Making it Legal

Last Friday, I attempted to register my new bike at the local Deputy Registrar. She got all of the information into the computer but it wouldn't let her finalize the paperwork. She called someone on the telephone and when she was done, she told me I should bring my paperwork to the DMV in Rice Lake, WI.
On Monday, Nancy and I drove the 67 miles to Rice Lake. The first stop was the WI DMV. I waited for almost an hour. When my number was called, I walked up to the counter and spoke with Garret. He was nice enough, but informed me that the VIN on the bike came back to a "dirt bike". I think he was thinking that I was trying to register some sort of conversion. Buy a dirt bike, stick a light on it and get plates for it.... I tried to convince him that it was a factory made, street legal, looks like a dirt bike, supermoto. Garret wasn't buying it. He told me that without seeing the "Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards" sticker on it, there wasn't anything he could do.
I let the DMV thinking I had been scammed by buying some one-off conversion. I went across the street to the Yamaha dealer. I explained my situation to the parts guy and asked him if he could check the VIN and tell me what it started life as.... Was it a Wr250F? or an X? He went in the back and came back with a print out showing the sale date, warranty expiration date, original owners name, and model, a Wr250X!
I went back across the street to the DMV and talked to Garret again. It was a few minutes past closing time so he wasn't too helpful. He asked if I could bring the bike down tomorrow. He told me that he'd be there all day, and he could straighten out the problem.
So this morning, at 37 degrees, I bundled up and went for a ride. Down through Hayward, through Stone Lake, then back roads all the way to Rice Lake. I walked in to the DMV a little after 11:00. I told the receptionist that I needed to work with Garret on a problem from yesterday. She went in the back and got him. Garret and I walked outside. He compared the VIN to the old MN title, noticed the FMVSS sticker and seemed confused. We went inside and he called someone in Madison, WI at the main DMV. He read someone the VIN. After a few yes's and no's, he got off the phone and told me that the VIN was correct, and it was a Wr250X and that he'd be getting me plates and a title!!! Thank you Garret!

I rode home, put on the new plates and headed out!

First stop, The Great Divide. Click the pics for a bigger view.

I made a 44 mile loop around Lake Namekagon, up to Grand View, down to Drummond, to Cable, to home.

I was near Grand View when I spotted this gem.

By the time I got close to Cable, it was getting dark quickly.

I've put 257 miles on the bike since I brought it home last week. It really is a fun little bike to ride!

Bring on Spring.... The Girls are Home!!!

Since the move up north I have had an empty feeling every time I looked in the garage. Today I cured that. I rented a trailer from the local U-Haul dealer and brought the two big bikes home from the storage locker.

A full garage is a happy garage!!!

The trailer was pretty neat It had a built in wheel chock for the front tire.

Hi, My Name is Erik and I Have a Motorcycle Problem...

Or, we went shopping, and look what followed me home!

Early in the morning on Wednesday my sweetheart Nancy and I left the snow covered north woods of WI and headed for St. Paul, MN. Nancy had an 11:30 Dr's appointment. When her appointment was over, we went down to Hastings, MN to do a little shopping. Then up to Woodbury, MN to do some more. Around 6:00 in the evening, we stopped at our friends(and riding buddy) John and Wendie's home in St. Paul. The 4 of us went out for dinner. After dinner, we parted ways and Nancy and I started to head for home, but I made a small detour...

I have been shopping Craigslist for most of the winter, and Tuesday night I spotted a gem. I found a 2008 Yamaha Wr250x with only 1561 miles on it. It was priced right, $800 less than others I'd seen lately, and less than 1/2 the price of new. Tuesday night I e-mailed the owner and made arrangements to come see it on Wednesday evening. After dinner, I called the seller, got an address and found my way to his place.

I looked at the bike, started it up and let it run for a while. With only 1561 miles on it, it's really clean. It was too cold for a test ride with no riding gear so I purchased it on the spot. The guy's garage was spotless. He had a set of summer wheels and tires for his car up in a rack mounted on the garage wall. They were in zippered, protective cases. You could have eaten off his garage floor. A sport bike was sitting, covered, on front and rear stands along the other garage wall.

