Meeting Fellow Moto People

There's definitely a particular type of motorcyclist slash person I like to bump into while Bravo and I are out here traveling.  People like Dave in San Francisco; smart, friendly, and helpful.  I believe I met another Dave here in Los Angeles a little while ago.  I was in front of West Marine in Marina del Rey repairing the left passenger foot peg while a security guard hassled me about making a repair on the property, when Duncan walked up and rescued me.  The security guard fucked right off.  Duncan rides a twenty year old KTM something or other and he's originally from London.  I could tell right away that he was the kind of motorcyclist I like to meet.  After he basically shooed the rent-a-cop he went straight to making sure that I was okay and let me know that if I needed a place to work he could accommodate me.  We talked for a bit about riding and bikes and then Duncan went inside to grab what he needed from the most expensive store in the world; West Marine.  I mean, I paid more than three dollars for two bolts!!

When Duncan finished up inside we exchanged info so we can meet up after Bravo's and my trip to Mexico and go for a ride.  I have a feeling I'll learn a thing or two from him about the dirt.

As far as the repair, on our way into California we stopped to fuel in Needles and I dropped the bike right at the pump.  I was standing next to the bike and tried to start it without holding the clutch.  I thought it was in neutral, the green light on the console said it was in neutral, but apparently it was still in gear.  The bike lurched forward, came off the side stand, and down it went.  It's not the actual passenger peg that was damaged.  There's a knob that protrudes to the rear of the bike that helps hold the pannier in place and it snapped off.  Since we've been in LA I haven't needed to carry everything around with me because I stored it at Paul's while I was visiting him, and now it's all set up at Dennis' place.

I was able to support the broken piece with some flat aluminum, bailing wire, and lots of JB Weld.  Hopefully it holds for a while because BMW wants over $200 for that part and I can't ever see myself paying that much; especially when I have one at James and Desiree's in Washington.  Besides, it's a goal of mine to Mad Max the shit outta this thing.

While I like to meet anyone intelligent, friendly, and helpful; cyclists are a certain breed of people.  As long as they don't want to talk too much about bikes.  I don't care about model numbers, brands, or any of the bike jargon; I like to talk about riding.  Riding in the city, on the open road, and especially off road.

There is one type of biker I don't care much for though.  The one with the really obnoxiously loud pipes.  The kind of exhaust that rattles your brains and screams, "Hey everyone!  Look at me!"