3K+ Maintenance

Royal Enfield line up at Kiss Honda

This morning I had a maintenance appointment at 10:30 in Pottstown at Kiss Honda.  I left the house shortly after 09:15 with 3800.1 miles on the odo and headed out to Pottstown.  The plan was to take Church out to Waterloo and follow that out to Valley Forge.  However, after I short run on Church, I realized that it probably would be best to stay on Church to Sugartown and take 252 all the way out to the park because road conditions on Waterloo above 30 were not very good last time I was there.

That plan worked fairly well because by this time of the morning the morning rush hour had died down and volume on the road was not bad.  Once on 23 I quickly turned off at Valley Park Rd because of the closure of 23 at the Pickering Creek.  I followed Valley Park to White Horse and took the right there.  Traffic here was seriously backed up so instead of staying on Whiter Horse, I made the left at Pothouse Rd.  I got a little turned around after making that left so that when I came out on 29 I took another left instead of the right and started heading the wrong way.  I realized my mistake soon enough and just did a quick turn around at a wide spot on the road and headed back towards Phoenixville.  Once there, I got back on 23 and headed out to Pottstown.

3827.8 at refuel

At the Sunoco on the corner of 724 and Bridge Street I pulled over to refuel.  The tank took 1.505 gallons of Ultra at $3.249 per gallon for a total of $4.89.  Since last refuel we've ranged 98.9 miles for a mileage of 65.71 mpg.  I had to be very careful filling up because the pump had no medium speed, it was all or nothing, and I was afraid to overfill or spill over.

The gas station is only about seven miles from Pottstown so I was able to make my scheduled appointment time without any problems.  I had the 3K miles check and inspection done and I asked to have the kickstand switch removed.  The mechanic told me that they couldn't do that because of liability issues but that I should be able to do it fairly easily.  It took them less than an hour to have the Bullet ready.  In the mean time I played with the pug and took a couple of pics of the yellow Continental they have in the show room.  Not sure if I like the yellow better than the red but it's still a very nice looking bike.  The price on the sticker is $5999.  Let's see if it's still around at the end of the summer.

The ride back involved a different route to avoid the congestion problems on White Horse.  I got to 29 and took that to 30.  It didn't help to change the route, there was an Oregonian bound and determined to ride her brakes all the way from 23 to 30 and a huge Home Depot truck maneuvering in the middle of 29 to make a delivery.  At 30 I took my new preferred route to Old Lincoln and Warren but at the Paoli Pike I took that to Darby, Devon and 252 for the shorter route home.

When I got home, at 12:15, I looked a the kickstand switch, followed the wire to were I found a connector behind the battery box and unplugged it.  The switch is no longer an issue.  At home, the odo read 3865.7 for 65.6 miles on this ride.

It was overcast and chilly all the way there and all the way back.  I layered up but I should have worn leather instead of the mesh jacket.  It wasn't miserable but it was not enjoyable.  I guess the temps were in the mid 60s but the wet in the air and the overcast did not help.

Didn't see any exotics or classics on this ride but yesterday on the commute home from work there was a blue Bentley making a turn on Ithan from Conestoga by the Agnes Irwin School.

The exotic tally stands at 15 Ferraris, 14 Teslas, 11 Maseratis, 5 Bentleys, 3 Cobras, 3 McLarens,  2 Austin-Healeys, 2 Lambos, 2 Unknowns,1 Rolls Royce, and 1 DeLorean.

Continental

3800.1 at departure

3865.7 on return

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Return from Pottstown

Randy Kiss called me yesterday to let me know that the Bullet was ready for pickup.  Evidently it had a bad kickstand switch with they replaced at no cost to me since this was under warranty.  My wife and I drove up to Pottstown this afternoon and within five minutes of getting to the shop, I was ready to get on the road.  The Bullet roared to life without any problems and I headed up High Street to take my usual route back from Posttstown via 724 to 23, across Phoenixville to the Village of Valley Forge and through the Valley Forge Park to 252.  The ride was easy and uneventful, we left Posttstown a little after 15:45 so by the time we reached Phoenixville, I could see traffic starting to get heavy but it cleared on the far side of town.  The repairs on 23 leave a lot to be desired and the stretch of road between Phoenixville and the Village of Valley Forge is pretty rough and bumpy.  No potholes left but just a really bad road surface.  This time again I took the right at 252 under 202 rather than continue on to Waterloo.  That is an easy route but at that time of the day 252 north of 30, where it chokes to single lane under the rail overpass, was backed up fairly solid.  No big deal but all the idiots on the left trying to force the right and not looking over their shoulders make me feel a little uncomfortable.

After we cleared 30 I took Sugartown to Church and at the intersection of Beaumont, seeing the road clear behind us, I pulled over to the right and asked my wife to lead the way so we could get an early dinner at the Chipotle in Wayne.  I didn't want to lead because I'm never quite sure if, after we take Brooke Road, we should stick with Brooke on the left or fall back to Church on the right.  The answer is to fall back to Church on the right.  We stopped at Chipotle for dinner and after I went back home via 30 to Spring Mill and my regular commute route.  On Sproul, before hitting the Godfrey turn, traffic had backed up quite a way so I split the lane to right to get to Godfrey.  Not a wise move but with traffic standing still and me moving at about 20 mph I risked it.

The Bullet started without any problems after every stop and once again after I got home.  I hope that that was the only issue and that things are fixed now.  After this trip, the odo is at 879.9 miles.

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