Putting out fires Monday as a result of taking Thursday, Friday off left me no time to regale you in tales of yore.
First off what amazing hosts! Bryan and Marissa thank you so much for all the behind the scenes preparation that makes this go off smoothly, a true commitment to the FJR community providing a venue for folks to come together like this and tirelessly lending a hand, opening up tool boxes, filling our gullets and sharing smiles, hat's off to you two!
Highlights - Dropped my bike off at KFG Racing or as I told my wife "the motorcycle day spa" to have my new Penske shock installed and have them go thru what I was told was a Race Tech front end when I bought the bike although no receipts were provided. While it took all day I did get it back Friday, I did have the front end I was told however the spring was light and since they had cut the spacer during the original install and KFG had no spacer stock there that will have to wait until the next fork service. For those wavering on the Penske or other upgrade shock of your choice I can say my money was well spent, one disappointment was I had spoken with Penske and we had settled in on a 950lb spring as suitable for my weight, two up riding and trailer use, I relayed this to Brissa upon check in however a 900lb spring was installed... I have yet to play with it however was a bit soft on the ride home, not nearly the wallowing whale of the stock shock however. While the had my bike for the day I did go to the Pacific Bonsai in Federal Way which was absolutely amazing if you are into Bonsai.
Tech Day - Goals; PAIR block off, new plugs, TBI Sync, I got started early and pulled the tank and proceeded to begin the PAIR - Ectomy as George coined it, pretty quick I met Jeff whom I owe many thanks to, "your gonna need this as he pulls out the modified 5mm allen wrench, you can't get at at least three of the bolts with anything else", "might wanna throw a heat gun on those bolts, their loctited" chimes someone else, "do you have the plug for your airbox" I heard from at least three folks. What a great group, Jeff my new best friend stands by making me feel like a doctor performing surgery as every time I turn around he is holding what I will need next in his hand, all the while training his flashlight on my work, thanks Jeff! Plates installed I start in on the plugs and the first time I start to slip the socket in the abyss I can tell it is not going to come back out unaided, I must have made a whine or something cause here comes George with "try this" and hands me a black Stanley thin walled socket that worked like a champ! I wrapped that up and and on to the sync again any deer like looks were met with instruction and while it was really close upon the start it was certainly dialed at the completion. Jeff finally broke free to mingle, eat lunch and hang now that his babysitting was done. I got my bike out of the "sweet spot" for hanging your tank from above and Peter slid into position as his only goal was a sync that day, I walked him through it as though I been doing it my whole life and was stoked to help someone else. I really enjoyed meeting new folk, being reminded of the names of the ones I'd met before "umm whats your forum name" oh yeah... great group of folks, reminds me alot of the Hydrofoil community, very welcoming and friendly.
Sunday - Tut Tut looks like rain... now for some background I am new to this whole touring thing, while I have ridden motorcycles my whole life my rain experience has been limited to either "looks like it's going to rain were not going" or "Oh chit it's raining lets rip home real quick" well when you live in Bend have a job and are just South of Seattle if you don't know Scottie "beam me up" your gonna get wet and get wet we did. Honestly my wife and I were a little apprehensive but with some raingear and a brand new set of Michelin GT4's we set off. Going over the Snoqualmie Pass it was raining in sheets, I soon learned I could drop the shield which would clear my shield and settle back in being able to see once again. We stopped in Richland for gas and tucked in under a closed bank drive thru, I was pleasantly suprised to hear my wife say I thought that would be way worse, actually not too bad. So what the hell we went the LONG way back, Arlington to Service Creek through John Day and Fossil, stopped to see friends in Prineville, our 8:00 am departure ended in an 8:00 pm arrival at home!
Great weekend!!!
