cowpuc

Well I think when we FINALLY get more and all this :cold::snow2: gives way to some serious :7_2_102[1]: we will all feel a LOT better! :big-grin-emoticon: Back to the trike discussion. Condor mentioned the steering dynamics of the Voyager Trike. I have ridden a LOT of ATC's and a number of Harley Trikes and totally get the point about how the turning dynamics of a two wheeled motorcycle differ from a trike and it sounds like those differences are what Jack was talking about when he mentioned getting preload correct?. I am still not sure that my pea brain is squared away with how that can be so though with the Voyager Trike still riding on and being powered by the center wheel.. @Condor or @mirider , are the outer wheels on your scoots firmly planted on the ground at all times - even in a hard corner? Is this where the "preload" on the rear suspention of the outer wheels comes into play? Do you guys find it necessary to reduced the stiffness and air pressure in the rear shock that came on the bike originally to soften up the bikes rear wheel to the ground contact so the rig doesnt tend to pivot on the center wheel instead of riding on the two outer wheels? Am I making any sense here Hey Dave, thinking the disparage that you commented about earlier may have had something to do with the comment about one model of Trike being a "real Trike" or something like that? In the spirit of healthy unity, I am wondering if that comment may or may not have come from @Hummingbirds friend not having his machine set up properly and getting some kind of odd effects in handling (this is where it does get difficult when info comes third party - makes it hard to know for sure either way BUT even third party info is still GREAT discussion material because it makes me think - IMHO) - something along the line of how a bike may handle if it had training wheels or something. I only say that because it just seems like if the rear wheel of the bike were supporting the bulk of the weight and the outer two wheels were barely touching the ground it seems like the rig would handle more like a traditional two wheeler than a Trike BUT, once you went into a corner so you were now again riding a three wheels maybe the steering dynamics would want to change to that of a Trike - making for some really strange steering. On the other hand, it seems like if the Voyager Trike were set up like I think Jack was talking about, with the outer wheels suspention dialed in with the proper amount of preload and the center wheel was set up so it was basically not supporting the weight of the bike, the Trike would ride more like one with independent suspention (cause it does have independent boingers if I am understanding all this) instead of a straight axle Trike like the Harley Tri Glides I have ridden.. Am I still making sense here? As far as a Voyager Trike probably not being the right set up for going where Tip and I like to ride,,:think: probably right on that one brother . I am thinking that a Trike built on some kind of posi track differential would be the answer.. Only problem with that is, thinking the posi would have to be unlockable cause I betcha a locked posi on a Triked Venture at 80 mph would REALLY have some strange steering characteristics Someone pass the Hot Dogs please

Yep,, been there myself Jim,, x2.. A break in at the shop cost me over 30k in lost inventory - Farmers Insurance only paid 200 dollars of that one. Second was a car/deer wreck,, broke my back, 5 back surgeries ended up well into our Catastrophic Fund zone.. Because of some loop holes, ended up paying the overage out of pocket.. REALLY thankful though cause I was waist down parallized, by God's grace and thru the work of a very talented Neuro Surgeon I got back on my feet and back to living again!! Something I learned thru all that is how important it is to understand the difference between an Insurance Agent and an Insurance Claims Adjuster.. To bad they arent the same person playing by the same rules and as friendly when paying out on a claim as they are when they are selling a policy ..

Unfortunately this was long ago,, long before the digital camera's were all the rage and during a time in my life went I spent my time instructing my children instead of taking pictures of them (following the theme of this thread,,,, proving I was actually a good Daddy ) so I cant honestly say I don't remember taking pics back then .. I will say this though Steve,, I just read what you wrote to Tippy, she and is digging thru some photo albums as I type seeing if she may have snapped a few :happy65::cool10: I could make a video of her verifying the stories if that would help... Or, better yet,, next time we have a family gathering I could make a video of the kids explaining the story in their own words and telling the world whether or not they felt traumatized by their upbringing

Like that purdy Strom needed any help in the add on department

Know EXACTLY what your saying brother!!! We got the bestest insurance program possible!! Still glad you noticed and changed that tire though

I seen a number of em, never did ride a scoot with one attached.. Either of you lop eared varmints ever had a chance to ride a traditional trike (no center rear wheel) and wanna shed some light on any differences in feel or handling characteristics between the two.. Always wandered about situations where an outside wheel may cause the drive wheel to loose traction or something.. That even remotely possible? I have seen those Voyager kits for sale on Craigs pretty reasonable,, under 1500 bucks..

