If you follow my blog it's clear we haven't been very active of late. Even in Texas we become victims at the mercy of the weather. For the past few weeks between some rain and cold temperatures we have been confined to driving instead of riding. There have been sporadic breaks where we have gone on a very short, and I do mean very short, 5-10 mile rides for a quick lunch. Last weekend was decent and we participated in our Chapter's Freeze Yer Bunz Ride. It wasn't freezing though which I am thankful for. A couple days throughout the week I was able to ride my 120 mile round trip commute to work and back. But for the most part, no riding. On top of the weather, the end of the year brought about funding at work that had to be spent by years end so we fired up more construction projects which inevitably causes me to have to put in some weekend work. The overtime is nice though and its at a good time of the year since it doesn't interfere with our riding plans too much.
So what do we do that is somewhat riding related during these seasonal times? I've spent a bit of time optimizing my tools for the road that I keep in my saddlebags. Basically trying to limit the space they take while still having a good set of tools for breakdowns that could occur. I've been working on a post about tools for the road and once I'm happy with my tool setup I'll get that posted. We still check our tire pressure every week, not just to keep in good habit but keeping the tire pressure correct will prolong the life of your tires.
Margaret bought a couple shifter decorative parts for my bike at Christmas and my birthday which we installed on a somewhat decent weather day and did a couple of short videos that we hope could be helpful to someone. It was still cold while installing them so we kept the garage doors closed and used our shop lamps to generate some warmth.
Margaret has been wanting louder sound on her Softail so I bought her some Cycle Shack slip ons for Christmas and we installed those this past weekend and put together a video on the process and a before and after of the sound difference. Their loud! Like seriously, LOUD! Her bike now makes my Street Glide sound gimp. It's all good though, she loves the way it sounds now and that was the goal.
One particular upgrade I've been wanting to do to my bike since getting it was some longer handlebars. The stock ones are just a bit too low for comfort and on longer rides I will sometimes get a pain between my shoulders from having to lean forward slightly. We were at our local dealership this weekend and there was a set of 12" Arlen Ness handlebars on a new Street Glide that I really liked. They felt great when sitting on the bike. We went to the parts counter and found that particular handlebar was on back order because of its popularity. BUT, they had one set which was the display that they sold me. Now I am slowly going to purchase all the other parts necessary to install them since the cables and wiring on the stock bike will be too short. That means clutch cable, brake lines, electronic controls, and throttle by wire will all have to be replaced. There will be quite a bit of tear down to make it all happen and well do a video on the process when I get all of the parts and a nice full day of good weather.
We did a few videos lately as well that I linked on the maintenance page. How to install slip ons, changing spark plugs, installing a shift lever, and lubricating throttle cables. We try to keep new helpful content rolling out.
That's about all for now. We do have a Sweetheart ride with our Chapter coming up on Sunday that well take part in. So if your not doing anything and have a sweetheart you would like to take on a ride then saddle up and head out with us!
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