Back on 08/11, I posted a story about the '99 ACE Tourer I bought from Ron Fleming. It finally arrived on Monday,
08/27. I had JC Motors, a broker, ship it. The price of $628 from MN to my
doorstep was the cheapest quote I got. The customer service was excellent- I had a contact that answered all my
questions promptly and the bike arrived when they promised without a scratch.
Speaking of, "without a scratch", Ron Fleming said the bike was in mint condition. It looked as if it had been teleported from 1999 from the showroom floor! Showing only 5400 miles it obviously hadn't been ridden much. It must have been kept in a cool dry place as well. It had no rust and no visible wear either, except the rear tire. It was just "as new"! Thanks Ron!
I rode it to the DMV Monday and had it inspected and registered. They gave me a new California plate. I rode past Bob Dron Harley Davidson around the corner from DMV and popped in to buy a chrome license plate frame and four chrome bolts. All that chrome on the back of the Tourer deserves a chrome frame.
By Tuesday evening, it was up on the
Craftsman floor jack in my workshop so I could begin swapping over all the performance parts from my old '99 Shadow ACE to the new bike. Ron had told me that the oil had been changed yearly. Since that's all I knew about
it's maintenance history, I spent 22 hours over Wednesday and Thursday doing every possible maintenance procedure in the service manual; fork oil, brake
fluid flush & bleed, new HH high friction brake pads, new battery, lubed every moving part, checked every nut & bolt, oil change, final drive oil
change, carb synchronization, a new fuel filter, coolant flush & replace, spark plugs and a wax job! I have never
had so much fun working on a bike or a car or anything! See the "maintenance in process picture" at the top of the post.
I changed the handlebars back to the stock ones that Ron provided. I also
removed the wheels and had new Dunlop Elite III tires fitted. When I removed the mufflers (and a bunch of other parts)
to facilitate rear wheel removal I discovered the left muffler pipe clamp had no bolts. I replaced all the muffler
bolts and gaskets when remounting the rear wheel. It made the stock pipes sound much better when the exhaust leak was
eliminated.
Friday midday I set out for Nevada City, California in the Sierra Nevada foothills to celebrate my friend Maureen's 50 th birthday. My wife drove up and I met her there for the birthday party. That trip to Nevada City was a mix of two lane highway, twisty country roads and interstate- about 190 miles. It was over 100 degrees all the way. I roasted in stop & go traffic through Sacramento. Even after stopping to guzzle water several times en route, I was beat when I got to the motel in Nevada City. Some other guest was unloading a giant ice chest when I pulled in, bottles of Corona visible nearly buried in ice. That kind stranger took one look at me, road weary and hot, and grabbed one from the ice, opened it and put it into my hand. I drank almost half of it in one draught. That was the best beer I had ever had!
I rode home Sunday morning on a different route than the one coming. The Tourer ran great. It exceeded all my expectations for smoothness, power and comfort. I spent considerable time, effort and money to acquire this bike. It is so similar to the Shadow ACE I already had I was afraid that I had wasted said time & money. Far from it! The Tourer is so much better at the riding I like best, 200 to 300 mile days of back roads, I am happy I did it. There are so many miles to go- as far and wide as possible, as time off from work will allow.
I owe all of you on the HSATF forum a debt of gratitude as well. I read, and sometimes responded to many posts of varied subject matter- and learned a lot! Thank you all so much!
Happy Trails,
Oakland Kevin
Picture below "road ready"
