cowpuc

Definitly a scammer doing his evil there Mech.. I have seen countless ads like that too, the newer version is one with only a phone number to reply to.. I did a little research on the number supplied with one of the new ads and found out if you call that number you get charged a pretty hefty fee just for calling it... Flippin scammers.... Bottom line still seems to be found that old archaic expression,,, if it sounds to good to be true - it probably is.. Is this day and age bottom feeders have found a way to make money on an honest person just trying to find out if "it probably is" is true... Puc

Thanks TX, got er done...

Wow,, thats a bad one, condolances/prayers for all involved.. Ok,, how fast.. Rode an R1 a few times - 102 MPH in first gear (according to speedo) and got there RIGHT NOW.. I really cant tell by the pics if it was an R1 - sure looks like it.. If he bounced it off the rev limiter and shifted into second he was well above 100.. The roof pics are amazing, the sheered off front end sure looks like a very highspeeder,,,,,,, gonna guess 140.... Definitly faster than his Angel could fly... Sad, real sad.. Puc

Just a couple little changes and anyone who has read your posts would be wondering when Ural went wet Sorry Brian,, I just couldnt resist:rotf: I LOVE the Urals too!!! Speakin of that TX, have ya had a chance to run with the injected model yet?? Did it work for em or are they still ironing em out?

This thread has really gotten interesting for me, from a business standpoint as well as a personal one.. A close friend of mine bought a brand new Switchback 2 years ago. Within the first 500 miles he was back at the shop complaining about a funny vibration that it had in it (IT WAS NOT THE NORMAL HARLEY FEEL).. Dealer he bought it from told him it needed different pipes, that all the SB's vibed like his.. He spent the bucks for them to upgrade his pipes.. Actually made it worse.. The shop said they got ahold of the area warranty rep for the factory - there is only one of these guys that cover all of Michigan.. After setting for 2 months of the riding season the rep told the shop that there was nothing wrong with the bike..Buddy got ticked and told em off and trailered the bike home.. This was the Muskegon shop.. Shop 2. Located not to far from Muskegon is Sandy's Harley Davidson.. My neighbor and I hounded the buddy with the sick SB about taking it there - THEY are an EXCELLENT shop!! Took the bike to them, owner of Sandys said indeed, they had had issues with SB viberating funny (felt like a Crank out of phase).. Buddy asked him to ride it and see what he thought, guy came back shaking his head, agreement the bike had real issues.. Tore into it and found it had very low compression on the rear jug - bike by then had just under 2k miles on it.. They called the rep, rep told them he would cover nothing and if they touched it the bike would be out of warranty for future.. THE SHOP rebuilt the motor - free of charge at their expense with the agreement that my buddie would loose the last year of his factory warranty.. Ran great, drove it 50 miles, said he couldnt trust it, traded in on another new Harley from Sandys.. Bottom line - had he of dealt with Sandys, instead of the other dealer in the first place things would have come out much different in the long run.. There is a HUGE difference across the board from one dealer to another.. Notwithstanding, same rule applies to everything related to business - including the medical field, attorneys, gas stations and even Burger Kings.. Wanna talk about warranty issues, I have another really close friend who worked at a local shop that sells Honda/Yamaha/Suzuki/Kaw and had the full Polaris line too (sleds - quads) when Victory first came out.. THEY were inundated with issues with the 92" Vics that the factory would do NOTHING about.. The owner of the shop LITERALLY threw his Polaris franchise to the curb because of this.. Some folks may have forgotten those horror stories but LOTS of people havent, folks who wouldnt touch a Vic to this day because of it.. Nothing personal,, just the truth.. Business wise: I have sold 11 Harley Shovels since January of this year. The newest being an 81. 5 grand is least I have sold one for - and all but a couple were AMF bikes that a few years ago NO BODY wanted.. I recently sold out an entire inventory of consisting mainly of Jap bikes - over 50 bikes (and parts).. The reason I sold em is cause the market had been FLAT for the past 7 years and I simply could not get a fair market value out of them - spend 2 days rebuilding a gorgeous XR350 and see how you feel when you cant get 600 bucks out it,, mans gotta feed his family.. Bottom line, no SEMI - MODERN bike has the resale value of a Harley - period. As far as clothing, accessories, and performance parts,,,,, indeed, Harley is in the market to make money, as much as possible,, BUT,, being a free enterprise system lover and a capitalist myself,, I AM PROUD OF THEM!! They obviously have a fantastic marketing crew who see's what people want/need and they go all out to capitalize on it - name of the game.. And - they DO have high quality stuff.. I have been asked many many many times why on earth I ride these old worn out beat up Ventures when I really could be riding anything I want.. I have even lost "friends" because I refuse to ride a "nice bike".. My answer is simple - these Yams have proven over and over again to be one of the most overlooked trustworthy bikes ever produced - when you work on bikes for a living having one ya dont have to work on all the time = fun, they are FAST for what they are (this = fun for me), they have NO real "value" - this = real freedom because if it does break and I am thousands of miles from home I can just leave it and buy another one (or grab a bus) - PLUS I can beat the living crap out of it two trackin - cover it with salt at Bonneville - have it fall on its side on a mountain in Utah and have to roll it all the way over to be able to get upright - leave the keys in it at Sturgis without fear of it getting ripped off and on and on... As far as the waving that Harley riders do or dont do,, yea,, its a cult thing.. Personally, I like waving at folks on bikes - they are my kinda folks.. I really could care less if they wanna not wave.. I get it,, some of those bikes are big bucks - gotta be class seperation somewhere - I could care less, I still wave at em.. Of course - I wave at kids on Mopeds ,, I remember being there and what it meant to me as a kid being acknowledge by a "Biker".. I have also stopped and help more than one Harley/Honda/Yam/Suzi rider who I KNOW didnt wave at me - just the way I am,, dont care,, in the end - I love biking because I love it,, its what I do and who I am.. Puc

