Goodbye Tripp

It is with sorrow that I announce the demise of Tripp.

Tripp has served me well over the years, and we had so many good times together on the road, but it’s time to say goodbye.

Two hours into our return trip from Connecticut, Tripp started making noises and I was pretty sure his engine was going down for the count and after listening to it, Alice confirmed it.  We picked up a motorcycle trailer from U-Haul, loaded up Tripp, I shed a tear and hopped in the truck and we headed home.

The next day I got to ride Scarlett for the whole day.  First thing I noticed that I could easily pick it up off the kickstand with my arms, vs. throwing my leg weight into the bike in order to get it up.  Second thing was how light and easy it was to handle as I exited the gravel campsite and headed across the grass to the road.  Next thing I noticed was that backing it out of a parking space was like a walk in the park.  Scarlett is a Heritage Softail, Tripp was a Road King.  The Heritage Softail is smaller and the weight is balanced more underneath me.  On the Road King, there was more weight out in front of me, making it pretty challenging for me to handle at low speeds, or even backing it up.  I’ve never had a lot of upper body strength, but when I was younger, I could handle it better.  The last five years or so, it has been harder for me physically and as a result of my back and hip issues and surgeries, my legs aren’t as strong as they used to be either.

There was some kind of talk last summer about me getting a three-wheeler or a smaller bike.  I even shopped for a three-wheeler but after making an incredible amount of progress in strength and ability after my last surgery, I came to the conclusion that no fucking way was I going to ride a three-wheeler.  I contemplated the smaller bikes available for a bit, but really couldn’t come up with a solution for a smaller bike that could accommodate my long legs.  I had test driven a Heritage Softail years ago when I was in the market for a different bike because I always liked how it looked.  But there was no place for me to stretch out my legs into a comfortable riding position. So, not the bike for me.

However, after the multiple challenges I had while riding Tripp over 3000 miles in the last 6 weeks, Scarlett was enticing me to consider the Heritage Softail as an option since I was pretty sure Tripp was down for the count and I was going to have to decide whether to fix him up and keep rolling with him or retire him and get a different bike…one that may be better suited for me in the long haul when we head out on the 50-state ride.

Oh, did I mention?  Scarlett rode like a dream.  Now, she’s upping the ante.  Oh, oh.  I can see it coming now.  After a couple hours into the ride I was looking for a way to stretch out my legs a bit.  I could only handle that 90 degree bend in my knees for so long and I started looking for a place to put my feet. That’s when I noticed the position of her highway pegs.  In order for Alice to be able to use highway pegs with her shorter legs, they were positioned at the bottom of the engine guard vs. where they are typically installed at the top.  I discovered I could stretch out my legs, rest the toe of my boots on the highway pegs and leave the heel of my boots on the floorboard.  I could easily move my foot to the brake or shifter if needed. Voila!  Just like riding with forward controls.  This could really work…OK, Scarlett.  I give.  I’ll  be getting a bike just like you. It won’t be red, though. That’s your color and that’s you.

Meanwhile, Alice and Kevin are following me in the truck, watching this unfold.  Observing, assessing (as always), and discussing how easily I’m riding and handling Scarlett as compared to Tripp. Paraphrased, I think the conversation went something like this…She can handle Scarlett much easier than Tripp.  She’s riding like a wet dream.  Maybe she should get a bike like Scarlett.  Only one small problem.  Alice says Chick isn’t going to switch out her bike just because we think she should.  If she don’t wanna, she ain’t gonna.

Much to Alice’s surprise, at one of the next stops, I told Alice “I think I’m in love.” I hastened to assure her that I was not in love with Scarlett per se,  wasn’t going to try and win her over, but that I want a bike just like her.  For the rest of the time that I was riding Scarlett, I continued to check everything out about the ride, constantly checking in with myself to make sure the ride was everything I need it to be and started planning on what I would need to set up a Heritage Softail to fit my riding.  I also had to figure out how the hell I was going to pack everything I had packed on Tripp on a smaller bike that couldn’t necessarily handle the weight and how I would need to come up with a whole different method to get everything I need on the bike and how I could pack to distribute the weight accordingly.  I got the opportunity to drive in the heavy Chicago area traffic while keeping track of the GPS, riding a questionable road into the campground successfully parking Scarlett without dumping her over (I’m not too sure I could have navigated that particular part as good with Tripp).  The last day, I got the opportunity to drive Scarlett the last hour home, taking the back roads to avoid the Twin City area traffic.  Even better. I didn’t push the corners like I usually do (not my bike), but she handled it beautifully.  SOLD!

After we got back, I carefully drove Tripp to the Harley Dealer to check him out. The next day they called me and confirmed that I was probably looking at a full engine replacement.  It was going to be expensive and challenging to find parts as Harley no longer made parts for that particular older motor.  So, decision made.  I drove to the dealer and started looking for a new bike.  I looked at and sat on several different Heritage Softails.  One in particular caught my eye, and it had almost everything wanted for my ride. The salesman also suggested I try some other style Harleys in the same size and weight grouping as the Heritage Softail.  Every time I sat on another style bike, I would set it back down and say “nope, it’s not for me.”  I didn’t find anything else that fit as good and felt as good as the Heritage Softail.  I went back to the Heritage Softail that I had sat on earlier, sat on it again, checked it out and decided this was the one.  I liked the way it looked, I liked the way it was setup and it only had 520 miles on it.  It was a lot newer than several of the other used bikes and I knew it was going to cost more than I originally wanted to spend, but it was going to be worth it.  It was going to be a bike I could feel confident about handling, had a great ride, was going to be a lot more reliable than an older bike, and while the color wasn't my top choice, it was growing on me.  So it’s a done deal.  I get to pick it up next week.  I’m beyond excited!

On the way home, I started thinking about what I was going to name my bike because I knew that was going to be one of the first questions Alice would ask.  As I thought about how every time I picked up a different bike, I kept going back to how that particular bike fit and how the current bike I was checking out just wasn’t measuring up.  The first thing that came to mind, given its silver color, was “Silver Tongued Devil.”   It was talking to me the whole time I was trying out other bikes and nothing compared to my reaction to this particular bike.  Now there’s a few problems with this name.  It’s pretty long for a name, it doesn’t just pop off the tongue.  How can I nickname that?  I could call it the devil, but that doesn’t really say it all.  If you abbreviate it, well then, you get what you get.  Nothing else fits though and I literally can’t get past it to think of any other name, so I’m going with it.

Meet the Silver Tongued Devil: