Mechahayai, I do have the new bike! I had breakfast with JustPassinThru in Missoula and got out of there at noon yesterday (Wednesday, the 19th) and was in Spokane Valley at Empire Cycle at 2:00. We took care of the paperwork and Empire's service department mounted the new tires and switched over all my old stuff that I wanted to keep. I was very happy about that because I'd still be there losing things if I'd had to do it myself.
They switched windscreens, my old bike's V-Stream for Frosty's Clearview; they switched over out GPS mounts, my TPM system, my "good luck" bell, moved all the stuff I had in the fairing pockets, all the stuff I had in the trunk, and everything else before they closed at 5PM. When I tried moving the bike, I realized that they had forgotten to lube the throttle cables, but told them I wasn't in a huge rush to get out of town and I'd take it back today.
On the way home to Frosty's house, I uncovered another issue -- the shift lever/pedal was set too low for me to get my toe under it. I've had six knee replacements (3 to a side) and the last one has resulted in reduced ankle flexibility and, in addition to that, I've got new boots and they're really stiff.
So after breakfast this morning, I went back, and they worked me in to get those two issues addressed. While I was standing at the service counter, I noticed that they sold Oxford heated grips, so the service manager juggled a few things and they got those installed too. You know I'm going to need them on this trip!
I got away from there at a little after 4PM and had a leisurely ride down from Spokane, to Lewiston, ID. I'm checked in to the Red Lion, had a good meal and will head east on US-12, up and over Lolo Pass in the morning. Then I'll ride south on US-93 to the turn for the Big Hole National Battlefield and Wisdom, follow the Wise River back out to I-15, turn north to get back on I-90 eastbound. I'll try to get to around Laurel tomorrow, and then head south to Red Lodge and Beartooth Pass, the Chief Joseph highway, US-14A up to Burgess Junction in the Big Horn, then back down US-14 to Greybull, then to Tensleep, WY, on US-16, and take that out to Buffalo. I'll go home on Sunday.
Everything about the new bike seems to work well except for some Admore lights Frosty put in the Givi trunk. The stop lights in the trunk don't work and the turn signal lights worked backwards from the ones on the bike. So, for now, those lights are disconnected.
Safe travels!
