Attended a beef 'n beer birthday party on Friday night. We grilled meat well into the dark hours and kept said darkness at bay with a worthy bonfire. We toasted each other, laughed at each other, and generally had a grand time. The rest of the weekend was quieter, doing a bit of work here and there.
Zig swung by yesterday to pick up my truck and bring it to the auto auction. I was bummed to see it go - overall, it treated me very well for 10 years, but it was time to say goodbye. Hopefully someone will pick it up for a few bucks and treat the ol' girl with the respect she deserves.
17 sleeps until Zig and I roll out for our most-excellent Sturgis trip. We'll meet up probably sometime this week to hash out our current itinerary plans and try to tighten things up as much as we can.
Another short post, but I'll make up for it with this link. I found this on the 'Vous web board and looked it up. Excellent write-up by a guy named Tom Ruttan about bikers waving to each other. Give 'er a read.
http://www.shinnysideup.com/msf/The%20Wave.htm
Ride Hard, Take Chances
Monday, July 28, 2008
Thursday, July 24, 2008
Wet 'n Wild
Nasty weather pattern moved in yesterday – rain coming down sideways, trees bending almost horizontal. At one point, the entire building was shaking so we all went to the windows and watched the lightning show for a while. (Because standing next to huge panes of glass is the safest place to be in a storm, right?)
Needless to say the ride home was quite drenching - not a good time to find out that your riding pants have a tear in the seam of the crotch. I’d love to say the tear was from me having a giant unit, but it’s probably got more to do with eating too much ice cream. Well, that and touching myself. (But not at the same time.)
Got home, hung everything up to dry since I knew the ride in this morning was going to be another wet one. Overnight, the jacket dried sufficiently to be worn again, but the pants were still too wet. So I went with my rain-gear pants. Turns out they leak, too. Not just in the crotch though, but in just about all the seams. I think it’s time to retire them and maybe look into a new set of rain gear. In the meantime, I think I’ll try and patch the crotch of the riding pants.
I ordered a new tent and sleeping bag to use on the upcoming trip to Sturgis. On-line, it said they’d be ready for pickup this week. Got an email this morning, saying the tent was in and ready to be picked up. The sleeping bag is on backorder, though. Why the F don’t they tell you that when you’re ordering it? Oh right; they might lose out on getting your money. So screw the consumer. Oh well, hopefully it’ll come in within the next week or so (he says with utmost optimism).
It’s Thirsty Thursday. It’s also Bike Night at a local biker bar. Might check the action out, weather depending. We’ll see.
The weekend is coming – hang on.
Ride Hard, Take Chances
Needless to say the ride home was quite drenching - not a good time to find out that your riding pants have a tear in the seam of the crotch. I’d love to say the tear was from me having a giant unit, but it’s probably got more to do with eating too much ice cream. Well, that and touching myself. (But not at the same time.)
Got home, hung everything up to dry since I knew the ride in this morning was going to be another wet one. Overnight, the jacket dried sufficiently to be worn again, but the pants were still too wet. So I went with my rain-gear pants. Turns out they leak, too. Not just in the crotch though, but in just about all the seams. I think it’s time to retire them and maybe look into a new set of rain gear. In the meantime, I think I’ll try and patch the crotch of the riding pants.
I ordered a new tent and sleeping bag to use on the upcoming trip to Sturgis. On-line, it said they’d be ready for pickup this week. Got an email this morning, saying the tent was in and ready to be picked up. The sleeping bag is on backorder, though. Why the F don’t they tell you that when you’re ordering it? Oh right; they might lose out on getting your money. So screw the consumer. Oh well, hopefully it’ll come in within the next week or so (he says with utmost optimism).
It’s Thirsty Thursday. It’s also Bike Night at a local biker bar. Might check the action out, weather depending. We’ll see.
The weekend is coming – hang on.
