Lighten Up!

Riders should be seen and be hyper-vigilant to be seen. Being heard is okay and can sometimes be helpful in being seen but we should remember what goes on inside the cage with the stereos thumping, cell phones beckoning, passengers begging for attention, and vehicle warnings beeping and all within the snug confines of an enclosure designed to keep sound out and passengers isolated from the outside world. The only way to be sure cagers know you are there is if you see their eyes and even then we can’t take it for granted that they’ll do the right thing.

 

Good lighting is a step in the right direction. When I had my Honda Sabre, I added a light bar. When I was looking to move up and considering the Victory Cross Roads I intended to do the same but I then went with the Cross Country (VCC) instead with the slick fairing and sleek forged highway bars. A year after getting the VCC I started adding little things like the chrome saddlebag rails and new Arlen Ness Tear-drop mirrors and then began considering ways to add some lights. I wanted to find a way to put running lights in the upper corners of the highway bars thinking that this would be an ideal position to keep the overall lines of the bike intact.

 

With the 25K mile service  due I decided to get serious about lights and called John Pucciarelli at Southern California Motorcycles (http://www.socalmotorcycles.com ). John sold me the VCC while at Cycle Dragon before the shop closed down and I’ve found him to be an innovative rider with good design ideas. I used to take the bike to Bert’s for service after Cycle Dragon closed but then Bert’s wimped out and stopped offering Victory bikes. John had me call Scott Child, CEO of Wolf LED Systems, who had put together a system which Mike Cadena helped design, with Mike being from the old Cycle Dragon shop it sounded like a cycle circle of life. I perused the Wolf LED site but couldn’t find a kit for the VCC and when I called Scott he took care of it and got Kristoffer Stoll involved. Within a short time the kit was listed on the site as promised; I placed my order and the next day it was hand delivered to SoCal Motorcycle for installation the following day during my 25K service. The kit comes complete with a Victory switch (see photo below), spot lights, wiring, and mounting hardware with a photo of the installed kit on the Victory Cross Country Tour.

 

For your convenience, here is the link to the Wolf LED VCC light kit: http://www.wolfledsystems.com/Victory_2_5_HP_Systems_Kit_p/v1025-sqb.htm

 

I knew that the installation would be a little different with my early model VCC and the forged highway bars but I had every confidence that Mike would be able to come up with something and he did not disappoint me while completely meeting my expectations. In fact, the installation looks factory designed using the cruiser peg holes which can still be used for pegs, and it kept the lights inside the lines of the bike just as I had envisioned. I am ecstatic!

 There is nothing like having people as passionate about bikes and service as we are about having and riding them. Kudos to Scot and Kristopher at Wolf LED and to Mike and John at SoCal Motorcycles.

Thanks for making me even happier with my bike. Keep the iron side up.

 

The Switch
 

 

 

  Inside the lines

< -Lights off
















Lights on!

The Road to Red Kettle

Riders meeting outside of the Red Kettle

It all started with Ken’s innocent question on the Southern California Victory Rider Facebook page, “Is anyone riding Saturday?” 83 comments later a ride was loosely organized. We made our way to a meet point at Moreno Valley’s Bravo Burger in the Inland Empire (IE) from all over the Southland – Anaheim, Ontario, La Crescenta, right there in Moreno Valley, as well as other exotic locations. I bought lunch for the rider coming furthest to the meet point and I enjoyed every bite. We road in on Victory Visions, Cross Countries (VCC), and a couple of Harleys; 10 riders on 9 bikes with 5 men and 5 women, as even a distribution as I’ve seen.

 

I arrived before 9 a.m. for the 9:30 meet because I missed the thread about the pre-meet meet point for 9 and worried myself a bit that I’d be riding solo for the day until Tim showed up on his new red and blacked out VCC with less than 1000 miles on it. His was the bike that we most talked about for the day, pretty, shinny, and new with an excited rider; Tim is a good fit with the group. Once the pre-meet group joined us we caught up a bit, ragged on a couple of riders who bailed on the day’s ride and elected Brad to lead us out. This was my first chance to get to know Brad and I was amazed to hear the story of his boating mishap if you can call a 200MPH drag boat crash a mishap. He is still in recovery but couldn’t resist and little ride to feel the wind whip by and see the road roll on. Two other riders of note for me were Dale and Vicki who had finished up a two-week Sturgis Rally adventure totaling over 4500 miles and still showed up for our day ride. Honors to Vicki, Dale, and Brad with kudos to Tim for his new ride.

