Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Pet Cock Tip....errr, I mean here's a petcock tip

Ha! got your attention. No this is not pornographic. It is the part of a non fuel injected, or carburated bike that controls your fuel flow.
Off, Run and Reserve are the three positions. O.K., Still sounds kind of pornographic talking about three positions. Stay with me, there is a point cumming, I mean coming.

While in Colorado on storm duty, I was on my way back to the airport rental to return my rental vehicle. It was about 97 degrees, with no breeze, and no clouds. I spotted a guy on the side of the freeway sitting on a guard rail next to his motorcycle. He was not on the phone, and not doing anything, which led me to believe he might need a hand. (Of course I stopped).

I asked, "Are you just resting, or is the bike giving you trouble?"

He said, "I'm out of gas."

Me,"I gotta ask the obvious, how bout the reserve?"

Him, "I tried it. No gas. Won't start."

Me, "Let me run through the scenarios. Were you riding, realized you ran out of gas, and hit reserve, and ran that out too?"

Him, "No."

Me, " You had it on reserve when you left, not realizing you were on reserve, and drained all of the gas?"

Him, "No, I ran out of gas, coasted to this spot here, turned on the reserve and tried to start it a couple of times. It won't start, so there must not be any gas."

Me, "There's gotta be enough gas in there to get you about 20 miles or so. You have a pressurized petcock. You need to give your throttle about two to three full turns while the bike is off, hit the choke, and she should start right up. Mind if I give it a try?"

Him, "Sure, go ahead."

I gave it a try, and she fired right up.

Him, "Thanks a million! You are a life saver. Where the hell were you 45 minutes ago?"

I followed him to the Airport area nearest gas station, and was then on my way home.

I posted this story not to boast about what I did for this guy, but to share a little knowledge for those of you who might not already know this. Hopefully I can save someone else the headache of thinking they are screwed when they are really just fine.

Happy trails!



2009 VELO RALLY; DAY 2 - MAYHEM!

Was it the heat or a confluence of bad luck which made Tuesday so chaotic and destructive. By the end of the day, fully 20% of the motorcycles had taken a free ride on the back of a truck or trailer, (at least for a short while), and 5 motorcycles had shaken hands with the pavement, with two bone breakages as the struck bargain. Four flat tires, two total compression failures, four clutch teardowns and rebuilds, a mysterious graunching transmission, horrible rich running, etc... by lunch, some of us wondered if this were indeed the Terminator Rally.

The day began innocently, clear and warm at 8am as usual, and the route promised to be fairly straightforward, with a pig-roast feast in a vineyard as our pot of gold at the end. My 'posse' of the morning consisted of me riding the Endurance (which I had happily escorted home the prior afternoon), Dai on the 'Zumac' (a bored-out Velo MAC at 430cc) which had gone spare as its eponymous owner wasn't feeling at all well, and Uncle Brian on a borrowed Moto Guzzi V65, surely the most reliable machine of the bunch. Which of course proved the folly of assumptions, when the u-joints on the drive shaft disintegrated 20 miles from the start.

It seemed prudent to let Brian wait for a Chase Truck to snatch the Guzzi, while I rode Dai back to camp to grab my Norton Atlas, which suddenly needed a rear tire after 240 miles at 100 degrees.

Dai thus took posession of the incredibly leaky and bits-falling-off Endurance, which was poetic justice, as Dai's machines are always immaculate; a wayward drop of oil merits a rise of blood pressure and hasty investigation. Thus, to be saddled on a machine purported to shed 2 quarts per day over itself, the rider, and the greater world, held a sweetly smirking irony. He would simply have to Cope.

I blasted into town on the Norton, and rode back out again wearing a new rubber sash over my shoulder - it took a visit to 3 motorcycle dealers to find an 18" tire narrow enough to suit an old bike, but who's complaining? I bought a spare innertube, Just In Case. Thinking I might have missed my ride-mates at Dead Guzzi junction, judicious throttle application had me at that lonesome spot in a jiffy - only to find... Uncle Brian slumped against a concrete barrier, with no Dai or Chase Truck in sight, 1.5 hours later. This was double-plus ungood (in Newspeak), as the temperature was now hitting the Ton, and Brian is nearly 70. Luckily, the Truck appeared soon, and the Guzzi was loaded up.

