cowpuc

This went to second page,, not on my watch,,, Prayers Up!!

Oh,by the way,, Tweeks is not a true Blonde, only her side panels are Blondies (from my 1st 1st Genny back in 87),, those panels have close to a million miles on em so she wears em with pride.. Her true colors,, seems like I just answered that for VentureFar,, is a Heinz 57 Maroon, Black and Blonde:confused24:

WOW,, thats heavy my friend.. Hmmm,, I was just yakkin with Tip about it. Looking at dates and noticed it would cost us Sturgis this year BUT with you upping the ante like that,,, wow Rand,,, ya SURE ya wanna do that? Aint cha gonna be a little busy during that time frame?? Think that thru very carefully,, change of minds are ALWAYS not a problem in our relationship my friend!! Of course,, you would also be willing to sign, in permanent signature and on exterior parts that you had your fingers on Tweeks right?? Hey,, it aint that bad,,, Squidley did it and as far as I know he is still alive, has all his fingers and is still welcome on the site.. Would it be allowable for me to purchase the Vmax drive and have it shipped down to you? Really sounds like fun ya lop eared gearhead!! Anyone interested in what Randy is talking about us doing to poor ol Tweeks may wanna pay attention to his anwser to these following questions,, unless ya already know all this stuff, which I KNOW lots of you do but which I DO NOT.. Randy,, give me another synopsis of what we will end up with if we do what you are talking about.. Gear ratios, affect on cruising speeds vrs R's at those speeds (havent you done this already to your bike?), fuel economy, low gear crawling ability and the like.. What extra stuff should I purchase and send your way to complete the build,,, bottom end gasket kit, new u-joints, seals,, maybe forward gear bearings, tranny bearings?.. Randy, Tweeks complete exhaust system is a disaster blend of brazing, wire feed goobers and holes.. If we did this I should go ahead and see if I can find a decent collector and header pipes for her too.. Than there is the question of her clutch.. I have NEVER had a good a clutch in ANY of my 1st Gens,, by that I mean a clutch that would actually stay engaged in high gears, loaded with two up and nailed at 5 grand,, any thoughts from your experiences on the guarenteed fix for that as long as we are gonna open er up? Probably oughta let you decided if you REALLY want to do this and if so, I will put together a quick build sheet of what I need to purchase and take a look at costs.. Seriously folks,, out of all the 1st Gens I have owned and allll the miles we have piled on em I aint NEVER opened one up! Lots and lots of other bikes, trannies, clutches, cranks, heads, cams, valves and on and on but NEVER a Yam V-4.. I have always bought em cheap, rode the life out of em and bought the next one,, pretty much 100% all went to rest with well over 200k on em too.. I ride em cause I get tired of working on bikes all the time.. These Yammers are the most durable, fair priced, fun lovin motorcycle ever known to man! This could be interesting Rand! On the same token my friend,, even if nothing comes of it,, THANK YOU FOR THE OFFER!! Your a real keeper my friend! Puc

YOOOO,, RUFFY,, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YA MY MAN! I would have made ya a really cool card like MAMA did but Tip is hoggin da laptop an this tablet is a pain in the carb jets.. thought that counts one for me will ya? Puc

Heyyyy,, that come with an offer to camp on your site Randy? BEFORE YA ANSWER THAT CHA MIGHT WANNA CHECK WITH JAMIE N MISTY, or more recent references,, BikerJohn and CMCoffey as any of them may advise you otherwise.. Bottom line my friend,, not ALL entertain in life is welcome nor healthy entertainment:rotf:

IMHO, more likely than not, as already mentioned, you have a small air leak in your exhaust system somewhere. It doesnt take much air being drawn in to create a combustion.. if the pipes check good, blow a little smoke around em and watch for movement in the smoke, a good tune up may help alot. With part of the tune up being a carb diaphram check up, intake manifold check, wires and plugs, air filters, carb sync, choke mechanisms checked and maybe a valve clearance checkup.. lots of things can cause it.. Let you in on a little declassified info.. Tweeks, our 83, has had the big boom thingy going on for a very long time.. I prefer to call it Tweeks Anti Cell Phone Device instead of a Backfire though.. She has this very very nasty habit of pulling up to the drivers windows where clearly the cager is in deep conversation on a cell phone or, worst yet, looking down and texting and just at the precise time,, KAAAABOOOM! Cantankerous old thang that Tweeks can be.. Oh yea,, she likes doing this when a car is sniffing around her pipe outlets to close, in tunnels, bridge over passes, teenagers who wave and people who point and laugh at er too..... She has developed some nasty habits in her old age, hopefully your bike just needs a gasket and is not coppin an old age attitude brother! Puc

GOOD ON YA ECK AND CONGRATS ON GETTING TO SEE YOUR KIDS AGAIN (his wife is your kid too now ya know)!! Our children and their lives are on a totally different than motorcycling,, as fun as it is,, can EVER be!! Tippy and I are on the same wave link as you are talking brother!! My thoughts and prayers are with you and your family and hope you completely enjoy the special time you have been blessed with to be with them!! Sieze every minute with em Eck!! You made my day reading what you wrote in this thread! The main reason Tippy and I came home from our recent bike trip when we did was cause our youngest daughter, in her mid 20's, has been sick with some high temps.. She's an adult BUT we were both very concerned with her health.. We have friends that thought we were crazy,, Tippy wanting to come home and feed her chicken soup and all.. To us, parenting doesnt end just cause they become adults!! They are our children forever and when away from them, especially as long as you have been, YOU REALLY REALLY miss them!!!!! Bless you folks! Puc

:crying::crying::crying::crying:

OUTSTANDING!! GREAT read and AWESOME PICS Cage! I love the looks of that ol sporty brother and I, personally, LOVE the fact that you used it! Best wishes to you and your riding partner as you work closer to getting back on the open road together! Your ending salutation goes both ways my friend!! Puc

that is a fact!

Looks like I was right,, that got me to a sign up sheet for a Yamaha demo ride.. Next your gonna tell me they probably have one of the new V-Maxes to demo,,, now THAT would really tan my hide!!

Hey EasyRider,, I dont think that link works properly.. Could be a bad connection between Elk Grove and Muskegon though.. Its probably something I am gonna kick myself for leaving when I did anyway cause it appears by the link data that it has something to do with a demo ride??

Lotta stuff going on west of you Fool,, we spent some time in North Dakota and Tippy noticed a couple signs at a small truck stop, think it was at Baker that read HELP WANTED, all positions, with a longgg list of employment ops included several engineering positions.. I am sure it had something to do with all the oil/gas stuff going on out there. Sure had us talking that night about moving out there!! One of my really good friends just moved out to Helena MT, was an engineer for a shop here, got hired as an engineer out there.. You could make all kinds of snow out there,, their low temps were -40 last year.. As you know though,, their summers are second to none!! This economy stinks dont it.. Our area has been hit really really bad too.. Lost a lot of really good friends and, even a couple of my own kids to it.. People moving all over the place to find work.. Something that I noticed in employment,, at least for me, is that it seems easier to find another job if your already working.. Might send out some resumes before you end up in the unemployment line.. Just a thought.. Best wishes with it all Jeff! Puc

Hey Craig, just a little north of Kolob Canyons which is the northern part of Zion Nation Park is a small diner called "Top Spot".. Ya gotta try their burgers and fries!! We are talking shaved ham on top of hamburger and very special home made fries - place has amazing food and not a bank buster!! Sounds like you folks are planning a really fun trip,, please take lots of pics for us!! Ride safe and have fun! Puc

I get asked from time to time how I can just jump on my bike an leave for extended periods of time and "dont I worry about the house and lawn care".. To answer that question in text,,,, why of course I do.. I really do.. Folks that know me personally know that when I am out on the road I lay awake at night wondering how my lawn is getting along and so on.. As a matter of fact, my home state of Michigan is known for its ever changing weather that directly affects the plant growth throughout our gorgeous winter wonder land.. Some years my old beater lawn tractor does its thing only a couple times during a grow season.. Other years its once a week!! We have had winters that I literally have ridden our forests on my dirtbike all winter long with a mere 6 inches of snow being the total accumlation.. This last winter, thanks in part to a developing friendship I have with FlyinFool over in Wisconsin, we came in with over 10 feet of snow for the season PLUS some whopping spring storms that the combination thereof caused enough chaos that I thought ol Tweeks may never get out of the corral.. Well,, as May started coming to an end and the basement started drying out, I drug the ol beater tractor out of hibernation,, fought with the carb on it enough to make it run, cut my grass down to point it looked like I was actually mowing the root system of the lawn instead of the lawn itself, it was brutal.. Carefully I pulled tweeks out of hibernation and pulled maintenance on her.. Tippy and I quietly snuck off to chase the wind so we wouldnt wake up any dandy lions that may be sleeping amoungst the freshly exposed lawn roots.. Got news for ya,, it worked!! Laying awake in my tent worrying about my lawn while attending the VentureWest Rally at The Dalles in Oregon, my daughter called us (cell phones - blah) and informed us that my lawn was almost to her knees (thankfully I hadnt killed it!) and that one of my neighbors stopped by and said "what kinda trees did your dad plant in the yard - they look like some sort of dandy lion tree".. I got nosey neighbors.. On the way home a couple days ago, as we crossed over the Missouri River at Chamberlain SD I found my pea size brain doing some wondering.. The landscape on the east side of the river changes greatly which causes my mental processor to do funny things every time I cross it going east.. By the time we crossed into Minnesota and noticed how high the corn was in that lovely part of the country, my thoughts had fully switched gears to worrying about the condition of the root system I had irresponsibly left behind with no fertilizer or even active sprinkler system... It wasnt until I got home that I was fully aware of how much time I had wasted laying awake at night worrying about my poor lawn.. Never again I tell myself,, never again.. I will NEVER again lay awake at night worring about my uncared for lawn.. I am writing a new oath to be included in Pucs Biker Code Of Ethics,, I WILL NEVER WORRY ABOUT MY LAWN WHILE TOURING THE COUNTRY ON MY MOTORCYCLE - IT CAN TAKE PERFECTLY GOOD CARE OF ITSELF.. Watch this little video and you will see that my lawn did just fine!! Now stop worrying about that lawn,, its summer,,, lets ride!! Puc

Thanks Pete for covering my back on that one! By the way, JCMOTORS were great folks to deal with. Tire came nicely packed, quick ship and had those nice cardboard spacers that make bead setting a whole lot easier for us back yard mechanics who do their own tire swaps..

Ooppsss,, my bad,, read Petes response below, once again one of ol pucs buddies has his back.. Thanks teach for the info! Anyone else got input? The classroom for ol puc is ALWAYS open,, this ol dog LOVES learning new tricks!

Hey Cagie,, glad you enjoy the writings,, just tellin it the way it unfolds my friend.. As you know from your experiences from your 30 day adventure,, the wind does carry some interesting critters and experiences with it!! Reading your response brings back one of my younger year hero memories.. You ever watch THAN CAME BRONSON?? Tippy and I sing the theme from that ol show a LOT while riding the last 3 hours of a long day on the road... Aint nothing like it brother,, favorite song, favorite ride partner, best part of the ride day (I call it magic hour) and GLORIOUS sunsets... Man Cage,, now ya got me wanting to head right back out!!! Though make believe (tv show),, Bronson did the sporty thing.. I too have since owned many sporties over the years (non of the newer ones - I hear they are very dependable and good riders).. My last one a 59 XLCH that I built a chopper out of was a fun bike but about 50 miles a day was max for me on that ol hardtail!! Got a pic or two to share with ya for your musings.. What year of sporty did you run? Set up for touring or were you one of those young crazies running no shield an stuff tied on with rope and the like... Got any pics to share?? Your ol pal Puc

What da heck Coff,, you gonna eat this burger I just cooked for ya or not?? ANYTIME BROTHER,, ANYTIME!!

