cowpuc

Hey Bum,, IMHO: There are some vast differences between Canada and the USA and a huge difference relevant to answering some of the questions posed in this discussion is that we, the U.S. are a Constitutional Republic and the 2nd Amendment of our beloved Constitution specifically gives the citizens of our country the right to keep and bear arms. It should be noted that this 2nd Amendment right has NOTHING to do with sporting activities such as hunting or target shooting as a prerequisite to keeping and bearing,, that is NOT why our forefathers wrote it (The 2nd) into that document that governs our land. It is my understanding that Canada, as well as the other countries under the govern of the British Commenwealth, have neither of these rights written in such a document - is this correct to your understanding too? Here in America,, many States still accept the rule of Law spelled out in the 2nd Amendment of the right to Bear and, even "open carry" is actually quite common.. An example,, here in Michigan we tend to follow the U.S. Constitution in that way,, we are an open carry state and I have worked in shops where seeing a shooter on a fellow employees side was a common site . Also, on one of our cross country rides not long ago, Tip and I stopped at Walmart in a Nevada town and were surrounded by folks carrying side arms on their hips right in the store - it was GREAT to see folks taking advantage of their right to keep and bear IMHO. Sadly,, there has been and continues to be a movement by people who do not agree with our Constitutional Republic way of life who are constantly trying to change it to be more like other countries that do not share in the freedoms spelled out in our Constitution. This slippery slope of attempting to change the law of our land does create some real confusion even for "we the people" here in the U.S. so the hint of some confusion on your part, IMHO, is understandable my friend. I know,, I got long winded again but I KNOW you know me well and, will forgive me of such.. A final note,,, the CC laws across the board here are actually an extension of those rights protected by our 2nd Amendment and that extension simply gives the holder there of the right to hide the weapon under a jacket (conceal) or inside a car (concealed from site) in their pursuit of bearing arms any time they choose to. The CC laws are considered by many to be a positive thing in this way for "we the people" but there is, as always, a concern that the CC procurement methodology could lead to an easy "list" of folks who would be visited should the 2nd Amendment be aborted and our citizens be required to give up their weapons. Sounds crazy but I have actually heard of folks choosing to actively refuse to obtain such licensure just for that fear.... Its a crazy, changing world brother!!!!!!!!

Yep,, just one other ?.. Does that Silver Lining Herb thing apply to the orange sticker on the side of the bikes fairing and on the trunk?? The one that is kind of shaped like a trumpet?? That is the sticker I was refering K.... THANKS my friend!!

:sign yeah that::sign yeah that::sign yeah that: It was a steady progress in that direction thru the years in my case too Roller.. Starting all the way back in the 60's with a Bear Magnum recurve (still got wooden arrows in a case downstairs) and then onto an "Allen Speedster" (remember those?) when they first came out.. Killed many many deer with that little compound until I left it on top of my car after hunting in sub zero tempts and climbing in to warm up.. After Dad passed I stopped hunting (kids all grew up anyway so our need for meat went wayyyyy down) and havent looked back.. Still got all the tree stands and archery equipment though and know that those runways are still as active as they used to be.. Fact is,, living here near the State Park where deer seemed to have a nack for standing in the roads and getting run over,,, I highly suspect that I will be set for venision for the rest of my life.... Probably seperate my shoulder if I tried to knock an arrow and pull that old compound back to bring the string across my eye now adays anyway..... I LOVED bow hunting!!!!!!

Soooooo,,, what ever happened to the ugly shotgun contest???? Zag and I are only ones who still do the shotgun thing???????? By the way Zag,,, that aint no ugly shooter,,, that there's a PURDY popper IMHO!!!

