July 18, 2020 - Time to Shoot

Escaping once again from the oppressive Central Texas summer heat, I popped into my local Kawasaki dealership yesterday to say hello and give the GoPro a workout. Ended up with some footage of a Kawasaki Jet Ski being liberated from its crate and hoisted onto its trailer to be made ready for sale, and did a quick walk-around of the 2020 Kawasaki Vulcan 900 Classic - a beautiful bike.

I've often wondered why Kawasaki has made no significant changes to the Vulcan 900 since it's birth in 2006, excepting elimination of some lubrication zircs and improving the seat comfort a bit. Honestly, if Big K would slap ABS, and 6th speed, and 200-300 more cc on neglected machine, I'd own one now. Who knows what 2021 will bring, right? Doubtful.

Kyle, their head mechanic (and a damned good mechanic he is), invited me back to do a walk-around review of his CB1000RR SP Repsol Honda that he recently required. I'll head over just after my #6 Golden Arches daily ritual. Weight now at 215.8 for a total loss of 29.2 lbs. so far. Come on willpower!

Hopefully when the day is done I'll have footage for three new videos in the can. We'll see how it goes.

Forward fast seven hours...

Grabbed an extra sausage and cheese biscuit meal as video payola for Kyle, my favorite Kawasaki master mechanic, and made my way to the dealership.

Bonus! Kyle had just finished prepping a 2020 Kawasaki XLR 250 so I started off my visit by shooting some walk-around review footage. When finished I spent some time helping Kyle assemble two different 4x4 mules. No footage there, but fun.

Then Kyle rolled out the Repsol. and after a quick Plexxus wipe-down, I shot its walk-around/spec review. What a great looking and sounding machine that thing is. A customer traded it in on a new Kawi and Kyle snapped it up before it hit the showroom floor. It's a 2015 with only 18,000 miles and not a scratch on it. You know what they say: Even a blind squirrel finds a nut every once and awhile.

Double bonus! Money is on the short side but this morning I ran across an eBay deal I couldn't refuse - a new sissy bar/backrest/rack combo with attachment plates for a 2009 FXDF Fat Bob. Supposedly not a scratch on it. It had no bids and the minimum was set at $100 (these items new are worth maybe $500). After some hesitation I threw on the minimum bid, knowing I couldn't afford to go higher, and there was no way in hell I would win this thing.

Driving out of the Kawasaki dealership parking lot I heard the "YOU'VE WON" flourish ring out on my phone. Well whaddya know. Merry Christmas. I went back to look at the add once more and savor my victory (photo below). Interestingly enough, the seller has a feedback rating of "0". Let's keep our fingers crossed! More to come.

Now I've got some editing to do...

Tomorrow's high is predicted at only 96 degrees (a Texas cool front must be rolling in). Sounds like a ride to the lake tomorrow. Vulcan S or Fat Bob? Decisions, decisions...