Category: Daily Rants

During the winter months I’ll take a glance at the tires to and from work. This time of the year the roads are muddy and wet and lately when I look at the tires they are covered in dirt or mud.

The treads are worn through so bad it a freakin’ hazard to be riding on it. The front tire is not bad and can easily see the tire wear.

Lesson learned, take the time and wipe down the tires for inspection. I noticed the loss of traction on the mountain curves as I would occasionally slide.

If I were doing a Centramatics commercial this would be a good sample. I took the rubber down to nothing and still no cupping. The tire looks balance.

To add insult to injury, I ran over a small nail at some point.

The previous owner must have had used an impact wrench that had way more torque then the electrics and air Mac Tool impact wrenches I have. The Mac Tool impact wrench has taken out every bolt or nut I’ve thrown at it. Not this time.

I had to use a 4 foot extension breaker pipe to release the lug nut. That sucker was on tight. I’m not sure if the previous owner felt additional torquing was needed to sandwich Centronics balancer in securely.

Since I no longer have a bike jack I had to remove the rear plastic fairing piece, support cross bar and the reposition the amplifier housing to make room for the wheel removal.

It’’s not too bad of a job. The Centronics balancer has to be removed and installed first when taking the wheel off and then back on.

Maintenance Note: rear tire replaced at 41,088 miles.

Every night when I get home from work I park at the same spot. This spot.

First wash after the storms. No reason to wash during the storms since it is ridden daily and will see the weather.

I went from riding the Goldwing to Hell of riding the Goldwing. I haven’t been active on this blog for damn near a year.

As of now I’ve been riding to work every day non-stop under all weather conditions.

Now that sucks.

We’ve been going through a crazy time with the current gas prices. I’m not even sure what the reason the prices jumped so high across the state.

I may have to get the heated gear hooked up on the Golden Wang. It was freaking cold as f_ck this morning. I know it can’t be too cold but I must have not geared up enough.

Just saying.

I installed a Kuryakyn passenger cup holder this evening.

Installed…

I started looking at the different trunk and bag liners. I wanted something that was close to a form fit as possible.

I had purchased a set for my 2007 GL1800 and thought I had given the new owner the liners when I sold the bike. As it turns out, I kept the liners and saved a little coin purchasing replacement liners.

I’ll probably only use these Honda OEM liners when we are out traveling and having to do an overnighter. My daily liners will be a non-branded canvas bag that was designed for a saddle bag container size.

I took the Sled to work this morning. When I left the Manetarium I had the windshield at the lowest setting. That would probably be close to the 14” inch range.

I could already tell the wind would hit me smack in my face so when I stopped for gas I repositioned the windshield to the maximum height possible. This would be high side specification of 18”.

Even with the windshield all the way up I am able to see over the top lip easily. I’d say it is about an inch below my eye level at an upright position.

This configuration provides the most wind deflection possible. I’m digging the ride, I won’t say it’s like night and day difference between a stock shield but I can tell the wind envelope has gotten higher. I’d say the very top of my helmet is getting the air steam now. Whereas before it centered on my forehead. This created a lot of turbulence and buffeting on my old setup.

Klock Werks has a taller windshield available for the GL1800. The 16-20″ size is quite a bit taller and will provide the most wind protection but that is a bit too much for me. The tallest range may even have been above my eye level which is not an option for my riding preference.