I am the King

The other morning as I was getting ready to go to work I turned on the
weather channel and noticed that the current temp was 34 degrees. Time
for my cold weather riding gear as I still planned on riding my bike
to work. I went out to the carport and fired the bike and came back in
to get my gear. So out comes my black and orange genuine Harley
Davidson FXRG riding jacket (with Harley-Davidson in big letters
across the back) to which I put the cold weather liner in to before I
put it on. Then I put on my flip-face Harley full face helmet before I
slip my hands in to a pair of true Harley insulated leather gloves.
And what do I do next? I get on my 1981 Honda GL500 and ride to work.

So I am the King (of posers that is)!

At least it was a V-twin. Just a little sideways.

Ruppster

 

If I recall correctly.. that neat little bike has what they called a
Y-Twin.. Yuppers.. that's what they called it alright.. Just pulled out my
owner's manual for a 650 that was the same model.. different year.. Anyway..
34 degrees is plenty cold, ain't it ?

Bill Walker
Irving, Tx.

 

Time to show my ignorance I guess. <g> I have never heard them
referred to as Y-twins. They're just like a Moto Guzzi engine and I
have always heard them called V-twins too. Guess I will have to get
out the owners manual for mine and read it.

As far as being cold it wasn't too bad. With the liner in the FXRG
jacket I kept pretty warm. But then again after living in Alaska for 9
years doing maintenance on remote sites year round you learn the true
meaning of cold. <sf>

Ruppster
sportster at dodge-semis dot com

 

I got caught on the road one time.. in Brady, Tx. Visited with some old
friends until the middle of the night in shirtsleeves.. When I got up at my
usual early hour.. I bailed out to get something off the bike.. Geez.. one
of those blue northers had blown in and it was coming in strong.. You could
see the freeze line moving at you across the parking lot..

All I had with me was a light motorcycle jacket, no chaps or other
protection.. I did have a pair of good gloves.. I remembered one of my old
buddies telling about his solution to this kind of problem so I went to the
nearest convenience store.. Bought me a pair of Leggs pantyhose..and some
Saran wrap.. Sound kinky.. LMAO.. I sure felt foolish trying to put those
damn panty hose on.. How in hell do women do that.? Wrapped my whole body
in Saran wrap.. hit the road and I admit .. I could feel the cold, but it
was bearable and quite toasty compared to not having anything at all..

It was a long time ago, but my motorcycle was new and I sure was proud of
that thing.. First time I called it a V-Twin .. some old Biker quickly told
me that his Harley was a V-Twin and mine was a Y-Twin.. When I checked on
it, I found out that he knew what he was talking about.. <grin> Not
ignorant at all..

If you ever get caught out without your gear, you might want to try the
little trick above to get you down the road and out of the cold.. It works..

Bill Walker

 

Glad to see someone got a kick out of it. To add an additional irony
to my little story would be to mention what job I was going to. I am
the primary motorcycle mechanic for a Polaris/Victory dealership. I
used to work at a couple of Harley shops till I got fed up with their
bs and quit last year. The Polaris dealer hired me due to my knowledge
of Harley Evo engines since they also sell Swift and APC choppers with
S&S engines in them. Right now they are wrapping up the final wording
on a contract with Big Dog and with any luck we will be adding them to
our line-up next year. It's so strange test riding 2,000 cc bikes
during the day only to ride home on my little 500. Talk about feelings
of inadequacies. <g>

Ruppster

 

BILL WALKER wrote)
Bought me a pair of Leggs pantyhose..and some Saran wrap.. Sound kinky..
LMAO.. I sure felt foolish trying to put those damn panty hose on.. How
in hell do women do that.? Wrapped my whole body in Saran wrap.. hit the
road and I admit .. I could feel the cold, but it was bearable and quite
toasty compared to not having anything at all.. Bill)!

‘‘Bill W. I liked your bike tale to. Say, when I first joined
this illustrous, well read, and well mannered group, was there a photo
of you in them there panty hose, thangs,floating around. Did some
on'ery, no good, post that photo, in fun I'm sure?
(BJAY)!

