cowpuc

Seeing that pic of a center stand that once was Dons brought about a thought.. I have bought/sold a few Kawasaki Voyager 2's and they have the coolest center stand, its a 2 stage deal that if operated correctly is almost effortless to raise the bike.. I wondered if any one has ever looked at adapting one of those to a Venture?? Curiousity and all that... Puc

Gotta be,,, I mean how many "Freebirds" can there be out there in Royal Star land... Its fun knowing people who are famous! Puc

LOL!! Even rarer yet,, back in the day anyway... Sheesh Puc wake up and smell the roses!!! Remembering back in high school our math teachers lecturing that some day we were all going to be switched to the metric system, should have payed more attention instead of watching girls... Thanks Prairiehammer!! Puc

I love Willie, I won a contest once for front row tickets to one of his concerts by guessing the name of five songs just from two strums of his guitar - got all five right,,,, been listening to his music for years and years.. Even got a bandana he tossed me off his head.. Hopefully everyone fully recovers from their injuries! White eagle crossed the big horn river,,, his ponies piled with fur,, Snowflower waited with the women of the tribe,, to many moon he'd been gone from her... Puc

Ask and you shall receive.. Tell Shane I said HI and congrats on his new bike!! That Blondie is a copy of my 1st Venture back in the 80's - kids and I crossed the country on it many many times, retired it at over 200,000 miles with tons of great FAMILY memories!! Matter of fact, the blonde side covers on our bike now are from that bike - sentimental ol Puc.. Hey Randy, brother to brother,, you been in this a long time too and probably already know this but the early models had a stator problem related to insuffecient oil cooling on the stator, the fix was a little splash plate.. I toasted a stator on my first one because I didnt know about it,,, something else to think about.. Also dont forget to check that water pump (remember that plastic junk impellar they put in em at first?).. Glad your offspring are steering away from rockets, and hope the leg is at full strength by spring!! You guys have fun tinkering this winter, your raising em right Randy! Puc

My eyes lit up like Tim The Toolman Taylor... Now whenever someone asked that age old question - "what do you want for Chrismas Dad", you have an answer,,,, tungsten - diamond wheel for sharpening tungsten - new ceramic cups for the torch... Man can have a LOT of fun with a welder like that!!!! Congrats Puc

I was an AVID deer hunter, both bow and gun, when younger and used my little Honda CT90 to tow many deer out of the woods (still got it in the basement),, I gotta say Brian - I love the pic of the guy with the bucks head stickin up in the side hack That Ural looks like hoot and very universal!! Thanks for posting! Puc

Hey Hummingbird, I was a machinist for Gardner Denver (air tools) for a few years back in the early 70's and those pics bring back memories of days long gone.. I concur with you and the others, it appears to be a positioning jig - possibly for use on mill or drill press table, maybe even setting depth on the tooling of a turret lathe.. Most modern shops now adays use programmable controllers for that stuff.. How ever crude it may look, instruments like that would save hours in setup time back then AND guys made good money in tool rooms making stuff like that!! If I were you I would remove those two screws holding the scale (thats a nice one - lots of old 6 inch scales around but a good ol 15 incher is harder to come by) and use it and put the remaining parts in my "those parts might come in handy" drawer.... Thanks for the walk down memory lane.. Puc

Brain Gotta love it! Isnt your Ural 2 wheel drive? Had a few cars with posi-trac in em, lots of 3 wheelers and quads and they LOVED to do donuts - does the Ural also have this tendency or do you have to force it into a slide?? Looks like your putting that puppy to the test for durability,, how is it holding up so far, how many miles on it now?? Would you trust it on a cross country, two tracking, ghost towning trip? Enjoy your snow buddy,, if you need anymore let me know Puc

