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May 27, 2005

Back in the Saddle Again

As you may recall from my long motorcycle trip last month I was blowing headlight bulbs every week. When I changed the bulb in Burney, CA on my way back home I broke the clip that holds the bulb in the housing. To fix the clip I had to purchase the entire headlight housing, meaning the lense which costs $132. That part took 10 business days to arrive. When I went to install it I broke a piece of the frame that holds it to the bike. So I had to order a new $11 frame. Of course the part had to come all the way from Germany. Another 10 business days. So, there I was at 6:00pm sitting in my gas-guzzling 1967 Chevy C-10 on highway 85 in slow moving traffic watching the motorcycles whiz by in the carpool lane. Oh how I was yearning to ride again. Taking the truck to work added 30 minutes to my commute on the way home. I was getting cranky. Finally the headlight frame arrived and I got the bike all back together. I figured out that the bulbs were blowing because I had the adjuster screws too tight and the lense was hitting the frame when I went over bumps on the road. This shock to the hot filament caused them to break. It was a costly mistake because the PIAA H4 anti-vibration bulbs cost $45 a pop. My commute is much more enjoyable now and I feel alive again. Last week as I sat in my truck on the slow moving 85 I wondered why more people don't ride motorcycles to work. It just seems so stupid to drive a car when you can get there quicker, save on gas and have so much fun.

Posted by stephen at May 27, 2005 11:43 AM

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