cowpuc

Tinkering tinkering,, always tinkering.. If I aint out CTFW I am tinkering... Sometimes I just cant help but get caught up in the act of tinkering even while out CTFW!! If you are at all interested in the Polaris 111, you might find this interesting... Maybe,,,, maybe not buy maybe...

Tip washed it, hung er up to dry,, got her in the mail earlier today brother!! Track number is 9505 5121 2688 7227 1054 39 USPS - please let me know when it arrives - should be there by day after tomorrow.. Looking wayyyy forward to seeing you flying the cape at Vogel Superman/DragonSlayer and THANK YOU for loaning the suit to us - WORKED AWESOME!!

When ya tent camp while CTFW - ya tend to ride sun up till sun down cause the sun will bake ya if ya try to camp while the sun is up - make sense? Probably not,, I know,, I get hard to follow sometimes.. Their is what I call "Magic Hour" which is the last hour of the normal day after being in the saddle all day - its a time when that sweet smelling sweat shirt (made sweet by the magical odor that permiates the fabric from cooking inside of the glass clam shells during the hot ride day) gets put on and the memories of really good ride are bouncing around in your head.. Then, as soon as its dark and ya cant see the hills or prairie no more its time to look for a place to drop the tent.. Usually by 1 a.m. we are counting the Harleys we passed during the day as we drift off to sleep.. It's wayyy easier now to find camp spots with all the cell towers being up.. All ya gotta do is look for the little red flashing light wayyyy out there somewhere and ride to it.. Ya cant camp inside their fenced areas but their driveways are ALWAYS open to camp on.. Lots of times the fun isnt over even after darkeness sets in.. Here's a short vid of one of those times after a good 17 hour day of riding

Or,, take that hood off and hang it in the garage!! Its a motorcycle,, all rules governing cars and the has to have therein are right out the window with one of these puppies!!

Ya know what Ty,, I wayyyy hear that brother!! The worst off I get physically and the older I get,, the window of tolerance to little things like weather changes seems to be getting narrower and narrower.. For me though the desire and love for the open road = camping behind gas stations or out on the prairie - spending 16 hours in the saddle being a normal day - speeding up to stay dry in a really good rain and all that is the same as it always has been but this physical body stuff - not so much.. I keep remembering hearing people say things like "I cant wait till I get older and retire so I can go out and do that kind of stuff".. Now that I am at that retirement age - when I think of that I shake my head and say to myself - I am SOOOOOO glad I did it all when I was younger cause there is NO WAY I could even begin to do it now - almost time to unplug it, sell/give away all the bike stuff,, get that 4x4 and make the change.. Gonna be different around our area,,,,, maybe I will keep my R1 just to go out and with the youngens and keep the heart pumpin though

Its funny you say that Vaz cause I ask specifically about the weight limit and the tech (who refused to allow me to record ANY of our conversation) said EXACTLY that..

Ummmmm,, thats not need,,,,,,, ,,,,, ,,,,, never mind,,,, trying to explain this one would be like a dog trying to explain why he HAS to hang his head out the window of the car when its going down the road..

Nope brother,, alll that stuff that creates those kind of things went bye bye with the grapefruit sized tumor/cancer - nothing left.. Pretty nasty stuff that cancer bug BUT - way I got er figured - I got off a lot better than I could have - could be pushing up daisies and not getting to play with the new grandson or watch my bucketlist R1 break 170 or fly thru Sturgis with a Superman outfit on or run off another tire on Tweeksis with Tip on the back.. God is good and today is AWESOME!!

Puc dont do Trikes,,, well,, wait a minute,, take it back,, I had a RIOT back in my MXin days goofing off on 350x's and 2 fiddy R's - wayyyyyy more fun than the quad stuff - up on two wheels,, sliding em out,, endless wheelies were simple childs play... Then I did help build a Sporty trike for a friend a while back - WOW did I have fun on that puppy before we dropped the body on it.. Rode it like a 350x = BLAST!! But for touring? Probably not,, if I get to the point two wheels dont work no more its 4x4 truck with a topper time,,,,,,,, feet hanging over the tail gate up on the Grand Mesa (12 miles of gravel to get to that one - been there a few times on my 1st Gens) over looking Grand Junction - watching for aliens and listening to the coyotes cry.. Think I got a vid of the Sporty we did for my buddies wife... Just a second.. Yep,, here ya go.. Strange,, its the only one left of the Sporty trike we did coming up on You Tube - had a BUNCH of on there while riding it.... Hmmm,, maybe I got beyond some kind of limit on my vids LOL

,,,, you think someone who would do this instead of sleeping in a AAA Motel or even a campground really cares about mic drops :

