A Southern Cruisers Riding Club Web Site, Chapter 224 Elgin

Official Crest of the SCRC
Chapter 224 Elgin

The purpose of this section is to provide an opportunity for our members to first, record their interesting motorcycle experiences, and secondly, to read (and get a lot of laughs) from reading about the unusual and/or funny experiences of other members.

Limit the submission to a number of words of less than 1200.

Full names can be used to identify the submission, or if specified, only a first name or Forum Member nickname will be used instead. "Anonymous" is not acceptable. Submit your stories and pictures by e-mail to pgbartley@execulink.com

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Remember When

This is about Phil's experience at age 66 acquiring his first motorcycle and learning to ride it back in June 2006. It was the first time he had ever been on a motorcycle and it shows!

Some would say the old coot is mad. But even though I'm 66 years old I really want to get a motorcycle. When I was a young man, motorcycle riders had a poor reputation. Shades of Marlon Brando and The Wild Bunch, and gangs like Satans Choice and Hells Angels. Nice people just didn't ride motorcycles back then. Over the years all that has changed. Sure, we still have the motorcycle gangs but they are now outnumbered by the nice people who have taken up this rewarding recreation. Now I want to be one of them. I learned about prices and availability. I started visiting motorcycle sales rooms. And I came to the reluctant conclusion that a bright new Harley Davidson was priced beyond my reach. I started checking out the Japanese machines on the internet. Boy, was I pleasantly surprised! Not only were the prices lower but the touring and cruiser models in which I was most interested were beautiful machines. Many of them were based on that classic motorcycle style of the 50's and 60's that I grew up with. The ones with the full fenders, lots of chrome, fat tires and heavy saddle bags. The Kawasaki Vulcan 800 Classic is a beautiful example of my dream machine. The new 2006 models that I looked at ranged in price from $9000 to $12000 then the taxes made the hit on the pocketbook even worse. I also had to consider the cost of insurance which for many beginners is even more expensive than the price of the bike itself. I knew that I wasn't going to realize my dream of a shiny new motorcycle without waiting still longer.

It's taken me years to learn to act on first opportunities. Somehow, when you're young you think that there will always be a second chance to go someplace or to do something or to get something or other. But after you've lived a while you learn from experience that first opportunities usually mean only opportunities. I had put my motorcycle dreams on hold so it came as a surprise when I impulsively pulled over and made a u-turn back to a store I hadn't seen before to check out their used motorcycles. If I hadn't, I would have missed a really good opportunity. Of the two used machines they had, one was a 2002 Honda Shadow VT750CD. It was just beautiful. It was a special model called American Classic Edition Deluxe and was all black with silver pin striping and with reasonable mileage. It also had a number of options already installed such as Cobra floorboards. Yet their asking price seemed low.

I scooted off home to re-examine the Auto Trader and check out that asking price. I found that it was between $500 and $1000 under-priced so I returned the next day to make an offer. Thanks to my philosophy of grabbing those first opportunities I ended up with a deluxe motorcycle with lots of options for a standard model price. For a reasonable charge the store delivered it right to my door a few days later. So, I may be a mad old coot to believe I can ride a motorcycle but I did manage to get a good bike for a good price. But I didn't have a clue what to do with it.

The bike sat in my shed a number of days afterward while I tried to come to grips with what I had done. I had to acquire a beginner's motorcycle license, get insurance and sign up for a motorcycle safe driving course. That process cost me over $1400, a thousand of it for insurance. A prerequisite for the driving course is that I have to be properly equipped with helmet, jacket, gloves and boots. That added another $450 to the process. Grabbing those first opportunities can turn out to be a costly thing, can't it.

I successfully passed my first licensing test which involved a written test only. This gave me an M1 class of license. So I'm legal to start learning to drive it. But I learned there are three levels of licensing to go through to get a permanent license. They are class M1, class M2, and after almost two years, the permanent class M license. So I have the M1 license. Why haven't I got on the bike and started to learn to ride it? My reasoning is that I should do the safe drivers course first. But I couldn't wait. The next morning I man-handled the bike out of the shed and actually threw my leg over it and sat down! My first time on it! It felt kind of strange but good too, you know? Now, how do I find "neutral". So back into the house I went to get the owners manual. It told me there was a green indicator light and that the neutral gear position could be established by lifting the foot lever up. Seems simple enough. But you know it took me many minutes to get that damnable green light to come on!

