Wrelay Bag Handoff

The Wrelay Bumbag is a bumbag traveling around the globe via Kawasaki W650 riders, members of the W650Riders. If you're a W650 owner and would like to participate, please do join the group, we'd love to have you.

Here are pictures of the hand-off ceremonies in Dallas, Texas at the Dream Cafe on July 19th, 2003, followed by pictures of the bumbag in places representative of Dallas, Texas. The bag was handed off from Kenny Hudson of Fort Worth to Jake Sposato of Irving, Texas, an adjoining suburb of Dallas. And as usual, clicking on any photograph will bring up a MUCH larger version, suitable for printing and framing.

	Hey! It's Kenny and Angie!
The badass 5 of the day. From left to right is Angie's husband Chris' cool Honda 750, the the W650s of Angie, Les, Jake, and Kenny. There was also a giant Harley FatCruiserChromeGenerica in the lot, but nobody looked at it. We had a bunch of cars coming in closer for a better look.
	That's Chris in the foreground on the left, with Kenny behind him. Back right is Rockwall's own Les Gregory, and foreground right is the lovely Angie, who also arranges all the get-togethers for the DFWriders. If you're a W650 rider in the North Texas area, why not join up? We have nice low-pressure breakfasts every couple of weeks.
Hey! It's the Hand-off! That's Kenny from Fort Worth on the left with his bike handing off to Jake of Dallas with his machine.
	One where we don't look quite as ecstatic as the other picture.
The bikes after the hand-off. For all the same bike (except for the Honda), they all look pretty different.
	Jake's bike with the clubman bars, Emgo fairing, and his official Main Force Patrol badge.
Kenny's with his rockin' Daytona style blackout bars, single mirror, and Buell Blast fairing.
	A longer shot of Kenny's with Kenny behind it and Angie over to the left as they plan and plot about Jake's evil bike with its Whooligan-ish Fishpipes.
Angie giving Jake's bike a try, as it has the most different riding position of the bikes there, running the Corbin Gunfighter solo seat and the low clubman bars. Angie is planning on fitting lowering blocks to her W650 to bring the earth closer to her shoes.
	Les also gave it a try. I think the seating position, allowing one to sit further back may have been a good idea for Les, given his long legs, but the low bars may have been a bit low for his comfort on longer rides.
Chris' cool Honda. This bike is in beautiful shape and was a delight to have along.
	The man and his machine.
A close-up of Kenny's legs and the back of his bike. Note the cool bullet turn signals, mounted in the Japanese position, under the seat. Also the Lucas-style taillight and the Kennybag on the right side.
	Angie, Chris, and Kenny confer over Angie's bike.
Angie's clean bike. Believe it or not, this bike is ridden on unpaved roads every time, yet it stays looking cool. She's using a Corbin Gunfighter & Lady seat with all black piping. And I think that's a National Cycle Street Shield up front.
	The backs of our bikes with Les on the left (see big picture for Les's cool t-shirt) and Chris on the right.
Two men-of-the-world pondering Honda's ground breaking 4-cylinder of the 70's. Tre' nifty!
	Earlier that week there had been a discussion on the group forum about an article that discussed finding the extreme limits of lean on your bike, and that once you knew them, you will have expanded your swerving and cornering capabilities. This is Jake's right peg. Jake knows the limits of cornering on this bike. He's running a Bridgestone Battleax on the back and an Avon Supervenom on the front. Both allow this sort of repeated whooliganism.
Jake's bike with Fishpipes, and Les' bike with the stock pipes. Aside from discoloration, quite similar in appearance. The stockers are double-skinned, so they don't change color. Jake's shouldn't be this colored, but he had yet to change the jetting to match the pipes. Git.
	The two weird fairings at the meet-up, an Emgo Universal Cafe fairing on the left, which requires hand-hammering brackets to fit, and the Buell Blast fairing on the right, which required Kenny to do some rather fancy bending and twisting of brackets to fit.
