cowpuc

I am new to ride planning, normally Tip and I just climb on Tweeks - CTFW and somehow end up where we intended on being - or some facsimile thereof.. Problem with that whole ride style is, one never knows what day/time or even year one might arrive at the destination one had in mind when one pulled out of the driveway a month earlier.. Combining motorcycling with actual making plans is a challenge for me - interesting though!! Thank the good Lord for understanding friends like Eagle Eye, Raggie, RickardRacing, Darrin, my wife Tip and all you other Michiganders who may be trying to figure out a way to do a joint ride to Dons with some East Siders this year.. I found out today that Tip is going to be able to comfort Tweeks on our first ever Oberlin MD so some things have instantly changed for us a little:dancefool: - FOR THE BETTER OF COURSE!! After counseling with Raggie a moment ago on the land line (always a pleasure Jay!!), we decided to make an Official Rally Point on I-75 at exit 15 at 1 pm on Friday the 29th for anyone interested. Apparently ( repeating Jay's wisdom and knowledge of the area) there is a "TA" Truck Stop/BP gas station at that intersection - it is there that we hope to meet. Everyone welcome to join us for the trip into the Buckeye State!!

Got er done Dan O'!! Oh,, and Tip said she is glad to hear those snoring stoppers worked and the Bubs (here in the North we call em nostrils) are sounding sweet again!! CANT WAIT TO FINALLY SEE SILVER BROTHER!!! Hey,, is the Warden making the trip - would LOVE to meet the women that holds the reins to your harness!

@etcswjoe - Hey Joe, noticed your name on the list for MD - YEEEHAAWWWW!! Somehow we managed to sneak away from visiting you folks at the International last year without you signing the sticker you got for Tweeks at the Barber Museum (thanks again buddy). Could you please help me remember to ask you to sign it at Dons this year - sorry I missed that!!! Oh yea,, thanks again for rescuing us at Mickey Dee's down yonder too! Your ol buddy Puc PS - is your wife coming? PsPs - Tip said she hopes so!!

Got some more changes going on here on my end. Some good news today that very .very possibly will put Tippy on Tweeks with me for MD - yeeeeehawwww:thumbsup:. For that to happen though, it will mean a later departure time from our home here in Muskegon on Friday morning. I am waiting for Raggie to jingle me back on the land line, trying to see how much time we will need between Exit 15 and Dons - should know more about possibilities of - how/if we will fit into the group ride in just a bit!! If it doesnt work for us to ride with you guys over there - SAVE US FOOD AT THE OIL CHANGE PLACE MR. RICKARD ---- PLEASE!!

Hokey spamokey Sailor!!! GLAD YOU ARE OK!! So sorry to read this but VERY glad it's you writing us to tell us you made it!! Thoughts and prayers your way as you mend and best wishes in the process of repairing/replacing your bike!! We are here if you need us! Puc

So,, your planning on working are ya when your spose to be riding with your friends... Ok,, just a minute here,, I read something a while ago that fits right in here,, cant find it,, it was something about how even God himself laughs at our plans Arent I terrible,, sorry PB,, would LOVE to ride with ya bro!!

How's this sound gang, lets plan exit 15 on I 75 at 10:30 with a minimal 11am departure from exit 15 for elbow room.. That way, if - God forbid - something should come up health wise or other and someone cant make it the rest are on their way.. If we get there and decide to have a late breakfast/early lunch and dont get out of there till Noon, thats cool too.. Anyone know if that will give us sufficient time to make Oberlin by Dinner time at that Lube/Oil and Filter joint? I know it would be plenty for Steve and I but not knowing where who ever is leading the parade takes us (Oberlin via Huntsville?) - just double checking, I personally dont wanna miss having Chicken fried in 15w40. Thoughts?

Wish I could be there Taz, I would LOVE to CEO (ok,, I would make a good parts chaser) that job!! Anyway,, best of the best on total success on the carb job!! Get er done so Walt can ride - THANKS for helping him out! Puc

To show ya differences in taste buds Silv, I would LOVE to take one of those Rune's and see if I could ruin it by wearing it out - I like em Kinda like a lot of folks dont really care for those Vic Visions,, I like those too.. Crown either one with a fresh set of antlers and the highway would be my kingdom!!

