Thursday, December 21

Weather Wonders...and miscellanous bike chat...

Friday, December 22. It is nearly 1:00 a.m. and the temp is 51F. Thursday was mild, drizzly, and foggy. If my gal-pal were with me, I would have taken a nice ride today! The last few weeks have been more ride-worthy than not. Lesson: at the end of next season, if for no other reason than to squeeze in as much riding as possible, I will winterize the bike myself and keep it with me. Chicago's weather is notoriously schizophrenic. There's no certain way to ever tell when winter begins here. We can get slapped with a mammoth snow-thunder storm like the one on December 1 and endure consecutive days of below zero wind chills and the next week, bask in temps in the 60s! Oh, well...live and learn.

***
Found a 1974 Honda CB360T on craigslist for $375! No title, but that's not a huge problem if the VIN is legible, I can pay to get that resolved. Supposedly, the bike is in decent condition but hasn't been ridden in a long time. It's the motorcycle I learned to ride on. So the nostalgic factor is huge plus. I think the bike would be an excellent machine on which to learn wrenching. Called the owner, spoke with him and he promised to send pics of the bike. No word from him yet. I'd love to get my hands on that bike.

***
The BMW F800 series bikes are calling my name! I'm looking forward to Cycle World's International Motorcycle Show here in February. I'll wait until 2008 before seriously considering purchasing this bike. Right now, it seems to be a good step up from Queenie, which I'll keep, should I move up, and turn into a track bike--she excels at being a fine track bike/racer, I'm told. My mechanic races two SV650s and swears by them.

***
Finally, I've been dreaming about the Kawasaki KLR650 to do the Lake Superior Circle Tour. I will check out this bike at the cycle show too. Looks like there will be plenty of opportunity to ride off road on this tour and it would be great to take advantage of such excursions, which I'd be forced to pass on if I take my little blue SV650.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Go get your bike and start riding again. After the few weeks I had mine in storage and started riding again, I realized my skills had degraded. I wasn't in motorcycle mind anymore. I'll keep finding a way to ride throughout the winter. Never will I winterize my bike again.

Sojourner's Moto Tales said...

I wish it were that easy. I've resigned myself to forced hibernation. I've gone through the DTs and have adjusted to the temporary lost of my riding pal. I too, am rethinking the winterization for next year.