Tweet
Now where was I?
Ah, yes... a quarter to 6, Ray and I are checking in to the Motel 6, ( fine, friendly, and dare I say lovely, customer service, I recommend them highly,) when in walks Jerry, and within minutes, Cody. Jerry, (AKA Jerry) it turns out, is a monitor and even perhaps, a founder of the XS 11 web site. Jerry rode to Tahoe from Colorado on an XJ 1100J Maxim, towing a camping trailer, and was the only member of our group who opted to stay at a nearby campsite rather than in a motel room.
I must digress here for a moment. Anyone who is married or who has had experience with our "better halves" is aware that if this had been a WOMEN'S group, we would know all about each others lives, probably in excruciatingly personal detail. But, since we are "dudes," (Californian for men,) the main thing that we know about each other is that we love The Ride in general, and The Ride on XS 11s in particular. All this to explain why I really don't know exactly what Jerry's contribution to this web site is. Sorry Jer.
Coy, (AKA Maximan,) road his full dress XS1100J all the way from Oklahoma, winning the honor of longest ride. Cody and I hit it off right away, both of us being expatriate Texans. Before long my somewhat diluted drawl was coming back full force.
After checking in we went next door to the restaurant and were escorted to a roomy table in the rear where we proceeded to order our meals and get to know each other. (See digression above.) After a while a young man who I judged to be in his late 20's came up to our table and asked if we were the XS 11 group. Other than my "XS Eleven" cap, no-one else was wearing anything visible to give away our affiliation. "Aye, lad!" said we, or words to that effect. After he spent a minuet or two with us we realized that he was the instigator of this event, DragXS himself!
At some point someone (I seem to remember it was Cody,) suggested we swap "spill" stories, so we took turns baring our biker soles with confessions of incompetence, stupidity, inattention, inebriation, or just plain bad luck. I seem to have taken the prize for most amusing/embarrassing, having combined all the above elements into one tale. (See my post in the members lounge. I will post my tale eventually, I promise!)
After a leisurely meal we went outside to examine each others iron. Jerry's XJ was outfitted with a fairing, Corbin saddle, and a rather interesting innovation: he had floorboards mounted on the case protectors so that he could lay his lower calf's on top of them rather than using them for his feet. It looked like it would be really comfortable. Besides that he had a trailer hitch attached to tow his trailer with all his camping gear. We never saw his complete assembled rig, since he had already made camp at a nearby park.
Cody was on an XS1100J. His was also faired and set up for the long haul. His interesting innovation was a plastic marine fuel container strapped to the luggage rack with a fuel line running to the "prime" hose on the gas petcock. I believe it was a 2 gallon "can" which gave him an increased range of around 80 to 100 miles!
DiverRay road an XS 11 standard with a half fairing. His bike is pretty stock and well preserved, but it was having a little problem that would have driven me nuts: 2nd gear was out on it!
Mine, I must say, was the "rat bike" of the group. It is actually in pretty good shape except that the two previous owners before me, who obviously didn't appreciate what they had, let it sit unprotected in the rain, probably near the ocean. Much of the chrome is rusted, and the aluminum has that ugly crud on it. The exhaust and mufflers were rusted and funky, and I have painted them black. Unfortunately I didn't have the time before the run to dress them up, so they looked pretty ratty. The bike came with a rather unusual high backed seat that my wife loves. It was in need of re-upholstering but I couldn't afford it at the time so I bought a piece of lambs wool as a temporary fix. The lambswool is so comfortable, summer and winter, that I am now on my third one in three years. On trips I strap my back pack to the seat and it makes a comfortable back rest. With the Plexstar windshield and high pegs mounted on the case protectors, I can kick back and cruise at 80 for long stretches quite comfortably.
DragXS (Matt,) had two XS 11s on a trailer. He took the prize for best looking bike, hands down! He has a '80 special that he has invested mucho denero and many hours labor on chrome, anodizing, polishing, and custom paint. The real "piece de resistance" was the tail light. He has created a custom light out of LED's that spell out"XS 11" when the brake light is on, and lights up solidly when the brakes are applied.
How could he do all this, we all wondered? It seems that Matt is a single (there's a clue right there!) electronics Techie who has a job where he is on call and gets paid for a 40 hr. week, but frequently works less than that: so he spends his spare time and disposable income on his pride-and-joy. Right on Matt, you have your priorities figured out, and you are an inspiration to us all. Just be sure to get that bike where you want it before you get hitched. Take it from a married man.
To be continued.
Next: the Saturday ride.