I LOVE when this happens!! No reason why you and I couldnt sneak into Costco on your card and pick-up/wrap a few dozen Hot Dogs is there VAZ? :big-grin-emoticon: We'd be just a feeding dem mulitudes brother!!

What da heck,, you one of my siblings or something Trader,, another little brother I never knew I had! Being the case, I will bring ya up to speed.. Raised our children on 60 acres of land on the end of 5 miles of gravel road. Our property bordered over 5000 acres of State Land which became the playground for the 4 kids, Tip and I.. I used a King Size mattress wrapped in plastic and strapped to the back of my Thundercat snowmobile with 50 feet of 1" rope instead of the ol Toboggan behind the beat up old Bronco that Dad use to tow us with.. I made a big knot in the visqueen tied into the rope and then ran a series of knots down the length of the rope that laid across the length of the mattress so my kids could hang on.. My kids had a nick name for riding on that old mattress behind my sled,, they called it "The Magic Carpet Ride" cause when the T-Cat hit 50 the mattress would raise off the ground and "float" on a cushion of a foot or so of air.. They were really athletic kids,, it wasnt long before my son was able to stand up on the mattress and ride it like an air born surf board.. Looking back, I think my daughters Golden Retriever was the only one of the bunch who never got the hang of holding onto a knot in the rope when taking off or hitting the corners during a whip... There were also lots of two tracks in the area and trails galore.. My kids showed an interest in go-carts, minibikes and all that junk pretty early in life, figured I may as well get em started in spinning wrenches and getting grimy. Go Cart motors were still well over a hundred bucks at the time but junk cars were plentiful and cheaper. Started dragging home junkers for the kids and I to fix up and make home-made go carts out of. Were had 2 Escorts, a Champ and a Horizon.. Took no time at all to knock the doors, windows, hoods and trunk lids out of em.. They were all stick shifts - figured they may as well learn to drive a stick in the dirt.. Had a BALL chasing those kids around in our carts.. Heyyy,, believe it or not my son, nephew and I cleared 67 feet of air on one of our two tracks in our White Escort,, it did hit hard enough on the nose that covered all of us with dirt and set off the emergency stop switch on the fuel pump.. One day one of my kids "city" friends Dad came to pick his little girl up,, she was kinda covered in dirt from playing outside with my daughter all day (no,, my kids were not allowed to run the carts when they had friends over). Never forget it,, the city Dad looked at our 4 go carts sitting there in the field,, he says,, "whats with all the junk cars,, you starting a junk yard or something".. Never seen em again after I said "them aint junk cars,, thems go carts" Our Dad would be proud Trader knowing his crazy spirit didnt fall by the wayside..

Yes I DID Trader,, GOOD POINT - THANK YOU FOR CORRECTING MY TYPO!!:thumbsup::thumbsup: Kind of pee's me off when that happens:big-grin-emoticon:

Certainly makes one .. All that being said Teeg (by the way,, THANK YOU for posting up the response brother - YOU DA MAN!!) it makes one wonder how any of this could be different across the country when Medicare is a Federal thing,, isn't it? Seems like if they would refuse to pay in a Michigan vehicular accident they would do so every where... Not trying to ,,,, ok,, maybe just a little:hihi:

I SURELY HOPE YOU CAN MAKE ONE TOO Teej!!! :cool10::cool10:

:think::think:,,, good point Dave,,:scratchchin: never even thought about that angle,,:think: Thanks for offering :crackup::crackup::crackup::crackup:

:lightbulb:VAZ n Puc's 1st Annual Intercontinental Hot Doggin Motorcycle Rally to be held at Cosco in Flag Staff Arizona,,, come coast down Jerome Mountain and blindly follow the pack up GORGEOUS 89 in search of the mighty Cosco Hot Dog!!

