Tuesday I took my bike in for new tires--always a joy to have new tires. Again, I bought the PR4s--$400 for front and rear and $112 for installation. In Port Townsend, WA we have a small independent shop that I'd like to keep in business. I took a trip to San Francisco at the end of April and when I got back my right shoulder was killing me from going down the Pacific Coast Hiway in a spirited manner, trying to keep up with my riding buddy. I'm guessing there are at least 200 tight turns in the 200 miles on PC hiway. I think the forward lean and putting weight on the handle bars, particularly when turning hard, led to the bursitis. Chris (Daboo) had some great reasons for 'upgrading' to his BMW800GS and I thought long and hard about changing out my NT for something similar to his. I even went down to the Seattle BMW dealers and talked awhile about this possibility. I'll be 70 in six months and wondered whether or not I really needed to change bikes. If I was 60, I'm sure I would have. I look at this forum and see older riders (think Phil) who are riding the heck out of their bikes and thought that perhaps I could change the ergonomics of the NT I'd be happier. So, in come the heli-bars I purchased through Revzilla ($320) and when changing out tires, asked the shop to install the heli-bars. It took the tech six hours to install this. $500 in labor for this. After taxes, I was close to $900 for this change. Is it worth it? I don't know yet. I've had it two days and I do notice there is no load on my wrists I've not taken any longer rides with it yet. At this point, while I'm still working, it made sense to keep the bike and try and make it work better for me. We'll see.
Terry
Terry
