Category: Daily Rants

Anything goes here. Whatever I feel like talking about or sharing.

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Side by side baggers

I have to say these are a couple bad ass baggers. A 2002 Harley Davidson Softail Fatboy and a 2022 Honda Goldwing DCT.

If you know anything about old school Harley baggers and 6 generation Goldwing’s you would know these two sleds are so different in every way imaginable.

The only way you can ever know the difference and enjoy it, you need to own it. Reading about someone’s opinion online is not going to cut it.

I sometimes reads these guys on the forums responding to a post and they offer an opinion based on no experience. Yes, there are a few that do own several sleds but these guys are like me and just sort of lurk and be entertained.

Fatboy with custom seat cover.

The lighter material seat cover really stands out in this photo even though it’s not a focus point.

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New sled in the stable

Marking this day (November 9, 2024). I purchased a 2022 GL1800 Goldwing Bagger. I supposed the official name would be 2022 GL1800BD DCT Non Touring.

I can’t believe the low miles it has and the condition it’s in. This will be the ultimate commuter sled.

I purchased at a NorCal motorcycle reseller located in Sacramento California.

Sales Manager “Mike”.

My first ride on a DCT motorcycle was a short 60 mile run.

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Fall is coming

When I leave for work it is still dark outside. It seems like summer came and went in a blink of an eye. We had stretches of super hot 100+ days but now that seems so long ago.

I don’t wear only a T-shirt on my ride home from work. I’m wearing the same upper body gear I left home with.

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Wing Prep for the week

I washed up the sled in preparation for the workweek commute.

During the normal wash I check for anything that at be damaged. As luck would have it I found a nail dead center of the rear tire. I get so many flats throughout the year it’s not funny.

I’ll pop out the rear wheel when I have a chance and take it to the local tire shop for a plug and patch. Life of a ridah’.

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Hot weather riding

During transition from the cooler weather to flat out hot I will tend to to not wear full gear that I would normally wear during the winter months.

For about 2 weeks I rode home wearing just a short sleeve shirt. This was under very hot conditions with the sun blasting me every mile I rode.

My arms are the only exposed skin parts minus a small section on my face that is not covered by the helmet.

You can see the intense redness after another hot 100+ temperature ride. My arm looks like it is swollen and very red in color.

My wifey and I purchased long sleeve shirts.

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Motorcycle table lift

Picked up another hardware piece needed to secure a sled down. The adjustable base platform stabilizes the bike from the middle. This is used with the front straps.

The base jack is also used when the rear tire needs to be removed. At some point I will do a cutout on the rear side of the platform for a “drop down” access section.

I’ll be removing the cafe bike and loading up the Goldwing. The ignition crankshaft position center seems to be getting wonky and needs a new part installed.

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Stepping up

I’ve been wanting a nice motorcycle table lift and when I saw one at a local yard sale at a good price I knew I had to go for it.

This is not a cheap harbor freight type of lift, it’s manufactured by a well known company that has been in the business for many years.

The 1982 Honda 450 CM had the honors of being the first bike on the lift.

One modification I plan on doing is the rear of the table top there’s no drop down access door. This feature is useful when removing a tire from bikes that have a fairing or fender bags blocking the way.

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Front tire change

I think this is one of the few time I’ve changed the front tire and there are no visible white tread showing thru. For record keeping the mileage count is 61804 miles.

I decided to go with the E4 series tires.

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Not a Goldwing

May not be a Goldwing but we added a couple sleds to the stable. The first is a 1982 Honda CM 450. It’s a fixer upper that was cut down to a cafe racer style bike. For this year and model it was common for guys to make this modification.

The more recent acquisition is a 2002 Harley Davidson Fatboy that has a lot of cosmetics upgrades. It’s a carbureted 2-1 exhaust so the classic HD idle sound is very apparent.

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Rear pads

Down to the metal. 54,500 miles. There is really no excuse to run the rear pads down to the metal like this. The pistons extended so far out one out of the three would not retract. This made it difficult to install the new pads.

I had to use the old pad in place and screw driver to push the extended piston back into the cylinder. What would normally take a half hour to over two hours because I couldn’t get the new pads in between the pads and the rotor.

I’ve been riding around with the new rear pads and the experience is night and day.