Perhaps the Eurosafety police bear the responsibility for the fugly reflectors, littleade, but I think I've got California to "thank" for the quiet stock exhausts. One state out of 50 runs the show in the U.S. when it comes to motorcycle emissions regulations .
Fitted the led headlight to the tdm apparently the French websites meaning of kit is one bulb so had to order another £50 each Can you spot the led bulb
Installed a nice leather swing arm bag (aka, purse or handbag) on my Low Rider S. So I now have at least enough storage for some gloves, a hat, a scarf, and one of those windbreakers that squishes up into its own little storage pocket bag. Then this morning Mr. Sandi and I and two of our best friends, Kelly & Dena, did a nice but C-O-L-D ride to the north of Tucson about 75 miles or so. The temp was about 45ºF when we started out. We were going about 75 mph for most of the ride so I looked up the wind chill if the temp was 50ºF. Yikes! No wonder I couldn't feel my hands. We planned to turn around in a town called Winkleman but Mr. Sandi turned off just a few miles south of that town to check out a new Native American casino called The Apache Sky Casino. There was a beautiful newly paved winding road up to the casino that led us to think we were driving towards nirvana. In reality the casino turned out to be quite anticlimactic being composed of 4 or 5 trailers placed again each other. And the "restaurant" was a tent with some folding chairs and tables out back! But we were glad to stop to put on some glove liners and stomp our feet and get some feeling back into our hands! From there we rode back into Tucson and had a lovely lunch with the four of us. And we made sure to sit under a portable patio heater at our table on the patio. How could we have gone from 100ºF+ so recently to being so cold I thought I was going to chip my teeth while riding?? After dropping Mr. Sandi off at home I rode to our local Cycle Gear to check out HJC helmets. HJC has a cool helmet with a bronze accent that seems that it will go perfectly with my Low Rider wheels and tank badging/graphics and the brown leather on my new saddle. Alas, they don't have any HJC's in stock at all but said they'd happily order one for me. Still, a good excuse to continue the days riding. Onward. From Cycle Gear I rode to my local Triumph dealership ("Triumph World" to Mr. Sandi and me) because Bruce the Salesman and Steve the Service Manager both told me they wanted to see my new Low Rider. So I sucked it up and rode a bit more. When all was said and done today, I was pretty much out and about on a motorcycle from 8:45AM to about 4:30PM. I call that a Very Good Day.
Thanks for the wind chill chart Sandi, here’s a suggestion, these really help down to 5 degrees C, at which point even on max heat your hands will feel cool but never cold/painful, (at ten degrees C they keep your hands toasty warm), batteries last over 2 hours on max setting but carrying a spare pair of charged batteries sorts that, no messing about connecting wires up to the bike so convenient as well. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/153710256130
Thanks, Mark! I actually have some gloves like these but have rarely worn them. Usually I think that my regular winter gloves with liners will do me just fine. Until they don't. Yesterday I didn't even see fit to start out with my warmest gloves and quickly found that to be a mistake.
Thanks for the reminder about these little gems, littleade! I've used these in the past for bicycling in the winter and found them to work great. I'd forgotten about them, though. I think they would work great in my winter motorcycle gloves. Plus they are easy enough to tuck into a saddlebag or pocket to have if needed.
A bit of fettling of the Berg today. A full check over and a new MOT ready for some Winter mud plugging, assuming that is, I can drag myself away from the SS!
Had a quick spin out on the gravel bike today. Some lovely views of snowy Lakeland fells and cloud formations looking out to sea.
Gorgeous landscapes and photos, Dawsy!! Thanks for sharing. When you say "gravel bike" are you talking pedal bike? If so, it's amazing how that form of riding has become very popular among some of the people with whom I used to ride road (pedal) bikes. There IS a lot of gravel here in the desert, I guess.
Nice pics Dawsy. Was brought up in Silloth in Cumbria so I know how cold riding at this time of year must be!
Yes @Sandi T. A one Dawsy power machine. I mostly use it on road as the roads around us are shocking at the moment!
Very nice machine, Dawsy! I've ridden a number of Cannondales over the years and really liked them. I don't see me getting on a gravel bike any time soon (or ever!) though after my pedal bike off nearly a year ago. Keep the rubber side down--and the shiny side up!
I've been riding my new Low Rider S and hit the "magic" 500 mile mark a few days back so it's now officially broken in. I rode it again yesterday and now have 630 miles on the clock. The next mileage "goal" is 1,000 at which point I'll ride up to Superstition H-D for my 1K service and to get a few goodies put on the bike. I'm now feeling quite used to the bike and am really enjoying it! Glad I made the decision to go for it and add it to the stable.
Sadly without a bike at the moment. Gone on a little pre-Christmas holiday to the Outer Banks, North Carolina. This will be the view from my rental for the next week
Beautiful, @OsteKuste! I haven’t seen the ocean in far,far too long. We canceled a scuba trip to Cozumel this past March. I think the last time I saw the ocean was the previous March of 2019. Enjoy your time there!
Cozumel is beautiful! I know what you mean about best laid plans. It’s mine and the missus anniversary and our original plans were to be on the west coast of Ireland near Galway Bay, one of our favorite places on earth. With the possibility of travel restrictions changing at any time, we decided to forgo that trip for now.