Topic: The 2021 "Run what you brung" ride thread. What bike are you riding today?

[Terry in Australia]

Looks Beautiful Greg, love those Road Kings, effortless cruising with plenty of comfort. Anyhoo, yesterday I fired up the ol' red beast and rode back to Heathcote for lunch. This summer has pissed me off a tad as it's been pretty cool, and it was a couple degrees cooler than I would have liked for most of the ride, and I'd wished that I'd worn a long sleeve top under my jacket rather than just a T Shirt. Only a minor b1tch though, apart from that, I had a great ride. I realised that the oil I'd dumped out of it was Castrol 4T, not Penrite, and I have to say, the Penrite feels better. The first thing I noticed is that the engine is mechanically quieter, and the clutch disengages better, so instead of the usual 1st gear "Clunk", it snicks into gear nicely.

I filled up with Shell 98 RON again and it definitely runs better on the higher octane fuel. One thing I've noticed as Covid-19 is pretty much not an issue here in Oz anymore and folks are returning to work, is that the price of fuel has risen back to pre-covid prices again, but what the heck, I average 140 miles per ride, and with 45 MPG economy, it's not much money for a lot of fun. The bike is happy to cruise at 70-80 MPH, so I maintained those speeds, only slowing for the fixed speed cameras on the 10 miles or so of freeway that I had to use to get back to my favourite back roads.

Apart from having to ride around a couple of piles of debris that had fallen off the back of someone's trailer (obviously they were moving house, looking at the remains of a coffee table and a chair in the middle of the road, 5 miles apart) the ride was uneventful, and I arrived at the bakery around 2pm, my favourite time, as by then it's pretty quiet and I always get a nice table inside. I took your advice and instead of having a meat pie, I had a meat and vegetable "Pastie" for a change, and it was very nice.

K0 Saturday 6 Feb 2021 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

K0 Saturday 6 Feb 2021 1 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

I'd forgotten that I was out of bacon and low on cheese, so I had to make a dash back home so I could dump the bike, jump in the car and do a run to Aldi before they closed. I did take a couple of pics on the way back though.

K0 Saturday 6 Feb 2021 2 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

K0 Saturday 6 Feb 2021 5 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

Once the bacon was in the fridge I wandered back outside to celebrate another 140 trouble free miles with a ginger joe.

K0 Saturday 6 Feb 2021 6 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

Oh, and while the red boots looked lovely, they aren't very comfortable for walking, so I ratted thru my wardrobe again and found a new pair of "Made in the USA" Redwing boots that my Dad bought me on one of his trips to the US back in the 80's or 90's. No idea why I've never worn them, they're very comfy, I think I'd just forgotten all about them? Anyway, I also found another pair of new lace up work boots and some Danner combat boots, my 33 year old "Johnny Reb's", some "RM Williams" boots, and another pair of Cowboy Boots Dad and Mum bought me in the US, plus some others. I actually threw some out as they were looking a tad shabby, but don't think I'll need to worry about not having enough bike boots for awhile........

K0 Saturday 6 Feb 2021 8 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

[ekpent]

  Truly shows the full awesome power of Bacon ! It can make a man dash home at warp speed to procure the magical substance    My Dad wore Red Wing "Wellington" boots like that a lot. He worked for a power company and wore a suit but he usually had his wellingtons on also especially on the days he would ride his Sazook T500 and later GT750 to work. Kind of a 'suited' up outlaw at the time 

[Don R]

 The only food you can't improve by adding Bacon, is Bacon. 
  A die cast job I had at Lawn Boy required the wellington boots, one day before I got them molten aluminum dripped on my boot. It stuck on the seam and cooked the top of my foot. It would stick on buttons, snaps and zippers too. My trainer sprayed my foot with water/oil we lubed the dies with. What a relief. Everybody wore some type of hat for the same reason.  I was not disappointed when the layoff came.

