Pushin' Into the Wind to Make This Trip Happen...

Scrambling trying to get the bike and my gear together as well as locking down all the other bits and pieces around the rig so I have the "Window" to ride for a week or ten days...

Got back to a friends farm in Fort Collins the other day to do some maintenance work on the scooter and install the New Yamaha back rest that goes along with the change of saddlebags and pipes.

Turned into a standard bit of an ordeal. The bolts that came with the backrest were to short to accommodate both the backrest AND the Tsukayu saddlebag mounts. Took me most of a half dozen hours chasing bolts to finally think of tryin' Yamaha. :) They had a couple layin' 'bout the shop and just handed 'em to me. Awesome.

So... I race on back to the rig and put everything together... only to find that the heads of the new bolts were too thick to let the lids of the saddlebags close... arrrrrrrrrrrrggggggggggghhhhhhhh!

Came whisker close to pullin' the offending bolts and applying their heads to the working end of a grinder. Then the thought crossed my mind; "That miserably shyster Murphy like as not has some unintended consequences hidden in there"... so I took another angle at it.

I drug out my angle grinder and drill and quick fabbed up some shims out of bar stock aluminum to space my Tsukayu saddlebags over a 1/4 inch to give enough space for the lids to close past the offending forward fender strut bolt heads.

They worked before 'cause the original bolts were thin headed hex bolts... and the new bolts for the backrest are Allen headed and quite a bit thicker...

But it's all bolted back in place and she's lookin' pretty ready for the road.

*The Raider with the new Yamaha Backrest*

 So those are the first pics of this summers modifications... the 3" Hard Chrome big straight pipes, the Tsukayu Coner bags, the New Yamaha powder coated back rest and the License plate sub fender shaved with the plate relocated to under the left bag.

I'm likin' how she's looking. I've come to the realization that I'm not a Chromed out Scooter sort of rider. The subdued black with chrome accents fits me far better...

Just have the oil change, air filter and spark plugs... as well as a few family tasks to lock down... so it's looking now like mid to late week... and I'm gettin' anxious as hell...

It's a race 'tween time... and what lil' dinero remains in my pocket to ride with! :)

Pushin' Hard
Brian

Roll Me Away... and Roll me NOW!

Summers slippin' away and all I've done is day ride... That just ain't sufficient for a long rider for sure and for certain!

Between broken bits and parts here and there on the rig... the cost of making some pricey, for me anyhoo! Changes on the scooter, and compounded by the time of doin' all those repairs and upgrades, not to mention the recent thieving of both my cameras... it's ate up the summer and my meager assets without a good long ride. Two hundred mile day trips are fine, don't get me wrong...

... but... I'm speakin' of the Healing Freedom of ten days in a row of 300 - 400 milers and more! It's an aching hunger that ever' once in a while has to be fed. Such a ride is a greater purity to me then a long hike in the High Up and Lonesome.

Just me, the bike, and the road stretching out in front of us, disappearing into the far blue horizon. Choosing the route when I pull up at a stop sign. Camping not at some spot I picked on the map the day before, but when a place whispers; "Roll in here." ... Climbing into my bag at night knowing... when I get up in the morning... I'll be in the wind on a road I've never ridden... for another four hundred miles of Freedom.

No bosses, no banks, no one reminding me ungently, of commitments; no radio squawkin' more lies, no people claiming ownership of great bloody chunks of my life... Just the open road; where my bike rumbles me past texting, raging cagers with a flick of the wrist... and restores an empty open road in front of me.

Just speaking that is a pleasant sound... The open road... A place where my spirit is blown clean of the poisons of civilization.

I'm fightin' to ride out on such a roll in maybe a week. I've got the last of the refitting parts for my Raider waiting on me back in Fort Collins. It's the replacement back rest by Yamaha. This'un is the steel, fixed, black powder coated model to go with the black pipes and dark hard bags already put on. We'll be rolling back there in a few days and I'll get it bolted in place.

Then... With maybe half the required fuel/feed and camp dinero on hand for the road I'm thinkin' of... I'm considering just sayin'; "Screw it, I'm gone!"... just loadin' my gear, twisting the throttle and splittin' the wind. Let things catch up as I need 'em!

It wouldn't be the first time I've told the world; "Step away from the Motorcycle. Stand back out of the way. There's no need for anyone to get hurt! I'm outa here!"

The road I have in mind is mostly a pick a direction and go rather than a choose a destination and ride sort of a run. How-some-ever, the direction I'm thinking of goin' would have 4,000 miles or better pass by under my tires to cover it all...

Just the thought of it has me aching for the wind in my nostrils and the miles rolling past... and the sight of my bike parked in front of my tent when I look out in the morning.

Sometimes that's what you just need to do. Stand up... tell the world to stand back, get your foul smellin' ass out of my way... I'm Ridin'!

Ready for the Road
Brian