cowpuc

Caught these folks admiring the shear beauty of our scoot "Tweeksis" and they agreed to a short interview.. We got some amazing people in our awesome country and meeting them/making new friends is something Tip, Tweeks and I always look forward to!!

My fingers dont work well anymore so I decided to continue developing my video blogging experience.. Kind of fun really.. Here is where it all began a couple days ago:

Ya BUT,,after an epic adventure like you and that GORGEOUS scoot of yours just pulled off,, that stiffness has got to have almost good reminder feel to it brother!! Any idea on the latest about Mike? Last I read he was looking for help in finding info about getting his trailer repaired?? Sounds like he is doing ok in healing up on the injuries and is out and about ok?

My pea brain is still stuck on "I smell Polaris Victory" every time I see a pic for some reason.. I LOVED the "feel" of the Vision 8 Ball = amazing scoot for handling, any of you riders happened to have also rode a Vision and have thoughts of comparison between the two? Tip n I bumped into one of the Star Rider Chapter guys on our way in yesterday who was coming from test riding the new one up in Minnesota. He was riding a Strat (which he LOVES) and said he thought Mom Yam did a splendid job but still thought the MSRP was way to high and going toe to toe with HD from that perspective probably wasnt a good idea.. He did say Mom Yams quality did shine thru though.. This is a good thread - THANK YOU for all the pics and good reporting gang!!

Roller, I told the CHiP that stopped me for 68 in a 55 while coasting down that mountain in The Sierra Nevada's on "88" that my bike was shut off and in neutral and I didnt have any intent of breaking any laws out there.. He said many times in life things happen that we never intend to happen and we should be prepared for those times too... Have no idea why I wrote that Roller ,, guess it sounded good to me when I did ,,, gotta forgive me bro - been in the sun a lot the last couple days and thinkin part of my brain got toasted,,, bottom line - hope ya have as much fun using your Enhanced as we have using ours

Hey ya lop eared desert riding varmint,, ya know what they call that spot at the end of that roadway dont cha? That there is a CAMP GROUND = and pretty dog gone nice one too I might add - yep,, would LOVE to put that one on a "Pucs Home Away From Home" list David = NICE PICS brother!! Thinking out loud here on your tuning,,, personally I would also double check my diaphrams if that 05 was mine.. 12 year old scoot could definitely have a pin hole or two and those little vacuum leaks can really drop the MPGs when the cylinders start fightin each other.. Might be worth a peek.. I have yet to set a set of valves in any of my 1st Gens (sounds nuts but its true),, holes in diaphrams = TOTALLY different story line...Dont forget to double check along the edge where the diaphrams meet the carb bodies if you do check em.. Another I have noticed about all my v-4's,, for some reason they do tend to use a little more fuel when running in extreme heat and they have warmed up.. Always figured it was the nature of the beast,,, could also be that I tend to wick em up a little harder to increase the air flow over my body too though I suppose,, you know,, kinda like turning up the fan some.. Ohhh trust me Fool,, ol Pucster would continue to harrass you and your Wisconsin White Washer even if he moved to Hawaii - some varmints deserve to be harrassed no matter what!! I take issue here,, NOT think = KNOW,, you KNOW cowpuc would LOVE to ride that spot!!!

WOWZY WOW WOW WOW = TOTALLY awesome pics and trail tale here Leo = THANK YOU for sharing!! Was out doing a little traveling when I heard of Mikes accident,, definitely a game changer there!! Glad to hear he is ok and that you got to finish the ride brother!! BEEEUUUUTEEFUL pics here = no tickets from the on this one

Roller, both Tip and I have the Enhanced Michigan DL's and have used them many times at many locations for going back n forth into Canada =absolutely NO issues at any USA/Canadian border coming or going and that includes States outside of Michigan and Provinces with borders that do not connect with our home state = you will be fine!! Ours "broadcast" our info using some kind of a chip but we are always stopped at the window to verify the info the guards are reading... The licenses come with a sleeve to carry em in so our info is not being spread all over the place,, Tip is more jittery about that kind of stuff so she keeps her license concealed,, personally I dont much care about stuff like that (remember back during the Y2K scare when everyone was stocking up on toilet paper? I wasnt one of them,, more of I would rather go back to using leafs then have a basement full of toilet paper kind of guy) so I just leave mine broadcasting.. Yep,, things work AWESOME!!! Found out by trial and error they will not work to get into Mexico though,,, BUT - they werent billed as such either = at least ours arent.. Those bandito's they got down there in Cactus Country were intrigued with them but would definitely not allow passage without other paper work = Canada only I reckon I reckon..

