It Doesn't Have To Be Just One Day

o make matters worse, by and large, nobody likes trikes. Motorcycle guys think they are only for people who can’t handle a two-wheeler and car guys. Well, they just couldn’t care less. But at last, I’ve finally found one unlikely place where the bike seems to have gained acceptance, at the dump!

This all speaks to the fact that, in most part, motorcycles are looked at as toys by those who don’t ride and are treated like toys by many who do ride. This “Toy” stigma is burned in so profoundly that people just don’t get that a motorcycle can have a job to do. They are only toys if you play with them. To me, motorcycles are “Transportation Tools.” Or, when traveling in the city make a sharp slice through gridlocked traffic, the term “Transportation Weapon” sometimes seems appropriate.

Practicality and utility have been there from the start and remain. The fact that they are a “Fun Legal Addictive Stimulant” is just a byproduct. And one that I exploit to no end. Maybe now you’ve decided to ante up and try riding your bike to work more than one day a year. That’s great! I can tell you a few things about it. I’ve found that it helps to have a bike that you like. Not a bike that you are in love with. My 69 Rigid Shovel served me faithfully for sixteen seasons as my commuter

tvehicle. It went through sandstorms and flash floods, missed oil changes, and brake jobs. I even ran it until the tranny sprocket started shedding teeth. She never missed a beat. I got to feeling sorry for her. Loyalty should never be repaid with neglect. I know, I know, machines don’t have feelings: so maybe it won’t sound so cold-hearted when I say that I purposely sought out another bike with the full intention of not giving it love. I bought a workhorse, 1973 ElectraGlide, that has proven to be just as loyal as my Shovelhead. For some reason, it doesn’t bother me to run this one into the ground. It’s just a lot harder to bond with what started out as a banana brake, AMF, “Bowling Ball Bike.” What’s the best way to know your bike in its finest working order? While a lot could be said about regular maintenance and checkups, that’s not what I’m talking about. If you ride your bike every day, you’ll

Article By: T. Everett Gracey

soon get to know its every nuance, mannerism, and function. Its feedback will become second nature to you. If the brakes don’t slow you quite as well on that tight corner you go around every day, you’ll notice. If you’re 3 MPH slower at the top of that grade you pull every day, you’ll see. These subtle changes will likely go unnoticed if you only ride it occasionally. They would likely go unnoticed during regular maintenance as well. Riding every day is by far the best way to know if your bike is happy or not.

Repeating the same route every day can also be a good substitute for a chassis dynamometer. The results of basic tuning for power and efficiency on a modified engine, like carburetor jet changes and resetting spark timing, can easily be compared to the bike’s prior performance when monitored at known checkpoints and against a kept logbook.

Just because I’ve retired my Rigid Shovel from its daily commuting chores doesn’t mean I retired it entirely. It’s still my go-to machine for any long cross-country journey. To make sure it’s up to the task, I always put it back into service, going to work for a least a month before departing so I can feel what it feels and respond

to its needs accordingly. This seems to work for me. The worst thing that happened on a recent 4000-mile ride was the kickstand spring broke while it was parked.

I get it, if your profession requires taking a service truck home or you are between jobs, working at home, or any number of other reasons that might prohibit riding to work. Again, I get it. That’s not to say, the desire to ride every day can’t be a factor in your career decisions. I remember a time when I was offered a job less than a mile from home. It was a job with good pay and a retirement plan. Neither of which my current job had. I ended up declining the position. In these trying times, I’m sure this sounds like a completely irrational, irresponsible, and imprudent decision, contrary to coherent thinking as all the world knows it. No, no, I weighed it out and quickly determined that the only thing in my life that kept me sane was riding the 28mile commute to work at my current job. Since my mental health is of paramount importance to me, this decision was easy. Also, I knew something even better would come