A Silly Grin In LA - #3

Friday 6 April 


Another fantastic California day dawns. The sun coming up found Nev & I at the Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf for oatmeal for me and Nev, whilst Phil & Murray opted for the cooked breakfast at Custom Hotel.

Getting ready for the ride

Back to the hotel to squash all the stuff into the bags. I knew the extra pair of undies and socks was a bridge to far! This part of the process took a while. Then it was on the bikes and 4 Harley's rumbled into life!


We were off, all the planning, waiting, and anticipation and this was it!


Remembering to turn right onto Lincoln Blvd, (and staying to the right) we were off, Firstly onto the 09, then the 405, (me and the 405 are old friends), then the 10, then the 60. This will take us through to Twenty Nine Palms which we thought would be nice distance for a shake down ride.


What a beautiful still morning. What can possible go wrong!


Let me tell you!


So there we were moving with the busy Good Friday traffic making good progress and Phil courageously leading from the front, (he has the GPS). Nev and I chatting on our bluetooth units about nothing in-particular, although these are great for staying in touch on the road and spotting stuff. Found our way through the traffic and finally on the 60, traffic thinning out and the bikes along between 60-70 mph, when I lose my instruments. Speedo and rev counter, then the voltage meter. No power on the throttle, I managed to move the extra 3 lanes to the right and glide to a stop on the shoulder. Well this dandy, we were about 2 hours out or 40 miles.


Phil & Murray ride into the distance and Nev stopped a way ahead of me and walked back. The bike was still idling but still no instruments and throttle. Eventually the motor died.


Hmmm....


Yes I know, you all thought I'd run out of petrol!


We had a look and a tinker to no avail. We believe it was deep in the electrics somewhere. I called Glenn at Route 66 and got put through, described what was going on and he believed it was a throttle sensor. He would send someone out. Not bad considering it was a public holiday and LA was evacuating for the weekend.

Waiting on the I-60

We waited and waited and then waited some more... Not toooo many Jap bikes tooted when they rode past.  It wasn't boring sitting there, always something to see go by. It was hot though and we shared the water and one fruit bar that we had.


There hours later Leo comes in the truck and trailer and there's no spare bike on the back? He asked some questions and fiddled and then said he was going to have to take it back to LA!!! Nev and I discussed our options and agreed to follow Leo back into LA to pick up another bike. Nev had got a hold of Phil by this time and they were waiting for us at Beaumont and would book a room there for a non planned stop.


The sun was going down on our trip back in and dark when we got to Bartells Route 66. It was a nice ride thought, my first chance to look around while Nev rode. Traffic all leaving the city you see.

Following my bike (on the truck in front) back into LA

They didn't have another bike so Glen, (nice guy and super chilled out), was going to lend me HIS own Electra Glide. Leo said it was a real nice bike and Glenn had done a few things to it. Motor had been 'worked' and it had a bit of chrome and oh yeah the pipes were custom and a wee bit noisy! He fired it up. Man, we thought someone was shooting at us with a 50 calibre weapon! This beast pulsed through your whole body and I wasn't even sitting on it! Glenn showed up on his scooter and I asked him if he was allowed to start it up before the hours of 9:00am and run it after 5:00PM.  I wasn't sure if I was going to able to ride such a long trip on it but there were little other choices. It was nice of him to give me his own personal bike which he obviously was fond of?


It was also quite late and dark, and with the thought of another 2 hour ride out to Beaumont we decided to go back down to The Custom Hotel for the night and start out early in the morning. I coasted the bike into the car park in case they thought they were under attack from someone. Kats recognized us and welcomed us back and gave us a Learning Pilot badge for our trouble. She was nice.


A snack at the bar and a happy hour beer or 2 saw us crawl into bed pondering the effectiveness of Harley Davidsons quality control. It was after all a 2012 model with only 6,000 miles on the clock! Really not even run in!


Lights out. Good night!