Picked up this paper while out in Sturgis for the rally a few days ago.. Found it pretty interesting and thought a few of you may too.. Like most of you, I vividly remember the hanging and burning of the metrics out there on main street in days past,,, I also remember the coning off at exits 30 and 32 on the ickspressway with bikes backed up over a mile just waiting to get into town (being familiar with those back roads sure came in handy back in the days of yesteryear) - people camping along the highway and all that... Times have certainly changed and this article brings up some interesting discussion of when/how the slow down that has been happening will end.. It would interesting to hear some of your thoughts on why things are slowing down, both in the rally attendance but even more so, in the industry itself.. Anyway,,, here's the article:

Back at cha brother!! Prayers Up for a quick and full recovery on the shoulder my friend,, hope all works out for nothing but the best!! Tell Lonna hey for us,, Tip n I send our love n hugs alllllllll the way from Michigan!!!

You are more than welcome Kretz, glad to help.. And thank you for following the Sturgis fun = glad someone is enjoying those pesky meanderings.. I know a lot of people find that kind of stuff as foolishness but, IMHO,, its far better than setting around watching tv for retirement while knowing crazy stuff like thatkind of stuff is happening.. Back at cha brother!!!

At this point in my life I am just happy to be able to still get out and enjoy some type of CTFW - physically I am wayyyyy past the riding horses point.. I grew up in a fairly large family (7 kids) and my sisters (I have 5) had horses.. I spent some time breaking em for my Dad and training them all the way to neck reining.. Frankly,, while my sisters LOVED the beasts, I could never stand em.. I ALWAYS enjoyed my dirt bikes wayyyy more for my early days of off road exploits and would far rather case a KX500 on a 100 foot jump on a Motocross track than I would spend time in the willies with a horse = mule even worse.. I know,, been around LOTS of bikers who compare themselves to modern day Cowboys - not me,,, while I cant even imagine what the early settlers of our great nation went thru crossing some of the areas Tip and I have seen while mounted on Tweeks back - I certainly would NEVER want to have lived that - besides,,, horses smell funny. Speaking of that,, we rode thru a valley outwest where a huge horse camping area was at - shoulda smelled that valley = 108 degrees and whewww eeeeee - bout made my eyes water just riding thru it..

Here ya go Kretzo,,, hope this helps: http://www.venturerider.org/forum/showthread.php?117492-USA-map&highlight=signature

GOOD POINT BROTHER!!! I have no idea where one would get rubber for one but I do know I am GLAD it aint me standing in line at the service desk out in Moab Utah with a worn out tire on my Venture - out there, they wanted just under 200 bucks for a 404 Dunlop (exact tire that I payed less then 80 bucks for and spooned on Tweeks before we headed out - also the WORST of the WORST mileage = got way less the 4k miles out of the bloody thing). I know my buddy just paid 300 bucks for a new rear tire for his Harley (tire got old,, dont think it had over 1000 miles on it - poor thing just sat there and aged out) - probably a 500 dollar tire in Moab if its the ONLY one produced ... Something to think about.. Ya know Jeff,, was looking at the new Polaris Indians at Sturgis.. This topic came up with one of their sales folks about the lack of dealerships nation wide and especially in Canada.. Apparently, those Indian riding Canucks only have 1 dealership per Province up there.. Cant help but wonder if any of them are owned by scammers who wouldnt be afraid to jack up some prices on parts if a person decided to tour their lovely country up there and got stranded... Yea,,, tire every three weeks,,, used one up touring the east coast back in June (you EVER get out there = ride "8" thru the Adirondacks = WOW!!), one going to California in July, one coming back from same and one on the Sturgis run we just got back from - could probably have saved some on that Sturgis run cause it aint that far from home to the Rally BUT - those dog gone mountains (FLaming Gorge) of Wyoming/Utah/Colorado got talking to my heart as long as we were half way there and POOF - there went another tire... I gotta slow down,,,,,,,,,,,,, ,,,,NOT

