California May 2008
Sitting in Scotland in the middle of winter we decided a few days in the sun would be good and where better than California before it got too busy in summer. And if it was California, it really had to be a Harley, at least that’s what I thought.
A quick search showed that a few folk had rented from Dubbelu in San Francisco and only had good things to say about them so a couple of emails later and an Electra Glide was booked.
A wee while later, San Francisco was having the hottest weather on record – about 100F – and we flew in. A day for the tourist bit which meant we could see Alcatraz – wouldn’t fancy living in one of these
The old exercise yard, must have been difficult seeing the town, so close….
Next morning, still hot and one of these loaded up (note avoiding the sun where possible!)
Just sitting on a Harley for the first time is an experience. The seat is very low with big wide bars and footplates. Looking around everything seems to be in the right place though there is a big rocker gear change (never used the back bit, always changed gear as usual, in fact if I rode another one I’d get the back bit removed to give some space to move your foot around) and a car brake pedal on the other side. Different.
Press the starter and the rumble starts, now you can’t help but smile when it thumps unevenly beneath you, making the kind of noise bikes should!
Finally we had to go out in the sun. Downtown ‘Frisco late morning, a right turn into the one way street and I thought it’s all big and new, a wee foot paddle on the road will be fine – but if you look carefully you’ll see that your feet go between two sets of footboards and there is no space to paddle, all you do is bang your shins and back of your legs. Bugger! So, feet up, open the throttle and swing right with more glorious noise, straighten up, must be time for second so look down, find the gear lever, one large clunk later and second is found, wee bit of throttle and do it all over again. Traffic lights approaching, two fingers on the front brake, gently pull. Lights closer, whole hand on the front brake and right foot on that huge pedal. Stop. Green light, find first with another loud clunk, do it all over again. It’s still 100F, plenty traffic, need to turn left soon, cars lane changing right in front of you, more lights, more clunks, more sweat – and I wanted to scream “give me a GS!!”
It’s a big long bike and with those big wide bars trickling in traffic takes some getting used to, the whole things seems to swing around the steering head such that wobble the bars a wee bit at 3mph and the whole back end swings from one side to the other in a pretty weave. Cure – just ride properly, don’t fanny about!
But we kept going, found the signs easily for Golden Gate bridge just as Wolfgang had said and then we were riding over it.
I glanced over my shoulder and gave Jennifer a big grin - then blipped the throttle noisily a couple of times - cause we were in California, we were on a big Harley, on Golden Gate bridge, the sun was out and, well, cause I could and I liked the sound.
After the bridge we turned onto Highway 1 along the coast. It’s a cracking road but at the start it is slow, twisty and hilly with a lot of traffic and it was another wee learning curve for me and the bike. Riding a GS it is easy to develop lazy habits – a GS is very forgiving, you can brake late, change line mid corner, soak up bumps – whatever. An Electra Glide, however, is a bit of a big, sometimes dignified old dog, needs a slow hand and lots of forward planning. So after a couple of undignified corners I started paying more attention – brake early, get the line just right, find the apex, power in slowly and then it was fine, in fact it actually could go round a corner!
The coast is dramatic and the traffic reduces as you go north. But the heat was still there and when we rode into Bodego Bay (remember the Hitchcock film the “Birds”) I saw a sign for cold beer and decided to stop. We found a quirky B&B, wandered along the beach, drank cold beer, ate too much then sat in the garden with a bottle of wine in the warm evening. California was good and even the big lump of a Harley was temporarily forgiven.
Need to watch the wildlife though
Next morning, back to the viewpoint
Then on up the coast slowly, stopping plenty. We’d decided before we went that it wasn’t about doing a high mileage but about a holiday – some miles but time to walk about, relax, see some of where we were.
And they get the har here as well, for a while it hung just offshore, threatening but also giving a cooling breeze which was great.
I was slowly getting more used to the bike though did keep grumbling on about how great this road would be on a GS. Several time I was on the verge of phoning Wolfgang to say I was coming back to swap it! But it got better, even the gear changes got smoother (even if they took about 10 minutes each) and in reality you hardly need to change gear. On the coast road you picked a gear and sat in it for a while, whichever one it was. One thing that was disconcerting at first though was if you cranked it over in a corner, as you started opening the throttle there would be a roar just behind you where the tailpipe bounced the noise off the road – I kept thinking “bugger, there’s a Harley overtaking me mid corner!”