All the very very best wishes on passing your Concealed Carry test brother!!!!! :thumbsup:Get er done my friend!!!:thumbsup: Many many years ago my Dad was a police officer and somehow he learned about "natural point of aim" (what he always called it) and taught it to me when I was just a kid.. I discovered thru his encouragement that, for home protection, Dads old school philosophy/theory was actually the route that I wanted to follow.. What it comes down to is that instead of becoming dependent on the accuracy of your sites and lining them up with the target,,, you purchase a weapon for home use that "fits" you and comes to a natural point of aim = what ever it is you point at.. As a kid,, he would have me form a pistol with my pointer and thumb and point it at a wall = then look down my finger and sure enough - when I "pointed" at an object on the wall with my pointer finger and looked down my finger like looking down the barrel of a gun, I would 100% of the time be right on target!! Later,,, having spent many many hours owning and playing with handguns,, while attending one of our AWESOME Michigan gun shows of the era I discovered that the Beretta 92F was the ONLY handgun that, in stock form,, would come to a natural point of aim for me.. Now this is just a matter of my personal opinion Don,, but if I were you I truly think I would grab one of those little "bullet" bore sighters (cheap,, I think you can get a 9mm now for under 5 bucks) in the caliber of handgun you want to conceal carry. Then I would hit the gun shows and gun shops and, after asking permission to drop the laser into the chamber, do so and do a BUNCH of "natural point of aims" until I found that special weapon that came to as close to spot on without having to depend on sites of any sort - especially in close quarters = thought being that you may not want indecision at that time of need,,, Dad's thought was always just to be able to point and shoot,,, sort of quick draw Magraw kind of philosophy when it comes to protecting you and your loved ones life.. That way,, if the bad thing should happen where you really need to use your concealed carry weapon,, even your natural instincts will be working in your favor!!! Another thing that I am still finding out about something my Dad taught me about shooting is that practice makes perfect.. Not much different than slow riding a full blown touring bike in all her glory I spose. I been shootin my little freebie pellet pistol a LOT here during the day and have noticed a considerable improvement in my "Shoot n Scoot Pistol Golf" scores while out playing with the local lop eared gun totin varmints.. Even tagging numerous 75 yard "drives" on the 5" self healing ground target with my favored .45!!!!!!!!! LOTS OF FUN!!!!! IMHO,, contributable to hours of cheap play with a bb gun,, just like bikin,, skills anyone anywhere can develop - all it takes is LOTS of practice and,, of course,, as mentioned,, LOTS of ammo (by the way - you can still get 22 caliber pellets = 500 of them for under 5 bucks (I just ordered another 500 rounds for my .45 = 120 bucks)!!! I know,, to much opinion,, I'll shut up Best of luck on your test brother!!! Puc

They come in REAL handy if your a desert rat and need a place to hang a gallon jug of water from.. You simply stick a 3/8 inch bolt thru that antenna hole and then hang a fresh, screw on cap, gallon jug of water from it!!! There ya go Ready,,,, now watch how fast it gets snatched up!!!!

In the bottom pic to the right I can clearly hear that horse saying something that I have heard from my passengers on more than one occasion = "Wilbur,, if you dont stop wicken this thing up in the corners like that I am gonna kick you to the curb!!!" P.S.> be interesting to know what that sticker is on the side/back of that awesome machine!!!

No voice to text on this puter Jack,, straight up touch typin BUT,, remember,,, I also have Dupuytrens so am only able to use my right hand at about 85% and left hand (still not had the fixen surgery done to that one yet) at about 60% so I am having to learn to touch type all over again.. I did learn to type in College though and used it A LOT thru the years in both school, teaching and in Management so I used to be ok on a key board (about 60 WPM accurately).. Now I would say somewhere in the range of 25 to 30 wpm would be about right. P.S. - haven't you ever noticed how many times I get beat up on trying to get a response out before anyone else these days,,,,, I have.... In my case,,, getting old does mean getting slow

I feel your pain Corporal Newkirk!!! It hurts so much ya wanna cry tears of joy,,, totally a mixed bag of emotions.... I always liken it to what a women might feel when giving birth to a person she loves so much she would die for her/him. Amazing thing this parenting business... At any rate,,, sure sounds like you Dawson's did a right fine job IMHO,,,, to you all of you and please tell that youngen to study hard and very very soon she will be celebrating in the white coat ceremony!!!! kiddo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Welllll,, I aint fixen to apologize to Jack here cause I KNOW that any chatter about guns in any way and of any sort in one of his gun threads is not considered another thread,,, besides, if I did say sorry for the Hi-Jack, Jack would think I was saying sorry for saying Hi,,, Jack .. Sooooo,,, @Kretz ,,,,, are you telling us that if go ridin across the UK or Canada in search of a spot to drop a tent for the night and go treasure huntin too we probably wont get to sink our eye teeth into this kind of awesomeness???