 

We mounted up and filed out of the parking lot and easily fell into a nice tight staggered riding formation as Brad led us to a quick fuel stop at Sam’s Club where he treated us to gas. Well, he used his membership card and we paid for ourselves. That being done we fell back into formation and took a short freeway hop to Highway 243 and on up into the San Jacinto Mountains toward Idyllwild. 243 is a two-lane mountain road which had been closed just the day before due to a relatively small wildfire of which we saw evidence in burned out brush and chard trees on and off during the earlier miles of the 243 hop; even some burned out out-buildings with the residences saved by heroic acts from the firefighters.

 

I’ve only been on a handful of group rides and it really struck me on this ride how easily we fell into riding formations from the staggered formation of the freeways and surface streets to single file along the technical mountain road run. I was about mid-pack and we looked like a snake winding its way along a mountain trail with Brad setting a nice pace and with a solid riding line through the curves. After a while we had two sub groups, one a little faster than the other with me in the second group. I never once rode out of my comfort zone, neither too slow nor too fast but at a nice relaxed pace. Once in a while a rider would feel like stretching it out and testing himself and his bike (Tim) and that worked out just fine as well.

 

Lunch was at the Red Kettle in Idyllwild and there were a number of bikes already there and more passing by every minute; this is an obvious destination spot for day riders. We found enough space to park in and backed the bikes up helping each other up the graveled incline. I sat across from Ken and next to Brad where I heard Brad’s story and got to know the other riders a little better. Good food, good ride, better people.

 

We congregated outside and held an impromptu meeting of the riding minds and ended up adding two more riders, a couple with one on a Victory Kingpin and the other on a Cam-Am Spyder. We headed down to the valley for a final group stop at Tom’s Farm just off Highway 15 with a short stop to regroup in Hemet at 112 degrees Fahrenheit. We lucked into a good parking area with shade and a couple of pick-a-nick benches where we could hydrate and continue the personal interaction. I love sitting on the edges of a group and observing everyone and the easy conversations and comradery that appeared to be an extension of the natural way we fell into riding with each other. At one point Ken commented to me about the quiet way I had about me. Quiet waters? Could be, but I do enjoy a mountain ride or running rapids and I suppose I’ll break out sometime.

 

Thanks for the ride folks, and even better, the community. Keep the iron side up.

 

Pilgrimage to Arlen Ness

Pilgrimage to Arlen Ness – Mecca of Motorcycle Customization

I made my 340+ mile pilgrimage to Arlen Ness Motorcycles a couple of Fridays ago and was rewarded beyond my hopes and expectations. I went in to find help putting mirrors on my Victory Cross Country that I couldn’t get done even with assistance over the phone and to maybe get a look at a couple of cool bikes. I have new mirrors and every bike I saw, in the parking lot and on the showroom floor was very cool and then there was the bonus room upstairs for the Ness Museum that was amazing. 

 

I had purchased the mirrors over the phone, using the online catalog and confirming that these mirrors would fit the 2010 VCC. Soon after receiving them I struggled with them on and off over several weekends to make them work. My hopes for the new mirrors was to get a better grade of chrome than stock and at the same time have more reach with the mirrors for better viewing. I had to put them aside, something a professional-procrastinator should never do. Several weeks later, I made my first call and was assured that I merely needed to use the right bolt configuration on the stem but it was no good and I put them aside in disgust again. Then while attending the IMS show this past December in Long Beach I found Kevin at the Arlen Ness booth and we talked about my problem. He assured me that the mirrors should work and to call him again sometime. I did that, again several weeks later, with no success. I told him I was taking a vacation on the bike with my first stop at my best friend’s house nearby and asked if I could stop in and get some on site help. The answer was yes and I moved my kick stand up time up and my pilgrimage was set. 

 

I left before full sunup to miss most of the heat that traveling up the Highway 5 was sure to have during a heat wave; traveling up and down the grapevine and over Tejon Pass was very pleasant without much congestion except for the construction areas that were easy enough to get through without pushing my conservative riding style too much. The last interesting riding was over for the day once I reached the valley floor and started out along the straight and boring road. The scenery was nice enough but the golden hills, agricultural fields with their “Congress Created Dust  Bowl” signs, and the Harris Ranch stock yards complete with super heated foul smells that a rider cannot escape, really only went so far for entertainment. I always have to constantly fight the boredom of the 5 and stay vigilant with semi trucks making the quick lane changes to maintain the one mile per hour edge of their brothers and the speed freaks passing on the right and diving into the left lane to pick up an extra car length.  

