I was able to take a long lunch and go on the first ride of the year today. High 40's and sunny. Passed lots of cranky old guys on bikes learning how to smile again. The full fairing on the Goldwing helps and the new Olympia cold weather gloves were fantastic! Along with a lined windproof jacket and pants, balaclava, and ICW boots, I was quite warm.

Snow and rain in the forecast for tonight and a high of 29 tomorrow, but 42 Friday and a sweltering 52 forecast for Saturday. Looking better each day.

Added one of the best options out there to the GL1500. The thing comes with a center stand but getting up on it is an act of balance, leverage, faith, and confidence you can pick it up after you drop it. The darned things weighs over 850 pounds wet. Bought an aftermarket center stand that, while sitting on the bike and putting slight pressure on the center stand foot pad, you simply put it into reverse and back it onto the stand. Very stable and allows both me and the good wife to stand on the pegs to mount and dismount the bike. Ready to ride? Just sit on the bike, put it in gear, and ride it off the center stand. How cool is that?

Good hunting

Dave wrote on 02/04/15 at 12:54:15:

Dave,
Most GL1500's have a very robust starter that also functions as an electric reverse gear, thank God. The video shows a GL1800 but the process is the same.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C8Fm0DZ0K10

Good hunting

Rode back and forth to work one sunny day last week when it was a whopping 32^o out. Supposed to be in the upper 40 and 50s this week, but it's been raining.

Dave wrote on 02/04/15 at 16:05:18:


Priorities, Dave, priorities.

Steve H wrote on 02/05/15 at 13:19:43:


Well......I have to keep the wife warm and happy all winter!

I really had thought I could get on the bike for a lap or two around the block - but it just didn't happen.  When you drop these dead Ash trees....it takes a really long time to clean up the mess.  The dead branches are really brittle, and they break into thousands of little tiny pieces!

Ha Haa! I SOLD my log splitter... Hauled the wood stove out,hung a propane heater on the wall and ran some copper line...
And, after the big trees near the house were cut, a buddy and I cut,split and hauled firewood, instead of just dragging them off to the back of the property with the backhoe,, ohh yeah,we were gonna make some money,  
HA! We cleaned up the yard, no idea how many loads of wood, and we made MAYBE $2.00 an hour,, Ehhh, who knows,really.. BUT, trees ARE longer than they are tall and the cutting and splitting and loading and hauling and unloading and stacking is not a good way to make money.
Or, maybe we were not going at it right.. I'm not going to be trying to figure it out..
Whatever you decide to do with the trees, be careful, wear ear protection for chainsaw work, eyes,too.

Art Webb wrote on 02/05/15 at 18:59:52:

I rode from my house to my parents in Bethel 2 weekends ago.  It was sunny and 45+ when I left my house.  As I got further east, I kept seeing snow on the shady parts whereas we'd gotten rain during the same time period.  I get to my parents and they have about 1/4" of snow on the top 1/3 of their sloped driveway from the shade of the house.  I'd have loved to have Blinky's reverse since my bike is actually heavier than his is.