Way too much rain....

So not a lot of riding, but I did manage to clean and lube my chain this week.

As for some music, enjoy some old school...




And have a song from probably the greatest and coolest person to ever play guitar. I saw Dick Dale once at The Point in Atlanta. I had never heard of him but was told he was great. The show was awesome and the coolest thing was as the show neared its end, and they finished a song, Dick Dale said 'Ok, we have a couple of songs left ad instead of doing the bit where we walk off  stage and you sheer for an encore, how about we play three more songs then hang out and let us talk to you guys?' More or less. That is not a direct quote, I was pretty smashed by then that night. I was young :)

But I do remember that was some of the best music I have ever heard.

Hmmm.... what color is Bel Ray chain lube?

I needed to lube my chain, so went out last night to do it. My can of chain lube is empty, so I wander over to my neighbor and he has some Bel Ray lube. Cool!

So, I get home from work and have a few minutes to clean and lube my chain. Spray the lube on and notice it looks different than the other lube I had. The directions say to leave it on for a while, so I do.

Went outside to check on it and it's still looking different.

Off to google what color the lube is supposed to be :)

Saturday Night Punk

I really like this song.

Not much to report bike wise. Rode to work all week. Riding is still such a blast. Played a bit at 10k rpms this week, just to see what the Bandit sounds like. It sounds good.... but the stock exhaust is very quiet. And that's fine and I keep telling myself I do not need an after market exhaust.



And it's time for The Jesus and Mary Chain. This was/is my favorite band. Still good stuff, 20 plus years later....

Oh, wait, there is something new and interesting going on. Seems I got a lead on a dirt cheap spotless GSX-
R. May not turn out but it will be cool if it does. I don't think I need or want a GSX-R but it would be cool to ride it for a few miles.....just to see what the fuss is all about, right? Right?

And I'm back...

That was a relaxing break. Sad thing is, I didn't ride much but I did spend a lot of time on the beach with the kids, impressing them with my skill of finding sand dollars. No major sun burns, and a lot of fun had by the whole family.

I headed back Thursday and while riding east on 98 I noticed a large and dark mass of clouds sitting to the north of me. But the sun was out overhead and the ride was nice. However, once I hit Panacea, the temperature fell and a few drops hit my faceshield.

Oh boy. Well, nothing to do but keep on riding, so that's what I did. The rain wasn't too bad and I was barely getting damp. By the way, the bike and tires did fine, I am really liking these Shinko tires.

I was enjoying the ride and then noticed that it looked a lot darker on the road in front of me. Well, I soon rode into a typical North Florida rain storm. It poured.  Nothing to do but keep going. I was soaked. I did sort of look around to see if there was anywhere to pull over and get out of the rain, but I kept going. What was the point? The bike was doing fine, no real traffic behind me riding my bumper and I was already soaked.

So I kept going. Once I hit Crawfordville, the deluge had stopped and I was halfway dry when I got home. Fun ride, actually but those bridges were ... interesting. Don't like bridges on the Bandit. I mean, I know I'm ok but I guess the fact there is nothing next to the edge of the bridge makes me a little ummmm ... clenchy. Guess I'll have to get over that if I plan on any travel longer than a day or so.

Well, the vacation was nice but it is nice being back!

Loud pipes save lives....

(shamelessly stolen from some thread on ADVRider.com)

Vacation time.

And when it sort of worked out that I needed to ride the Bandit to the beach, I was even happier. So, Sunday morning, we all woke up, got ready, loaded up the Explorer and the Wife and Family headed out. After I got ready, I hopped on the Bandit and followed.

But like most of my Bandit trips, it started here :



The Taquito was especially good, knowing I have the week off. So, I took my time and read the newspaper and enjoyed my breakfast.

After breakfast, I headed out of town in the quickest way possible, which took me by my office. I swung in for avery quick photo.



The ride was nice and uneventful but I was planning on stopping in Carrabelle for some history.






Back in the 70's, there was a show called Real People . For a 9 year old kid, it was an awesome show. I was completely amazed when it did a feature on a spot that was fairly local to me. Hey, I was 9 years old, cut me some slack.

But you have to admit, the police station is pretty cool, huh?




Soon after you pass through the small town of  Carrabelle, you hit Carrabelle Beach, where I spent many a hot Summer day back when I was a young kid.  So, I had to stop and take a few pictures. The place is exactly the same as it was 30 years ago. It just seems a lot smaller....






I hope these pictures convey a little of my area and experiences. I by no means whatsoever claim to be anything more than some guy with an old digital camera. Maybe when I have the correct date on my shots, I'll act like a photographer :)

Anyway, the beach house is nice, all the kids are asleep and I'm heading to bed, too...

Had some rain today...

And the bike did fine. I was working a half day today. I work a four day week and my day off rotates every four weeks...... or whenever the higher ups remember to change it. But we can work overtime, but it's not overtime. You get time and a half leave instead.

Since my wife rented us a beach house next week ( YAY! ) I needed to build a little extra leave. So I went in today. I did not get going too quickly this morning so left the house about 30 minutes late.

I didn't see Mr Buell Guy but did get passed by a guy on a Suzuki....a Suzuki streetfighter/ratbike/commuter. I've finally defined my favorite bikes. I guess my perfect bike would be defined as a low dollar 'fighter/ commuter with a bit of ratbike added in.

I think the bike was a GS 500 or possibly a Katana with the fairings removed. It was black, of course, and slightly dirty, of course. It did have an after market exhaust and it sounded good. Cool bike,

Leaving this afternoon at 3:30 instead of my usual 7:30, it was sunny and hot.  Some small dark clouds were in the sky but it didn't look like rain. Stopped at What A Burger for a late lunch and as I was leaving, I realized it was raining lightly, but the sun was out. Looking South, I saw a wall of dark rainclouds. Not good, I had a stop to make before I could head home. I made the stop and coming out of the Post Office, saw that it had rained quite a bit while I was inside.

Being overly careful, I headed out and the bike and new tires did fine. No problems at all and after a couple of miles, I passed some invisible line and the temp rose about 20 degrees and the road was bone dry.

As for the beach house, I can't wait. I am going to ride the bike down and ride back a day before everyone else comes home. Expect pictures of the beach. And a picture of the world's smallest police station. But more beach pictures. We may not have curvy mountain roads, but we do have beautiful beaches.

Got my tires installed Saturday.

Found a local mechanic who works out of his home and charges a reasonable amount. He didn't mind me waiting while he changed the tires and we talked bikes while he switched out the tires.

He was impressed by the Bandit, especially when he found out what I paid for it.

So far the Shinkos feel really good. They feel softer.... and ummmmm grippier. So much for my idea of giving an informative review, huh? They look good, too. And for the riding I do, I imagine these tires will do exactly what I need them to do.

What's interesting is that they have the same tread design as the 005 Advance that came on the rear of the Bandit.

So, new tires at 43, 304 miles.