Modification pics

There isn't much to see as far as the radiator cover, or Kouba Link, but the following pic shows the hand guards, black windscreen, and the custom seat. The next pictures show the process Rich's shop went through to make my custom seat. First they took it off the bike and removed the stock cover. Then they had me sit on the seat and drew an outline of my ass with markers. Then they carve away the excess padding and put in more where I needed it. This process requires several "fittings." Once everything is where it should be, they carve out a spot for the gel pad, then cover the whole seat in fabric. Then they individually design a pattern for the leather seat covering, and hand fit it. It takes several hours, but is SO well worth the wait.

Bike Modifications

I was looking at some of my older pictures today and realized that my bike hardly looks like the same bike. In addition to the less obvious changes like adding a Kouba link that lowered my bike by 3/4 of an inch, I have made some other changes as well. I have different foot pegs, an upgraded radiator guard, and hand guards. I also have a thermometer and rheostat for my Gerbings jacket on the instrument panel. The TwoWheelFemales.com sticker looks good from the front, but probably isn't noticed by most casual observers of the bike.

The two most visible changes are the Rich's custom seat that I had put on the bike as soon as I picked it up from the dealer, and the most recent addition, a tall black BMW windscreen. Those two additions have been great. As I have said many times before, my Rich's custom seat is the most important reason I love my bike as much as I do. I can ride an 800 mile day and get off the bike with no discomfort in my rear end, and be ready to ride several hundred miles the next day. Not many seats offer that kind of comfort.

Before I got the tall BMW wind screen I had tried a couple different things. The low screen that came on the bike offered no protection from the wind at all. In fact I rode some without a windscreen and couldn't tell the difference. The next screen I tried was a Wunderlich. It was ok, but got broken soon after I got it when something fell on my bike in our garage. Then I had a tall Cee Bailey's. It got broken when the expediting company installed it on my bike after shipping the bike from Anchorage to Seattle. It was brand new, never even out of the box and they tightened it on crooked, causing a crack. I rode with it broken during our Spring 10,000 plus mile ride of the lower 48 states and Canada. It isn't fair to say anything negative about a screen I never used in proper condition, but I was tired of it by the time we got home and replaced it with the tall black BMW windscreen. Finally a screen that cuts down on wind, noise, and buffeting. I am very pleased with how it works, and I LOVE the way it looks.

Priorities

I used to thrive on stress. I was a criminal trial attorney. I loved the courtroom drama, the back room negotiating, the power over other people's lives. After 15 years of law practice, a tough divorce and custody battle, and trying to raise three gifted daughters on my own, I'd had enough. I was depressed, and I felt like I was living on a slippery slope leading to Hell, and sliding fast.

So I made some changes in priorities. I quit practicing law. My income went to nothing. I learned to live cheap. Do I ever miss the prestige that goes with being a successful attorney? No, not once. Do I miss the great income, and the other benefits? Maybe a little once in a while. But I would never go back. I'm like every other woman. I like nice things. I like to wear nice clothes. I like to have nice hair and nails. I like to drive a nice car when it is especially cold or rainy or slick outside. I like to go out to a nice dinner. Do I have to have those things? No. I'm lucky enough to have most of them right now, but I don't need them. I'll gladly wear clothes for several years instead of replacing them every season if I can buy a few more gallons of gas instead. I'm happy to get a $10 haircut at Great Clips instead of paying $50 at a salon if it means I can get another farkle for my bike. I can cook hamburgers in my backyard instead of eating steak and lobster if it means I can go on a few more rides.

I also married a good guy. He's not perfect. Neither am I, but we make a good team. We talk through the tough times, and there is nothing in the world that feels better than knowing someone always has your back. Do I need an expensive lifestyle? No. What I need is what my motorcycle gives me. When I ride my mind is clear of everything except the road. When I get off the bike, suddenly the things that were weighing me down are easier to figure out. A good friend of mine always says you never see a motorcycle outside a psychiatrist's office unless it belongs to the doctor. She's right. Riders know that death is one distracted soccer mom away. They strive to survive every time they get on the bike. So will I admit motorcycles are dangerous? You bet I'll admit it. But living is dangerous. The only thing really safe is death and I'm not interested.

Homer Alaska

One of our last rides before winter set in this year was a quick weekend ride to Homer. It was mostly asphalt, but the ride was so pretty we didn't miss the more adventurous riding, or at least not too much! I started on a bit of a bummer, just as I got settled on the bike my iPod stopped playing. I found out later the earbuds were broken. There were 30 or 40 swans on Potter Marsh as we pulled out of town. I should have stopped for a pic, but there were a lot of cars already pulled off the highway and I didn't feel like taking any chances of being run over by someone paying more attention to the birds than to my bike! We left home and rode to Girdwood before we got gas. Thank goodness we have heated grips and Gerbings jackets. It was in the low 30's, and I'm a wimp! I went into the gas station at Girdwood to use the restroom, and as I was walking out a good looking young man, in his 20's I'd guess, came over to talk. I figured he was also a rider and wanted to talk motorcycles. He looked at my gear, and said "You have got to be crazy to be riding in these temperatures." What are the young men of this world coming to? I got a good laugh out of that one, and so did my husband. Of course we didn't mention our electrics...