Ride Hard, Take Chances
Monday, July 21, 2008
Bleah
Sorry Folks, nothing exciting for you today. I haven't been doing much of any riding (other than commuting) because all free time is being spent working on the house I grew up in. My brothers and I have been renting it out for a number of years, but we came to the decision to just dump it - even though this is not the best of markets to sell a house in. We're just too busy with our own lives to continue dealing with that house, so we're fixing it up (tenants can be pretty tough on a house) and then we'll see what kind of luck we have.
Some good news; I saw on the Rendezvous website that we should have TWO events next year; the original June one, and then a second one in the Fall. For those of you that haven't attended this yet, you need to seriously consider it. Bands, beer, bikes & boobs. It doesn't get much better than that.
I'll sign off with a link to a rider ("Elena") who rode through the blackened wasteland of Chernobyl. Pretty interesting stuff if you haven't read it already.
http://www.kiddofspeed.com/chapter1.html
Ride Hard, Take Chances
Some good news; I saw on the Rendezvous website that we should have TWO events next year; the original June one, and then a second one in the Fall. For those of you that haven't attended this yet, you need to seriously consider it. Bands, beer, bikes & boobs. It doesn't get much better than that.
I'll sign off with a link to a rider ("Elena") who rode through the blackened wasteland of Chernobyl. Pretty interesting stuff if you haven't read it already.
http://www.kiddofspeed.com/chapter1.html
Ride Hard, Take Chances
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Bad Timing
So I got a call from my credit card today; seems it's been compromised and someone has charged $1,200 (or more) over the past week or so. So I got that straightened out and I don't believe I'm going to be responsible for the charges. But I have to wait for my next statement to arrive and review it for any other false charges. The only problem? The next time a statement shows up, I'm going to be in South Dakota. Crap. Oh well, I'll have to figure something out.
Tomorrow is Ride to Work Day. Get those bikes out. Increased volume will hopefully = better awareness.
Tomorrow is Ride to Work Day. Get those bikes out. Increased volume will hopefully = better awareness.
Monday, July 14, 2008
And That's the Rest of the Story...er; Stories
Not much to report from the weekend. Not much riding was done, too busy taking care of other crap. But I realized that I haven’t followed up on a few things, so here’s the wrap;
Windshield; I’d thought about trimming the stock one down a bit but have opted instead to just leave it as is. It works fine as it is, and I can always lift my head up an inch or so if I need an unobstructed view.
I researched wiring some lights into the eyes of the skull shifter knob. I’ve scrapped that plan, as the eyes are pretty small to begin with – I wouldn’t even be able to fit LED’s into them without drilling out the entire sockets. Besides; just look at those pretty blood-shot eyeballs…how could I ever do that to the poor guy?
The other thing that came to mind is how did Zig make out with his bike. I still don’t have the full picture but from what I understand, the problem was a connector between the fuel filter and the fuel pump. It had cracked, so when the pump was running, it’s pressure was being lost through the crack and the fuel was just going back into the tank. The part was on backorder but luckily not for long and Zig was able to pick his bike up last Tuesday.
I think that about brings me square with you folks. Feel free to lemme know if there’s anything outstanding that I owe you.
Ride Hard, Take Chances
Windshield; I’d thought about trimming the stock one down a bit but have opted instead to just leave it as is. It works fine as it is, and I can always lift my head up an inch or so if I need an unobstructed view.
I researched wiring some lights into the eyes of the skull shifter knob. I’ve scrapped that plan, as the eyes are pretty small to begin with – I wouldn’t even be able to fit LED’s into them without drilling out the entire sockets. Besides; just look at those pretty blood-shot eyeballs…how could I ever do that to the poor guy?
The other thing that came to mind is how did Zig make out with his bike. I still don’t have the full picture but from what I understand, the problem was a connector between the fuel filter and the fuel pump. It had cracked, so when the pump was running, it’s pressure was being lost through the crack and the fuel was just going back into the tank. The part was on backorder but luckily not for long and Zig was able to pick his bike up last Tuesday.
