I took the bike out briefly on Saturday morning. The temps were a balmy 37 degrees out, but man it felt awesome to be in the wind again.
The bike, however, wasn't very thrilled, as it went right into the bucking and jerking behavior again. Stu and I have been in touch and he's going to grab me a twist grip sensor and hopefully we'll be in business again before the last of the 2013 ridable days has passed.
Not much else is going on. The days are shorter, the darkness; longer. I wish I had something more exciting to share with you, but the wintertime doldrums are taking hold.
Hopefully that big storm system that's coming our way will prove to be nothing more than a minor hiccup - especially for the folks out in Olean (a foot of snow coming?).
Happy Turkey Day to everyone...
Monday, November 25, 2013
Monday, November 18, 2013
Victrola, Russ!
Hard to believe yet another year has passed. Some things are different, some things are unchanged. One thing that hasn't changed is we still miss the hell out of ya.
Here's wishing you, Dana, Gapper and Chuck are all knocking back some cold ones and smiling down on us. And that Rosie is curled up warmly at your feet.
Here's wishing you, Dana, Gapper and Chuck are all knocking back some cold ones and smiling down on us. And that Rosie is curled up warmly at your feet.
Victrola, Brother.
Monday, November 11, 2013
Off By One Letter
Last week, I posted that I was leaning toward the Throttle Position Sensor as being the source of the skipping problems. After some more research (IE: talking to Stu), I don't have a TPS on my bike. That's part of the drive by cable system. Now that I have the drive by wire system, I no longer have the TPS. Howeve, I do have the TGS; twist grip sensor.
I also have a throttle position actuator, but I won't delve into that until looking harder at the TGS. Stu says he's also looking into voltage performance that we can check when we replace the TGS. In addition, I've got some feelers out to folks I know who have had throttle problems before.
It takes a village.
Stay Tuned...
I also have a throttle position actuator, but I won't delve into that until looking harder at the TGS. Stu says he's also looking into voltage performance that we can check when we replace the TGS. In addition, I've got some feelers out to folks I know who have had throttle problems before.
It takes a village.
Stay Tuned...
Wednesday, November 6, 2013
TPS Report
The bike is back in my hands, and the good news/bad news is what I'd noted, earlier. The engine is nice and quiet and the power band is more than back. I had it well up over triple digits on Saturday, and there was still throttle left. Sweet!
Uhm...to any local constabulary who might be perusing this blog, my speedometer is calibrated in Kmh, so when I say triple digits, I'm not going any faster than 60 mph.
Anyway, where was I. Ahh, yes. So that's the extent of the good news. The bad news is that the hiccuping and lurching is still happening. I did some research and the next thing I'm going to tackle is the Throttle Position Sensor (TPS, for short). There were a number of folks who have posted forum notes that their bikes were suffering similar issues that were corrected when the TPS was replaced. (I wasn't aware there could be multiple symptoms when the TPS went, or was on it's way out. The only experience I've had/seen is that the throttle just cuts out completely when the TPS is acting up.)
Thankfully it's not a heavily expensive part and with any luck, it won't be too involved to replace. (And with any luck beyond that, the bike will run like a top again.)
Wish me luck...
Uhm...to any local constabulary who might be perusing this blog, my speedometer is calibrated in Kmh, so when I say triple digits, I'm not going any faster than 60 mph.
Anyway, where was I. Ahh, yes. So that's the extent of the good news. The bad news is that the hiccuping and lurching is still happening. I did some research and the next thing I'm going to tackle is the Throttle Position Sensor (TPS, for short). There were a number of folks who have posted forum notes that their bikes were suffering similar issues that were corrected when the TPS was replaced. (I wasn't aware there could be multiple symptoms when the TPS went, or was on it's way out. The only experience I've had/seen is that the throttle just cuts out completely when the TPS is acting up.)
Thankfully it's not a heavily expensive part and with any luck, it won't be too involved to replace. (And with any luck beyond that, the bike will run like a top again.)
Wish me luck...
Friday, November 1, 2013
Return To Hallow's Eve Proper
Has it really been three years since I've celebrated All Hallows Eve with Ed & Sue?? Man...I looked back through the old blog posts and that does seem to be the case. Three years! How could I have let that happen? Barring anything unforseen, I shall endeavor to make it a recurring event from now on.
Pulling in, I was greeted with the welcome sights of a chimena in the driveway, festive decorations on the porch, and the inviting sight of smoke, gently issuing forth from the living room's chimney pipe. Ahhh, it was good to be here.
