Last Friday at the age of 75, my dad failed to safely negotiate a 90 degree turn and was awarded an express ticket ride to the hospital. Right in the corner of that turn was a big @$$ rock and the front wheel was introduced to the rock in a bad way.
Thankfully he landed in a wheat field so he suffered no road rash, but he is a bit sore. The first words out of his mouth when I got my mom to the hospital were: "I am done riding," so I didn't need to have the argument with him that it was time for him to hang up his helmet. If the bike had suffered some kind of mechanical failure, I wouldn't have considered it, but after speaking with the local police officers that were on the scene, his first comment was that he was "day-dreaming" and forgot there was a turn :shock: I will miss the times we spent riding together, but I am thankful that is all I will miss.
So, yesterday I became the owner of a Honda Helix, so do not leave a pair of GoldWings unsupervised or unprotected in your garage at night... they reproduce!
He has had a few other minor scrapes with it through the years, so the plastic is showing it's age. I wanted to take it apart just to give everything a thorough look-see and I was really surprised. Nothing wrong other than the front wheel.
A little soap and water goes a long way at removing 27000 miles and 22 years of dirt :BigGrin:
So, now the fun begins for putting it back together, finding or repairing broken plastic pieces, and making it mine. When I am done I will have a new in-town ride that will get me 70 mpg and at least 210 mile between fill-ups. If I only use it for going to/from work, that tank will last roughly 10 weeks! :smilie_happy:
Thankfully he landed in a wheat field so he suffered no road rash, but he is a bit sore. The first words out of his mouth when I got my mom to the hospital were: "I am done riding," so I didn't need to have the argument with him that it was time for him to hang up his helmet. If the bike had suffered some kind of mechanical failure, I wouldn't have considered it, but after speaking with the local police officers that were on the scene, his first comment was that he was "day-dreaming" and forgot there was a turn :shock: I will miss the times we spent riding together, but I am thankful that is all I will miss.
So, yesterday I became the owner of a Honda Helix, so do not leave a pair of GoldWings unsupervised or unprotected in your garage at night... they reproduce!
He has had a few other minor scrapes with it through the years, so the plastic is showing it's age. I wanted to take it apart just to give everything a thorough look-see and I was really surprised. Nothing wrong other than the front wheel.
A little soap and water goes a long way at removing 27000 miles and 22 years of dirt :BigGrin:
So, now the fun begins for putting it back together, finding or repairing broken plastic pieces, and making it mine. When I am done I will have a new in-town ride that will get me 70 mpg and at least 210 mile between fill-ups. If I only use it for going to/from work, that tank will last roughly 10 weeks! :smilie_happy: