It really was. Seriously!! I was out of the country when last fall's government shutdown began. When I returned home, I hadn't ridden my Connie in two weeks. I had heard that because of the government closure, the National Park Service had gone out of their way to restrict the public's access to national parks that are normally never closed. Since I also enjoy stand up paddle boarding on the Potomac River, I decided to ride my C14 down to the place I usually put my board in on the river (which is run by the park service), and see if the rumors were true.
As I approached the parking lot, I saw the park service had put concrete barriers in front of the parking lot, and there were people parked all along the road walking through the parking lot down to the river. As I got closer, I saw that I could ride my bike through the barriers, so I did. Parked my bike, went down and took a look at the river, saw a bunch of people ignoring the closure, and then went to ride home. The parking lot is dirt, and there is a lip up onto the paved road. I had to ride up onto the paved road between two concrete barriers and parked cars, and then out onto the road that has a fair amount of traffic on it. I was worried about riding out into oncoming traffic, so I was going slow. Too slow as it turns out! I pulled the S out of a muscle in my leg as I tried to keep her from going down, but all that did was set it down gently. I scratched up all three right side cowling pieces, the side view mirror, saddle bag and scuffed up the potato launcher.
After I got home, I thought "I can fix it, I've got an awesome set of tools!" In spite of never wrenching on a motorcycle before, I ordered a shop manual and Fred's videos (they are great - thanks Fred!), looked up the parts and finally ordered them in December. I was going to replace everything the first weekend of the year, but got distracted, so I just got to it today. I figured I would just swap everything out, easy peasy. Until I took the center cowling piece off, and saw it had some sort of insulation/heat protection glued to the inside of it. That is not coming off in one piece! It started getting cold and I ran out of daylight (my garage doesn't have great light), so I did not get the side cowling off. Looking at the parts blow-up, it now seems like I need "39156D PAD,CNT COWLING,RH 39156-0596" for the center cowling. Does anyone know if that is correct, and if I have any other surprises coming for the side cowling (or anywhere else)?
On the positive side, I am using this experience as an excuse to put in a Stebel horn (as long as I have the cowling off!), a Two Brothers slip-on and a CalSci windshield (I had to take the stock one off to take everything apart, right?). Thanks in advance for any help provided....
Inthedmv
2011 C14
As I approached the parking lot, I saw the park service had put concrete barriers in front of the parking lot, and there were people parked all along the road walking through the parking lot down to the river. As I got closer, I saw that I could ride my bike through the barriers, so I did. Parked my bike, went down and took a look at the river, saw a bunch of people ignoring the closure, and then went to ride home. The parking lot is dirt, and there is a lip up onto the paved road. I had to ride up onto the paved road between two concrete barriers and parked cars, and then out onto the road that has a fair amount of traffic on it. I was worried about riding out into oncoming traffic, so I was going slow. Too slow as it turns out! I pulled the S out of a muscle in my leg as I tried to keep her from going down, but all that did was set it down gently. I scratched up all three right side cowling pieces, the side view mirror, saddle bag and scuffed up the potato launcher.
After I got home, I thought "I can fix it, I've got an awesome set of tools!" In spite of never wrenching on a motorcycle before, I ordered a shop manual and Fred's videos (they are great - thanks Fred!), looked up the parts and finally ordered them in December. I was going to replace everything the first weekend of the year, but got distracted, so I just got to it today. I figured I would just swap everything out, easy peasy. Until I took the center cowling piece off, and saw it had some sort of insulation/heat protection glued to the inside of it. That is not coming off in one piece! It started getting cold and I ran out of daylight (my garage doesn't have great light), so I did not get the side cowling off. Looking at the parts blow-up, it now seems like I need "39156D PAD,CNT COWLING,RH 39156-0596" for the center cowling. Does anyone know if that is correct, and if I have any other surprises coming for the side cowling (or anywhere else)?
On the positive side, I am using this experience as an excuse to put in a Stebel horn (as long as I have the cowling off!), a Two Brothers slip-on and a CalSci windshield (I had to take the stock one off to take everything apart, right?). Thanks in advance for any help provided....
Inthedmv
2011 C14
