Vive l'Empereur!

"La garde meurt et ne se rend pas!" General Cambronne.   Je pense qu'il a dit "Merde!"

18 juin 1815.

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A Year Later

Lola Too after one year and 3359.2 miles

A year ago today I brought the Bullet home.  It is still quirky and fun and I'm glad that I bought it.

To celebrate the anniversary I left work at 16:00 to take a ride.  It was another blue and beautiful day with temps in the 80s.  I took a different route on the commute home going on County Line Rd to Ithan and following that all the way down to Clyde Lane.  Ithan, pass Conestoga, is a twisty country lane with wooded areas on both sides and some pretty good snake turns.  I'm glad I found this route because I will probably use it more than my regular commute down Spring Mill Rd from now on.  Clyde Ln is just a short run to Sproul.  I had intended to make the left at Sproul and take that to Bryn Mawr but traffic on the inbound lane of Sproul was backed up all the way to Godfrey so I made the right turn to Godfrey and followed the regular route from there.

Once I got home I changed from my work clothes and went back out again.  By this time it was about 16:45 and home commute traffic was starting to build up so I planned on going up Goshen to Grubbs Mill to get off that line.  The run up Goshen wasn't as bad as I had expected but I still took Grubbs Mill and did a big loop back in that area.

At the Grubbs Mill/White Horse fork I stayed to the right on Grubbs Mill and kept on to Buttonwood almost all the way to its end on 252.  I used someones driveway for a turn around and then veered off onto Pinecroft and Hereford, turning around both times back to Buttonwood.  I retraced my route back down Buttonwood to Grubbs Mill and took the right turn there.   I followed that all the way to South Valley and took the left there to follow South Valley to Devon Road were I took another left.  Not wanting to be on a heavily traveled road I took the next left at Grubbs Rd and stayed on that all way down to Jaffreys.  There I continued on across Warren to Sugartown for the left back to Goshen.

The Grubbs Mill area is bounded by Goshen, Providence, Sugartown, 252.  It is mostly a network of  hilly and twisty narrow country lanes.  It is also mostly covered with wooded areas and there are very few straight shots in the whole area.  Because of this, it is not heavily traveled even at rush hour since there are no point A to point B short cuts.  This area is possibly one of the best motorcycle riding spots close to my house.  A fabulous place to celebrate the Bullet's one year journey.

At refuel 3349.4 miles

Once on Goshen I took the right turn and followed Goshen/Strasburg to almost its end at the West Chester Pike.  I did the turn around at the Bank and went back to 352 to go to the Wawa for gas.  At the Wawa the odo read 3349.4 miles.  That is 147 miles since the last refuel.  The tank took 2.483 gallons at $3.259 per gallon for $8.09.  That figures to 59.20 mpg on this refuel.

From there I just headed back to Strasburg/Goshen and followed that home.  When I left the house the odo was at about 3325 miles and when I returned it was at 3359.2 for about 54 miles on this run.  The Bullet had 35 miles when I picked it up a year ago so in this year we have done 3324 miles together.  Not bad at all.

This last year on the Bullet has been a lot of fun.  Yes, it does have its quirks and there have been some pretty frustrating times with kickstand switch issues which are still not resolved to my satisfaction.  However, on the whole, it is a great bike to ride.  It doesn't go fast enough to put life and limb in extreme danger, it is an attention magnet, and it sure gets a lot of style points for overall cool.  It won't kick over every time so thank the gods for the electronic ignition switch but when it does kick over, it sure is satisfying.  I really enjoy the vintage feel without the vintage hassles.  I still miss my old Yamaha, it was also a ton of fun, but I am glad to have the Bullet and I think I am enjoying a lot more than the Yamaha.

One year later

3359.2 miles at the end of the first year

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Running on Empty

McLaren at 926 and 322

After supper on Sunday I put in a handful of miles on the Bullet because the weather was too good not to ride.  I didn't have a specific flight plan in mind, just wanted to head out to the end of Goshen/Strasburg and figure it out from there.

