It’s that time of year again

Well it’s that time again where one’s thoughts change from tomorrow’s ride destination to next year’s ride changes. With 5 months or so of miserable (and impossible) riding conditions ahead of us we in “the north” (pretty much anything above the Mason-Dixon line) have to satisfy our motorcycling passions and amuse ourselves by some combination of heading south for the winter, day-dreaming, or modifying our bikes so they will be even more unique and amazing come the springtime.
And so last night found me with the 2012 versions of the Harley-Davidson and J&P Cycles catalogues and my latest bank statement studying all the upgrades and farkles that I could get with the modest amount of “mad money” I have available. Of course the danger with this sort of activity is that once you get started it pretty quickly spins out of control and it took but a few minutes before the list of “must have” appearance items and an equally long list of “must have” performance items had driven me deep into the red.
Now the truth is my bike is probably 99% where I want it to be but I would feel that I’d wasted a perfectly good winter if I didn’t take the opportunity to at least upgrade something! So further analysis is going to be required. Would I rather upgrade the air cleaner for better performance or swap out the tank console for better looks? Should I put on a True-Track system for better handling and cornering or spend the money on enhanced lighting for night time driving? So far I have no answers, only questions.
But with endless possibilities I can foresee many evenings of thumbing catalogues and on-line searching before I decide what to do which, in its own way, is as good a prescription for the winter riding blues as anything because, as William Inge said, “Nobody is bored when he is trying to make something that is beautiful, or to discover something that is true.”