On smooth tarmac (which most was) it actually went round corners but introduce bumps mid corner and the thing shakes it’s head, the fairing gives a big bang and it carries on. Worse though are the tyres. In 1978 I bought a brand new 400F with shiny nylon Jap tyres on it and my mother had a right go at me when I changed them after about 3oo miles. These H-D Dunlops were similar. Any groove or line in the road and the front gleefully grabbed on and followed until you gave it a good kick, slapped it around the head and it gave up the chase and got back to the job in hand.
Later we had the pleasure of them in the rain. No comment, this is a family site.
Anyway, up to Mendocino. We had passed it intending on going to Fort Bragg but when we drove along the main street (of FB), passed lines of motels, garages and fast food joints we turned and went back to Mendocino, a beautiful wee town though rooms are not cheap. Still it had a good pub!
From there up to the land of big trees
This was actually one of the best bits of road as it left the coast and went inland to Leggett. A near perfect stretch of road.
The riding position is certainly comfy, my only bitch being that my knees were higher than the seat which was unusual. The screen keeps everything off you though, but at 6ft tall the top of it was right in my line of sight – irritating at first but soon you learn to mix looking through it then mid corner looking round the side.
A good area for a swim (which we did but she banned the photos of her!). Pretty idyllic stuff really.
And then onto the Riverwood Inn, a well known Harley bar where we got a room for about $50 and good food and cold beer. And an interesting light in the shower
And everyone was really friendly, happy to know where we were from, eager to know what we thought of the bike (and then California). One young guy in a wee village store really liked the bike and on hearing we were from Scotland said “Hey cool, did you ride all the way here?” I said it would have been good but we hadn’t had the time. At that point the light that was vaguely flickering behind his eyes went out and he gave up trying to remember where Scottishland was. Cool.
And that’s one thing about a trip like this. We could have been on a GS and then we’d have gone a bit quicker, it would have been a known quantity – but no one would really have spoken to us. On the E-G old men stopped and waved, people at gas stations came out and admired it. Other HD riders came over to chat. The instant you swing your leg over the seat you become a member of a club – even some Hells Angels gave us a passing nod. And it was nice to be in that club in California, it fits.
Form there we headed south as we had accommodation booked in Yosemite for two nights. If we hadn’t had it we would have just kept going north and if we go back that’s exactly what we’ll do – head north.
But, down for a night in Calistoga which was fine then east on the 128
which is a great wee road going over the mountains then freeway (not good) and onto Angels camp, a cheap wee motel and a diner and cold beer. And a bike that went dead. Just nothing. Ignition came on but the starter button did nothing. A call to Wolfgang and the AA arrived in the morning and took us to Jamestown Harley where they reckoned it was a relay, changed it and off we went to Yosemite. The main reason for going here was to go up Half Dome, a good day out and a decent walk, about 18 miles and 5000 ft of ascent
The “tourist route” goes pretty much straight up and the profile on the top right is the famous north face of Half Dome. I’d love to climb it but that needs more than a couple of days there and is a different holiday altogether
The final section on the tourist route takes a few folk by surprise and looks quite steep from below
But the top is a glorious spot
Looking down the cable section shows it a wee bit steeper
Lower down it’s nice
Then off the next morning as the rain and snow appeared with El Capitan on the left
It rained on and off, a wee bit of sleet at times and it was those nylon tyres again! I was tempted to stop and check the tyre pressures but kept going, eventually stopping where we could get coffee – just as well cause the bike gave up again here and miles from anywhere in the rain wouldn’t have made for a fun day out. As it was, we got through to Wolfgang who got the AA to promise to come immediately and 6 hours later they were there – do you know how much coffee you can drink in that time?!
A broken HD
Anyway, nice lad and not his fault, it was just a busy day and a long way. Back to Jamestown HD then he took us to a motel (now late evening) and there were bars and food and everything was fine again. It turned out to be the starter motor and they replaced it but by then we’d had to tell the motel we were keeping the room so stayed in Sonora again. It was a blessing in disguise though as it turned out to be a brilliant wee American town – nothing in particular, just what I expected really. Including a diner with a sign for Road Kill Special of the day and Bud for $2 a pint; a gun shop with a long bar down one side. And the best burger I’ve ever had.
Then back to Frisco for some crab at Fishermans Wharf
A pint in (well outside to be precise) the inevitable Irish bar
And that skyline with herself
Great trip, we’d certainly go again. The jury is out on what kind of bike it will be. But I’d certainly rent from Dubbelu again, the bike was really well prepared (the breakdowns weren’t their fault and they dealt with them as best they could), they gave lots of advice about roads, where to stay, etc and were good to deal with.