We stopped again just past the turn off for Portage Glacier for a couple pictures. As we went into the pass I found that my hands were getting cold, even in my winter gloves. I will have to find some new gloves this winter for when the temps drop below freezing. I just can't do the really cold temps comfortably. The weather was nice though, rain in some places, but mostly sun shining on the golden fall leaves. Very pretty, so we made lots of photo stops. Not far after the Hope turnoff we went through an area where they were doing a controlled burn of the under brush. It was fun to see big "bonfires" and know they were serving a good purpose.

We were getting hungry so we stopped in Soldotna at Suzie's Cafe. It's a little hole in the wall kind of place that we've eaten at before, so we knew the food was good. As we walked in and started pealing off gear I realized I was missing one of my new this summer custom ear plugs. Heart sinking feeling, I do NOT want to ride with neither iPod nor ear plugs! I went back out to see if maybe I'd dropped it. I walked all the way to the bikes, walked around them, no luck. As I sadly walked back toward the restaurant I saw my earplug resting on the edge of the step. One quarter of an inch closer to the edge and it would have fallen under the steps. I picked it up relieved and went back inside ready to enjoy my lunch.

We got into Homer a little too early to check into our Bed and Breakfast so we rode to the end of East End Road. After a few miles it turned to dirt and was the only dirt riding we did for the day. The road was twisty and the views magnificent, so we really enjoyed this short stretch of our ride. When we got close to town we saw the sign for the Bear Creek Winery and B&B. We got checked in at the same time as a couple who were honeymooning from England. This B&B has two cabins, a wine tasting room, and a clothing optional hot tub. After putting our stuff in our cabin we went back to the wine tasting room for our complimentary tasting. We ended up buying a couple bottles for later, and to bring home. We caught a taxi into town where we went to dinner at Wasabi's. They have a unique ginger martini that is worth a stop. My husband wasn't too impressed with his dinner, but my seven pepper steak was awesome.

After dinner we had the cab take us to the Salty Dawg Saloon down on the Spit. The honeymoon couple were also at the Salty Dawg, so we spent the evening visiting and getting to know one another. Eventually we went back to the B&B and stayed up until the wee hours sitting in the hot tub drinking yet more wine. We slept in late the next morning, then checked out and rode to K-Bay coffee in the rain. K-Bay Coffee is an award winning organic coffee roaster that tastes better than any other coffee I've tried. Then we rode down to the spit for a few more pictures before heading back to Anchorage. It was raining hard, but we decided to ride a gravel loop side road anyway. It was a great ride, but raining so hard I didn't stop for pictures. We rode pretty easy until we crossed the pass where it suddenly was bright sunshine. The we opened up the bikes and let 'em roll. Very Fun! We stopped once more for some pictures of the swans that had moved to the lake right at the Seward cutoff. We made it home after dark with a great ride behind us to help hold off the winter doldrums.

Everything is Harley

I am one of those riders who waves at every motorcycle I see when I'm out riding. Not everyone responds, but a lot of them do, whether they are riding crotch rockets or Goldwings. I really believe in the idea that a rider is a rider and we all need to look out for one another regardless of what kind of bike we prefer. Even so, it is frustrating when I go shopping for anything related to motorcycling and everything is geared toward Harley Davidson. I went into a shop that calls itself a woman friendly motorcycle shop, Girlz Ride 2. All the gear was either leather or pink and cut for an 18 year old hard body on the back of her boyfriends bike. Nothing in the store was suitable for on road/off road riding. When I go into Alaska Leather, I expect to see predominantly leather. That is their name after all, but Alaska Leather carries more non-leather than that shop. And the helmets in GR2 were either seconds or something else was wrong with them. They had three helmets that were full face, but there was no seal on any of the three. I ran a dollar bill around the top edge of the face plate with barely any resistance. Wear that helmet in a downpour and you'll be taking a shower inside the helmet! They had plenty of bandanas with a death head though, so I guess that's all right.

It isn't just gear though. I walked into a hobby shop thinking it would be a kind of cool gift for my husband if I got him a model of his BMW R1200 GS. The store was busy so I had to wait for help, and eventually was able to talk to the owner. I asked him if they had motorcycle models. He told me they had a wide variety. Cool, this sounded promising. We walked over to an aisle that had probably 20 models of Harleys. "Do you have anything that doesn't say Harley Davidson on it?" He nods and says he has other bikes also, and shows me a collection of generic choppers. I said, "No, what I'm looking for is a dual sport type bike." He gets this superior, condescending look on his face and says, "Honey, I love motorcycles and I've never heard of a dual sport." I laughed and said "Sweety, you don't get out much." Needless to say I didn't buy anything at that store.

So after wandering around the mall some more, I saw a display of crystal figurines. I have to admit I love sparkly, so I went over to look. They had figurines of everything you could think of from tractors to airplanes. Maybe they'll have a motorcycle. "We have a motorcycle," the saleslady told me. I'm thinking you can't be too specific when you are trying to sell crystal motorcycles. And let's face it, the stereotypical Harley Davidson rider that everyone seems to cater to doesn't look like the sort of person who is going to buy a crystal figurine. So I'm expecting the lady to hand me a generic motorcycle, not Beemer, but not Harley either. After a moment searching she hands me an obviously fragile crystal bike. It's pretty generic looking, looks more like my F650 than his 1200, but still... The delicate crystal spokes in the wheel, the curve of the seat, then I see it, etched subtly on the side of the sparkly tank, Harley Davidson I hand the figurine back. "Thanks, not what I'm looking for."

So I think it is time for Kawasaki, Yamaha, Ducati, Beemer, Honda riders everywhere to unite and yell at the world,

We Don't All Ride Harley's!