cowpuc

,, good point!! Lets skip the Netflix vid idea and just be happy with torturing these varmints on VR

Always wanted to own/operate my own bike shop Vanster,, that started wayyyyyyy back when I was just a kid - was never right in the head, I actually remember being punished in Kindergarten for sitting around drawing pictures of choppers instead of playing in the play ground with the other little boys - I was "different" even back then. Was in Management for years, my last position before finally realizing my lifes dream of opening our shop was Plant Superintendent at a large machining operation in Grand Rapids Mi. Good job, UAW Union Shop, lots of great supervisors working for me, paid REALLY well and all that BUT - was getting older and wanting to fulfill that lifelong dream so, I did.. Had always been involved in bike restoration and the like as a hobby - knew a LOT of people (good customer base) when we stepped out. Checked into costs associated with franchising with the big guys , almost bought into Yamaha as a very close friend was closing his shop but the numbers really didnt look good. Went independent in strictly restoration (buy low, add value, sell high and expand on the middle) and did AWESOME. Had a few GREAT employees, my daughter - who is a doctor now - worked for me for years and she ended up being one of them - those years were SO MUCH FUN!! Did a TON of early Honda work including hardtail Z50's and early CT's. Lost a couple good really good clients (people with way more:mo money:then time) that I lost in 9/11 (be surprised how many of those rare little hardtail Zzzz ended up under class in offices), Chopper craze had just started though so we jumped on the Chopper craze in old school chop restores - I had come FULL CIRCLE!! It was time when there were LOTS of old Amen and Santee frames were still around, TONS of old Springers and all the other fixings.. Stuff sold as fast as we could build em - the "cookie cutter" modern chops were being sold like crazy for 50 grand and above (people went nuts trying to relive an era they had totally missed) - had found my niche in a dream from long ago PLUS, I had actually lived the early days and knew what was cool and what wasn't - proved invaluable. We also lived thru some really strange days of Japan wanting back some of the early bikes they had shipped over. Remember the early Kawi Z1's? Got hooked up with the right folks and shipped a BUNCH of that stuff off shore - GOOD MONEY!! That dried up as the bikes did. Also got involved with shipping "AMF" HD Shovels into England, not as lucrative as the Kawi's to Japan but pretty dog gone good - always amazed me with the AMF Harley deal, I lived thru the days (and rode the socks of those early Harleys) when Harley almost tanked because of AMF - NO ONE wanted em.. For some reason, the Brits LOVED em and could not get enough of em:Bunny:. CRAZY WORLD!! Got messed up in a car/deer accident, ended up in a wheel chair. Got blessed with an AMAZING Neuro Surgeon who got me back in the saddle again. Insurance company messed with us, ended up owing a LOT for medical bills. Sold the business, paid the bills, kids are growed and gone, just a semi-retired maniac now

Another one of your AWESOME finds Jack!!! Sure would be fun to be a Jay Leno,,,, I would fill my 5 acre Jay Leno type man cave with a BUNCH of that wayyyy cool old stuff!! Would still tour on Tweeks with Tip on the back and hang out here with you bunch of troublemakin lop eareds though!

:lightbulb:We should start a Netflix Documentary of our own about you and the White Washer Jeff.. I will come over, interview you, take some pics of your pulse engines and all that cool stuff, explain the story of how you discovered the ability to make snow with the pulse jet motors, little bit of fluff and BINGO - we could both be famous and probably even rich enough to never have to shovel this stuff ever again:big-grin-emoticon: Hmmmmm,,, could also both end up at the :no-no-no::no-no-no:,,, wonder if them jailers make lop eared geezers like us shovel White Wash,,,, could still end up with a happy ending if they dont:thumbsup:

Long story that I will try to it keep short - maybe this will help some out of State riders who happen to get a ticket or a warning for what Neil is talking about here. Few years ago I got a warning from a California Chips Officer because Tip's helmet looked like a Chips Helmet - it was a white half shell. The officer stated we needed to do nothing about the warning ticket as it was just a warning. I went right to Walmart, bought some black paint and painted it right after getting the warning. One of our kids live in the area where this happened so we had the opportunity to see the same officer many times AFTER paintiing the helmet - got a number of from him as he noticed I had painted her hat. Months later I get a bill in the mail from the Courts in Sacramento telling me to pay $500:yikes:. THIS IS IMPORTANT - PLEASE READ THIS!! After being told by the Court Clerk in Sacramento that California has no process of giving a warning and that if I didnt pay I would be locked up in Michigan and sacrifice my license to her. I spoke with a Judge back here in Michigan. Come to find out, all but 2 States in the U.S. have signed onto some kind of "Pact" that basically gives them a form of extradition even in very minor infractions including "Jay Walking" or even parking tickets. I was STRONGLY advised to just pay the fine and get my name off "the list".. I made a comment to the Judge here about California (and other places) struggling financially and that I really wondered if what happened was more about California really needing the :mo money:more than anything else. By the look on his face, I am convinced that I was not to far off. Bottom line, if your an out of State rider out exploring California and you get a "warning" about wearing ear plugs, do yourself a HUGE favor and double check with the Courts in the area a couple weeks after getting the warning and make sure you dont owe em anything, my ticket was doubled because I was to stupid to do exactly that!

My Son got a us a Roku outfit for Christmas and signed Tip n I up on his Netflix account:sign67:.. The timing for all this was uncanny as it directly coincided with @Flyinfool 's most recent test run of his White Washer (was just reading about his situation over there, sounds like he didnt find the bolts I loosened up on the exhaust manifold of the White Washer when I was over there and the thing filled his yard and neighborhood with,,,, never mind,, getting side tracked here;)) so we had a Netflix marathon while waiting for the ice/snow to melt enough to clean the mess up:sun:.. Found this unbelievable story on 'Flix called "Making a Murderer" that just got released (Dec 18th). Genuine true life story, NO fake "dramatizations" or non of that.. Over in Manitowoc Wisconsin's Steven Avery was wrongfully imprisoned for 18 years, gets out, files a 36 million dollar lawsuit, shortly afterword an employee for Auto Trader named Teresa Halbach looses her life to murder, Steven Avery gets locked up again for the murder only this time he takes down his 16 year old nephew (Brendan Dassey) too. TONS of corruption exposed within the legal system, at the end the District Attorney who was behind the mishandling of the case is turned in for sexual abuse - gets caught and confesses to his crimes, he ends up losing his license for 4 months (google "Ken Kratz" - UNREAL!!), public is now calling for his immediate arrest and - get this - there is a petition being circulated for a Presidential Pardon for the two guys that the DA and his crew prosecuted.. Very very intense documentary, lots and lots of brain work,, would HIGHLY recommend taking a peek if you have time, you WILL be shocked:detective:.. Be warned though, its 10 hours of view time and once ya get started it is VERY difficult to turn it off!! Lots of stuff can be found by googling and the first hour of the Film is on Youtube and can be found here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=34M2zdLc-2U Ya'll can thank me later for being such a lop eared :witch_brew:in varmint :crackup:

Hey ya gul dern lop eared frost bitten Wisconsin varmint,, I am still around - got caught up watching a really interesting Netflix series (gonna post a new thread all about it) while waiting for our SOLID ice mass (your description of your day sounds EXACTLY like our situation) to thaw so I could try out the new rig.. Wish there would have been a way for me to scoot over and run ya into your Dr.'s appointment brother cause you really really took some major risk having to do what you did my friend:no-no-no:. I know, I KNOW,, you and me seem to be made of the same - I can do it myself - material BUT, ya gotta remember, ya damage that sucker again and it will push the recovery out even farther - DONT DO THAT!! Gotta admit though, THE OUTCOME OF YOUR APPOINTMENT IS AWESOME!!!!!!!!:clap2::clap2::clap2::dancefool::dancefool: Sooooo glad to hear the GREAT news Jeff, will definitely be keeping you in our thoughts and prayers!! ,,, was thinking about this,, did you by any chance get some of that new high octane White Washer fluid, the stuff that dont melt unless it gets above 60 degree's, mixed in with this last batch of fluid or something? Maybe its my fault, I know I moved some things around when I was over there tiddeling around while you were at the hospital - maybe some things got mixed up.. Just wondered cause this last batch of ick was abnormally icky. Definitely had a "custom" feel to it:big-grin-emoticon: :lightbulb:Wish we didnt have this pond between us, I would scoot over and give ya a hand getting the scoot up on the stand and sticking bearings in her. Maybe you could give a neighborhood gangster, I mean teenager, a couple bucks to help ya lift it when the time comes.. I have had to do that a couple times in the recent past, its amazing how much energy those younguns got! Best not to get to far into it by yourself, you know as well as I do how easy it is for things to get a little wobbly and that even a little wobble with that kind of weight can have some not wanting straining effects on that foot - PLEASE dont take the chance brother!!

Kiwi, I am with MiCarl on the mechanical advantage of strapping high on the scoots - dirtbikes or our Ventures. We have a REAL advantage on our 1st Gens in the design of the bars - they are VERY worthy for tieing to without having to worry about them rolling forward in their clamps. Because of this, I like to take soft ties (you probably know what those are, they are fairly short straps with hoops sewn into both ends?), make a wrap around the grips and then run one hoop inside of the other hoop and tighten the wrap as close to the perches as possible, tie this down with regular tie downs to the forward connectors on the fprward outside rail tie spots. Pull the straps down so you have an inch and 1/2 or so of travel left in your front forks. Take ratchet straps and hook them into the eyes of the push button tie downs you used to pull the straps down with - ratchet them down so they just barely relieve a little tension on the first set of straps. Remove the saddlebags from your scoot and store them in your rig. Put another set of straps hooked onto the rider grab bars and attach to the rear corners on the outside rails and pull down on the rear mono - not necessary to double strap these. I also like to take another strap and go thru the front wheel and around the wheel chock or, if your on rails, around the front rail to secure the wheel to the trailer - then you can leave the scoot in neutral and not worry about the weight of the bike working against the tranny if it rocks a little. Also, dont forget to grease the bearings in your trailer, take a spare and make sure your trailer tire air pressures are at max. Have a GREAT trip and dont forget our 's to go with the ride story you gonna come back and tell us about:fingers-crossed-emo! Puc

because the sugar from the ice cream was really getting him cranked up. Eileen seen the two of the coming towards her and she

I am back Larry.. Here is the type of home use unit I used Larry. Still not sure about output so you could build one. http://www.ebay.com/itm/EPIX-XL-TENS-EMPI-transcutaneous-Electrical-Nerve-Stimulator-Pain-Relief-Unit-/301835259036?hash=item4646c88c9c:g:F9EAAOSw3KFWgISb

bored legislators? Oh well, looks like its back to the ol Boom Box days for those hippys on bicycles in the Napa Valley I dont care if they make me ride backwards on Sunday with a monkey on my shoulder and my eyes closed,, I'm still gonna ride out there - I LOVE THE WEST COAST and got a BUNCH of really great friends and family out there!! Besides, I aint done exploring Hwy 1 up by Stewarts Point or the Sonora Pass area!! Not only that but @Condor still has to show me the place that has better Hamburgs than the place in Sac that has the burgers with cooked crunchy cheese hanging from its sides (cant remember the name of the joint Jack) and their ain't NO WAY I can go out west and not sneak into California and have Banana Nut Ice Cream in Elk Grove!!

26.2 and NO,, that is not 26.2k, that is 26.2 miles.. Our speedo broke in Dennison Texas on our way out to the rally in The Dalles Oregon via the Mexico border down in Texas a while back. GeorgeS sent me a new speedo but I just havent located one of those Round 2 It tool thingys yet, kind of a good thing though I guess cause Tweeks was getting quite a few miles on her and she needed a break.. It would have been 0 miles for 2015 but @bj66 checked the mileage from Sturgis to Newel South Dakota before us Pie Butt Riders made the famous Pie Butt ride. Kinda of a strange 26.2 miles though, it took us over three hours to finally get to the Pie in Newel from Sturgis. Knowing BJ66 is a real straight shooter and would not lie about the mileage, when I got home I calculated our average speed - it came out to be 8.733333 mph found by dividing 26.2 by 3 hours.. That seemed a little strange cause I thought we were going a lot faster than that during those 3 hours but I guess not. I rode from Sturgis to Newel with @VentureFar so maybe he can verify that mileage and possibly some average speed too - I am thinking he may have had a working speedometer - my math may be off. He will probably do so if he's still in a good mood - he might not be in a good mood though cause I just noticed he found out he cant plug his ears anymore when riding in California (lots of Harley's out there, I know I usually ride with my fingers in my ears when around some of those noisy things - no idea what poor ol Californians like VentureFar, @Condor, @Lone Eagle, @shuttlebug, @Luvdaleather and that bunch are gonna do now. I know I am still gonna reach up and stick my fingers in my ears when I ride out there with all them noisy Harley's but those guys probably wont cause most of them wear gloves and their fingers wont fit in their ears.). Just thought of this, I do have a couple pictures of Tip, Tweeks at the 26.2 Pie Butt Riders gathering. That might help in verifying my claim of 26.2 miles,, hold on a second and I will see if I can find one.. Dont go no where Mike, be right back.. Ok, I looked,, I took a LOT more video than I did pictures out there but I did find a couple of them for verification. First one is of @Pegasus1300 signing Tweeks, 2nd one is of Tip yapping with VentureFar (he and his friend Steve came all the way from California with their ears plugged just to ride the Pie Butt with us) and Steve. Anyway, 26.2 miles for sure!! Oh,, by the way Mike,, do you recognize the shirt Tip is wearing? Probably not,, it's a shirt she won at that Yamaha Shop in Guntersville Alabama - THAT WAS FUN TOO!!

GOOD QUESTIONS LAR!! First thing the therapist did was to determine whether I was an AC or a DC kind of person. She tried both and determined I responded best to DC. I ended up with a small battery powered take home unit. The electrodes looked similar to ohm meter probes. Just turned it on, probed around till I hit the nerve coming out of the side of my skull (kind of below and rear of my ear) - felt nothing till I touched on the nerve and when it did the left side of my face would tighten up.. Much later in life I had to use a very similar unit on my legs.. Gotta run Tip to the Surgeons office for a checkup here, back in a bit!!

Hokey spamokey brother!! WOW,,, THANK THE LORD IT WAS NOT A STROKE BROTHER!!! Prayers Up and Blessings Down my friend!!! I went thru the Bells Palsy stuff many years ago too (when I was 24). While it was scary (just like you - thinking I had stroked out), the end prognosis of Bells Palsy was a God send! Mine affected the left side of my face, it was like a death line was drawn right down the center of my face, I use to look at myself in the bathroom mirror and smile and my smile would wrap around my face in the weirdest way as the muscles that had the nerves still working on the right side pulled the non-working mass toward itself,, really strange.. Wore an eye patch to keep my left eye closed while waiting for the nerves to come back. Got about 6 weeks into the whole thing before they sent me for some therapy. The therapist was really upset because they waited so long to get me in to see her. Therapy consisted of electrical stimulation with two probes to activate the muscles that were now laying dormant. After a couple weeks of therapy the therapist told me that I would probably end up with some permanent damage to some of the small motor muscles because they had waited so long to get me in to see her. She set me up with a small home stimulator so I could do electrical stimulation throughout the day and was actually kind of fun.. Once you know the location of the nerves on your face and neck it is very easy to do!! I did end up with motor muscle damage in my eye, nose and mouth from it all - if I tighten my lips right now my left eye will go closed. That kind of stuff.. Larry, knowing what I know now about Bells Palsy, I would strongly urge you to talk to your doctor NOW about getting you started on electrical stimulation therapy. There is no way they can accurately predict how long it will take for the irritated nerve(s) to calm down and for muscular movement to return. The stimulation is very simple and painless. The sooner they can get the muscles moving again (especially those small motor muscles) the more promising it is to see a total return!! Will be thinking of you and praying for you while you work thru it!! God bless Puc

OH MY GOODNESS,, just noticed your Avatar @VanRiver!!:clap2::dancefool::thumbsup: Have ALWAYS loved those little CT70's!! In another lifetime (few years ago) I made a pretty good living restoring the early ones. Went thru a number of them, sold really well!! Also rode em as kids.. Here is a picture of one of my last ones with Tip and I pulling into our neighbors yard for a Hot Dog roasting block party!! What a BLAST we had!! Sorry for the ,,, your little Honda 70 got me all

I did that on purpose Dave,, I mean,, think about it for a second,, would YOU want to be known as a Hockey Puc?? Not me,, those things have to take way to much of whoopin and besides,, they dont have much character,,,, now Cowpuc - that stuff may smell funny but cha gotta admit - it has some awesome character your right,, probably would have been a lot easier to just have said "as in Hockey"

Not so sure about the creative geniusness side of it all but you and Azzi are more then welcome Vanster - glad I could help! and NOW,,, :group cheers: to your new family AZZI!!!!!!!!!!!!! May your miles be plenty, your problems be few, take care of your new owner Azzi as he does for you!!!!

@eagleeye,, cant believe I missed this - must be slippin - thankfully VR had no Statue Of Limitations on any of this stuff :big-grin-emoticon: Anyway,,, to your sneaky little reply I say: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KYJQhbgHErk

Oh,, why not,, its Christmas and all that,, no tickets issued and gonna help you guys out here WHAT A BLAST WE HAD!!!!! Right back at both you varmints for a wonderful Christmas and another AMAZING 2016!! Thanks to for the thread Phoneman and the update Paul (Pegasus1300) - man that Pie Putt 26.2 was BLAST - what great memories!!

Like you had to splain that to we the people ya lop eared snow making varmint!!

Whoaaaa deee boat,, whoaaaaaa there ya lop eared Pie Butt 26.2 riding varmints,,,,, (closes pic we got of cop on a bike) .... :big-grin-emoticon::big-grin-emoticon:

Hi Johnny, nice chatting with you a second ago, pleasure to meet you for sure!! Here is that short video I was telling you about, I know it is a mute subject now but thought you might get a kick out of it anyway. Here is the only step by step on the carb tear down I could find in our VR Tech section, doesnt appear to have any pics but at least its something. http://www.venturerider.org/forum/showthread.php?54-Carb-Overhaul-on-1st-Gen And this is the article I was telling you about concerning float levels, this one contains some pics so you can see what your gonna find once you get into the carbs. Lots of pertinent info here. http://www.venturerider.org/forum/showthread.php?66468-Float-levels Hope this all helps out in some small way my friend!! Puc

Yea,,, HOLY HOPPIN FAST BROKEN ANKLE SURGERY RECOVERY TIME BATMAN.. Naughty naughty naughty!!

I do all my videoing/picture taking by either holding the camera in my hand or asking my wife to take over - fun to be able to have us in the shots and all that weird stuff - get some pretty interesting shots that way.. Daughter got one of those selfie video stick things for her phone for Christmas, pretty cool.. Now I am thinking of adapting something like that into our ride style, carrying the camera on a stick in a scabbard on the side of the bike (bet those border guards up in Canada will be suspicious about that one:crackup:) - thinking it would be really neat to be able to extend the arm out and get shots with the bike/us and the roadside scenery.. Wonder if you could mount the Go-Pro on a similar device - like a small collapsible pole on the back of the bike so you could raise it up and it would capture the two of you with a road view in front of you:scratchchin: Yea,, I know,, I aint right in the head

Neighbor had a late 1999, early 2000 stang convert,, GORGEOUS CAR and REALLY fun to drive.. His had some kind of an issue with either the center head or the intake manifold leaking anti-freeze - sucker would fill the plug holes up with the stuff and then it would miss like crazy.. Been a while (they sold it with less than 60k miles on it) but I am thinking it maybe had a plastic intake manifold and the final fix was replacing the manifold with an aftermarket aluminum one? Not even sure if his was a V-6,, seems like it may have been a small V-8,, I know for sure it wasn't the 5 liter (302) - seems like it was smaller than that:scratchchin:.. I would definitely check around the Stang forums about that issue before I invested in one.. Other than that, what a FUN car!!