Thats an interesting read Kic, thanks for posting it up..

You betcha Prairie,, your more than welcome!

Having never served I really cant even imagine what you vets have gone thru.. I have toured lots of Battle Ground areas and very seldom do I go past our National Cemetry's (Arlington is breath taking but there are many many others - like the one out by Sturgis - that will bring tears to your eyes too) as I find them.. Those rows and rows of white crosses just scream to the depth of the cliche that you qouted Minn.. Thank you to all you men and women, both living and deceased, for shouldering the costs of which that cliche speaks!! Puc

Flat out beautiful!! Thats the kind of stuff the makes it VERY HARD to even stop for gas or for dinner:cool10:.. Thanks for sharing Midnightrider!!!

Basically the front of a car with a motorcycle frame/engine/swingarm/rear wheel bolted on to it? Could be an interesting build... I think it was something like "My Trike Life" out of Florida Prairie.. Neighbors a truck driver and wont be back home now for a few days.. I will have to wait till than ask him if that is correct...

Dave,, my bud who I have been helping with the project, bought the "Kit" from a company out of Florida,, as I recall (may be wrong on this too) he told me the name of the Company was "My Trike Life" or something along that line.. The info on the axle I wrote was a quote from my neighbor - Dana 44 spider gearing, toughest rear end ya dee yada as stated to him buy the "My Trike Life" people.. Dave also said that when he spoke to the company intitally about purchasing the "kit" they told him that Paughco is one of their suppliers (of course, Paughco is HUGE - have used their stuff for years myself), dont know for sure if Paughco is where they accuired the rear axe - its very possible they have connections with the manufacture... I wasnt involved in the purchase of any of the stuff,, just helping my neighbor with a project he bought into and found out it there was a lot more to it than he originally thought.. I do know that the axel was sold to him with the understanding that it was in fact a "DANA" cause he was braggin about it to me.. I KNOW it doesnt look like a Dana car pig BUT trust me,, I also do KNOW it is a fully functional rear differential,, with spider gears... All that said,, I am sure it is possible its a Chinese clone.. I watched them buggers literally "copy specs" on a BBR Pitbike at the Dealer Expo (Dealer Tradeshow) in Indianapolis back in 2001, the next year that had an identical bike to the one BBR had built,, BBR kit was 1650 Dealer Cost, COMPLETE BIKE from China that "matched" the BBR kit was $235 (had to buy a shipping container full though).. Bottom line,, copying is what they do and I KNOW they copy everything....