Now we had to sort out if Brian's artificial leg would shift the Zumac! Uncle Brian, (whose photo you may have seen here) you see, has a very long history of motoring miscreantism, and around 1960 he lost a leg on a Triumph Thunderbird very late at night, post-pub, taking a favorite bend quite a bit faster than his usual hot pace, just after passing a local in a car... 'I'll either make it or be dead' he thought, before waking up in hospital. In truth, he hasn't slowed much since then.
Finding he could in fact shift gears, we set off, wondering where on earth Dai had got to.

We had all agreed to have lunch at the Quilchina Hotel, a Victorian anomaly in dead flat sagebrush plain, and as I arrived first, goal #1 was to get out of the Heat and into the Kitchen for lunch. As I relaxed at my table, I saw Uncle Brian pass by, flat-out on the MAC, with nary a sideward glance for the big pink hotel. That was the last I saw of him until the end of the day...and I admit to a moment of concern, as Brian couldn't kick-start the bike with his lack of leg. I reflected that we all attend Rallies looking for a bit of adventure, but the adventure we get is usually not the adventure we've chosen! So, Brian's day would clearly be a little different than he might have imagined...

Within a few minutes, Dai appeared on the Leaker, and lamented both oiliness and a general looseness to every nut and bolt on his mount. Dai's disconcerting habit is to go over a borrowed motorcycle with sockets and spanners, tightening Every nut and bolt on the machine, prior to riding it. Having watched him do thus to two of my motorcycles in the past, I chuckled inside that our morning game of musical bikes hadn't allowed him time to spanner-tune his machine, and Things were Falling Off. Not 3 miles from lunch in fact, he motioned me to the side of the road for a navigational query, not realizing that the rear mudguard was swaying from side to side like a happy tail. Every nut holding it fast had jumped ship... luckily a stash of stray bolts on the Chase Truck made everything secure, except for the taillamp assembly, which required a veritable prosthesis of electrical tape to hold in place.

Thus we continued through the Country-music-star-mural bedecked town of Merritt, heading north towards smaller and more interesting roads. Which luckily included the wonderful Otter Lake road, which while unpaved, varied in terrain from snaking baked volcanic boulders to sweet floral lakeside grasses. The only real hazard was a succession of massive logging trucks, truly hauling ass down this firm dirt track, leaving just enough room for a motorcycle to squeeze alongside without damage, but giving no quarter otherwise. See the film!

And, something Happened for me along this 40-mile stretch... I've described the experience previously as near-sexual, when road and rider and machine find a harmony of movement and sensation. Suffice it to say it was a kind of two-wheeled Bliss, and I literally could not have been happier during that extended moment. If I could bottle the feeling, I'd be a very rich man. Perhaps I am already, simply having felt thus for so many hours. I was astonished when I asked Dai at the end of this road, full of energetic happiness, how his ride had been, and he answered, 'Tiring!'.

As we neared our destination of Keremeous and the Crow's Nest Vineyard, the temperature climbed further, and we heard tales of two flattened rear tires - one of which caused a dramatic wipeout, resulting in the rider's leg being broken in 3 places... That's the kind of event which sets every motorcyclist to wondering. Still, by the end of the day, the mechanical carnage seemed to have stabilized, and once again those with afflicted machinery set to work after a relaxing hour on the patio with German beer, and a meal of whole roast pig with spaetzle and kartoffeln salat - the winery is owned by Deutsche expats, in a river plain surrounded by high mountains. Sleeping on the grass next to the vines was just about nice.

Country Roads in Dixie, West Virginia Style




Last week found me riding the hills and dales of West Virginia. I’ve made it my mission to ride as much of Dixie as possible before I die. My undertaking is to find as many of our national “Scenic Routes” (designated by our government), ride as many as possible, take great photos…and tell anyone who will stop to read…about the places I have found and the impressions I have taken away with me…I’ll tell you of the road, the people who inhabit the area…and of course…a little bit of history as well.





If you’re still with me now, I’m going to assume the pictures caught your eye. It’s a lovely area, and I am not exaggerating when I say it’s worth every ounce of energy you expend to get here…to stay here…and to ride.

I rode so much of West Virginia in the last five days that I believe we will be best served at this time if I were to keep my ramblings to the ride home. From Hico, West Virginia to Johnson City, TN. I will be trying to keep you focused on this beautiful ride through West Virginia.




