Yeah, I can see why you'd think that, considering my love for the American bike and all that
. I'm actually from the Netherlands though.
Ooh, I thought you were American. The US flag is even on your avatar!
Was a lovely day for riding! I had two offsite meetings so managed a 123 mile round trip.
Only one near death experience when Mr Taxi Driver decided to change lanes on the M25 without looking or indicating - I don't think his passengers appreciated my language when I told him what I thought of him or his driving.
Shame the GoPro card had filled up!
We have to be careful out there
That's why I try to ride only when traffic is minimal and I try to avoid highways. I would rather take longer to get to my destination.
Anyway, my bike got some cool new stuff!
That cylindrical looking thing is a 12v power source. I will finally be able to charge my battery (phone for GPS) when I'm riding long trips. It's also connected to a battery tender cable so I can easily disconnect the cigarette lighter power source and charge my battery using a battery tender without having to remove any plastics. The red button you see is an emergency eject button! Just kidding, it's actually for my new aux lighting. It's connected directly to the battery so the bike doesn't have to be on for them to be switched on. Here's hoping no one ever figures that out.
Next up are these Tusk D-Flex handguards. They'll protect the levers if the bike ever goes down.
I also got myself some crash bars. The cost of the crash bars = less than the cost of a new radiator. So it is a good investment that will be beneficial if the bike ever goes down. Only issue I have with them is that at around 2300-2700 RPM, they have noticeable vibration. It's weird. I read the reviews and the vibration was to be expected but I was kinda hoping I wouldn't be affected. I also upgraded the frame and subframe bolts. The stock ones are prone to breaking if you have a lot of weight on the bike.
And finally the Tusk Panniers. Very bulletproof boxes! Will let me carry many things and it will let me lock my stuff safely. I might get rid of my soft top case, just so I can swing my leg over the bike like normal. I also figured that the panniers might prevent the bike from pinning my leg. They might just give me room to get my leg out if I ever fall with it.
Anyway, next up is a better skid plate and a center stand. I know I should have gotten a center stand first before anything but what I wanted was sold out and other options were not better than the one I want. The one I want does lift the rear tire and it can even be adjusted.
The downside to everything that was just installed is all the extra weight. I'm not exactly sure how much extra weight I added but it is noticeable. My rear shock hasn't bottomed out though, so that's good. Also, sometimes the panniers get in the way
Anyway, I thought that owning a motorcycle was supposed to be cheaper than owning a car, which isn't the case
None of the above has made any financial sense at all!
The reason I did the above is because I've never gone out of my comfort zone and I want to take a little 2 or 3 day trip. Something like this
300 miles might not seem much but the highlight of the trip is Skyline Drive in
Shenandoah National Park. A beautiful road where there's lots to see and stretches for about 105 miles right through a mountain. I'll be ascending elevation, from South to North. It's the green area on the West side of the google maps image.There is simply lots to see. You can come back for months and see something new every time.
