Share the road

Saw this on my way home.

Nice!

Weekends and riders

I actually rode over to my local coffee shop last Sunday and arrived early enough to discover they have a small car/bike gathering in the parking lot every Sunday morning from 7-10. I parked my bike and walked around a bit checking everything out. Met some really nice people; I'll have to change up my routine of walking to the coffee shop and ride over on Sunday mornings.

I was also informed there is a Cars & Coffee gathering Saturday mornings somewhere up by the Spectrum. That one is earlier, 5-9 or so. I was told getting there around 7 was fine. I'll have to check it out and I'll fill you all in later (all 1 of my readers)!

Edit: Quick google got me this page. Check it out! http://irvine.carsandcoffee.info/

Directions: http://irvine.carsandcoffee.info/directions.php

Some much needed saddle time

I've not been out riding as much as I would like. Stupid rain. I've also decide to start walking more in my neighborhood, so my daily weekend trip to the local coffee shop have now been walked to instead of ridden to.

So I had to get out and about! And this week was perfect for riding into work. I am sooooo glad my new job is casual, it makes it that much easier to ride in without worrying about getting nice work clothes dirty or wrinkled. Did that for 4 years and don't want to go back.

It was BEAUTIFUL! Little chilly in the morning, but no problem just wear thicker gloves and throw on the chaps. Such an invigorating way to start the day. Lunch was perfect weather for throwing on the jacket and heading out, and evening was still warm enough I didn't need the chaps. I've also held off on riding into work because I prefer to not ride after dark, but as of the new year, my work hours changed from 5:30 to getting off at 5:00! Daylight to ride by!

Just what I needed to banish some of the winter gloom away.

Poor leaky Alexia

I stopped by Samurai Motosport on my way down to a beach party in Newport. Nigel was there to give me a quote and possibly confirm I am to be very poor and without a bike for the next while. $300 is all the spending money I have each paycheck, and 1/2 of that goes to bills. If it was going to cost that much to get Alexia fixed, it was going to take a few paychecks to save up for her.

Nigel cringed when he saw the condition Alexia was in. Squishy front breaks and a bald rear is not the best condition to be riding your bike. He said a new seal would run about $6o, and since my pads were soaked he was strongly suggesting new pads, about $40. Service would be about an hour, and they are $65 an hour. $65, no way?!? Way!! So I am looking at roughly $150 for my front end issues. Yeah!!! I told him he had the job. We scheduled me to bring Alexia by on the 10th and he could do the service while I waited.

Next up, new tire. That's about an hour, but Nigel suggested I search around myself for a tire as I can probably find one cheaper than him ordering one. We'll hash out those details on the 10th.

Bike needs her beauty sleep.

Alexia hasn't been braking to her full capacity lately. I also noticed some fluid on the front of the bike. I took it into Mach 1 for a quick visual and was told the front fork seal was leaking. The fluid had also saturated my front break pads so that was why my breaking was so squishy. Mach 1 told me $350 for parts and service. Ekkks and ouch!

So I road over to Mission and caught someone just as they were closing. (FYI, they are on new winter hours which have their service department closing at 6:00 instead of 7:00. Stupid) He said he couldn't do an official quote, so I asked him to give me an unofficial ball-park. $300. Still ouch.

My next stop was Cycle World. I am also in need of a new rear tire, so I was going to price them there. While browsing I was struck with the brilliant idea to ask if they had any local mechanics they would recommend. They gave me Eddie's card from Samurai Motosports. I'll have to ride down this weekend to get a quote from him.

Until then I am going to put Alexia up in the garage. The squishy breaking is making me too anxious when I ride and I can't enjoy it. I'll keep you updated!

Fwd: Nuts/Bolts falling off!

You can read my email to Memphis Shades below. You can also see the pictures I included specifing what I am missing and how many I am missing.

I received the package from them yesterday (still never received a package or follow up from my email to them 2 months ago) with parts! Yea, exciting right? No.

I received 4 bolts, 2 acorn nuts, and 2 bracket washers/nut backer things. (Technical terms.)

Was I asking too much? Is that all they got? If so, they really need to make their extra hardware available elsewhere!

So while I really appreciate them sending me the parts for free, I am very, very dissapointed in their inability to send out what is requested.

Am I wrong in this?

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Angela
Date: Tue, Jun 16, 2009 at 5:00 PM
Subject: Nuts/Bolts falling off!
To: customerservice@memphisshades.com

Bike: 1998 Honda Shadow ACE Deluxe
Windscreen: Slim 17": MEM4220

I am missing many nuts and bolts from my windscreen assembly. These
have vibrated and fallen off over the past year, and I can't find
anywhere to replace the parts. I have been to several of your
dealers and no one has spare parts or knows how/where to get them.
Emailing you is my last effort short of replacing everything!

Bolt/Nut (x2) for attaching the Slim to the mounting bracket
Bolt/nut (x4) for the frame of the Slim

Pictures attached.

Please mail to:
Angela ******
***** Alicia Pkwy, #****
Mission Viejo, CA 9****

Thanks,
Angela

Bracket:

Windscreen (17" Slim):

Holy crap on a cracker!

I did a bit of cleaning over the weekend and decided to remove my windscreen to give it a good cleaning, and to clean parts of my bike that have not seen a cleaning rag since I put the windscreen on about four years ago. Later that day I had an eye appt and jumped on my bike without putting the screen on. I got home later and discovered some of the nuts & bolts fell off, which means I can't put the screen on.
Holy crap!!! It has been years since I road without a windscreen and boy have I been sissyfied! My neck is SORE! I have a "hang on for dear life" feeling while riding, not to mention a feeling of not being able to breath deeply. Whoa.
I emailed Memphis Shades for replacement nuts and bolts, but I am not holding my breath. I have emailed them in the past and have either been ignored, or sent the wrong parts. I'll let cha know.