While not as severely, I have a hunch that the mighty Valk suffered the same demise as the Rune, the Pacific Coast and maybe even the Cavalcade = just didnt sell well.. Personally, probably like you Sapper, I always LOVED the Valks but not everyone shared in our outlook on bikes.. My next door neighbor had one before he bought his 2012 Ultra Limited and it was to tall for him so I rode it for him a LOT to keep it in running condition (good neighbors do that kind of stuff for each other - he also had a brand new lawn tractor so I would let him cut my grass while Tip and I were maintenanizing his Valk for him - good relationship). It was a 99 if I recall, a Blue one. It had close to 100k on it when he traded it in on his Ultra. Ran great and I think they allowed him 6ish on trade (I was shocked). Anyway, they were great bikes.. Dont know alot about the drive train in them but I think they were basically a Wing drive train.. Could b

Hi Ten THANK YOU so much for taking the time to write, it is greatly appreciated. Thanks for the kind words about my ramblings too, glad you have found some sort of enjoyment out of following the nonsense.. Indeed, this medical stuff is majorly frustrating. Its the figuring out whats wrong and it taking so long that is mind boggling. This Prednizone is actually the first glimmer of any kind of positive "feeling" hope I have had in a very long time. I lived a very high strung life of high speed dirtbike racing, shooting deer from tree tops on 2x4' platforms, raising high strung kids and working hard = LOTS of adrenalin. My wife asked my family doctor a few months ago about "adrenal fatigue". Had the tests done = normal range. Now I am wondering if it is possible that if a normal range = 1 thru 10 and my body was used to being a 10 and is now functioning at 2 (lets say) would this put me outside of normal for me.. Probably sounds crazy but just thinking outloud.. Another point that I am gonna ask about when I go back to my Primary (gotta see Cardio first - no idea how any this affects the heart - I have "sic sinus", maybe related?) I am going to inquire about an actual x-ray/sonagram of my kidney/adrenal gland area to have a look see.. We have Kidney Tumor/Cancer in our family - wondering if a tumor could put pressure on the adrenal gland and cause a shortage.. At any rate, I really THANK YOU for your clear, precise info Ten and TOTALLY understand if you have to be tight lipped about saying anything more.. Hippo's and all that.. I hope you have time to get out and enjoy that gorgeous Midnight TD of yours this year, would LOVE to see you on the road sometime!! Also, I dont have the luxury of Semper Fi'ing you back but I thank you for your service to our great cause!! Puc

WOW Jeff, I have not experienced that surgery and am not smart enough to even begin to offer any form of meaningful advice my friend. I can say this though, even though we havent met - YET - I consider you my brother and dear friend. My thoughts and prayers are with you and that precious lady of yours as you folks deal with all this stuff. Doesnt sound like fun BUT, I have a hunch that you will be feeling a LOT better after you get the ticker back on normal rythems again!! I do have a friend who had that surgery done many years ago, it all went very well and he is living a healthy - good life to this very day. He is in his 80's at this time!! Please keep us posted as the surgery date approaches and all that.. You have folks out here who love you and really want to be in the loop! Prayers Up - Blessings Down!! Puc

Das Fool is no fool!! I LOVE the way you think Jeff - I gotta sneaking hunch that ol Tweeks would agree with you 100%, only thing missing in your equation is the air humidity factor.. Dry air, open space - high speed driften instead of this high humidity, slow poke Harley/2nd Gen following dinky dalton riding :crackup: That being said,, knowing your deep appreciation for high moisture in the air/moisture ratio's and all that, it comes as no surprise that you left that part of the equation void BUT that's ok, you and me - we still be good bud's!!!!!! TWEEKS OPINION OF ALL THIS!!

Just got off the phone with Eagle Eye. He gave me permission to speak for both of us (really smart guy ). We wanna try to hook up with Rickardracing and than over to meet up with Raggie's bunch - both surrendering to riding the ickspressway for this trip if needed. Be glad to make a stop in GR to meet up with Darrin on the way. What we need now is some kind of an idea on times - so, Raggie, name a Rally point and a time to be there (in hour's, military time is ok - we're pretty savvy me and Eagle Eye)..

