It keeps going and going and going...

If you couldn't figure it out from the title, I will be installing my new battery. When last I left you my battery was charging up. I am happy to report that when I got home last night it was all charged up and ready to go.

So I set to work taking apart my bike seat to get to the battery. That is one thing I miss about my Vulcan, the seat had a seat lock. All I had to do was insert the key and pop off the seat. Instant access to my battery and wiring. No such luck on my Honda. I first have to remove the screw on the back of the pillion seat.

I then take off the pillion seat and have to unscrew the front seat.

Once both seats are off, I then have to get to the battery. Why do they need the cover on the battery case?

So off comes the battery cover. Can you see how tight everything looks in there? Well, it is. I tried for 10 minutes to pull out the old battery. I could not get a finger hold on it. The batter slips perfectly into its case with barely enough room for me to try and jam a screwdriver in along the sides in a vain attempt to try and leverage out the battery. I finally gave up and pulled it out with some vice-grips.

So out popped old battery and in goes the new! I attach the + and - terminals (always attach + first and - last!) and put everything back together again.

Just for kicks and grins, I attached the charger up to the old battery to see if any juice was sill in there. The charger actually started charging the old battery. I'll have to check on it tomorrow to see if it charges. So now I have a question. I know once you drain a battery you severly diminish the life of it. I also knew it was about time for a new one anyway, but what do I now do with the old? I guess I should take it to a car place or Mission Motorsport to dispose of it.

Still not pleased (at least with me)

See, I had to go and complaine about the rain and the Motorcycle Gods, and now read what happens!

My usual parking situation goes as follows: Morning, I open my garage and set my lunch, coffee, and purse/bag on the hood of my car. I back out my motorcycle, grab my stuff from the front of the car and move it to the passenger seat, pull out my car, and re-park my motorcycle in the spot recently vacated by my car. Evening: I pull up alongside my garage and open it up. I back out my motorcycle, back in my car (Being VERY careful not to hit T’s motorcycle. His is the VTX 1300R parked in the back of the garage in the back right corner of the picture), and then drive my motorcycle into the small space right next to the front driver side of my car in my one-car garage.

So I get home Friday evening just after the clouds had opened up and let down a torrential downpour. I pull up to my garage and use my clicker to open it up, expecting to be able to just pull out my bike and back in my car. T’s bike is parked in the middle of the garage, so that must be moved first. I park my car in an empty stall and run inside to get T’s motorcycle keys. I get back to the garage and park his bike in the back corner. I then pull out my bike, back in my car, and pull in my bike. I close the garage and run for the house to get out of the rain.

I am stuck in the house all day Saturday waiting for the repair guy to fix my running, now leaking toilet. He finally arrives around 3:30, and by that time I begin to prepare dinner and end up staying inside all day. Sunday dawns clear but chilly. I decide to ride out to lunch somewhere. I get all my leather gear on and head out to the garage. I hadn’t been able to find my motorcycle key, but just assumed I had left it in my bike on Friday. I sometimes do this if I am in a hurry, but only when my motorcycle is parked in the locked garage. Sure enough, there they are, in the ignition, turned to the ON position! I had left my bike on when I ran out of the garage on Friday! I had drained my battery!

I had been having small battery problems; it would take a few tries and a couple of minutes for my bike to start if it hadn’t been run in the past 24 hours, but nothing serious. I figured I would just wait until I took my bike in for service before I would bother with replacing it. Instead fate (or the unhappy Motorcycle Gods) had interviened and I dropped $80.00 on Sunday for a new battery. The old one was so drained that when I attached it to a trickle charger, the thing didn’t even register that it was attached to something it could charge! The kind folks at Mission Motorsport filled up my battery and I took it home to charge. Hopefully it will be ready for me to install this evening when I get home!

The Motorcycle Gods are not pleased

Someone or something has pissed off the Motorcycle Gods. They are not pleased with Southern California. It has been cold (yes, I know we Cali's are very spoiled, but 52*F seems cold to us!) and rainy here for the past week. Every time I think to myself, "I think I will go riding today," it rains. On the days I check the weather channel and it says rain, I diligently drive to work so as not to let my poor bike sit out in the pouring rain. Inevitably however, it doesn't rain, and I sit stuck in traffic cursing all the people who did ride that day (rain be damned!) and are zooming past me in the carpool lane.

Something must be done. I will have to think on this...

Devil Dolls MC

I sent my membership request off to Devil Dolls today. While it looks like they are mostly a No. Cal group, I am hoping they have a few So. Cal riders.

Check them out here: West Coast Devil Dolls.

Can't wait to see if I can join!

Helmet fun

I put this on my full face. From http://inbloomstickers.com/. You like-y?