I just read this to Tweeksis,, she wanted me to tell you thanks for making sure her name was mentioned in the paragraph where both beauty and pretty were used and not in the other paragraph where ugly was spoken.. Personally,,, I agree 100% with your thoughts here Fool and am including a couple pics of a couple of my more "beautiful" shotguns for entrance into Jack's ugly shotgun contest !! The first one is of my 12 gauge beatered up double barrel that has been used to knock down trees in the pursuit of partridge and beat brush piles in search of lop eared snow shoed and cotton tail rabbits that shook the nose of my hounds many many years ago.. Included also is my .410 whose sites were altered many many years ago by yours truly for deer hunting down in the"Shot Gun Only" area down south of us.. "Teeny" (my old 410) would lay in a real tight group with a slug at 100 yards off its factory bead BUT was shooting consistently about 10" high at that range with 3" slugs when lobbed at that range .. I built the end of the barrel up with black tap and ran a screw into the tape to become the front sight.. Absolute 3" bullseye at 100 yards as you see it!! Ugly,, not in my eyes,,, maybe in the eyes of the 2 deer who filled those Doe permits back to help out the farmers whose crops those critters were eatin but in my eyes, and I am sure those farmers would agree with you and I = these old beaters are nothing short of GORGEOUS in both looks and memories!!

Casey,,, I am not sure where in the Black Hills you are located but, if you ride the well known and highly traveled "SpeerfishCanyon Ride" as shown on all those freebie maps printed out for the Sturgis Rally and get almost to the end of that Canyon cruise there is a big sweeping corner with a huge lodge on the right hand side. There is a gravel road that serves as a driveway for that lodge that "Y"s off to the right and on the side of that gravel driveway/two track is a sign that says something about "Waterfalyl's this way" on it.. I have taken that two track many times thru the years as a quite escape from The Rally and know for a fact that between that lodge and Sundance Wyoming there are many miles of two tracks and quad trails back in there, I know cause we followed them one time and was able to pick our way all the way across to Sundance and then rejoined the throngs over to Devils Tower. We have also camped on those trails many times and have heard everything from Coyotes howlin to Elk bugling in that vast - gorgeous - outback area. Also, if it hasn't changed, it is open range so you will be sharing some of it with Cow's on the trail so, if on a dirt bike (this is never an issue on a loaded up 1st Gen, at least from my experience in handling a tour bike in the woods) you might want to watch your speed if your following a single track thru the forested area out there. Being an old dirt bikin crazey and always seeing "the sign" of that type of activity even while out CTFW with passenger in tow, I can tell you that I only scratched the surface off trail riding in that area. Quad/dirt bikes tracks go in every direction back in those hills!! Along this line of thought, and in the spiirit of the joy of single trackin,, here is another short story just for you of another one of my experiences concerning the matter in another State not to far from you: In Michigan, we dirt riders are regulated by the State to single track trails that are approved by the DNR for our usage. We do have a very nice trail system though with single track equaling close to 2000 miles on both the lower and upper peninsula's = FUN STUFF TOO with riding challenges available for all levels of skill. Having been a member of The Cycle Conservation Club, as well as local organizasions for both Dirt Biking and Snowmobiling, I became very aware of the politics involved at keeping our state and federal lands open for usage by both type of sports and a very strong advocate for returning those lands to the hands of the rightful owners (we the people) for their usage.. That said,, can you imagine my the first time I pulled into Salina Utah on my street bike years ago and found kids running all over town on quads and dirt bikes = traveling right past police officers in the frolic.. I was admiring these antics as I was filling the gas tank on my Venture and thinking,, WOW - would our LEO's/DNR back home be having fun out here!!! No sooner had that thought gone thru my mind than I guy with a truck with a camping trailer in tow behind it with a boat on a trailer in tow behind it pulled into the fuel station to fill his truck with fuel!! Once again, I was totally at him and he noticed my quandry and asked about the look on my face.. I told him that I DEFINITELY was no longer in "Kansas" (definitely like a different planet) as what he was doing there would DEFINITELY cost him a HUGE fine back in Michigan and probably his drivers license and possibly some jail time.. I then commented about the dirt bike/quad activity as the same.. His response was simply,,,,, yep,, this aint Michigan,, this is Utah and we are still pretty free out here and he pulled out with a smile on his face:big-grin-emoticon:... As he did,, some kid with a YZ125 walked over to finish the conversation.. It was a lengthy conversation from that point but I can say that the base answer to the questions I asked were resolved in this: I pointed to the mountains wayyy off in the distance and asked if it was "legal" for him to ride his bike up in those mountains and, if he wanted to = place his tent up there and camp over night? Yes,,, any where, everywhere, anytime,,, it's our property open to all.. and how would you get there from here to do such a thing (thinking my child and I might want to spend an overnighter up there on that mountain top) I asked. To which he replied, after giving me a puzzled look: I would just ride across those open fields and go up that mountain any way I could figure out a trail to do so. Strange place that state of Utah,, I like it!!!!

