Finally rolled past 10,000 miles! I thought I was going to do it before summer, but when the chain started slipping on the completely worn out rear sprocket my riding season ended a week earlier than expected. Finally got the sprocket replaced a few weeks ago, but it's rained so much that I've been taking the car to work.
This week: BEAUTIFUL! I love Autumn on the Texas Gulf Coast. (It's like Summer for most of you folks.) Lows in the mid-50s, highs around 75-80F. And since Autumn runs right into Spring, with barely a day or two of Winter most years, well, I keep telling myself I'll use the motorcycle more and the car less. Looks like I'm doing about 5000 miles per year, so about 1/4 of my miles. Surely I can up it to half!
Since the luggage rack broke, I no longer have decently sized top case. I put a tail bag on the pillion seat but it's too small to carry rain gear. Guess I'm going to have to do saddle bags. I've gone through a lot of storage solutions on this bike, and none seems to work out.
Hitchcock's carries a rack with those small Givi panniers (E21 "Cruiser") that looks really sturdy, but it's £225, about $363. Doesn't sound bad, but I'm not sure I should spend that right now.