July 4th Parade
I thought it would be neat to ride my bike in the local July 4th parade. My wife agreed to ride on the back and I made a pad to go on the cargo rack
We were both a bit nervous. I haven't really had the bike running for more than 30 minutes or so, and never carried a passenger. The parade staging point was only about a quarter mile from my house and only required about 20 mph to get there.
I've lived here for more than 10 years and never witnessed the event, although they hold it every year. It's not a huge town and I assumed there would be a few hundred spectators and the whole deal would last about half an hour. There must have been about 20 thousand people! And it took two hours!
The bike seemed to be a hit, at least from my perspective, although a few friends and family members said the crowd loved it. Lots of shouts of "what year is that?", and almost as many of "I love your mustache!"
I had no real problems with the bike except for once hitting the kill switch instead of the horn (oops). The biggest problem was the slow pace. No way I could balance at walking speed and my zigzag skills are not good. Actually a friend told me a big guy on a big police cruiser laid it down trying to zigzag and had to have help getting it back up. There was a judging stage so who knows, I could be due for a ribbon or something. I did get a few invitations to car and bike shows.
At the end of the route my problem was trying to find my way back home around all the closed streets. Trying to avoid congested/commercial areas I ended up going about five miles. No trouble doing 40-45 mph even with a passenger, although my wife had some interesting feedback about riding on the rear pad with no springs.
I don't have any pics yet of us in the parade although a friend says she has them forthcoming. Here's a couple we took in the staging area.
I thought it would be neat to ride my bike in the local July 4th parade. My wife agreed to ride on the back and I made a pad to go on the cargo rack
We were both a bit nervous. I haven't really had the bike running for more than 30 minutes or so, and never carried a passenger. The parade staging point was only about a quarter mile from my house and only required about 20 mph to get there.I've lived here for more than 10 years and never witnessed the event, although they hold it every year. It's not a huge town and I assumed there would be a few hundred spectators and the whole deal would last about half an hour. There must have been about 20 thousand people! And it took two hours!
The bike seemed to be a hit, at least from my perspective, although a few friends and family members said the crowd loved it. Lots of shouts of "what year is that?", and almost as many of "I love your mustache!"
I had no real problems with the bike except for once hitting the kill switch instead of the horn (oops). The biggest problem was the slow pace. No way I could balance at walking speed and my zigzag skills are not good. Actually a friend told me a big guy on a big police cruiser laid it down trying to zigzag and had to have help getting it back up. There was a judging stage so who knows, I could be due for a ribbon or something. I did get a few invitations to car and bike shows.
At the end of the route my problem was trying to find my way back home around all the closed streets. Trying to avoid congested/commercial areas I ended up going about five miles. No trouble doing 40-45 mph even with a passenger, although my wife had some interesting feedback about riding on the rear pad with no springs.
I don't have any pics yet of us in the parade although a friend says she has them forthcoming. Here's a couple we took in the staging area.