I hear you guys and right there with ya's... Use to be I could grab a sledge hammer and bar, C-Clamps or even my 16 inch channel locks I carry in my right saddle bag and snap a bead on a rear tire swap without much fuuu dooo.. This last trip taught me those days is gone - think they took more then bladder and prostate parts on that last tune up cause WOWZY I got no strength.. I have always carried my tire spoons but now I think I gotta figure out a way to tote my bead breaker - aint no way, aint no how I am gonna hand a roadside dealership no 400 bucks to swap on a new tire!! Tip n I been talking about grabbing a 4x4 pickup, tossing on a topper/air conditioner/generator so we can tour the out back on trips out west and side lining the scoots - really really hard and sad though cause, like you two and many others around here - its in my blood.. I had to give up racing dirtbikes (which I LOVED) a number of years ago cause my spine is shot and now this = sucks getting old,,, BUT = sure beats the alternative!!! Tell ya one thing,,,, that Cancer Doc mentioned bucketlisting a while back,,,, grabbed one of those Yamaha liter bike/crotch rockets = talk about restoring that childlike adrenline rush,,, freaking thing is nothing short of amazing!! Just pulled in from our first CTFW fling since '14,, opened the garage door and there was that pretty little (they only weigh 400 pounds) sprinter staring at me with her naughty grin = definitely helps in the therapy department = at least for me..

Thanks Or!! You da man brother!!! Yep,, definitely a pleasant surprise here = house is still standing and neighborhood seems really quiet - NICE!! Thanks again for letting us flop in your garage my friend = another PERFECT nights rest!! @Flyinfool = THANK YOU again for contacting Or for us.. We said our goodbyes and left early yesterday morn,, BOOKED to the terminal in Walkie and arrived at 11:35 am.. People were waiting in line,, we went in and checked and were told they had room on the 12:15 depart and if we decided to pass they could not guarentee passage on the 7:15 pmer.. Looking at the skies there, we jumped on the ship and split,, or should I say = floated away... Our phone was still no servicing so I could not reach you.. Hopefully we did not mess your day up and you got to fly with your fly group on time.. THANK YOU again you two!! Your hospitality and assistance in hooking us up was, beyond words = totally appreciated!! Love you guys!! Puc,,,,, n Tip,,, n Tweeksis!!

+1 brother - I stand TOTALLY with you here!!! We came rippin into Wisconsin last night on the way in from the west coast.. Last time I saw Orlin when he was here in Michigan he reminded me that the camping area on his property is always open = 24/7 should we need a place to flop while out CTFW.. I remembered reading about the flooding in his area and thought best to see if the area was now open BEFORE riding Tweeks down into their valley.. Our phone had been dead for days with no service, FlyingFool was kind enough to jump in and contact Orlin for me,,, Orlin said the camping area was wayyy to squishy but to come on in anyway and camp up by their house... Resulting in the pic below!!! Yep Ty - I KNOW exactly of which you speak!!

You are a scally wag of a lop eared varmint and a really bad egg ,,, my kinda people though cause I was wonderin the same thing DanL':mugshot: By gursh it better,,, 119 inch against a puny little 74 inch = if it dont theres gonna be some big twin Venture riders out there... Dont be to skeered though bro,, Tip - Tweeks and I went flyin past a couple of 110 inch big twin riders out at Sturgis on the way in,, they pulled up next to us in Dead Wood and asked what the heck we was riding to run like that with all the "crap" on Tweeks.. I smiled and said a beat up ol 74 inch Yamaha Venture,,, got another one of those typical :scared:from em as Tweeks sat there makin :stickinouttounge:faces at em = sometimes I think that ol scoot is related to you Mom Yam and I are not on speaking terms right now or I would inquire as to answer to that deep, but necessary question brother:thumbsup: Hey Cimmer,,, REALLY excellent ride report brother!! Totally enjoyed reading it!! Thank you for taking the time to fill in the blanks.. It will probably be next ride season before we get to see this new one out on the open road but I cant wait to see em out CTFWing..

