05-06-2026, 02:27 AM
(This post was last modified: 05-06-2026, 11:13 AM by Gone in 60.)
Ol' Harlan was busy today. Made plenty of additions to Bike #2, that I'm making to each of the bikes in the fleet (five so far).
Horn, along with wiring and a button - the police service PA speakers incorporate a horn along with everything else, so when they're removed, the bike does not have a horn, or a horn button.
Auxiliary brake LEDs with strobe-to-solid feature
Combination lights up front - solid and flashing - I love these, they can really part traffic
Battery charging pigtail
Quad Lock phone mount/charger
Insta 360 camera pole with power cable running to power
The plan was to finish her up and deliver to HQ (the boss' house for now), and swap her for Bike #5, which is fresh from the police auction and needs a lot of work. He said he had a potential new rider coming by who he'd interviewed by video call earlier and got a good feeling from, and asked if I'd stick around to see what I thought of him. I had a suspicion about what that meeting might lead to...
When I was invited over to his house after my initial interview, he offered to "go for a nice casual little ride". Sounded good to me, until I realized that the "casual ride" was an exam, with me getting on one of the police BMWs having never ridden one before, and thrust into Hollywood Freeway traffic while he and his son followed me, watching my every move as I split lanes through dense traffic. Just getting up and down his driveway, which I'm sure is steeper than 45 degrees, is challenging enough, and his street is up in the hills, twisting around blind corners and not wide enough for two cars to pass each other. We ended my demo ride at a restaurant for lunch, where it was determined that my riding skill was sufficient to join the team.
When the new rider arrived, we chatted a bit, the boss explained the job, and then asked if he had time for "a nice casual ride". Hah... what comes around, they say. So now I was the evaluator, watching this guy's every move as we threaded our way through rush-hour traffic. He got the shorter end of the stick... at least my demo ride was on a weekend, not a Tuesday at peak commute time. He did quite well.
It's funny what happens when you're put on the spot at a moment's notice. This guy said he rides an FJR, is comfortable going long distances, and shrugged off the boss' comment "You'd be looking at 250-300 miles a day". When we all got on the bikes to start the test ride, he was in front of me in the driveway. He was struggling and motioned to me that the bike wouldn't start. I motioned back that the side stand was down and he was in gear. He made a gesture of embarrassment, kicked up the stand and started the bike. I thought to myself "Huh... I think I did the same thing on my test ride."
Horn, along with wiring and a button - the police service PA speakers incorporate a horn along with everything else, so when they're removed, the bike does not have a horn, or a horn button.
Auxiliary brake LEDs with strobe-to-solid feature
Combination lights up front - solid and flashing - I love these, they can really part traffic
Battery charging pigtail
Quad Lock phone mount/charger
Insta 360 camera pole with power cable running to power
The plan was to finish her up and deliver to HQ (the boss' house for now), and swap her for Bike #5, which is fresh from the police auction and needs a lot of work. He said he had a potential new rider coming by who he'd interviewed by video call earlier and got a good feeling from, and asked if I'd stick around to see what I thought of him. I had a suspicion about what that meeting might lead to...
When I was invited over to his house after my initial interview, he offered to "go for a nice casual little ride". Sounded good to me, until I realized that the "casual ride" was an exam, with me getting on one of the police BMWs having never ridden one before, and thrust into Hollywood Freeway traffic while he and his son followed me, watching my every move as I split lanes through dense traffic. Just getting up and down his driveway, which I'm sure is steeper than 45 degrees, is challenging enough, and his street is up in the hills, twisting around blind corners and not wide enough for two cars to pass each other. We ended my demo ride at a restaurant for lunch, where it was determined that my riding skill was sufficient to join the team.
When the new rider arrived, we chatted a bit, the boss explained the job, and then asked if he had time for "a nice casual ride". Hah... what comes around, they say. So now I was the evaluator, watching this guy's every move as we threaded our way through rush-hour traffic. He got the shorter end of the stick... at least my demo ride was on a weekend, not a Tuesday at peak commute time. He did quite well.
It's funny what happens when you're put on the spot at a moment's notice. This guy said he rides an FJR, is comfortable going long distances, and shrugged off the boss' comment "You'd be looking at 250-300 miles a day". When we all got on the bikes to start the test ride, he was in front of me in the driveway. He was struggling and motioned to me that the bike wouldn't start. I motioned back that the side stand was down and he was in gear. He made a gesture of embarrassment, kicked up the stand and started the bike. I thought to myself "Huh... I think I did the same thing on my test ride."
You know what? I actually would like a pickle.