The candy supply was well stocked to begin with, but I added my bags to the collection and then mixed things up. (In a bit of a selfish move, I'd brought extras of the stuff I like; Reese's Peanut Butter cups, and Kit Kats. I made sure they weren't sitting on top - I didn't want those greedy little bastards to be grabbing all the good stuff right away!)
Ok, the kids' offerings were all set, now to see about the adults' offerings. Yep, things were looking good...
A quick walk around to take stock of the Halloween decorations. Each year, they add a bit more to their already extensive collection. (It was getting dark by now, so I had to turn my flash on for some of them.)
Even the pumpkins were getting in on the whole "eating treats" thing - tasty spiders!
The customary graveyard. Be sure to watch out for the fence which lines it. Don't trip on it with a full beer in your hand, when you're walking around in the dark. How do I know this can happen? That's not important. What's important is to just watch out for the fence.
Creepy spiders on the lamp posts...
A creepy, "Creature From The Black Lagoon"- themed critter on the front door...
A floating, illuminated ghost, hanging from a tree branch. This foolish thing wouldn't hold still, the wind kept blowing it in the opposite direction of where I was standing so I finally had to drape it's dangling cloth over the branches of a bush, just to keep it still for the photo.
The ever-present ghosts in the attic of the garage...
This guy's eye's list up and was pretty creepy. I had to put my flash on to capture him - doing so, washed out the glowing eyes, but it still looks pretty creepy.
Heading inside, there were all kinds of great decorations set up all about...
Ed was very happy to get into character, complete with a fake eye. (The eye didn't last very long, though, and was last seen rolling across the floor...)
Food! Sue and prepared meatballs and lasagna for the hungry masses that had descended upon her kitchen - Mmmm!! Just what this group needed for the long night ahead of us.
Chrissy had done up this styrofoam head with shrimp (and hot sauce blood) to look like brains. Fantastic! And creepy!
(I'd contributed to the food stuffs as well, but there's nothing really scary about a case of beer, or a couple loaves of garlic bread, so there was no need to post pics of those.)
After we'd all stuffed our bellies, we moved outside to welcome the wandering ghosties and goblins of the night.
The weather was pretty crappy, and unfortunately, the turnout was down from prior years. We did get to see the neighborhood hay ride contraption come along. One of their neighbors hooks a trailer up to a tractor, lines it with hay, and hauls a bunch of the kids around on it. The parents stroll along with it, keeping an eye on things, and socializing at each stop. They stopped a bit longer at the end of Ed and Sue's driveway and we all swapped stories and laughter - much to the chagrin of the kids who were anxious to keep moving. Their patience soon ran out, and off they tore to the surrounding houses, to expand their candy haul.
The hour or so was like this; a couple of groups would come along, we'd chat for a bit, then they'd move off to the next spot. But before too long, the activity had dried up. No more kids! Well, nothing else to do but make the most of things.
Sue broke out a package of glow sticks and set to making jewelry for everyone. Some had rings, some had necklaces, and some had glasses. Here's Chrissy modeling hers, LOL.
The night wound up being a bit of an early one for me. It'd been a late night on the prior evening, watching the RED SOX CLINCH THE WORLD SERIES!!! YEAH, BABY!!!, so Dave-O was long on hours and short on sleep.
(The fact that I'd finally caved to the allure of the candy and had eaten over a dozen Reese's cups, which were then mounting a revolution in my belly, didn't help mattes much.)
I said my goodbyes and headed off toward home. It'd been a fun night!
Oh yeah, one last thing. I'd kicked around the idea of doing a green-flame pumpkin this year, but since the weather was so lousy, I figured I'd wait until next year. But what to do with the pumpkin that I'd gotten? Meh, I figured I'd just do a quick free-hand carving. I was aiming for something SCAAAARY! I started with the eyes, slanting them diagonally, in an attempt to capture a look of fear. I didn't spend any time on the nose, just slicing in a quick angle cut.
And then; the mouth. But what kind of mouth conveys fear and/or terror? Hell, I didn't know, and I was totally winging it on the fly, so I just started hacking and slashing. Fangs! I should probably add fangs, those are always a good bet! Yeah yeah...now just gotta make sure the corners come together so I can pull the pieces out...
Well, I should have been paying better attention...or given more thought to what I was doing...because what
I wound up with was probably the most friendly, harmless, inviting pumpkin ever carved on the face of the earth...
What the hell? Nobody's gonna be scared of that thing! Ugh.
Oh well. Did I mention it was a fun night?
Happy All Hallows Eve!
Pulling in, I was greeted with the welcome sights of a chimena in the driveway, festive decorations on the porch, and the inviting sight of smoke, gently issuing forth from the living room's chimney pipe. Ahhh, it was good to be here.
The candy supply was well stocked to begin with, but I added my bags to the collection and then mixed things up. (In a bit of a selfish move, I'd brought extras of the stuff I like; Reese's Peanut Butter cups, and Kit Kats. I made sure they weren't sitting on top - I didn't want those greedy little bastards to be grabbing all the good stuff right away!)
Ok, the kids' offerings were all set, now to see about the adults' offerings. Yep, things were looking good...
A quick walk around to take stock of the Halloween decorations. Each year, they add a bit more to their already extensive collection. (It was getting dark by now, so I had to turn my flash on for some of them.)
Even the pumpkins were getting in on the whole "eating treats" thing - tasty spiders!
The customary graveyard. Be sure to watch out for the fence which lines it. Don't trip on it with a full beer in your hand, when you're walking around in the dark. How do I know this can happen? That's not important. What's important is to just watch out for the fence.
Creepy spiders on the lamp posts...
A creepy, "Creature From The Black Lagoon"- themed critter on the front door...
A floating, illuminated ghost, hanging from a tree branch. This foolish thing wouldn't hold still, the wind kept blowing it in the opposite direction of where I was standing so I finally had to drape it's dangling cloth over the branches of a bush, just to keep it still for the photo.
The ever-present ghosts in the attic of the garage...
This guy's eye's list up and was pretty creepy. I had to put my flash on to capture him - doing so, washed out the glowing eyes, but it still looks pretty creepy.
Heading inside, there were all kinds of great decorations set up all about...
Ed was very happy to get into character, complete with a fake eye. (The eye didn't last very long, though, and was last seen rolling across the floor...)
Food! Sue and prepared meatballs and lasagna for the hungry masses that had descended upon her kitchen - Mmmm!! Just what this group needed for the long night ahead of us.
Chrissy had done up this styrofoam head with shrimp (and hot sauce blood) to look like brains. Fantastic! And creepy!
(I'd contributed to the food stuffs as well, but there's nothing really scary about a case of beer, or a couple loaves of garlic bread, so there was no need to post pics of those.)
After we'd all stuffed our bellies, we moved outside to welcome the wandering ghosties and goblins of the night.
The weather was pretty crappy, and unfortunately, the turnout was down from prior years. We did get to see the neighborhood hay ride contraption come along. One of their neighbors hooks a trailer up to a tractor, lines it with hay, and hauls a bunch of the kids around on it. The parents stroll along with it, keeping an eye on things, and socializing at each stop. They stopped a bit longer at the end of Ed and Sue's driveway and we all swapped stories and laughter - much to the chagrin of the kids who were anxious to keep moving. Their patience soon ran out, and off they tore to the surrounding houses, to expand their candy haul.
The hour or so was like this; a couple of groups would come along, we'd chat for a bit, then they'd move off to the next spot. But before too long, the activity had dried up. No more kids! Well, nothing else to do but make the most of things.
Sue broke out a package of glow sticks and set to making jewelry for everyone. Some had rings, some had necklaces, and some had glasses. Here's Chrissy modeling hers, LOL.
The night wound up being a bit of an early one for me. It'd been a late night on the prior evening, watching the RED SOX CLINCH THE WORLD SERIES!!! YEAH, BABY!!!, so Dave-O was long on hours and short on sleep.
(The fact that I'd finally caved to the allure of the candy and had eaten over a dozen Reese's cups, which were then mounting a revolution in my belly, didn't help mattes much.)
I said my goodbyes and headed off toward home. It'd been a fun night!
Oh yeah, one last thing. I'd kicked around the idea of doing a green-flame pumpkin this year, but since the weather was so lousy, I figured I'd wait until next year. But what to do with the pumpkin that I'd gotten? Meh, I figured I'd just do a quick free-hand carving. I was aiming for something SCAAAARY! I started with the eyes, slanting them diagonally, in an attempt to capture a look of fear. I didn't spend any time on the nose, just slicing in a quick angle cut.
And then; the mouth. But what kind of mouth conveys fear and/or terror? Hell, I didn't know, and I was totally winging it on the fly, so I just started hacking and slashing. Fangs! I should probably add fangs, those are always a good bet! Yeah yeah...now just gotta make sure the corners come together so I can pull the pieces out...
Well, I should have been paying better attention...or given more thought to what I was doing...because what
I wound up with was probably the most friendly, harmless, inviting pumpkin ever carved on the face of the earth...
What the hell? Nobody's gonna be scared of that thing! Ugh.
Oh well. Did I mention it was a fun night?
Happy All Hallows Eve!
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