Great Weekend Riding and Upcoming Projects

Quick report on my busy weekend, about 350 miles of riding, and some projects I have coming up on the  bikes.

Saturday I was at the Long Beach International Motorcycle Show (IMS) almost all day.  After meeting my CMA chapter for breakfast, four of us rode up there on our bikes while a few others "caged" there.  Only one wrong turn as the "trying to get fired Road Captain" and we made it in plenty of time to get the Helmet and Gear check going.  Only problem was we had less space than last year and no where near enough.  We had to shut the check down for about half an hour in the mid-afternoon, re-organize the helmets and consolidate a rack or three of jackets and then re-open.  Bummer, but the other option would have been to have gear tags out of order-a true recipe for disaster!

Sunday I participated in the El Cajon Harley Owners Group (HOG) Toys for Tots run.  Great event, great guys running it with lots of volunteers and a great cause.  Fun part for me was it was a "controlled ride" meaning we stayed as a group and had police escort.  However there were more intersections than Road Captains from HOG, so I started helping out.  Fun to do that every now and then as we "quickly" rode from intersection to intersection alongside the nearly 200 bike group.  Ride ended at Del Mar Racetrack where we rode in (quietly to not spook the non-iron horses) and had our own area.  Best part?  Nearly 2300 toys for Toys for Tots, and over $8000 that will also go for toys and gifts! 

After my annual pre-Thanksgiving Dinner ride before joining family at the in-laws, I have a number of projects on the two Connies.  The restoration bike (94, aka Belle) needs an oil change and general check-up, plus I may test fit the sanded and repaired bodywork. Belle's tank was going to go on the old 86 (Miss Swail) but the petcock leaks and trying to get it off one of the mounting nuts came loose from inside the tank.  UGH.  So I'm going to see what can be done with the old parts bike tank I've had sitting around.  It's nasty but if it holds gas it may have to do to get the bike sold and I'll let the new owner decide to use some gas tank sealant on it or buy a replacement on eBay.

Could you help me out and click this link for some metric T-handle wrenches?  Testing out the Amazon Affiliate program and would like to see how a sale or two works.  Thank you!