'Ya'll take care'' --BJAY--

 

Ruppster posted a goodun)
‘‘The other morning as I was getting ready to go to work I
turned on the weather channel and noticed that the current temp was 34
degrees. Time for my cold weather riding gear as I still planned on
riding my bike to work. I went out to the carport and fired the bike and
came back in to get my gear. So out comes my black and orange genuine
Harley Davidson FXRG riding jacket (with Harley-Davidson in big letters
across the back) to which I put the cold weather liner in to before I
put it on. Then I put on my flip-face Harley full face helmet before I
slip my hands in to a pair of true Harley insulated leather gloves. And
what do I do next? I get on my 1981 Honda GL500 and ride to work.
So I am the King (of posers that is)!
At least it was a V-twin. Just a little sideways.
Ruppster

‘‘ Ruppster, that was a humorus, yet an interesting bike tale.
What I thought as I read it, that you finally finished overhauling that
ole' Harley, you been working on And, that's why we havent hurd from ya
lately Bub.
(Now my tale,wink!) Once we had to stop at a little Mom and pop store
on a hyway up int the Arkansas ozarks. It was raining and pretty cold. I
read about Bill W. wearing the panty hose, for warmth, of which I'd do
in a Texas Minute. But what we did was cut holes in those heavy duty
Leaf Bags, for our head and arms. Tied some on a bit of our legs, and it
really helped. I've still got those ole' photos . This was in late
spring, so it wasn't that cold. nothing like 32*, as you said. Did your
fellow workers at the shop kid ya some about the HD apparel?
(BJAY)!

 

Yeah, I've heard of that pantyhose trick before. My dad used to work
construction in Florida and it is a little trick some of his coworkers
used under their work jeans to help keep them warm when the temps
dropped. My dad was raised on a farm in Montana so the cold didn't bug
him as much.

As far as being caught out in the cold when on a bike one thing I
learned real quick in Alaska was the weather can change in a heartbeat
and you never went for a long ride without taking some sort of cool
weather gear with you. Even if it looked nice and sunny out at the
start I would always take a jacket and rain gear in a backpack. I
didn't care if some people thought you couldn't look cool on a bike if
you had a backpack on. I wasn't in it for the "image". Anyhow, one
thing I like about the jacket I have is that it is well vented and has
several zippers to open or close the vents depending on how hot or
cold it was. It was fun watching the guys that only had t-shirts or
vests on when we hit a mountain pass and the temps dropped 15 to 20
degrees and the rain started. All I had to do was reach up and close
the vents. Here is a pic of me wearing the jacket at a toy ride in
Miami, FL, when the temp was in the low 80's.

http://www.dodge-semis.com/harleys/ruppster.jpg

Here is why I have the Harley riding gear. This is one of the pics I
took of my '02 Sportster before I sold it last summer. I kept the
flags and the T-bag.

http://www.dodge-semis.com/harleys/DSC03321.JPG

Ruppster
sportster at dodge-semis dot com

 

The old bike that I am working on right now is a 1976 BMW R90/6 but
haven't done much to it in the last couple of months due to the ITT
classes (only 3 more quarters to go till I have that associates
degree). I no longer have a Harley as I had to sell it last year due
to not having time to ride it. It was sitting in the carport rotting
away so I decided it was best to part with it. Here's a pic of it just
before it went away:

http://www.dodge-semis.com/harleys/DSC03321.JPG

In the background is an old Kenworth cabover semi that I picked up as
a play toy (I have a commercial license too) that the base commander
made me get rid of at the beginning of this year. I used the money
from it to buy the BMW. I figured it was something small that could be
kept in the carport while I rebuilt it and wouldn't bother anyone (at
one point a neighbor had complained that my KW was a safety hazard for
the kids and even the LE gent that told me that didn't see it as a
problem). Last month I took the gas tank off the BMW to have it
resealed and now base housing is writing me up for having a non
running vehicle at my residence and that only light vehicle work is
allowed in housing. The base regs talk about car maintenance and they
are trying to apply the same rules to bikes. What's light work on a
bike is different from a car but they can't understand that. They also
wrote me up for lack of registration on my dirt bike which was parked
right next to the BMW. When I called them about it the next day and
pointed out it was a dirt bike the inspector didn't know what to do
about it and would have to call me back after he researched the
problem. It has been 10 days since then and I have yet to hear
anything back from them.

I've ridden with guys that keep a bag or two under their seat for such
an occasion. Much easier to stash on a bike then a rain suit. As far
as my coworkers go they know I have been trying to get a Victory
jacket through the dealership I work for but have not found a supplier
willing to kill the needed amount of cows for the leather to make it
big enough to fit me. They keep saying something about being afraid of
a lawsuit from PETA. <g> I have worn the Harley jacket while test
riding some of the custom choppers (but not while riding a Victory)
and the boss hasn't yelled at me yet.

Ruppster

 

After that little episode in Brady, Tx. I got caught almost the same way on
a trip to California.. Only that time, I was in New Mexico and it was dead
winter, anyway and I had lots of gear.. It was just damned cold ..<chuckle>
I'd been just a bit hesitant to mention to anyone that when the temperature
was that cold, I might be subject to putting on some women's pantyhose.

Sheesh.. when I finally did let it slip to a bunch of old weather hands.. I
was a little surprised to find out that a whole bunch of guys had been
wearing those things for a long time.. lol... I should have known that,
since it was a biker that told me about it.. Cheers

Bill Walker
Irving

 

These guys talking about wearing those trash bags, reminds of a trip from
Dallas to Texarkana.. The weather was pretty cold and spitting rain, but I
was geared out pretty good.. I ran through Sulphur Springs and really
cranked 'er up .. I ran up on another motorcycle.. When I started getting
close enough to notice such things, couldn't help but think to myself..
"this is one big dude".. When I got closer, I realized he was wearing
plastic trash bags, lol.. The wind had blown those things up like ballons..
He looked like a blimp..

We stopped at the rest stop just west of Mt.Pleasant and shared a good laugh
over when I described the sight to him over a good cup of coffee out of my
thermos.. Nice guy and he didn't give a damn how he looked as long as he was
warm..

Bill Walker

 

‘‘Bjay,The old bike that I am working on right now is a 1976
BMW R90/6 but haven't done much to it in the last couple of months due
to the ITT classes (only 3 more quarters to go till I have that
associates degree). RUPPSTER)!

‘‘Sorry about my confusion with what old bike you are
remodling, etc. it is probably my ''someTimers'' acting up''BJay)!

 

‘‘JC,These guys talking about wearing those trash bags, reminds
of a trip from Dallas to Texarkana.. The weather was pretty cold and
spitting rain, but I was geared out pretty good.. I ran through Sulphur
Springs and really cranked 'er up BILLWALker)!

‘‘Bill, I believe it was just me, talking about doning trash
bags, me and ole Big Tony. Yes, we couldnt ride much over 40mph, having
to hold 'em down, from wrapping around our faces. But up in arkansas, we
didnt care'' BJAY)!

 

''JC,These guys talking about wearing those trash bags, reminds
of a trip from Dallas to Texarkana.. The weather was pretty cold and
spitting rain, but I was geared out pretty good.. I ran through Sulphur
Springs and really cranked 'er up BILLWALker)!

''Bill, I believe it was just me, talking about doning trash
bags, me and ole Big Tony. Yes, we couldnt ride much over 40mph, having
to hold 'em down, from wrapping around our faces. But up in arkansas, we
didnt care'' BJAY)!

<chuckle> Sure wouldn't want to leave you out of anything.. Reread my
post.. it was directed to JailCall for a reason.. Read it a few times and
you just might get the idea..

 

‘‘JC,These guys talking about wearing those trash bags, reminds
of a trip from Dallas to Texarkana.. The weather was pretty cold and
spitting rain, but I was geared out pretty good.. I ran through Sulphur
Springs and really cranked 'er up BILLWALker)!
              ''Bill, I believe it was just
me, talking about doning trash bags, me and ole Big Tony. Yes, we
couldnt ride much over 40mph, having to hold 'em down, from wrapping
around our faces. But up in arkansas, we didnt care''   BJAY)!


<chuckle>BJAY< Sure wouldn't want to leave you out of anything.. Reread
my post.. it was directed to JailCall for a reason.. Read it a few times
and you just might get the idea..’’BILLWAlker)!

‘‘BILLW. that's awright. I just wanted to get my due credit
about the great innovated idea of wearing the Large Leaf Bags for rain
gear, I certainly gave you the credit, for your tale about wearing panty
hose, for warmth, on this threaline. I thought your bike tale was
interesting and somewhat amusing. no big deal’’ BJAY)!