Hear Hear!!! "WHAT A RIDE" trumps I WISH I WOULD HAVE:checkeredflag: Gonna start a petition for Sir Bob to change his name from BongoBob to BINGOBOB

ROOOCCCCKKK N ROOLLLLLL BROTHER!!:guitarist 2::guitarist 2: GREAT write up John - GOOD ON YA!! Be keeping an eye on ya as we group ride sometime this year and ya disappear into the willy weeds to go find an answer to the famous question of "I wonder where that trail goes":big-grin-emoticon:

While I am sure they will not be up to our Puc's Greet - Meet and Eat Meat standards, it pleases me beyond measure to have noticed that Burger King will be offering Hot Dogs on their menu's this year!! No more long distance, time consuming miles of searching for a back up place to find Hot Dog's should my staff decide to bail on you loyal Eat Meat attenders!! No longer shall you have to follow Tip and I to parts unknown with empty tummys in search of a Hot Dog. No longer shall you follow in disbelief, wondering how you could have been so gullible as to trust some prankster bone head on the internet to meet your needs of meat at the end of a long ride across North America just to be let down at that final moment. Of course, this also means you have no excuse now to not jump on your bike and find out whether or not our Greet - Meet and Eat Meats are for real! 2016 appears to be the year of Hot Dog rides!! Long live our Greet - Meet and Eat Meats and long live the mighty Hot Dog!!

As crazy and insane as this is gonna sound (well, maybe not to .1% of you lop eared varmints) THAT is exactly where my mind went Bongo.. Having grown up and then raised kids in the Motocross circles, I can tell you for a fact that I have seen kids that age on Motocross bikes doubling whoops and clearing jumps.. Have ripped down a two track on a beat up old 250 Honda XR and had em go by me on the back wheel on a KX60.. Kids can be VERY capable riders.. Ever wonder where those crazy 16 year olds you see on stunt bikes doing high speed stoppies, backflips and superman's over jumps got those skills? Most of em started at a very very early age. Ironically, when I viewed that vid for the first time I noticed the condition of the road, the general low population of the area and the viewable openess of the area. I also noticed how the youngster made the move from dog bones to grips (and I winced when he did) - knowing how little pressure it takes on the inside of a grip to instantly cause most bikes to head for the ditch. That is when it occurred to me that this bike may very well have been a long bike (chop) and the dynamics of a chop are a lot different than a regular scoot - because of their wheel base they are very stable and lazy on the straight run.. :think:,, this isnt sounding right,, my personal love for danger, adrenaline and individual freedom are getting the best of me again,, judge not lest ye be judged and all that,, flaw in my character ,, :scratchchin: lets try this angle.. Years ago, a lot of people in the U.S. that were blessed enough to get to live in the country like I did chose to own horses.. My sisters had em and I couldn't stand or ever come to trust the things (the horses,, I LOVED my sisters). It was not uncommon for 6 year olds to be seen riding around on horses back then - no helmets or nuttin, just a pair a jeans - tea shirt and cowboy boots.. I always told my Dad that he was NUTS for allowing my little sisters to be around those nasty things at such a young age - my Dad grew up with and loved horses and didnt care much for bikes cause they were inherently dangerous, as was I according to him.. I, on the other hand, viewed an animal that could actually think for itself and decide to do crazy things all on its own was far more dangerous than a motorcycle could ever be. Thing was, back then - families on horses were a way of life and still are in many area's out west even though one small weed rubbed in the wrong place on a horses backside and they will kill a full grown man - much less a little kid.. :think:,, not getting me any where is it :think:,, try another approach,, My son and I were on a trip in NYC one time and seen a couple little kids about 6 or 7 year olds getting on a Subway with NO parents to be seen.. They climbed on that thing and rode along yapping about their day like it was nobodies business... I squeezed my 12 year old son's hand a little tighter and said NOW THERE'S A COUPLE KIDS WHO NEED SOME NEW PARENTS - WHO IN THEIR RIGHT MIND WOULD LET THEIR CHILDREN RUN AROUND IN SUCH A DANGEROUS SITUATION.

