Summer's fading light

It is during this time of year when our days grow shorter and the heat of the sun diminishes. It is getting darker by the day. During the height of summer, the sun rose before 5am, now it barely rises before 7am and soon it will be dark when I get ready for my morning commute. As I head Eastward I caught the sun at a very low angle


(West Broadway near Renfrew eastbound)

You are so vulnerable on a bike. You do not have proper visors to shield the light from hitting your eyes and sometimes you are momentarily blinded. Not a good situation when you are riding into the bright light and not being able to see the traffic ahead. It's as if the sun is lying directly on the roadway ahead. Either that or a heavily farkled K75 (<-- click link) with lights as powerful as the sun is making its way in the opposite direction.

It's also getting darker earlier. A couple of weeks ago I took this photo around 7pm



The sun is still high on the horizon but now it is around sunset

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Recently there has been a lot of interest in Hacks (Motorcycles with sidecars) . You can read about Charlie6's Redleg's Rides (<-- click link) adventures with his "new to him" Ural named Natasha.

I am starting to notice Hacks more and one of our scooter riders has outfitted his V-strom DL1000 with a sidecar which he also rode to Kelowna last July for the Kelowna scooter rally


(Suzuki DL1000 V-strom with sidecar)


(Rear view)

I don't know who manufactured this model but I will pay closer attention the next time I see it. All I know is that he told me it cost around Cdn$3,000.

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The last Bike Night of the year was a grand affair. They arranged for a portable Dyno for those who wanted to test their bikes



As it was cool and getting dark fast there were less riders there but the BBQ was manned and churning out hamburgers and hotdogs



BCStunters were putting on their show



And they even arranged for a live band, who were in the process of "setting up"



Tony was so hungry that he even forgot to open the bag



He is a scooter rider, recently converted to motorcycles. Here is a shot of his "new to him" Suzuki Bandit 400 which he only purchased that afternoon


(Suzuki Bandit 400 classic water cooled 4 valve)

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Many of you may know that I also belong to the BC Corvette Club of Vancouver (<-- click link) . We have hamburger nights throughout the summer, but this was the last one of the year. We meet for dinner and go for a group ride to various local destinations.



Here is a 1959 'Vette which has been owned by Dan since 1969. He drives it everywhere. Recently he went to Texas and drove along Route 66.


(1959 Corvette)

I normally order the special, Burger, caesar salad, blueberry pie with whipping cream, and soda beverage of your choice. Not bad for Cdn$10. car service



Here is another shot of my Red Chariot


(C5 Corvette Roadster, torch red)

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Last year we had the worst Winter in over 50 years. My car was snowed in for 3 weeks. Even our AWD Subaru had difficulty because of the high snowbanks and ice which was higher than the undercarriage. So I told myself that NOT this year, I am going to be prepared so in the heat of summer I purchased by 4 snow tires. I had to put two in the back seat



and the other two in the trunk



I get them home and stack them in the carport



along with my case of DE-icer antifreeze



The next step is to purchase 4 steel rims to mount my snow tires. Last year there was a shortage of snow tires because of the new law in Quebec and most tire shops will not sell you just 2 tires because of an expensive lawsuit a few years ago which caused a large tire company to go out of business. I know Murphy's Law will come into play this year and I don't think we will get any snow but I am prepared for it if it should come

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Recently while at my Suzuki dealer there was a Triumph parked next to me


(Triumph Thunderbird)

It was a beautiful bike with a large engine




(Yep, it's got a TACH)

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I didn't want to let the Triumph have the last word, so here is a pair of V-Stroms


(Both with Tachs, incidentally)