Zen and motorcycle maintenance became one this morning. Or, more prosaically, routine maintenance was exactly that: routine, no glitches, no do-overs, no emergency runs to the parts counter. That in itself is a kind of Zen, but in addition to a fun morning working on the bike, I’ve now got a great cross-country ride to look forward to.
Several months ago, when they were on sale, I bought a new set of tires for the Goldwing. Two months ago my friend Ed and I mounted the new front tire, but the rear still had a couple of thousand miles on it so we left it alone. Since then I’ve ridden the rear down to the wear indicators, so this morning I rode over to Ed’s to mount the new rear tire.
Ed at work, old tire & wheel off
When I got there I discovered Ed had already put the new tire on a spare wheel and balanced it, so all we had to do was take off the rear fender trim plate, unbolt the old wheel and tire, and slap on the new one.
Just in time ... that's a nice deep cut there
Unknown to me, I’d picked up a deep cut on the old tire, so it wouldn’t have lasted much longer in any case. I don’t think it would have caused a blowout … more likely a tread separation, which on a motorcycle is almost as bad. Damn, and I was doing 80 mph on the freeway two days ago. Makes you think.
Ed mounting the new tire
Here’s the good part. Ed’s riding to Reno, Nevada for Street Vibrations and I’m riding with him. We’ll leave Wednesday, September 19th, and get back on Monday the 24th: something over 2,500 miles in all. Tucson to LA on Wednesday, Pacific Coast Highway to somewhere in the Bay Area Thursday, on to Reno Friday where we’ll stay through Saturday night; home via Las Vegas Sunday and Monday. That two-day ride through southeast Arizona I had scheduled for the 27th and 28th of September? I’ll reschedule that for the spring.
All done, fender plate back on
A month ago, if someone had suggested riding all the way to Reno for a motorcycle and hot rod rally, I probably would have begged off. But the bike is running great, the tires and brakes are new, and I’ve got a buddy to ride with. That makes all the difference. Hey, I’ll take satori where I find it!
© 2012, Paul Woodford. All rights reserved.
