Twenty One Days...

  ...Till I leave for vacation. I've been going to the same area with the same guys for about 19 years now so there are no more "pre-vacation jitters". If I glance at a map well thats fine. If I don't then thats fine too. Really all I need to do is make sure the bike is ready to go so I took some time yesterday to change the oil in the Ultra.
 I rode to the next town over where there are at least two auto parts stores open. The first stop usually stocks my go to oil and thats Mobil 1 Full Synthetic. Unfortunately the shelf was empty of what I wanted and the only motorcycle oil they had that was a Lucas product. I'm sure its fine oil but I kinda wanted the Mobil product. You know there are so many different oils I could use because this won't be anywhere near a clutch but we all have our favorites, most of them work, and it just boils down to what makes us feel good. The other factor was that the store was packed. There were two registers running with half a dozen knuckleheads in each line and both the workers were on the phones. I could tell by their conversations and the frustration on the faces of the knuckleheads that there would be a long wait. I left to take my chances at the other store.

 I guess they just stay open on Saturdays to offer refuge to guys like me that don't want to deal with the knuckleheads cuz at first I thought they were closed but when I pulled on the handle, the door came open. I was the only one in the store so got great service. We talked about bikes and oil and the weather and upcoming vacations and just had a grand ole time. They were out of Mobil 1 and a Valvoline product they've apparently sold a lot of, but I wanted to get this oil change done so I spent the few extra bucks per quart for Amsoil. Is it a better oil? Maybe, if you believe all the tests shown online. Is it worth the extra money? Maybe, if you extend the oil change interval like they claim you can then its actually cheaper.

 I think its probably best to just pick whatever oil you like and change it often. That is as long as the oil is rated for your situation.
 I've got a few more things to do on the bike like change out the trans and primary oils and put an eyeball on that primary chain tensioner. I just have a weird feeling about it. I also notice that my rain sock is saturated with oil again and is starting to fall apart at the seams. I'll investigate if that can be purchased separately and wash this one for now. The air filter will also get washed and re-oiled.
 Probably the biggest maintenance requirement right now is cleaning out the trunk. Theres a lot of "what if" stuff in there. I'll report on that next time.

Later.