First stop was to Spat and Cookie's place in Lakewood where he showed me how to remove the bench seat from my Patrol. Yes, I had to ask, I'd failed to spot the nut which secures the front of the seat onto the motorcycle. After a bit of chatting about the motorcycles, their dog and upcoming plans, it was time to head south.
Morrison Road led me to one of my favorite ride destinations, Red Rocks Park. The place was packed with cagers and bicyclists as the weather was quite warm today. I even met a fellow examiner, Ray, his byline is as Classic Motorcycle Examiner. He was riding a gorgeous Phantom Black 2011 Triumph Street Triple R that he rescued after it was "totaled".
Valencia near Creation Rock
The crowds precluded much photography on my part. I left Red Rocks Park and continued heading over to another fellow Uralista's place. Craig H. has been instrumental in the conversion of Yoshie, my V-Strom Sidecar Rig to using car tires and is a highly experienced Ural driver and fellow rider.
There was more chatting about our rigs, he pointed out some things to watch for...showed me a good technique to learn in terms of engaging and disengaging the 2WD on my Patrol.
After taking up too much of Craig's time with my questions, I went on with my "showing off Valencia" tour by riding over to Oscar's house which was pretty close to Craig's house. You may remember Oscar, he's rescued my rigs several times in the past, and his mechanical skills and tools have always been readily offered and accepted by me.
Oscar and Janet, Oscar didn't believe a big guy like him would fit in
the sidecar, I corrected that belief.
After visiting with Oscar and Janet, I left to take a picture of a sign at the intersection where I was hit on the 24th of February. The driver of the Corolla, aka Fat Cow, really was oblivious to everything that morning, to include blowing past the sign that said: No left turn at next intersection!
The above is looking south, the lane closest to the curb is governed
not by the stop lights but by the sign by the crosswalk.
Using the silver car above as an example; the Corolla which hit me
was in same position when I spotted it.
So basically, she not only ignored the "no left turn" sign, didn't look to see if she was clear and just went to cross over the solid white line and three lanes, ending up side-swiping me. Nice huh?
I think I'll email these pictures to her insurance representative, to help them finalize their "investigation". As it is, I somehow managed to retrieve the police report faster than the insurance reps, and ended up sending same to them.
Anyways, enough of that.
I have managed to rack up over 300 Km since I picked up Valencia from the dealer yesterday. She only had 39 Km on her odometer when I became her owner. So, I'm a fifth of the way to ride her past her 1500 Km engine break-in period.
Everyone seemed to like Valencia's looks very much, it was interesting as they pointed up the differences and upgrades between their Ural's and mine.
11 comments:
I've been busy and am now catching up. Wow! You've been busy. Congratulations on the new Ural. The local dealer here had an orange one. I liked the looks of it. And, while we both know many cagers wouldn't see it if was covered in strobe lights, still what can having a "can you see me now," rig hurt?
I hope you have many wonderful miles with Valencia!
The orange rig definitely enhances the already beautiful landscape. I bet you will have put the first 1,500km behind you in no time, or make that one week.
Dom,
She sure is a beauty! The contrast of the orange with the silver chrome and black seats is very striking. You've certainly got yourself a first class machine there.
And I ditto what Sonja said: "the orange definitely enhances the beautiful landscape". She is very photogenic and will look great in all your photographs.
Happy Trails to both you and Valencia.
Laura
Hey Dom!
Holy moley, I didn't think I'd missed so much progress, it's cold and raining in the hinterland, so I figured this whole situation on your end would take you as long as it takes me to get things done. Boy, was I wrong.
First and foremost, that's a sexy bike. The orange is fantastic, and probably visible as hell, but mostly just sexy. The last orange machine was a 70cc that looked like something extracted from a hankerchif. Valencia is way cooler, and it looks like you're continuing the global naming theme, also cool.
How does it stack up to the other Ural in your life? (Well, the former, I don't honestly remember the year of that machine, shame on me) How's the build quality compared to the other? Got heavy duty gear on this (dry clutch/shaft drive on this?)
I also want to commend you on your massive balls on two fronts - the insurance company and how quick you were able to return to riding. I'm impressed.
I think your posting has me all jazzed up. Too much excitement there man, a lot of great news from your way. Good luck with the snow, keep safe!
Brady
Behind Bars - Motorcycles and Life
Circle Blue: yeah things moved fast last week. I plan to ride as unhittable as possible but yeah, the color can't hurt in terms of being seen perhaps. Thanks for the kind words and wishes.
SonjaM...she does stand out doesn't she?
Laura and Andy, you're probably wondering what kind of drugs I've got Martha doing for her to come up with this idea eh? :) Thanks for the kind words and wishes as well.
Brady...we here in the great state of Colorado don't move slow when it comes to going deeper into debt! :)
My old Ural rig was a '96 Sportsman, fulltime 2WD as opposed to Valencia's part-time 2WD. The fulltime 2WD was great on pavement in terms of relieving sidecar yawing motions but fulltime 2WD is better when one is stuck. Build quality appears better, real steel fasteners as opposed to pot metal ones on the '96. Check out the list of improvements for 2011 Patrols in the previous post, it's lengthy and very extensive.
There's no more crashing gear noises when shifting, just a satisfyingly deep "klunk". Both years had dry clutch and probably same FD but newer FW has better fasteners apparently. The old ones had a habit of "coming loose" inside the FD, not a good thing as you might imagine.
Once you guys return to the States, Kansas ain't that far away.....the mountains beckon....
Dom:
You certainly move fast in CO. I was thinking of replacing my car, then I went to two motorcycle shows to see what I would like to upgrade to, and still no decisions. It think the decision is to make no decision;
Valencia is a great colour, contrasts with your scenery, and easily spotted from the air, should you ever need to be found.
bob
Riding the Wet Coast
Valencia is a right smashing rig! I can see why people love their Urals. If only I could talk the hubs into one, I think it might be in moto heaven if that happened. Loving Valencia's color.
I love the bike and congrats!!
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