cowpuc

Will try to answer your thoughts and then have one of my own.. On the 760's "pattern" = there wasnt one, at least not that I actually detected from "patterning" like ya would a shotgun. It was more of a spray that worked perfect for making my young buddies dance while they were running away after stinging my leg with their Daisy's.. On the Sheridan = ohhh heck yea brother = LOVED my Sheridan's!! Took MANY squirrel's, more than one rabbit and LOTS of Pigeons with mine! Wayyy good shooters those Sheridans were!! Made me think of a long gone story here thinking of em.. Had to do a speech in High School speech class, shot a recent kill Pigeon wrapped in some news papers, can of Crisco, couple coffee cans, can of sterno (knew the Teach would boot me if I lit a REAL fire in the classroom) and my Sheridan (not even in a case = things were wayyy different back then) to school. Did an excellent Pigeon Hunt routine showing advanced hunting/gun handling techniques, opened the paper, removed the Pigeon - started pulling meat out of chest cavity (kids started leaving at this point) = showed how to remove meat so no water/washing to clean is necessary for cooking (couple more kids left), lit the sterno - placed in bottom can with vent holes poked thru it, placed other can on top, plopped in the crisco, fried the meat, passed around end result to remaining kids - even teacher tried it and thought it tasted great!! Got an "A"!! DEFINITELY know those old shooters are valuable - bought/sold em for many years!! Question is, when did Ebay start allowing bb gun sales? I got ousted there with a 1 year off years ago for trying to sell some of Antique BB guns = non-functional but complete!! They were definitely NOT nice about it!! My kids all laughed when it happened and teased me about being a Gun Runner:240:and Tippy used to tease me about being a criminal with one foot out of the big house for violating Ebay interpreted ATF laws . I ended up doing all my complete gun sales thru GunBroker after that.

I know that my deep love for the desert is not something that I can declare as that of mine alone because since our kids grew up and left their parents to fend for themselves in satisfying the need to Chase The Front Wheel on a touring bike, Tippy has caught the same bug. Making the change over from that tent camping/touring bike lifestyle that we both loved and enjoyed into this later in life/camping in our little 60 miles to the gallon, "Micro Motor Home" phase had us both wondering what kind of advantages/disadvantages we might find when comparing the two types of adventure seeking. One of the HUGE things that we have discovered is the ability to enjoy some of these far off desert regions at a time when the temps are actually comfortable (below 105 degrees). This may sound strange but this is something very tricky to do when motorcycling out of Michigan because - when it is under 100 degrees in places with this kind of ruggedly gorgeous flora where Diamond Rattlers and Road Runners roam, it is not uncommon for there to be 8 feet of snow in our driveway! Discovering this was so much fun that, as I type this, my addictive personality is screaming inside me to do one more 10,000 mile visit down in this area years end. We shall see!

,,, noooo,, never did name em,,,, never did put stickers on em either though :banana::banana: Take that back,, I actually did something somewhat similar to stickerizing my bolt action 30/30 deer killing Savage 340C that my dad bought me for my 14th Birthday years ago. Back when I had my shop I had a native American gentleman come in and ask about getting his Quad repaired (dirty carb from sitting). He said he could not afford my shop labor fee's and was headed out the door when it occurred to me that it was his wife who was producing some really interesting Wood Carving work I had seen in the area.. I asked and he agreed to getting her to do a carving on my beat up old rifle as well as a stock refinish.. I gave him a picture of my the mount of my first buck that was decent enough to pay for a shoulder mount and this is what he returned..

Many many years ago I owned, hunted with and protected myself from burglers with a wooden stocked/fore armed (real early model) 760 Crosman pump up like Unc mentioned in his thesis. That early childhood weapon also served as my weapon of choice (other than a jack-knife and a couple homemade spears - it was the ONLY other choice I had) when heading out for weekend manuevers that, at times, included area "BB gun" skirmishes with my buddies. Down the gravel road that one of my best friends lived on was an abandoned two story farm house still mostly intact (no widow's - doors or the like though - in later life, I used to ride up and down the stairs inside this old house on my dirt bike,, but I digress) as well as a few out buildings that we used A LOT for testing our skills in Military tactics. I found that by filling the barrel on my 760 about half full with BB's and adding 15 pumps my 760 did pretty well as a scatter gun (this was wayyy before aquiring my first actual Crosman Shot Gun - ever heard of those guys?). During that time frame, our childhood "Militia" also somehow discovered that by filling the south end of a Pellet with Vick's Vapor Rub (hated that stuff) - our pellet rifles would have a distinct "POW" at discharge, gave a really cool puff of smoke and,, this is TRUE,, increased the velocity of the pellet considerably (I actually peeled the skin on a friends trigger finger from his finger nail all the way back to the second knuckle once with one of these rounds during one of these exploits = REAL NASTY, NOT GOOD!!). You ever try that Jack?

WOWZY WOW WOW WOW!! Congrats Randy = NICE RIDE BROTHER!!!

NICE RADAR!!! REALLY REALLY NICE!!!! I used to shoot and played a lot with the Crosman 600 handguns.. Little bit a tweekin and WOWZY were they good shooters for pistols. Never really did get into the precision rifle stuff but I do know what your talking about,, some of the high end stuff was/is remarkable and,,, truthfully, not hard to match dollar for dollar in price against a decent shootin fire stick.. Sure wish that @Condor would treat us to some peekin at his Ruger!!!

Awe,, thanks you guys!! And thanks Casey for not :mugshot:in me for briefly your thread brother!! I LOVE this our club forum too!!

Ahhh hah,,, now I see where this is going.. If I were dealing with a little light weight, 2 stroke dirt bike and trying to accomplish what I am seeing here,, I think the trailer above is overkill and over weight. I think I would look at building around one of those small HF style trailers, remove the tonge and run a sheet metal bent "rail" under the trailer for the bike tires to sit on with it straddling the trailer bed. Then use the rail as a tonge. Make it so you actually roll over the trailer bed and the front tire drops back down on the rail and bumps into a chock inside of the rail. Then anchor the bike thru its foot pegs with decent sized "bolts" so you can draw the bike down against its skid plate by tightening down via the bolts/nuts against the foot pegs, so the skid plate "cases" against the small trailer platform, basically making the trailer and the bike become one = I have used tie downs for years and just wonder if they would allow to much side to side play that could cause issues.. What I am picturing in my pea brain here would also allow the bike to sit into the trailer (low COG sitting a rail with the little trailer bed sitting above the rail) and not on it.

:sign Rock On::sign Rock On: Me and "Birdie",, we could have a TON of fun in that sweet thang!!! LETS GOOOOO GRANDPAPPY!!!

Start it up from cold, run it a couple minutes, put some spit on the end of your finger and touch each header pipe like your mom use to test a hot iron,, find the header pipe that dont sizzle when ya touch it (can also test with a lazer thermometer but the spit test is faster cause ya dont have to walk over to the tool box and fetch the spit). When ya find the cold pipe, take that jugs plug out and see if its wet,, if its wet it is probably ignition related - stick a new plug in it (check gap before install - dont trust NGK factory - by the way,, use a good old standard plug - nothing fancy - dont waste your money on a big dollar platinum fancy smancy yet,, if your into that - wait till you know that it was the plug, then swap em all out with the 10 bucks a piece stuff = IMHO of course). Unscrew the plug terminal and clip 1/4 inch from plug wire, check internal of cap for crud (you can ohm test it too if ya want - occassionally the plug cags go high resistance) and screw the cap back on. Reinstall new plug. Drain the bowl on the carb into a glass jar - let it set for few minutes to check for moisture - moisture gathered from alcholed fuel can act just like bad ignition. If you see moisture, drin all carb bowls (I like using a syringe for this on the drain tubes = really fast!!). Close the drains and refill the bowls by cycling the fuel pump - recheck for moisture after refilling bowls to make sure your not pulling water from fuel tank. If the plug is dry when you pull it from the jug with the cold header inject a half a teaspoon of raw fuel into that plug hole/jug. I have done enough of this thru the years that I can effectively take a piece of clear fuel line attached to the squirt nozzle of rear end grease bottle filled with gas and not over do it but I would suggest that the first few times you try this to just suck about 2 inches of fuel up into a piece of clear 3/8th inch fuel line with your mouth, hold it there with vacuum from your tonge sealing off the end of the fuel line and then drapping the fuel line into the plug hole before you release the fuel into the cylinder = that way you want over fill and have a chance of hydrolocking er.. After you "prime" the jug, screw the plug back in and start it and see if it comes to life. If it does,, yeppersss,, carb related.. On a 1st Gen, all of this can be easily averted by just pulling the air filter and squirting a little raw fuel into what ever jug your working on,, much easier BUT what I just explained is TOTALLY workable.. Any of this make any sense?? Hard to follow aint I

Thanks again to all who responded to the call here and also to those reading this that just took a moment and thought of/offered up a short prayer for my brother but either didnt or couldnt reply!! Your support is/was greatly appreciated = we/he could feel the support!! In fact,, so much so that, according to my brother - things are going along very well!! He is healing up fine and doing therapy. While this surgery was no "cure" persay, he is in far less pain and it appears he should get some of his mobility back. Thanks friends - you ARE the greatest!! Puc

Awe,, THANKS @dfitzbiz Fitz and RIGHT BACK AT CHA BROTHER!!!

Count on it brother,,, I aint turnin my back on that lop eared ice covered varmint for love nur money.. Matter of fact, I got the auger on my snow blower all sharpened up just waiting for that nasty white stuff he will soon be flingn'.. Yea yea yea,, all and no ... Your gonna have to run up some muscle behind that thing if your even thinking of catching me n Maggie! Of course,, on the other hand,,, should you decide to use during the winter months when Mags is sleepin in the basement,,, well ... Thanks for the update here brother,, I would still LOVE to make the trip over on launch day!!:happy65: Now that I got this little Ioniq camper to play in,, maybe I will be able actually do that,, maybe even somehow hook up with Ready for some of those Tamales he's been tempting me with,,, Tamales and Turbor Jets = could be quite a weekend!!

I am actually poochy lipped here @Condor!! You gotta KNOW this is coming, !!! Not just cause of these goofy forum rules either brother but also because,,, out of ALL those pellet guns shown in my collection below (see how I am,,, I lead by example ) NOT ONCE did I EVER get to see a Ruger,,, much less even owning one!! Gotta have pics, price, where ya found it, what year it was made and on and on = none of this "guess what I got" stuff,, we want,, WE NEED the FULL scoop!! I mean,, after all,,, we are talking SHOOTERS here!! COME ON ya lop eared gravey finger covered french fry munchin varmint = GIVE By the way,, I am working on my 4th tin of 500 rounds of .22 caliber pellets going thru the little Crosman pistol the neighbor gave me that I resealed for under 4 bucks!! Got a rusty old front rotor off my son-in-laws Edge hanging from a rope in the bushes in the front yard that I "ding" on a regular basis with that little shooter = REALLY good for maintaining the hand/eye/squeeze techique without having to clean the 1911 all the time (CHEAPER TOO!).. GET OUT AND SHOOT THAT PUPPY JACK!!! But pics first PLEASE and oh yea,, before I forget = CONGRATS on the latest addition to the safe!!

Hey Bubber,, I am beginning to get the point that you are serious about this. That being the case,, here are some thoughts that come to mind. You ever tent camp/get out and chase the front wheel in the National Grass Lands of South Dakota?? Lots and LOTS of miles out there!! I have traveled/open camped numerous times through the years in S.D. (usually somehow related to the Rally but not always,, S.D. is an amazing place with endless "open camp" wide open places still intact) and taken advantage of public land fun many many times and can tell you that I KNOW for a fact that a LOT of those areas are open to public hunting (have seen it taking place with my own two eyes LOTS of times - never participated in shootin out there cause we have LOTS of year around varmint shooting here but I do KNOW for a fact the rules and opportunity for both residence and non-res are just as plentiful, and probably cheaper, out there in S.D.). A really good example = I know for sure that Fort Pierre National Grasslands up above Presho (gotta LOVE Presho!! GOTTA LOVE S.D.!!) are all open to hunting and open to camp.. I also know for a fact that there a LOTS of those Prairie Doggies running around out there cause I have also seen them with my own two peepers (lots of em well within pistol range too if ya wanna just walk and shoot - be REALLY fun to shoot em from the seat of a touring bike :banana:with a .22 pistol BUT I gotta hunch this would be illegal like in Michigan ) and watched people shooting them on numerous occasions too.. Now, like you,, I too have a history of really enjoying hunting and have done a fair amount of varminting thru the years here in Michigan and can attest to (at least from what I have seen out there in South Dakota) the fact that local shooting Shops are pretty much the same all over the place and I think maybe a quick phone call to a gun shop within the Fort Pierre National Grasslands area telling them what you are looking for might just be a really good place to begin to start the adventure if you wanted to hunt that area. You might be surprised what kind of answers you might receive if you explain your plans and ask simple questions like: "Can you point me to the nearest open shoot hunting prairie dog towns?" = seriously!! :lightbulb:Just had thought,, hang on here a second,, I am gonna google that question followed by Fort Pierre National Grasslands and see what comes up.. OH MY GOSH!! You GOTTA see this!! GO HERE: https://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/fseprd506387.pdf Now,, after looking at that info,, dont forget that what you are looking at is OPEN PUBLIC LAND hunting,, land that, as an American, you can,, for FREE, not only hunt but - OPEN CAMP because it is YOUR land (dont believe me? READ the 5th line down from the top of the PDF:happy34:) = seriously,, trust me,, have done it for many many years!! Also, keep in mind that the document I am displaying for you here is just one tiny area (even though its thousands of acres) of opportunity. It would probably serve you well to do a little more research than the few seconds I did here as an example - maybe a good South Dakota hunting state hunting guide like you get when you buy a license would be a TON of help (ya know what,, somewhere around here I actually have a recent one,, if I can find it.. I grabbed one this past summer when touring thru there - rest area across the state line from Pipe Stone Minn had a stack of em,, will see if I can find it!!). THERE,, better get that Varmint shooter sited in brother cause YOU are going shootin:178:!!

AHHHH HAAAA,,, SO THIS IS WHY ME EARS :Bunny2:WAS RINGIN!!! Hey ya lop eared Hot Dog chompin, pop drinkin varmint brother of mine!! Wassup??? Just got back in,, we been out having a BLAST with this 60 miles per gallon brand new Hybrid Hyundai Micro Motorhome that now has 12000 miles on it :dancefool::dancefool: Not quite as much fun as CTFW on Tweeks with a tent on the back and all that BUT,, NOT BAD,, not bad at all really!! In the spirit of "when life deals ya lemons" and all that,,, REALLY not a bad 2nd place at all Drews!! There,,, hunts over brother,, now back to those Hot Dogs!! :big-grin-emoticon::big-grin-emoticon::big-grin-emoticon:

WOWZY WOW WOW WOW do I like that, it even sounds awesome there Corporal Newkirk!! Nope, never ever even seen such a machine,, much less actually get to rebuild one.. Tip, Tweeks and I once followed the Cannon Ball run cross country with hopes of me getting to "help" with a broken down machine (see video,, gotta LOVE it when a plan comes together ) so you know,, when I say this I mean it = I would jump in our little Micro Motorhome named Trooper TODAY and head for Leno's garage if he invited me to lay hands on this beauty you posted = WAYYYYYYYYYYY COOL!! Sooo,,, anyone else catch the phrase "total loss system" when Jay was talking about the lube system? What that refers to is the oil is not captured in an oil tank after lubing the bearings, instead it is flowed out onto the ground (had a HD total loss once, you push down on a syringe and it pumps/pushes (that was the "oil pump") oil across the bearings and out onto the chain and then onto the road. Notice the oil dripping on the wheel of Leno's bike? That said,, I cant help but wonder how many of those orbits one would have to take before the area of the orbit would get mighty slippery = a TRUE test in rider skills required for riding on ice!! I LOVE it Newkirk,,, just LOVE IT!! THANKS FOR POSTING!! Puc

Will do Bubs,,, lets see here,,, oh yea - here it is...

ROLLER ROLLER ROLLER!! YOU DA MAN BROTHER!! I had a Remington Model 700 bull barrel in 22 250 that had a real special attraction for Michigan crows!! BOOF they would go when that ol 250 spoke its words.. Talk about a fun shooter. Would have made a fine Prairie Dog shooter for sure IMHO!! Soo Roller,, was ya shooting on private land in Wyoming?? The reason I ask is that I always thought Wyoming seemed to have a lot more fences, private and/or closed lands than,, sayyyy,, South Dakota... Thoughts?? Maybe just seemed that way as we were rippin across those prairies out CTFW..

Cool!!! I have owned, repaired, built, ridden and enjoyed many HD's thru the years and know they aren't for everyone.. Personally I like em. I have never had the pleasure of owning one of the new Polaris scoots but I did get a chance to see the internals of their 111 while out in Sturgis a while back and will include a short vid of such below for your viewing brother. Looking at the helical ground gears, gear driven primary and cam design,, I was impressed. I think it would be a fun scoot to own, especially if Polaris spends some time/investment building a similar add on catalog like HD has and upping the game some in building dealership support. Another iffy side of it all that might be worth considering too is what comparing parts prices between the two breeds revealed.. I bumped into a guy riding a Road Master along our lake shore a while back. He was showing me a small (2 inch x 2 inch ish), plastic widow on the back of his lower fairing area that covers a light bulb entrance (I think) that had popped out on the hiway and he had inquired about a replacement.. After playing the guessing game with him about my thoughts of replacement $$ for this tiny cover (which I started my guessing at 5 dollar for - it literally is just a small "L" shape plastic window that snaps in there) I was to have him tell me that just under 190 bucks was the price .. This little encounter was enough of an encouragement for my curiousity that I did do some investigations of my own and WOWZY WOW WOW WOW,,, what I found out was incredible!! I have been around bikes for many many years and lived thru the day and age of paying thru the nose because the clutch cable I needed had "HD" on its package. Matter of fact,, I actually stopped riding HD for a good while many years ago just because that cable for my Jap bike was 6 dollars when my HD was 85 - must have some elephant in me cause I aint forgot.. Times have changed now though and,,, I will say this,, the "new" scalper on the block is Polaris and HD, new or old, is nothing compared to what those guys at Polaris are up to - at least it was this way last time I checked.. Just saying that as a prompter to maybe encourage you do some comparison shopping if it concerns you my friend,, it never hurts to talk about it/know about it BEFORE going it if its a concern, IMHO.. Other than that,,, cool scoot and all the best!!

Tip, Tweeks, Maggie, Troop and I love this time of the season when we American's butt heads and head to voting booths :usa:to settle our , :banana:. Besides the actual pulling of the levers (WOWZY WOW WOW WOW,, been a LONG time since that happened around here,,, remember the old days with the actual little flicker fellers and the big one armed bandit on the side of the machine - WOWZY it has been a while), we also really enjoy the rallies that go with this special time of year and love yelling "U.S.A." with the throngs of fellow - talk about fun!! We attended another one of those rallies tonight where the Vice President of our great country was scheduled to speak. Here is brief synopsis: Tip to Me: V.P. Pence is gonna be in G.R. - wanna jump in Trooper and go for it. Me to Tip while wiping sleep from my eyes: What time is it? Tip to Me: quarter to 9:o Me to Tip: not now ya lop eared silly rabbit varmint,, what time does the rally start? Tip to Me: doors open at 4, we need to leave by 2ish. Me to Tip: PERFECT,, gives me time to eat, shower and everything!! Jumped online, got the tickets,, read about the things not allowed inside of the auditorium like knifes, guns and stuff,,, made a mental note to myself to remember to empty my pockets before going,, leaving my flashlight, tape measure and jack knife behind so I didnt have to visit the as I headed to the shower. Fast forward to the "in line" that ya stand in after you have checked in your tickets at one of these rallies,,, you know,, that spot right before you walk thru the scanner where all the Secret Service people are staring at you.. There stands the cutest little girl (she looked like she was 12) wrapped in a bullet proof vest, hand gun on her side and "Secret Service" clearly written across here chest! I couldnt help myself... I simply asked her if she had ever been in the White House? Tip did the old and gave me the old eye roll and reminded me that I was not suppose to chit chat with the Secret Service.. The girl smiled and said that it was o.k. and then she told that she was indeed stationed out of D.C.. Wayyy cool and I told her so as I gave Tippy one of my iconic . The Secret Service girl and I finished our conversation about her going to college in Maryland in Criminal Justice and then me and Tip thanking her for her service when a guy standing right behind me pulls a 8 inch cresent wrench out of his pocket and asked the girl if it would be allowed inside. I was really impressed to hear the Secret Service lady ask what he was doing with a cresent wrench,,, an act that pretty much had us all kind of giggling - myself included. I thought it was pretty cool that the girl just told the guy to quickly run and put it in his car and she would make sure his place in line (and it was a LONGGGGGGGGGG line) was held for him - nice girl I thought to myself. About this time I heard Tip defending the guy and saying something about finding him having a cresent wrench in his pocket not strange at all - its a guy thing she told the crowd.. About that time the index finger on my left hand felt the smooth cover on my little tape measure that I always carry. I got one of those looks on my face = ahh ohh looks on my face when it occurred to me that I had forgotten to remove my normal pocket items (like I told myself I was gonna do wayyy back when I was on my way into the shower). The Secret Service girl shook her head in amazement as I removed my tape measure, my flashlight and my jack knife and then she sent me back to my car too:o. The people in line around us laughed historically (not a mispelling) at me and I felt embarrassed,,, for Tippy. After putting my tools inside Trooper, and taking a bite of the Arby's Market Fresh Sandwich I had left in the bag on his passenger side floor for after the rally, I ran back to the line and everything returned to normal. Even though I have a pace maker and I had to be individually searched and wanded, things pretty much returned to normal and Tip and I headed for the standing up place right near the front row where all the young kids with lots of energy always gather. About 15 minutes later I told Tip that I was gonna have to go sit by the old people cause,, well,, basically cause I was feeling really tired like an old geezer and I didnt wanna fall asleep and land on some kid.. We moved up into the seating,, a ways away but still very good seats.. All returned to normal again as Tip talked to our geezer neighbors and I fell asleep. When I woke up the people were all yelling as, hopefully, the future Governor of our State was getting ready to speak,, the fun was about to begin!! After speaking, he introduced the man who hopefully is gonna be our new Senator in Washington. This fine American patriot starting speaking (very good job too IMHO) and as he was speaking I noticed a small flame on the rear of one of the spot lights wayyyyyy up starting to flicker. I pointed it out to the rest of the old people sitting around us. About that time the little flame had clearly gotten bigger, one of the younger - more mobile people up there - went down and pointed out the fire to one of the people in the news booths who pointed it out to a police man. I was starting to get anxious because it was clearly a ballast that was burning and I was concerned for those folks (who were standing EXACTLY where Tip and I had been standing down below) standing under the light bank as I have seen my share of ballast burn to the point of dripping hot/melting rubber like substances. I got concerned enough that I yelled out "MOVE THOSE PEOPLE BEFORE SOMEONE GETS BURNED" - an act that got a bunch of people looking at me funny again. Thankfully, someone down there must of figured it out cause the Secret Service actually came out and forced the crowd back. Maintenance finally got involved, pulled out a ladder and went up and hit the fire with an extingwisher - looked at Tippy and the old guy sitting beside me and told them both that I really missed being young and working Maintenance:beer:. It was neat hearing the Vice President of our Country ask us all to remember to pray for America (thinking of all this wicked stuff happening in Pittsburgh) and then later make a comment praising people that do things like fix burning lights - real Americans doing real work!! After screaming "WE LOVE YOU MIKE" one last time, Tip and I headed back to Trooper where I found my tape measure, my flash light, my jack knife and my sandwich still waiting for me. Thanks to Tippy,, me and Trooper had a really good day and,, at least IMHO,, I did you lop eared club member friends of mine right!! The End

,,,, name change?? No more Pork In The Pine? Now known as Prairie Dog In The Pine? Never tried one,,, might be good eatin!!

Having only 2 weeks left on this latest 6 month probabtionary stint for being guilty of being one of those types, I think I can afford another 6 months,,,,, please forgive me Casey = nothing between us,, just another flaw in my character!! Duey,,, a simple full nekked ride for a couple miles on the section of road that skirts under the Bad Lands N.P. between Interior S.D. and Rapid City during a hot/dry 100 degree S.D. day while standing on the foot pegs, whoopin like a Native American chasing a Buffalo might give the reader of your comment some understanding of why some things are so = in other words,,, dont knock it till ya try it . The flow of hot, dry, desert air over the nekked body can be intoxicating to say the least ...

The day after I brought Tweeksis (our most recent 83) home from Larry's (@Carbon_One ) I was sitting out front taking the trailer hitch looking rear bumper off her back side when a good friend/neighbor rolls in on his Ultra Limited and asked what I was doing!! By the snarl on his face I could tell he thought my opinion that "less = more" when it comes to actually using these bikes for touring and that, IMHO, that all that really pretty chrome bumper represented to me and my way of life (cross country touring) was a lot more hassle when an on road tire swap was going to be needed was sheer nonsense. Obviously, his opinion and my opinion were vastly different. I think the whole trailer towing with a motorcycle plot falls in this same category of club house chit chat = a matter of opinion. For many many years I/we chose to stick with onboard tent and sleeping bags for overnight stays. That has served me and my fortunate/unfortunate (also up for opinion) very well on lots of touring adventures thru the years, including many that lasted more than 4 weeks at a time. I was warned over and over again both here in the club and by friends abroad about being over packed and relentlessly encouraged to trailerize my scoot and do the tow routine. I know I am not the sharpest crayon in the package but, possibly because of my experiences in towing trailers with vehicles with 4 wheels under them coupled with numerous two wheeled vehicle excursions in life, I got a strange - "dont go there" - feeling in my gut every time I considered it - especially with a passenger on the back who's safety my riding skills would be totally responsible for. A while back I finally did get the chance to tow a trailer behind a bike and learned, among other things that indeed, in my case, for what what I had always been trying to obtain in life,, towing a trailer cross country with a motorcycle was not in my best interest. After helping a friend get his 95 Honda Goldwing and its gorgeous matching trailer ready to sell, Tippy and I were offered a chance to take the scoot and trailer out to put some miles on the pair.. I had already completely gone thru the bike/trailer and knew they were ready to travel so we did in fact take it out for a few hundred miles - good chance to test my feelings on trailer towing if nothing else. The info on the trailer said it weighed 320 pounds empty and we pulled it empty. Something I ALWAYS questioned about motorcycle trailers (and just never made sense to me) was the lack of trailer brakes and this trailer had none. Also, the hitch type was the typical 1 7/8 inch ball type. One of the things I always wondered about was what effect the added weight pushing on the back of the bike would have on the the control of the bike in an emergency situation - cars have a habit of stopping quickly in front of me, pull out in front me, deer jump in front of me and on and on .. In my growing up years of biking, back in a time when my physical body could handle it, I loved and spent a fair amount of time racing bikes. Be it MXin, Ice Racing, riding enduro's or Harescrambling,,,,, one of the oldest tricks known to dirt bikers back then was the old - if they dont move over = "bump their rear tire with your front tire and watch em fall" routines. Having been subject to this nasty undertaking on several occasions and knowing for a fact that, absolutely if you put side pressure on the rear of a bike and then release it - the results are usually devestating to the person on the bike being pushed on. I also knew that, even with a light weight car (4 wheels instead of two) those similar dymanics are noticeable. I am friends with some police officers trained in offensive driving and know that one of the ways that cops can force a bad guy off the road is by applying pressure to a rear corner of the offending car with the front of the cruiser, put pressure,, release and watch em roll (their words). Knowing all this,, the first place Tip and I went was for some obscure area twisties to play with the Wing/trailer combination to see,,, if even with empty bags/trunk and empty trailer designed for this bike,, could I/we "feel" the trailer "push" us in certain conditions.. The answer,, ABSOLUTELY!! Keep in mind,,, this scenario is compounded ONLY when played out,, again - IMHO, with a 2 wheeled motorcycle. Put 3 wheels under you (perhaps like @Marcarl is talking about?) and everything changes,, considerably safer maybe - again,, IMHO.. Obviously, 3 wheels on the ground has more contact surface to hold you in place but it also might be worth something to consider on how the steering dynamics change when ya go from 2 wheels to more than 2. Anyone reading this dorky :Im not listening toof mine here, if you have a 2 wheeler,, I have a quick test for ya to try out,, find a quiet section of road, get your scoot going at a speed where the gyro effect has taken over - sayyy,, 50 mph.. Lightly let go of your grips and gently push on the inside of one of the grips with your finger tip and see just how lightly of a push on that grip it takes to have a HUGE effect on the control of the scoot - if you havent already discovered this steering dynamic (it's a dynamic that has saved my hide LOTS of times = quick pressure in the right spot and you can INSTANTLY avoid road obstructions and such) you might be surprised. Once you do this,, now consider what may happen if you are in a corner, passenger on back, trunk/bags full (I somehow think carrying max weight on bike would actually help in keeping the trailer weight from pushing the bike - if I were ever gonna pull one for touring purposes - I think I would pack my bike up to increase vehicle weight to trailer weight ratio - just a thought) pulling a trailer and you have to do an emergency stop with the trailer at any position other than with it aiming straight at the rear of the bike,, in a position where the trailer may "push" the bike? Just a thought.. Time has ran out for us in our cross country motorcycle touring days and we never did get beyond the enjoyment and fun of living out of an onboard tent. A simple rear rack with the tent/sleeping bags bed roll strapped on it has served us well for many many years. I will say this though, after doing our own little experimenting with trailer pulling and if we had ever needed to head that way I probably would have played around with seeing if I could get electric trailer brakes incorporated into the idea and done some testing there.. I am not sure what kind of effect the "pull" of a trailer in braking mode would have in an emergency,, just not sure BUT I kind of sorta think it may be the same = push or pull - a person on two wheels might not want either in a bad emergency situation where the rider - not the tailer - needs to be in total control of his scoot.. We have tested numerous trikes thru the years and gotta say,,, I do see where a Trike (three wheeler of any sort) could easily become an outstanding trailer pulling, amazingly adventurous side kick!! @CaseyJ955 ,, maybe do some testing of your own to see what your comfortable with. Are you a lone rider? Maybe you will find I am crazy in my thoughts and ideas and maybe, if your 1 upping it on your tours,, not having a passenger will make the difference. Some testing of your own should prove yea or nea IMHO. Another something that just popped into my pea brain,,, thinking out loud here (something that I am good at) and looking back over the years of emergency touring scenario's and the ongoing question of to tow or not to tow,,, for many years I always thought a fun way around it all would have been to convert a side car into a sleeper unit.. I/we have always been able to drop the tent, unroll it and pop it up and be inside laying down within 5 minutes (or less usually) of pulling into the cemetery, way side, walmart parking lot or pulling on to the prairie floor. For some reason, my mind has always pictured pulling into the same spot and crawling into a side car camper and cutting that 5 minutes down to 30 seconds. This, of course,, being applied to the 1 up tourer as a double wide side car sleeper would probably just be to wide.. Dont know whether or not a side car can "own" (take over control) of your scoot like a trailer might do, not much experience with those either.. What ever you end up doing brother,, wish you all the best in safety and fun and am eagerly awaiting 's and ride reports of any/all of your antics!! Your friend - Puc

We finally found 2 of the treasures of the trail the 3 of us had been searching for at the visitor's center in the park. Unfortunately, both of these specimens were no longer alive and were not in their natural habit so they really don't count BUT,, it was really neat to actually see them! I always thought the Road Runner was only real in the minds of us kids watching Saturday morning cartoons but this gorgeous desert display proves otherwise! I was also shocked to find out that Road Runners actually kill and eat Diamond Backs (and other snakes)! If you EVER get the chance to visit the particular National Park, make sure you go inside the visitor center and while inside, take a few minutes to watch the Desert Region Movie they show there,,, the dramatic end of the movie is nothing short of awesome!!