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Last Saturday was Deb's first ride on our new 95 Aspencade. As some of you may have been following, I bought this bike in January as a barn find in eastern New Mexico. The bike was not in running condition at the time and required some repairs to get it rode worthy and safe. Last week I had completed all the repairs and new tire replacement and it was ready for Debbie's first ride.
Our previous bikes were Maxi Scooters, a Suzuki Burgman 400 and 650, both of which we rode 2 up. Deb always complained about the wind buffeting on the scooters despite the fact that I had changed the stock windshields. And she also was uncomfortable on the wide seat on the Burgman's as it spread her hips and hurt her knees. So, I was particularly interested in her ride experience. This part of what precipitated me selling the scooters and getting a Wing.
Our plan was to ride 75 miles southwest thru the farmlands and skirt the bottom of Lake Palestine heading to our favorite place for breakfast in Edom, the Bakery. It was a cool morning with temps in the high fifties as we wore our all mesh jackets. I had charged our Scala G4 radios however was unable to pair them and we had previous problems with this system in Colorado. I plan to sell this system and find something else. Loading Deb on the bike was an easy affair as we had plenty of practice with the scooter as I stand up mounted on the bike hugging the gas tank with my thighs, bike in neutral and holding front brake. Once underway, the extra passenger weight felt good on the bike and coming up to stop signs and red lights was a smooth affair as all the weight on the bike felt low and balanced.
I embarrassed myself making a left hand turn from a 4 way stop at a busy intersection as apparently the transmission was still in 2nd gear and the bike died making the turn. I had done this a time or two before riding solo and the bike is usually forgiving and can stay going without killing the engine. The ride through the Texas country side on this cool spring morning was the best as the stock ponds were full from recent rains, the grasses were emerald green, wild flowers adorned the bar ditches and shoulders, horses and cows grazing. Deb grew up on a farm as a young girl and she was in her element. A few times at stop signs I'd flip up my modular helmet and do a gut check and ask her how the wind was for her and she said it was ok. Later I learned she was a bit chilly and probably should have added another layer starting out. I had adjusted the new Windbender windshield all the way up for her to reduce her wind buffeting and still allowed me to see over the screen. I couldn't help but feel how natural and comfortable the Wing felt with a passenger on board. These bikes truly are designed for optimal two up riding. I was fairly conservative on the speed and acceleration of the bike on her first ride experience as I really wanted her to love the ride and not feel intimidated or fearful of anything. It was an easy comfortable pace over to Edom as we arrived in about 1.5 hours and since we hadn't had anything to eat we were very hungry. Since we hadn't left the house until nearly 9am we appeared to have missed the breakfast crowd rolling in at 10:30 as we were quickly seated and served. Deb ordered her favorite, pecan waffles and I a three egg omelet with ham, hash browns, rye toast and a side order of bacon. Like I said we were starving. While we were waiting for our food I was anxious for her ride experience as I was wanting more feedback than just good. I asked Deb; "on a scale of 1-10, what was the wind buffeting for you on the scooter"? She said 7-8 and for the Wing a 3-4. That was very impressive to me and she also said that her hips and knees did not hurt from her 75 mile ride. Wow, this was such good news as I felt our new Wing had passed the test for her.
After breakfast we walked around this artsy little town and I bought Deb a pretty dress in a gift shop and we poked around a bit and looked at arts and crafts. From Edom we headed east back towards Tyler and stopped at a garden nursery, Blue Moons Garden as Deb loves plants and flowers and she was in her element there. We bought a few small plants that we could fit in the side saddlebag as she was a happy camper. From the nursery we rode back into Tyler to our favorite gourmet coffee shop, Brady's Coffee as we wanted to get a latte and Deb was hoping to see her friend there and show off our new bike. When we pulled in we were the only folks to fill the parking lot but we stayed anyway and ordered our drinks and within 30 minutes the place filled up with all our friends and Deb was just jabbering away about everything we had done that morning.
Gentlemen, if you want your lady to enjoy riding with you, remember to do stuff they like to do to like shopping, going to the nursery, getting a latte and sharing of food. They like the ride experience too but they also like to mix it up with stuff they like too. As long as I can remember my own advice here I suspect that I may have a touring buddy on future rides. The reason I know is because Deb gave me the green flag later that day to get the HF Tag along trailer for future longer rides together. Lord was that a good ride and good time together. It wasn't a real long ride as we clocked about 150 miles, and got home about 2:30pm as it was perfect for our first ride together on our new 95 Aspencade.
