Winterizing Your Bike, for Southerners

I went for a ride today. I put a friend on hold for some tentative plans we had, because "it's a pretty nice day, and there probably won't be a whole lot more before the cold weather kicks in".

Well, "cold weather", as most of us know, is a relative term. I live in the southeastern US, The South. Georgia. We're actually gifted with a climate that allows year-round riding. So when I talk about one of the last nice riding days, I mean without bundling up.

It was the kind of day I really enjoy. I got my first bike, a 1978 Honda Hondamatic 400cc back in 1989, picking it up in the winter. I rode it through Spring and early summer, until I deployed to the Persian Gulf for a little while. When I came back with some extra money in my bank account, I dropped a down payment on a 1985 Honda Shadow 700, which I consider my first "real" bike. The rides I used to take after that deployment settled into my psyche as perfect riding weather.


Perfect riding weather, like today. High 60s and sunny. The kind of weather where I head out with a leather jacket, but just a t shirt underneath - no need for layering on a day like this. The kind of day where when you're stopped, you feel the sun warming up the leather, and you even start to feel hot if the red light takes too long turning green, but then as you get up to speed, you feel the chill as the cool wind creeps in around the edges of the jacket at collar and sleeve. The kind of day where everything just seems right. The motor fires at just the right rpm level to let you feel the vibration, but never overwhelms you. Where the sun hits at just the right angle, and never blinds you in an unfamiliar curve. The kind of day where you glance at a side road and this time you don't file it away in your memory for another day, but double back and turn off to see what it has to offer a curious rider who has a day off work on a Tuesday.

It wasn't lost on me that although this was pretty much the perfect riding day here, there are many people who are already performing their annual ritual of winterizing their motorcycle to prepare it for months of storage in a garage or shed. This is a really big part of what I love about living in the South. Mild climate. Year round riding. None of that fluffy white stuff that falls out of the sky and makes it hard for rubber tires to maintain traction on asphalt.

So, if you're in the right climate, don't take it for granted. Get out there and ride. Pay attention and really appreciate what you have. And if you're stuck in the great northern wasteland, try to get in a few more good rides if you can. And as you're putting that bike away for the next few months, we'll be doing our own winterizing: pulling the heavy gloves, chaps, and warm layers (or electric liners) out of the closet.

When The New Bike Works Just Right

Turning left on the way home tonight, a car going the other way turned right. Should've been no problem, except the driver decided to make an immediate left into a strip center on the corner. Why she didn't go through the intersection and make a simple, single right turn is beyond me. I should've had two lanes to choose from, but she had had the entire left lane blocked, with the rear of her car extending into the right lane too. I was already in a hard left lean, so I pushed the right handlebar and swerved hard right. Got past the bumper and was pointed at the curb, so I gave a hard shove on the left handelbar to swerve back to point the right way. Wound up feeling a slight slide from the rear tire as I found the edge of the tread.

Damn, I'm loving this bike! She went right where I told her to go, when I told her to. This is also why I love drag bars.

Ride on, y'all. Mileage is knowledge!

No Wasted Trips

I went to the dealership looking for a bike part today. I'd totally forgotten that it's Monday and every dealership in the country is apparently required by the laws of physics to be closed.


See, some people would consider that a waste of time, but a motorcycle rider just makes a U turn in the parking lot and takes the long way home. It's not a wasted trip, it's an opportunity for a ride.

Ride Her More

I’ve been in a writing slump for a while, partly because of time, partly other factors. One of which was lack of time and good riding weather coinciding. And since this a motorcycle related blog, well…

Circumstances have changed in my favor. I have more time now, and today was the second day of Spring, and it actually looked like it: sunny and warm, in the 70s mostly, with a predicted high in the low 80s.

I celebrated my day off by sleeping late and taking my time cooking breakfast at lunch time while the bike battery sat on the trickle charger (since it’d been a while since I’d ridden her). 

Suzi, ready to ride.

Suzi fired right up when I hit the start button and we were off. A couple of turns to get out of the neighborhood, and then I was on GA 54, toward Jonesboro. 54 turned off to the right, but I continued onto what became Main Street and just kind of enjoyed the historic part of town, along the railroad line. Once I ran out of town, I circled back and turned onto 54 and rode out into the Georgia countryside.

If you’ve seen the movie Smokey and the Bandit, most of it was filmed in this area. There was a scene where Jerry Reed’s character wades waist deep into a pond, chasing his dog. I rode past that pond. I know, because my family used to drive this route to church three times a week when I was a kid, and my father pointed it out back when the movie was still recent. I’d have taken a picture, but there were two ponds that could’ve been that one. I guess I’ll just have to watch the movie again to find out which one. Hmmmm…. I wonder if it's on Netflix?

Anyway, I’m rolling along, enjoying what was really a perfect day. Sunny, warm-but-not-hot. Scenic roads with just enough curve and hills to be interesting, but not enough to require strict focus, allowing my thoughts to wander. Riding along, totally in synch with the bike, feeling the engine vibration, feeling when to shift up or down, grooving along perfectly, never feeling the need to go any faster or slower than what I was doing at the moment. (Except of course stopping for traffic and signs/lights.) Perfect ride on a perfect day.

On into historic Fayetteville.  Still on Cloud Nine from this awesome day. Fayetteville has an old fashioned town square, around an old fashioned courthouse. I decided to circle back and get a photo. I parked across the street, bungee corded my jacket to the back seat (it was really too warm for the jacket), and lined up and took a picture.

Courthouse, Fayetteville, GA

Then I put the phone back in the tank bag. Turned the key. Pushed the starter button. And heard “RRRRR rrrr rr r….”

Crap.

Push the button again.

“RRrrr rrrr r”

Apparently, being ridden only sporadically and being parked outside all winter will kill a motorcycle battery. But it will wait until you're 20 miles from home on a great ride on a beautiful day before it strands you.

I think Suzi may have developed some passive-aggressive issues.

Suzi, no longer ready to ride.

The parking lot had a slight slope to it, so I tried to push start her. Got rolling, clicked into second, dumped the clutch, and …. I might as well have just stepped on the brake, because that was the only effect I got.

I pushed the bike into a parking spot under a tree, pulled out the phone and called my dad to bring jumper cables*. When he got there and we connected the cables, Suzi fired to life with no hesitation.

I rode right to the bike parts store and got a new battery. Luckily I got offered a really low price, and a veteran discount on top of that. Nice way to salvage the nearly ruined perfect riding day.

I guess the moral of the story is:

Ride your damned bike!






* Before anybody tries to lecture me about jump starting a bike from a car, it’s actually fairly safe if the car isn’t running when you push the starter button. Matter of fact, before I knew better, I actually jump started one of my bikes from a running car several times with no ill effect.