One Month In - New Rider Update

I'm officially a month in on this whole motorcycle rider thing. I've managed to accomplish two goals in that time, namely "Don't be the guy who crashes his new motorcycle on the way home from the dealer" and "Don't be the guy who crashes his new motorcycle before making the first payment."

Hooray for that. I've also discovered that my bike gets somewhere between 33-40mpg around town, which is a big enough improvement over my CUV that feeding the bike the premium gas it requires is still an overall cost savings.

I also got the "fun" experience of riding down the freeway with a heavy crosswind. That was interesting, with the wind blowing hard enough that I had to keep a slight lean just to stay in position. I think that if I do an Iron Butt run at some point, I'm going to want a mainly North-South route to keep the wind at my back or front, or start early enough running East-West that the wind is calm until I get out of the prairie. But that's still a ways off.

Unfortunately, I've also hit my first semi-serious squawk since the bad starter relay that shut me down on my first full day of riding. See, the previous owner had installed an aftermarket digital tachometer and shift light. It's a very drag racer kind of option, and not one that I would have picked up myself. Unfortunately, it also seems that the manufacturer decided to save a few pennies on cost and NOT WATERPROOF THE UNIT! So when my bike was parked in the office parking lot last week, and a lovely line of Midwestern thunderstorms marched through, well, my poor gauge has not been the same since. The electronics are still displaying, but it's not getting reliable information from the engine any more.

I'm hoping that I can fix the problem myself, that it's just a shorted connection. If not, well, that's probably coming off the bike. I don't need an tachometer, although it is nice to have. Shifting by speed and engine sound is pretty reliable. That said, Harley does make a drop in replacement combination Speedometer/Tachometer/Gear Indicator/Fuel Gauge that would solve a bunch of my complaints in one fell swoop. That's something I may end up picking up this winter during the riding off season.

Other than that problem though, riding has been great. A little warm in my full gear, but nothing that a change of close at the end of a ride can't solve.