Good Ride Today

[Pig9r]

Tom, Pianoman and I met up today to put a few miles on the Rockets. It was a nice hot, sunny and humid day. Pianoman led us on a good ride south of Kansas City, which included a stop at the boyhood home of Pianoman. (I think it is on the registry of National Historic Landmarks) When it came time to part ways, Pianoman headed back west and Tom and I headed east.

As we were riding back home I indicated to Tom I needed to stop for some gas. So we stopped at the next 'crossroads' where there was a little country mart and gas station. I had just finished gassing up when two HD's with about the loudest exhausts I have heard in a long time took off. And they were really getting after it. But what was funny was that they didn't appear to be moving hardly at all. Tom and I got a good laugh and commented about how nicely those machines are at making noise. We talked for a few more minutes and left in the same direction as the HD's.

After about 5 minutes I spotted the HD's ahead of us on the horizon. So we picked up the pace a little bit to catch up and give them a little taste of Triumph. We had two lanes going our direction, the HD's were in the right lane, we were in the left. As we approached one of the HD guys got over in our lane almost like he was attempting to block us. The other guy stayed in the right lane. We slowed a bit to see what they were going to do but they stayed one in each lane. Tom gassed it and split the difference. He passed them both like they were standing still. I soon followed. They didn't even attempt to run with us.

As we got closer to the next highway interchange and into some stoplights the HD's were behind us in traffic. At the next stoplight they right behind us and were really revving them up now. The people in the cars around us were looking back at them like "what the hell?!?!" When the light turned they really went after it or at least it sounded like it. When I took off I gassed it causing me to ride a short wheelie. Tom gunned it and gave them some wheel spin. We hit another red light right away. Looking in my mirrors I could see them shaking their heads in disbelief. We made the turn through the intersection to the entrance ramp for the next highway and they were behind us. By the time we hit the end of the entrance ramp and was onto the highway they were little specks in my mirrors.

I could think of a better way to end a good ride.

 

[Toystoretom]

Brian is being a little polite with his description. These two guys were being pricks. When we were at the gas station they sat at that intersection way longer than neccessary gunning their engines just to taunt us. We had the same thing happen with Harley riders just a while back in Sedalia but we just ignored them. What was so funny was we sat at the gas station for at least another minute talking when we decided to see if we could catch them, so they had one hell of a head start. It didn't take us but a few minutes to catch them and the one guy decides he's going to do a little lane blocking, which is when they found out how well Rockets handle. It was just a little bit of pure unsafe fun....

Hats off to PianoMan for a nice ride. For once we didn't have to ride for hours just to find some nice roads. We saw all sorts of different bikes and I do believe everyone of them waved at us. Only the two morons at the end of the day messed things up.

Its a wonder I don't crash and burn anyway... I spend more time snooping to see what treasures there are out in the country side. I did spot about a 1970 'Cuda, and several other older "projects". I noticed that there were several large pickups and Blazers for sale... fairly cheap. A sign of the times.

 

[wilbur-t]

two HD's with about the loudest exhausts I have heard in a long time

You have to compensate for a lack of performance somehow! It's kind of like a Hog-nosed Snake rearing up and acting like a Cobra. If you really press him, he'll fall over and play dead!

It was just a little bit of pure unsafe fun

A friend of mine who lives and breathes Harley had pulled up to a three-way intersection the other day in his work truck. He had the stop sign and had to wait while I turned in front of him on the R3. I went by the front of his truck with my left peg draggin', my left arm in the air waving at him, and my right hand twistin' the throttle! Couldn't help but think , "I'd like to see you try that on your hog."

Sounds like you two upheld the family honor in fine style!

 

[Jamie]

Supercilious HD riders

I'll spare the readership yet another listing of the typical HD riders' platitudes about the Rocket III. But there's a new one in the air, albeit along the well-rehearsed Rocket's "unfair displacement adavantage" (sic) grievance and that is HD's upcoming 2.3 or .4 liter V Twin. The few -supposedly informed- HD riders who still talk to me say it'll smoke the Rocket. I reply: the only thing it'll blow for sure is the eventual trade-in value of your current (other expletives charitably ommitted) HD mount.

Which usually ends the conversation.

And off they go, disdainful faces, louder pipes, more prominent tattoes and HD lingerie galore

 

[Toystoretom]

I hope they do come up with a larger motor, its just too bad they had to be pushed into doing it. They are at a real disadvantage now, they have to play catch up. I am certain that Triumph is learning all sorts of things about large displacement cruisers that will be incorporated into the new models. Harley is going to have to go with some exotic (read unreliable) stuff to make a large displacement V Twin perform like a multi. After awhile.. a huge (1200 cc) cylinder is no longer as efficient as a 500 to 800 cc cylinder. It will have to have a fairly soft compression ratio with no room for error. Do you remember the old single cylinder Panthers? Huge (for the day) 600 cc singles? They earned the nickname "The big *****" and while they made good sidecar bikes they had absolutely no sporting intentions whatsoever. Harley will also be saddled with high build costs due to having two heads to cast... ect. Harley engines are very costly to build the way it is... this new one will be off the charts.

In the meantime we will embarrass the HD's that are out there. Everyone talks about 120 cubic inch aftermarket motors that will run with the Rocket... I have never run across any of those. They must all be at bike shows. Heck... we hardley ever run across any V Rods. Really... we just want to ride and be left alone. I am afraid this taunting business is a trend that will continue...

 

[PianoMan]

One of my buddies

Never let it be muttered that we Triumph folk aren't willing to ride with anyone who is willing to be polite, courteous and thinks super loud pipes are for "Weenies".

A dear friend I've known for over 50 years has an older HD Road King. His pipes are gentle sounding, he rides with respect for the road and other riders and I enjoy his company. After beating Cancer on two seperate occasions, we believe he is free and clear. To celebrate, I got him an Autocom so we could communicate between bikes. We went to the local HD dealer and asked if they could install it for him. ( I figured they knew the wiring for their bikes better than anyone). The response was basically ......" We don't do that after market stuff ". I asked if they sold their own brand and was almost laughed out of the Parts/Service dept.

"Don't any HD riders use intercom and transceivers? ", I asked. They responded with, " Well, we used to carry Chatter Box but decided to drop the line". I asked for the service manager's name and number. Later that day I called and talked with him. After a bit of questioning........he gave in and said there would probably be one of the older mechanics who would know how to install it. ( 1- Red Wire/ 1 Black Wire ). I told him if they had trouble putting in the microphone for the helmet to give it back and my Triumph guys have already offered to help him get it installed correctly. That's a big difference between HD and Triumph people. (UPDATE) The HD dealership backed out of the installation and guess what........ Norm and the crew at Engle Motors have offered their services to get him up and running. Look in the dictionary under "Dealership Etiquette" and you'll probably find a Triumph Dealer.

I guess most HD riders just use hand signals everytime they want to communicate. I know one hand jesture I've made them use and I normally see it in my rear view mirror. Like the old adage says, " It takes 42 muscles to frown......it takes 3 to raise the middle finger and yell BITE ME".

Over and Out!