OUCH!!! Sooo glad to hear your brother in law is OK!! Hope the repair goes well on the scoot Wiz.. Sorry it happened! Puc

Actually Fool, I think I heard of a Yamaha supply house, down in Virginny I believe, that has been gearing up for that exact scenario. The guy that owns the place is kind of a strange charactor who has been collecting parts for years. I guess he had some kind of a vision that Yamaha was going to do what we are talking here cause a couple years ago he started collecting parts for 2nd Gens (he had been doing 1st Gens only for many many years). Anyway, in the future if anyone needs parts, 1st or 2nd Gen, I think the name of the place is Why Dee and the Warden's = cash only and no returns.

When T.J. came over to show me his gorgeous new 2003 ST1300 a while back, Tweeks and I had the honor of showing the 2 of them some of our back roads. While doing so, I couldn't help but notice that Tweeks motor had developed an attitude right at the bottom when I wickt her hard (she had her hands full running with that Honda). Nasty little stammer that neither she nor I really cared for.. Sure,, the old gal is closing in on 300k and showing her age but still, something was just not right,, something vague and elusive.. She usually pulls hard right off the bottom,, having had no second gear for many many miles, her and I are used to challenging her torque curve so we both know what she is capable of in torque language.. I clipped the tie wraps that secure her side covers, thinking I may need to check her carb diaphrams that I had repaired years ago with Yamabond #5 , pulled her battery cover (noticed right away her battery was low - filled it) and pulled the lid on her air box.. Yanked the KnN, cranked er up - all slides came right to life and looked perfectly responsive and in unison but there was that stutter, worse with no air box.. The unwelcome guest sounded more pronounced on number one for some reason.. Grabbed an 18mm deep well 3/8 drive, stuck a 1/4 drive adapter in it, dropped in a 3 inch 1/4 drive extention, stuck a ratchet to the whole mess and pulled the plug.. Pics below show what I found.. The porcelain on the plug was perfect on half and dark on the other - kinda weird.. My eyes aint the best these days but I thought in the sunlight I could see a tiny piece of, what looked like weld slag laying on it - take a peek and see if you see what I am talking about.. Headed to the parts store for plugs on the Helix, noticed my neighbor was working on his truck, stopped to show him the plug, he begged me to ride his new V-Rod into town (160 miles on it) to help him break it in. Came back with plugs and his V-Rod a few hours later. Gapped plugs and installed. Changed out her oil and filter, cleaned the air filter. Grabbed the gauges. Warmed her up and shut her down, pulled the manifold nipples - shock of my life!! After ALL that riding last year, that old girl had only dropped 2 marks (pounds - heckters - heliums - hgs,, what ever ya call em on a vacuum gauge) on the number 4 cylinder! A quick tweek with a flat head screw driver and, PERFECT - carbs are synced, oils done and NO MORE STUTTER = Tweeks is a happy camper!! Tip talked me into letting her go along on Tweeks and my maintenance test ride after I told her I needed to test the maintenance I had pulled on Tweeks in preparation for Maintenance Day down in a place called Oberlin Ohio. I thought it was a good idea cause Tippy isnt going to be able to make it to Oberlin, besides,, Tweeks really likes having Tip along - kind of girl girl thing or something.. That beautiful lady did just fine, hitting on all four - Tweeks was running perfect again too!! After we had been out for an hour or so Tip asked about stopping and seeing if Babbitts in Muskegon had a Slingshot. We have both been wanting to see one first hand ever since @CarbonOne mentioned he was buying one. Knowing that Larry would probably have his in Oberlin this year and that she wouldnt be there I said agreed, we headed to Babbitts!! I have always thought that the pictures I have seen of the SlingShot reminded me of The Batmobile.. Matter of fact, if I were ever fortunate enough to own one, I may be tempted to paint it black.. If you have a second to veiw this next vid, keep that comment in mind as you watch it - listen carefully for the name of the salesman at Babbitts. WOW what a gorgeous machine!! The ONLY one they had was SOLD and the salesman said it would probably be August before they had another. He also said they have deposit on one. Larry,, if your reading this, YOU HAVE VERY GOOD TASTE MY FRIEND!!! After leaving Babbitts we headed on a North by North East drift on Michigans back country roads. Yapping away about the Slingshot, then noticing how easily the three of all slid right into our CTFWing drift mode we rode out the day... Been a fun couple days.. Puc

