Harley-Davidsons Everywhere

If I tell you we spotted at least 25 Harley-Davidsons as we ventured out for our own motorcycle ride, would you know what the weather was for today? That’s right, a sneak peek at spring here on Lincoln’s birthday with gorgeous sunshine and temperatures right around 70. It almost became a game with us who could spot the Harley first as we drove over to and home from my parents’ house.

I suppose I find it so striking because it reveals how much of an appeal motorcycle riding has for so many people. Now a Harley-Davidson rider is usually going to be on a large cruiser bike such as a Road King with fairings and saddlebags and perhaps even a passenger on the pillion. And most of the ones we saw were cruising by on the interstate. We have no interest in riding the interstates, especially in southeastern Virginia, but our future may contain some more touring oriented bikes.

But for now we’re enjoying the R Nine T and the Scrambler. No practice alone for me today as we had a late start and Bill didn’t want to wait to ride. Out we went together in our warm weather gear with big smiles on our faces. Our first gravel lot was completely car free, so we looped about in it for a few minutes. My back tire slid just a bit, and I was surprised to find that I didn’t panic.

I realized on today’s ride that I am much more confident and relaxed with riding, so much so, I let my mind wander to another squid thought of backending my bike. Backending the bike means to skid the back tire around to turn the front end of the motorcycle. As I had that thought, I was reminded that it has been 10 months of riding with no drop. But I’ll wait until we’re on a softer surface.

Because of the warmth of the day, I was wearing my Klim summer gloves, so I made a study of whether my shifting issue from last week was more of a clutch issue or more with the shifter. I determined that it was the clutch. On my BMW G310 GS, I don’t have to have the clutch fully pulled in toward the handle, but on the Ducati Scrambler, I do have to come much closer to the handle with the clutch for smooth shifting. Realizing this, I quickly eliminated any shifting problems and easily found neutral.

We had more fun in our other gravel lot, working on circles. As we did so, I learned on the Ducati, I don’t need to feather the clutch as much as I do on the BMW, so I could worry less about stalling—none today. As we finished up the ride, I ran into some traffic. One was a car turning between Bill and me, but the other was a lady coming to a stop at the intersection for Bill, but then deciding she could run through the stop sign in front of me. I was aware of her approaching the intersection, and I had a feeling she would run the stop in front of me, so I slowed down and had no issues. But it is not a pleasant reminder of how drivers don’t think when it comes to motorcyclists.

I ended on a positive by making a beautiful short, fast stop, feeling the weight of the back end as it tried to throw me up, but bracing myself and controlling the bike well. I was sorry Bill didn’t see it, having ridden on ahead. We have some nice weather ahead for next weekend, though 20 degrees cooler. I look forward to the full return of spring for our riding.

As I finished writing this blog, before editing it, I took a break and had to laugh; I was still wearing my blue necktube from my ride. Clearly, I still want to ride.

Harley-Davidson motorcycles cruising on the street. — Photo by Quintin Gellar on Pexels.com

Getting Into Gear

The day after Christmas and the gift was the weather—bright sunshine and temps in the low 60s. The Canadian geese were out in force, basking in the beautiful day. Santa brought me some cold weather riding gear, but today was not the day to bundle up. I did wear my new Schott’s leather jacket, liner removed, which kept me comfortably warm. But it was warm enough for me to wear my Klim summer gloves because I have Barkbusters now on the Scrambler adding some wind protection.

My dead-end street was full of the parked cars of family members gathering for the Christmas holiday, so that practice was out. I suggested we just head out on our neighborhood cruise, but Bill pointed out I needed to spend time in slow practice getting used to handling my new bike. So the plan was I would stay relatively close to my parents’ house, no crossing over into the other half of the neighborhood, no heading over to the fancy neighborhood, and work on stops, turnarounds inside of courts, and getting comfortable riding the Scrambler. Bill would head out for his own solo cruise on the R NineT and we would meet back up in half an hour.

Off I went, chugging along a bit roughly as I got a feel for the clutch and the shifter. The shifter really seemed to fight me, actually causing some pain on the top of my left foot as I struggled at times to move it. But I recognized this as my need to learn the new bike; I had to get a feel for the acceleration, the clutch, and the shifter. I learned that the taller gears meant that if I waited longer to shift from first to second, the Fasthouse was more obliging on my shifting. And I found having my foot fully under the shifter made shifting more comfortable. I also confirmed that the bike was fine staying in third gear as I cruised a few streets.

My stops went very well, left foot down every time and no stalls on the take off. I later learned in the car as we were driving home that the larger engine on the Ducati means the cylinders once engaged want to stay engaged. So it’s as if the bike doesn’t want to stall. Well, more likely it will benefit me with extra time in the friction zone to get the bike moving and grant me fewer stalls.

Which brings me to the throttle. Motorcycle riders talk about bikes that want to throw you off and that you have to hang on to tightly. That is the sensation I was experiencing as I adjusted to the 73 horsepower; I need to roll on the throttle smoother and gentler than I did with the BMW G310 GS. But I must admit there is a thrill that comes with the adrenaline surge as I feel the bike accelerating and trying to throw me off. However, I developed a better feel for the throttle and was able to accelerate and shift smoothly. I stopped in front of my parents’ house about 10 minutes early for our meet time so I could work on finding neutral. I surprised myself by finding it almost immediately; right away asking myself what did I just do.

I headed out for some more cruising before our meet up. I was hoping we’d meet and head out for the long cruise together. However, it was not to be. As Bill pointed out, everything had been going very well—except I still have a struggle to find neutral–and he didn’t want to push our luck. He offered to hang out and let me keep riding, but I decided to call it a day too as I was feeling really good about all I had accomplished on the Fasthouse.