Thursday, September 9, 2010

SAN RAFAEL CA II

Still in the Bay Area... my friends Jena and Victor have been wonderful hosts and pals, and I've put off my Escape from San Fran a little longer. There's a festival of sorts happening down in Golden Gate Park this Saturday that looks likely to have whatever is left of the Bohemian Element surface... so my plan is to attend that event then head out again soon after.

In the past few days I've had a slew of important maintenance tasks completed on the Bandit; down in San Francisco (15 miles away... an easy run, except for the devasating wind and liquid fog pouring off the Golden Gate headlands near the bridge). Golden Gate Cycles changed my tires, chain and sprockets, and I bought brake pads, oil filter, and front caliper pins (the ones that stripped out in Urbana Ill.) from them. They sort of rooked me on the service fees, adding costs for tire valve stems and wheel weights on top of an already pricey estimate for labor. The mechanic added oil (the wrong type and weight for what I had in there) without asking, adn they initially wanted to charge me for that.. there are no wheel weights on the front wheel which makes me nervous, as it's unusual that a tire would balance-up "0-0-0" across the balancer machine without weights... they were supposed to call me back but never did.
Anyway, tires and chain changed... yesterday I changed the oil and filter myself, as well as brake pads up front. Finally... back to Suzuki pads. Yay.

So today is a bit of a test ride... maybe swing back up the coast towards Bolinas near Point Reyes again, where I saw whales from the cliffs.

Sorry no photos at present; when I get to a Wifi place (motel) I will load some pretty stuff.

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