As we stood in his garage, I wondered how I'd get it home. He made a call to his friend and asked him to come over and help us. We went in the house, counted some cash, did some paperwork, and finished up about the time his friend arrived. The 3 of us loaded it up into the back of my pick up truck. I strapped it down, shook his hand and headed back home.

Now updated with daylight pictures.......

I haven't posted anything to my blog in almost a full month. I've been busy with unpacking and minor home repairs. I can't work on my motorcycles because they're still in a storage locker a few miles from my house.
For the last 2 days, I've spent the better part of the day trying to clear out my driveway. We finally got a MAJOR snow fall. I measured anywhere from 16 to 24 inches depending on where in the driveway I measured.

So, setting free my inner geek.....

My driveway is 30'x50'= 1500ft/sqr plus I cleared a horseshoe shaped path that averages 11 feet wide and 145 paces long.

18 paces = 50'(I measured) so,
145 paces = 402.75' Ill say 403'

403'x11'=4433 ft/sqr
plus
1500 ft/sqr of driveway = 5933ft/sqr

5933 times an average depth of 1.75'= 10,382.75 cubic feet of snow moved.

10,382.75 divided by 27 = 384.5 cubic yards of snow

When I was younger I worked for a excavation and demolition company. Our large dump trucks had a 30 cubic yard box on them.

So, did I really move 12.8 dump trucks full of snow with an 8 horsepower snow blower? No wonder I'm sore.

The new house has a wood burning fireplace, so I made a rack to store some wood.

The sunsets up here in the north land are fantastic!

I did do something motorcycle related...
I ordered some Kawasaki body panels in Candy Lime Green.
I'm going to replace the stock black side grills with matching green.

New Grills:

Before Grills...

The "after" shot will have to wait until I can get to the bike!

2012 Motorcycle Show.

So, earlier in the week my riding buddy, John, calls me up and asks if we are going to the motorcycle show on Saturday.
It used to take me 25-30 minutes to get to John's house in St. Paul. Now it takes me 3 hours. A few weeks ago, I made the move up to God's Country, AKA, the north woods of WI, between Hayward and Ashland, right along side the Chequamegon National Forest. My father was raised in Hayward, and my mother was from Ashland. My paternal grandfather settled in the area in 1895, and my paternal grandmother, 1885. . I can trace my roots back to the area more than 125 years ago.
I met up with John and we drove to the MPLS Convention Center. This year the show seemed busier than past years. The parking ramps were fuller. Even the sales people from the local dealers seemed to be more motivated to try and talk to people. This was a nice change from 2009, when I wanted to buy a ZX-14, and NO ONE would take the time to talk to me.

We spent a solid 2 and a half hours looking and all things motorcycle!!

The new 2012 ZX-14R, in the best color!

The 2012 FJR is Cobalt Blue, the same as my 2006. The MSRP is now $15,590.00 YIKES!!!!!

Like years past, there was a nice display of clean vintage bikes.

I was a bit more selective about what I picked up from the displays this year. My bag was almost empty.

One thing that caught my eye was the device that the Cyclehill Tire changer was bolted to. I used to have my changer bolted to my garage floor. Now that I've moved and my garage has in-floor hot water heat, I don't know if I want to be drilling into the floor to bolt it down. The changer at the show was bolted to a metal frame that was designed to have a car park on it to hold it stationary. John told me he has a friend that welds, and that he could probably come up with something similar. I was thinking of mounting the changer to a 4' square of 3/4" plywood. Or, maybe bolting it to a large pallet?

I'll have to check out the new Shoei Neotec modular helmet. It looks like it has some features that my Multitec does not have.

2011 Year End Milage Totals

Now that the 2011 riding season is over, I have the milage figures.

'09 Kawasaki Zx-14...start 16,788 end 29,209 for the year 12,421

'06 Yamaha FJR ......start 25,145 end 26,791 for the year 1,646

There are 11,089 miles(17,843 Kilometers) on the set of Michelin Pilot Road 2 tires on the Zx-14. I mounted them 6-10-2011. They are well worn and starting to cup. I wouldn't take them on another road trip, but they'll be OK for another 1,000 or so miles this spring. I have one more set of the PR2's ready to mount.
I think I need to re-evaluate keeping the FJR, but it is such a sweet ride.

My First Car.

I was blog surfing today and found something interesting on another blog. The blogger asked his readers to identify 2 cars in a picture that he posted. One of the cars is a Chevrolet Impala. The other car, well, there's a bit of a disagreement as to it's year.

To end this, I'll post pictures of my first car. I was 19, back in early 1980, when I purchased a 1973 Buick Riviera. The Rivieras built from 1971-1973 were the only boat-tailed ones. Earlier year Rivieras, such as those from '66-'70, had a fast-back with the long, slanted, rear window glass, but '71-'73 were the only ones to have the tapering, curved, rear glass of the boat-tail. The rear license plate on the 71s and 72's was mounted left of center. On the '73's it was center mounted. The grills were different on '71 and '72's, they were a bit more under-cut and sharper than the '73's. The '73 grills were a bit more vetical than the '71 and '72s. 1973 front bumpers were larger and heavier looking.

Gary, I hope this clears it up...

Gary, for even more information on Rivieras, there's always Wikipedia for Buick Riviera.

Edited 12-20-11 to add better pictures!

My Favorite Five.

Some of my fellow bloggers have posted their favorite 5 pictures from 2011. It started HERE with Roger from New Zealand, and others have followed. You can see more pictures Here and Here.

I had a hard time picking 5 but here goes....

My favorite picture from this year was taken on a trip that John, my riding buddy, and I took out to Idaho. I snapped this one with the Tetons in the background. It was my attempt to be a little artsy...

The next 2 are from my solo trip to the west coast. The first one is a picture of a road sign on CA hwy 36, west of Red Bluff. That section of road was one of the things I HAD to see on this trip. It didn't disappoint me. Pushing a heavily loaded, over weight, sport bike through 140 miles of twisty roads, in 90 degree heat was tough, but it was worth it!!

This one was taken the day I passed through Yosemite N.P. A very sweet older lady asked me if I was taveling alone. She offered to take my picture for me. She was a sweet heart. We talked for quite a long time about all kinds of things.

I even have a few pictures just to show I have interests beyond motorcycles. This summer, Nancy and I got into kayaking. We spent a lot of time on some of the nearby rivers. Unfortunately, the computer that has most of my pictures in it crashed a while back, so my selection of kayaking pictures is limited. Even if it's not the best picture, it's what it represents that means the most to me.

The last one is from this fall when Nancy and I took a road trip up to the "northwoods" of northern Wisconsin. We were on a fall color tour that Sawyer County puts on. They mark some of the roads through the Chequamegon National Forest, and have a few different loops to drive around. We were maybe a week early this year to see the peak colors, but I really like this picture, it makes a great background!

Paul Bunyan ?

Tonight, the temps in my part of the world are 7 degrees F and headed lower, so I was passing the time catching up with a few blogs. Hey, if I can't ride, I can still read about it! That's when I noticed something that fellow blogger, George F., posted. It's a picture of Paul Bunyan that he took near Klamath, CA. I also have nearly the same picture...

George's picture is HERE.

And this is my picture. I took it this summer while on my trip to CA.

And if that isn't strange enough......
Another fellow blogger posted the same picture on both facebook and his blog. It's about half way down this page... CLICK HERE.>

How strange is that??????

George, I've got to ask, do you have a picture of the gold bears mounted on the ends of the bridge over the Klamath River?

Edited 12-23-2011.................
I went up north and stopped in front of Bulik's Amusement Center in Spooner, WI. I wanted to get a picture of Mel, the muffler man.

I did a little search and found that there are at least 5 more giant sized, fiberglass, "muffler men" in Wisconsin. I feel the need for a spring time road trip. More muffler man information HERE.

I also have a picture of the Indian version of the muffler man. He was standing outside the Chieftain Motel, in Carrington, ND. My riding buddy, John, and I stayed there on our way back from the Sturgis rally - Idaho trip this summer.

My Goldwing Vs. Pronghorn Antelope Story.. with pictures

I was catching up with the updates on some of the blogs I follow, and came across a picture of a trike with a huge camper shell mounted behind the driver, and 2 rear axles. I saw it on Trobairitz' blog. I have a picture of the very same trike. I took the picture sometime back around '99-'02. I looked through my photo albums, but couldn't find it. I did find this picture from my 1999 trip. What caught my eye in this picture is how young I look. I've aged since then.

