A sure sign of getting old is confusion over repurposed abbreviations. I no longer know what people mean when they say CRM or CSA—or even CIA. I used to teach CRM—crew resource management—to USAF fighter pilots, but that’s not what computer people mean by CRM. People tell me they get their veggies and fruits from the CSA, and I want to ask if they have Confederate flag stickers on their cars. CIA? Well, you can look that one up in the Urban Slang Dictionary yourself.
MX apparently stands for many things, but to me and other USAF veterans, it stands for maintenance. Moto, of course, means motorcycle. So that’s what I was doing this morning, a bit of moto MX, repairing damage I did to the Goldwing over the weekend, when I scraped a hole in the coolant reservoir trying to get the bike off a rental trailer.
I was able to make the short ride over to Ed’s house without overheating. Ed, as regular readers of my blog know, is my riding buddy and moto MX guru. It just happened Ed had a spare coolant reservoir on hand. We R&R’d the reservoir and fixed a couple of unrelated problems while we were at it. R&R, I see, has multiple meanings as well, but in this context it means “repair & replace.”
I ordered a new coolant reservoir, along with an aluminum belly pan, an aftermarket part designed to protect the reservoir. Judging by the different kinds of belly pans you can buy for the Goldwing, I’m not the first guy to knock a hole in a reservoir! As soon as the parts come I’ll go back to Ed’s garage to bolt on the belly pan—and give him the new reservoir so he’ll still have one in stock.
Yesterday, when I turned in the rental trailer, I told the guys there about the problem I had getting the Wing on and off it. They knew about that particular problem and had a fix for it: welding a six-inch extension to the end of the fold-down ramp. They said they’ve done it for several Wing and Harley owners, and that it works, so I picked out a new trailer and gave them a deposit. They’ll add the ramp extension, do the title & license, and have it ready Thursday. Before I drive the truck over to hook it up I’ll putt over on the motorcycle to make sure it goes up and down the ramp without scraping bottom—then give them a check for the balance.
We’ll break in the new trailer by hauling Polly’s Ducati over to Ed’s to get it running again. Already planning a spring drive to Farmington NM with the Wing in tow, a good launch point for a Four Corners ride with Donna on the back. Whoopee!