Alastair
Sitting in Scotland in the middle of winter we decided a few days in the sun would be good and where better than California before it got too busy in summer. And if it was California, it really had to be a Harley, at least that’s what I thought.
A quick search showed that a few folk had rented from Dubbelu in San Francisco and only had good things to say about them so a couple of emails later and an Electra Glide was booked.
A wee while later, San Francisco was having the hottest weather on record – about 100F – and we flew in. A day for the tourist bit which meant we could see Alcatraz – wouldn’t fancy living in one of these
The old exercise yard, must have been difficult seeing the town, so close….
Next morning, still hot and one of these loaded up (note avoiding the sun where possible!)
Just sitting on a Harley for the first time is an experience. The seat is very low with big wide bars and footplates. Looking around everything seems to be in the right place though there is a big rocker gear change (never used the back bit, always changed gear as usual, in fact if I rode another one I’d get the back bit removed to give some space to move your foot around) and a car brake pedal on the other side. Different.
Press the starter and the rumble starts, now you can’t help but smile when it thumps unevenly beneath you, making the kind of noise bikes should!
Finally we had to go out in the sun. Downtown ‘Frisco late morning, a right turn into the one way street and I thought it’s all big and new, a wee foot paddle on the road will be fine – but if you look carefully you’ll see that your feet go between two sets of footboards and there is no space to paddle, all you do is bang your shins and back of your legs. Bugger! So, feet up, open the throttle and swing right with more glorious noise, straighten up, must be time for second so look down, find the gear lever, one large clunk later and second is found, wee bit of throttle and do it all over again. Traffic lights approaching, two fingers on the front brake, gently pull. Lights closer, whole hand on the front brake and right foot on that huge pedal. Stop. Green light, find first with another loud clunk, do it all over again. It’s still 100F, plenty traffic, need to turn left soon, cars lane changing right in front of you, more lights, more clunks, more sweat – and I wanted to scream “give me a GS!!”
It’s a big long bike and with those big wide bars trickling in traffic takes some getting used to, the whole things seems to swing around the steering head such that wobble the bars a wee bit at 3mph and the whole back end swings from one side to the other in a pretty weave. Cure – just ride properly, don’t fanny about!
But we kept going, found the signs easily for Golden Gate bridge just as Wolfgang had said and then we were riding over it.
I glanced over my shoulder and gave Jennifer a big grin - then blipped the throttle noisily a couple of times - cause we were in California, we were on a big Harley, on Golden Gate bridge, the sun was out and, well, cause I could and I liked the sound.
After the bridge we turned onto Highway 1 along the coast. It’s a cracking road but at the start it is slow, twisty and hilly with a lot of traffic and it was another wee learning curve for me and the bike. Riding a GS it is easy to develop lazy habits – a GS is very forgiving, you can brake late, change line mid corner, soak up bumps – whatever. An Electra Glide, however, is a bit of a big, sometimes dignified old dog, needs a slow hand and lots of forward planning. So after a couple of undignified corners I started paying more attention – brake early, get the line just right, find the apex, power in slowly and then it was fine, in fact it actually could go round a corner!
The coast is dramatic and the traffic reduces as you go north. But the heat was still there and when we rode into Bodego Bay (remember the Hitchcock film the “Birds”) I saw a sign for cold beer and decided to stop. We found a quirky B&B, wandered along the beach, drank cold beer, ate too much then sat in the garden with a bottle of wine in the warm evening. California was good and even the big lump of a Harley was temporarily forgiven.
Need to watch the wildlife though
Next morning, back to the viewpoint
Then on up the coast slowly, stopping plenty. We’d decided before we went that it wasn’t about doing a high mileage but about a holiday – some miles but time to walk about, relax, see some of where we were.
And they get the har here as well, for a while it hung just offshore, threatening but also giving a cooling breeze which was great.
I was slowly getting more used to the bike though did keep grumbling on about how great this road would be on a GS. Several time I was on the verge of phoning Wolfgang to say I was coming back to swap it! But it got better, even the gear changes got smoother (even if they took about 10 minutes each) and in reality you hardly need to change gear. On the coast road you picked a gear and sat in it for a while, whichever one it was. One thing that was disconcerting at first though was if you cranked it over in a corner, as you started opening the throttle there would be a roar just behind you where the tailpipe bounced the noise off the road – I kept thinking “bugger, there’s a Harley overtaking me mid corner!”