I stayed at the campground of new friends, Len Hanger and his girlfriend Lee. The place isn’t actually JUST a campground! He provides whitewater rafting adventures for his guests! The property boasts of VIP cabins, richly furbished with pine floors and appointed with two bedrooms upstairs (with double beds), and a bedroom downstairs that is arranged with bunks that will sleep six. There is a kitchen with every modern device one would want while on vacation. The cabin also includes a living room with a nice sofa-bed, an overstuffed arm chair, television with DVD to keep you entertained in the evening. The entry way is a large screened in room that includes a table and four chairs…ohhhh and let’s not forget the Jacuzzi.


If the VIP treatment is not fitting your taste or budget, you can rent the “basic” cabin. This is 12X12 one room building, containing a bed a night stand and an air conditioner. It is recommended you bring your own sheets, blankets, and pillows for this accommodation, but don’t fear…if you do need the above amenities, Len and Lee will accommodate you!





Let’s say you would rather camp than have the deluxe accommodations of a fixed roof? Not a problem! Camping here is encouraged…I think the ground might even be softer here in West Virginia. That may only be this writer’s weird perception of how happy all those Boy Scouts appeared to be from Florida…

I left Songer Whitewater Rafting early in the morning and headed for a route planned out for me by my host, Len. Jumping on US-19 South, I travel one mile to US-60 East. This road is a long and varied path, mountainous and twisty in the first half of the ride, while dropping down into the gentle sweeping hills and farmlands of Southern lands on the second part of Route 60. I was to join up with US 219 after a bit of mountain jogs… I was excited about this course home…300 miles of extreme riding. In my thoughts, it’s hard to get much happier than what I was/am when riding through country like this!

Between Hilton Village and Rainelle you will be running through mountainous terrain. At one point you will be on the tallest elevation of any mountain in W.V. General Stonewall Jackson received his famous war horse “Little Sorrel” on top of this mount, and that auspicious occasion is marked by a Historical Roadside marker on Route 60.





Moving a bit further east, you will find more roadside markers, but none as intriguing as this one on the outskirts of the town known as Sam Black Church, in Greenbrier County. Here you will find the cemetery that has one Zona Heaster Shue. Her ghost helped to convict her husband of her murder.






Also in Greenbrier is this quaint little covered bridge known as Herns Mill. It spans Milligans Creek, its builders are unknown and it was restored in 2001 by the state of West Virginia. To find it, you will leave Lewisburg and travel 2.6 miles west on Route 60. You will then turn left on 60/11 passing some very lovely farms…and these hounds!








Once you return to Route 60, you will begin to encounter sights like this one, farms with rolling hills in the foreground, and mountains to the rear. Cattle grazing peacefully and creosote soaked fence posts. This scene leaves me with such peace…how can it not with this kind of Iconic and Idyllic beauty?








Around Ronceverte, is where Route 60 will intersect with US 219 South. Ronceverte is a French word, who’s meaning translate to “Greenbrier”, the name of the river this town is situated on. As you can imagine, Ronceverte has a long and interesting history. Its downtown district offers great architecture for those of us who enjoy early to late 19th century buildings…and some eclectic shopping opportunities! If you are a photo nut like me…you will enjoy taking time strolling along the main street with your camera at the ready, the bridges of this town, as well as the main historic streets are of great value to the visitor who wishes to experience a once great boom town that featured railroads and lumber!

Leaving Ronceverte, crossing the steel bridge straddling the Greenbrier River…you will head up a small mountain, pass some coal moving facilities and head into real farm country. All the while here…we enjoy roads that are in great shape. Pot holes are practically non-existent! I’m looking forward to finding the town of Union,



in West Virginia…Here, I was told of a memorial erected August 21st, 1901, in an effort to honor the soldiers of the Confederate Army. The dedication of this monument attracted 10,000 people.










The farmland soon gives way to mountains and hills once again. You will begin to encounter such sights as these mountains…how beautiful…with twisty roads, and fire towers.








I’ve run out of US-219 in West Virginia…it will soon intersect with US- 58 in Tennessee….which is another great over-nighter road to feature! I’ll see you soon, traveling the roads of Dixie…
Be well, ride well…

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Tuesday, July 28, 2009

2009 VELOCETTE RALLY; DAY 1 - ATTRITION

One thousand miles from my home in San Francisco, Kamloops beckoned, hot and dry, soon to be ground zero for 70 old-motorcycle enthusiasts, intent on proving their machines over a week of riding through the remote mountain roads of British Columbia. The Velocette Owners Club of North America holds a week-long rally every July, somewhere in the West (that is, west of the Rockies), and usually covers a thousand miles over 5 days of riding. The club has three requirements for the location of the Rally; interesting scenery, an HQ which combines facilities for camping and hotels, and good roads... which translated means roads appropriate for Velocette - lots of twisty stuff for our light and good-handling mounts.

