Saturday, August 6, 2011

The Techno V-Rod


My friend and riding bud, Hoppy, has done the impossible. After I bought my first V-Rod and showed it to Hoppy, he wanted to know where he could get one. After many years of not riding, Hoppy thought the smaller Harley would be perfect. It is fast, yet lightweight and water cooled to boot. Buddy Stubbs Harley-Davidson in Phoenix just happened to have another used one and we drove down in his truck to check it out. The rest is history; he bought it and has been riding every weekend since.

One fine day a couple of weeks ago, Hoppy told me he wanted to add some new technologies to the bike. I informed him that his V-Rod had all the technology he would ever need. “Wrong,” he said with a smile. “My bike needs GPS and a frame-mounted camera.” “Are you serious?” I asked with a grin. “Yes, indeedy, Mr. speedy,” was his reply.

At first I thought he was just putting me on, but, low and behold, he added the GPS and camera. The bike now looks like a space vehicle ready for launch. The more I thought about it, the better I liked the idea. Now I have a riding partner that can take all the pictures while we are riding and we won’t ever get lost.

Personally, I don’t care for bells and whistles, but having the spaceship riding with me is kinda fun except for one thing. Hoppy always likes to ride last in the group. If I head in the wrong direction and look in the rearview mirror to his flashing lights, it’s too late. We will have to do the U-turn maneuver, which always spells chaos. He should ride in the lead, but no way. Mr. Technology will just have to flash his lights and photograph the rest of the group, including me, trying to make a U-turn without crashing and burning in the middle of the highway. The thought of having that maneuver on video with me in the lead and three or more Stooges following is blackmail looking for a place to happen!

Ride on,

Mittster

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