First Day on the New Toy

So you know exactly what I was up to today just as soon as the temps reached the middle 50s  right...  Usually I wait until it warms up to 60 but today I couldn't wait that long.

I did manage to pay a few utility bills and stuff in the morning, as well as read some more of the owners manual on the Goldwing...  but enough with that, I didn't need to know every little thing about it right off the bat..

There's plenty of time to trip over stuff I can't figure out and then research the owners manual...

I pushed the bike out of the garage and rolled it out in the street down our steep driveway...  And off I was in first gear.. The transmission was really stiff and tight, clonking into gear as I shifted it..  I tried not to be tentative but rather kick it right up to the next gear but it clonked every time..  I went slow and it clonked, and I shifted much faster and it clonked...

I rode over into the vacant lots where the block is a big circle getting the feeling of this bigger machine..  The handlebar is much wider, as is the windshield and fairing..  Seems sort of massive, but the bike's extra weight only felt like the scooter with a big passenger on behind...

They were building the foundations for a couple of the new houses, so there were pickups and concrete trucks and trailers all along the vacant lots...  I had to stop and wait while the concrete truck backed in..

So I gave up and left the neighborhood.. But not very far.. I just extended the circle to the outer perimeter of our housing development...  After almost an hour I had 10 miles on it and it was not smelling as hot and brand new...  The initial paint on stuff was beginning to burn off and sweat in..

I came back to the house and rested for a while, as this thing is much more of a handful than I am used to..  But it was only for a while, and I was back out on it again...  I decided to ride it back over to the motor cycle store and ask about the hard shifting sound of the transmission..

Its ten or more miles over there, and the people there informed me that it takes a while for new transmissions to work themselves in.  Just shift it right thru to the next gear and as long as the clutch is in I would be fine.

By now I was out in the traffic of the city streets, and was getting along fine..  Actually the bike is bigger and commands more of the road..  Cars seem to keep their distance as it looks more substantial as a big full dresser.

I began to ride all over the town, as by now I wasn't having to think so heavily about my every move.. It was becoming more natural even with its large size..

Eventually I stopped at one of the Wendy's and had some lunch...  When I came back home it was almost 4PM, but I didn't know it..  The clock was set to Eastern Time Zone, and said it was much later...  I kept telling myself that had to be wrong but didn't figure it out  that it was exactly two hours off.

My watch was buried under layers of riding clothes, but we did make it into the 60s but I hadn't determined how to check the temp on it yet.  Setting the clock and finding the temperature took some time with the maunal later in the day..

I went with Loyce to several of her craft stores in the car as the sun was setting, so that gave me some time to read the manual....

So the wing now has 55 miles on it and it doesn't shift quite as hard as it started out...  But its still quite foreign to me when I jump on it, but then as I ride a bit I have to remind myself that I need to shift..  Beyond that, its still just another motorcycle...

I have a romeo friend that just traded his off with 140 K miles on it, so I have a ways to go to wear it out......!

Retired Rod