La Crosse, KS August 01, 2007

Picture: ROMEO Bear

La Crosse, KS (the barbed wire capital of the world) is about 110 miles from Salina so after riding for an hour and half the park in Hosington looked pretty good for a break. Pat, Neil and I had already settled in behind what appeared to be three ROMEOs (you know, helmets, jackets, old, etc) so it was no surprise when they turned into the park ahead of us. Also not a surprise was to see Richard and his crew already there making a total of 10 bikes/scoots.

Richard's wife, Joyce, pulled out a cute little biker bear of the V-Star's bag and was showing everyone the "ROMEO" on the back of his jacket. She had gotten it for Richard's birthday so he posed with it quite happily I might add. The little ROMEO bear's name is Brutus. Now all this begs the question of changing the ROMEO meaning. How does Richard's Own Motorcycle Enhancement Object sound?

The 4-Corners restaurant was a typical small town cafe and was quite busy. Thankfully it was large enough to accommodate an extra 18 or so old motorcyclists. I ordered the smothered steak which included potatoes, texas toast, salad/soup bar and a drink for $5.50. Hard to beat a small town for a good meal.

Before the chow arrived I remembered I had left my wallet in my jacket which was with the Dubya so I trekked out to the parking lot to retrieve it. As I was walking out three guys on the above trike pulled and started checking out the Dub. We got to chatting and they were from a bike shop in town that builds trikes and sells conversion kits. Pretty interesting what you find in some of these out of the way places. Check out their web site at http://www.tetratrikes.com/.

Just before we left this ole boy on a 1949 Cushman pulled up. Not one of the ROMEOs but a local guy riding to lunch. I love it when the don't hide 'em but ride 'em.

Paul and his Honda 750-4 joined us for the ride back which included a Diary Queen stop in Hoisington. Nice ride back as the rain held off but there was welcome cloud cover.

The number of curves in the Falun road has long been debated so Neil decided to lay the controversy to rest by counting them. I turned on my GPS so I could check his accuracy and we both came up with 14 turns/curves. Good job Neil considering I was holding you up going around some of the curves. Chew on that you Deal's Gap freaks!

Alexander and the REB July 22, 2007

Picture: I always do a safety check before riding.

My 20 month old grandson, Alexander, is quite taken with motorcycles and the REB in particular. He arrived for a visit about a week ago and soon notice the Dubya and REB in the garage. I sat him on the Dub and the played around for awhile then pointed to the REB so I placed him in the saddle. After a few minutes of wiggling the bars back and forth he pointed at the Dub and said, "Papa's motorcycle", he then patted the tank of the Enfield and said, "My motorcycle". Now I don't care who you are, that's cute!

All done, everything looks OK

He can name quite a few items on both bikes, the gas tank, kick starter, choke and throttle are his favorites. When first climbing aboard he points to the ignition switch and asks for the keys then says "bye bye motorcycle", which means (in my mind anyway) that he wants to ride. Patience young man, you'll get there soon enough.

Time to ride

7" Headlight for the REB July 13, 2007

Picture: Old and New Headlight

This is something that I have been planning to do since I got the REB. The old 5" headlight just doesn't look good. They had to made it that way to satisfy DOT regs for adjustability. The 7" light isn't adjustable but I checked and it hits the same spot on both high and low beams as the 5" did.

It is a pricey little unit, $65 for a couple of chrome rings, a NAPA headlight and some clips but I think it looks much better. You know us REB riders, style over speed any day.

If I ever actually rode at night I'd probably look into a halogen sealed beam.

Oxford, KS July 11, 2007

I didn't make the ride to Oxford, KS today but when I got an email from Richard with a couple of pictures it was just too cool not to blog it.

Here is the email: We had our ROMEO ride today in Oxford where one of our guys live... he had his 3 year old granddaughter ride a motorcycle on training wheels to the lunch today.. they only lived couple blocks from where we ate.

Granpa takes a spin.

Fits right in!

A Rant About Patriotism July 07, 2007

After reading over my last two posts I thought I should clarify some things. In no way do I think that a person must serve in the military to be patriotic. Hell, I probably wouldn't have joined myself if I hadn't of been flunking out of college.

My problem is with the flag waving, jingoistic, "my country, right or wrong", bigots that have no clue or interest in how the rest of the world (or the USA for that matter) lives. They can't fathom that another person's view point might have merit.

Love my country but fear the government I guess would be a good way to describe my current attitude. This might seem odd coming from a person that gets three checks a month for the government but I also know that it is a constant fight to make the government live up to their promises to veterans, civil servants, etc.

As long as I'm on a rambling rant let me give you my opinion on flag burning. I didn't serve almost 23 years in the U.S. Navy, more than half overseas, to come home and not have the freedom to burn my own damn flag if I want feel like it. You want to burn your flag, fine. You try and burn mine we got a problem.

Well enough of that crap.......you should also know that I am easily influenced and could change my mind about anything. Guess it's that freedom thing working.

Beverly, KS July 04, 2007

Picture: My Indian made British bike, my Chinese made American flags and I wish you an ALL AMERICAN 4TH OF JULY.

Thought it only fitting to decorate the REB with a few flags for the short ride to Beverly for lunch. I figured the other ROMEOs would want me to lead the six of us into town but I brought up the rear with Neil on his antique Honda. Guess they wanted the loud singles in the back, ha ha.

Hillbillies was a neat little small town bar and grill, pool table in the corner, bar and couple of tables and some booths. They took good care of the 16 or so for the ROMEOs that ventured out on a major holiday.

Just a thought..... I'd rather listen to the thump of a big single any day than to the bang, boom and shriek of fireworks. If folks need to blow something up to feel patriotic they could spend a few years in the military service of their choice.

HAPPY 4TH!!!!!

There are a few pictures in the Photostream, check out the dog.

New Muffler, July 2, 2007

The aftermarket muffler on the REB has had a loose baffle for several months. It makes a tin can rattling sounds, especially at idle. I finally got around to ordering a new one from CMW and it arrived today so I decided to slap it on. No big deal, just two mounting bolts and one bolt where it clamps onto the header.

As with most wrenching on the REBA it is never as easy as it looks. While trying to tighten the clamp the nut stripped so I had to cut the bolt off. I used my Harbor Freight cut off tool (not sure what you call it), best $10 I ever spent. I took the bolt and nut from the old muffler and it worked fine.

The new shorty silencer makes the REB a joy to ride around town on again. I don't know if it had anything to do with it but I had to tell "the Royal Enfield story" three times today.

Rode the REB down to Lindsborg to buy fireworks from Sue's cousin who's family runs a stand every year. They loaded me up and we will shoot it off Wednesday night at the Brother-in-law's where it is legal.

Lots of people in Salina raise hell every year about not being able to shoot off their fireworks for the 4Th. Although plenty of folks shoot them off anyway it is quiet compared to McPherson county. Most of the numb nuts that explode their munitions around the 4Th of July have no clue about the founding of this country or what it takes to be free. I think they should celebrate by joining the military for a few years (end of rant).