How to properly lube

1. Clean chain.

Before:










I didn't have any cleaner with me when I tried cleaning my chain for the 1st time. I attempted to spray the lube on the chain and use the lube as a cleaner. That didn't work to well. (See greasy rag mess above, and results of trying to clean lube with lube.) So I went out yesterday to get some bike cleaner and picked up a can of chain cleaner. The chain cleaner is sooo wonderful!

I sprayed it on and the greasy black lube-y mess just literaly melted off. I only had to do a few swipes with my cloth. It was a huge pain trying to clean the old lube off with nothing besides a plain old red auto rag.

After:


2. Re-lube chain.

Much easier to do once the chain starts out clean! You can see nifty lines on the asphalt where the lube dripped off the chain as I walked it back and forth while lubercating. Once this can runs out I will buy the chain wax and try that out.

Neptune's Net

Since I was in Utah the past week, I was unable to ride for a whole 7 days! Can you believe it? I couldn't have ridden in UT anyway, because it was sooo cold and icy there. Cold as in 12* F when I landed!

So my two uncles decided to plan a ride to stretch my legs. Uncle S had just dropped something like 3 grand into his new Harley and was eager to try out his new Highway Bars. Uncle T decided a trip up PCH to Neptune's Net would be the perfect ride. Uncle S meet up at my place and we started out at about 10:30.

I was moderately bundled as the weather had said it was supposed to be warm. Moderately bundled = heavy jacket, fingerless leather gloves, full face helmet, regular socks, and no chaps. This was fine riding inland, but when we hit the coastal areas, it was cold! I had to quickly pull on my unlined leather gloves (over my fingerless ones, that was uncomfortable) during a stop light to warm up my hands and to stop the wind from blowing up my sleeves.

We made it up through OC alright, Long Beach was okay, but after that the moving got slow. I guess there was a bike race (bicycle) that day. I was passed a sign warning of street closures due to the "BIKERACE" and puzzled over what a Biker-Ace was during the red light.

Things picked up again and we were cruising right up along the coast. We hit Santa Monica and could see the ocean and the rocks. There was a cool house we passed under in Santa Barbara. The house was hanging off the cliff, over the road! I made friends with a guy on a sports bike who was trying to weave his way past all the cruisers. We were stopped for something and started up a conversation about my hair glove (http://www.hairglovecycle.com/). He wanted to know where he could get one for his girlfriend.

We continued along Santa Barbara, Malibu, and into Ventura. At this point it was very chilly and my butt was ready for a break. Right as my odometer hit 102 miles, we pulled into Neptune's Net. The parking lot was crammed! we finally fond a few spots somethat close to each other and parked. As I was walking away from my bike, I remembered my hat and turned around to get it out. Out of the corner of my eye I saw this biker ride past with a bunch of long curly black hair following. I recognized that hair! It was Robert (10yearsafter)! I waved like mad and the he spotted me just before he turned the corner. I waited a few moments, and back he came. It is so weird, but Robert is the only biker I bump into when out riding. T and I had also seen him at the LB International Motorcycle show back in January? December? I can't remember. Sadly he was just leaving. We made planned to organize a ride past El Campion in San Juan Capistrano. We introduced him to it during a ride last year, and he loves the food there.

Lunch was a big plate of steamed shrimp and two steaming bowls of clam chowder with a few New Castles. Yummy, there were even left-overs.

Since Uncle S. had to get back for a date, we decided to head home via the freeway. We gassed up in Santa Monica and jumped onto the 101. It was slow going at times, but Uncle S isn't too comfortable with lane splitting so we just road it out. We separated at the 57 and continued down to the 55, the 5 and home.

A long ride, but beautiful. Great food at the end.

Re: Chain Lubing

Ray, the supreme creator of www.startriding.com was kind enough to forward this to me:

Regarding lubing the chain...

* Get a can of chain lube ($5-$10) and chain cleaner if you're feeling proper (some people use kerosene)
* Spray the cleaner on top of the lower part of the chain that's exposed then wipe it clean with a rag
* Roll the bike and repeat until you've cleaned the whole chain
* Spray the lube on top of the lower part of the chain that's exposed
* Roll the bike and repeat until you've covered the whole chain

Watch for the spray when you first ride after lubing. Do it often though, maybe every 300 miles or something. The chain can never be too clean or lubricated.

Ray

---------------------------------------------------------

I bought some lube last week just before I went to Salt Lake City. I had planned on using my car until I got the chance to lube my chain properly, but fate intervened. On the way home from the airport on Tuesday, we ran over a nail and I got a flat. So... I was forced to use my bike before intended. I didn't have time to thoroughly clean the chain the morning, but I did spray it good. I rolled it back about a foot at a time until it had all been lubed. I plan on giving my bike a good cleaning this weekend

As a side note, don't do this in your work clothes like I did. I now have some grease looking stains on my pants where the lube splattered.

