It’s done

And now the hunt for parts can begin. Anyone have a spare 1981 XL500S exhaust system lying about?

Am I nuts?

Recently I read somewhere that while you only had a 1% chance of finding a gravel road in the US, you had a 70% chance of finding one in Canada.

As anyone who has travelled in parts of Canada more than a hundred miles north of the US-Canada border can attest, the vast majority of those roads are not paved. So while I don’t know how accurate that statistic is, it wouldn’t surprise me if the real figures were pretty close.

Now living close to the capital  and in that narrow strip of Canada that’s most heavily populated, most of our roads here are paved. But even at that I can probably find 300 or 400 miles of gravel roads all within an hour of home. In fact one starts right at my back door.



And while I love my Dyna, the one thing a 700-pound Harley is not is a dirt bike.

All of which is to say that I’ve been looking for a dual-purpose bike to play in the gravel with, that can get muddy up to the handlebars and stay that way, that can get get dropped on the road, picked up, and ridden off without worrying about scratching the chrome. My ideal bike would be a 500 or 600 cc single, heavy enough not to get blown all over the highway but not so heavy it’s hard to handle, and cheap! Actually truth be told, cheap is probably the number one consideration.

Anyway while killing time last night I came across this find on Kijiji. A 1981 Honda XL  500 single for $500 (cheap). And just down the road.


While it isn’t much to look at the owner says it runs well but “it smokes a bit when you start it up”. But I figure if the power train is reasonably sound other than needing rings and perhaps a top end job, the rest is just cosmetics that can be fixed over time as replacement parts can be found.

It will likely never look like this -



- but it could turn out to be an interesting project and a fun play bike.  I’m going to check it out this weekend so perhaps by Monday the stable will contain one more toy. Just what I need – one more thing to fix!

Sun’s out!

Long johns (top and bottom) …… check.
Biker Rain Chaps …… check.
Leather jacket with liner …… check.
Lined gauntlets…… check.
Full face helmet …… check.
Windshield on …… check.
I couldn’t pass up a temperature of 45F and no rain. Besides I had to make a quick run into town to pick up a neat little gadget that measures “hidden” power consumption. Lee Valley Tools  is a top notch and world-renowned supplier of quality tools for general craftsmen, woodworkers, and gardeners. They had acquired a boat load of these little devices and were selling them at bargain-basement prices. I just had to have one. I mean who can resist a bit of electronics that will tell you how much energy you’re wasting with instant-on TVs, computer monitors in energy-saving mode, and other home appliances that suck power 7/24?
But I digress.
Since my last ride the farmers had been busy. Most of the crops were in and the corn stalks had been mowed down. Farm stands lined the roadway selling pumpkins of all shapes and sizes in anticipation of Halloween. Every second house seemed to have a load of firewood – usually in 8 or 10 foot lengths – in the driveway waiting to be cut, split and stacked for winter.
Sadly, Scoops, my favourite ice cream stand, was closed for the season.
It wasn’t a long ride, about 100 miles, and by the time I got back it had cooled off considerably to about 40F. So as I pulled into the garage I was feeling distinctly chilled, even with all the layers, but still with a big grin. It was a good ride.

Autumn colours

Every October we look forward to enjoying a ride or two through the countryside to view the changes as the trees get ready for winter’s cold blast. October temperatures are getting cooler, but on a nice cloudless day there’s still lots of heat in the sun, so riding conditions can be quite comfortable. We’ll head off to one of the nearby artist communities, browse the handiwork of some excellent craftsmen – or I should say craftspersons - stop for lunch and perhaps a pint or two at a local pub, and come home – the long way – enjoying the ride and the scenery.
But this year our plans were foiled. The spectacular September weather morphed directly into late November-like conditions with grey overcast days, lots of rain, and daily high temperatures in the 30–40F range. (October norms for this area are 50-55 degrees.) So the bike (I really need to give it a name) sits in the garage as I try to decide whether to give it it’s winter conditioning and put it away, or hope for that one glorious riding day that will cap off the season. Hope springs eternal, so I expect I’ll wait a little longer. Besides I’ve always felt that procrastination was something best left until next week.
Although it was too cold to ride without an electric suit or so much alcoholic antifreeze as to be dangerous, it wasn’t too cold to shoot a couple of pictures on our local road to show you what early October looks like here.  Enjoy.

Looking for trouble?

In the latest issue of American Iron Magazine, columnist Genevieve Schmitt has a piece entitled Packing Protection in which she talks about carrying a weapon of some sort while riding. Recently, a fellow blogger described a day trip for which his riding gear included two handguns and a knife. And as anyone who’s been to Sturgis can attest sheath knives, the longer (i.e. more bad-assed) the better, are a common fashion accessory.
Has riding really become a blood sport?
Over many, many thousands of miles I have mingled freely with bikers of all sorts, and with strangers in campgrounds, some of whom were heavily armed. I have ridden most Canadian provinces and many of the more northern states. I have ridden major cities and rural byways. I have ridden alone and with others. And through all of that I have never felt threatened or otherwise unsafe while on the road (aside from traffic hazards) or even while camping in some pretty remote locations.
Now I will state that I don’t go looking for trouble – never have and never will – so that has a lot to do with it. But I also firmly believe that carrying a weapon – especially one that’s  exposed – can just as easily invite trouble as defuse it. It seems to me that wearing a 10-inch Bowie knife on your belt is an open invitation to the guy with a 12-inch model to prove how those extra 2 inches make him tougher than you. No thanks. And let’s be honest, carrying a knife does not make you a knife-fighter any more than wearing a black belt makes you a karate expert.
Perhaps I’m just a simple, naive Canadian, but if I had to arm myself to the teeth to enjoy my sport, I’d take up fishing.