Rode the new to us Silverwing to the grocery store tonight.....

[Serk]

I rode the new to us Silverwing to the grocery store tonight for a few essentials. Helmetless, but did have my leather riding gloves on, and left my gloves on because why not.

While shopping an older gentleman came up to me and made a humourous comment about my riding gear on that little scooter I pulled up on. I could tell by his demeanor it was said in good spirits, not venom, so I took it in the spirit in which it was said...

He mentioned he has a Harley.

I mentioned I have two Valkyries at home, but was just riding the wife's scooter for a few errands...

"Honda Valkyrie? The 6 cylinder beast Honda used to make?"

Yes sir.....

"My son has one.... I tried to ride it once. WAY too much bike for me!!!"

"Sir.... I say this as a proud father, not to shame you in any way, but just as a proud father. But my 17 year old daughter rode one of my Valkyries 2500 miles round trip to Asheville NC 3 weeks ago."

Him: *Blink*

"We're talking about the 1500cc 6 cylinder Hondas, right?"

"Yes sir."

*Blink*

*blink blink*

*blink blink blink*

"Okay..... I have no excuse....."

(Yes, I relayed this story to Kali. And yes, she's still beaming with pride.....)

[Chrisj CMA]

As she should be 

[..]

 

[_Sheffjs_]

I hope you pulled your phone out and went to pictures. 

[old2soon]

       Way kewl!   Just from what I've read and what my Brother told me you do Indeed have a rather Special Young Lady in Kali. Would that one of these days I git to meet you the Misses and the other spawn. You and Kali I believe have mucho more adventures ahead of you.   RIDE SAFE.

[Beardo]

Great story. 

[gordonv]

 

[cookiedough]

what, no comments on how much stuff at the grocery store you packed in under the silverwing seat?    If you want more storage, get both a rear lockable top trunk and on rear seat some clip on cloth soft bags that go under the seat with straps to secure them from shifting doubled up on one another if smaller rectangular flat bags.  My scoot is good for around 5-6 plastic grocery bags worth.

is sort of nice isn't it for 10-15 mile jaunts to the store to pick up groceries.  More than once though on both my scooters I bought too much stuff and looked puzzled on what the heck to do now some 13 country miles home.  You would be surprised at how many bags of preferably mostly lighter stuff can fit in between your legs in bags on the mostly flat load floor of my scooters where there is no wind movement to throw the bags off snuggled in tight between my calves.  Even had there before two 12 packs of diet coke or 24 roll of TP or 8 rolls of paper towels, even Pizza Hut square boxed pizzas.  Bags of chips in bags fit nicely in front of me on the floor as well and the list goes on and on, even an 80 pack of depends to my mom on the scoot in her asst. living place the lady on duty thought I was nuts.  Once I took 2 fishing boat wood paddles home with me as well luckily mostly straight hwy roads not much turning that 11 mile jaunt rural country roads no traffic doing 45 mph tops since wind currents on paddles not good much over that.    Now if I was in big town or heavy traffic would not be do-able too many stop/go situations with traffic but where I live from grocery store to home is like 2 stop signs is all in 13 miles and very light traffic.

Has Kali drove the Silverwing yet?  If so,  how does she like it in terms of comfort and ease of riding?  Is no slouch that is for sure easily keeping up at Interstate speeds of 75 mph no problems even 80 mph.

[Robert]

There is always 2 sides to a story Kali to her credit did very well, but the man went home and questioned his manhood for the rest of his life.  Things have never been the same since then.

[cookiedough]

There is always 2 sides to a story Kali to her credit did very well, but the man went home and questioned his manhood for the rest of his life.  Things have never been the same since then.

yah,  I was thinking that same thing as well to have a 17 year old male or female on a Valk him saying too much cycle for him.

Way to go SERK,  you destroyed that guys ego/manhood for life... ???

[Serk]

I hope you pulled your phone out and went to pictures. 

I was very tempted, but we were already having to do the social distancing dance around the aisle of the store to let other shoppers socially distance by us.....

      Way kewl!   Just from what I've read and what my Brother told me you do Indeed have a rather Special Young Lady in Kali. Would that one of these days I git to meet you the Misses and the other spawn. You and Kali I believe have mucho more adventures ahead of you.   RIDE SAFE.

