[500KsGerry]

Bultrdr and I meeting at Frontier Village in  Lake Stevens on this Saturday morning about 9:30 am.   Hwy9  and 204 just east of Everett.  will  run up  9  to Chuckanut and  be checking out the Ural NW bike  shop. All  welcome  to  come  along.  This is a denfinite. Btlrdr and I have  been  wanting to  do  this  for a  while so  were  goin. just extending invitation for any who want to  come  along. Hope  to  see  some  people  there.     cya  soon...Gerry

[Ice]

Thanks for the Invite . Sadly I can not make it.

[Blltrdr]

Well yesterday KS Gerry and I finally got a chance to take a ride on Chuckanut Drive, an infamously beautiful curvy road just south of Bellingham Washington. We started our trek from Frontier Village on HWY 9 and headed north. HWY 9 is a great road to ride the Bullet, 50-55 MPH speed limits on the long straight sections down to 15 MPH in the twisty section. A few cities after our start we get into the rural country settings with lots of twisties, forests and lakes. After an hour heading north on 9 we passed through Wickersham which I can't recall because I blinked. Just passed the blink we turned off HWY9 and headed NW along a twisty meandering road (Lake Whatcom Blvd.) next to Lake Whatcom. This emptied us out into Bellingham where we immediately tracked down some grub so Gerry could get his head screwed on straight (low blood sugar).

After our tasty meal at a nice Italian eatery recommended by a foreign gastronome pedestrian (Aussie, NZ) we continued our trip north of Bellingham to check out Ural Northwest which is also a Royal Enfield full service dealer. At Ural NW we met Ben Erickson who was very chatty on all things Enfield or Ural depending on your likes or dislikes. He described the speed and great effort that Royal Enfield and Kevin Mahoney put out to make things right for the recall on the new UCE bikes. Very enlightening info about the recall (thumbs up to Kevin and his staff).

After our discussion he then asked if we would like to hear the new C5 run. Of course we were interested, duh! I just want to say that this was the most relaxed I've ever been around a dealership. Ben was very informative and never was a bit pushy. After his long winded sales pitch (kidding) he asked if we were interested in riding the new C5.  We both just shook our heads, repeatedly up and down. But we then made a demand on Ben, test ride a C5 and G5 or no test ride at all. All he could say to our demand was, "What color do you want." Man this guy was the toughest and grittiest salesman I had ever met.  

I hopped up on the blue-green C5 and Gerry hopped on the green G5 Classic. We were off to the races, me first then Gerry passed me on the outside. I could never catch up after he  slingshot passed me. I have to say that I was pretty impressed with the overall power band of the new UCE motor. It seems very effortless to get it up to speed and beyond. Very good pull and braking is very good when comparing to the drums of our Iron Barreled Classics (IBC's).

We traded rides in a church parking lot (glad it was Saturday) and did some of our best sinning of the day and since I'm not Catholic I don't think I will be confessing those sins anytime soon.    We raced our way back to the dealership like two crazed flat trackers (writers embellishment) and turned over these fun riding thumpers. I would like to give Ben and Ural NW a plug for their opportunity to let Gerry and myself ride these new Enfields fully knowing we would give them the thumbs up on this forum (very smart fellow that Ben). So anyone thinking of buying a new Enfield please check out the full lineup at Ural NW. And tell Ben, Gerry and Brad sent you.

Now that the plug is in for Ural NW I can continue this adventurous trip back through Bellingham and into Fairhaven where we had our tasty lunch and begin our trip down the famed Chuckanut Drive. We couldn't have asked for a better day to take the trip, sunny, cool, autumn colors and late in the day with the sun fading over the beautiful Puget Sound where this famed road runs right beside on cliffs above the water. We savored this short stretch of paradise taking in all it had to offer.

We had to beat feet home as the sun was fading fast and so was the outside temp. It only took a couple hours after I arrived home to warm up. Not much of a sacrifice for a thoroughly adventurous ride though! We wished other NW Bullet riders would have joined us for this ride. Maybe next time they won't miss out on a great riding adventure.

Gerry and I have been thinking of a trip up to the San Juan Islands. A great reference book for motorcycle riding in Washington State is, Destination Highways Washington by Brian Bosworth/ Michael Sanders, a well written and organized trip guide which I used for this trip if anyone is interested. I will post a couple pics taken at Ural NW also.