Thanks for posting this Eddie! I LOVE the areo dynamics of this vehicle, I LOVE the claimed MPG of it and, being a biker, love the cross over combo between motorcycle and car design. I REALLY like this guys attitude about producing in America with America's job force in mind and, of course, their pricing!! I also found this: http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=narrow+track+vehicles&sm=1 Really neat video clip of the how - whens and whys of the cross dynamics of car/motorcycle - awesome clip!! Also, while traveling out west last summer I bumped into a guy crossing country on an electric motorcycle (see pics). He and Craig Vetter (yep, from Vetter Fairings) have been doing a ton of work with air dynamics and streamlining. I cant help but see a lot of the stuff he told me about being applied to the vehicle your looking at!! 84 MPG = AWESOME!!! On a side note, seems like there a lots of folks trying to cash in on the high cost of fuel and bad economy these days.. Seeing that these guys haven't really got a lot of capital into a building and tooling yet I cant help but wonder if their stated production model ETA is accurate.. Just cant be to careful about which star you hook your wagon to these days.. Not trying to sound pessimistic but just being honest..

I am sooooo jealous I could scream!!!! Maybe if I offered to buy my future grand kids each a Gen 1 my kids would get busy,, arggggg.. You, my good friend, are truely blessed!! Here's to many many many fun times of riding, playing and tinkering on bikes with your precious family!! Puc

Reality is I love kids, perhaps the reason why is they always have a way of bringing me back to a sense of reality.. Examples? My oldest daughter teaches kindergarten/1st grade. After explaining to one of her students the importance of getting his work done he comments,, but teacher - I am a "playing boy" not a "working boy". Last spring - My wife, Tippy, and I are headed out for the summer on our bike to tour the country. We have a neighbor with a 5 year old who, throughout his short life, we have been spoiling with daily "freeze pops". His dad brought him down to say goodbye on the day we were leaving.. Before we left I told him I had a surprise for him. I pulled out 2 cases of popcicles for him and he got the BIGGEST grin on his face.. I than said, you gotta freeze em, have you got a freezer?? After staring off into the distance for a second he looks me in the eyes and says,,, "everyone has a freezer dont they?.. Years ago one of my kids (around that 3 year old age) was standing on her little stool in the bathroom playing in the sink,, splashing water and just going to town.. I noticed her and said,, Tami - what are doing?? She paused for a second and looked at me and said "I dont know what I'm doing Daddy".. Puc

:rotf: With the thanks giving turkey thats being smoked inside it being bounced from shelf to shelf.. I would love to pull into Sturgis like this... Puc

WOW,, M-o-S,, dont do that - just reading this makes my heart jump!! I am sooo flippin in tune with you about the type "A" comment and the doctors comment about controlling stress.. In my younger days I was a Plant Manager in a Union shop, my nerves got to the point that even a telephone ringing would make my heart jump - weird eay.. Anyway, one time while talking to my doctor he says that 90 percent of my health problems were stress related and time to find a new line of work.. I said, come on doc, how can that be.. He said that I had symptoms that parelleled Post Tramatic Stress stuff.. I actually laughed and he balled me out.. I left Management and went into my own business,, yep, out of the frying pan and into the fire hahaha.. Sometimes I wonder if the indians didnt have it right,,, but than again, I highly doubt having a mountain lion suddenly attack ya while your going potty sounds any less stressful.. You have my prayers partner in your endeavor to good health. Sounds like excellent advice in listening carefully to the doctors but I agree with you in your comment about "thats all I have to do.." - I totally get it.. Puc

Hi Darrin I like what you got going on there bro.. I can honestly say that I have never seen a set of those 4x2 pipes before, pretty cool indeed.. I am over in Muskegon, and like you, a little bit of a tinkerer.. Come spring we gotta get together and let me see and hear what that sounds like!! On another note, I have been riding old Ventures (never had one newer than 84) for years now and have put a lot of thought into switching over to the TD when we move into modern times LOL.. Its a head scratcher for sure cause the wife and both really like the modern Venture too.. Anyway, just wanted to give ya a thumbs up on your project and wish you a great season of spinning wrenches!! Puc

Yea buddies,,, its not a good sign for motorcycle addicts when you have to put the Carharts on just to go out and get the mail

Thanks for all the thoughtful and words of encouragement from my family here, you folks are a blessing! Thank you Puc

I welded pipe for the boilermakers back in my younger days and gotta say,, I sure dont like the looks of the welds I see in those pics.. Just from that alone I would say no, I wouldnt trust that one.. On the other hand, I am one who really apprectiates off the wall stuff and the wierdness of this trailer does have produce a draw to me,, kinda cool in a backyard kinda way!!