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Our previous bikes were Maxi Scooters, a Suzuki Burgman 400 and 650, both of which we rode 2 up. Deb always complained about the wind buffeting on the scooters despite the fact that I had changed the stock windshields. And she also was uncomfortable on the wide seat on the Burgman's as it spread her hips and hurt her knees. So, I was particularly interested in her ride experience. This part of what precipitated me selling the scooters and getting a Wing.
Our plan was to ride 75 miles southwest thru the farmlands and skirt the bottom of Lake Palestine heading to our favorite place for breakfast in Edom, the Bakery. It was a cool morning with temps in the high fifties as we wore our all mesh jackets. I had charged our Scala G4 radios however was unable to pair them and we had previous problems with this system in Colorado. I plan to sell this system and find something else. Loading Deb on the bike was an easy affair as we had plenty of practice with the scooter as I stand up mounted on the bike hugging the gas tank with my thighs, bike in neutral and holding front brake. Once underway, the extra passenger weight felt good on the bike and coming up to stop signs and red lights was a smooth affair as all the weight on the bike felt low and balanced.
I embarrassed myself making a left hand turn from a 4 way stop at a busy intersection as apparently the transmission was still in 2nd gear and the bike died making the turn. I had done this a time or two before riding solo and the bike is usually forgiving and can stay going without killing the engine. The ride through the Texas country side on this cool spring morning was the best as the stock ponds were full from recent rains, the grasses were emerald green, wild flowers adorned the bar ditches and shoulders, horses and cows grazing. Deb grew up on a farm as a young girl and she was in her element. A few times at stop signs I'd flip up my modular helmet and do a gut check and ask her how the wind was for her and she said it was ok. Later I learned she was a bit chilly and probably should have added another layer starting out. I had adjusted the new Windbender windshield all the way up for her to reduce her wind buffeting and still allowed me to see over the screen. I couldn't help but feel how natural and comfortable the Wing felt with a passenger on board. These bikes truly are designed for optimal two up riding. I was fairly conservative on the speed and acceleration of the bike on her first ride experience as I really wanted her to love the ride and not feel intimidated or fearful of anything. It was an easy comfortable pace over to Edom as we arrived in about 1.5 hours and since we hadn't had anything to eat we were very hungry. Since we hadn't left the house until nearly 9am we appeared to have missed the breakfast crowd rolling in at 10:30 as we were quickly seated and served. Deb ordered her favorite, pecan waffles and I a three egg omelet with ham, hash browns, rye toast and a side order of bacon. Like I said we were starving. While we were waiting for our food I was anxious for her ride experience as I was wanting more feedback than just good. I asked Deb; "on a scale of 1-10, what was the wind buffeting for you on the scooter"? She said 7-8 and for the Wing a 3-4. That was very impressive to me and she also said that her hips and knees did not hurt from her 75 mile ride. Wow, this was such good news as I felt our new Wing had passed the test for her.
After breakfast we walked around this artsy little town and I bought Deb a pretty dress in a gift shop and we poked around a bit and looked at arts and crafts. From Edom we headed east back towards Tyler and stopped at a garden nursery, Blue Moons Garden as Deb loves plants and flowers and she was in her element there. We bought a few small plants that we could fit in the side saddlebag as she was a happy camper. From the nursery we rode back into Tyler to our favorite gourmet coffee shop, Brady's Coffee as we wanted to get a latte and Deb was hoping to see her friend there and show off our new bike. When we pulled in we were the only folks to fill the parking lot but we stayed anyway and ordered our drinks and within 30 minutes the place filled up with all our friends and Deb was just jabbering away about everything we had done that morning.
Gentlemen, if you want your lady to enjoy riding with you, remember to do stuff they like to do to like shopping, going to the nursery, getting a latte and sharing of food. They like the ride experience too but they also like to mix it up with stuff they like too. As long as I can remember my own advice here I suspect that I may have a touring buddy on future rides. The reason I know is because Deb gave me the green flag later that day to get the HF Tag along trailer for future longer rides together. Lord was that a good ride and good time together. It wasn't a real long ride as we clocked about 150 miles, and got home about 2:30pm as it was perfect for our first ride together on our new 95 Aspencade.