Lots of Prayers Up today while installing my last sump pump (hopefully), Blessings Down.. Nite Neverland

WOW Cowboy,, those are GORGEOUS!!! Indeed,, that Diamond Cut feller is talented!!

Will do Randy!! If I am understanding this correctly Camo, you are saying that you want to end up with your bike set up like a quad front end - sort of like a Spyder?? Using the front spindles and a-arms ONLY right??? Never owned a Smart Car or a Miata so I am not familiar with the type of front ends they have on them.. It seems it would be difficult to incorporate a Strut Style front end - it would almost have to be a style with upper and lower A-arms.. Something to think about is steering geometry, in building choppers thru the years one of the most critical issues that I had to watch was the amount of trail that the rake on the neck produced.. The longer the forks, the more important it was to come out with very little positive trail. I did an 18 over at 46 degrees one time (longest Chop I ever built) that I actually had to do the neck twice cause I built it the first time at 3 1/2 inches of positive trail - I ALWAYS had GREAT results at that figure - end results on those figures resulted in a front end that would "flop" at speeds under gyro action on the front wheel (still VERY stable at speeds over a couple miles an hour).. Pulled it down to 1/2 inch of positive trail on the second try and it came out perfect.. You probably all ready know this but if you fall into negative trail, your bike will steer like a grocery cart front end - wooble wooble and be unridable.. Now,, all that said,, in car language we are talking "caster and camber".. To little caster will give you the same results as negative trail.. It would steer like a high speed garden tractor.. To much and it would be very lazy and unresponsive in its steering.. It makes me how on earth one would go about figuring out the geometry of combining the neck angle on a bike with the necessary geometry in a car and have it come out correctly,,,, I am sure someone on here is wayyyyyyyyyyyyyyy more intelligent about all this stuff than I am and perhaps they will respond with some other thoughts:backinmyday: It is a differential Prairie I surmise that after he rides it once he will find out why you and I are both preaching the same message on tossing on some rake triple trees Brian:backinmyday: I thought the same thing when I looked at the rear pulley on that axle Brian,,,, I actually counted the teeth on the new = 70, count on the (counted them myself too) = 68.. A HUGE factor in this was the size of the tire package he got,,, way to tall (gearing up), is exchanging them for a 60 series.. TOTALLY agree on the 1200 kit.. First words out of my mouth when I saw the tire width and lifted the axle into place (HEAVY) was the suggestion of dropping on the 1200 kit, torque cam, 1200 clutch W/ diaphram spring.. Its actually his wifes trike so Daves like,, she dont need no moe din a 883.. Prairie its a US made Dana 44 spider gears differential - CNC machined solid steel gear housing, Timkin bearings,, a real gorgeous piece of equipment (REAL WORK OF ART!!),, suppose to be the sturdiest rear end on the trike market today.. It operates just like a car,,, spin one wheel and the other goes the other way They do offer limited slip but not really sure that it would be a good idea on a trike,, maybe fun for off roading but not sure how that would work out on pot hole invested, gravel covered, ice covered roads of Michigan.. Personally,,, I would LOVE to build a locker to keep up with the likes of those guys on the Urals off roading and be able to ride cross country....

INDEED!! I feel the pain of that all the here in Michigan!! Thoughts and prayers for full recovery Wade! Puc

Dingy, I sent my Team donation down to B2Mom with another member,, I had to bail on the meet cause I had to "bail".. The person who volunteered to transport it for me is a good long standing member here so I am sure it found its way into the proper hands.. Just wanted you to know that I honored my commitment to the team on behalf of the St. Judes kids:backinmyday: Puc

Thats terrible,, thoughts and prayers for all involved.. We lost two of this weekend.. It was annual Blessing of The Bikes and two guys lost their lives on the way to it.. One of them was the result of hitting one of our Michigan motocross track pot holes... Sad, really really sad..