As a second side note, I will be taking pictures of how to fix a puncture in a car tire (also good to know for bike tires!). I would have shown how to change a tire, but it's kind of hard to take pictures when you are worried about being hit by passing motorists while on the side of the freeway changing said tire.

Oops!

While I absolutly love my new(er) bike, there has been a few things I have had to get use to.

1. Quiet pipes. My Kawasaki had Jardin pipes and while not brain ratteling loud, they did have some rumble to them. I am trying to save up for new pipes. ( about $400!)

2. Turn signal light. My Kawasaki had a light for either direction, the Honda only has a light to let you know that your turn signal is on, and doesn't indicate which direction.

3. Highway bars. These I love having. I can just kick up my feet and cruise. I do need to put on some highway pegs.

4. Chain vs. belt. This I hate. I loved having a belt drive, no maintainence. Just had the mechanic look at it every check-up. I now have a chain and hate it.

So while I am very in love with my new bike (yet to be named), the only thing I would love to change is the drive. I was told that a chain needs to be lubed every so often, but neglected to really find out how often is often. So I have now gone 2000 miles without a lube. I know, very bad and dangerous. So I now need to figure out how to lube my chain on my own. Any suggenstions?

$500 spent and finally something for free

Nice weekend for a ride. Saturday was a little chilly (especially riding along the coast) but Sunday was PERFECT! The Motorcycle Gods were smiling down on those of us here in So. Cal.

Saturday found me getting lunch at Tummystuffers in Lake Forest. It is my favorite sandwich place ever! I got the BLT on Squaw bread with provalone cheese. Yummy! The day was so bright and sunny I had to get out and ride.

T and I opted to ride out to Huntington Beach. I know I am asking for parking headaches just thinking of going anywhere near HB on a sunny weekend, but I have a secret parking spot so it was no problm' mon. The rest of the afternoon was spent walking up and down the street window browsing while munching on a Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory Mud Pie candy apple. It is my mission in life to always get a Cookies and Cream candy apple when ever I pass a RMCF, but sadly this shop didn't have any. So I opted for second choice, Mud Pie.

It was about 5:00 when I headed back to my bike to head home. I had had a bit of a zipper problem when getting out of my "winter" leather jacket, but figured all would be well. WRONG! I got into all my gear and then tried to zip up the zipper. Nothing. So I pulled on the zipper. It got about half way up before stalling and then the bottom part that was zipped up split all the way to the zipper head. T tried to help, but it was stuck and split and nothing was going to change that. I ended up placing the zipper head at my neck, so at least that part was closed, and unfastened my belt from my jeans and buckled it around my jacket waist.

So now I need to find a leather tailor to fix my jacket before I go to Salt Lake City on Thursday where it looks to be cooooldddddd. *shivers*

Sunday was an even more perfect day for riding. The previous year I had spent about $500 to get my scuba certification. I finally got something free out of it. Aquarium of the Pacific had a free entrance day for divers on Sunday. T and I pulled out our c-cards and headed up to Long Beach. The AoP was packed! We found some spots in a parking structure across form the AoP and headed inside. We looked at all the exhibits, and even got to go in the aviary and feed the (evil) birds some nectar. The birds were evil because they bite. One got me where the skin webs between your pointer finger and your thumb and chomped down hard! I still have a little blood blister and my hand looks a tinsy bit bruised.

Dinner was had at Bubba Gump Shrimp Company across the street from the AoP. Warning, if you are looking for something light and refreshing, do not eat here. Everything was DRENCHED in butter.

After dinner we road along Ocean Boulevard to 2nd Street and pulled over so we could walk around. We had walked maybe 6 blocks before we came across a couple on their Harley pulled over by a cop. The cop pulled away really fast and the couple just stayed on their bike. T asked "What happened so I know whether to come this way?" and the guy replied they had been pulled over for loud pipes and illegal helmets. We walked another block or two down before turning around and heading back. The couple were still at their bike, so we asked what had happened. The woman said they cop was writing out the ticket when another, louder biker, road past. The woman had commented to the cop that that guys pipes was louder that theirs! The cop told the couple to stay put, took their license, and drove after the other guy. As we started to head back to our bikes, the cop came back and jumped out of his cruiser. He mistook T and I for the couple and told us "Well that guy is going to jail. Please step back next to your motorcycle please." We pointed to the couple behind us and just kept on walking. Another cop car pulled up next to the first as we were crossing the street. T and I decided to make a quick get-a-way. My pipes are still stock, but T's are LOUD! I warned a few bikers on the way back to the bikes that cops were pulling people over for loud pipes. Hopefully none of them got pulled over. T and I jumped back on our bikes and made a quick exit stage left. The rest of the ride home was uneventful.

