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Gummiente · Fri Jun 16, 2006 1:30 pm

Right, then... the Ural has been serviced and checked and re-checked, the luggage is strapped onto every available rack, the route has been plotted and the gas tank is full - we're going camping! We'll be heading out first thing tomorrow morning for one week of camping at a waterfront site about 380km from home. Hector will be riding shotgun in the sidecar and my Angie will be following on her Harley, so you know there will be a trip report posted when we return. See y'all in a week's time!

DivideOverflow · Fri Jun 16, 2006 5:15 pm

Be sure to take pics! I'm jealous, I wish I could take off work to go camping.

I also would need luggage for my bike... hmm, maybe for christmas.

Gummiente · Sun Jun 25, 2006 8:06 am

Had a great vacation! Trip report to follow soon - and it will be a lengthy one. I'll post a note here when it's ready.

Decided to take the Harley for a ride this morning, seeing as how I'd been on the Ural all week. Had no particular destination in mind, so I figured I'd start with a visit to my local Harley dealer and then decide where to go from there. Well, wasn't today the Demo Ride day... I'd totally forgotten about it. There was quite a crowd of people milling about, but the rides weren't fully booked yet so I figured what the heck I might as well take one out for a spin. I wanted to try the Road Glide again, having ridden it last year at the demo ride, but it was booked for the next three rides and I didn't feel like waiting that long for another spin on it. My second choice, the Street Bob, was also booked three rides ahead. The guy asked what else I wanted to try so I asked what was available for the next ride and he started listing them off. When he got to the Wide Glide I said I'd try that one and he slotted me in.

I went outside to wander about and wait as my ride wasn't due to leave for another 20 minutes yet. Ran into a former motorcycle course student of mine and was delighted to hear that she had recently passed her M2 Exit course with only one minor infraction. She credited that and her riding ability to my skills as an instructor, which really made my day. It's always an ego boost to hear from former students and to know that what they were taught really helped shape them into competent riders. I also ran into the Third Officer from our Southern Cruisers Chapter and we chatted for a bit. Found a few more old friends and chatted some more and then suddenly it was my turn to ride.

When I swung a leg over the Wide Glide I was immediately impressed with the way it felt. They had the bars adjusted a little too close for my liking but the seat felt great and the forward controls were in a natural feeling position. But when I fired up the motor that's when things got bizarre. It was SO smooth I had to look down at the motor and frame again because foe a moment I thought I'd accidentally sat on a Softail with its counterbalanced motor. But, no, the engine was bouncing and shaking about on its rubber mounts like a caged beast and there were traditional shock absorbers on the rear suspension, so it really was a Dyna Wide Glide I was on. What's strange is that the Wide Glide shares the same frame and motor as my Superglide, only the front end, gas tank and body parts are different. This means that my Superglide should have been as smooth as this Wide Glide, but this was simply not the case. But more on that in a minute.

The demo ride route was about 10km long and consisted of a short stretch down the westbound 401HWY (aka: Ontario's Autobahn), followed by some secondary highways and county roads with a few nice curvy sections. The controls, gearbox, performance and ergonomics were so close to my Superglide that it didn't take very long at all to get used to the Wide Glide. The seat felt plusher and the riding position very relaxed, although I wonder how it would feel after a few hours on the road. The step on the seat locks you into one butt position and the wider gas tank splays the legs outwards a bit more, but the big difference is the way you sit up straight in the seat, as opposed to the slight forward lean of the Superglide. This upright position puts all the force of bumps directly onto the tailbone, which after a while can become quite painful. But - the bars were a little close and the ride was only 15 minutes long, so it's hard to tell for sure what the long range comfort would be like. I didn't get a chance to try a panic stop but the skinny front tire and disc brake seemed to work well enough whenever I used them. The suspension (and slightly longer wheelbase) gave a pleasantly smooth ride and the handling was very predictable; overall the bike instills a lot of confidence with its ease of operation. The motor pulls strong and the new 6-speed gearbox has well spaced ratios, no real surprises here as it is pretty much the identical setup to my bike. Fit and finish was of the usual high standard and overall the short demo ride was very enjoyable. Maybe too enjoyable.

When I got back the salesman saw me coming and said something must be wrong because I had "that smile" on my face. I asked him what the price difference was between the two bikes and without batting an eye he said the Wide Glide was about $5k more. I told him I really liked the ride and thought maybe I might have bought the wrong bike. He said if I got a red one we could transfer the hard saddlebags on my Superglide to a Wide Glide no problem. The Parts Lady then reminded me that Angie would kill me if I showed up with another new bike and that kinda brought me back to reality. Damn demo rides on a Harley can REALLY mess with your mind.

