something up so much that the actual experience is a let down. That certainly wasn't the case here. I was absolutely shocked how much better it was than what I expected.
 Then I jumped on the America, a black one. My only complaint that I didn't care for the way the clutch set up. A slight squeeze disengaged the transmission, and therefore I had to let the clutch almost all the way out before it reengaged. I'm sure that a small adjustment would solve that problem. However it took a little getting used to, especially out in traffic. I took the same route, except this time a moving van pulled out in front of me. She stopped on a dime. The bike handled extremely well, though not quit as responsive as the Bonnie. Of course that's all do to the greater rake angle and longer wheelbase, like all cruisers. Cruisers want to go straight and they do it well. The four 90° turns required a good lean and I felt extremely comfortable. It has the same butter smooth transmission and awesome acceleration.  As I rolled out SR 17 I was hitting 70 mph and decided to shift up to fifth. After the shift I realized that I wasn't yet in fifth, I was still in fourth. If you follow that you’ll notice that I was doing 70 in third gear. The bike was completely happy doing, no strain on the bike at all. I think the only time you would ever get into fifth would be cruising on the freeway.
 Can't say much about the sound of the bike, either one, as I wasn't focused on it. I liked the America very much and I could be very happy with one, but I find the shorter wheel base and more upright forks of the Bonnie more to my liking.
 What will happen in the spring???

Slow Day in the Motorcycle News

Interesting times in Veazie, Maine. It’s early December and the weather has finally turned cold, or at least coldish. Still probably a bit warmer than usual. I watched the weather forecast last night and was shocked to hear that we’ve already had 17” of snow. None of it lasted long at all so it’s a bit hard to believe. Scarlet has been garaged for about a week. There have been some opportunities, but to some extent, what’s the point. It is quite chilly and there is some salt and sand/gravel on the roads. The cover is on, there is fuel stabilizer in the tank and she’s covered. Leave well enough alone? The only news on the motorcycle front is that two friends are looking at bikes. One lives nearby and is looking at a Suzuki GT380 from 1975. The bike is much older than he is. We looked at it yesterday and it will be a bit of a project but I’m excited for him. It looks a little like this:

My other friend is looking for a Victory Kingpin. He loves the styling and the huge engine would be fun. I’m not sure I would like the weight or turning radius but to each his own. His search has demonstrated to me that late model Victory cycles are hard to come by. I continue to fantasize about a Triumph Bonneville SE or perhaps a Moto Guzzi R7 Classic. That will be an interesting continuing story.

December 4

The days continue to get shorter and shorter, but only for about 3 weeks. In fact, daylight will be back to what we have now in about six weeks.

What is more important is that our extraordinarily warm autumn continues. Our high temperature was forecast to be in the mid-40s. Therefore right after lunch I jumped on the cycle and headed out to verify that King’s Mountain Christmas Tree Farm was open. It’s about 10 miles down there, mostly on back roads. The roads were clear except for an abundance of mud near one of the farms. Easy does it.

I saw a couple of other bikers out there, one on a big cruiser and one on a small Ninja. I wore a particularly warm LL Bean wool sweater under my jacket, long johns under my Firehose jeans, and my Olympia Wind Tex gloves. Though I had wool socks on I decided if I ever get any heated clothing, I’ll start with socks.

The ride was cut short because once I verified that Christmas tree farm was open, I needed to get home so we could go out, get a tree, get it home and up. That process negated any more time on the cycle. Even if the temperature gets warm enough, the window is so short and as the sun goes down it gets so cold.