When I went in, I asked if the guy working the desk was the one that I had exchanged e-mail with, and he said yes. They said that the dispatcher didn't mention that the vehicle was a motorcycle, and put in a call for another carrier truck.Ībout 90 minutes later, another carrier truck rolled up, and this guy had the equipment and knowledge to secure my bike.Īnother 40 minutes or so, and we had the bike at the dealership. When the day rolled around, I was up early, and called Progressive to get the bike towed, a covered benefit of my insurance policy.Ībout an hour later, a carrier truck rolled up, but the guys didn't have the front wheel chock assembly needed to safely tow the bike. I got an estimate from one of the service department staff, and made an appointment to bring in the bike on a Saturday morning. I went so far as to specify the tires like so: I had sent an e-mail with a bulleted list of the things I wanted done on the bike, including the 7,500-mile service, new tires, brake pads, brake fluid, and a braided stainless steel front brake line. I guess I should write about my experience getting the bike serviced at the dealer. Just put more weight on the footpegs, and pass the impact of the bumps to your legs instead of your butt, spine, and teeth. Otherwise, the grooved pavement and bumps from road construction on the westbound lanes were manageable.
Maybe the driver was trying to kill the other rider, and I happened to get in the way. I got in front of him, but had to pulse the brakes, because we were closing in on another motorcyclist. Some jerk in a white Mitsubishi sedan seemed intent on riding my ass. The only close call today was when I was merging onto 520 westbound, on the gas, with my blinker on and left hand pointing to the lane I was moving toward. It's not like I could have captured the whole panorama anyway, unless I had a helmet cam. It made me wish that I had a camera mount on the bike, but maybe sometimes it's better just to experience some things without messing around with white balance and composition. The sun was lower in the sky, and reflecting off the surface of the lake, which was busy with boats and water skiers. Lake Washington looked brilliant as I crossed the 520 floating bridge toward Seattle. The weather cooperated today by being clear and sunny, and I got to put some miles on my new motorcycle tires.