Your welcome my friend,, anytime!!

Gdub,, hope this ain't to lengthy or boring of read,, if it is just take a red marker and "X" it off brother LOL Your son's desires sound remarkably familiar.. At a very early age (while still in the womb ) I had exactly those desires,, all I wanted to ever do was work on bikes,, I LOVED EM!! Got out of High School and went to work spinning wrenches part time for our local Honda dealership (worked full time in a machine shop too). Got laid off in my full time job and went to work at a local Kawasaki/Hodaka dealership full time and spun wrenches part time at the Honda shop too. Was hard pressed to make a decent living spinning wrenches on bikes, applied for apprenticeship in the Trades (Boilermakers). Ended up welding for them and making GREAT bucks,, love for scoots never died though. Bought a house, won a new Harley, lots of Motocross toys for cash,, fell in love with Tippy and got married, had kids and the enjoyment of life on the road with the Boilermakers went south.. Found out that not much had changed in the back room employment with the bike shops - could not feed my family, took a position in Maintenance at a shop. Still dreamed of working on scoots and of owning my own bike shop with the hopes of actually making a living that would support a wife and 4 kids.. Went back to college, 4 year degree in Management.. Opened our shop in 86.. Learned the hard way the ends and outs of making a living fixing other peoples motorcycles = there was WAY more money (and a LOT less frustration - think about this = people coming to you with a broken bike are already unhappy while people coming to look at buying a real pretty ready to ride scoot are always smiling - make sense?) in buy/sell and in doing "restores".. In mid 90's went STRICKLY buy/sell with a LOT of restore sales. Those little hard tail Honda Mini Trails were a HOT item - 5 grand a pop and up for a nicely restored 68/71. Was able to raise my family on the business, did not get "rich" dollar wise on the business but made a good living and met some AWESOME people - even lost a couple of my "buyers" in the 9/11 attack - some of those Mini's became "Honda's Under Glass" for office display's. Had one Commercial Banker who bought over 30 bikes from me (not all for him) and even did a little business with a Professional Football player who wore a Super Bowl ring from playing with the Patriots - pretty cool really.. Learned to study market trends and follow business "cycles" (no pun intended ) thru my college experience and it was INVALUABLE to my business. CT90's became the hot sell,, we dropped the Z50 restores and did CT's, on to old school MX Bikes.. Then the chopper craze started and we built old school chops and later a LOT of old Harleys and Indians.. My kids got older and my second born daughter became the best carb mechanic you ever did see (this kind of stuff is where I found REAL riches by working on bikes),, took some of those skills and her LOVE for math (got her brains from Tip), went thru Med School and is now a Doctor (way beyond my mental capacity). WHAT A BLAST!! Throughout that whole experience I got to know all of our local name brand dealership owners on a first name basis (called Networking - GOOD SKILL TO LEARN!!). A couple of them were sending us customers who had needs their big shops could not fulfill. The "backroom" was always where my true love was at so I also got to know most of their mechanics on a first name basis. Most of those shops had a real problem keeping good help, due mainly to the difficulties associated with the financial side of keeping a business running thru the winter months. Thru the years (and this is a shame) I noticed that our local Harley shop was one of the few that maintained a well trained staff. I know most of their shop guys have been thru "Harley School" and the good ones stay busy and make a good living to this day. Even though we are in Michigan (and right on the western lake shore where FlyinFool dont stop dumping snow until late March or early April) where the ride season is fairly short - those mechanics do stay busy year around.. So,, all that nonsense said,, how would I answer your question:think: If he is REALLY wanting to work in a bike shop backroom and heart set on making a career out of it in modern bikes and has the advantage of having an opportunity to begin schooling in Automotive (nothing wrong with that) I would advise Automotive Electronics. Hit it hard and dont look back, be the best of the best!! These fly by wire Harleys with programmable tuners operating everything from ignition timing to injector pulse rates and the people who understand them are the future IMHO. Maybe find a bike shop that he could spin a few wrenches in while attending school and watching the ads for a Harley Dealership looking for people and willing to send him thru HD School.. May have to move though.. Another approach is working on his own, buy a repairable, fix it and resell,, the old buy low/sell high and expand on the middle routine - still VERY doable but it takes a LOT of hustle being self employed.. If he decides to do this I still think that a good Business Degree is priceless (even a 2 year Associates from a Community College) - understanding business and learning how to operate in the business world will pay off many times over.. Hardest part of this is understanding local markets, if Mopeds are all the rage - ya do Mopeds, Quads ya do quads and so on.. Sheesh I wrote a book , can ya tell I LOVE yapping about this stuff ,,,, give your son a hug for me and tell him ol Pucster understands

