Sunday, December 2, 2018

Winter Has Arrived

Certainly the white part has....we've got some snow, though this photo was from early week when I traveled to far north Minnesota on my way to Ely at the edge of our Boundary Waters area.


Saturday afternoon in Red Wing....


Marty had my new Shinko 244's mounted on my Himalaya rims so we're a bit more prepared for the softer, gooier trail conditions.  I like these tires and this must be my 3rd, maybe my 4th set.  The Trail Pack was something I was only recently made aware of on the Himalaya ADV forum.  Marty happened to have a couple of sets on the shelf and he wondered if I might be interested.  I most certainly was.  I've installed them and they look like they're going to work very well.


The Himalaya has been propped up on its center stand all week with this wheel truing stand that I machined quite a few years ago holding the front forks off the ground.  The construct was reasonably stable but I'm glad, as Mike had put it...."as long as we don't have any seismic activity".  The front wheel is now back on the bike so we're ready for at least a small amount of earth shaking.  There's a new rear sprocket ordered and on its way from England or the back wheel would already be hooked up as well.


Last night (Saturday evening) was our Minnesota Moto Guzzi Banquet and hopefully due to the weather, turnout was a bit sparse.  There were 5 of us...passing the bread and relishes was quite easy.  I was the only one that didn't do the half-cow or quarter-cow prime rib though my choice was enjoyed immensely.  Plenty of time to talk, enjoy each other's company and look over Jeff's 2019 riding/rally calendar that he kindly shared with us all.  I gather in various groups...brands, riding styles, coffee drinkers and non but it was especially cool last night that we 5 had all shared last June's Grand Marais MN Guzzi Rally.  I'm calling that fact something novel based on past experience.

This morning's email from Cycle World Magazine, the headline stating.....and a good thing!

The purchase was paid for yesterday, today in the wet and after 5 inches of new snow, the pickup was made.  Excited about hooking the trailer on to the van for a new 2 wheeler, this time bigger than a 250cc, shoveling the trailer off and out of the snowdrift wasn't all that hard to take.  I did lament the fact that the roads were wet and sloppy with road spray, salty road spray but a guy can only do so much.


Now I ask you, when is Gross Torque not a good thing??


Unbelievable, I blew snow for almost an hour without gloves on today....my hands have been more uncomfortable in late June on a motorcycle!


14 comments:

  1. Heated grips on a snow blower! What’s the world coming to? Now for some chains for that two wheeler...

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    1. I was surprised...haven't been following snowblower technological improvements. Our old one (still seemed newish) was brought to the farm from our place in St. Paul and that HAS been quite awhile. Had it all apart yesterday and started pricing repair parts, then took the plunge with a new one. Plow truck still does the majority of the work, we need a backup though and the ability to throw in addition to just push.

      Almost took the sidecar out, it's mild today but decided that I'd had enough outside.

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  2. … sidewalks. parking lot.... I got people... :)

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  3. Ah big city condo living. Our grocery store one-and-a-half blocks away has underground parking, it’s all underground-parking-to-underground-parking. We don’t even own a shovel. I almost feel guilty.

    Plus, living within 14kms of the north shore of lake Ontario means only light snowfall that usually melts away of its own accord within days.

    So spoiled.

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    1. David, your spoiled is just fine. We're 254km further north, certainly enough for you to be shovel-less. :)

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  4. Dang.. underground to underground... sweet... best I could do is pull up to the store.. and tell the wife hurry up and shut the door

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    1. Mike, David is in Canada...they've figured out winter and the wisdom of being inside.

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  5. If you had a side car for that new snow blower you could bring a friend along

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    1. That is a good idea. If it had a faster Reverse, it might even be practical. As it is, my driveway/parking area cleanout would take days one-way only.

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  6. Looks like a nice blower. Frostbit a finger on the bike last fall but there were extenuating circumstances. It wasn't awful and it's nearly all healed up. I'm guessing the generator/alternator on the snowblower has more extra oomph than the '77 airhead. We've got too many steps for a blower. If I want warmer fingers, I've got to shovel faster!

    Scott C

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    1. Scott, I should have taken a photo of what I found in the bowels of the old 28" Craftsman. Not even started last winter, I noticed that shifting and traverse seemed stiff and strained. My guess is, 20 or more litters of furry mice have nested in the bottom and we're talking lots of rotten in most every way.

      The old machine has served us well. The plow truck works well as far as it goes, but due to some tillage changes around here, the corn and bean stubble that I used to make a berm with banked snow is now hayfield and the plow would have been too much abuse. That section of the road will need to have snow thrown instead of pushed, hopefully downwind.

      Besides, in my condition I can use the exercise.

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  7. New snowblower you say? I just plunked down for a Toro Snowmaster. I somehow thought Sher might be interested in using it in last weeks storm. Didn't happen.lol

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  8. Scott, she'll be ready for the next one....she's saving up the excitement!

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