The South Thompson Inn served us well previously, in 2003, but rally organizer Cory Padula managed to create an entirely different route for this year, even better than last time. The temperature in Kamloops was on par with '03 though, hovering between 90 and 100 degrees during the day... certainly hot enough to cause a bit of strain on our quintessentially English vehicles. And thus it was to prove throughout the week, as a legacy of leaks, breakdowns, and flat tires was laid daily on the ramp of our support vehicle.

Or should I say vehicles. We've typically made do with one truck hauling a trailer to chase our old bikes, with capacity for at least 5 troubled machines. On day 1 my new belt-primary-drive conversion failed utterly within 10 miles of the start, the clutch basket growing so hot within this short distance that the industrial-grade polyurethane drive belt literally melted over the steel wheel, making an ungodly stench identical to, well, burned clutch.

The simplest fix for the moment, as our route was a 240 mile 'loop' that day (returning to the Inn), was to return to camp, grab my Sprinter, throw the Clubman inside, give one of my English guests my 1966 Norton Atlas to ride, and follow along in the van, taking photos, and picking up strays.
It was a good thing too, as the day proved a wrecking ball for rider and motorcycle alike. Within another 10 miles, our esteemed President's Velo Venom was hors de combat, with zero compression... a holed piston so soon? Into the Sprinter it went... with the official chase truck pulling up shortly with a lovely silver/blue Thruxton on the trailer... that made 3 bikes down within 20 miles. Not a good omen!

The canyons and mountains lining the Thompson river are brown and very dry, with the heat a blast furnace whenever the canyons narrow. But, as one pulls away from the river and gains altitude, greenery resumes with the evergreen trees, and the temperature drops to a very tolerable mid-80's. As we followed a small side track into a mountain pass, flowers and grass flanked the unlined road, and a freshet followed our progress. At one sharp hairpin bend which crossed the stream, we (for I had gained the Venom's rider Kiwi Dave, with the bike) discovered an actual sidecar lying forlorn and distinctly unattached in the dirt, near a very pretty scene by the flowing water, under a canopy of healthy (more on this later) green Fir trees. An orange ribbon, our signal for a vehicle in distress, was tied around the mounting struts of the solitary chair, and it was clear we were meant to fetch the thing.

Clearly, Something had happened; a little sleuthing revealed a deep Gouge in the tarmac, a banged up sidecar body, and a rag with blood spots... but, the motorcycle which had formerly been hauling the 'chair' was off and away, so the rider must have been basically healthy, if a little scuffed. The sidecar itself was an Indian copy of a Steib, reduced to perhaps 80% of the original size....but when hauling it onto the bed of the Official Chase Pickup, it took 3 robust fellows to drag the thing up a ramp - remarkably heavy! It was only later in the day, when an extremely dense blue brick was produced from the sidecar body, that the penny dropped; as the outfit had no passenger, the sidecar was filled with 200lbs of lead bricks as ballast! And we, the rescue-salvagers hadn't known/discovered/deduced that the weights were still laying in the thing when we carried it around... good for a laugh later, anyway.

Another 5 miles down the road found another rider, a very brave person who had only earned her motorcycle license the month prior, sitting quietly on a log, her newer Moto Guzzi resting upright deep in the weeds outside a curve... clearly yet another getoff. That made two crashes and 3 duff bikes within 50 miles; we still hadn't had lunch yet! The Terminator Rally had already gained a name... As the Guzzi was only a little bent, some judicious pressure made it rideable, but the rider was perhaps a little less easily fixed, and demurred a further ride (it transpired her collarbone was broken).

Kiwi Dave leapt at the chance to be on two wheels again, so my passenger changed sex, and away we went, shortly to discover a mammoth copper mine which had Altered the landscape dramatically, excavating an entire mountain, creating a 2000' high ridge of tailings, and a 20km long tailing 'pond', glowing fluorescent blue-green under the sun...nothing at all could live in a bath of copper sulfate, and the tourist signs assured the curious that the toxic liquid was 'totally contained and isolated from the groundwater'. As depressing as this devastated landscape might have seemed, copper works really well to conduct our electricity, so this place was merely the unseen underside of our various Conveniences...