OHHHHHHHH NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!:95::95: Knocked the wind right out of my sails!!!:95::95::95::95: Linda and the "Jonesy" family have our thoughts and prayers!! Good for nothing, life stealing cancer,,, this stuff makes me ball my eyes out!!

I LOVE IT BRO!!!:clap2::dancefool: Cause I wanna be just like my brother DanL,, I am gonna do sactly like em and wear my bike cover too :lightbulb:Think I got er figured out here DanL,,, every thang sept for the tie straps along the edges of the cover,,,, do they go on the back like one of them Hospital Gowns thingys or does they go in the front? In the front!! That way it will be easier to open em up and stuff left over party grub under our bike covers for a bedtime snack AND it will protect us from some lop eared varmint coming along giving the tie strap a yank in the search for a Pond Monster..

Sitting here waiting for a return call from my hand surgeon Jeff and needing a pick me up.. YOU SURE DID THAT BROTHER!!! YOU DA MAN - THANK YOU and :ice_congrats-vi6886:ice_congrats-vi6886:ice_congrats-vi6886:ice_congrats-vi6886 The bumpy back road journey of life is a whole lot smoother when traveling with companions like you my friend!!!

shaft drive

Hey Cha, here is some info on adjusting the Metering Rods.. Take a few minutes and read thru it in its entirety and you will be amazed at what folks came up with for mileage.. I dropped the needles on Tweeks back in 2014 before we headed out for a couple months. Went down to Ace Hardware and bought nylon shims to do so. Took a pair of Verniers with me and checked em for size right at the store, was SHOCKED at how exact the washers measured. I know that Skydoc (was one of the responders in the link) does sell a "kit" for doing exactly what I did, I had already completed the job with the washers so I didnt end up with his kit but I can say, he was spot on with his suggestions.. Thinking I ended up dropping mine 60 thou with NO issues of spark nock and NO problems running cheap fuel (even lots of 85 octane). This was all over the west - mountains, prairies, salt flats, two tracks and even a number of high speed - long distances across places like Montana.. Do your diaphrams and sync her down first - your peeing in the wind trying to tune with bad diaphrams. Then crispen it up/fine tune it with the meter rods IMHO.. http://www.venturerider.org/forum/showthread.php?86325-Carb-metering-rod-question&highlight=tweeks+metering+rods

Try not to feel to bad Cha,, most - if not all of us, have suffered thru the same ailment in multiple situations. IMHO, one of the GREAT things about the day and age we live in is this internet business, with it's dynO'mite people like Mr. Freebird who have given us the opportunity to share our experiences with our brother bikers so we can all learn from each other! I learn from you, you learn from me, we learn from them and they learn from us - what a GREAT way to live to brother!!