Kenny's choice of tire, Cheng Shin, and his fancy anodized red sprocket nuts. They add 1 HP per nut.
	Side view of Kenny's fairing, which also shows off his custom pedestrian-slicer plate, bullet turn signals, and if you look closely, modified Kawasaki badge.
The other side of Kenny's bike, with the tax disk and modified Kawasaki badge.
	Jake's fairing, clubman bars and badge. Behind that is Les' cool container on his Corbin Gunfighter & Lady seat, which appears to be waterproof and provides a nice backrest, as Les seems prone to very long rides up and down the state.
Another angle on the Gunfighter solo seat and Hagon shocks, courtesy of Neil in Teeside.
	Angie and Chris saddle up for their long ride home way out east.
And off they go, two brave souls, in 101 degree Texas heat.
	Kenny and Les suiting up, preparing to depart. Kenny for Fort Worth, Les for parts unknown way down in south Texas.
First stop after the Dream Cafe, Dallas City Hall with the Great Seal of Dallas. Arf arf.
	Slightly different framing.
The bag on the seal.
	The bag on the seal under the Texas state flag.
The bag on the bike in front of Reunion Tower in downtown Dallas. That's a revolving restaurant up at the top of the tower. Most of Dallas' residents have never been there, as the prices are definitely geared towards tourists. The cool thing is that the globular wire cage that surrounds the top lights up at night, flashing and whirling in different patterns. Neato!
	The bag on the bike in front of the Mustangs at Las Colinas. Las Colinas is a fancy marketing name for the north part of Irving, where land developers have been trying for years to make Dallas' old landfill sound more appealing to large businesses. It's pretty neat and the curbs are all made out of marble. Ooooo....
But the bag was there!
	Jake holding the bag in front of the Mustangs. They really are a beautiful sculpture. As you can see, wherever a hoof is planted in the water, there's a fountain to give the illusion of equine motion. Lovely! Some tourists took this picture of Jake, a little afraid of this guy in full armour wearing black gloves in 101 heat.
The bag is in this picture. Look closely. It was a real trick placing and retrieving the bag, because the ground is much lower there than it appears.
	The Bag. The Bike. The Beast. Yep, its Texas. Dallas, Texas.
Jake said "Hey cows!". And they looked. Good models, these beasts. Jake refrained from taunting them - "made you look", because Jake likes cows. Mooooo.....
On August 23, 2003, Jake rode to Kaufman, Texas and met up with Angie, Kevin, and Les from Rockwall. Angie rode her W650 to the meetup and took pictures of the three riding off to meet up with the late Doctor William Berry in Crockett, Texas, 110 miles away at the Moosehead Cafe.
	Here's Doc Bill when we just arrived. Doc was one of the W650rider's most enthusiastic members. We three were fortunate to meet Bill and enjoy a lovely lunch with him 3 months before his untimely demise on November 19th, 2003.
Dig his cool new pipes, from Predator. He said they went gold in the first 48 hours. They're a nice even gold, very nice. Also note the nifty Flying W decal from Robert Berlin.
	Here's Doc noting that we had four different windscreens, four different fuel tanks, four different handlebars, four different sets of tires, three different side panel cosmetics, and three different tank bags. In this picture is Jake's W on the left with Clubman bars and an Emgo Cafe fairing and Les' with his fairing and the lower bars. Visible on Jake's cooler (filled with frozen gel packs used in his jacket) is the Wrelay Bag.
From left to right, the bikes of Les from Rockwall, Jake from Irving, Kenny from Fort Worth, and Doc Bill from Houston. Note all the different looks, tanks, fairings, etc...
	From the other direction. We also compared the sound of Doc's new Predator pipes, slightly louder than stock, a very mechanical business-like sound, and Jake's Fishpipes, a louder more rumbly sound with definite whooligan overtones.
The actual handoff! After Doc Bill wrote a page in the book during our lunch, Jake from Irving handed the bag off to Les from Rockwall, where it will reside until its next destination, most likely Oklahoma.