I'm still hoping we finally get to meet! She is a special kid..... (Although ya'll generally only see her good side, there's a typical teenager side too that we have to deal with, like yesterday when all of a sudden she had purple hair...)

what, no comments on how much stuff at the grocery store you packed in under the silverwing seat?    If you want more storage, get both a rear lockable top trunk and on rear seat some clip on cloth soft bags that go under the seat with straps to secure them from shifting doubled up on one another if smaller rectangular flat bags.  My scoot is good for around 5-6 plastic grocery bags worth.

is sort of nice isn't it for 10-15 mile jaunts to the store to pick up groceries.  More than once though on both my scooters I bought too much stuff and looked puzzled on what the heck to do now some 13 country miles home.  You would be surprised at how many bags of preferably mostly lighter stuff can fit in between your legs in bags on the mostly flat load floor of my scooters where there is no wind movement to throw the bags off snuggled in tight between my calves.  Even had there before two 12 packs of diet coke or 24 roll of TP or 8 rolls of paper towels, even Pizza Hut square boxed pizzas.  Bags of chips in bags fit nicely in front of me on the floor as well and the list goes on and on, even an 80 pack of depends to my mom on the scoot in her asst. living place the lady on duty thought I was nuts.  Once I took 2 fishing boat wood paddles home with me as well luckily mostly straight hwy roads not much turning that 11 mile jaunt rural country roads no traffic doing 45 mph tops since wind currents on paddles not good much over that.    Now if I was in big town or heavy traffic would not be do-able too many stop/go situations with traffic but where I live from grocery store to home is like 2 stop signs is all in 13 miles and very light traffic.

Has Kali drove the Silverwing yet?  If so,  how does she like it in terms of comfort and ease of riding?  Is no slouch that is for sure easily keeping up at Interstate speeds of 75 mph no problems even 80 mph.

The one we got came with a Givi top box already in place, and yeah, you can get quite a bit of stuff in there! I easily got a gallon of milk, several boxes of crackers, several packets of sliced cheese, as well as the bits I picked up prior at Harbor Freight next door... Could have gotten WAY more in there with that top box!

Kali is terrified of riding it. She's scared she'll get ready to shift and grab a hand full of clutch (For those not familiar, the left hand lever on the Silverwing is the front brake, not the clutch.)

I keep telling her yes, she will do that.

...Once.....

Ya' tend to learn not to do that right quick!

On the 120 mile ride home from where we got it I got it up to a GPS certified 97MPH on the interstate.... Get some funny looks when the fat dude is doing near triple digits on the freeway, that's for sure!

There is always 2 sides to a story Kali to her credit did very well, but the man went home and questioned his manhood for the rest of his life.  Things have never been the same since then.

yah,  I was thinking that same thing as well to have a 17 year old male or female on a Valk him saying too much cycle for him.

Way to go SERK,  you destroyed that guys ego/manhood for life... ???

I was sensitive to that, and quickly added that she's not your average 17 year old girl...

....being 6'2" and on 2 high level swim teams for one thing...

That seemed to make him feel better, but I bet he'll give his son's Valkyrie another try soon!

[old2soon]

   When Daughter One was still at home I came in after two weeks out and her hair was basically a rainbow of colors. And she queried as I came in-doncha just luv it Dad? To which I responded-is the coffee ready? And after a cup of fresh brewed home made java I replied-ya want me ta lie or tell the truth? And B T W I stated-I've never lied to you and I Will Not start now. She hugged me and told me-Mom said you would.t like it and I said-Mom's right. Daughter two while in college lightened hers up not real blond but blondish. That I did Like! So-yeah-been there done that got the T-shirt. RIDE SAFE.

[Jess from VA]

Not a fan of purple hair, but it beats the heck out of tats, piercings, spikes and studs and dangly things.

Why do folks (esp young girls) have to emulate Christmas Trees?

Gain attention and admiration with your spirit, humor, intelligence, good works and thoughtfullness.

I try to never judge a book by it's cover, but sometimes I can't get past the.... WTF IS THAT??

[RDAbull]

Great story Brian.  I have two grown sons who never had any interest in my bikes. 
Wish they had, I would love to ride to IZ with either one of them.

Tell Kali that I think her hair is cute, but you have to remember that after spending 20 years in the college classroom:  I've seen it all!