Awe,, THANK YOU for the continued concern brother - I KNOW it all comes from a pure heart of just being worried about your buddy and his wife - THANK YOU!! I assure you, NO ONE monitors tire air pressures as I do - I run em to spec as stamped on the tires - and always at PSI for max load. I have been touring for many years now going all the way back into the 70's and have experienced several flat tires on loaded touring scoots due to puncture from road debris (both front and rear) - including a few on my 1st Gens and can attest - NO ONE also wants to experience those any less than I do cause riding them to a stop is a exciting BUT not fun = I hear you my friend.. First let me follow the "you need a trailer" thought: 1. We do a LOT of off road stuff where a trailer simply would not work. 2. Years ago I had a buddy who got into a situation on a corner at speed where he had to brake hard and he had a small 300 pound trailer behind him. The trailer forced him into a freakish slide that he explained as "it took control of the rear of my bike". One of the things I learned early on (another flaw in my character) was to examine closely the results of people I trust when they experience stuff like that and try not to emulate = no sense in rediscovering the wheel. Another example of this is why I ALWAYS carry a styrofoam cup in my cup holder - lost a friend many years ago when the sealed water bottle he was carrying in his cup holder jumped out when he hit a bump - they found the water bottle lodged between the triple tree and the frame = locked up his steering = ol Puc NEVER carries anything but Styro Foam since that time. 3. To me, having a trailer would mean ending up carrying more junk - dont need more junk and certainly dont need to encourage who ever is in the rear seat to do more souvenier shopping either LOL.. About wearing out tires: Years ago while crossing the country in the desert on my 350 Honda, Chopped Yamaha 650, Honda 750's, 78 Lowrider = all none touring bikes and all being ridden 1 up - it was a tire out to the coast and a tire back, about 5k per rear tire even back then in my case and NO burn outs (not that I dont LOVE pulling hole shots, just never liked watching all my cash go up in smoke) = life taught me the hard way that that hot tarmac that melts your shoes when you try to stand on it does the same with scoot tires.. For me and my style of riding (I do a LOT of close to/or triple digit cruising and a fair amount of aggressive canyon carving even with a rider onboard (Tip has me rev limited at 100) - I have NO doubt this plays part in tire wear.. Concerning the load I carry - Ya gotta remember that the bedroll that you have always seen on the back of my bike is simply a couple sleeping bags, a piece of egg foam Hospital bed covering to take the bite out of rocks and branches that may find themselves between us and the ground while camping on places like the rim of the Grand Canyon, and a Tent = weight is NOT an issue back there AND - you would be shocked at how little the bike is pushed in heavy cross winds with it! In the end brother,, after over 1,000,000 miles of torturing these 1st Gens out in the lands where tires disappear like the sweat from a naked chest (yes,, I also ride A LOT with no shirt on out there in the deserts I love) I will probably never own/tow/drag or utilize a trailer in my biking needs (notice I said "probably" - gotta leave a little room there cause one never really knows what tomorrow brings). Long before you will see that, you will probably see Tip and I with a small 4x4 pickup, a topper on it with a small air conditioner - about the size of the one Dana and Misty had cooling their bike camping trailer at Vogal - built into the wall of the topper, a small generator mounted on a platfrom slid into a front hitch on the truck, with a bed in the back of the topper so I can sleep during the day (a HUGE issue we are finding in our current bike touring is that I still have to be able to lie down and sleep at any given time - was warned this was gonna happen by my Oncologist - some kind of Cancer Fatique thing) any time - any place.. Notice in that I STILL said NOTHING about towing a trailer? Thats cause there are two tracks upon two tracks in far off places out west in the mountains of Utah, Montana, Wyoming and the like where even Tweeks couldnt carry us and we just GOTTA find out whats out there and dragging a trailer into those places just would not work for us - even with a 4x4 truck....

Thanks Boss on the compliment of our report, really appreciated but actually - the pleasure was all mine LOL.. I had NO idea these things even existed when we were out there - just happened to be in the same place at the same time.. I had no idea who made the motors - one of the other test drivers mentioned something about Elios being involved here - that they had taken all the cash they were forwarded for their cars and gone this route so I suspected some off shore built motor - especially at the price point of one of these things =VERY reasonable IMHO = was expecting Chinese.. Just found this much higher quality vid produced by Jay Leno (he didnt have to do the little 35 dollar camera routine like I do,, I gotta hunch that Leno actually has a camera crew of some sort) where he explains in detail all about the motor - turns out its GM!! If you watch this vid you will hear a lot from Steve Hall. Steve was at Sturgis and I yakked quite a bit with him about the price point and the build quality. A REALLY great guy and VERY approachable/down to earth.. Had I of known who he was I would have certainly videoed my conversation with him.. I have NO DOUBT that the Polaris folks who produce the Slingshot are on this one.. Good ol American Free Enterprise System = the competition has GOT to work in our favor as consumers = maybe that Sling Shot will come down below 20 large in cost.. I got a vid where Tip n I tested that out there too - LOTS OF FUN!! Anyway,,, here'sssss Leno (wait,, that was suppose to be Johnny )..

