I read the following today on advrider. It was written by someone who is going around the world on his motorcycle (I’m green with envy). You can read more here www.worldrider.com or his thread on advrider.com.

I’m not sure if I read this before, or if its just something that exists in me. Either way, I thought I’d share.

The Not so Secret Handshake

There are no dues, no terms and conditions, no regular or formal meetings but when you ride a motorcycle you join a club, a fraternal organization of men, women, boys and girls who share only one common activity - they ride a motorcycle. Don’t get me wrong. ONe doesn’t have to OWN a motorcycle to be in this club. No, one merely needs to ride a motorcycle. You could be a member for one day or a lifetime.

While there are no club rules, each member share a common decency to treat each other with respect regardless of the type or model motorcycle he or she might own. And when a motorcycle ride comes to a pit stop, food break or a call it a day stop at a hotel, campground or wayby one can expect gentle nods of acknowledgement, scanning eyes over the motorcycle or a simple exchange of pleasantries.

But the real acknowledgement and recognition of a club member comes when riding the great roads and trails of our world. If you’ve never ridden a motorcycle you likely won’t understand this, but for riders you know and have your way. And while this acknowledgement occurs less in the hustle and bustle of day-to-day city or suburban utilitarian riding, it still is an innate behavior practiced by virtually every rider I’ve encountered.

I”d have to say it’s the club’s official and not so secret handshake.

It can catch you by surprise if you’re concentrating on your riding or when your mind wanders and eyes take in the scenery. But as the motorcycle approaches from the opposite direction and you speed toward the rider, as the two of you pass you can expect to receive and reciprocate a gentle wave of acknowledgment.

This wave, or virtual handshake comes in all sizes, shapes and flavors. And as I’ve been riding the last 1,600 miles I’ve kept a mental inventory of the different types of waves.

For some, the rider simply lifts his left hand off the handlebar and with full 90 degree extension and palm facing toward you. As you pass, the rider rests the hand back to his handlebars. Others can be more creative. There’s the low wave usually practiced by cruisers where the riders hand drops from the handle bars and extends at a 45 degree angle. A nice variation of the cruiser wave is the subtle piece signed made by the gloved hand of that rider.

Keep in mind these subtle handlebar releases and hand motions happen at all speeds and all driving conditions. Yesterday a rider on a zooming sport bike rounding a nice banked decreasing radius turn swathed in bright red leathers and fully decorated racing style helmet lifted his hand, bent his arm at the elbow and gave me a wave that would have made the Queen of England jealous.

I personally like the “I’m going to acknowledge I’m in the club but remain cool wave” I notice often. That is, the rider simple raises his hand off his handle bar about six to ten inches and then slowly and surely drops it back. Two up riders must have their own code of handshake or wave acknowledgement Sometimes the rider does the work. While others it’s simply the passenger. But pay dirt happens when you get the double whammy — both riders extend there hands and give it to you.

Keep in mind there’s no training or induction into this club. You’ll simply develop your own style of wave as you gain more experience riding. The Motorcycle Safety Foundation doesn’t tell you how. And I’m sure the Harley Owners Group (HOG) doesn’t offer a pictorial of styles in its magazine. One thing is for sure, the mutual admiration, respect and feeling of belonging is part of the motorcycle riders pride. Perhaps no other group, whether its motor vehicle owners, sports fans, collectors or hobbyist share and experience this feeling in such a random and offhand manner.

For me, I’ve got a few styles and mix them up depending on how I’m feeling at the time. You might get a peace sign, a two finger scouts honor type of gesture or a gentle lift of the and coordinated with a subtle nod of my helmet.

Hope to see you on the road. Tell me your style. And welcome to the club!

-Allan Karl, advrider.com, 7-26-2005

Spent the weekend finishing up on the motorcycle prep. I took her for a 400 mile spin on Sunday up to see my Mom, and drop by Kevin’s to go over some final things. Over all, the bike is great. I’ve got a problem with a bad ground which is making the engine whirr come through the Autocom. I also noticed my new Jesse Luggage Rear Compartment with Pizza Box was wiggling around alot. I was concerned because if something is wiggly, eventually it will fatigue and break off. After getting home on Sunday night I mentioned this to Gregg (Super Fabricator Extraordinare!) and Monday night we (I use we loosely here) fixed it.

These are our high tech blinker mounts!!!!!!

You can see the rest of the images over at my Flickr Library

So,
I had to finally retire the Typo blog engine I was using as it was giving me too much grief. I hope this one works better. Now, I’d like to personalize it some more but I’m lacking the artistic talent.

We’ve generally solidified the trip itinerary. Its more of a general guide than the ‘actual’ plan. A tool to measure how we are doing and if we can relax, or need to pick up the pace.

Trip Itinerary

Estimated Riding Mileage = 5240 Miles

Estimated Ferry Nautical Miles = 1150 NM

Riding with a friend = Priceless

I have to also give credit to someone I don’t even know but has provided a lot of information from which I based some of my decisions on. John Clark’s Alaska Trip. Take a read, it will give you some ideas on what Kevin and I are going to be doing.

So, last week we had this big company meeting and our CEO mentioned FUD. Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt. Last weekend was a fun one with working on the bike but then the FUD snuck in. First it was the fact I couldn’t get the ferry ride we wanted. Then what about my recently broken arm. Or will my back handle this? More FUD’s came up last weekend than I’ve had in a while. Generally, I’m genuinely excited about this trip and I’m looking forward to it. The only problem, I need to start looking for a new goal to keep me going forward!

I’ll be posting some pics of our recent fabrication. (I say ‘our’ but it was really my roommate making cool stuff and me doing the cleanup)

Last weekend Gregg and Morgan came by and we embarked on the scary adventure of messing with the BMW electrical system. I had ordered a Centech AP-1 fuse box but it seems to be MIA. So, dropped by the local BMW dealership and picked up a Touratech auxilery fuse box. I was a bit doubtful of it, but it seems to have worked out ok.

First we had to figure out how to remove the gastank. It was actually easier than expected. Remove one bolt on the ride side, lift the gas tank off. Now here’s where it got tricky. There are two fuel line and two vacuum lines. While I was loosening the first fuel line I apparently lost my mind cause I pulled the hose off, and aimed it right at my face and shot gas right into my left eye and up my nose. Here’s the funny part though, first thing that popped into my head was “Ewen McGreggor is a wuss!” For those of you who don’t get that, in an awesome BBC Series Long way Round Ewen gets gas in his eyes TWICE! And it was a big todo. The gas in the eye didn’t bother me that much, I finished pulling hoses and rinsed my face off. The gas up the nose gave me a splitting headache but that was easily cured.

After getting the gas tank off we proceeded to setup the wiring harness. That was pretty straight forward. From this auxilery fuse box we powered the Autocom and Zumo GPS. I’ll be following up this weekend with wiring in the power for my heated jacket liner. Checked all the NEW stuff out and everything seemed to be good. Key word there is NEW. The next day I discovered that I had somehow disabled my PIAA lights. So, I’ll have to dig into that this weekend.

Rode up to Kevins and got my autocom tuned in. I’ve got music and nav audio now. The new seat is awesome!

So here’s some funny trivia, self promotion, whatever you want to call it. Check out the March/April issue of Road Rider X and check out page 33. Vedy nice!