From left to right.. Jesse, Garth, John, and me. Lyle is taking the picture.

That was back in my carefree, do-rag wearin', nothing-can-happen-to-me, pre crash, days. That all changed in 2006, when my Goldwing was struck by a Pronghorn Antelope. Yes, it hit the Goldwing, and hit it hard enough to bend the left front brake rotor and toss me to the highway. It happened on the second day of our annual trip to the Sturgis rally in SD. We were only 30 miles from Sturgis.....
We were riding staggered, about 5 or 6 of us, with traffic behind us, and 1 more bike behind me. I saw the lead guy in front pointing off to the right. I looked right and saw a large antelope on a rise, quite a ways off the road. What the guy in front didn't see, was another antelope run out into the road from the left ditch, almost hit him, do a U-turn, and head back into the ditch. Everyone else saw it. We just started to let off the throttle and reach for the brakes. That's when a 3rd antelope decided that if others could run onto the road, so could he. This one wasn't successful. He plowed into the left side of my front wheel. I tipped over onto the left side and rolled down the highway. I remember how time slowed WAY down as it happened, like slow-motion. I know it was over in seconds, but I distinctly remember having 5 thoughts while it happened.

1. "oh crap, this isn't going to be good"
2. "man is that thing ugly"
3. "roll, don't slide"
4. "damn, am I ever going to stop rolling"
5. "you've got to get out of the road, there's traffic coming"

It takes longer to say them than the whole crash took.

I remember making a mental note of how I felt as I was getting up. I was wondering if I was going to feel pain and fall down. I walked out of the road, sat the shoulder, and lay down. Everyone in our group was either a cop or fireman, or a retired cop or fireman. Someone called 911 and before I knew it, a couple of Mead County Deputies was there. Once they figured out that we were ALL cops or EMS, their personalities relaxed a bit.

What follows are some pictures of me, post crash..................




This was my un-helmeted head that bounced off of SD hwy 34 at the Hereford junction. The photo was taken after the E.R. visit, and between bandage changes.

My left leg that was "protected" by blue jeans. The jeans offered about a tenth of a seconds worth protection in the crash. I'm lucky that I rolled and didn't slide.

My left wrist, 3 days later...pinky side..

And thumb side...

My left knee...

This was my head, 3 days later....

I didn't get any pictures of my right big toe nail. Somehow, when I dumped the Goldwing, my right big toe hit the pavement so hard that the nail turned black by the time the ambulance got to the hospital in Sturgis. In the E.R., the Dr. used some type of electric probe to burn a hole through my toe nail. The relief was instant! I had a male nurse in the E.R., he was an Iron Butt rider and owned a Kawasaki Concours, he was pretty cool. I was treated and released in about 3 hours. Back at camp, the guy that was behind me at the time of the crash, told me that I bounced real good, and that he had locked up his rear wheel and skidded past my head. Missing me by inches. He skidded his bike all the way across the on coming lane and off the left side of the road. He skidded into the back of my trailer.
I spent the next day at the campground waiting for my girlfriend to come from WI to pick me up.

I went back to the crash scene on my trip out to pick up my Goldwing from the Honda dealer. I found the skid mark and the dead antelope. I picked up a few of the clean bones as a souvenir.


5 years later, and the road rash on my left knee, left wrist, and head is still visible. It's OK, I wasn't pretty before.
The really stupid thing is, we had just left a gas stop about 10 miles back, in Union Center. It was at that gas stop that I decided to take off my gear, after all, we were only 30 miles from the campground. So, I put my full face helmet and mesh over-pants in the trailer, and slipped my gloves off and had them under my thighs. What could go wrong?
I saved the Firstgear Meshtex jacket I was wearing at the time of the crash and kept it in my closet for a long time. It sacrificed itself in the crash, but where the jacket covered me, I had no bumps, bruises or road rash.

I am very lucky that I survived. If I had hit face first, or smacked my head a little harder, I could be in a totally different world now. Or dead!

I have since become a solid believer in ATGATT, but I still support your right to choose whether or not you wear a helmet. I also believe that a person riding without proper gear is a fool.