Featured Rideout In The Age Of Covid, Dealership Trips Are The " New Rideout "

With no motorcycle trips on the calendar either last year or to date this year, (no) thanks to COVID dealership trips have become our new "motorcycle trips". Adaptation, right? Dealership trips are not altogether exciting when we go to our local Triumph or Harley-Davidson dealerships since they are a short five and ten miles from our house respectively. But yesterday Mr. Sandi and I and our buddy, RT, rode up to Superstition H-D in Apache Junction for the 1K service on my 2020 Low Rider S. I could have scheduled that at our Tucson dealership but I bought the bike at Superstition and their 1K cost if $100 less than our local dealer charges. Plus it was a good excuse for a rideout to our neighbors to the north. These days with the potential for lockdown looming (though our governor says he won't institute a lockdown again no matter how bad things get), we'll take any excuse for a ride.

Superstition H-D's service department is open on Sundays so I'd made an appointment for that day of the week knowing that they close at 4pm on Sundays which would get us back home before dark. They open at 10am which meant getting on the road to Apache Junction at 8:30am. So it was rather chilly when we hit the road and we had to really bundle up. The temperature when we left our garage was a cool 34ºF! Much of the ride to the Phoenix area is flat and straight with speeds around 80mph creating quite the "nice" wind chill. We were, however, very grateful for sunny skies and dry roads. I know that many of you right now, sadly, are are grounded with rain and snow. Edit: And Covid lockdowns and restrictions.




After dropping off my bike at service, we said hi to the folks we've gotten to know at Superstition then did a lap around the dealership. That's when we saw these two H-U-G-E trucks in the parking lot. We learned that the white one belongs to one of the sales managers and the black one belongs to one of Superstition's customers. Yikes! I figure they must have to use pogo sticks to get into them. The sales manager said he sort of jumps up and puts a foot on the front tire then pushes off to get into the cab. No thanks!


To give you some frame of reference, I'm 5'7" tall. I felt very small next to this monster! At least the saguaro cactus to the left was taller than "SKYRYDR"!



The black truck's "name" was EVLDISL. It took me a moment to translate this to Evil Diesel. I think this monster truck thing is a who 'nother sub-culture unto itself!


Our favorite lunch spot when we go to Superstition is Erickberto's which is only a half block down the street from the dealership. They have several outdoor picnic tables making for a lovely place to eat during COVID days. Every time we go there I order their breakfast burrito which is composed of scrambled eggs, cheese, and potatoes with some tomatillo salsa all rolled into an authentic huge tortilla and grilled to perfection. And it's only $5.95--a terrific deal for a delicious large and self-contained lunch. And the price leaves me more money to spend on motorcycle parts.


As I've mentioned in previous posts, Mr. Sandi's attention span in motorcycle dealerships is far shorter than is mine. I lost track of him at one point and finally found him out on a bench taking a post-prandial nap. He's very good at adapting. And he's a very patient husband.


Our buddy, RT, decided to join him for a little upright catnap. We did wake Mr. Sandi up but he promptly resumed his nap.


Continued in the next post...with actual motorcycle-related photos!

 

I took these photos when we arrived home around 5pm. We made it home before sunset fortunately because temperatures had already started to drop. Plus the main road home is pretty desolate and known for deer.

I had ordered a few parts that the tech installed--black gauge bezels and "Endgame" H-D grips, rider footpegs, and shifter peg. I'm planning to get Biltwell "Murdock" risers that are 2" taller than stock with a 2" or so pullback and will do that through our local dealership in the next couple of weeks or so. Then the mods to my Low Rider S should be complete for the most part. Famous last words..... The Whiplash Speed Co. seat on my bike was my birthday present from Mr. Sandi. That and a Kershaw pocket knife--two things every girl wants for her birthday.


The Endgame Collection hand grips. I just recently put these mirrors on this bike, too. They are Arlen Ness "Mini-Ovals".




The black bezels are a subtle but welcome touch as the stock bezels were a very plain jane "off" silver color that sort of detracted from the blacked out look of the console area.


So, I nice little rideout! The ride up and back for us is right around 200 miles. The additional mileage on the day was the tech's test ride after my service. Our rideout made for a nice little Sunday adventure on the bikes with a great burrito thrown in for good measure. Oh, and I bought a couple of shirts, a tank and a button up, in the motorclothes department with all that money I saved on lunch.