Oh yea,, here we go,, the tire has 71H on it Carl,, I suppose that means less load capacity? Learn something new everyday if it does! It also does have mu85 on the sticker and on the tire.. I know I read in a manual many years ago that this was the tire designated for the 1st gen,, kinda always followed that rule.. as a follow up question for my teacher/friend in this case,, MiCarl, do you happen to know if Full Bore makes a 75 or 77H as well as the 71H? I only ask that cause it seems like I gave the guys at Jccycle, folks I purchased the tire from, the actual part number off thier web page when they looked the tire up.. could have easily been a miscommunication on my part.. Thanks for your assistance Carl, this is VERY important stuff to know and YOU are a great teacher! puc

GOOD POINT,, I would love to give one a shot,, anyone out there know what tire brand and size will fit a 1st Gen? Certainly NO WAY would it hurt any image I have!! Good question Andrew!! Unfortunately, after 244256 miles and many many lube jobs on Tweeks speedo - including one earlier this spring, as we pulled into Dennison Texas my speedo did a huge wind up thing where the needle spun and went BOING and parts/pieces landed inside her speedo.. Unfortunately the odometer went too so I have no way of accurately knowing a mileage count.. I get some time I am going to get some kinda sorta figures from our fuel reciepts and than mapquest it off them.. On another note,, I really didnt want to let this cat out of the bag (about the speedo) online here because Tweeks won the "farthest distance traveled" award at the VentureWest Rally out in The Dalles Oregon. There were two lop eared varmints who was in charge out there, a couple of sly critters justly named King Lone Eagle and King Condor - NOT RELATED.. One of which used his Kingly powers to appoint himself as a court Judge for all contests, that would have been King Lone Eagle.. I kept my lips sealed during the contest awards about the speedo after Tweeks was awarded her just due cause I knew there would have been an investigation afterwards that may have turned into a dismantling of my bike to see if she had actually rolled to the rally - simular to a contested NASCAR race.. You would had have to have been there and experienced the motley group in attendance to understand that call on my part.. If I had to guess at this point I would between 3 and 4 thousand miles.. Ah ohhh,, think ol Pucsters about to get some schooling here... Never paid attention to those numbers,, I know it had MU85 or whatever it was on the tag which matched the original factory tire spec.. Gotta hunch my buddy MiCarl is about to tell me that the 77H/75H on these tires mean something... Ya know what,, I stuck part of the sticker from the tire on the back of tweeks trunk,, gonna go see if its still on there and snap a pic,, I will also roll er around and see if I can find this 77/75 number and take a pic of it too.. PAY ATTENTION HERE FOLKS,, BOUT TO CATCH OL PUC IN LEARNIN MODE..

Oh man,, thanks Rick,, I almost blew it BIG TIME!! Tire mounting is always easier if your eating ice cream while your swapping tires.. I like to drip a little ice cream on the bead just before laying the spoons on the tire,, makes great tire lube.. Not to much though cause ya never wanna waste to much ice cream,, specially if its Banana Nut,, now Vanilla,, you can waste that stuff but not Nana Nut. Better? And hey Easyrider,,, sounds like you owe King Condor an apology,,, calling Carmicheal California a dusty backwater town,,, according to him some place right in his neighborhood IS where those World Famous burgers are!! I was only part way there with my cheese covered Shimmy burger or what ever it was.. I havent had one yet BUT I betcha that Condor is correct,, judging by the way he drank down all the fries and gravy up by Mt. Hood THAT MAN HAS GOT TO KNOW HIS BURGERS!! Dem was good fries and gravy werent they Jack!! Specially the special price ol Puc gottem for us for!!:rotf::rotf::rotf::rotf:

Carl, you can chalk up a genuine tour bike to your list now brother! That tire worked awesome! I gotta add, we hit hole in the concrete out in desert temps at high speed that sent tippy against my back and startled the daylights out of me.. it was a situation where I never saw it coming, I dont go lookin for objects to hit and normally am able to thumb steer around even the slightest abnormalities,, this was a bad one! right after hitting it I told tip that we HAD to have just lost our cheapy Full Bore tire.. Slowing down the tire felt good, told her to sit still we were gonna be riding down another flat.. got down to around 20, where a flat starts the process of putting ya sideways,, NOTHING! Stopped the bike, tire looked like new, no rim damage.. Looked the tire over closely, no apparent belt damage! Few days later we touring Glacier and Canada with that tire preforming flawlessly! Them Koreans got a believer with ol Puc! Its a m-66 touring as you mentioned. What you quoted is exactly what the tech at jccycle quoted.. here are some pics off the tire itself.. I dont know if the book is wrong or the tire stamp but I can assure you,, it did a fine job on 2 up, packed up tweeks right out on the desert floor! Got any vendors that need tires beta tested Carl let me know,, maybe we could work something out:rotf: As long as they aint metzlers of course,, me an Squid,, we know that routine!

BROTHER YOU NAILED IT ON THE IOWA BUGS STATEMENT! That corn they grow is HUGE, I suspect those bugs just grow right along with the corn.. Reminds of something though Bob.. number of years ago my daughter and I were crossing Nebraska back country roads, bugs thicker than aunt jemimas syrup, we stopped on the side of the road for a potty break, swattin bugs,, stepped into da bushes and found a monument marking the Chisolm Trail! It was wayyyyyyyy cool! About Tippys arrow... We were crossing into texas from oklahoma,, caught a glimpse of 5 pinto ponies being ridden by what appeared to be 5 Comanche warriors,, Tweeks let out the strangest sound as an arrow brushed her rad, tippy reached back an unhooked her back off whip (thanks venturfar)... 5 warriors learned a lesson they will never forget from a skinny little dutch girl riding on the back of a tired ol Yamaha that day! She is an awesome riding partner, a great wife and a mom who tamed 4 kids and one Puc.. She went thru those 5 Comanches like a Texas dust storm! No idea how to get that arrow out,, we been using it to hang wet clothes on to dry,,,, spose we oughta check into an arrow removal process eay... Not sure that tip will go along with having it removed though,, since its in her back, I have to do all the laundry cause her arms dont bend that way,, she is really enjoying watching me do laundry for a change.. No idea what that is... Puc