Ah, yes... a quarter to 6, Ray and I are checking in to the Motel 6, ( fine, friendly, and dare I say lovely, customer service, I recommend them highly,) when in walks Jerry, and within minutes, Cody. Jerry, (AKA Jerry) it turns out, is a monitor and even perhaps, a founder of the XS 11 web site. Jerry rode to Tahoe from Colorado on an XJ 1100J Maxim, towing a camping trailer, and was the only member of our group who opted to stay at a nearby campsite rather than in a motel room.
I must digress here for a moment. Anyone who is married or who has had experience with our "better halves" is aware that if this had been a WOMEN'S group, we would know all about each others lives, probably in excruciatingly personal detail. But, since we are "dudes," (Californian for men,) the main thing that we know about each other is that we love The Ride in general, and The Ride on XS 11s in particular. All this to explain why I really don't know exactly what Jerry's contribution to this web site is. Sorry Jer.
Coy, (AKA Maximan,) road his full dress XS1100J all the way from Oklahoma, winning the honor of longest ride. Cody and I hit it off right away, both of us being expatriate Texans. Before long my somewhat diluted drawl was coming back full force.
After checking in we went next door to the restaurant and were escorted to a roomy table in the rear where we proceeded to order our meals and get to know each other. (See digression above.) After a while a young man who I judged to be in his late 20's came up to our table and asked if we were the XS 11 group. Other than my "XS Eleven" cap, no-one else was wearing anything visible to give away our affiliation. "Aye, lad!" said we, or words to that effect. After he spent a minuet or two with us we realized that he was the instigator of this event, DragXS himself!
At some point someone (I seem to remember it was Cody,) suggested we swap "spill" stories, so we took turns baring our biker soles with confessions of incompetence, stupidity, inattention, inebriation, or just plain bad luck. I seem to have taken the prize for most amusing/embarrassing, having combined all the above elements into one tale. (See my post in the members lounge. I will post my tale eventually, I promise!)
After a leisurely meal we went outside to examine each others iron. Jerry's XJ was outfitted with a fairing, Corbin saddle, and a rather interesting innovation: he had floorboards mounted on the case protectors so that he could lay his lower calf's on top of them rather than using them for his feet. It looked like it would be really comfortable. Besides that he had a trailer hitch attached to tow his trailer with all his camping gear. We never saw his complete assembled rig, since he had already made camp at a nearby park.
Cody was on an XS1100J. His was also faired and set up for the long haul. His interesting innovation was a plastic marine fuel container strapped to the luggage rack with a fuel line running to the "prime" hose on the gas petcock. I believe it was a 2 gallon "can" which gave him an increased range of around 80 to 100 miles!
DiverRay road an XS 11 standard with a half fairing. His bike is pretty stock and well preserved, but it was having a little problem that would have driven me nuts: 2nd gear was out on it!
Mine, I must say, was the "rat bike" of the group. It is actually in pretty good shape except that the two previous owners before me, who obviously didn't appreciate what they had, let it sit unprotected in the rain, probably near the ocean. Much of the chrome is rusted, and the aluminum has that ugly crud on it. The exhaust and mufflers were rusted and funky, and I have painted them black. Unfortunately I didn't have the time before the run to dress them up, so they looked pretty ratty. The bike came with a rather unusual high backed seat that my wife loves. It was in need of re-upholstering but I couldn't afford it at the time so I bought a piece of lambs wool as a temporary fix. The lambswool is so comfortable, summer and winter, that I am now on my third one in three years. On trips I strap my back pack to the seat and it makes a comfortable back rest. With the Plexstar windshield and high pegs mounted on the case protectors, I can kick back and cruise at 80 for long stretches quite comfortably.
DragXS (Matt,) had two XS 11s on a trailer. He took the prize for best looking bike, hands down! He has a '80 special that he has invested mucho denero and many hours labor on chrome, anodizing, polishing, and custom paint. The real "piece de resistance" was the tail light. He has created a custom light out of LED's that spell out"XS 11" when the brake light is on, and lights up solidly when the brakes are applied.
How could he do all this, we all wondered? It seems that Matt is a single (there's a clue right there!) electronics Techie who has a job where he is on call and gets paid for a 40 hr. week, but frequently works less than that: so he spends his spare time and disposable income on his pride-and-joy. Right on Matt, you have your priorities figured out, and you are an inspiration to us all. Just be sure to get that bike where you want it before you get hitched. Take it from a married man.
To be continued.
Next: the Saturday ride.
Just bought a 1980 Special that has been non oped for 9 years. My Skoot will rise from the ashes and be re named "The Phoenix!"