After Ed's Last Resort Rally 2009, I know I had to get another motorcycle. But with 2 kids in daycare, the money was just not there to buy and maintain a bike. I already had to sell the boat, so I knew I was going to have to wait. Plus, I really didn't have a place to store a bike, since the single car garage was full of fish... The Clown Hatchery is a side business of mine. I breed and sell 4 different breeds/color variations of Nemo. Every year I hope to retire off of the little guys, but just about the time things get going really well, something happens and I still have to keep my day job. But sometimes, jobs come my way in my real profession... computers, that I can earn a lil bit of cash on the side. I just never seem to get enough lined up to save any. Summer of 2010, we moved to a bigger house, with a bigger garage, with more room for the fish, and a spot for a motorcycle :)
Santa brought a pocket rocket for my 4 yr old, and this made daddy really jealous. Luckily that was mommy's idea. Our son loves grandpa, and grandpas motorcycle. So that was his big present for Christmas. He couldn't ride a bicycle without traing wheels, but he learned to ride the motorcycle in a few minutes. Finally, Dec 2010/Jan 2011, 4 side jobs were lined up that put enough money in my pocket that I started looking for bikes!!! I figured with the cash on hand, it would be a 30 -50% down payment on a used bike. I picked a bike, put a hold on it, called the bank, and..... a week later I called back, long story short, they laughed! Now I had to re-plan this bike thing. I had to find one that cost the same as I had... which wasn't a lot. My options just dropped way down. I knew I needed a rally bike, and they are on the upper end of the cost scale. I knew how much dad paid for his Concours, which is a sport touring bike, so I started looking at them. OLDER versions of them. The good thing about touring/sport touring bikes is they generally have large saddle bags and comfortable riding postures so you can ride them long distances. The bad thing about touring/sport touring bikes that are comfy to ride, is people like to ride them a loooong way, many times! So finding a rally bike with low mileage is a needle in a haystack. Most have 50,000-100,000 miles on them after only a few years. But most long distance riders maintain their bikes pretty good. So I looked, and looked, and looked. Too expensive. Only needs a $100 part to be road worthy. Only dropped once in the grass ( translated to - flown off a cliff). No test rides... But I finally found on Craigslist, a 1998 Concours, 5 miles from dads, test ride allowed, ready to ride. He drove it, liked it, couldn't find anything wrong with it, plus it had a brand new rear tire and Givi top rack/trunk. But it had 72,000 miles on it. After reading 1000s of posts on the COG forum, I felt comfortable that the bike should last to 150k with not too many issues. OR it would blow up on the first ride. What the hell. So I deposited the cash in Dads account in Tallahassee, he paid for it and drove it home, and I headed down to pick it up that weekend. I'm the proud third owner of a 98 Concours!
I left work at 11 Fri, picked up the U-Haul bike trailer, and headed South. I needed to get there early enough to register it at the DMV for tags and title. There was no way I was going to wait to take it out on the roads. Plus, if any issues popped up, who better to help fix it, than someone on their second Connie. I drove straight to the DMV in Daytona, met dad and his wife there with the title, and got it all registered up, titled up, and grabbed a tag. Luckily dad had an extra helmet, jacket, chaps, gloves... all the stuff I still need to buy!! It was cold, but off we went for a real shakedown. ride.
This time, it'd only been 2 years since I'd ridden a bike, so no crazy moments. Drove it straight to Pep Boys for carb cleaner to run through it just in case. Then some hwy riding, and back road riding. The hand brake light switch was apparently a bit dirty because the brake light was not coming on except with the foot brake on the start of the ride, but it was working by the end. I'm good at this mechanic-ing stuff!! She rode like a dream... a rough buzzy dream... but no issues, no leaks, no problems. Score! We took the twins out again the next morning, met up with a crotch rocket friend of mine, and did a little bit more riding before I had to strap it down and head home. I'm liking this thing. So far.
I bought 2 jackets, 2 helmets, rain gear, and some gloves. After a few more rides, I was getting neck aches, which turned into headaches after about an hour of riding. This is not good. I plan on muti-hour and multi-day rallies for this bike. After searching the COG forums even more, and common sense, I figured out the wind was hitting me straight in the middle of the face shield. It was causing some horrible buffeting of my head. I had to do something. So I ordered a new Cee Bailys wind screen that is about 5 inches taller than stock to direct the air over my helmet, and it has a vent to help with the buffeting. WOW what a difference! But I do have to look through the glass unless I sit up as straight as I can, then I can see over it. Its really not an issue... or so I thought. More on that in the next blog. I ended up having to replacing the oil cooler due to a cracked thread causing a small oil leak, and there is still a tiny leak coming from the bevel gear housing seal, which so far is not worth the down time to replace the gasket. But its on the list of major repairs for a minor annoyance. Changed the oil in the motor and rear drive just to be safe a few hundred miles later. I bought some RAM mounts for the GPS, and beverage holder in time for Eds Last Resort Rally 2011. I've finally got all the essentials for a rally bike. Time to Rally!
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