 

I arrived at Arlen Ness just passed noon and was greeted with a row of Visions and parked next to them to go in. My timing was perfect as Kevin was just walking by the receptionist, a very attentive and attractive young lady. We shook hands. And he took the box of mirrors from me, opened it up, took one look and said, “Oh, these won’t work…” I felt relieved that the problem wasn’t just me, the inept biker. Kevin had me take a look at tear drop mirrors that seemed a bit much for my style and my doubts that the pointy ends would help me with the view. I sat on a custom VCC Touring bike, orange with black flames, blacked out pipes, and mirrors. I could have just as easily traded my 2010 on it and been happy with the custom paint and graphics, beautiful! I was pleasantly surprised at the coverage of the tear drops and Kevin came back out with a chrome set and put them on the bike, there wasn’t a question about him doing this, he just walked out, put the mirrors I’d purchased back in the box and went back in; done, and with one happy customer trailing behind looking for more goodies to put on the bike.  

 

I enjoyed my self-guided tour while drooling over the gorgeous Harleys and Victories, even a nice looking Yamaha. Those folks really know how to dress up a bike. I’m really proud of riding the VCC with the unmistakable Ness influence in the bike design that sets it apart from all other cruisers. I went upstairs to see Victory Row in the museum seeing the early Kingpins dressed nicely as well as some concept bikes that played a role in the development of other Victory models. I hope you enjoy the quick 360 of the museum and get a taste of the place. I recommend dropping in if you are even anywhere near Dublin, CA. 

Visit Arlen Ness on the net, tour around, and let your mind grasp the possibilities:
http://www.arlenness.com/ 

 

I enjoyed the mirrors over next highly heated 1200 miles of my vacation ride. Stay safe and keep the iron side up.

 

 

 

 

Bike Night and Windscreen Races

Bike Night with the Victory Motorcycle Club (VMC) at Legends on Rte. 66 in Glendora this week was something to relish. There was good food at the 50s-60s style hamburger joint which is in full Rte. 66 décor.  With friends, acquaintances becoming friends, and fellow motorcycle enthusiasts it was a wonderful way to break up the week.

 

I was greeted to Legends by others who'd gotten there early at a table with maps spread out while Kevin talked about his upcoming group ride to Sturgis and possible changes to the itinerary. He received tales of past rides by several riders and envy from the rest of us. Bike night is an ideal place to talk over rides coming up, rides of the past, and anything that you would think that you'd like to do to your bike. I’m a conservative rider and have kept my ride pretty much stock but the more I go to bike night the more I’m considering performance enhancements.

 

I ate my well-prepared chicken strips at a table with Ken, Dale, and Rhoda as she impressed us with her injury recovery regimen and resiliency while she received praise and encouragement in kind. The shared experiences at the table expanded my personal view if riding while the sense of community at the event as folks went from table to table and then around the bikes gave me a good sense of inclusion. These are good people.

 

The ride home was punctuated by a brief tropical rain shower, just strong enough to have the drops coalesce on the windscreen sparkling like rubies until I leaned into a left turn and they magically changed to diamonds in the lights of the oncoming eastbound traffic of the 210 freeway. Once the droplets hit critical mass by joining together they would race up to the edge and leap like lemmings into the air, some to land on my face shield to repeat the process and some to complete the journey to earth unless I was being tailgated where they would meet their doom on the clown's radiator. 

 

VMC at Temecula Demo Ride - 2013
Decisions decisions

 

A Grayscale Ride

All but the brightest stars had faded out and the moon was chasing a sun that had not yet risen. Color rendering for the landscape was not quite an option; everything was emerging from the dark of a canyon-side home to grayscale. I turned on a small garage light and was treated to a halo of color that only gave definition to a clutter that defies my every attempt to tame it; with a silver bug on the asphalt driveway and a black Victory inside the garage there was only a brief sharpening of the grayscale morning.

 

I looked across the street to where I knew my red Forester was parked and convinced myself that I was seeing the hint of red and a promise of sunlit hues to come. Or, had I not just fooled myself into this with the knowledge that my car is red? Even when I backed the Cross Country down the driveway while pumping the brakes could I not have been seeing a white car reflecting the brake light rather than having the light confirm what I thought I already knew of the car across the street? At this hour of the morning my time would have been better spent getting into the zone of vigilance for the ride rather than those esoteric thoughts of what I know or think I know.

I turned off the garage light and pulled down the door and returned the scene to its black and gray tints, walked down the driveway, and threw my leg over the bike and saddled up. I turned the key and lit up street with a javelin of light and rode through the neighborhood twisties toward a swim and then to a day of work. The headlight was less effective at lighting up the tarmac as it was in providing a cone of revelation for the pallet of colors that the sun would confirm within the coming minutes.

Riding into work allows me to experience the adventure of the journey and to have my day revealed to me rather than act like an automaton behind the wheel while listening as a deranged radio station tries to be relevant and entertain me.

Keep the iron side up and let’s ride!