As cut across 252 on Goshen I fell in behind a red 1950s convertible Jag which looked a lot like the one I saw earlier in the day while on the MG.  I feel pretty sure it was the same but I will count it as a separate sighting.  I followed him down Goshen until he turned of on Old Covered Bridge Rd.  I gave in a honk and a wave and he responded in kind.

The road up Goshen/Strasburg was pretty clear and, while still pocked marked in some areas, there has been some work done so it's a lot more enjoyable to ride than it has been.  This time I brought both my sunglasses and my regular glasses so I didn't have to worry about the long shadows.  I've discovered that if I wear my sunglasses, I can ride with the visor up and other than an occasional bug slapping my in the face it feels better and more enjoyable than riding with the visor down.  Using my regular glasses I can't do this because the lenses are so small and wind and dust get in my eyes fairly easily.

3202.4 at refuel

The end of Strasburg snuck up on me but I did a quick turn around at the bank parking lot and headed back.  I noticed that the odo was reading close to 3200, if not over, and I couldn't remember what it was at my last refuel but I figured I must be close to 200 miles on this tank.  (Last refuel was at Boyle's where the odo read 3018.7 so at an estimated 60 mpg and a little under 3.0 gallons of usable fuel in the tank I was pretty close to empty.)  So I headed for the Wawa at 352 and the West Chester Pike for a fill up.   At the pump the odo read 3202.4 for 183.7 miles since the last refuel.  The tank took 3.247 gallons at $3.27 per gallon for a total of $10.65.  Mileage on this tank was 56.57 mpg.  This new setup with the Power Commander does eat more fuel than before but I still think it's worth it.  At 3.247 gallons the tank had to be completely empty and the Bullet running on fumes.

From the Wawa I headed up 352 to 926 and took that to 322 with the intention of using one of the parking lots there as a turn around.  As I approached Concord Rd, I saw a tan Austin-Healey sitting on my right waiting for the light.  Soon after that I came up on the lot on the right at 322 and turned in there.  Being late Sunday, that lot was mostly empty and I used to do some figure 8s and some weaving for my own amusement.  There was a burned yellow exotic parked among the few other cars and I rode over there to figure out what it was.  It turned out to be a McLaren. This car reminded me of the exotic I saw last summer that I couldn't identify, so much that I am sure it was the same model car.  Due to the highly scientific nature of this tally, I will count that car with this one as a McLaren.  After fooling around in the lot I headed back to 926 and then it struck me that taking a pic of the McLaren would be like shooting fish in a barrel so I crossed 926 to turn around in that lot and come back.  Lo and behold but who should I run into there but my friend in the Austin-Healey I had seen at Concord Rd.  I gave him the thumbs up and he smiled and returned it.  A good time was had by all.  I then went back to the MacLaren and took a couple of happy snaps.

This time I did head back down 926 to Garret Mill and Goshen for the ride home.  The ride was amazing.  I'm glad I lucked into not running out of gas and everything worked out fine.  The roads are looking better here too.  A big portion of 926, where the bigger holes were, has now been completely repaved making it a safer ride.  Looking forward to the Bullet's one year anniversary on the eighth of this month.

On departure the odo read 3189.6 and on return 3223.2 for a total of 42.6 miles on this run.

The classic car tally is now three Nash Metropolitans, three 1950s Jag,one MGA, one Hot Rod, one 1950s Chrysler, one 1950's Plymouth, and one Ford Model A.  The exotic tally stands at 10 Ferraris, 9 Teslas, 6 Maseratis, 3 Cobras, 2 Bentleys, 2, McLarens,  1 Austin-Healeys, 2 Lambos, 1 Rolls Royce, 1 DeLorean, and 1 Unknown.

McLaren

On departure 3189.6 at 18:10

On return 3223.2 at 19:15

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