Spring, walking and wheels

Well, the first day of Spring has arrived and I got a chance to try out a lot of wheels. On my commute to work the other day I decided to turn on my Oxford Heated grips. It wasn't that cold, around 2 cdn (34 us). It wasn't until I was about half way to work when I noticed that my grips were not even warm. All the lights on the electronic controller were making all the right moves and the LED's had the right colours, but nothing. I turned them off and on again, still nothing. I made arrangements for my Suzuki dealer to take a look at them first thing Saturday morning.



I hopped on my V-strom and headed over to Kitsilano for breakfast with friends like we have done for over a decade. Then over to the dealer where I dropped off my Wee and also had them perform my 2nd service which included LOF . (Lube, Oil & Filter) . I was originally going to wait for them to diagnose the Heated Grips problem, now I had to leave the bike and come back mid afternoon. It was a beautiful, sunny, spring day and my riding plans were thwarted. In my full riding gear I decided to take the 10 wheeled transport home


(10 wheeled articulating BUS, public transit vehicle)

I don't know why I didn't think of it earlier and take off my riding pants and jacket liner and just left them in my side cases as it was getting very warm in the bus. Later I would end up having to carry all this stuff back, as it was too warm to wear.

I was at home trying to pass the time trying to decide whether to drive my car down to pick up my bike, but then I would have two vehicles down there. Plus the fact that we had to meet friends for an eary dinner. I decided to walk the mile to my nearest Skytrain Station



I arrived at the dealer and notice that they are still working on my Wee. The LOF has been done. They had cleaned and lubricated my chain, checked tire pressures, etc. All had been done except for isolating the problem with my heated grips.



You are able to view into the shop from the customer area. I spoke briefly with the mechanic (Dillon) . He told me they checked everything. Fuses, connectors and with their VOM there was power into the controller but it was not funnelling the output to the grips.



I was a little disappointed that they had not found the cause so I mentioned that perhaps the controller was faulty. I was lucky that they had a spare controller lying about so they connected it and it worked. As I purchased my bike there and they installed the unit the repair was done under warranty, including labour.



The traffic was very heavy as I prepared for my ride home. The first day of Spring has not been kind to me. Late Friday night I heard some water dripping in the basement. It turned out to be a burst hot water line in the laundry room. I shut off the valve beneath the sink but for some reason it was still seeping. I put a small container underneath to catch the water but soon realized that it was filling up too fast to trust, so I had to turn off the input line into the hot water tank. I also learned that I had to turn the dial to Pilot (from ON) to minimize steam build up. This meant that we were without hot water until Sunday morning when my friend Gord, volunteered to come over and get me back on-line.


(Gord, contemplating corrective action)

It's nice to have friends such as Gord whom I have called upon numerous times to help repair things around the house. He came over bright and early on Sunday morning. We went to Home Depot to purchase this stuff . . .


(Doesn't look like $160. worth of plumbing bits)

Saturday evening, with 8 of our friends, we ended up with dinner at a cosy Italian Restaurant in Burnaby . It was a great and not so great day to welcome Spring and the passing of Winter .


(Penne with Prawns in a white wine sauce)

I have not taken the Skytrain in many years so I as unfamiliar with where the stations were and how the stations were laid out. And had to ask assistance from the multitude of Skytrain attendants. I hope you like the following video of my Skytrain experience, and also the last part when my Wee was ready to be picked up



NOTE: Mistake on Video Title. It was recorded using a Panasonic Lumix ZS3 NOT GoProHD as the title infers. sorry, had GoPro on the brain