 

Nice one Sandi. I'm afraid even that's out for us at the moment, all non essential retail has to close

 

I'm really sorry to hear that, Smilinjack. But I'm not surprised. The UK's COVID and lockdown news has been in our local newspaper most every day recently. I think our numbers in Arizona are probably similar to those of the UK but, as I said, our governor has pledged to keep everything open though many are in disagreement with him including our County Health Department. He has completely shifted his focus to the vaccine. Even when we were on lockdown earlier in the year ( I guess that would be last year now), motorcycle dealerships found their way onto the "essential services" list.

 

It's hard to take chuck, no mistake. Bojo has just been on TV to announce another lockdown until at least Feb 15th. But here's the irony-I can, and no doubt will, drive 200 miles to the south coast to do a job of work among a group of complete strangers, in an area with a higher infection rate than my locale, but if I drive 20 miles up the road to walk in the hills with just my wife, in a lot of open space, I run the very real risk of a PCN. A ticket, in other words, up to £200. Feckin nuts......

 

That truly is nuts, Smilinjack.

 

I'll light a candle for you.....

 

Or the hubby..... Not Mr. Sandi, of course.

 

Nice pictures once again Sandi.
The blue skies make it seem much warmer than it probably is but still a big improvement on our usual grey "Tupperware" sky!
All our dealerships are now closed as Alan said, apart from servicing, so no excuse to visit I'm afraid.

 

Thanks, Steve. Yes, the blue skies are deceptive sometimes. The same thing can be true of cloudy skies in Tucson. It was look cold as the dickens until you step outside and start immediately sweating. I'm sorry to read that your dealerships are closed other than service but I'm not surprised. Every day there's something in our local newspaper about what's going on with the pandemic and lockdowns in the UK. It's amazing that the same thing isn't happening here honestly. This morning I was dismayed to read that Arizona has the highest infection rate per capita of anywhere in the WORLD! After learning that I'm not so inclined to hit dealerships although I do have an appointment to drop off my Street Glide for new pullback handlebars on Friday. I've been waiting on the bars for what seems like forever (COVID-related delays) and then trying to get on the service schedule for nearly as long. But I'll double mask, check in the bike, and hightail it out of there as quickly as I can.

 

Yes, be careful!

 

I mentioned getting a Kershaw pocket knife from Mr. Sandi for my birthday which is two days before Christmas. The funny thing is.....two good friends of ours also gave me a Kershaw pocket knife--same model even--for Christmas! Now I'm doubly prepared. For exactly what, I'm not sure. But I'll be ready.

Actually, I did use the black-bladed knife shortly after leaving Superstition H-D the other day. I saw about a block into our ride home that I'd failed to notice that my key fob was zip-tied to the brake lever area of my handlebars. So I motioned to Mr. Sandi to pull over into the next parking lot where I whipped out my new knife to take the fob off and put it in my pocket.

 

They both look well made. Always good to have a pocket knife handy when your out riding. Who hasn`t bought a set of gloves and then found out when they go out for ride the little cardboard labels etc are still attached

 

Since Covid was (and is) an issue in this thread, here is something, I am chewing on since this morning:
After reading an article on how disastrous the situation in L.A. hospitals is at the moment and how they cart of the deceased in trucks, I compared the stats of the USA with Germany...
...and was quite surprised to learn that the avg. death toll per 1 million inhabitants during the last 7 days is almost identical: 8,1.
That tells me, that probably in rural America, there are almost no victims, while in congested areas, like big cities, the reaper works overtime.

We are under hard lockdown since November. Our minister of health (Spahn) had some trouble with his ten fingers when calculating how many doses of the vaccine he should be ordering for his beloved people.
So the 8000 Hessians, that already have been needled, cannot get their required second shot...

Well, I am not fighting for first row when it comes to getting the vaccine. Someone lately told me that this makes me quite asocial because I wait and see what kind of side-effects the ones celebrate who queued up front.
I asked him to imagine a Lemming breaking out of the hordes to step aside at front of the cliff and check out, where everyone was going.
Asocial Lemming? I‘d call him cautious at worst but that‘s my personal 5 pennies...

But I should add that next to lockdown, I do not see my close friends anymore just because I tend to unravel in beserk-rant that no one wants to hear anyway. They are all very sensible Germans, you must know!

And I really don‘t know myself, why I cherish my freedom and my constitutional rights so much.
I should be grateful for the warm-hearted protection mama Merkel is offering us.

But enough of that.

Stay drunk, if you can!

 

Stay drunk, if you can!
I’m on it