I probably wont buy one Neil cause, as you know,, I ride naked BUT = Tip and I both totally enjoyed the article you wrote and the seeing our very loved brother's pictures in there !! Another EXCELLENT piece of work ya lop eared spoiled by your new very bestest friend varmint

I always thought getting wood meant,,,,,,,,,,,,, never mind,,,,, I am so far down the probationary hole that I probably will never see daylight again as it is so ... GREAT job Mr. Nelson and Motiv,,, indeed my brother,,,, let the begin!!!!! :witch_brew::witch_brew::witch_brew::witch_brew::witch_brew::witch_brew:

I 100,000,000 % totally agree with you Jack = wise is the man who knows whats going on between those two wheels!!! Gotta say though, I figured this little trick out years ago when the MX industry went to disc brakes (got TIRED of rebuilding calipers) and to this day,, I can count on one hand the amount of times since regularly cleaning those pistons like this that I have had to pop out a piston and do a rebuild... I know,, sounds as crazy as your ol buddy Puc but hey,, it's worked for me over the years..

No idea if it will help here or not but this may be of interest to someone following this thread. My good friend and brother jakester has been running the darkside for a good while now and has had GREAT success with them.. Hey Bill,, if you get this,, just wanted you to know that I did a LOT of research (including measuring up the subframe on my Yam to see if I could make it happen by doing some altering) and simply could not come up with an economical means of getting there on the 1st Gen brother!! Anyway,, here's some input into,,,, The Darkside We also discuss the new Yam that you are riding Yoop!! Obviously,, LOTS of fun out there at Sturgis!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

OUTSTANDING my brother Riv!!!!!! :thumbsup: Of course,, as always you shoulda said something cause,, again as always,,, your ol buddy Puc coulda help ya out with some of us magic advice and told ya ya didnt hafta to do all that... As me and Jonas show ya in this video (cause we da man),,,, there are ALWAYS alternatives

I was still single trackin, racing enduro's, lot of Hair n Hounds and even still a little MX'n into my 50's until I broke my back in a Car/Deer accident a few years ago.. I was regularly riding with a very well known Enduro racer named "Young Ted" back then. Young Ted and I rode with many Michigan, Indiana, Ohio, Illinois (Teds home state) and Wisconsin riders criss crossed many thousands of miles of Michigans Cross Country Cycle Trails over the years together.. It's funny you bring this up at this time Casey because Young Ted stopped by not to long ago to show me his new KTM factory "loaner bike" that he is racing now that he just turned 90 years old!!!!!! His plans for his 10th running of the Colorado 500 this year were mind boggling. Ted is a close friend of John Penton who both Ted and I (and many others) deeply admire for his defining the true woods bike in the early Penton brand (pre KTM) and also John's efforts in bringing home those ISDT trophy's to the good old USA!! Ted is an amazing young man who I deeply admire and consider to be one of my closest friends (IMHO, there is nothing that binds two brothers like the deep love of motorcycling and thrills associated therein does)... I am gonna go down stairs real quick and snap a couple pictures off the wall in my basement to share some inspiration I still get from one of my life's hero's here..... Just a second.... Here some quick shots.. Got some of Ted on the cover of Trail Rider. Of yours truly in action. A poem I wrote many years ago that got published in Trail Rider. and some pics of gear that hasnt moved in few seasons for obvious reasons!! (sorry but I couldnt help myself,, I LOVED building and riding chops too and included a pic of my camp spot with one of my builds on the way out your way one year LOL) Tell ya what Casey,,, if your body is still able to handle it,, there is simply no funner, no more satisfying way to stay in shape than rippin thru the woods on a dirt bike IMHO.. And WOWZY,, the awesome people you can meet (just like here on VR) along the trail is just flat out amazing!! Puc

