Time for Service

My wife and I have owned our 2008 Yamaha V-Star 1300 for less than 8 months, but have already put in over 5000 miles. We purchased the bike with 3200 miles on it and as soon as it reached 3500 miles I took it to get serviced. Some people suggested that I could’ve saved money by doing it myself, but this is my first bike and I’m not very mechanically inclined. Also we live in an apartment building, so the DIY method is not exactly easy when you have constant traffic in and around the parking lot.

Go West Young Man….

So it’s been a while since I’ve written about one of our long rides. It’s also been awhile since my wife & I have gotten on our bike and just rode out on our own (no poker runs or event rides with groups, just us two). This past weekend we did just that. However, this time instead of heading South to the Keys, we headed west to Ft. Myers Beach.

For some time now I had been telling my wife that I wanted to get away just for the weekend to some place we hadn’t been before, but as it usually happens something always tends to come up. Well last week what came up was “my birthday”. So I logged on the web, picked out some weekend hotel rates and told my wife not to make any plans. We were heading out of town.

Snake Road & Ribs

It’s great when you plan out a ride with a few friends then on the day of the ride you wind up with a whole bunch of extra bikers. That’s just what happened this past weekend. One of the groups we hang out with called Motorcycle Riders of South Miami (MRSF) decided to go on a ride up to Immokalee Florida and a little rib joint called Rib City. Seeing that most of their members are also members of the group my wife and I belong to, they invited us along. The initial response was about 20 to 25 bikes, however by the time we had our kickstands up, we had a good 50 bikes joining us.

Groups and Clubs

This week my wife & I were asked by the organizers of the group we ride with (Miami Motorcycle Riders aka: MMR), if we would be their assistant organizers. My wife hesitated at first because we really didn’t know what it would entail and we really don’t have much extra time available in our busy schedule. But after thinking about it and talking with friends, we realized that it’s not very time-consuming at all and there are very few meetings that ever really need to be attended.

So we agreed to do it and surprisingly we received a lot of congratulations from people who were happy we accepted. The reason I found it surprising was because we haven’t been with the group that long, and I thought there were others more experienced to handle the job. But after spending the weekend at a couple of bike events and meeting other groups and clubs I noticed that there are very distinct differences between motorcycle Groups and Clubs, and maybe our lack of seniority wasn’t as important.

My First Poker Run

This past weekend my wife & I participated in our first Key West Poker Run. For those who don’t know what that is. The Poker run to Key West was established over 35 years ago by Phil Peterson’s Harley Davidson, where over 10,000 bikes run from Miami to Key West collecting funds for different charities. The run also is made to boost the slow tourist season in Key West during the month of Sept.

What makes this run so special is the ride itself. There’s nothing quite like riding from one little island to another with the Gulf of Mexico on one side and the Atlantic on the other. I talked about my first ride to Key West on a previous blog and how great it was, well this run doubled the fun and excitement because we were able to do the 160 miles with several other friends as well as several thousand other riders. Eight riders on five bikes met up on Friday morning around 9:am at the Service Plaza on the turnpike and headed out to the first of five different stops along the way.

Sport Bike Reputation

Contrary to how this post might come across, I like sport bikes. I prefer cruisers, but I think there are some really beautiful sport bikes out there and manufacturers are coming out with some awesome bikes lately. I know of a lot of sport bike riders that take motorcycle safety very serious. In fact two of the instructors at my BRC ride sport bikes. Even my boss rides sport bikes. However here in South Florida there has been an increasing dislike by the general public of all bikers primarily due to irresponsible riding by sport bike riders. Riders doing wheelies at 80 mph on major highways and generally riding erratically have increased the amount of accidents (and deaths) in the last few years.

Riding in the Rain

One of the scariest moments you have when you first start off riding motorcycles is getting caught in the rain. The first day I went riding on my own I got caught by a small rain shower. I was able to pull into a bank’s drive- thru and wait it out (luckily they were closed). The second time was on my first long ride to Key West. Actually we got caught in the rain on that one on our way from Key West to the campground I was staying at. Again I was lucky because we only had to travel a short distance and the rain was very scattered.

My worst “wet riding” experience came a few weeks ago when my wife and I decided to ride up to Hollywood Beach. I knew we were going to get wet sometime during the day because the forecast had called for scattered thunder storms. But since we had spent all morning and early afternoon riding without feeling as much as a drop of rain, I decided to keep rolling north up to Las Olas Blvd in Ft. Lauderdale. On our way back home we got hit hard by some serious rain!

Rider Clubs

One of the many reasons why my wife and I got into motorcycling was to meet new friends with similar interest. Unlike the typical television portrayal, bikers are very friendly people and one of the best way to meet them is through clubs. But before you join one, make sure you know what it is you want to get from them.

There are many different types of club, but one of the main things that stand out is membership dues. Some have them, some don’t. Since every club is different in different parts of the world, today I’m going to talk primarily about some of the clubs in my neck of the woods, South Florida. You might find some things that are similar to clubs in your own area, but here are just some of the basics.

First Long Ride (Heading Home)

Sunday 7/6/08:

 

We woke up around 10 am today, feeling very relaxed, but we knew we had to get our butts up and going very soon as we had to return the keys to our RV by 11am. The morning felt fresh and just a little on the cool side, maybe 72 degrees. The entire campground was already filled with folks up and moving as almost everyone was checking out today.

 

Late last night I had seen 3 other bikes parked a couple of lots away next to a very expensive RV’s. There was another Harley parked behind our RV, but this morning all had already packed up and had taken off. My wife and I got the stuff we had carried in our backpack and put it in her sister’s RV so that we didn’t have to carry anything on our way back. After we got all set, we went to the little cafeteria and had breakfast. This KOA campground is definitely one of the better organized and maintained in all of South Florida. I’ve been here about 4 times before and never had any complaints.

Long Ride (Key West)

We had planned to wake up early today to get a good head start on our ride to the Keys, however because of my show last night and my wife not feeling too well, we didn’t get out of bed till about 9am. We were a bit worried because of all the rain that had been falling all week long. We believed there was going to be a very good chance we would get stuck in some of it today, and unfortunately we haven’t had the time or money to buy rain gear for riding.

As my wife got a small back-pack together, I went downstairs to check on the bike. I made sure it had enough oil and coolant. I also checked the tires, cables, lights, brakes (and their fluids) and just a general once over of the bike. Everything looked good. I rolled the bike to the front of the building where my wife was already waiting by the front lobby with the backpack. I strapped the backpack to the rear luggage rack, and headed south on the Palmetto Expressway.