hearing ya brother,,, to bad time wasnt created with 67 hours in a day lol.. missed ya brother,, did make an awesome vid just for you though, will post later with trail tales.. Just coming back north after ctfw south to escape fires, currently at the bonneville headed to yellewstones west gate.. zwowzy wow wow wow is it awesome out here. Warm but unending beauty. Met two ranchers last evening whominvited us to stay on their ranch. People are wayyyyy friendly, specially if ya carry a gorgeous riding partner like mine, get out n ride. Puc

Still thinkin ya should stick with what cha cha know at this stage of da game bro... had a neighbor offer us . an amazing deal on a wing before we pulled out to ctfw.. told hom same about us,,, just to many years on the 1st gen,, to much know where everything is and what they feel lke when their sick, to many spate parts and,, get this,,, even this well established family network here on vr is wayyyyy to hard to come by and replace... If urvstill gonna do it,,, maybe price out normal wear items n get a feel for costs associated with parts replacement. Not sure what years were afected but i do know that some beemers had drive shaft issues n some had abs issues that ended real pricy for the owners.. i know one guy that chased that trail n ended up with more in beemer repair then i spent buying 5 ventures..

Like what happened with the cowboy,, we r a dieing breed... just swapped on my 3rd tire 4 the season n can honestly say though,, the amount of sport touring bikes with younger folks on them out here in the west is encouraging. Been trying to teach em the code though. They gotta learn that even those air cooled bikes sitting in the shade cooling off need to be checked on to see if they are ok.. the market may be shrinking some but its farr from in trouble imho. Perhaps the hd market n its clones are sidelined some.

We got chased outa north nevada by fires, had to drop down, head east n then back north to head up to the bighorns. Just pulled into wendover fromt the south side, sitting here in bk cooling off, would be more then happy to shoot over to salt lake n case the joint for ya if ya need me too mike. I have been here at the bonivelle a number of times,,,, cant be no mre then 1 n half hour putt if the place is in slc. I will hang here for half hour or so to give ya a chance to respond. Really sorry about your acident brother,,,, still in my thoughts n prayers my friend.. Puc

You nailed it gr8! Klr250, son in laws scoot, hadnt been ridden since 01 before i came out to sac in 14 and got er fired up. Been sitten again since about that time,,,, 15 year old grandson n i are working on gettin it fired up again.. got the p dubya goin for the younger one, now gotta toss a wrench at the klr and see whats up.. almost for sure its just dirty carb, again.. @Condor , just came in from uc davis sac visiting daughter at work, rode past that bike shop on grantline = east side of 99, noticed they got the guzzi n aprilla demo truck there.. gonna shoot over for a gaze, test n tuner lol. Wanna meet up there n then do a banana nut at leatherbys? Its 10 till 3 ur time, should be at the bike shop by 3.30 n ice cream at 5ish.. be great to c ya if yagot time... Puc,, the

Yep,, personally I liked the E2's considerably more.. Both still well under 6k miles of wear while loaded and touring the deserts in high temps. My very highest mileage tire to date was the Michillen Commander 2 which landed me close to 6k under those conditions BUT = they handled no where near as good as the E2's (they were hard rubber - slippery when wet or on cooler pavement in the corners).. Have yet to try a dual compound (as shown here = http://www.dunlopmotorcycletires.com/tire-line/american-elite/ but also available as the E3MT ) hard center and soft outer edges.. Maybe someday (when they get within reason in price) will give em a shot!

Noticing a LOT of these "Please update your account = 3rd party photos" thingys where, I assume, pictures belong? ANyone else seeing this or is it something I did to my son in laws computer today while he was at work?? OHHHH PLEASE TELL ME I DIDNT JINX THIS THING!! http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e369/RR322/VisitedStatesMap_zps5b1f149b.jpg?t=1417982165