An old friend of yours and a dear friend of mine = MiRider, his lovely wife Sue and their GORGEOUS scoot "Candy" (lots of you lop eared varmints dont know this but I actually had the honor of naming Candy Candy and I chose that name Candy because that great big beautiful Harley Tri-Glide has a factory paint job on her that makes her look like a great big piece of candy that is sweet enough to eat!! I HAVE ALWAYS SAID IT - IMHO,, NO ONE PAINTS A SCOOT LIKE THOSE LOP EARED VARMINTS IN MILWAUKEE!!) came our way to help us break in the new E-4 I stapled on Tweeksis's back side.. We had fun! We rode all day! We saw a lot of bikes!! We got hungry cause MiRider kept going and going and going!! Then when we did stop at a resturant for Hot Roast Beef Sandwiches (go ahead,, admit it,, I planted a seed,, now YOU just gotta have a Hot Roast Beef Sandwich dont cha!!!), we got about yappin about the Super Man pj's that @Dragonslayer sent to me for me to wear at Sturgis. Then when I told MiRider and Sue about how I painted my Haines Underwear and my socks Red at the Dollar Store in Sturgis so when Super Man Puc made his debut he would look complete,,, well,,, our laughter got a little loud and that sissy MiRider pretended he needed to pay the bill so people would stop staring at him... The End - of a very fine day but not the end of many more to come I betcha!!! Puc

It did for a short time Snype but I learn quickly and I learned how to stand in front of Tweeksis and pee while I am pointing down at her radiator while Tippy pretends to have that look of "ohhhh,, yea,,, I agree,, that right there is the problem" as the cars go whizzing by (whizzing as in passing us by without realizing that I am peeing,, not the kind of wizzing I am doing = do you follow me here or do I need to put a video together? :crackup::crackup::rotf:

Yep,, knowing how hard my Nephews Strat was on the rear tire and seeing the size on the new one, I could not help but ask about the cost of a replacement when we rode em last year at Sturgis.. The rep looked one up,, sure enough,, 575 bucks ( you could actually by the wheel itself cheaper than the tire).. Then Honda configured the new Wing with the same size tire and offered 2 options for tire selections (followed the unveiling there very closely too) and the prices came down considerably.. I think the last time I looked you could grab one for under 3 bills = just a little more than a new E-4 for an older Venture... @Yoopermoose , does this sound about right for what you ended up paying for a replacement?

WOWZY WOW WOW WOW ,,, GORGEOUS GORGEOUS GORGEOUS PICS YOOP!!!!!! Your making this Troll (no ya bunch of lop eared VR forum varmints, NOT troll as in forum troll = troll as in the troll "under" the bridge that separates @Yoopermoose 's part of Michigan from our part of Michigan ) really proud brother = AWESOME ride along!!! Thank you!! Hope you have as much fun with your new tire as you did with the one you just wore off my friend!!!!

Duey,, my bad,, I even think I remember reading you asking about that - I truly apologize for over lookingy this!! I have never tried the 777. I think I do remember looking them up once to price check them compared to the 230 and noticed that the heavy dutiness was more in weight capacity or something... Nothing leading me to see that they were a super high mileage tire like this E-4 is suppose to be.. That said, they were more pricey than the 230's if I recall and the uptake on the price just didnt balance with the fact that I still would have to swap tires out on the west coast (the only advantage possible at this point with going to a more expensive tire would be if the more expensive tire can make the full circle out and back - the Commander 2's taught me how close but not quite completing the trip REALLY creates an issue because all of a sudden I am dependent on road side Dealerships and everyone knows how that story ends ).. Have you tried the 777's in high temps such as seen in Needles California, Death Valley, Area 51 riding loaded and two up? If so I would LOVE to hear your take on them and would be more than willing to give em a shot if you think +20k in such conditions is a possibility brother!!!!!!! Another tire that I missed in my assessment (forgive me you bunch of lop eared varmints,, my pea brain aint quite a quick as it used to be ) was the Conti Tour!! They proved worthy with a 7k wear on the rear and almost 15k on the front!!! I actually ended up having to swap out the front due to cupping instead of actual wear out too!! The problem I had with the Continenal Tour on the front, I think, stemmed from it being a high PSI tire to get is load rating up.. As I recall, 50 pounds of air to create top performance.. Besides the cupping that I think the high psi had something to do with, the tire also rode funny = it had a hard feel to it of course.. I never really cared for the cornering aspect of the Continentals,, IMHO, the much cheaper Shinko's reign supreme in handling and are a LOT cheaper and,, as with all of them,, the Continentals could never go full circle (rear tire) and still required a swap out... Again,, Sorry @Du-Ron for over looking your pertinent question my friend!! Your ol forgetful buddy = Puc:thumbsup:

Yep,, see those dark "blue" spots in her fir?? Or am seeing things?? Those sure look like Blue Tick spots to me!! I am sticking with my very first gut feeling guess wayyyyy before any of this was even revealed! Jack Russel and Blue Tick!!!!!! Awe,,, come here you precious little thing,,, sit down here for second,,, Uncle Puc got some secrets he wants to whisper in your ear of special places you can stuff your masters favorite socks out in the White Washer Shed when he isnt lookin... That a girl,, you know EXACTLY what I am talking about already dont cha,, awe,, your soooooo cute!!! Now take that sock and lets get started with you corrup,, I mean training...:178::178::178:

videoarizona is 100% correct leroy , under his mentoring - I have been running the Shinko Tourmasters successfully now on numerous incursions behind enemy lines and they have, knock on the top of my wooden noggin, brought me home safely each time.. EXCELLENT low cost tire with a real good feel to them in everything from high speed pursuits thru the canyons to slow speed twisties covered with tar snakes.. The rear I just took off from Tweeksis to mount up this new Dunny on it had just under 6k hard miles on it.. Nothing in the high temps of where this Dunlop is headed and where most of my other tire experiences have been.. As mentioned by Vaz, I too have found the intense heat of the western deserts I LOVE to ride to wreak havoc on tires (and other things,, its a strange place where a gallon jug of water can be more precious then the same amount of weight in gold = really,,, thats true). Had the Shink I just pulled seen the desert it would have been fortunate to have made 5k with my ride style. I tend to full pack, tent and all that, ride 2 up, NEVER pull a trailer (cause I do a fair amount of off road site seeing) and am governed by the Guvna herself (Tippy) at 100 mph when she is on the back so that is pretty much where we hang out once the cities disappear and the horizon's reveal the vast openess of the far west that we love.. I also wickin it up in the twisties and have a natural bad habit to always wick it up when coming out of corners. I also run heavy in traffic and, generally speaking, insist on taking control of my destiny in traffic by insisting that I am always going a little faster than those around me = may sound nuts but I have found a sense of safety when I am watching the cars disappear in my mirrors. When I am around semi's I dont play games with em, if I am in a bottleneck where the cagers are piling up and there is Semi involved I back off and wait for an opening and as soon as it appears its what I call "bye bye time" (Tip has heard me utter those words dozens of times). When bye bye time happens, the Guvna takes charge in speed control and, at times, that lasts until we find our lonely little pocket of freedom spaced carefully between the bottlenecks behind and in front of us... Yes,, I am hard on tires. I DO NOT do the burn out thing though like is so popular these days - I respect my tires more than that. My tire wear is 100 percent earned the hard way. Tires that come to mind that I have ran and associated mileage of them (all cross country comparisons with comparable desert heat time) - packed heavy, riding 2 up and hitting speeds in the triple digits at times, all hand mounted and balanced by yours truly, all worn to bald with an even wear - expect for the Metzlers,, they delaminated at last 20% of tire!!: Dunny Elite 2's (probably one of my favs) = 6500 miles, great all around tire!! Noisy when half worn and gets even louder if hitting the twisties - so much so that you can actually feel the outer sharp edges of the tread vibrating the bars in the tight stuff like the dragon = strange.. Mich Commander 2 = good desert tire, terrible on twisties and in rain or on cold pavement, good high mileage @8000 miles BUT to expensive up front when compared to Shinkos. Also cost me a ton of cash and inconvience because it didnt quite make it back from the coast on a 1 1/2 month outing (normally would have swapped tires at my daughters in Sacramento but this tire was looking like it would make the full trip - it didnt so then I was stuck going to a steale,, I mean dealership). That tire was 230 bucks and I have been buying current, up to date Shinko Tour Masters for $65 shipped and they will do 4500, maybe 5k in the desert - see my point? Full Bore = AMAZING cheap tire that was all I could find in the bargin barrel one year out on the West Coast!! Tire did SUPERB for what it was, handled the heat excellent, got 4500 miles out of it and, get this,, it was like 53 bucks shipped to my daughters!!!! I absolutely would not hesitate for a second to run Full Bores full time!! Dunny 404 = RIP OFF!! Just over 3k miles!! I call them the "tire that will disappear"!!!! Story,,,,, headed for the coast,, got dinking around ghost townin in Utah (flaw in my charactor) and Tip and I discovered the 404 I had mounted new just before we left was almost bald when we pulled into Moab. We found 1,, thats right,,, ONE tire that matched the size/weight reguirements for Tweeks in all of Moab and,, guess what it was? Yep,, another 404 AND the guy wanted 235 bucks for it!! I looked at him and told him I couldnt do that,, I couldnt pay 230 bucks for the same tire that I had just paid 85 dollars for 2 weeks earlier and then found out it was junk.. I asked where the nearest Yamaha shop was and he said "FairField" (or something like that).. We plotted a course thru the mountains to FairField, tented a couple nights wayyyy up in those gorgeous mountains (talk about COLD) at a couple back packing or skier trail heads, when we finally found out way out our kids in California had called the cops to go look for us before we finally landed in FairField with THE CORDS SHOWING!!!! Metzler = it was heading toward being my highest mileage tire EVER when,, at 7500 miles on the tire on the way back to Sacramento from a place called "The Dalles" where we had attended a VR Rally called "Venture West" and had also drifted up to Mount St. Helens with another member here ( CMCOFFEY - you still around Coff? Aint heard from ya for a spell = hope all is ok?) on that Metz. Coff watched me check that tire for pressure and condition (think I checked Exodus's - Coff's bike - too) before we left The Dalles in Oregon.. Time we got back to Sac the tire was IN PIECES (I have pics of it somewhere). It literally came unglued = DEADLY!! Funny thing was,,, I was actually warned about Metzler tires by a very good friend of mine and fellow member here about this earlier in the trip... You may know him = Squidly? Apparently he and his precious wife Lonna had also had a similar encounter with Metzler only theirs blew (if I recall correctly) from delamination and almost ended in trajity.. Swore off Metz's after all that. Avon - good tire,, 7k miles, had a strange random tread pattern that I didnt care for in twisties and also in sound.. At half wear on the tread I could feel the variations in the tread as a buzz in my bars.. Kenda - 4500 mile tire, could never get em to stay balanced - especially at speeds over 90. Good deal if you dont over ride the tire. Noisy when half gone. Actually seemed like a really good rain tire (we got hit hard out east one time running Kenda's). Good tire for tire beads IMHO as long as you stay under 80. Shinko 230 Tour Masters (THANKS videoarizona !!) - Awesome tire!! Cheap,, decent mileage, CHEAP ,, will run from Mid West to West Coast absolutely no problem and can plan ahead and have the swap on sitting at the kids waiting for me.. This is an honest 4500 mile low, 5k high tire when heading that way for us!! It handles the heat REAL WELL, handles the rain REAL WELL, handles the twisties with total dignity and has definitely landed on my list of all time favorites - by the way,, did I say they are cheap?? I havent looked recently but I betcha I can buy one right now for under 80 bucks shipped and have it here in 2 days OR LESS!! Took me almost 3 weeks to FINALLY get a good E-4:doh: to start this crazy testing journey I am on!! Something else that I noticed just recently when mounting this new E-4 (and this is actually in one of my video's in this video series) is WOWZY is it hard to spoon on!!! With the Shinko's,,, lay em in the sun for and hour and I literally can almost pop the starting bead onto the rim without laying a spoon on it!! This E-4 took me over 2,, thats right,, TWO hours to spoon on!! IMHO,, this E-4 is designed to require a Dealership (or someone with a tire machine) to install it.. To many (almost everyone I am sure cause I know,, I am strange) varmints this is normal cause I know they carry tow cards in their pockets but to the few side of the road tire swappers there are left out there CTFW,, I can tell ya,,, IMHO - this is E-4 is NOT the answer.. Seriously,,, Give me a Shink, a set of spoons and this nifty little Bead Buster that VanRiver sent my way (THANK AGAIN RIV!!) and in under an hour I will be back to CTFW - start to finish!! Dunny E-4,,,,, no clue,,,, still in testing but,, it does have a strike against it already in its difficulty to swap out by hand.. I do have that Dunlop (and others) are shootin straight on their claim to 6x back and forth across the country on it or,, lets just say +20k of riding that includes a fair amount of hot tarmac time fully loaded, 2 up at speeds controlled by the Guvna.. What da heck what day hey,, I would actually be impressed if it just makes one good complete full circle of a summer tour for us!!!! We shall see!!