Ride with a Peek-A-Boo Moon

I love night rides and as I fueled up in Buttonwillow after a great day at the Raceway with my best friend Jim, the sun was setting behind us letting my anticipation grow. I knew that by the time I hit the Grapevine it would be full dark and the stars would make their appearance. A night ride has an air of mystery about it, the mystique of faceless drivers and their passengers cloaked in darkness; they could be anyone my mind wanted them to be while I’m riding along unhidden from their gaze. Somehow this heightens my sense of freedom while on two wheels. To be sure, the need for vigilance has to be primed to ensure that I am actually being seen and known to the driver to be there; adding to that the road hazards coming up fast with the limited range of headlights and it makes for an energized ride.

As I headed south from Buttonwillow a wonderful encounter was presaged when a group of five great egrets soared overhead in a fallen man formation and brought a graceful close to the day. Night was fully engaged when I hit the foot of the southbound upgrade at the Grapevine and, as anticipated, many of the drivers slowed by five, ten MPH, or even more and our dance to the Tejon Pass Summit commenced. The drivers aware enough to maintain speed with me weaved in and out of the number one and two lanes passing by drivers who refused to acknowledge that they should either move to the right or get firm with the gas pedal. Occasionally some of us would risk being hemmed in by the big trucks to make a right end run by a knot of vigilante drivers.

Shortly after having reached the summit and starting the broken decent through the pass and down to the Santa Clarita Valley is when all the sluggish drivers feel the need to make up for the lost time and barrel downslope and the dance is somehow reversed. As I was bending along a gentle right-hand curve the man-in-the-moon made his appearance; just past full and orange hued with the dissipating smoke of the earlier fire between the north and southbound lanes. I think that he has a bemused, almost concerned cast to his eyes, but this night I may have mistaken his concern with a knowing smirk because as the highway straightened out he slowly dipped behind the mountain and began a game of peek-a-boo that would last until I pulled my Victory into the garage more than an hour later.

At times I could see the glow of his reflection, just the halo of his appearance where, if I’d stood still, he would progressively reveal himself. Instead, with the twists and turns of the road and the uneven terrain he would burst out in full view only to disappear again or peak one concerned eye over a ridge to see how I was doing. Even when I reached the relative flat coming away from Castaic and along the Santa Clarita area he played with me, hide and seek, while staying low in order use the rolling foothills. Along one section the man was behind the wind breaking roadside-trees and appeared as a flip-book action cartoon. After passing through the very tricky intersections of the 5 and 14 highways to the 210 he was a more or less steady companion but still chose to slip behind the overpasses whenever he could.

As I neared home and wound my way through the twisties of the Briggs Terrace area I had to conclude that it was I who hid from him, he with his steady and predictable arc, and me with the fleeting and uncommon path.

Road Hazard – One to Go Please

I took a ride this weekend as part of the research I’m doing for a fictional story and ran into an interesting incident and decided to put in the story. Here is the excerpt from my story:

“Along the way I was following a black Range Rover when the passenger decided it was a good time to dump a cup of something. Since I don’t tailgate I got just a misting of it on the windshield that quickly evaporated in the dry desert air. I jumped up next to her and gave the “the look” that my own kids and my church kids could well appreciate. The reaction of instant repentance on her face and in her gestures was priceless. I still have it kids. Why do we people throw nearly anything from our cars? How many fires do we light with our cigarette butts tossed out of cars fully equipped with ash trays? I will never cease to wonder at that.”

We face hazards on the road all the time that are out of the controls of those who have left them behind, blown-out tire fragments, car parts from accidents or otherwise, and any number of natural debris on the roadway. We shouldn’t have to face the hazards of careless people let alone those of reckless people with their heads in places where they can’t think straight. I have seen the cigarette butt thrown out to explode in sparks on the pavement in front of me and felt another hit my pants leg as I rode along; I’ve watched as someone spit out the window without a care. I can live without those, thank you very much.

On the funny side of a road hazard; this was during my first life as a rider when, as a kid of 20 or so, I was riding surface streets in the San Fernando Valley coming home from a particularly meaningful church service and following an older couple that now that I look back on it were probably about as old then as I am now. Cruising at a respectable speed of 45 or so and coming up on them in the lane to their right they ran through a rivulet of water coming down the intersection drain-way. The splash arched high and went into slow motion as I rode right into it and into my open-faced helmet. We pulled to a stop at the next light and with water pouring from my face and torso, I looked down at the woman in the passenger seat and she had such a horrified look on her face that I had to laugh and laugh loud; she smiled, her husband looked over and just completely cracked up. Timing is everything.

Whatever the hazard, natural or manmade, stay vigilant and keep the iron side up.

Me on PAR's Ride - Victory Cross Roads Classic