Might just be you picked up some water or something in the old gas and refreshing it alone did the job,, I too highly doubt the "fix" had much to do with Octane level or the blend. Like some others on here - I stay away from high octane levels and just run the cheaper 87.. Funny thing, when traveling out west like we currently are I find a LOT of 85 Octane - always have.. I have ran that stuff alot while CTFW and never been dissatified with it - nary a ping one and I am usually loaded up pretty good and a passenger in the rear saddle.. Storage methods vary like oil preferences IMHO.. Personally, if I am gonna store for more then a month I either fuel em up full and start em at least one a month and run em till they are up to operating temps (ALWAYS loved doing this with my snowmobiles too - nothing like the sweet sound of a Thundercat or a Mach Z during the heat of summer) or I do the full stage storage maintenance including fogging the motor and draining the carbs.. Fact is,, what Kretz is describing is a classic from the world of which I came. I had wayyy more customers with machines that hadnt been started for a few months come to me, able to start em on the choke circuitry but unable to get to stay running than I care to think about. Carb cleaning was a normal course of doing business back in the day.. The smaller engines were always the worst because their orfices/jets are smaller and plug easier.. Frankly Kretz,, I say ya done got lucky,,,, take it back,, maybe not cause now ya gotta go cut your grass

AMAZING!!! Ordered my new rear tire night (after hours, about 11 pm Cali time) before last and,,, LOOKY LOOKY!!! Local shop here in Elk Grove wanted 94 bucks (still not bad) for the same tire = another Shinko Tour Master,,, Ebay from Chapparell (probably same supplier they would have used) = 76 bucks (same as a paid for the one I spooned on a few days ago) and arrived on free shipping in ONE day = KUDOS to Chaparrel!!! Got my spoons,, gonna have to divert back to C-Clampin to bead break though,, or may be I can get my oldest grandson to just rip it off the rim - WOW has he grown in the 3 years I was down!! @videoarizona - I wish I would have gotten to your PM before I ordered another tourmaster,, I would have tried that 777 you mentioned just to test it.. The Tourmaster did an EXCELLENT job - definitely an "A" in handling the twisty mountain roads, shedding rain and squaring off hot road snakes - very very stable tire. I give it a "B" in the mileage - got almost 4200 miles on the one I spoon on before I left and its showing just an 1/8th inch of center tread left.. Also, the tire shows NO SIGN of chunking like the Metzlers did in the heat for me.. Mileage aint that bad for the weight we carry (this trip was even heavier load wise - had to bring a couple years of Christmas and Birthday gifts to Cali). The matching tourmaster front tire I spooned on also just before we left on the 5th is looking fine!! Appears to be following the 3 rear to 1 front ratio I am all to familiar with.. You still thinking of trying the 777? If you go there,, I (like MANY others on here) would be 100% iinterested in your opinion of the 777 compared to the Tourmaster.. If you dont get to it right away, I will probably go forward and swap one on when I get back to Michigan from this trip if not sooner.. We are thinking of heading North for the trip home to seek out a little cooler temps like we did on the way here.. If we have to do another swap out on the way home I will look for a 777,,,,, wont be surprised if I get stuck with a left over 404 for 300 bucks though - some of those road side bike shops KNOW they got cha under certain circumstances Gonna swap this new one on,, hang er in a tree and balance er out:dancefool:

Met a fellow all American touring guy a few days back in South Dakota,, his name is Steve.. I think our method and "style" of touring caught Steve's attention cause he walked right up, introduced himself and told us of some of the great trails he had ridden while out doing some CTFW of his own. I have some awesome video of Steve and hope to include that in my trail tale writing later this year BUT - something Steve mentioned made my own lop eared ears stand up.. I was telling him about Skagg Creek Road that runs between Calistoga California and Stewards Point out on "1" being one of my favorite roads of all time to travel on a scoot.. He said he had never ridden it but asked if I had ever ridden "36" from Red Bluff over to the coast.. Thinking of maybe scootin over that way if we have time after visiting with the kids here.. Thinking wayyyy back,, I am pretty sure that Red Bluff is the town where I left a message for Lone Eagle, VentureFar, Coff and maybe Condor at the motel they were going to be staying at on their way to the rally at The Dalles back in '14 so I think I could probably find it again.. By the sounds of things,, Tip - Tweeks and I rode right past some of THE most awesome ride opportunity known to man back then if its the town I am thinking of.. Wondering if any of you lop eared CTFW varmints have ever chased your shadow on "36"?

I am in the process of uploading a short video that addresses the point that you are trying to trick us into believing TO THE TEE!!! Ya might wanna keep a close eye on this thread my brother!!