Monday, August 13, 2007

One week

One week to go.

I had a very productive weekend. Saturday I put the bike on the trailer and went up to Max's in New Hampshire for a final service. Two new tires a set of new tires on the spare wheels, switch to synthetic oil, new brake pads all around and I am good to go.

Sunday I spent the day alone in the garage and took all the body panels off so I could run a few comm wires and tidy up the autocom installation we did last week.

I think I am going to be very happy with the Autocom. A dark cloud / silver lining sort of situation developed as apparently the Garmin 2820 has issues with the stereo jack so Autocom highly recommends (in fact their cords demand) using the mono audio out incorporated into the power cord. I rode home from the installation using XM in mono and I thought it would work *ok* but when I got home I plugged in my I-Pod and unleashed the stereo potential of the new system. Rather than purchase a new XM receiver I went with Sirius because I think they have better music and they are introducing a Grateful Dead channel. (you can stop rolling your eyes now)

So I have the Sirius ready to go save a mount, other than this the bike is ready. I am getting down to the little details, earlier today I swung by a Kinkos to get a checklist page laminated. This will go inside the lid of the document box as a little reminder when getting fuel or bonus points.

So the big issues are all sorted out. All of my new Boxers have at some point before 16,000 miles transformed themselves seemingly overnight from a new motor to something perfectly run in and sorted out. With this bike the motor fairy visited about a week and a half ago or right around 10,000 miles. Oil consumption is nill, range is up and when asked the bike gets up like a scalded cat. The police model has a different final drive with a lower ratio which improves acceleration at the expense of economy at cruising speeds. I am happy with the ability to do low speed maneuvers with ease, the wonderful roll-on power and the fact that I am getting over 40mpg.

So with two more days before I leave for St. Louis I feel pretty good and I am getting excited.

Let's GO!