I think that about brings me square with you folks. Feel free to lemme know if there’s anything outstanding that I owe you.
Ride Hard, Take Chances
Monday, July 7, 2008
Suicide Setup!
I finally managed to get the suicide clutch installed on the Fatboy! Here’s how things rolled out;
Thursday I got out of work a bit early so I shot home and pulled the Fatboy out of the garage. I knew I wouldn’t have enough time to do the full project that night, but I figured a smart move would be to install the stock risers back on. As much as I’d thought that I’d love the aftermarket ones, I wasn’t convinced that they weren’t part of the front end swagger problem. And since I’m installing something which will require letting go of the handlebar at times, it made sense to try and tighten the front end up a bit. (And it worked, too. A lot of the front end slop appears to be gone now.)
Here’s the ‘before’ pic; aftermarket risers and windshield.
Windshield removed, stock risers back on.
I had someplace to be, so that was about as far as I could get that night. I did fire her up though, and gave the battery some charging and go her fluids warmed up and flowing through the lines to make her happy.
Next morning, back out onto the driveway and drained the tranny fluid. Here’s a closeup of the plug - nice to have a magnetic tip on the end of it. Look at the little filings that aren’t floating around inside my tranny!
Next was to loosen the tension on the clutch cable to allow for removal from the hand lever.
Next was to remove the shift lever, starting with the lower snap ring on the clutch cable pin.
Here’s where I had a bit of trouble; things were going well when suddenly I heard the dreaded ‘ping’ sound of a snap ring flying off into some nether area, never to be found again. I wasn’t sure how this happened, until I happened to look closely at my snap ring pliers. Seems I’d snapped one of the pins off. Not much good now…
A quick trip down to Home Depot and I was back in business with a new, solid snap ring plier set.
Next was removal of the transmission release cover, to expose the clutch cable release mechanism assembly. Here you can see the outer ramp held in place with the large snap ring, and the cable coming into the ramp coupling.
The new snap ring pliers made short work of things, allowing removal of the ramp and ramp coupling. (Gotta make sure the 3 ball bearings on the inner ramp don’t get loose…no need to be chasing them around.)
Clutch cable is ready to be slid out!
The new cable was inserted and the assembly was reassembled.
Now it was time to remove the foot shifter assembly to make room for the clutch lever. Loosen the pinch bolts on the shifter pegs and they slide off. The front end of the shifter rod is attached via a bolt to the fulcrum lever, which is easily removed. After this, the whole foot assembly slides right out.
See those three bolts holding the kickstand bracket onto the frame? Well they have to be removed to allow the new clutch shifter plate to be inserted behind that bracket. And those bolts were torx/star headed bolts. Let’s see…hmm…I’m missing one size from my socket set. Care to take a guess as to what size I needed? Yep. Damn.
Another quick trip to Home Depot and I’m back in business. Bolts removed, backing plate inserted and bracket reattached. The new cable runs from the tranny cover, going inside the right fork tube, and outside the left. The cable ends in a heim joint which connects to the new foot lever.
Next was removal of the linkage rod itself. The front bolt was previously removed with the foot shifter assembly, the second bolt attaches to the shifter lever on the transmission. Frikkin' Blue Loctite makes things come off hard!
Next is attachment of the new hand shifter lever which bolts to the existing transmission shifter lever (the existing lever is only about three inches long and that would be kinda hard to reach).
Gotta remove the hex head bolt at the base - even has a retaining clip!
Removal of this bolt wasn’t easy - not a lot of working room. Luckily I had my handy dandy adjustable-allen wrench tool thingie available.
Perhaps the hardest part of the project was my helper always getting in the way. Brother Bill’s dog Sadie wanted to closely inspect every step of the process…
With the shifter lever bolted in, I put the skull shifter knob on and things were DONE!! That’s right; done!! (Ok, so I still need to glue the knob on so it’ll stay, but aside from that, it’s done!)
