When Did She Become a Classic?

My Valkyrie - at an overlook of lake Michigan.

As much as I love my Valk, she is a 2000 model, making her 15 years old.  I know what that is in dog years, but my bike?  She seemed ageless.  Yes, I swapped out batteries a few time, had to swap out the starter for a new one, changed out the breaks, upgraded to new spark plugs a few times, and exchanged air filters and oil filters way more than once.  There have been tire changes, chromey bits added, We've balanced the carbs, scrubbed off gunk, and polished her to a fine shine.  She's mine, but lately she's been showing her age (haven't we all?).

Moto-Monday: Classics

Photo Credit: June 1971 – Steve McQueen by Heinz Kluetmeier/Sports Illustrated/Getty Images

As the weather is not currently very nice up here in Michigan (the riding season does NOT go into December for us),  you have seen that moto-mondays have been very skinny lately. The exceptions for riding at this time of the year here are: a really desperate need to ride, a road dry and clear of ice, a nice warm coat with winter riding gloves, and you were able to put the battery back in for a "quickie" (ride that is).  They also have a "polar bear" club up here for such individuals.  The idea is that we go out for such a ride on New Year's Day.  Amazingly, I have been able to do this about 65% of the time over the last decade plus.

Consequently, I saw this picture of Steve McQueen pop up on my Facebook feed today, and was reminded of the great article it was attached to.  A few years back I found some photos of an old 1971 Sport's Illustrated article about Steve McQueen.  He always saw himself as a rider and a racer first (both motorcycles and cars) and then other things fell in line later.  The pictures I saw of the article were good enough to read and it was neat to see and hear from Steve in that fashion - a rider, mechanic, tweaker of mechanical goodness.

Well, I found that someone had posted that same article - much more readable (especially on an iPad or phone) than looking at pictures of the original article.  So without further ado - I'm going to send you to another blog, The Selvedge Yard, to enjoy this classic article.

Let's check back in a couple of weeks and see if any of us were able to be polar bears this year.  :D

Moto-Tech-Geekery, with Love from Triumph - mostly.

 

I found this in a Twitter feed from Triumph - I say "Who needs a direction? I just need a bike and a clear sky to steer her by".

Ok, I promised some tech geekery. Then I found someone who did it better and faster in my e-mail. I was going to link to the article or the newsletter, but could find neither posted on their website. I also found a great mini write-up on their Facebook page which I will put at the end (some things I want to remember to try.) Hence the Triumph picture on top. The Detroit Dealership/showroom was just down the street from us (literally 2 minutes), until they moved to their current location which is now about 45 min away. I get their newsletters and often drool over others, in warmer locations, riding their iconic-cool Triumph motorbikes.

No I don't have a Triumph motorcycle currently, yes I have ridden a few including the Rocket 3 (the first year that it came out - I still have the t-shirt and was the first girl to take it out around here - all I can say is Vruuuooooom baby!)

So, let's talk a bit about winterizing and maintaining your bike (for us poor saps who can't ride year round).

Moto-Tuesday, because Mondays Just aren't Enough!

I think Steve would be ok with even tweaking this to say- "Riding is life. Anything before or after is just waiting."

Quick Catch-up

No, I haven't forgotten you dear blog or blogmates, life just took a few unexpected turns over the last month.  Fall has been something else this year!  There have been multiple hospital trips for kidney stones (not mine thankfully), and most of a week off for zero lower back cooperation (yep, this one is me).

I've been gathering a bunch of thoughts and info, it will probably be best to split this into two articles.  So, I'll do this one as the fun one and then next one as the "mechanical stuff".

Over the last month, I'm pleased to say I have been able to ride in to work on two of the four Mondays.  My bike is currently in the garage shivering and together we are deciding if I'll get to ride on my birthday (this Friday), which I was able to do last year - it was cold, but clear, or If I need to pull the battery, and wrap her up for the season.  (I honestly don't feel that a snow blower is in ANY WAY a reasonable substitute for my bike!)

So, let's ride!
Quite appropriately I started with that picture of Steve McQueen. Now, I've always loved Steve McQueen - what's not to like, he loved fast motorcycles and fast cars.  He was even kicked out of art college at one point for driving his motorcycle through the student union or admin building. 

Moto-MONDAY..... Ahhhh, Monday's

Ok, this pretty much sums up my weekend and day today.... At least as far as motorcycle riding goes (I did get a new foster yorkie-girl that really needed a safe, loving place to crash for a while).

I fell badly last Wednesday, and sprained most of the right side of my body. So, I've spent quality time with ice-packs and a lounge chair. That means that for two of the best riding days last week, I didn't get a ride. And today, along rest of this week, is to be filled (buckets brimming) with rain and thundershowers. 

A Motorcycle Buffet 2

To begin the new Moto-Monday Tradition, I thought I would reflect upon one of the blog's all time favorite and most looked at articles: A Motorcycle Buffet. (Or, A little bit of moto-every and anything.)

Come riding season I always think about gear. Do I have gear that needs to be replaced? Is there new, awesome, hi-tech gear that I must try? Is there something that just has to be on the road with me? Well, I found a couple of items that were too awesome not to mention:

(*Note: These pictures are not mine, they are from the sites as listed. PRH)

Need an awesome new lid?

Check out Cool Pile’s write up.

Writing or Riding?

                         

I took my dad out for a ride yesterday, and lunch, and extra stuff, as a special pre-dad's day event. Of course it was a perfect day.  We had a chance to thoroughly clear out the old gas from last year (it was a very long, very cold winter for us here in Detroit this last year.... And spring has been one of the soggiest ever.). And don't even get me started on the world-eating, trans-dimensional pot-holes. (Why yes, I have cracked a windshield all the way across, sheared a front wheel off, sheared a break assembly off, and blown some new tires, which doesn't include the front axel, bearings, alignment, and sanity that have also been damaged, lost, or replaced over the last couple of years- windshield still pending. Thank-you for asking.)

Anyway, back to the ride. It got me thinking about my sadly neglected blog. It has been sitting here in a sorrowful state as life unfolded in awful and wildly unpredicted ways over the last couple of years, but I do think about it. How sad and lonesome it must be.