Gearing Up for a New Season

A picture is worth a thousand words, so the saying goes. Unfortunately, while my intentions are good, I didn’t snap enough photos at the New England Riders Meet and Greet this morning. True to my personality, my mouth started working more than my index finger did on the camera. Who could blame me? After a long winter, a parking lot full of motorcycles along with too much catching up to do, took over my good intentions. I’m just going to do what I always do; wait for Goldwing Bob to post up the photos. Then I’ll relive the day again.



GoldwingBob

What’s so interesting I can’t remember to take enough photos? Well, first there’s Dan. Dan rides a black 2007 1300 vStar tourer. To top that off, he pleased me to no end, telling me about riding the route I had published in RoadRunner. Of course, I had to walk over to check out the accessories on his vStar. While we stood there admiring his bike, we noticed parked right beside him a silver/grey 2007 vStar tourer. Well, we had to go find the owner. After some inquiry, we connected up with Steve.



Dan - Andy


The interesting part of this story, I thought, is that all three of us started out on 650 vStars. While this blog is not particularly about Yamaha vStars, I enjoyed a conversation with a couple of others who really appreciate how this model handles. All three of us wonder why the 1300 isn’t more popular. I then moved on to admire the rides of other members. One thing that is great about the New England Riders, is that it isn’t really about what you ride, just that you do. If you haven’t visited the forum yet, or joined us on a ride, you are only doing yourself a disservice.

One feature of the spring Meet and Greet is the invitation to bring used motorcycle gear to place on a “for sale” table. It’s a good way to move gear you no longer use. On my first go round I missed a couple of items I should have noticed. All was not lost however, as while I bemoaned the placement of my GPS, and expressed my wish for a RAM mount; another rider redirected my attention to the sale table. Low and behold, and at very good price, I came home with a mount I’ll have Andy affix to reposition the GPS unit at a more easily visible location.

To wrap up the event there is the raffle. Andy purchased three tickets and one turned out to be a winner. I selected a gift certificate from KSUMCGear. KSU might make you think “kick stands up” but really means “kinda sorta used” motorcycle gear. This donation to the raffle came from PhotoJim. All this time I thought his store was a photo shop! With the price of riding gear, how is it I missed this little bit of information about a shop that sells gently used gear? Now that I have the gift certificate, I’ll be taking a ride to Wakefield to inspect the shop. In the meantime, I’m checking things out at his website. If you are just getting started riding your own, or if this economy has you pinching pennies until Lincoln bellows, think about used gear and check out Jim’s store. While there, ask him about the Northshore Rimby he’s planning for May. Here’s a sampling in Jim’s own words. “Join us for a backroad, rustic, twisted, wooded tour to the beautiful seacoast of CAPE ANN.”

I’m IN!