Angi the Biker Chick

Wednesday, March 22, 2006
  It keeps going and going and going...
If you couldn't figure it out from the title, I will be installing my new battery. When last I left you my battery was charging up. I am happy to report that when I got home last night it was all charged up and ready to go.


So I set to work taking apart my bike seat to get to the battery. That is one thing I miss about my Vulcan, the seat had a seat lock. All I had to do was insert the key and pop off the seat. Instant access to my battery and wiring. No such luck on my Honda. I first have to remove the screw on the back of the pillion seat.


I then take off the pillion seat and have to unscrew the front seat.


Once both seats are off, I then have to get to the battery. Why do they need the cover on the battery case?


So off comes the battery cover. Can you see how tight everything looks in there? Well, it is. I tried for 10 minutes to pull out the old battery. I could not get a finger hold on it. The batter slips perfectly into its case with barely enough room for me to try and jam a screwdriver in along the sides in a vain attempt to try and leverage out the battery. I finally gave up and pulled it out with some vice-grips.



So out popped old battery and in goes the new! I attach the + and - terminals (always attach + first and - last!) and put everything back together again.

Just for kicks and grins, I attached the charger up to the old battery to see if any juice was sill in there. The charger actually started charging the old battery. I'll have to check on it tomorrow to see if it charges. So now I have a question. I know once you drain a battery you severly diminish the life of it. I also knew it was about time for a new one anyway, but what do I now do with the old? I guess I should take it to a car place or Mission Motorsport to dispose of it.

 
Monday, March 20, 2006
  Still not pleased (at least with me)
See, I had to go and complaine about the rain and the Motorcycle Gods, and now read what happens!

My usual parking situation goes as follows: Morning, I open my garage and set my lunch, coffee, and purse/bag on the hood of my car. I back out my motorcycle, grab my stuff from the front of the car and move it to the passenger seat, pull out my car, and re-park my motorcycle in the spot recently vacated by my car. Evening: I pull up alongside my garage and open it up. I back out my motorcycle, back in my car (Being VERY careful not to hit T’s motorcycle. His is the VTX 1300R parked in the back of the garage in the back right corner of the picture), and then drive my motorcycle into the small space right next to the front driver side of my car in my one-car garage.

So I get home Friday evening just after the clouds had opened up and let down a torrential downpour. I pull up to my garage and use my clicker to open it up, expecting to be able to just pull out my bike and back in my car. T’s bike is parked in the middle of the garage, so that must be moved first. I park my car in an empty stall and run inside to get T’s motorcycle keys. I get back to the garage and park his bike in the back corner. I then pull out my bike, back in my car, and pull in my bike. I close the garage and run for the house to get out of the rain.

I am stuck in the house all day Saturday waiting for the repair guy to fix my running, now leaking toilet. He finally arrives around 3:30, and by that time I begin to prepare dinner and end up staying inside all day. Sunday dawns clear but chilly. I decide to ride out to lunch somewhere. I get all my leather gear on and head out to the garage. I hadn’t been able to find my motorcycle key, but just assumed I had left it in my bike on Friday. I sometimes do this if I am in a hurry, but only when my motorcycle is parked in the locked garage. Sure enough, there they are, in the ignition, turned to the ON position! I had left my bike on when I ran out of the garage on Friday! I had drained my battery!

I had been having small battery problems; it would take a few tries and a couple of minutes for my bike to start if it hadn’t been run in the past 24 hours, but nothing serious. I figured I would just wait until I took my bike in for service before I would bother with replacing it. Instead fate (or the unhappy Motorcycle Gods) had interviened and I dropped $80.00 on Sunday for a new battery. The old one was so drained that when I attached it to a trickle charger, the thing didn’t even register that it was attached to something it could charge! The kind folks at Mission Motorsport filled up my battery and I took it home to charge. Hopefully it will be ready for me to install this evening when I get home!
 
Tuesday, March 14, 2006
  The Motorcycle Gods are not pleased
Someone or something has pissed off the Motorcycle Gods. They are not pleased with Southern California. It has been cold (yes, I know we Cali's are very spoiled, but 52*F seems cold to us!) and rainy here for the past week. Every time I think to myself, "I think I will go riding today," it rains. On the days I check the weather channel and it says rain, I diligently drive to work so as not to let my poor bike sit out in the pouring rain. Inevitably however, it doesn't rain, and I sit stuck in traffic cursing all the people who did ride that day (rain be damned!) and are zooming past me in the carpool lane.

Something must be done. I will have to think on this...
 
Tuesday, March 07, 2006
  Devil Dolls MC
I sent my membership request off to Devil Dolls today. While it looks like they are mostly a No. Cal group, I am hoping they have a few So. Cal riders.

Check them out here: West Coast Devil Dolls.

Can't wait to see if I can join!
 
  Helmet fun
I put this on my full face. From http://inbloomstickers.com/. You like-y?

 
Monday, March 06, 2006
  How to properly lube
1. Clean chain.

Before:










I didn't have any cleaner with me when I tried cleaning my chain for the 1st time. I attempted to spray the lube on the chain and use the lube as a cleaner. That didn't work to well. (See greasy rag mess above, and results of trying to clean lube with lube.) So I went out yesterday to get some bike cleaner and picked up a can of chain cleaner. The chain cleaner is sooo wonderful!

I sprayed it on and the greasy black lube-y mess just literaly melted off. I only had to do a few swipes with my cloth. It was a huge pain trying to clean the old lube off with nothing besides a plain old red auto rag.

After:


2. Re-lube chain.

Much easier to do once the chain starts out clean! You can see nifty lines on the asphalt where the lube dripped off the chain as I walked it back and forth while lubercating. Once this can runs out I will buy the chain wax and try that out.

 

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Name: AngiPants
Location: Orange County, CA, United States

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