Okay, now start the engine! Oh no! What's that clicking sound? The battery! It's dead! What a let-down and after I psyched myself up so well too. So I man-handled the motorcycle back into the shed and set up a trickle charger I had bought years ago for one of my cars, the Ford Pinto with the short circuit no one could fix. The next morning I repeated the process and this time the engine roared to life! Well "roared" may be a bit strong. I kept it down for fear up getting the neighbors curious and developing an audience. I didn't want anybody laughing at me as I tried to get this thing rolling. Okay, it's in first gear - now let the clutch out slowly. Oh no! It's starting to move! What do I do now?

You should have seen me trying to ride it. If the neighbors were peeking through the curtains I'm sure they were soon rolling on the floor with laughter. I'm in first gear only, riding the clutch madly, trying unsuccessfully to steer a straight line while still staying upright! I scoot across the front lawn right through the drooping branches of one of the big spruce trees, getting slapped in the face by the needles but managing to miss the tree's large trunk. All this with my legs dangling out to each side, flopping around but still useful in keeping the bike from tipping over too far. My feet did not even want to find the floorboards! All I can say is that it's a good thing I've signed up for that driving course. Well! Too much of a good thing can be exhausting. I managed to stop the bike and fairly close to the shed too. I should take advantage of being close to it, right? So I man-handled the bike back into the shed and shut the doors with a big sigh of relief, but also with the sure knowledge that I will master riding it and enjoy doing it too.

Sudden Surprise

By Phil Bartley
Sept 2, 2009

I've been riding now for four summers and I don't like unpleasant surprises. And this one sure turned out to be a dozie! I was heading east on Kent County Rd #8 on a Wednesday afternoon, Sept 2, 2009, from Charing Cross over to Blenheim when I hit some road construction, you know, the kind where the surface is all ground off leaving parallel grooves and bumps. I've encountered this before and wasn't worried about it. As I got closer to the centre of Blenheim, I noticed the work crew up ahead with the signalman waving the "Slow" sign at me. As I got closer I could see he was signalling me to slow down even more and then even more, which I did. Then I saw the railroad tracks ahead. Three sets of tracks crossing the road at an angle. Naturally they couldn't be straight-on. Okay, no big deal. They'll just be a little more bumpy than the rest of the road I had just ridden over. So why was the signalman telling me to slow down even more? Okay, I guess I should.

Then as I swung into a curve to cross the tracks straight on I could see why. What an unpleasant surprise! The space between each set of tracks had been completely removed exposing the full height of each rail! I was going at a speed that was a little slower than you would expect for going over bumpy tracks. And I was too close to stop at that point. Bam! I went over the first rail into the valley between them. And just as quickly I hit the full height of the next rail. Crack! Bam! My front end leaped up and came down on the other side bouncing the rear wheel up and over it as well. Up I went off my seat and almost simultaneously, my front wheel hit the full height of the first rail of the next set of tracks. In spite of these repeated impacts, first from the front wheel, then the rear, I somehow managed to remain mounted and keep my bike pointed straight on into the face of each rail. Instinctively I kept my speed steady, which was good because all I was thinking about was keeping my front wheel from wobbling around too much!

It must have been something to see from the other side. I bet the guys in that work crew never saw a heavy bike like mine being bounced into the air like that before. First the front of it, then the back of it, with the rider bouncing in and out of his seat in tune with each rail! I don't know how, but I managed to cross all six rails without twisting the front end and going down hard. As I crossed the final rail I had a grin on my face as big as a Halloween pumpkin and laughed with great relief as the work crew all intently watched my progress across the tracks. I love my Road King! By coincidence I had brought it's Dunlop tires up to their proper pressure the day before, 38 pounds in the front and 40 in the rear and they handled those rails with aplomb. Nevertheless, I'm going to have an expert check out my tires and wheels (2005 model stock aluminum) to see if they suffered from this abuse.

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