April 17th, 2016 - Polar Bear Ride to Cape May, NJ

   Today was the last Polar Bear Ride of the `15 - `16 season. I just squeaked by with enough points to get my 'rocker'. It's funny how much riding, scheduling and work we'll do for a little patch!

 

   The ride was to the VFW in Cape May, NJ. The weather was fantastic...sunny and 60 with little wind. Most of the ride was through the Jersey Pinelands. The work I had done on the bike paid off. The engine purred along the way it did when I had first gotten the bike.

   

 

Working On The Bike

   Yesterday I decided to dig in and finally change out the ignition coil, ignition wires and spark plugs. I had been experiencing intermittent missing after the bike had been accelerated hard above 3000 rpm or when the temp was rising; like sitting in traffic. I'm figuring the coil was getting overheated after hard acceleration. I found that if I didn't accelerate too hard or over 3000 rpm it didn't happen. If it did start missing a bit it would stop after I was moving, especially on colder days.
   I replace the stock coil with an Accel aftermarket coil, the wires with Accel aftermarket wires and the plugs with NGK Irridium plugs.
   I wasn't sure how much of the bike had to come apart to get at the parts. I removed the fuel tank hardware and with a bit of wrenching things around I was able to finally remove the coil. Replacement was a bit tricky but I was eventually able to get the whole thing back together. I started the bike and it seemed to run just a bit smoother.
   Of course there's always something else. In disconnecting the fuel line quick disconnect the o-rings gave out causing the fitting to leak...14 year old o-rings!  I'm hoping George can help me out today.

Fast Forward...

   I brought the bike out today to take a look at the fuel line quick disconnect. Apparently  it had leaked slowly overnight. Not too much but I can't ride like this. I looked into it an it appears that the o-rings in the fitting are known to need replacing periodically. I have a good selection of o-rings in my dive gear maintenance supplied so I thought I would take a closer look. I reseated the fitting a few times, poked around inside and bam...no more leak. I'll order a rebuild kit and take care of it before the cruise.
   I also took a short ride to Rita's to check out the ignition situation. The bike ran great.Great acceleration, passing, etc.But...now there's a check engine light. There's always something.

November 25th, 2015 - Polar Bear Grand Tour

Today was my first Polar Bear ride for the 2015 - 2016 season. We rode to the Appalachian Brewing Company in Collegeville, PA.

The weather forecast had been going back and forth about rain in the morning so I kept checking the 'hotline' to see if the ride would be cancelled. As of 08:00 the ride was still on so I gathered my stuff and headed outside. It was raining ever so lightly at the house so I decided to go...without rain gear. The weather map showed the rain letting up to the north and west, the direction I was headed.

I headed up Rt 70 and the rain started to get a little more substantial. I stopped for a minute to consider putting on the rain gear but decided to continue on with out it. Luckily the rain stopped in the next few minutes.

Our Group...that's me in the back on the right.

I arrived at the Wawa, a little damp, and met up with the other 8 bikes that were going. Jack wasn't there so today's ride was going to be led by Casey.We headed out with a slight drizzle starting up again but I\it wasn't long before the rain stopped.
The ride was uneventful, weaving our way through NJ to Trenton then through lower Bucks County to our destination.
We had a great lunch then headed back home. The return trip was via the turnpike as we all wanted to get home. All in all it was a nice ride.

Dirty, dirty bike

My bike is really dirty. I don't mean a little dust...I mean filthy, nasty, corroded, muddy, dirty. After a season of winter riding it is in dire need of a deep cleaning.

February 8th, 2015 - Ride to Pic-A-Lilli Inn

Today's run was a short one. The Pic-A-Lilli Inn is considered local to us. We logged extra miles because we rode up to Lakewood to the usual meeting place, Wawa. Barbara made this ride which was nice; she hasn't made many rides and she hasn't had a chance to try her electric heated gloves.

The weather was fantastic for the middle of winter. It was mostly sunny and the temperature topped out at about 52 degrees. I was finally able to make it out of the driveway.

We rode up to Wawa where we met with the usual cast of characters and a few extras too. We usually only have 6-8 bikes but today we had 13. We left the Wawa a few minutes after 10:00 and header down Rt. 70.

We wound our way through the Pinelands until we got to the Pic-A-Lilli Inn. There were quite a few bikes there, as was expected because of the nice weather.

Dan, Casey, Charlie, Jack, Craig, David and Barbara

We went inside and signed in. Today I had enough points to get my Polar Bear patch!

After we signed in we were given a table large enough to seat all of us. When you consider the number of people there we were lucky to get seated quickly. Lunch was fun. This crowd always has a great time when together...lots of good natured ribbing. 

We left the restaurant and worked our way back up to Chatsworth where Barbara and I split from the crowd and headed home.

March 22nd, 2015 - Polar Bear Grand Tour Ride to Brian's Harley-Davidson

My son Chris was supposed to go on this ride today but he sent me a text saying he wasn't going. Too bad...we spent a good part of yesterday installing HOG Tunes on his bike. I would have liked to do a little work on my bike but we ran out of time.

Since Brian's isn't very far we met at the Wawa at 10:00. When I pulled in to the Wawa there was a commotion around the gas pumps. Apparently a bus had cut too close to the concrete posts protecting the pump island and ended up hung up on one of the posts. Lots of debris...no injuries. I filled the bike and joined the other riders. While we waited to leave I hooked up my electric gloves. I left the house hoping it was warm enough to do without the electrics but my hands were a little cold.

We left Wawa right after 10:00. There were 10 bikes today, a good size group. If there's more than 10 bikes we have to split into two groups. It was a nice ride to Brian's. The weather was clear but a little breezy. When we crossed the Calhoun Street Bridge in Trenton the winds blowing down the Delaware River pushed the bikes around on the steel grates of the bridge.

We arrived at Brian's around 11:40. There were fewer bikes there than we expected. We parked the bikes and went inside to sign in for the Polar Bear Grand Tour to get credit for the ride. 

Inside the dealership they were hosting a free lunch...meatball sandwiches, macaroni salad and drinks. After we ate we checked out the store. Brian's has a very large and well stocked inventory of clothes, accessories and parts. I wasn't in the market for anything except women's shirts but there weren't any worth buying in the clearance rack. 

Me getting ready to leave Brian's

When everyone was done looking around we geared up and headed out. We did a quick stop at Jack's mother's house in Bensalem to drop something off. The ride home took us along the Neshaminy Creek through Bensalem, Hulemville and Croydon. We crossed the Delaware River again over the Burlington Bristol Bridge. When we crossed Rt. 206 I split from the group and headed for home. 

January 18th, 2015 - Polar Bear Grand Tour Ride...not!

It's raining. I've ridden in the rain and don't exactly care for it. Especially when it's about 35 degrees. Like Jack said, "It's no fun if you have to start out in your rain gear".
So it's no ride today...maybe next week.