Anyways. I had always thought my Superglide vibrated more than it should have, but put that down to having just come from the luxurious perch of an Electra-Glide. When I told Jamie (the salesman) that the Wide Glide was way smoother than mine he said that shouldn't be as they were basically the same bike. He told me to have a talk with the Service Manager because something was obviously wrong. So I told Junior (Service Mgr) about it and he mentioned that they had experienced a few premature failures of the front lower motor mounts on the '06 models. In fact, they had just replaced one on one of the demo bikes and it only had 1,300km on the odometer. He sent me to the shop area to talk to one of the mechanics to get their opinion. The mech on duty happened to be Amzy, a guy I know and trust quite well. We talked for a bit and he said it sounded like a shot motor mount might be the problem, so we went outside to take a look at my bike. He crawled behind the front wheel and took one look under the front of the motor and I heard him say "Yep, it's shot". Then he had me get down there and look while he fired up the bike - the motor moved but the rubber didn't. Damn.

Back to the service counter. Junior happened to have three motor mounts on order and due to arrive on Tuesday, so my bike will have its first warranty related repair then at the 8,000km mark. Tomorrow morning I have to take it in for the 8k service, so if the part arrives early they'll do it then but it will be fixed Tuesday for sure. In the mean time he said I can continue to ride it without fear of damage, as the other motor mounts are designed to compensate in a situation like this. Good thing, too, because I suspect the motor mount was shot at time of delivery it's just that nobody noticed it until today - 8,000km later. So participating in demo rides can be a good thing even if you already own that particular brand.

I left the demo ride and decided to make a quick trip north to the Hillside Coffee Company in the wee village of Sydenham for some freshly roasted and ground Kenyan AA, as we were almost out of coffee at home. Then I took the back roads and had a nice, traffic and idiot free ride home. Sweet day!

Gummiente · Thu Jun 29, 2006 3:37 pm

I'm in a bit of a reflective mood tonight. Almost got killed on the way home from work today, one of the closest encounters I've had in awhile. Was on the Ural (the Harley was in the shop for a warranty motor mount replacement) and heading west on the Parkway; around the Rockport town exit I saw two cars turn onto the road and head towards me. As I approached, the one behind suddenly darted out and began to pass the other. I immediately braked and moved to the right but the car kept coming - and drifting more and more into my lane. I'm pretty sure the driver saw me then because the car made a sort of startled bob and weave, then the front end dropped down as they hit the brakes. Problem was, the car they were passing hit the brakes at the same time and I saw its nose drop down as well. The overtaking car moved to the right but had nowhere to go now, so it returned to the center of my lane and... froze there, still on the brakes. By now I was down to about 50kmh and just before we would have hit I moved the bike sharply to the right and dropped the sidecar wheel onto the soft gravel shoulder. The car went past my left leg with about 2' to spare and I moved the Ural back out onto the road. The sun was at the wrong angle and I couldn't see the face(s) inside the car, but as I looked in the mirror I saw both cars pull over and stop on the shoulder.

I said "fudge" it and just kept going. The shock hit a few km's later and I had a wobbly and very paranoid ride the rest of the way home.

24 years in the saddle almost wiped out because some idiot was in a hurry. I wonder if I would have had a good funeral.

Gummiente · Fri Jun 30, 2006 12:40 pm

Apologies for the delay, but it was an unusually busy week and I had little spare time. But my writeup is now finished and ready to show. Our summer camping vacation, aka "Caravan To Chippawa" was an enjoyable time, you can read all about it here: Caravan To Chippawa.

Fri Jun 30, 2006 2:08 pm

How was the annual chili run?

Gummiente · Fri Jun 30, 2006 2:13 pm

blues2cruise wrote:How was the annual chili run?

Had to cancel it, the date conflicted with too many schedules and we just couldn't agree to an alternate. We'll try again in the fall season.

Fri Jun 30, 2006 2:59 pm

It sure did look like a great camping holiday. My last one was a disaster.

Gummiente · Sun Jul 02, 2006 11:53 pm

Updated Ural blog on my website.

Gummiente · Thu Jul 13, 2006 12:07 pm

Apparently, I have become the suicide medium of choice for the local wildlife. In 24 years of riding I can't remember the last time I inadvertently ran over an animal or bird while on the bike. Last year that all changed; I had four birds fling themselves into the path of my big Electra-Glide. When I traded the E-Glide in on the new Super Glide I figured the birds would leave me alone. Which they did, for awhile. The Ural claimed the life of a squirrel not too long ago (which prompted my "Ode To A Squirrel" poem posted here), but that was the only mishap this year. Then the Super Glide helped a lovely little Redwing Blackbird meet its maker a couple weeks later. I was hopeful that would be the end of it, but no.

Today was absolute carnage with the Harley. On the way to work a scared little rabbit, obviously being chased by something close behind, ran out into the road and right into the left front fork and engine guard. Killed him instantly, but that didn't make me feel any better - I've NEVER hit a rabbit before, not even while in the car. I phoned Angie at morning break to tell her, she knew I wasn't feeling very good about it so she said she'd try to meet me after work and ride home with me.

On the way home, right in front of my sweetie, another little squirrel came booking out of the weeds right into the path of my front tire. Harley - 2, Wildlife - 0. I feel like such a "poo poo head" tonight.