[cookiedough]

Yah,  that color purple hair is not too bad seen much worse.  I agree on the studs especially thru the nose 2 ladies I work with around 30ish or so both put nose studs sticking out I think is trashy looking but is their nose if they want buggers to get caught inside it I guess they can right?    Never understood tatoos either but as I said, their body do whatever you want I guess and might regret it later in life though?

as far as Kali working at the water/fun park,  is she social distancing wearing a mask all day long in the heat.  That at certain HOT days cannot be a fun experience all masked up all day long.  Isn't she going back to school soon in TX being a senior now soon so doubt she will keep that job right or will she come school time if doing schooling from home maybe vs. really in school?  

am sure top speed of silverwing is near my burgman 650 scooter 112 mph or pretty close to it.  I had mine up to 90 mph felt like 70 is all had plenty left fast enough for me.  I dislike the manual buttons to shift on the left handlebar the gears up/down manual mode but the POWER button is nice to have if want to blow away BMW's or Porsche's off the line keeps the engine rpms way way up there. Both in left lane me in right lane both wanting to get ahead of me at a stop light to turn right about 100 yards ahead both never were able to overtake me flooring scooter with power button enabled thus having to slow down and get behind me turning right side by side over 60 mph in a 30 mph speed zone. 

[Serk]

as far as Kali working at the water/fun park,  is she social distancing wearing a mask all day long in the heat.  That at certain HOT days cannot be a fun experience all masked up all day long.  Isn't she going back to school soon in TX being a senior now soon so doubt she will keep that job right or will she come school time if doing schooling from home maybe vs. really in school?  

Yup, she has to wear a mask all the time (Other than when eating/drinking) and when she's close to guests (Which is often since she's a ride operator, buckling them in, making sure the lap bar is set, etc) she also has to wear goggles. Outside. In the Texas heat......

.....oh to be 17 again.....

School starts Monday, but it's virtual for at least the first month, so she'll be able to work on weekends, and possibly evenings during the week. Theoretically school will switch to in person after 4 weeks of virtual, but I'm not holding my breath on that actually happening.

In other brag on Kali news, she finally got her varsity letterman jacket. Since I was never in sportsball, I always thought that was just something the jocks bought, didn't know what all it takes to get one, so proud of her for earning that too!

[Farside]

.....oh to be 17 again.....


In other brag on Kali news, she finally got her varsity letterman jacket. Since I was never in sportsball, I always thought that was just something the jocks bought, didn't know what all it takes to get one, so proud of her for earning that too!


[/quote]

Great story Serk of the Ol' guys thoughts of the Valkyrie. Maybe he under estimated his skills maybe not but he has to think what if....... 

Oh yes, the letterman jacket. I loved mine and enjoyed play sports. Football, Basketball and Baseball were my favorit adding to my jacket. I wrestled one year but ran into my top 3 sports but it kicked my Arse My girl friend always wanted to wear my jacket but I hardly let her.  
   After meeting Kali at InZane I could see she was a talented young lady. Congratulations on acheving that Awesome jacket and Letter. It looks good on her even with the purple hair. I hope she has a great Sr year swimming and then maybe on to a Swimming College Scholarship.  

[hubcapsc]

She could trade the jacket to someone for some new britches?  ...

My friend Sallie is older than me and her hair is purple too.

-Mike

[Jess from VA]

Congrats to her on lettering and joining the Varsity Club.   

In my schools there were no pools, tennis courts or much else, so we had no females in the varsity.

[old2soon]

          Now down here in SoMo at Willow Springs H S 2nd Daughter in addition to Marching band she was on the tennis team. The boys got letter men jackets for tennis BUT the girls-no matter if their sport parelleded the boys same sport-no letter jacket. Daughter one similar circumstances couple years before Daughter 2. Happy Kali got hers!  RIDE SAFE.

[cookiedough]

maybe that purple hair will either intimidate the swim competition or make her swim faster?   

Never understood though my daughter had a pair starting senior year or so about 5 years ago blue jeans with holes pre-made in them brand new around knees/thigh area. 

Never liked our letterman jackets pukey light blue and white arms so got a fake gold ring which probably should have just skipped never wore that either sits at my home tarnishing the fake gold away, but looks cool with my baseball and football numbers on it.