We dropped down again to another section of the Thompson river, had an incredibly slow lunch break at an overwhelmed cafe, and followed another tributary upstream back towards Kamloops. At the Quilchena hotel, a Velo with an orange ribbon was sitting alone beside the road; it was the sidecar tug itself, a Venom Endurance. The rider, Jim Abbott, confirmed our suspicion about his crash, as he told of the sudden parting of bike and sidecar when a strut broke - he continued moving forward, while the outfit dug in and slew violently sideways. Sidecar jiu-jitsu, ouch. The bike appeared ok, the rider less so, and I prepared to ride it back the remaining 60 miles to camp, and handed Jim the truck keys.

After following motorcycles all day in the truck, I had a real 'wheee' of an hour on that Endurance. I was instantly reminded of just how much fun a good Velocette can be; light, nimble, with adequate power, and an intuitive resonance with the rider's every movement. Things improved further when we turned onto Campbell Lake Road; well-graded dirt for 20 miles, and the Endurance proved its intended purpose as a Dualsport machine, albeit 60's style.

I have a penchant for good untarred roads, as they provide a totally different riding experience. As the surface is loose, traction is questionable, and steering becomes a new art, in which a relaxed posture (and handlebar grip) is essential. Sliding motorcycle is viscerally pleasurable and best accomplished with the throttle and the hips...there would be plenty of opportunities to try my technique during the following days...

Monday night, very many men were seen huddling near their ailing motors, attending to clutches or pistons or magnetos or flat tires, with flashlights providing dim and insecure illumination to the scenes. It looked for all the world like an encampment the night before a battle...

What to Do When You Can’t Ride?

A panned shot of a motor cycleImage via Wikipedia

What to Do When You Can’t Ride?

There are a lot of reasons why you may not be able to go riding on your motorcycle. A few things that may stand in your way are, work, health, financial, weather, equipment, and To-Do Lists. Of course, none of them are good reasons not to ride. Here is a short list of suggestions of things that you can do that are motorcycle related when you cannot get out on the open road:

Wash your bike

Catch up on your biker forum dejour

Perform routine maintenance on your bike

Go shopping for motorcycle equipment or paraphernalia

Read a good book about motorcycling

Read some good motorcycle blogs

Watch motorcycle shows on TV, the Internet, or DVD

Catch up on the latest motorcycle news

Perform modifications on your ride

Check in on your Twitter friends

Install accessories on your bike

Join a motorcycle organization

Read a good motorcycle magazine

Browse or buy some motorcycle art

Plan your next trip or long ride

Go shopping for more motorcycle accessories

If you are a blogger, update your blog


You get the idea. Now I’ve got to get to work on my new header….

Ride on,
Torch
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Monday, July 27, 2009

Wow, wild week...glad to be home!


View Larger Map

Hey y'all...
Many of you don't know, I was away for the last 7 days. I was invited by the West Virgina Board of Tourism, to attend a tour of West Virgina, on motorcycles. We (11 other moto-journalists and I) rode motorcycles through 4 sections of West Virgina, guided by experienced motorcyclists who were very enthusiastic about showing us the sights of their wonderful state.

I am not able to tell you more or show you pictures at this time about the "FAM TOUR" as they called it...I have promised to save this for WWW.bikernet.com

What I can show you is my trip back home...the map above is my route...exactly 300 miles back home....

In the next few days, please watch for the pictures and the story of my ride back home...I will also let you know when you can find the story at Bikernet....
Thanks...everyone of you for coming to see what I'm up to...I will try very hard in the next few days not to disappoint...
So for now...
Please be well...
Chessie

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Sunday, July 26, 2009

Rocky Mountain High

My absence can be explained yet again by storm duty. I've just recently returned from a tour of storm duty, handling tornado and hail claims from Colorado. Within about one months period of time there have been over 9 significant storms. Several of which had tornados and all that produced hail. It seems ironic to be sitting in your vehicle writing up a hail damage estimate for someone's home or auto while it is hailing at that very moment. It's happened to me once. I've also been on an auto "drive in" assignment once where as we were driving to the drive in location it hailed on the vehicle we were driving three different times.

This time handling hail claims in Colorado there was a tornado one night within a neighboring city to where I was staying at. It too produced lots of damaging winds and hail. This is crazy shit. I'm glad to be home. I only hope I can stay here. Hopefully they won't need me again for awhile. Maybe I can actually get caught up on some of your blogs.

