andy
Mar 13th, 2006, 11:50 am
For the impatient:
Start: Sacramento, CA
End: Houston, TX
Miles traveled: 2600
Coldest Temp: 29F (snowfall)
Warmest Temp: 85F
For all the others, here goes:
As some of you may already know the dealer(s) here in Houston were not really willing to deal with us when we were ready to buy our new LT, and since I always was a fan of supporting our supporting dealers we bought our new LT in Sacramento from our esteemed TedHudson from A&S. Got the right price, the right treatment and so agreed with a virtual handshake.
Then last Tuesday the time had come to go and pick it up. I knew already pretty exactly HOW I wanted the setup of the bike to be, what goodies and add-ons I'd like to have and what the "must have's" are. So most of it was ordered in advance, and either taken with us to CA in order to be mounted right there on the spot, or ordered with Raffy, and he hand delivered (and mounted) some others.
The whole process of actually buying the bike was done and over with in a little over an hour, quick and painless. And then in the evening of the same day we had the opportunity to meet with some of the NorCal posse (again), which we really enjoyed.
I knew already that the stock seat would have to go, and after riding on it for three hours I was ABSOLUTELY sure. So, the next morning we headed up north to Anderson where we had an appointment with Rick Mayer to make a new seat for us. As usual, Rick did a terrific job, and there is no more monkey butt even after riding all day long. Thanks Rick! All I can say to everyone still with the stock seat: If you plan or do rides where you are in the saddle for longer than 1 hour and weigh more than 180lbs: Don't walk, RUN to your phone and make arrangements to have your stock seat overhauled by Rick Mayer. These are the $800 you will most likely never regret you spent!
Spent the night up in northern California, and had the chance to first time encounter the new lights, especially the new factory HID. Wow! While the stock lights on our old 2001 were useless, the stock lights (low beam) leave nothing open. Terrific output, perfect pattern, and BIGHT. Now the high bean is a different story. The biggest problem the high beam has that you can either set up for solo or 2 up operation, but as it seems you can;t change that on the fly, as you can with the low beam. That meant that our high beam was HIGH, lighting up the treetops. Oh, well, I'll find a different solution there in time.
Then on Thursday morning, bright and early we were on our way back to Sacramento to get our first service done, so that we can get on the road. On the way to south the Sacramento I got my first performance award. Supposedly 84 in a 70 zone. What struck me very odd though was that despite the fact that all of our paperwork was in order, this CHP officer kept asking up to and including our Soc. Sec. numbers. Mine, as well as my wifes!!! I'm not quite sure what that is about, and I am even less sure if he was still within his rights in asking the passenger for ID and both of us for our social security numbers. Maybe one of our LEO members can enlighten me on that?
That out of the way, we got our first service done, and my wife goes wandering through A&S clothing department. I knew HOW this is gonna end, but what can I do? So, $900 later, and I have to say the two suits we bought did a good job. we are finally on our way home.
While going south on 99 we were watching the weather all the time, and while we were not cold (electric gear) Lanette got more and more nervous as we approached Tahachapie pass. And sure enough, on the incline to the pass we got snow. We were lucky though in the fact that it must have just started to snow when we arrived there, as it did not yet stay on the road. Needless to say that all of the cars and trucks I was passing earlier passed me after the snow started, but I had no inclination laying the bike down on the third day of ownership. We finally made it though the pass and to a hotel in Mohave, CA.
Initially we had planned to visit a friend of ours in Albuquerque, NM but that would have put us on I40 across the dessert, and even worse up to 7000 feet and Flagstaff got lots of snow. So we cancelled that route and turned south instead to pick up I10 in the San Bernadino Valley. Still a few dry snow flakes every now and then, but as we left CA (and the altitude) the weather got gradually warmer and warmer and when we hit Phoenix it was already in the 60's
The next two days were pretty dull, just I10 across AZ, NM and TX. Only the last part of the trip was interesting again, when we turned off of I10 to take 290 instead and stopped in Fredricksburg for lunch. We decided that with a German bike it might be nice to have a weekend meeting in a town with a strong German background. I think we will organize that in the near future. Stay tuned.
Start: Sacramento, CA
End: Houston, TX
Miles traveled: 2600
Coldest Temp: 29F (snowfall)
Warmest Temp: 85F
For all the others, here goes:
As some of you may already know the dealer(s) here in Houston were not really willing to deal with us when we were ready to buy our new LT, and since I always was a fan of supporting our supporting dealers we bought our new LT in Sacramento from our esteemed TedHudson from A&S. Got the right price, the right treatment and so agreed with a virtual handshake.
Then last Tuesday the time had come to go and pick it up. I knew already pretty exactly HOW I wanted the setup of the bike to be, what goodies and add-ons I'd like to have and what the "must have's" are. So most of it was ordered in advance, and either taken with us to CA in order to be mounted right there on the spot, or ordered with Raffy, and he hand delivered (and mounted) some others.
The whole process of actually buying the bike was done and over with in a little over an hour, quick and painless. And then in the evening of the same day we had the opportunity to meet with some of the NorCal posse (again), which we really enjoyed.
I knew already that the stock seat would have to go, and after riding on it for three hours I was ABSOLUTELY sure. So, the next morning we headed up north to Anderson where we had an appointment with Rick Mayer to make a new seat for us. As usual, Rick did a terrific job, and there is no more monkey butt even after riding all day long. Thanks Rick! All I can say to everyone still with the stock seat: If you plan or do rides where you are in the saddle for longer than 1 hour and weigh more than 180lbs: Don't walk, RUN to your phone and make arrangements to have your stock seat overhauled by Rick Mayer. These are the $800 you will most likely never regret you spent!
Spent the night up in northern California, and had the chance to first time encounter the new lights, especially the new factory HID. Wow! While the stock lights on our old 2001 were useless, the stock lights (low beam) leave nothing open. Terrific output, perfect pattern, and BIGHT. Now the high bean is a different story. The biggest problem the high beam has that you can either set up for solo or 2 up operation, but as it seems you can;t change that on the fly, as you can with the low beam. That meant that our high beam was HIGH, lighting up the treetops. Oh, well, I'll find a different solution there in time.
Then on Thursday morning, bright and early we were on our way back to Sacramento to get our first service done, so that we can get on the road. On the way to south the Sacramento I got my first performance award. Supposedly 84 in a 70 zone. What struck me very odd though was that despite the fact that all of our paperwork was in order, this CHP officer kept asking up to and including our Soc. Sec. numbers. Mine, as well as my wifes!!! I'm not quite sure what that is about, and I am even less sure if he was still within his rights in asking the passenger for ID and both of us for our social security numbers. Maybe one of our LEO members can enlighten me on that?
That out of the way, we got our first service done, and my wife goes wandering through A&S clothing department. I knew HOW this is gonna end, but what can I do? So, $900 later, and I have to say the two suits we bought did a good job. we are finally on our way home.
While going south on 99 we were watching the weather all the time, and while we were not cold (electric gear) Lanette got more and more nervous as we approached Tahachapie pass. And sure enough, on the incline to the pass we got snow. We were lucky though in the fact that it must have just started to snow when we arrived there, as it did not yet stay on the road. Needless to say that all of the cars and trucks I was passing earlier passed me after the snow started, but I had no inclination laying the bike down on the third day of ownership. We finally made it though the pass and to a hotel in Mohave, CA.
Initially we had planned to visit a friend of ours in Albuquerque, NM but that would have put us on I40 across the dessert, and even worse up to 7000 feet and Flagstaff got lots of snow. So we cancelled that route and turned south instead to pick up I10 in the San Bernadino Valley. Still a few dry snow flakes every now and then, but as we left CA (and the altitude) the weather got gradually warmer and warmer and when we hit Phoenix it was already in the 60's
The next two days were pretty dull, just I10 across AZ, NM and TX. Only the last part of the trip was interesting again, when we turned off of I10 to take 290 instead and stopped in Fredricksburg for lunch. We decided that with a German bike it might be nice to have a weekend meeting in a town with a strong German background. I think we will organize that in the near future. Stay tuned.