[500KsGerry]

Oh Man...what a ugly in  those  pictures Brad. You  Shoulda  let  me try  yer  camera. I wouldn't have busted it.
Was a great  ride  wasn't it? I love  hwy9 above arlington..peacefull..cept  those holes you  drilled in yer muff, not  that I  have room  to   talk.
About  Ural NW...or I  should  say Ben. If I  buy new it'll have  to  be  there. No dickin  around. I like  that.
The  test  rides  was a pleasent  surprise.  The  G5 been called  'souless  wonder" among other things but it  fired right up. Choke on  the bar...automatic decomp  electric/kick start. very  nice. Ben sets them up  well and Breaks em in  good. No bugs, No quirks. If that is  "Souless"  then  guilty as charged.  As soon as I  got off the  gravel and onto  the  road I twisted  the  throtle.  Normally  dont have to hang on with  my left as I do  that  on my iron barrel.  The acceleration heaved back my upper body jerking the handlebar to  the  right. so lesson 1 ten feet off the lot.... more thrust  captan.Sudenly  this  ride was  gonna be exciting.  Didnt even look around  for law enforcement. Just rolling through the  gears (left shift  )  and humming  along  pretty  good. Was  shocked  to  see  i was already  goin 70+(Being Enfield thats  indicated speed) .It  was  effortles. The  clutch  has zero, none, nada , zilch, zip slipage unless  its on purpose for the purpose of...well stupidity, various assundry fun..whatever. The new c5 same. Brad an I  like  to  goof around a little. Breaks up  the boredom on the  long  straights or stuck in   town  slow traffic, seems we  were  racing a little? Maybe not. I just  wanted  to open  the little monster up a bit  and  see  what  it  would  do since  it  seemed   so  willing.
so after  all  that  lesson 2. front disk brakes on a 380 pound bike...uh..i forgot. Stop good. after the   minor  "Oh yeah"  thing  with  the  brakes we swapped  bikes.
To get  the "feel" of the newest RE   goofed around in a church  parkin lot then headed  back to Ben's  shop. Definitley a different feel but plenty of poop. Ofcourse Had  to  get on it  to see  what it  was  like, not disapointing at all. I do lean  towards the G5. Perhaps the wheel size  the  dif in  handleng? Both bikes  just SCREAM for a set of  Ace bars and maybe a cafe  seat. Ben said  the add-ons available soon  for the  new bikes. The main priority was the recall fixes.
 Too bad  its  gettin  so  cold. Would be  nice to  put in  another  nice long ride like  that. No problems though. Brought all those  tools for peace of miind I  guess.
No one else showed this  time but perhaps another time. . No matter was a gorgeous ride. OK Ben up there at UralNW. Got another lil Plug in  for ya. THANKS A BUCH  for  the  test  rides. You know how to tune em thats  fer sure.   Gerry

[Anon]

You can't beat Chuckanut Drive for a nice ride!  I also especially like that stretch of 9 leading up to Wickersham.

My Mom lives in Bellingham, so I've stopped in at Ural NW before - seem like good guys. As for myself, I always drool over the Urals the couple of times I've dropped in there.  I can't afford one, but one of those new Ural T's would satisfy me (I'd really like a Patrol, but hey let's not be greedy).

Eamon

[Cabo Cruz]

Brs. B and Gerry, those were two very good reads.  You certainly made me feel I was there with you guys.  And I am very sorry I was not actually running around with you two on those beautiful bike roads, or enjoying the Ural NW (Ben) experience, or taking in all that postcard scenery, or, more importantly, running in the company of two shameless Bullet Agents like me!

It is entirely too bad you guys were not having any fun at all... 

[Blltrdr]

Brs. B and Gerry, those were two very good reads.  You certainly made me feel I was there with you guys.  And I am very sorry I was not actually running around with you two on those beautiful bike roads, or enjoying the Ural NW (Ben) experience, or taking in all that postcard scenery, or, more importantly, running in the company of two shameless Bullet Agents like me!

It is entirely too bad you guys were not having any fun at all... 

Thanks for the reply Cabo. I enjoy reading your stories also. You are  very good at bring the reader along with you as you tell them. Can't wait to read some more of your adventures on your beautiful Perla.

Blltrdr

[Blltrdr]

You can't beat Chuckanut Drive for a nice ride!  I also especially like that stretch of 9 leading up to Wickersham.

My Mom lives in Bellingham, so I've stopped in at Ural NW before - seem like good guys. As for myself, I always drool over the Urals the couple of times I've dropped in there.  I can't afford one, but one of those new Ural T's would satisfy me (I'd really like a Patrol, but hey let's not be greedy).

Eamon

Yes you are quite right Eamon, the roads around that upper Skagit Co. and Whatcom Co. are very scenic. Any other recommendations up that way would be appreciated.

Blltrdr

[Anon]

Yes you are quite right Eamon, the roads around that upper Skagit Co. and Whatcom Co. are very scenic. Any other recommendations up that way would be appreciated.

Blltrdr

The rest of 9 continuing on North past Wickersham is nice pretty much all the way up to Acme.  It also intersects with the Mount Baker Hwy. which is great, although it's going to start getting pretty cold for the end part of that.  Still, it's a nice ride all the way out the Nooksack valley.

Eamon