On smooth tarmac (which most was) it actually went round corners but introduce bumps mid corner and the thing shakes it’s head, the fairing gives a big bang and it carries on. Worse though are the tyres. In 1978 I bought a brand new 400F with shiny nylon Jap tyres on it and my mother had a right go at me when I changed them after about 3oo miles. These H-D Dunlops were similar. Any groove or line in the road and the front gleefully grabbed on and followed until you gave it a good kick, slapped it around the head and it gave up the chase and got back to the job in hand.
Later we had the pleasure of them in the rain. No comment, this is a family site.
Anyway, up to Mendocino. We had passed it intending on going to Fort Bragg but when we drove along the main street (of FB), passed lines of motels, garages and fast food joints we turned and went back to Mendocino, a beautiful wee town though rooms are not cheap. Still it had a good pub!
From there up to the land of big trees
This was actually one of the best bits of road as it left the coast and went inland to Leggett. A near perfect stretch of road.
The riding position is certainly comfy, my only bitch being that my knees were higher than the seat which was unusual. The screen keeps everything off you though, but at 6ft tall the top of it was right in my line of sight – irritating at first but soon you learn to mix looking through it then mid corner looking round the side.
A good area for a swim (which we did but she banned the photos of her!). Pretty idyllic stuff really.
And then onto the Riverwood Inn, a well known Harley bar where we got a room for about $50 and good food and cold beer. And an interesting light in the shower
And everyone was really friendly, happy to know where we were from, eager to know what we thought of the bike (and then California). One young guy in a wee village store really liked the bike and on hearing we were from Scotland said “Hey cool, did you ride all the way here?” I said it would have been good but we hadn’t had the time. At that point the light that was vaguely flickering behind his eyes went out and he gave up trying to remember where Scottishland was. Cool.
And that’s one thing about a trip like this. We could have been on a GS and then we’d have gone a bit quicker, it would have been a known quantity – but no one would really have spoken to us. On the E-G old men stopped and waved, people at gas stations came out and admired it. Other HD riders came over to chat. The instant you swing your leg over the seat you become a member of a club – even some Hells Angels gave us a passing nod. And it was nice to be in that club in California, it fits.
Form there we headed south as we had accommodation booked in Yosemite for two nights. If we hadn’t had it we would have just kept going north and if we go back that’s exactly what we’ll do – head north.
But, down for a night in Calistoga which was fine then east on the 128
which is a great wee road going over the mountains then freeway (not good) and onto Angels camp, a cheap wee motel and a diner and cold beer. And a bike that went dead. Just nothing. Ignition came on but the starter button did nothing. A call to Wolfgang and the AA arrived in the morning and took us to Jamestown Harley where they reckoned it was a relay, changed it and off we went to Yosemite. The main reason for going here was to go up Half Dome, a good day out and a decent walk, about 18 miles and 5000 ft of ascent
The “tourist route” goes pretty much straight up and the profile on the top right is the famous north face of Half Dome. I’d love to climb it but that needs more than a couple of days there and is a different holiday altogether
The final section on the tourist route takes a few folk by surprise and looks quite steep from below
But the top is a glorious spot
Looking down the cable section shows it a wee bit steeper
Lower down it’s nice
Then off the next morning as the rain and snow appeared with El Capitan on the left
It rained on and off, a wee bit of sleet at times and it was those nylon tyres again! I was tempted to stop and check the tyre pressures but kept going, eventually stopping where we could get coffee – just as well cause the bike gave up again here and miles from anywhere in the rain wouldn’t have made for a fun day out. As it was, we got through to Wolfgang who got the AA to promise to come immediately and 6 hours later they were there – do you know how much coffee you can drink in that time?!
A broken HD
Anyway, nice lad and not his fault, it was just a busy day and a long way. Back to Jamestown HD then he took us to a motel (now late evening) and there were bars and food and everything was fine again. It turned out to be the starter motor and they replaced it but by then we’d had to tell the motel we were keeping the room so stayed in Sonora again. It was a blessing in disguise though as it turned out to be a brilliant wee American town – nothing in particular, just what I expected really. Including a diner with a sign for Road Kill Special of the day and Bud for $2 a pint; a gun shop with a long bar down one side. And the best burger I’ve ever had.
Then back to Frisco for some crab at Fishermans Wharf
A pint in (well outside to be precise) the inevitable Irish bar
And that skyline with herself
Great trip, we’d certainly go again. The jury is out on what kind of bike it will be. But I’d certainly rent from Dubbelu again, the bike was really well prepared (the breakdowns weren’t their fault and they dealt with them as best they could), they gave lots of advice about roads, where to stay, etc and were good to deal with.
Alastair
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