In the Beginning

There was a website. It was called www.beginnerbiker.org. Don't bother going there, it no longer exsists.

But on this website there was a forum. And in this forum there was a page for regional events, rides, etc. There was a region called 'Southern California.' In this area of the forum, bikers from all over Southern California began to post. It was soon discovered there were a lot of bikers in Southern California on this forum, and that they really didn't have anyone to ride with because they were, after all, beginner bikers.

So they banded to gether in the summer of '04 and they began to ride. They road all over! They road ACH (Angeles Crest Highway), Mullholland, Santiago Canyon, Live Oak Canyon, Ortega Higyway, Pacific Coast Highway, and even went on longer, overnight trips to San Diego and Pismo Beach. They began to call themselves "The Mild Ones" and they would "ride to eat and eat to ride." One of them even started a website where they could post pictures of them on their rides.

They were so excited about riding! But suddenly their beloved BeginnerBiker forum went down. Something about fighting website hosts, though rumers were never confirmed. They were lost! What were they to do? Where were they to post about new rides?

There was a temporary fix in the form of a "Tag Board" on their website, but it wasn't enough. Finally one came to the rescue. Why not start our own forum?

And they did.

And 3 forums later, they still do.

www.socal-letsride.com

The End.

Pre Angi the Biker Chick blog

Prior to the creation of my Angi the Biker Chick blog, my motorcycle related posting are posted here:


AngiPants

The World of the Pants

Good Food and a Good Ride

T-day was spent and Grandma's and Grandpa's house this year. While I was looking forward to seeing family, I was kind of hoping for a quite T-day dinner like last years. Oh, Well.

Thursday morning found Uncle T and I at a gas station in Tustin waiting for Uncle S to arrive. Oh yeah, I haven't told anyone about the great news! I bought a new bike!

**Great News: Uncle S had bought a Honda Shadow ACE Deluxe in 1998. Since then it had been ridden a grand total of 3600 miles. So two weeks ago, Uncle S decides to get a new bike, a gorgeous 2006 Harley Roadking in a metallic blue. Well this meant that suddenly the poor Honda was no longer the favored child and must be dealt with in the typically way, selling it (or them) off.

So I volunteered to love and care for the abandoned Honda (name still pending… any ideas?) and went about getting rid of my own cherished child, er um... bike.


I bought a listing in CycleTrader and shelled out $95.00 for it. I also thought that I should take advantage of any online listings that I could think of. So I posted on Craig's List, MySpace, and Tribe. Two days later I had a reply to my craigslist listing. (I had had some replies on MySpace, but they were the typical scam emails.) This guy wanted to meet up Saturday to check out the bike. No questions, just if the bike was still available and what time we could meet. I suggested 12:30 and he agreeded. So Saturday morning found me awake bright an early to detail the bike before the guy (Mark) came. I scrubbed, polished, waxed, scraped, and shined Ms. Rhonda Alida (my bikes name) till she hurt to look at. It took almost 4 hours! Mark arrived about ½ hour after I had finished. He looked over the bike, asked why I was selling it, and then asked how much I wanted for it. I told him, and he agreed! No arguing or bargaining, just sure, sounds good. I pulled out the title and bill of sale and Rhonda was loaded up in his truck 10 minutes later and gone forever.

*sniff*

As soon as Mark and Rhonda were out of site I ran inside to call Uncle S about picking up the Honda. (I needed something to replace the empty feeling.) Uncle T road me over to S's house and I had my new bike within 3 hours of losing the old one. **

Ain't she a beaut?

So since I had a new(er) bike, and since Uncle S had his brand new Harley, and since Uncle T already had his VTX, we decided to ride up to G & G's for T-day to break in and get use to our toys. We arrived just in time to start snacking down on appetizers while we waited for the rest of the dinner guests to arrive. Dinner was started promptly at 5:00, and included: Turkey (roasted in Grandpa's new turkey roaster), stuffing with, stuffing without, 10 lbs of mashed potatoes (of which there were only 2 cups left by the end of dinner) cold broccoli salad, regular salad, cranberry sauce and jello salad. Call me weird, but my favorite combination is mashed potatoes, turkey, and red jello salad with sour cream. Yummieee!

The rest of the weekend was uneventful. I knitted a sock for my brother and finished off a really bad book that I felt obligated to finish because I had started it. I arrived home on Sunday afternoon sore (damn short couches, impossible to sleep on!), cold (it was only 45*F coming home), and road weary.

Lesson of the trip: always find room to pack your chaps because you WILL need them.