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.
