Shep wrote:Does that model come with a center stand as well?
Are the lights daytime driving lights as required in Canada or fog lights?

A centre stand is an option on all XRs but this one had it rolled into an options package. This particular bike has 'everything' bar forged wheels. The spotties are switchable driving lights and will do in a pinch as fog lights if swung down a bit. They're almost too bright to use against oncoming traffic at night, tho' the triangular pattern with the slim LED headlamps above them seems to get me noticed in traffic.

The bike has no taillight, per se, but the rear LED indicators act as stop/running & indicators. The only gripe I have with them is that the rear indicators are red, as it is in Los Estados Unidos, and perhaps Canadia. I will attempt to source the non-US version which has an amber centre section for 'proper' indicator colour. Strangely too, the US versions of the big XR have the old style arrowhead front indicators (in amber as required up front) but with a 10w incandescent bulb, unlike the rest of the world where amber LEDs are utilised. I have already sourced the LEDs for the front end and they should be in my post box tomorrow.

The further south I rode the colder it got and the denser the fog, despite the weatherman's forecast last night on the tele. The fog and cloud layer above is thick enough to not have allowed sunbreaks, of which an optimistic blue spot was spied just once, to warm up the earth and the ground below. After 125 miles and the temp hovering round 1C as evidenced by the flashing snowflake indicator on the TFT screen, my teeth chattering, & the puffs of breath within my Arai, I stopped at a servo and wrapped my hands round a hot cuppa and nibbled a slice of warmed lemon cake. 

In the end I did not reach Portlandia, but instead threaded the two-lane backroads between Winlock/Toledo, the Shoestring Valley to Cinebar, the Old Jackson Highway to Chehalis/Centralia, Yelm, Olympia/Lacey, the Nisqually basin, Dupont then home to Lakewood. I managed to double the mileage.

Well I got to put a few hours on my K yesterday, my case 580sk that is! Our weather man was wrong as well the 1" to 2" of snow turned into 8"!

Well I guess the mistake I made was settling down in north western Pa.