[ekpent]

 Those old 2 stroke Lawnboy mowers if I remember correctly had some nice thick molded aluminum decks on them unlike the thin cheap stamped steel nowadays on the cheapies.  I take it the wellington requirement was so you could slip those smoldering things off quickly ?

[ofreen]

Nice photos and a good looking bike! That color fits the bike.

Thanks PeWe, the color has grown on me too  I had the blue and silver 2017 I liked a lot that I sold after the 750 and I got hit, but I am liking this one too.

Looks Beautiful Greg, love those Road Kings, effortless cruising with plenty of comfort.

Thanks Terry, have you had a chance to ride one with a Milwaukee 8?  What a motor, effortless is a good description  I stayed away from Harleys for a long time because they were relatively gutless, but the M8 has no such problem.  Torque everywhere, and yet will rev and keep pulling, too. And smooth.

[Terry in Australia]

Thanks Terry, have you had a chance to ride one with a Milwaukee 8?  What a motor, effortless is a good description  I stayed away from Harleys for a long time because they were relatively gutless, but the M8 has no such problem.  Torque everywhere, and yet will rev and keep pulling, too. And smooth.

Yeah, same here Greg, I love my Sporty because I set it up to go around corners and will pull away from a "Big Twin" of the same era, but my Triumph Rocket III with it's 2300cc engine, 141 BHP and 147 foot pounds of torque at the back wheel put me off buying a big twin. It's just a monster, and a joy to ride.

Terry's Rocket III 4 Jan 2016 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

I wouldn't mind a new Indian Chief (the basic one without all the thrills) as they look pretty nice, but I haven't ridden one.

[Stev-o]

Rode the 'big bore" SS110 today and going through if and fixing the PO's screw ups.  Running great now and ready for my daughter to learn to ride...

[PeWe]

Rode the 'big bore" SS110 today and going through if and fixing the PO's screw ups.  Running great now and ready for my daughter to learn to ride...

110cc seams much for that bike that look like a 50cc moped we had here that could have had 70-80cc in other countries with less restrictions.

So, a real big- bore monster !

[Stev-o]

Rode the 'big bore" SS110 today and going through if and fixing the PO's screw ups.  Running great now and ready for my daughter to learn to ride...

110cc seams much for that bike that look like a 50cc moped we had here that could have had 70-80cc in other countries with less restrictions.

So, a real big- bore monster !

It started life as a SS50 but someone fitted a 107cc top end so it truly is a BIG bore!  [with a tiny piston!]

[Terry in Australia]

That's a sweet looking bike Steve! I must clean up my CL90 and take it for a lap. I bought it from the original owner, who rode it right up to 10 years ago when he had a close encounter with a mob of Kangaroos on his Harley and ended up with an acquired brain injury, so can't ride any more.

CL90 K0 Sat 14 Nov 2020 1 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

Yesterday my 1969 Yamaha YSD6 arrived, in pieces of course, but I love that a, the engine turns over fine, and b, it's not been repainted. I've carefully put all the parts in tubs until I get a chance to put it back together, I won't restore it, I'll just have a nice old "Patina bike" to scream around on. I need to teach myself how to use my new TIG welder, as I'll build some expansion chambers for it.

Sunday 7 Mar 2021 3 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

Sunday 7 Mar 2021 9d by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

Sunday 7 Mar 2021 99e by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

Sunday 7 Mar 2021 9g by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

[Don R]

 I've had the gl1000 out this week but Saturday I got the two K0's out for a stretch. I'll be taking pit bikes to the drag strip this year when we go to race the car I plan to post a few time slips. There's an 80 KZ1000 in the shed that seriously needs ridden. I'm dying to give it a 900 Z1 makeover. Root beer and orange of course.

[Kelly E]

We tested out the CBR1100xx Blackbird shock conversion on the 84' VF1000 Interceptor and I finally got the 74' CB550 out for it's first real test ride. Both bikes performed great.