First ride in ages

[Bill_Walker]

I don't think I've ridden a MC in a year, at least, mostly due to COVID.  I decided to see if my KLX250 (carbureted) would start after being parked that long with no prep whatsoever.  Well, here's a salute to using a Battery Tender, buying high-quality gas, and parking in a garage in a mild climate, because it fired right up and ran perfectly!  I did let it get a longer than usual warmup on the choke, though, because, like the other two carbureted Kawasakis I've owned, it's a cold-blooded beast at the best of time.

 

Anyway, I went out and rode about 60 miles of local winding roads.  No stops, no photos.  It was very nice to be on a bike again.  I'm very much an "out of sight, out of mind" person, and I tend not to realize I've missed doing something until I do it again.  I find I missed riding.  It's good to be back.

[wbw6cos]

Welcome back to riding.  I hate that you had to stop, but at least things are on the way back.

[roadscholar]

Maybe it's a Kawasaki thing Bill. I used to leave my old style KLR outside in a Colorado storage lot for 11 months at a time with the battery hooked up and fuel petcock on as an experiment. It always started and ran fine, no other motorcycle I know of can do that : )

[Bill_Walker]

15 hours ago, roadscholar said:

Maybe it's a Kawasaki thing Bill. I used to leave my old style KLR outside in a Colorado storage lot for 11 months at a time with the battery hooked up and fuel petcock on as an experiment. It always started and ran fine, no other motorcycle I know of can do that : )

Sheesh!  At least I turned off the petcock! 

[longjohn]

I’m thinking your RT must be chomping at the bit. 

[Redman]

Bill, I was thinking that havent seen you posting much. (Especailly when I looked at the Torrey thread).

 

Good to see that your ride was good.

 

Is the RT next. . ? Soon?

[Dennis Andress]

On 5/23/2021 at 4:09 PM, Bill_Walker said:

I find I missed riding.  It's good to be back.

 

 

So... What's your plan?

[Mike]

Last year saw me riding very little. I’ll give it my best to correct that going forward.

[Bill_Walker]

On 5/26/2021 at 5:45 PM, Dennis Andress said:

So... What's your plan?

To go to the UN, for one thing.

[Dennis Andress]

14 minutes ago, Bill_Walker said:

To go to the UN, for one thing.

 

I'm thinking about riding CA 1 north to south with a short visit at the UN.

[Bill_Walker]

22 hours ago, Dennis Andress said:

 

I'm thinking about riding CA 1 north to south with a short visit at the UN.

I just drove that in an RV last month.  It's a lot more fun on a bike!  Still very scenic, though.

[Stir]

Last year was an amazing riding year.  There was so little traffic in San Diego and the police gave a lot of latitude cause they didn't want to pull anyone over.  

 

[Hosstage]

3 hours ago, Stir said:

Last year was an amazing riding year.  There was so little traffic in San Diego and the police gave a lot of latitude cause they didn't want to pull anyone over.  

 

Same here, light traffic on the roads, speeding by most traffic that was around, and little enforcement.

Unfortunately (or fortunately depending on how you look at it), traffic is getting back to normal.

[fourteenfour]

I missed most of last year from a combination of COVID and caring for elderly parents who had an assortment of not COVID related issues. Then combine with the fact my bike has that damn brake recall and getting the parts took forever I now find myself needing to actually get the brakes swapped but I also no longer want to ride the bike they are on. So I am looking at alternatives and it may lead me back to cruiser life though this time I may go Indian so I can cross that one off my list of brands that are interesting to me but I have never owned.

 

getting back on can be more of a challenge than I expected it to be

[9Mary7]

58 minutes ago, fourteenfour said:

I may go Indian

If you do that, the Challenger will change your concept of what a cruiser can be.......