Going for Another Motorcycle Ride

This was the first day of the year that I used my electric vest. Mary Ann and I decided to ride together to London, where we could do our own thing then meet up at her parents house in the afternoon for a ride home. The day started at 3 degrees C. went up to 8c then back down to 3c at sunset.

Mary Ann's Burgman just turned 20,000 km. and has had very few problems. It still has the original drive belt. The only annoying glitch is that the reset button for the trip odometer stopped working. She had one flat tire a while back, and we replaced it with a new one. Once this summer it didn't start, and I did a valve inspection, but the valves were OK. Now it does not start quite as quickly as before, but at least it fires up reliably on at most two pushes of the starter button. It has never gone back to the shop since we bought it, for the new tire, I just took the wheel in.

We got rolling at 10:30 AM, about 30 minutes late because of having to put on all the cold weather gear. It is actually so much work putting on the clothing that you can work up a sweat, which is bad because as you cool off, it reduces the effectiveness of the clothing. So the way I do it is to move the motorcycles out of the garage in my normal clothes, to stay cool. Then I put on everything but the gloves, jacket, helmet, and carry them outside to put them on where I don't get too overheated.

Mary Ann took the lead. We have a lot of European style traffic circles in this region, and when I followed Mary Ann around the first one, I scraped the left floorboard trying to keep up. I'm guessing the Burgman has only a little more ground clearance than the Vulcan, because I could see she was pretty close to grounding the centre stand lever. It was the first time I grounded in a traffic circle, and obviously Mary Ann is getting faster as she gets more confidence with about 15,000 km of riding now.

When we got to London, I headed off to Inglis Cycle, and she headed for her parents house. That gave me a little time to buy an Air Hawk seat pad, and to look at the Triumph Scrambler without worrying about keeping her amused.

First the seat pad, which is air filled. I knew this would work for me, because I already did tests with an old air mattress on my seat. I bought a 12" wide Air Hawk 2 "Cruiser" seat pad and installed it in the parking lot, so that was easy enough to do. I did have a little trouble finding what I wanted, because the sales people seem to know nothing about these pads that sell for $140 each. First I wanted one that fit my seat, and they told me that a 12" wide would do, even though the seat is 14" wide. Anyhow, it seemed they did not have any 14" ones and they were not sure that they made them that big. All they had was a "Cruiser" 12" and a "Touring" 12", and when I asked what the difference was, they seemed to think that there was no meaningful difference, it was to just give the customer more choices. Well, the choice I wanted was 14" wide, not some arbitrary alternate name for the same seat. But I guess I should have known better than to tangle with sales associates before Googling the product on the Internet. I bought the 12" seat, but later, I saw the website advises that the 14" is correct for my bike. In any case, the 12" seat pad is more versatile. I also have a 1970 Honda CD175 that could use a 12" seat pad, I can use it on the passenger section if I want to, and the 12" seat does not look bad on the wider driver seat either. But the best part is that eliminates numb butt, which is really all I could ask for. It felt really comfortable for the rest of the day.

I also had time to look at the Triumph Scrambler in real life for the first time. They had two, one a flat green colour with the dual seat and the other a shiny black. By talking to the sales rep, I found out that you cannot get it with the two-into-one Arrows exhaust. What I mean is that you would have to buy it with the factory exhaust then order and pay extra for the Arrows. I guess this is to conform to Transport Canada's noise and pollution requirements, but they don't worry much what you do after you buy the machine. Funny thing is that Harley for years was selling their bikes brand new with aftermarket "Screaming Eagle" exhaust systems. I don't know why Harley Davidson was the only company allowed to do this, but it smacks of unfair competition to me. Anyhow, apparently Harley has stopped doing that now.

There was a Triumph America parked right behind the green Scrambler, and I have to admit that in real life I liked the look of the America more. I guess it's just the more traditional look with brighter colours and chrome that I like. But if the Scrambler came with the Arrows exhaust and the solo seat with luggage rack, I might have changed my mind.

I stopped in to visit my Mother, then headed out to meet Mary Ann at three, as we had agreed, but she was not ready. So I knew with all the cold weather gear this was going to be another half hour of waiting while the sun was dropping quickly to the horizon. It must have been about 5c as we departed for home, and I had removed my sweater, which was dumb because this was going to be the coldest part of the ride. Anyhow when we got stuck for some construction, I had a chance to at least plug in the electric vest. That worked for a while, then I realized I was getting cold again. Finally I figured out that I had accidentally knocked the switch "OFF", and then I got back to feeling warm again. But with the sun going down, and my sweater in the saddlebag, I never fully recovered my body heat from turning off the electric vest. Which means I never got toasty warm again, but I also didn't get uncomfortably cold, just a little chilly in the fingers (Yes, they are affected by the main body temperature and the electric vest)

The two most scenic places on the drive were Jubilee Road, on the other side of London, and the other was Dundas street going through London. Lots of traffic in the centre of London, but I don't mind once in a while, just as a break from all the farm scenery.

Picture: My Vulcan parked in front something that looks like an old WW2 Dodge truck. I took the picture because it looks like the Dodge Power Wagon my father drove in the army.