The Zipsicle

Me and the new Wing have been riding into work most every day and, lately, it’s been just plain nasty! Pouring rain and lots of wind. I find that the Wing feels very secure on wet pavement and that’s a very good feeling but the wind tends to blow it around more than I might have suspected it would. I do have trouble with riding in the dark when it’s pouring rain. Very tough to see. I also notice that the inside of the visor on my full face helmet tends to fog up more quickly, when riding the Wing, than it does when I’m on the Zipsicle. Most likely due to the better wind protection behind the big windshield on the Wing. Cracking the visor open a bit helps to keep the fogging to a minimum but it also lets the occasional drop of rain into the helmet where it unerringly strikes me on the eyeball…

Along with the wind and the fall season comes lots of leaves everywhere on the roads. Time to be very careful. Wet leaves (especially them big, brown, Maple leaves) and pine needles are very slick and it behooves one to slow down a bit when riding around corners covered in fallen leaves. The alternative is some practice picking up the bike; which I’m thinking I can really do without! Of course, we still need to be careful of the usual treacherous obstacles like wet tire snakes and pedestrian crossing makers. So many things to watch out for but that’s what keeps us alert and is one of the things that makes riding such a pleasure!

Ride safe!
Zippo & Jax

Here’s a picture of our new Wing:

I’ve been riding it to work and really enjoying the ride! Jax hasn’t ridden on it yet but I’m sure she’s going to enjoy it, too. We’re adding the CB this weekend. Next, we’ll need to get some headsets so that we can plug into the bike and take advantage of the built-in intercom, CB and our accessory iPod.

Ride safe,
Zippo and Jax

You sure wouldn’t know it by the way some of them behave towards their prospective customers…

Our furnace is 15 years old and needs some parts that are no longer available so it’s time for a new furnace. I call a company in Mt. Vernon, Washington named “Handy’s Heating Inc” and arrange to have one of their people come out and look at our setup to give us a quote for a new furnace (I take time off of work to meet with him). A very nice and knowledgeable guy comes out and we spend an hour or so while he looks everything over and measures and whatever else he needs to do. It’s Friday so he tells me he’ll work on the quote on the weekend and get back to me the following Monday. By Wednesday I haven’t heard a word so I call the company back and speak to someone who says he’ll get in touch with the fellow who was going to do my quote and have him give me a call. Two weeks later and still no word from “Handy’s”…

I also called another company in the area called “Andgar Corporation”. I stay home meet the lady before work (which, of course, makes me late for work that day) and spend another hour or so with her while she also measures and figures. She says that she’ll have the quote to me the same day via email. The next week I still don’t have a quote from Andgar so I call the lady back and ask her what’s with the quote and she says, “Oh, sorry. Things ‘blew up’ around here and I haven’t had time to get to it.” “Oh”, I say. “I guess you didn’t even have time to compose an email or give me a quick call to let me know that things have ‘blown up’ and you’re going to be late with the quote, huh?” “Sorry”, she says. “I’ll have it for you today”. So I do finally get the quote, decide to accept, call her back and she says that they’ll install it on Thursday (today). Another fellow comes out on the Saturday before to get accurate measurements so that they can prefab some of the pieces and he tells me that they’ll be out at 8:30 AM to begin the install so I arrange to take time off from work on Thursday. By 9:00 AM they still haven’t shown up and, no surprise here, no one has called to tell me they’re running late. At 9:15 AM I head upstairs to change my clothes to head to work when they finally pull in the driveway. Only 45 minutes late. I suppose I should be grateful. I check my phone and email but, nooooo. No call or email informing me that they’re running late this morning.

You would think, if times are as tough as they say they are, that businesses might be a little more interested in providing something that we used to call, “Customer Service”. Apparently, either times aren’t really as tough as we’re led to believe or that term is no longer in favor; at least it isn’t at “Handy’s Heating, Inc” in Mt Vernon or, apparently, Andgar Coporation….

