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Published: October 31st 2009
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10-30-09
Every year I try to make the Shadow a little more comfortable. This winter I have some neat things planned to make it easier to stay in the saddle for longer periods of times. We all know that the only way to put the miles on the odometer is to keep the bike in the road. This past riding season I was able to add a small aux. fuel cell, XM Radio and a good used GPS.
The biggest issue I had when I did my
Bun Burner ride (1500 miles in 36 hours) was that my legs would cramp up. I had no way of stretching them out while traveling down the road. So when my fuel window would come up (presently 150 miles) I would have to spend a few minutes off the bike walking around. My number one priority this winter was to help clear up this problem.
The remedy was to get a set of highway bars and foot pegs purchased and installed on the Shadow. I searched and asked around and had decided to either purchase a pair of highway bars made by Cobra USA or National Cycle. They both make great products,
New Highway bars
Nation Cycle Highway bar with foot peg. so it came down to price. I decided on the National Cycle bars. The best price I found for the bars was at
Bike Bandit. The tech I spoke to on the phone also helped me locate a good set of pegs. All in all I spent $266.44 and this included shipping. I finally got to use my $10 Bike Bandit gift card that the
AMA sent me when I joined earlier this year.
The shipping took 5 days and they arrived Friday while I was at work. So like any kid that gets a new toy, I got up early and put them on. I had to get a little help from my friend Ray. Ray has a huge shop and lot of tools. I have a dirt floor barn and the few tools that my kids have decide to leave for me to use. There is something about having four sons and one tool box.
The installation was not too bad. We had to take off the floor boards, loosen the radiator and relocate the horn. The horn had to be moved from its forward facing position, next to the radiator, to the left side bracket of
the highway bars. The bracket screws got in the way of the radiator so we used washers to move the radiator about a half inch forward. Man that chrome sure does shine.
The pegs were easily installed to each highway bar. An hour after we started we were done. I never did clean the bike from last weekend’s ride in the rain to Athens GA, so the new chrome really shows off the dirt on the rest of the bike. How come the water from the rain makes a bike dirty instead of cleaning it up?
Well I could not just use Ray’s shop and tools and leave, and I wanted to give the pegs a test ride so I suggested that we ride over to “Big T’s BBQ” in Horrell Hill, SC. I treated us both to a Big T plate of BBQ and sweet tea. The pegs need some adjusting which I will do sometime this week.
There are a few other projects I hope to get done in the cooler part of the year when the bike sits more than move. I hope to get a larger aux. tank (4 gals) and a set of hand deflectors. These deflectors will help keep the wind off my hands and keep them warmer. The other thing I want to do is get a battery tender plus with the Gerbing aux. hook up. We will see how the money holds out and what I am able to do.
Total Miles = 47
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Tot: 0.075s; Tpl: 0.01s; cc: 12; qc: 29; dbt: 0.0256s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb