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Happy Fourth of July! Especially to those and their families stationed away from home.

We’ve decided to go with a no Sheetrock or paint interior in the new place. All walls and ceilings will be some type of wood finish, brick, or stone. I’m planning to do built-in cabinets with an old look to them. To me that’s the hardest look to achieve, modern methods, materials, and fasteners and yet look old while operating like new. Once I figure it out I’ll hafta try to do that to my body.

No regarding tender. When my scoot mostly sits over the summer, I'll stick it on the tender for one overnight only maybe once a month. Battery doesn't need anything more... It's not like our bikes have a ton of accessories that draw power with ignition off. In New England, I never used a tender in winter. Just disconnected battery. In Spring, I would throw the charger on for a day. That's it. Both in NE and here in Arizona, I get 4 to 5 years on a battery. Have had 3 Yamahas here and no issues.

Dennis Kirk will allow you to return helmets and they pay shipping. I ordered a helmet from Bike Bandit one time and it didn't fit and had to pay about $32 to ship it back and then they almost didn't give me a refund saying there was a sticker missing. I told them to check the box because everything was in the box and they finally agreed to refund my money. That is when I stopped shopping at Bike Bandit and it seems that was a very good idea.

Larry, I have to give credit to the many associates and mentors who taught me the skills needed to do this kind of work. I was mentored in wood working by a master from a very young age by my my neighbor and family friend, James Alloway. James taught me that there are hundreds of ways to do anything, and one of them is right for the situation at hand. My father, Merlon Schaefer, a Class A tool maker and Die Maker taught me the difference between good enough and spot on. Then, years later my time in the field building custom cabinetry and finish carpentry, mentored by a close friend in the industry, Brian Perkins has been invaluable and never will be forgotten, even if rarely utilized. In other words, this project is 45 years in the making. Thanks for looking!

Happy Independence Day America

And partial removal of the left side exhaust to get at the lower bolts holding the stator cover in place.

The procedure should be nearly identical, with the exception of removing plastics.

I wonder if cycle gear's web site offers returns on helmets if you order and it doesn't work for you? Thinking out loud here. I won't be home until sometime next week. Having massive engine work done on truck. AFM issue with GM's 6.2 caught up with me. Thought I had gone past that with 124k miles, but guess not! I can check my helmets then...

I like my modular. It's pretty nice for a three year old helmet! If your have a store you can try one on and walk around for an hour or so... That would be best bet to see if the weight will get to you. Keeping family happy as we age and keep riding is imperative!!! Lol! My better half didn't ride anymore and it's asking me when I'm going to retire from riding. I did satisfy her by selling my 89 to @KICs son. It was just to fast for me... My right wrist just kept twisting and twisting!

While most will see this as work…as it is FNG work on a job site I assume I also see Freedom! The fact that I have a paid day off to “work” on making our house what we want it to be; is to me today the essence of Independence. Happy fourth Y’all. IMG_0833.MOV

We do! However if you notice the return vent there I had It shut off for a while. :::shhhh don’t tell my kids We have an auxiliary unit in the master 😼 so no worries to us.

Ronnie, I used to think brands mattered as a #1 priority. Brand is important but the shape of your head vs different brands is much more so! Different brands fit oval heads better.... And narrow heads... And round heads. I found out by going to my local Cycle Gear and let the sales person check my head out.... Seriously! HJC fits my head well... So it's a brand I look at. I also don't worry to much about noise as I wear earplugs or noise reducing ear buds. What's more important to me is how strong is the latch that closes the modular and how easy is it to raise/lower the clear shield and sun shields. I like the pin lock on mine.. Very easy to swap shields. Comfort and usability are top on the list for me.... Hope this helps! P.S. my current helmet is HJC. I also found the Scorpions EXO helmets fit me well.

Thanks. I should have stated I have a gen 2. Sorry.

Always something! Anticipation is half the fun I'm told.

We're hopin'. He got surgery this morning....2 plates and 5 screws....with a 6 pound dog those pieces must be tiny. Anyhoo, they called and said he did very well and we can pick him up tomorrow. Big money for this stuff though...got almost as much tied up in his busted wing as I paid for my 06 Venture. They now say 5 weeks in a pen and inactive and he should be good as new.

Good thought,,,, We just attended our Grand sons wedding, all planned and organized by his Mom, that's what happened a lot years ago. Today though, on the whole we hire someone to do all that. We hire planners, caterers, musicians, bar tenders, DJs or a band,,,, yep, that's today society, lack of leadership and planners and definitely a lack of workers. My side of the family cleaned the place up afterwards, including the dishes, not even a offer for help from the other side, but they did keep the barkeeps busy. Good point!

Just lettin' everyone know....Ashville may be up in the air for us right now. We have 2 Pomeranian pups in our lives now. We've had them since early April, and took them to W Kentucky with us in May without issue. We were at a friends farm with them in Western PA for the 4th weekend and one of them suffered a badly broken arm. We had a baby gate keeping them towards the back of the motorhome, and I heard a cry and went to check and "Charlie" was on the other side of the gate with his front leg bent at a 90. I think he climbed or jumped over the gate and got his tiny leg caught on something. He's getting surgery this morning,....getting a tiny plate screwed to that tiny leg bone, but he's going to need to be kept in a small pen....kept from activity for at least 6 weeks. I don't know how this will affect our Ashville plans yet. Already had to cancel July Myrtle Beach trip. Will keep everyone informed.

A person on an E-Bike forum was complaining about his E-Bike being totally unsafe (again) because the factory forgot to put lock-tight on a frame safety latch. There seems to be a fair amount of this type of individual on that site, and in the world we live in these days, that lack in life's lessons so I wrote this in response to his post: When I was a kid back in the mid 60's, before I started chopping motorcycles in the late 60's, I chopped bicycles by hacksawing the hollow forks off Huffy bicycles and slipping the hollow forks over the forks of a schwinn solid fork set, they fit pretty good too. All was well until I tried my first wheelie on my chopped banana seat schwinn bicycle with the racing slick on its back side. I learned a lot from that 1st faceplant after those huffy forks slid down and my bikes front wheel with cut off Huffy forks attached to them went rolling on without me. Probably one of the most important life lessons I learned was that it would always be something, life happens if you engage with it. As I lay there twisted up in a pretzel this question came to my mind, "do I REALLY want to try that again, ever?". About the time the blood had stopped running down my chin and off my knees and elbows those questions were answered as I slid the hollow Huffy forks with my front wheel attached back onto my Schwinn front end and tossed my leg back over the banana seat on my chopped bicycle. I also learned there are two kinds of people in the world, those that experience living life large while they brush off the blood and broken bones of doing so and those that sit on the sidelines and let life overwhelm them with its "its always something".

Yep it’s always their fault, I think I’ll blame my recent incident on Yamaha for not providing stronger windshield mounts to hold the aftermarket windshield blade they had to have known I was gonna use 15 years after the bike was built. The blade manufacturer for using a material strong enough to break my teeth should get part of the blame, the landowner that let the grass grow that provided habitat for the bird I hit owes me something. The state should’ve made the road wider for more reaction time and put up bird crossing signs. I bet I could find a lawyer that’d sue all of them never taking into account my actions or acts of God. I could be rich!!!!!!!😁😁😁I’d probably lose the the lawsuit because I have a car tire on my bike and as everyone knows by reading the darkside posts insurance won’t pay for a bike with a car tire so now it’s my fault. 😩😩😩. Maybe I can sue the tire manufacturer because it’s not stamped in the sidewall “NOT FOR MOTORCYCLE USE”. 💰💰💰💰💰💰💰💰💰💰💰💰💰💰💰 OK I’ll quit.

LOL....we all did things back in the day that caused some pain. Today, people would be blaming the manufacturers for every bump and bruise but we dusted ourselves off and tried again. I used to LOVE hill climbing and still have the scars to prove it. I never actually owned a bike that most would consider geared toward hill climbing, just rode what I had. When I was about 15 years old, my ride was a, don't remember but I think 1967, Harley 250 Sprint. That was my street bike, my motocross bike, and my hill climbing bike. It had great torque and did a fine job. I had plenty of burns from that hot exhaust though. Those were some of the best days of my life. Don't have any pictures of my bike but it was exactly like this one. To be honest, I pushed it more than a few times but loved it just the same. I could always get it running again.

Whether it's a car, boat, lawnmower or motorcycle, working on it yourself brings you much closer to that machine. It's what builds the understanding and "love" of that machine. When you work on it yourself, you take a greater pride in it....you much better understand what's making it "tick" and how this machine is propelling you down the road at 70mph and how / why it stops when you brake. That's part of the work / understanding / love / and joy of riding that would be lost with any machine that needs a higher level of service tools. I'll bet the mechanics who would perform such service would lack much of the understanding of what makes it tick....just do what the 'puter tells them..... LOVE of your bike is a lot like the love of your wife...Takes work, and the understanding gained by the personal interaction and frustration, anger, joy and success of every aspect of those interactions.

Always something is right .... No one wants to be responsible for them selves or willing to take care of the little things that happen in life ...It is time for all these so called helpless to pull up their socks and get things done .

I have been involved in various motorcycle groups, Star riders, HOG, Eagles club, etc, etc, and All are Struggling to survive or have closed doors, just like Mom & Pop Businesses. Not sure the answer as we are getting older and the youth mostly care about the next greatest electronic. All I know is when we were all young, we enjoyed the days of working on our bikes or cars, but unfortunately manufacturer development, though great, has taken away the part where Your Bike was part of you, and you loved it, Later-

I'll be there, but need to figure out why my clutch failed yesterday. Went from good clutch to nothing in 4 miles. Luckily I was close to new house and I shifted to neutral coasted to a stop and put in garage and called Penny for a ride. Have been really lucky with this bike. Had a stator go out as I was pulling into my driveway a few years ago. I guess "Stuff" happens... better to happen at home than on the road.

Either your a really slow packer or I'm going to be real late....

We sure hope you make it.

This event is my target goal for my knee replacement rehab.... working hard to make it happen. This Tuesday will be 4 weeks post surgery.

Nice work! Please update once the final paint is on. I love doing woodworking, but it has also been many years. Took an evening "class" at a local high school wood shop many years ago, just to have access to more tools & space. Our instructor told us woodworking was nothing more than cutting up big pieces of wood into smaller pieces of wood and then putting them back together to make big pieces of wood again. LOL! Attached is the piece I started in that class, but didn't finish until a few years later. It was one my last and my best pieces, which I built for my Dad. My Dad was a barber back in the 50's/60's and when slow, he & the other barbers played checkers. He was a checkers master, no one could ever beat him! The base with two small drawers is made of cherry, the checkerboard is maple/walnut. Unfortunately, dementia & time robbed him of his checkers abilities by the time I finished it. One of my hard life lessons on procrastination. The photo is from Christmas 2004, when I gave it to him, my son was 2 then. He was already on the downhill slide then and we lost my Dad about two years after that photo was taken, will always be one of my favorite photos with him & my son. Enjoy what you do, do it with & for your family and make good memories today, tomorrow may never come!

It came out. I had to ride home in second gear, fortunately not too far. Here is what I discovered and what I did.... 2008 Yamaha Royal Star Venture Shifter.pdf

Motorcycle camping is still my favorite style of road tripping. Just don't get the time much to do more than the occasional overnight trip these days. In my youth, I would pack light. A GI fart sack and a tarp would be my entire set up. These days we pull a trailer with the tent, air mattresses, table/chairs, awning, camp stove, field kithcen kit with manual espresso machine, etc. 1st world roughing it!