Anyway, I didn't have much time to really get out and see the sights so much, which really bums me out, because it is such a beautiful place. While on storm duty you work a minimum 12 hour day. This leaves no time for anything else but to eat, sleep and shit. Sometimes you feel like all you do is eat, sleep and shit hail. The Rockies are truly breathtaking. At times while driving along from one home to the next, I'd get beautiful glimpses, but no place to really take the photos that would do the Rockies justice, because, well, work got in the way and so did the other moving cars flying by on the freeways.

I got one shitty picture while driving. That's it. Oh, and my camera's zoom sucks, especially while driving down the freeway.

I did get an interesting set of photos that I thought I'd share.

Nice trailer huh?. See anything interesting?
(I altered the picture so you don't really see.)
Yup, That is a mighty big trailer for a motorcycle.
Another angle to show you that the bike is truly pulling that thing.


Oh wait is that actually a Fido in that trailer????? WTF! I thought it was kind of cool, and yet at the same time, kind of cruel. I got mixed feelings on this one. Keeping in mind it was in the middle to upper 90's. Although at the same time as much as I love to ride, and as much as I love my dog, and he loves me, It would be nice to take him with me sometimes.
.
Ain't he cute?

P.S.
Scroll back two pictures and look at the guys checking this out.

Saturday, July 25, 2009

Sturgis Motorcycle Rally - August 3-9, 2009

Each year, hundreds of thousands of motorcyclists head toward, what many feel, is the motorcycling mecca of the world, Sturgis, and the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally.

The Sturgis Motorcycle Rally in South Dakota takes place this year August 3-9.

Check out my article on this great motorcycle rally. See if you can see me waving in the picture when I attended the 1993 Sturgis Motorcycle Rally. I really need to go back at least one more time.

Motorcycle Pictures of the Week - Silver Shadow and Jimmy

Here are my Pictures of the Week as displayed on the Motorcycle Views Website. These are taken from the Moto Pic Gallery. See Silver Shadow on her 2007 Honda Shadow Aero. Also see Jimmy on his 2003 Kawasaki Vulcan 1500 Nomad. For details, see Motorcycle Pictures of the Week.

If you'd like to see your bike as Picture of the Week, submit a picture of you and your bike along with a description of the bike.

Saturday, July 18, 2009

Yamalube Black Leather Polish Review


Yamalube Black Leather Polish Review

When I first got my V-Star I noticed the Custom Classic Hard Leather Bolt On Saddle Bags needed some attention. The leather was drying out and the black color was starting to fade. So, I went shopping for some leather treatment.

The first thing I tried was some Blue Magic Leather Cream Conditioner. It is a watery liquid in a spray bottle and the leather bags just soaked it up almost as fast I could spray it. However, this did not help with the fading issue. Next I tried some Pro Clean Leather Lotion. It is the same watery liquid but is dispensed from a squirt bottle. It too helped with the moisturizing the leather, but not with the bleached black issue.

After a year of commuting to work and my Mistress being parked out in the hot Texan sun for 12 hours at a time the black fading got even worse. I was browsing my local Yamaha Dealer when I spotted some Yamalube Black Leather Polish on a shelf. It came in a small round container about the size of a tobacco dip can. I bought it to try it out.

A few days before I tried it out I sprayed the saddle bags down real good with the Leather Cream Conditioner to let it soak in and moisturize the leather. Finally the day came when I gave the bike an extensive cleansing. After it was dried off I got out the Black Polish out and started the application. The Yamaha website says:

Black Leather Polish

Use to restore black leather to its natural luster by putting color back into the leather. Can be used for black leather jackets, boots, bags, etc.


I opened the small container of Black Leather Polish and found that it resembled black shoe polish in color. In consistency it was a lot thinner paste than shoe polish, more like a cream. I applied it using a soft cotton rag, translation, old T-Shirt. After rubbing the Black Polish into the leather I immediately noticed the black color was back on the section I had applied it.

Wow, what a difference the Yamalube Polish made in the color of the bags. I was really impressed with the difference from before and after. I really wished I could have found the camera that day to show you, but it was in one of my other vehicles, not at home at the time.

The soft consistency of the Leather Polish made it really easy to apply, even into the leather braiding my bags have. The Yamalube Black Polish sure surprised me with how well it made the saddle bags look. Torch gives the Yamalube Black Polish a M.M.M. Rating of 9.5.

Ride on,
Torch





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