Don't really know what refried beans are but they sound like something that was cooked yesterday and not eaten
Refried beans are delicious, @Dawsy. They are a staple of Mexican food around here and are true "comfort food". Especially with melted cheese on top.
Thanks, @Bikerman. I hope you get some sun soon. I appreciate your positive comment about my bike--it being a Harley and this being a Triumph forum, and all. I personally think it looks even better in person. Especially now that my front fender is repaired and repainted. And now that I've managed to pry all the dead bugs off of it!
After 18 months of restoration on 1980 Honda 750-4, it had been standing outside for 20 years, I got the tank back yesterday fully restored and painted, I've totally restored this machine top to bottom, my Trident will get the same treatment
Yes of course, you can see the state it was in, I was told when I bought it, not to waste my money, my money, my choice. I had the chrome done by Silchrome, the seat by a guy in Wisbech, the carbs stripped and rebuilt and tuned, I did the mechanics if you like
Not mine, but seen this when my Thruxton was in for the suspension setup at Ian Mackman's. Lovely example of this iconic bike
When you look at bikes like this, from the same era, with their skinny front forks, dubious brakes, excess weight and comparatively modest power outputs it makes you wonder why we all lusted after them back in the day!
This morning Mr. Sandi and I met up on the bikes with Leila and Lee, a wonderful couple that we've been trying to schedule a ride for months. Leila is not only a friend and riding buddy, she's our boss. Well, she's only Mr. Sandi's boss for two more days because after that he will be officially retired! And Lee was a motorcycle police officer for about 10 years some years back. They both ride Harleys--Leila a Sportster and Lee an Ultra. Leila loves my Fat Boy and wants to get one next year so, in her "honor", (and so she could sit on it) I rode El Gordo today. In addition to the four of us, Lee had invited a work colleague who moved to Tucson from Chicago recently. He loves to ride but hasn't really connected with a riding group or some riding buddies so....who knows?! Mammoth, AZ was on Leila and Lee's short list so we headed there for breakfast/brunch at Mi Pueblito. Mr. Sandi and I had just ridden there last Sunday, but we enjoy both the ride and the food so much that we were happy to make that our destination today. Lee's colleague hasn't even been here long enough to know his way around, Steve and I arrived a bit early at the appointed gas station and while we waited for our riding buddies to arrive, a couple of very interesting and cool sights arrived. The sky was partly cloudy all day long and it was nice and cool, relatively speaking (80'sºF). This is a saguaro cactus being transported to a new home. Neither Mr. Sandi nor I could figure out how they actually replant it! And on the other side of the pickup were three more cacti--these are called golden barrels cacti. They were particularly beautiful specimens. But I have absolutely NO idea how anyone can actually lift and handle and replant them. They have very stout spines that are at least a couple of inches long! After the cactus truck left, this guy pulled up to a gas pump in a bright blue Porsche Carrera.When I asked him what year it was he said it was modeled after a 1956 but that it wasn't truly a Porsche and that it had a Volkswagen engine in it. He said it wasn't a "kit car" because he bought everything direct from the factory. I don't really know anything about all that but that car sure caught my eye. No taco photos today, I'm afraid, @Ducatitotriumph. I had a breakfast burrito...and I didn't even take a photo of that! Next time.......
Next time? You need to head back over there and do the decent thing and buy a taco! Nothing small either!
I'm so unused to that much green that I had to blink several times when the photo first appeared, Dougie! But what beautiful countryside! Looks like just the perfect place for a spin on a motorcycle. And there's a (VERY) little bit of blue sky poking its nose out of the clouds.
I rode my Street Glide Special over to Tucson H-D for a little "shake-down" ride after my 10K service and prior to Mr. Sandi's and my getaway trip to Las Vegas this coming Tuesday. I also figured it would be good to get a bit acclimated to riding in the heat since the ride from Tucson to Vegas is 430 miles and we'll be spending a good chunk of that in hot temperatures both coming and going. Things were rather quiet at the dealership on this day and the good thing about that is there were few shady motorcycle parking spots available. I pulled up further in the parking space after snapping this photo of my bike. I wanted to check to see if I had any oil leaks under the bike since I saw a small one a few days ago. There were no oil leaks in the garage when I left or on the concrete at the dealership. But I did see some blow back on my headers. I wiped it off and figured I'd check to see if it happened again on the ride home. Back in my garage there were just a few drops so that should be the last of that. When I arrived, I wound up parked next to this sweet 2008 Sportster "Nightster". As I was locking up my helmet the owner walked up with some purchases in hand. We struck up a conversation and it turns out she rode to Arizona from San Jose, California and was staying with friends in Phoenix. That is a l-o-n-g ride! She was on her way to Tombstone--solo-- to stay overnight. I suggested a nice backroads route to get there and also that she consider riding up Mt. Lemmon the next day on her way back to Tucson and Phoenix. Before I learned where she was from,I was hopeful that she lived in Tucson because she seemed super cool and I thought she might potentially be a female riding buddy. No dice. After my conversation with the Sportster owner I went in to the service department to inquire about my back-ordered parts....again. I'd just checked last week but never heard back from anyone. But the first person I saw when I walked in today was the regional parts manager. I figured that couldn't be a coincidence so relayed my concerns and frustrations to him. He promised to call me back after doing some digging. The service advisor next to him pointed out that they were on the lookout for my parts and not only had a note about "Sandi's order" in their computer system under the part numbers but that the service advisor I'd been working with (who has moved on to "greener pastures"--insurance sales!) had posted this reminder in his desk area! When I went back out to ride home, the Sportster was gone and in its place was this chopper. @Iron, I'm calling on your knowledge and expertise again. What's with THIS bike?? I just have to say that the rear tire on this bike makes my Fat Boy's rear tire look slim. And it had an interesting, minimalist gauge and a Willie G. design gas cap. On the other side of my Street Glide in another patch of shade was another relatively out of the ordinary Harley, this one a V-Rod. I'm not very familiar with that model so I don't know which V-Rod in particular this one is. This was the temperature in the Harley parking lot when aimed my bike for home, about 10 degrees warmer that it was I left the garage this morning.
I think it's a Big Dog K9 from Big Dog International. They'll build a bike to your spec from a list of bits that they have/produce. So you can pick paint, mudguards, lights, zorsts, 300mm rear tyres etc from a price list of sorts. Costs are North of $35K I think. But no where near the properly horrible Orange County fair ground rides at around $80K. They've been going for some years now and have quite a following amongst the re-born well'ards. But there's lots of bike 'builders' around these days and that style is quite liked by the re-borns on both sides of the pond. The resale isn't that good but worth getting one as they have the S&S motors and other varied shiny bits to make a decent bike from. Shit to ride with that tyre although anyone who has a 300 wide rear will tell you they are just as good at going round bends. Ask to follow them when they shoot off and watch I notice he's not getting on too well with his matt respray either.... Sorry, it's his, he loves it, so it's absolutely bloody awesome
@Sandi T my weather envy shows no sign of abating!! The woman on the Nightster sounds like she'd be great to get to know; shame she's not from nearby for you to go for some rides. As ever I really hope your parts turn up soon - I bet the dealer does too before you start camping in their car park .
