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Well, things did not go according to plan so I'm still out in Aridzona helping a friend put a new engine in his 4X4.
Not being one to allow a minor technicality to get me down and having an XS1100, I took a short but exiliarating ride into the nearby town of Parker. As I pulled up to ye olde barre and grille on the river with a ladyfriend on the back of the bike and rolled smoothly to a gentle stop in the motorcycle parking area, my front brake lever snapped off at the bolt as she began her graceful dismount - not good but at least it happened in a parking lot instead of out on the highway whilst attempting to evade the odd blind rig pulling triple trailers.
I did not drop the bike nor roll it through the front window of the bar. Although she was wearing her brand-new tight-fitting leather riding pants for the first time, we were both rather foolishly sans helmets and jackets because of the heat. Not a problem. There is little or no traffic on Sunday night and it's just a short jaunt back home.
We went down to the river and ordered a beer (yes, a beer!) to go with the dinner special that had been carefully prepared in celebration of the birthday of one of the waitresses. We each enjoyed a delicious serving of prime rib that we could cut with the dull, disposable plastic forks. No knives were necessary.
After watching the spectacular sunset framed by the range of volcanic mountains just across the Colorado River and watching the boats and the people, I was extra careful heading back out of town with only the rear brake and the gears of the transmission to stop the bike.
Naturally, there was a sudden summer storm....
I slowed and maintained a comfortable speed of 45 MPH. The lightning was truly stupendous, striking directly along the side of and on the road in front of us and behind us, accompanied by gusting 35-45 MPH winds carrying blinding, heavy, clouds of dust that, at times, reduced visibility to the bike's headlight and precious little else.
The brilliant lightning strikes and rolling clouds of dust were, eventually, supplemented by bursts of heavy rain that also completely obscured the road, drenching the windshield and my glasses and further reducing my little remaining night vision to nothing but a soft, watery, blur. It was a very warm night so the rain was welcome even if the reduced visibility was not; refreshing us as it washed the dry, desert dust off of the bike and its passengers. Descending a narrow, winding, mountain pass while laughing and just generally enjoying ourselves and fording some rather substantial puddles of leftover rainwater, I flicked on the high beam.
A very startled four or five point buck leapt out from behind a ghost tree that was surrounded by a patch of mesquite.
Okay, we stopped laughing and I grabbed a handful air where that missing front brake lever used to be as I downshifted and applied the rear brake. The bike quite obligingly went into a immediate Superbowl Of Motocross slide as Bambi paused, briefly, on the road six feet in front of us before bounding off into the night. Deftly countersteering as we simultaneously shifted our weight to recover the bike from the slide and the terrified deer, we continued on our merry way home where we spent the rest of that highly envigorating evening enjoying one another's company and recounting the ride far into the night.
I ordered a new front brake lever from the local Yamaha shop this morning and, hopefully, it will be here Thursday afternoon so I can make it back to California and head up to the mid-coast rally. I love this bike. It handles well and we had a lot of fun on that ride.
Since we're still alive, next time the helmets and jackets are coming with us - I don't care about the stupid heat!
Regards,
Scott
Not being one to allow a minor technicality to get me down and having an XS1100, I took a short but exiliarating ride into the nearby town of Parker. As I pulled up to ye olde barre and grille on the river with a ladyfriend on the back of the bike and rolled smoothly to a gentle stop in the motorcycle parking area, my front brake lever snapped off at the bolt as she began her graceful dismount - not good but at least it happened in a parking lot instead of out on the highway whilst attempting to evade the odd blind rig pulling triple trailers.
I did not drop the bike nor roll it through the front window of the bar. Although she was wearing her brand-new tight-fitting leather riding pants for the first time, we were both rather foolishly sans helmets and jackets because of the heat. Not a problem. There is little or no traffic on Sunday night and it's just a short jaunt back home.
We went down to the river and ordered a beer (yes, a beer!) to go with the dinner special that had been carefully prepared in celebration of the birthday of one of the waitresses. We each enjoyed a delicious serving of prime rib that we could cut with the dull, disposable plastic forks. No knives were necessary.
After watching the spectacular sunset framed by the range of volcanic mountains just across the Colorado River and watching the boats and the people, I was extra careful heading back out of town with only the rear brake and the gears of the transmission to stop the bike.
Naturally, there was a sudden summer storm....
I slowed and maintained a comfortable speed of 45 MPH. The lightning was truly stupendous, striking directly along the side of and on the road in front of us and behind us, accompanied by gusting 35-45 MPH winds carrying blinding, heavy, clouds of dust that, at times, reduced visibility to the bike's headlight and precious little else.
The brilliant lightning strikes and rolling clouds of dust were, eventually, supplemented by bursts of heavy rain that also completely obscured the road, drenching the windshield and my glasses and further reducing my little remaining night vision to nothing but a soft, watery, blur. It was a very warm night so the rain was welcome even if the reduced visibility was not; refreshing us as it washed the dry, desert dust off of the bike and its passengers. Descending a narrow, winding, mountain pass while laughing and just generally enjoying ourselves and fording some rather substantial puddles of leftover rainwater, I flicked on the high beam.
A very startled four or five point buck leapt out from behind a ghost tree that was surrounded by a patch of mesquite.
Okay, we stopped laughing and I grabbed a handful air where that missing front brake lever used to be as I downshifted and applied the rear brake. The bike quite obligingly went into a immediate Superbowl Of Motocross slide as Bambi paused, briefly, on the road six feet in front of us before bounding off into the night. Deftly countersteering as we simultaneously shifted our weight to recover the bike from the slide and the terrified deer, we continued on our merry way home where we spent the rest of that highly envigorating evening enjoying one another's company and recounting the ride far into the night.
I ordered a new front brake lever from the local Yamaha shop this morning and, hopefully, it will be here Thursday afternoon so I can make it back to California and head up to the mid-coast rally. I love this bike. It handles well and we had a lot of fun on that ride.
Since we're still alive, next time the helmets and jackets are coming with us - I don't care about the stupid heat!
Regards,
Scott
Thank God that ridin' a 'rice burner' doesn't have the same effect ! 
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