Quick post on total mileage

I found a formula error on my mileage database last night, so when I updated the numbers my average mileage jumped up to nearly 19 miles a day for the past twelve years.  I'm also 221 miles short of 85,000 lifetime miles on a variety of bikes.  I'll probably do those miles by Sunday between my annual pre-Thanksgiving Dinner ride and other trips.  The 1986 Kawasaki Concours went over 96,500 today as I close in on 100,000 total on that bike-it had about 81,000 when I bought it.

Have a great Thanksgiving and hope you can get some riding in if the weather is nice where you are.

Winter Riding in California and the Start of BikeBandit sales

Yep, it's that time of year again.  Winter riding.  After suffering through the hot dry summers out here that last until late October-it's routinely 85 plus degrees on Halloween, it's "winter".  Or at least the calendar says so.

So your intrepid blogger soldiers on-riding year round and dealing with the brutal hardship of winter riding.  Getting on the bike before sun-up requires layers upon layers of clothing, no exposed skin and extra time to ensure the cold battery starts up the nearly 30 year old 1986 Kawasaki Concours, AKA Connie AKA C10 AKA Miss Swail.  Off I ride into the brightening sunlight, cold air finding every bit of exposed flesh and tearing through my jeans.  Hey, it's probably below 50!  C'mon this is brutal.

Then it gets even worse as the sun gets up and by mid-morning it's warming up through the sixties.  Now what do I do with all these layers?  Fortunately I'm running the sidebags on the Connie so they both fill up with gear and extra clothes.  I'll probably make it home before sunset, so I'll probably ride home in my long sleeve shirt and leave the jacket rolled up in a side bag.  Yep, it's tough riding in the winter!

All sarcasm aside, it is pretty odd reading about folks taking their "last ride for the winter" and elaborate winterizing procedures.  The forums light up with arguments about putting the tires on plywood, cardboard or how often to roll the bike a quarter wheel diameter.  Battery in or out?  Oil change before AND after storage, or just before?  All the while I'm thinking "Just ride it" but then I watch Buffalo get 7 feet of snow (YIKES!) and realize how good I've got it.

So do you need more layers of gear, motorcycling maintenance supplies like I do because you're  riding more due to time off, or winterizing oils and tools?  No matter what, it's Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales time, and BikeBandit.com is having all kinds of sales starting today.  So click on a banner, get anywhere from a 36-90% discount, and get what you need delivered to your door!  No need to brave the snow and ice, or crazy commuters-have the parts sent to you.  I wonder if they sell tire stud kits? :-)

Riding again-fairing bracket welds worked great!

Got the 1986 Kawasaki Concours back together yesterday morning before church.  It was pretty straight foward although tabs my neighbor welded between the supports were a bit of an obstruction for the speedometer.  Tightening the bolts down pulled the brackets together tightly enough not to be an issue.  Also everything had to be squared back up, and all the years of various repairs and work-arounds had to be sorted out.  Some are no longer needed while others needed adjustments-like brute force to line up the windshield, the main fairing and the inner fairings!

I rode around some yesterday-no real "ride" but so far it's a big improvement.  Lots of the bouncing and shaking is gone, and the signs of rubbing and chafing I saw during this project were likely caused by the fairing bracket failures.  3621 miles to 100,000!