One of my neighbors, Dave, decided to go the route of building a trike out of his wifes 05 Sporty instead of spending the big bucks on buying one finished.. My other neighbor, Larry, and I have built up several "performance" Harleys now together and, in his words, "make a good team" so he "volunteered" us to help with Daves project.. The "kit" is one out of Florida, uses a Dana rear axe (GORGEOUS PIECE OF WORK), custom swing arm (REALLY A WORK OF ART!!), came with a raw glass body - not really that impressed with it, 235x15 tires on Cragers.. The kit is sold as a "Bolt together project",,, yea right.. If you have ever contemplated doing one of these please note that this is NOT a beginning bike builders type of deal.. After Dave got the package home I headed down there.. Noticed right away on the rear axe this bright yellow sticker that says something like,, after aligning yada dee yada and so on, the mounting blocks have to be welded on the axel - this being just an example of the multitude of advanced building understanding this project entails!! After we get all the fitment done, we will spend some time on the road with it, pull it all back down for fiberglass finishing, powder coating, painting, weld touch ups if needed (amazing how much a person loses with age - sight, shaky hands, achey backs dont make for those real pretty welds of yesteryear).. I have also been hounding Dave about the NEED for raking it out - man those sporties are shorties.. He wants to ride it once with the stock rake to see what its like before putting more cash into raked triple trees.. Anyway, starting from placing a running/riding 05 883 Sporty on the bench to the point of having the swing arm mounted, rear axe on as in pics was about 5 hours of time for the three of us, and two of us are pretty experienced builders.. May not look like we accomplished much but there is LOTS of tinker work involved,, like taking the differential apart to do the new belt fitment,, and on and on... NOT COMPLAINING THOUGH!! It is a GREAT project and a whole lot more fun than this continuing project of bailing water.. AND ITS FLIPPING POURING RAIN AGAIN,, ARGGGGGGGGG!! Here's some pics,, got some vids too I will be sticking up on youtube for anyone who might be interested in this madness.. Another interesting day.... Puc

Prayers Up, Blessings Down... Nite Neverland

Hi Roger and :wel_ani3Tay::wel_ani2Wa::BLUE: So glad you found us and that you are enjoying you Venture!! Hope to see you on the road someday while we are out there excercising our minds (I love that - perfect way to put it brother!!!) Scott - Cowpuc (or Puc)

What are the thoughts on planning something for September,, ride season is winding down,, we could work around as many schedules as possible - do it on a weekend - to include as many as want to come.. Lets plan it so we can spend as much of our time as possible inside the museum (I have heard it is unreal - definitely worth being inside from open till closing).. This really sounds like fun you guys!!!

AND,, obviously one who should get a new pit crew:rotf:

You mean you REALLY do have a weather machine..... Careful how ya answer that one brother,,,, lots of folks reading this who might not as easy going as ol Pucster about this crazy weather we been having... :rotf::rotf:

:wow::wow::wow::group cheers::group cheers: AND I MEAN WOW,,!! That is one gorgeous motorcycle Barry - CONGRATS BROTHER!!! Showed the pictures of it to Tippy.. She says with all those buttons and controls and the gizmos you have listed,,,,, makes her wonder if it could be programmed to do housework and cook:rotf:... We gotta meet your wife someday,, she sure sounds like a really great person Barry just like you!! Congrats on both your blessings!!

WHAT A BLAST JEFF!!!! Just a few minutes of computer time chatting with you usually leaves me cracking up,, I cant imagine being surrounded by 5 generations spanning 100 years of people who you inherited your sense of humor from and NOT laughing my guts out like you said you did!!:cool10: Congrats to your Grandma and to your whole family for doing that for her!:clap2: Puc