I know most of you have already found the perfect tires for your bikes and stick to what ever brand that may be and I TOTALLY get that.. I tend to enjoy living a little more dangerously, another flaw in my charector, and like knowing first hand whether or not things are as advertised, yep, even in tires.. That said, I have had my share of flat tires, know first hand that sick feeling of a flat tire on a loaded tour bike, have had to change tires in some less than desirable places with less than desireable tools BUT, thats all part of the adventure we call motorcycle touring.. Also,, I have had to pay the price of being bent over by some out of town bike shop ripped off artist charging 3 times the price for a stinkin 404 too, not fun but thats life on the road.. Of course, I also have had the privilage of dealing with places like Jims in Johnson City tennesee who sold me an E2 at dealer cost and gave me the grand tour of their upstairs bike museum cause they felt as bad about the piece of steel going thru my brand new Shinko as I did,, or maybe they just liked Tippy n me... Good with the bad makes for a GREAT trip,, especially if you focus on the good and let the bad take care of itself, a mind game some folks cant win. If your still reading this commentary your probably a little like me and interested in whats out there in less expensive, good value tires... Or,, maybe your some sicko waiting to hear about some wacko biker who fell on his bike cause he chose to try another cheap tire,,, lord I hope that aint the case! Regardless of why you are reading this PLEASE READ THRU THE ENTIRE STORY BELOW, DONT QUIT HALF WAY, THIS IS IMPORTANT! I stuck a brand new metz 880 on the rear of the bike just before heading west back in May. I have made several trips to the west coast and have NEVER had a rear tire survive the torture of my desert touring.. One tire out, one tire back has been my experience.. I have used everything from Avon to Pirellies and they all seem to come in the same,, no tires I have tried seem to like the desert heat like I do! The Metz was amazing in its wear. By the time we got to Sacramento it still had 1/3 of its tread left! I was VERY impressed. Now,, knowing I had to go back home at some point I did get another tire ordered BUT, I was confidant enough in the metz that I chose to complete our tour of Oregon and Washington on the metz before swapping it out.. just before leaving The Dalles VentureWest Rally, I checked both my tires and my dear friend, Sargent Coffeys tires, cause I love em. The metz looked good with very little additional wear on it.. Tip n I came back to Sac the long way, got lost a little (had fun!), did ride some more HOT pavement.. What I discovered when we got back GAVE ME THE CREEPS! That metz shedded its outer core like a dog sheds water! NO WARNING! PLEASE REREAD THAT AND REMEMBER WHAT I JUST WROTE! You ever saw those chunks of truck tires laying on the highway? I was always told they come from retreads.. that being said, and judging from what I saw under the protruding tread of the metz I gotta wonder if metz and retreads are synonomis.. Shortly after discovering this I posted some pics of what I had found.. A very close friend of mine and person with outstanding mechanical ability responded to that post with a learned warning about Metzler Tires. Squidley commented about an experience he and Lonna had had that sounded almost life threatening.. He also commented something along the line of staying away from Metzler tires permanently.. I gotta say,, I am there with you Squidley,, that was one ugly situation developing with that metz! Before I left for The Dalles, I jumped online and looked for my next tire to torture.. I noticed this brand called Full Bore at a very reasonable price. Seems like 75 bucks shipped is where it fell.. I called and talked to the folks at JCCYCLE, I inquired about the load capacity of the 140 touring tire from Full Bore. The tech told me that the book stated 903 pounds, sounded good! Got back online and ordered one.. when I returned from Venturewest with my retread coming apart the Full Bore was waiting. I had to use a wedge and a sledge hammer to break the bead on the metz, stay away from the wheel if you ever try this, assisted by c-clamps.. Opened the box with the new Ful Bore and immediatly discovered that the load capacity on the tire stated 756 pounds,, bummer dude.. tire looked beefy,, made in Korea (better than china IMHO),,, WHAT TO WHAT TO DO....Decided,, what da heck what da hay,, give it try.. The worst that could happen is it will fall apart from the heat and I will be stuck paying 3 times the price for another 404,, OR,, maybe find another Jims! I kept a VERY close eye on the FULL BORE! From the heat of the Utah desert to the elevation changes of Glacier, thru the back country dirt roads of Montana and up the twisties of the Black Hills,, IT DID GREAT! I checked air pressure every morning cold and it was consistant. I was and am impressed! Sitting in the garage now, after completeing its mission, it has less tread on it than the metz had when it came apart, it cost less than half of what I paid for the metz, it handled the twisties really well (I dont ride em like some of you harder riders but do tend to lean er down once in a while) and it got Tippy and I home safely from a very fun ride! I know your all bored to death now BUT, I gotta put a plug in here for these cheap Conti Tours too.. I had a chance to grab a couple front mount Contis this spring for about 70 bucks each shipped.. GLAD I GRABED EM! Stuck one on the front before we left.. WOW,, that front tire went thru all that and is showing no sign of dipping, cupping or funny wear.. held the road great and still has some of its little mold nips between the tread! AMAZING! Dragonrider,, if you read all that you probably know I typed it on the tablet,, sorry for any mistakes,, feel free to correct any typos ya find.... Tips n my daughter took the laptop away from me... Get out and wear out some tires folks! Puc