Traxxion Mod

I decided to do the full Monty Traxxion Mod to my 'Wing. I called around and JBK Cycles in Santa Ana, CA seemed to be the best place to have it done.

I was pretty skeptical going in that it would make a big difference but I figured it couldn't hurt and worse case I would end up with a $3000 head bearing change, which the bike needed anyway. As a good friend likes to point out I'm not overly fond of my money anyway so what the heck....sounded like a good deal to me.

The ride home from L.A. after the Mod was installed was all on the Slab and a little anticlimactic, the bike rode a little "plusher", tracked a little better, but all in all not a $3000 improvement, oh well, I've thrown more money than that away before.

Last Sunday I had time to run US 191 from Morenci to Alpine (did the Tucson-Alpine-Show Low-Tucson loop...a little over 500 miles of mostly good motorcycle road). I didn't time the Morenci to Alpine portion but the whole ride took just under 10 hours. All I can say is the Traxxion mod was worth every penny. For the first time running US 191 I did not drag any of the hard parts, not on the 1st gear hairpins or the medium and/or high speed sweepers and I was riding as fast as is prudent on a public road, well maybe just a little faster than prudent. Once the chassis was stable the bike was rock solid and road imperfections had little effect, I was able to roll on power earlier because I could trust the bike to hold what ever line I set. There were no bar shakes or wobbles, the bike felt wonderful, it is still a 900 lb. bike but damn it will eat the road. I don't think the Harley guy at work believed me when he asked how the ride was and I told him I did the loop in under 10 hours.

I had one interesting situation, coming around one of the blind high speed sweepers, just as I was rolling power in for the exit, I found a car in my lane backing up. I haven't a clue why, he just did it. I grabbed a hand full of brake and put the ABS to test, BTW ABS is worth every penny as well.

The IBA rally is going on as I type. It is held every two years, I plan on doing the next one, 11,000 miles in 11 days, it should be a hoot.

Road Trip

I love to hear those words. Long story short.....a buddy of mine (lives in Granbury, TX) called last Thursday and said "I can get away for a few days, would you like to meet up some place and ride around"? I scrambled around at work changing schedules and was able to put 5 days off together, Friday, the weekend and Monday-Tuesday. Next was deciding where to meet and where to ride. Well I had heard stories that Sturgis, SD was going to have a big T-shirt sale over the time I had off....sounded like a good place to go, so done deal. We picked Ruton, NM as a good meet-up point, from there it was a easy stroll up I-25 and then east to Sturgis.

We pulled into Sturgis late afternoon Saturday. We bought a couple of T-shirts, BTW while the selection was good they lied about 'em being on sale , and had a good hamburger in the "Knuckle" before calling it a day.

Sunday, we did the tourist thing and rode around the Black Hills with a few thousand of our best riding buddies and then late afternoon headed south to Lusk, WY for a RON. Today we will ride to Las Vegas, NM for another RON, my Texas buddies will split off from there and I will ride to Tucson Tuesday.

My buddy and I traded bikes a couple of times, his is one of HD's with batwing fairings, all I can say is my hat is off to him, 2600 miles on that shaking POS and I wouldn't be able to walk.

BTW, someone once said 'there are no bad roads out of Sturgis", I believe him.