Ride safe,
Zippo and Jax

So far so good. Been riding the Wing to work the last few days and it’s pretty darn nice. I had some troubles with the grips being a little to small in diameter for my hands causing some discomfort while riding but someone turned me on to a product called “Grip Puppies” and they seem like they’re going to resolve the issue. The Grip Puppies are only $10 and they slide on over the stock grips increasing the diameter of the grip just enough to make it more comfortable and help to improve my control of the bike.

I’ve ridden in the rain a couple of times on the Wing, too, and it feels much more stable than my 1300. On the Zipsicle I often felt that I was riding on the edge of traction in the rain (although I’m quite certain that the bike was far from losing traction – just a matter of perception). On the Wing it almost feels like it’s glued to the road. I’m not a rider that pushes the limits of either bike, by any stretch of the imagination, but I do like the way the GoldWing feels going down the road – even in the rain.

Ride safe,
Zippo and Jax

Not that the Zipsicle needed company but, sheesh! One can’t have too many bikes (one can have too many cats, though!) and this one is so pretty and comfortable and besides, it fits in the garage so we just have to keep it…

Yep, we bought a Goldwing. This is a used Wing. A 2003, to be exact, and she’s got a lot of miles on her. 91K more or less, but she’s in superb mechanical condition, according the one of the mechanics down in Skagit Powersports service department, and she’s a very pretty red color, too. So, now we know how the other half lives and it’s very nice! I’ll try to get a picture of our new ride posted tomorrow.

Now, how long until summer and our next vacation????

Ride safe
Zippo and Jax

We rode, last Saturday, down to Snoqualmie Falls with some folks from the local STAR Chapter #154, Northwest Cascades. We joined five other bikes on this ride and we had a pretty good time. We left Bob’s Burger and Brew in the morning after breakfast and a chapter meeting and rode west on Cook Road to Sedro Woolley. The temperature was in the low fifties and it was just a might cold. We were glad we’d put extra clothing under our protective clothing this morning. Back roads were the order of the day and we rode some very nice and twisty ones south to Granite Falls where we stopped for a ten minute butt break. After some visiting and moving around to warm up a bit we were back on our way. More winding backroads and we arrived at Snoqualmie Falls. After parking and making use of the washrooms we walked over to the lookout for a glimpse of the falls

After pictures we headed to the Twin Peaks Double R Diner in North Bend, Washington. This place is famous, apparently, as the Twin Peaks Café in a television show called “Twin Peaks”. Of course, Jax and I have never watched this show but we were pleased to hear that it was supposed to have the “world’s best” cherry pie. Unfortunately, after a very tasty burger, we were too full to attempt the pie so we got two slices to take home with us. Here’s Zippo holding the pie. A fellow rider – JimP – is in this image as well.

The weather had warmed up a mite and another rider took the lead. He knew some roads heading in the direction that we wanted to go that we hadn’t ridden on before. Very nice! After another wonderful ride, and a total of 212 miles for the day, Jax and I were again home with the kitties (who didn’t seem in the least glad to see us!). We’re looking forward to our next adventure although Jax says that hers might have to wait until the weather has warmed up more!

Ride safe,
Zippo and Jax

I see a lot of riders remembering to signal before changing lanes or turning a corner (a good thing) but I also see a lot of those same bikers forgetting to cancel those turn signals after the lane change or corner; a very bad thing. Leaving your turn signal on while tooling down the road is an open invitation to cagers to turn in front of you and leaves the rest of traffic around you confused as to your intentions. Most of us are so used to our turn signals canceling after we make a turn in our cars that we forget that many of our bikes don’t come with self-canceling turn signals. So we forget and leave them on. Don’t do it!

Get in the habit of checking that your turn signal is off. My thumb now goes up and pushes the signal button periodically almost without me thinking about it. The Zipsicle has self-canceling turn signals but still I’ve forced myself into the habit of checking to be certain they’re off at every opportunity. It’s just a good thing to do and one more little thing that could make a big difference on the road…

Ride safe,
Zippo and Jax