SilverHound
Well-known member
Sunday marked the "real" first day of spring for me as I was finally able to get out with my wife on the bikes for a decent ride. Weather, schedules and a new puppy but mostly weather had prevented any prior escape from the house this year. Only about four hours in total including lunch and on familiar roads it was our chance to enjoy the day and also run a shake-down test on a few farkles I did to the bikes over the looooong winter.
For her, heated grips, hand guards and a new windshield. For me...well...come to think of it the only thing I added to the FJR this winter was the MC Enterprises bag guards so not really much of a test involved other than to make sure they didn't loosen up, which they didn't.
I was particularly interested to see how the new windshield would perform on my wife's bike. The prior touring screen wasn't high enough and she got a lot of buffeting. The new one (Madstad) is wider and higher and has some side wind guards. Once on the highway she told me through the intercom that the wind coming over the top still made her head shaky and also that her nose was cold from the wind and she didn't notice that with the other screen. Was about to pull over so I could adjust it when she says, "Oops, wait a second" and I hear the sound of her face shield ratcheting down. Yup, she was riding with her face shield fully open and it was catching the wind over the top of her helmet. Once she put it down all was well. I refrained from making any snarky comments. It wasn't easy.
The ride wasn't anything unfamiliar. Up along the Delaware river on the PA side and then over to NJ. Lunch was at our now traditional "first-ride-of-the-year" spot for two years running, Hot Dog Johnny's. It's a NJ landmark and has been in business continuously since 1944. On any given decent weekend you can find a ton of bikes there and I expected this Sunday to be crazy busy but it was surprisingly quiet. Maybe a dozen bikes of all makes and models, a few families and some trout fishermen as the place is along the Pequest river.
Finished our lunch and wound our way back to PA through some NJ back roads. Got home and found no messes or anything destroyed by the new pup so it was a win-win day.
Wife, our bikes and some Harley interloper in my picture.
Another gal-rider coming in on her Triumph Tiger
For her, heated grips, hand guards and a new windshield. For me...well...come to think of it the only thing I added to the FJR this winter was the MC Enterprises bag guards so not really much of a test involved other than to make sure they didn't loosen up, which they didn't.
I was particularly interested to see how the new windshield would perform on my wife's bike. The prior touring screen wasn't high enough and she got a lot of buffeting. The new one (Madstad) is wider and higher and has some side wind guards. Once on the highway she told me through the intercom that the wind coming over the top still made her head shaky and also that her nose was cold from the wind and she didn't notice that with the other screen. Was about to pull over so I could adjust it when she says, "Oops, wait a second" and I hear the sound of her face shield ratcheting down. Yup, she was riding with her face shield fully open and it was catching the wind over the top of her helmet. Once she put it down all was well. I refrained from making any snarky comments. It wasn't easy.
The ride wasn't anything unfamiliar. Up along the Delaware river on the PA side and then over to NJ. Lunch was at our now traditional "first-ride-of-the-year" spot for two years running, Hot Dog Johnny's. It's a NJ landmark and has been in business continuously since 1944. On any given decent weekend you can find a ton of bikes there and I expected this Sunday to be crazy busy but it was surprisingly quiet. Maybe a dozen bikes of all makes and models, a few families and some trout fishermen as the place is along the Pequest river.
Finished our lunch and wound our way back to PA through some NJ back roads. Got home and found no messes or anything destroyed by the new pup so it was a win-win day.
Wife, our bikes and some Harley interloper in my picture.
Another gal-rider coming in on her Triumph Tiger
