Trouble

My bike has been performing well with no fluids or air needed during the entire trip. To continue that reliability, I felt that an oil change was needed when I got to Vista. I set up an appointment with North County House of Motorcycles for 9:30am on June 12.

At 9:00am, I began to get ready to go to my appointment. This involves getting into my leathers, unlocking the bike, and putting in earplugs allowing each of them one minute to expand while warming up the bike. It is not as easy as getting into a car, putting on the seatbelt, starting the car and going. I find the preparation process satisfying like preflighting an aircraft before I fly.

I noticed the ignition key was still in the ignition in the on position. When I had turned the ignition on to read the mileage display for the distance traveled, I had left it on. The bike was parked out of view from the inside of the house so I never noticed the headlight being on during the evening. The battery was completely dead. After a few minutes of “beating myself up” for leaving the bike on, I called the motorcycle dealer to ask how I could get the bike to the shop for the scheduled oil change and a new battery. He referred me to Bike Tow twenty minutes later the truck arrived to transport my bike.

It was fascinating how the driver got the bike on the truck. First he used his remote to slant the truck bed to be level with the lowered ramp. Then he connected a cable from the truck winch to the front of the bike. Next he sat on the bike holding the remote and started the winch and slowly pulled the bike and himself up onto the truck bed. Then he leveled the bed and tied off the bike. At the same time, I was peppering him with questions about securing the bike. We will be trailering my bike from Vista to Salt Lake City, UT and from Denver, CO to Dayton, OH to allow me to share in the driving and avoid the flat, hot places on the way home.

For a few dollars, a lesson was learned and I picked the bike up on Saturday with a new battery and oil change. One good thing that came out of this experience was a recall notice was out on my bike which I was not aware of so will get that dealt with when I return home. Usually something good always comes out of each life experience if you know where to look.