Yes,, it counts IMHO.. Fact is,, one of the most painful crashes I have personally ever had was on a bicycle when I was a kid. Wanna hear the story? Ok,,, here's what happened.. The founding fathers of the village that I grew up in decided that it would be cheaper and easier to just build sidewalks around the big oak trees that lined our streets rather then removing the trees to make a nice straight pathway for people to walk.. I used to LOVE to ride my bicycle down those early twisties - talk about perfect training for days to come... One day,, while out carving the curves the thought crossed my mind that I had ridden those corners enough that I could probably ride them with my eyes closed.. I started at the corner - eyes open and counting the turns of the crank of my pedals that it took to get me to the first corner, then the angle of the turn of the bars and the pedals to complete the turn.. I did this several times to insure I had it all memorized.. Finally, after much practice - I put my front wheel on the crack in the sidewalk where my adventure was to begin,, closed my eyes and took off.. I counted successfully the cranks of the crankshaft attached to my pedals as I increased speed and made my way toward the cornered concrete that led around the big oak tree that I had ridden around many many times in my young life.. About the time I thought it was time to adjust the angle of my handle bars and start my peddle count to proceed around the tree I saw a "flash" of light and remember opening my eyes to a small group of adults who lived in the area looking down at me as I lay there in the shade of the mighty oak.. I turned my head and notice my bicycle had a severely bent wheel and my head hurt pretty bad.. One of the adults asked what had happened, back then,, having not learned the "Code" yet,, I explained to them what I had done.. I learned that day that, YES,, even bicycle crashes count AND,, I also learned how important it is to study the bikers Code book about when to tell ALL the truth and when to with hold somethings for posterity sake = its the code.... The End

I know,, I have an odd way of thinking about scoots,, more of function over form kinda varmint - that said, try to stick with me on this one cause I know it sounds out there a ways.. Few years ago Tweeks got lop sided up in the Utah mountains and I had to roll her all the way over to get her feet back to planted cause between we couldnt get enough umph to upright here pushing uphill.. Ended up doing damage to her left saddle bag - LOTS of spider web like cracks.. I drilled the cracks at the ends to keep them from going any farther, then drilled holes along the cracks and "stitched" the cracks together using tie wraps - having done this many times with dirtbikes - I had pretty high hopes of it being successful.. Fast forward to this past June when Tip and I took Tweeksis (she has Tweeks bags on her) out CTFW on the east coast.. We hit some extremely hard storms out there in NY - flooded highways that the water was so deep it knocked Tips feet off the rear pegs and broke the front fender mud flap clean off!! Couple days later I noticed water leaking from Tweeks maintenance department (right bag) - opened it and a bunch of water came rolling out.. Thats when I found a 2 inch open hole that I did not know was there - similar to yours, I had lost a fairly good size chunk of glass from the bag itself.. Not one to give up and knowing that almost NOTHING works for repairing these bags in a permanent way, I set out to figure out the repair. I ended up drilling a few small holes around the hole and, again, along some cracks that were present. I tie wrapped again across the hole and pulling the tie wraps tight to draw it all together. Then I took clear fuel line and wove it into the tie wraps. Next I started searching for the perfect filler.. I ended up trying this product called E6000 Adhesieve.. Turns out, the stuff is AMAZING!! It drys like a VERY strong rubber and is bonding beyond belief!! I patch the hole, covering all the tie wraps including the stitching from days past. I carry about 70 pounds of tools and stuff in that bag, we just finished over 15 thousand miles of travel since I made the repairs with a fair amount of rain days, a few hail days, LOTS of extreme heat. I have checked the area several times (My tire spoons are in the maintenance dept - lots of times to check the hole) and it remains rock solid and very secure.. I purchased the tube of E6000 from a local store called Meijers but I am sure Walmart or even Auto Zone would probably carry it.. Tell em Puc sent ya,,,,, what the heck - may be good for a laugh or something..

We were to find out later that indeed,, my ears were not decieving me!! Under 30 grand for a boosted, hand built, made in America trike = from what I have seen out there - THAT is a lot of machine for the money!! Hats off Vanderhall in Provo Utah = GOOD JOB IMHO..

We didnt get told anything about the mechanics of the steed we were riding,, the short riders meeting was more about getting in and out of the trike and some tranny info.. As we rode I thought I heard something I REALLY liked the sound of.. I should have expected it could the little trike REALLY came alive as you revved it up thru the gears - I did it again and sure enough,, that familiar sound happened and a great big smile came over my ugly mug as I pictured those guys in Provo saying things like - oh yeaaa - we GOTTA do this!!!

The riders meeting was VERY brief.. I chose to leave our little "MG" like, hand built trike in "Manual Mode" so I could run it thru the gears manually.. What a ball Tip n I had - like a couple of youngsters in a little sports car of yesteryear...

We were impressed enough with them that Tip and I thought a short wait for a test ride would be worth it!! Finally it was our turn!!

I thought these little MG like Trikes were sooo cool.. Enough so that I could not help but explore them and find out exactly what they were all about.... WAYYY COOL hand built in Provo Utah machines,,, amazing how much trouble an ol biker and his pretty wife can get into simply by CTFW a little..