Riding to Bike Week
One of my favorite tee-shirts I’ve seen in Daytona in previous years is the one that sarcastically states, “I went to Trailer Week, but I rode my bike!” So many “bikers” put their motorcycles on a trailer and ride in the comfort of a cage to get to events. Personally, it’s about the ride.
Now, it makes sense for custom bikers that have to take entire booths and several bikes to trailer or transport. Vendors have to take their wares to the show so we can spend our money. You need to transport a lot, the trailer makes sense.
Riding to bike week you pass and are passed by hundreds of bikers on the trip. Because of the size and length of the event, we even see riders driving away as they take advantage of the opportunity to ride to Key West, Miami, Tampa, Orlando, and other parts of Florida and southern Georgia. Bike week offers rides that go far beyond Main Street, the loop, and local rides.
Our ride up was not without an event. I had Greater Yamaha work on my bike before we left. I had a short blowing fuses in the lighting system. They were supposed to fix it and when I picked up the bike, it did work. We were riding down a 2-lane road with no lights and more traffic then we anticipated. There was one car driving way too slow and backing traffic up. We hit a spot to pass and as I accellerated, my lighting system blew. So here I am, at dusk, in the middle of nowhere, with no lights. I rode beside Andre (the Gold Wing shed enough light for two bikes) and we made it to a service station.
Having worked on the bike’s electrical system before, I knew what to test and how to circumvent the problem. First, though, I tried my spare fuse. It blew immediately. I went into the store and was fortunate that they carried fuse sets that included mine. I bought two and test the 15 amp in it again, but with the passing light switched off. It blew again. I figured the service department tried to cheat by putting a 15 amp in the headlight where it fuses the passing lights. It’s supposed to be a 10 amp. I removed that fuse, replaced the main 15 amp again and everything worked fine. Of course, I still don’t have working passing lamps. I’ll have to fix this myself when I have more time.
Sometimes (a lot of the time) it’s better to just do it yourself. You can make sure the job is done right. You also understand your motorcycle better when you take it apart yourself. Just don’t have spare parts left over when you put it back together.
An important thing to have is a good friend living close to the event. Thanks to Carlos and Kerry for putting us up for the event. Their hospitality is greatly appreciated.