Sorry about your car problems Frodo, nothing I can offer to help, just wanted to say howdy - hope to see ya on the road this year brother!! All the best with your repair!! Puc

Oh contrair monseur,, I have done nothing but create tranquility and promote healthy brotherly love since day one.. I admit, I do seem to be in the wrong place at the wrong time under certain circumstances (you should have been at @DragonRider 's cabin first time we met - Dokon and Wingman = a couple of ) but usually chaos runs from me like a bad tooth ache from novacain and peace floods our land like the morning fogs of Bodega Bay California!!

We live in difficult days.. I have often thought that it was to bad our city planners didnt have more forethought about how important of a role the motorcycle could have played in just conjestion control. If we could have had our own road right of ways - bikes only - with slightly faster speeds as a reward for more effeciency (stuff like that) the whole "bikes are toys" idea would not even exist.. Fact is,, I have traveled highly conjested area's of North America (LA, SAC, NYC, Jersey, Dallas, Chicago, St. Paul, Seattle) on a bike during rush hour and can tell you first hand - this guy is talking serious stuff here - he aint kidding around.. Its a battle ground out there and a guy a bike means nothing to some people..

Yep,, nope, yep, nope, yep,nope,, oh heck yes,,,,, what am I sayin - I already got the best dog gone touring bike known to man, oh heck no!! Lenny, I just read your post to Tweeks,, she chuckled as if to say "no need to worry about a new steed being around here for a very long time"... If it followed somewhat along the lines of my "wish list" on Freebirds awesome 3rd Gen page, at a minimum they used the new shaft drive 1700 V-Max Motor (I think someone mentioned an even newer 1900cc V-4? I would settle for that too) than yea - I would really seriously take a look at it.. The days of spinning wrenches keeping these old bikes going are quickly coming to an end - spirit is willing but my hands are really getting bad.. I will say this though, if they come out with a V-Twin and force my hand, I have been eyeing a Harley Heritage Springer for a longggg time.. I LOVE the old Harley look, really miss Olivia and have always been a Springer kind of guy.. I couldnt justify laying out a large junk of cash for a V-Twin without getting exactly what I want in cosmetic looks and nostalgia when it comes to V-Twin time.. Ya know what,, after reading about Great White's recent find I feel almost euphorically inclined to begin the process of finding that unfound NOS MK1 1st Gen Venture that is still sitting in a warehouse somewhere just waiting to be take Tip and I CTFWing.. Thanks for brain strain Lenny!!

Ahhh yea,, dem toe's dont work dat bad... Fingers fir countin, toes fir typin....

Reading about BkntheSaddle's broken balance shaft reminded me of something that happened to me years ago.. I wrote an article about the adventure and it got published in a trail rider magazine, took about 5 issues of the rag for em to complete it (lots of folks dont know this but I tend to be a little long winded, even in my writings).. Anyway, the story involved driving a semi for a Movie Star/TV actor, driving an unrestored, barely runable 1959 Studio Truck used by Hollywood to haul equipment to Kanab Utah for filming of Gunsmoke to Michigan, making friends with a Mexican who snuck into the States (took 4 trys) who achieved citizenship and is now a multi millionaire, getting invited by a group of guys to dirt ride the Piute Mountains in Cali, a broken balance shaft on a KTM 400 22 miles inside of those mountains, leaving the bike and walking 22 miles out of the mountains. If the owners of the Pond Palace allow story telling and if anyone is bored while sitting around the campfire and would like to hear the story, short version - medium version or full version. Just ask me about it.. My hands are in pretty rough shape with Dupuytren's but the disease hasnt effected my ability to speak (or two finger type)

Darrin, ALRIGHT!!! Been wanting to meet you for a LONG TIME!! Hey,, if your leaving on Friday maybe, maybe you folks could hook up with EagleEye and I and ride over to meet Rickardracing, and on over to meet the east side bunch and then we can have a great big VR parade to Don's!!! Is that kinda what you had in mind?