Early Evening Ride

As predicted, because I did not go back to work on the bike it did not rain this afternoon.  It was overcast and cold but not precipitation.  I got home by 6:45 from the range and as soon as that I went out for a ride.  Didn't have a plan to go far, just to do a couple of neighborhood loops before it got dark or it might begin to rain.  I headed out Church to Waterloo and then to Newtown Street Rd to the St David's roundabout.  From there I followed St David's to Harrison where I looped back to Church and then up St. David's back to the roundabout.  Then down Newtown Street Rd in the opposite direction down to Sugartown to Waterloo and then Church to home via Malin.   All in all an easy loop, no more than 60 mph at any point but pushing a little harder than before now that I'm in the second stage of breaking in.  Cold enough for leather but not uncomfortable.  The port mirror is still shaking.  Will try to tighten it further and see what happens.  The starboard mirror is perfect, no shake and no change.

At the end of the loop the odo read 339.2 miles.

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Wave

Still not feeling well but I did take a little time this afternoon to do a very short ride and check on my new bar end mirrors.  My plan was to go to Ellis Preserve and do some loops on the grounds.  I had readjusted my right mirror yesterday and that was fine but the left mirror was still a little low.  After a couple of loops I decided to head out on the road on go back home.  Instead on returning by the shortest route I went on West Chester Pike to Providence Rd. and from there to Goshen Rd. and home.  When I was on West Chester Pike I noticed a tan colored Mini Cooper hovering on my left.  I looked over my shoulder and noticed the driver, a young guy, giving me the thumbs up a smiling from ear to ear. I waved back and he sped off. Randy Kiss, the guy that sold me the Bullet, told me this would happen and he was right.  It was a really nice feeling.

I also signed up for the BRC2 put on by the Pennsylvania Motorcycle Safety Program on 29 June.  I try to take the course once a year to keep my skills up to date.

The ride was good, the sky was overcast and threatening rain but we had none forecast and none fell.  I hate that I haven't been able to ride much lately but as soon as I feel better I'm planning on a longer ride.  The Bullet had 235 on the odo when I left the house and 257 when I parked it.    

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Napoleon Bar End Mirrors

The next modification to the Bullet was the installation of a set of Napoleon bar end mirrors from Dime City Cycles.  You can get these in black but I went with chrome to keep with the look of the bike.  These cost me $34.95 a piece.

When I got these on Thursday, I need that installation was not going to be an easy thing.  I looked in youtube to find instructions and that best that I could find was here.  These instructions were for removing the handle bar plugs for a Ninja 250 but I figured that most of it would be translatable.  However, they involved using a torch, which I do not have, and rather than go out and buy trouble I decided to have someone else do it for me.

So, this morning, despite being under the weather, I rode out to Joe's Cycles on West Chester Pike in Broomall. I dropped the bike off and I got a call from Joe about an hour later.  The removal of the plugs would not be an easy unscrew because, according to Joe, they were welded in a had to be drilled out.  Glad that I had enough sense to have them do it rather than try it myself.  The installation cost me a couple of cents under $58.00, which I was glad to pay for not having the aggravation.

The mirrors really change the profile of the bike and make it look much better.  They don't adjust easily, however.  The mirrors and stems are one integral part and the only way to adjust your field of view is to loosen the grip screw and move the mirror around.  I wish I had known that before I bought these because I would have gotten something else instead.

To complete this mod, I added mirror mount plugs from NField Gear to cover the holes left by the removal of the stock mirrors.  These two screw cost me $9.95.

(See the full album on Flickr)

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The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

The Good is self evident, the Bullet is a hoot to ride and I just can't wait to get the break-in period done so I can really see what it can do.

The Bad and the Ugly are not so bad and ugly but here's what I've found so far:

1. Mirrors - Totally useless.  They shake, rattle, and roll so much that I feel like Big Joe Turner.  The shake, rattle, and roll, however, is not the problem.  The problem is that no matter how I adjust them all I can see is my elbows.  To look behind me I have to take by hand of the bar and move my arm across my body so I can get a peek.  My solution is to get some Napoleon bar end mirrors and see how that goes.  I figure they will still do the Big Joe Turner but at least I should be able to see past my elbows.
2. Helmet Lock - Doesn't have one.  When I use it for commuting, I park it in a covered garage and I would like to leave my helmet on it.  Without a lock I don't feel comfortable that my helmet won't sprout feet and walk away.  NField Gear has a cheap helmet lock that I'm going to try.
3. Headlight Visor - Mine didn't come with one.  I don't know why, it just didn't.  This is on the Ugly department because the visor really doesn't do anything that I need but I like the way it looks and I'm going to get one from NField Gear to correct that deficiency.  

That is all for now, as I find more things I will add them on.

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