Rack On - Rack Off

This weekend (Sunday, Oct 27th) marks the traditional season finale ride (Webster Wander) of the Rochester Bicycling Club’s ride schedule for 2024. I’ll have less of a need to be carting my bicycles around on the back of The Beast to remote ride starts … at least the ones too far away to bike to.
​

The Beast is my bicycle taxi.

So, we ran a test today.
​
Since my “meltdown” back in August ’23, I’ve done very little motorcycling and it’s been entirely solo rides … not “two-up” as would be the case if we had tried to do our  Nova Scotia trip on the big bike. I haven’t been confident that I could really handle the thing with my bad shoulder while loaded AND carrying a passenger. But, Karen really loves riding on the back, so today, I pulled the rack off the Beast and reinstalled the luggage plate, sissy bar, and rear seat and we took a ride.
​

Back to “Passenger Mode”

OK … Load ‘er Up!

​We went over to the Public Market parking lot to test. At the lot, Karen parked HER motorcycle and climbed aboard mine. We did a number of loops around the lot, weaving around corners and making sudden stops to approximate what it would feel like on the road. The only trouble I had was when Karen had to climb on and off. That tells me Karen will need to mount from the right side of the bike to avoid me needing to steady the bike with my right shoulder.

We headed back home, parked Karen’s bike (a Honda Rebel 250 … very nice), and took off on the Beast. It was a cool ride in the wind and we cut it short, but first stopped at Schutt’s Apple Farm to grab some cider.

It worked well. I felt good. No pain, no problem, except for the challenge Karen has swinging her leg way up around the back of the bike. We’ll try other techniques next time.

So now my brain is spinning with ideas for more “bike” trips. Which “bike” wins 1st dibs? Hmmm … this looks like fun!

https://www.adventurecycling.org/routes-and-maps/adventure-cycling-route-network/sierra-cascades/

Sorry Beast!

Oh yeah … lemme give a shout-out to MaxBMW. (https://www.maxbmw.com) in Troy NY!  Since my local BMW shop closed a few years back, leaving me w/o a local BMW service center, I contacted Max and arranged to have them come pick up my beemer in one of their Sprinter vans, do the 90,000 miles servicing, and return the bike a week later. Very Cool. Purrs like a kitten. Thanks Guys!

b