If I’m not out riding, I like living vicariously and reading about the experiences of others on their adventures. Foster Kinn is a biker/author whose outlook and stories I enjoy. He does a great job at highlighting funny or unique interactions with people he meets while on the road. Check out his book, Freedom’s Rush: Tales from The Biker and The Beast, as well as his FB page for yourself to see what I mean. A particular observation he made a couple of years ago stuck with me, because it’s hilariously accurate:
“Saw about a dozen and a half bikers pull into a gas station. After watching them stop at the pumps, start up their bikes and ride to the front of the convenience store, stop, then fire up their bikes again and take off, I’ve come to the conclusion that the most time consuming activity bikers engage in is finding neutral.” -Kinn
I might not have understood how funny his comment is, if it didn’t turn out to be true when trying to get the Heritage into neutral. I think of it as this bike’s particular quirk. Once I’ve come to a complete stop with the bike still running, forget about finding neutral. It’s a waste of time unless I kill the engine first. That leaves me with a just a quick opportunity to shift into neutral as I’m coasting in, before I put my feet down.
I didn’t have this issue with my last bike, the Sportster. Neutral was always easy to find, but there were other little problems to deal with, lovingly or otherwise. The most annoying quirk developed on a soggy return from Myrtle Beach Bike Week. At the time, I still lived in Virginia and what should have been a somewhat quick seven hour blast up the interstate turned into a much longer ordeal. With no rain in the forecast, I’d headed back early in the morning along with a friend. As we approached the South Carolina/North Carolina border, what we thought was a short thunderstorm hit. We’d hoped to wait it out at a fast food place, but the weatherman’s notoriety at being wrong rang true once again, and it turned out this shower was in to linger for a while. The constant soaking on the ride up through the state of North Carolina wreaked havoc with my turn signals.
At some point, I realized my left turn signal was blinking and wouldn’t cut back off. When I hit the switch on the right side, they both stayed on. I figured letting them run as hazards would be less confusing to the drivers around us, and added a bonus visibility to traffic coming up from behind. So we continued north, our own little 2 bike, flashing yellow parade. Once home, a mechanic buddy went through the lighting system and fixed it. We thought so anyway. The next time I was caught in rain, the blinker came on again. And the next time I washed it, blinking! After a while, I didn’t even have to get the bike wet for the flashing to start again. If it rained, the left signal turned on and would continue for a few days. Another friend went through the wiring, and couldn’t find anything wrong. It was a quirk I came to deal with, and plan my state inspections around as I knew it would never pass if there had been recent rain!
I’ve come to think of these quirks as something that makes riding interesting, and even makes the bike more endearing to the rider. After all, don’t we encounter quirks with our friends, family, and significant others? As far as people go you’ll find loud ones, squirrely ones, those that are hard to kick into gear, and those who are full speed ahead all the time. I love them and am thankful they love me too, quirks and all!
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