I cleaned up the tools, fired her up and prepared myself. I’d done some reading on-line about other guys that had installed this setup and they all said they’d stalled the bike on their first try. I was bound and determined that this wouldn’t happen to me. (Ahh, the best laid plans.) I did indeed stall it. But that was the only time! I got her moving and bee-bopped around my yard for a while, shifting as high as *gasp* second gear (hey what can I say - my yard isn’t that big) and back down. Finding neutral, down into first, up into second, back down, etc. In no way have I gotten the hang of things yet, that will require some riding out on the streets. I’m hoping to get the bike back onto the road this week and then the real learning process can begin.
Oh yeah; as you might have noticed from the first pics, I removed the front fender. I’m going to chop it a bit, as well as chop the rear fender somewhat. I took the passenger seat off and will be running just the rider’s seat. This bike will be an around-town bomber/bar hopper. (But there’ll be minimal bar hopping until I get the hang of this hand shifting thing.
So there you have it. The project itself wasn’t bad - not hard, just time consuming between not having all the tools I needed, and not having done this before. But I’m psyched! The suicide setup is complete!
Ride Hard, Slap Gears!
Thursday I got out of work a bit early so I shot home and pulled the Fatboy out of the garage. I knew I wouldn’t have enough time to do the full project that night, but I figured a smart move would be to install the stock risers back on. As much as I’d thought that I’d love the aftermarket ones, I wasn’t convinced that they weren’t part of the front end swagger problem. And since I’m installing something which will require letting go of the handlebar at times, it made sense to try and tighten the front end up a bit. (And it worked, too. A lot of the front end slop appears to be gone now.)
Here’s the ‘before’ pic; aftermarket risers and windshield.
Windshield removed, stock risers back on.
I had someplace to be, so that was about as far as I could get that night. I did fire her up though, and gave the battery some charging and go her fluids warmed up and flowing through the lines to make her happy.
Next morning, back out onto the driveway and drained the tranny fluid. Here’s a closeup of the plug - nice to have a magnetic tip on the end of it. Look at the little filings that aren’t floating around inside my tranny!
Next was to loosen the tension on the clutch cable to allow for removal from the hand lever.
Next was to remove the shift lever, starting with the lower snap ring on the clutch cable pin.
Here’s where I had a bit of trouble; things were going well when suddenly I heard the dreaded ‘ping’ sound of a snap ring flying off into some nether area, never to be found again. I wasn’t sure how this happened, until I happened to look closely at my snap ring pliers. Seems I’d snapped one of the pins off. Not much good now…
A quick trip down to Home Depot and I was back in business with a new, solid snap ring plier set.
Next was removal of the transmission release cover, to expose the clutch cable release mechanism assembly. Here you can see the outer ramp held in place with the large snap ring, and the cable coming into the ramp coupling.
The new snap ring pliers made short work of things, allowing removal of the ramp and ramp coupling. (Gotta make sure the 3 ball bearings on the inner ramp don’t get loose…no need to be chasing them around.)
Clutch cable is ready to be slid out!
The new cable was inserted and the assembly was reassembled.
Now it was time to remove the foot shifter assembly to make room for the clutch lever. Loosen the pinch bolts on the shifter pegs and they slide off. The front end of the shifter rod is attached via a bolt to the fulcrum lever, which is easily removed. After this, the whole foot assembly slides right out.
See those three bolts holding the kickstand bracket onto the frame? Well they have to be removed to allow the new clutch shifter plate to be inserted behind that bracket. And those bolts were torx/star headed bolts. Let’s see…hmm…I’m missing one size from my socket set. Care to take a guess as to what size I needed? Yep. Damn.
Another quick trip to Home Depot and I’m back in business. Bolts removed, backing plate inserted and bracket reattached. The new cable runs from the tranny cover, going inside the right fork tube, and outside the left. The cable ends in a heim joint which connects to the new foot lever.
Next was removal of the linkage rod itself. The front bolt was previously removed with the foot shifter assembly, the second bolt attaches to the shifter lever on the transmission. Frikkin' Blue Loctite makes things come off hard!
Next is attachment of the new hand shifter lever which bolts to the existing transmission shifter lever (the existing lever is only about three inches long and that would be kinda hard to reach).
Gotta remove the hex head bolt at the base - even has a retaining clip!
Removal of this bolt wasn’t easy - not a lot of working room. Luckily I had my handy dandy adjustable-allen wrench tool thingie available.
Perhaps the hardest part of the project was my helper always getting in the way. Brother Bill’s dog Sadie wanted to closely inspect every step of the process…
With the shifter lever bolted in, I put the skull shifter knob on and things were DONE!! That’s right; done!! (Ok, so I still need to glue the knob on so it’ll stay, but aside from that, it’s done!)
I cleaned up the tools, fired her up and prepared myself. I’d done some reading on-line about other guys that had installed this setup and they all said they’d stalled the bike on their first try. I was bound and determined that this wouldn’t happen to me. (Ahh, the best laid plans.) I did indeed stall it. But that was the only time! I got her moving and bee-bopped around my yard for a while, shifting as high as *gasp* second gear (hey what can I say - my yard isn’t that big) and back down. Finding neutral, down into first, up into second, back down, etc. In no way have I gotten the hang of things yet, that will require some riding out on the streets. I’m hoping to get the bike back onto the road this week and then the real learning process can begin.
Oh yeah; as you might have noticed from the first pics, I removed the front fender. I’m going to chop it a bit, as well as chop the rear fender somewhat. I took the passenger seat off and will be running just the rider’s seat. This bike will be an around-town bomber/bar hopper. (But there’ll be minimal bar hopping until I get the hang of this hand shifting thing.
So there you have it. The project itself wasn’t bad - not hard, just time consuming between not having all the tools I needed, and not having done this before. But I’m psyched! The suicide setup is complete!
Ride Hard, Slap Gears!
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
Customer Service at its Worst!
Zig’s bike broke down last night. Thankfully he was only a mile away at a gas station. I grabbed some tools and a rope and headed down to meet up with him. We checked the fuses, the plugs, and the fuel pump; all seemed to be in working order. (The bike would turn over, but wouldn’t start.) I’m not convinced that the fuel pump isn’t the culprit, but we won’t know for sure until it gets looked at. In the meantime, we had to get it to a safe spot so we tied the rope off and I towed him (with my bike – what fun!) back to my garage.
Now comes the disgusting part. Zig loaded the bike up onto his trailer this morning and brought it to Ocean State – the dealership where we bought the bikes. Get this; they said they were too busy to look at it. Are you kidding me?? He bought his bike FROM THAT DEALERSHIP, not more than 3 months ago. There’s fewer than 5k miles on it. It’s brand F’ing new. And they’re too busy to look at it? What the F kind of customer service is that??? He needs to write a letter to The Factory and inform them of this BS.
He called another dealership in the area (RI) and they said they’d take a look at it, and that’s the last I’ve heard. Still can’t F’ing believe that Ocean State blew him off.
Spread the word; Ocean State might be a good place to get list-prices on bikes, but don’t bother going there after you drive off the lot.
Dickheads.
Now comes the disgusting part. Zig loaded the bike up onto his trailer this morning and brought it to Ocean State – the dealership where we bought the bikes. Get this; they said they were too busy to look at it. Are you kidding me?? He bought his bike FROM THAT DEALERSHIP, not more than 3 months ago. There’s fewer than 5k miles on it. It’s brand F’ing new. And they’re too busy to look at it? What the F kind of customer service is that??? He needs to write a letter to The Factory and inform them of this BS.
He called another dealership in the area (RI) and they said they’d take a look at it, and that’s the last I’ve heard. Still can’t F’ing believe that Ocean State blew him off.
Spread the word; Ocean State might be a good place to get list-prices on bikes, but don’t bother going there after you drive off the lot.
Dickheads.
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