I left home when I was 15 (long long time ago), lived on the street for a while, a friends family took me in and raised me thru my teen years.. This friend passed away last friday. He was out doing yard work and scratched his arm. The scratch became infected and got severe enough that it had to be amputated!! After amputation he lasted a week in intensive care and he passed away.. 3 weeks after a a scratch on the arm my friend lost his life!!! An autopsy showed a form of flesh eating bacteria which began at the scratch site. It also showed he had a compromised immune system due to sclorisis of the liver.. Apparently what happened to my buddy is pretty rare and usually only affects those who suffer with a low immune system.. My wife and I spent the day at the funeral, being pall bearer and than the evening with the family.. Dad and I talked about how hard it is to bury an offspring,, something that I hope and pray neither I nor any of you ever have to experience - tough stuff.. We cried together (of course) but than starting sharing stories of our memories of days past.. These memories were amazingly comforting to all of us, including Mom and Dad.. Upon leaving their home last night we all talked about the importance of continuing to build these good memories between each other and I wanted to pass a reminder along to my family here.. Its not the quantity or quality of the things we own that matter in the end,, its the sharing of those things, and our time, with others we love that seem to really count.. Just thought I would share... Puc

Thanks for the link Joe, while I really like the looks of the F6, for some reason this new Valk doesnt seem to have the same appeal to me, different strokes for different folks I guess.. BUT,, gotta admit, I really admire those folks at Honda for testing different markets and offering such a neat variety of way cool bikes Puc

I feel for ya brother!! Went thru it back in 03 (simular stuff to what Lewis is facing) and still makes me feel woosy when I go to visit people in the hospital (something about the smell of horsepistals)... Praying for your family too!!! Puc

I have a buddy who's favorite line is "its always something".. I have been coming out here since the 70's and this is Tips 2nd one. Our stop at "the rally" this year would prove again to be "something".. It's amazing how the rally has changed thru the years.. It wasnt very long ago that the open road on a bike with a tent strapped on and headed for the nations biggest gathering was breathtaking, just following along in a line of thousands of others on motorcycles, an endless array of old flatheads/shovel heads/ironheads/choppers/bobbers proved to be quite exciting - especially when a person was riding an early 650 Yamaha like I was. My first year I learned that metric bikes were truly not a welcome site,, matter of fact these "real bikers" actually had a habit of burning metrics (I am talking about FIRE here) to show their distaste for anything other than the good ol American made icon.. My how things have changed.. On this trip our 83 Yam with a tent on the back and covered with the stickers of all the places we had seen not only was welcome but was admired everytime we stopped. Comments being made like - "that bike is amazing" "you two are hard core bikers" "wish I could get my wife to do something like that" and so on.. The "evolved" Sturgis rally and the journey there leads me to think they should rename it to something like,, Americas Toyhauler Extraveganza or Bikes In Tow Show.. At any rate its certainly shocking to see what its all come to be.. Tippy and I rode thru town, snapped some shots of the crowd and headed out past the Buffalo Chip to see if our camping spot was still "open". There is a real nice patch of open prairie a short distance east of the Chip that I have camped on for years and, yep, it was still unfenced and freshly hayed so we had our place to camp again.. One of the huge highlights of this years rally was going to be the launching of the 2014 Indian (Polaris) lineup. We had purposely timed our journey back toward home to catch this awesome event and WE MADE IT!!! The unveiling party was quite a show, with introducing VIP's from Polaris, a live band (Tippy thought they were just to loud - I really didnt pay much attention/I was there to see the new bike line LOL), LOTS of people and the bikes were AWESOME.. A little while after getting in the gates they passed out arm bracelets that had LED lights in them.. The host made an announcement that these were going to be used in a very special way,,,, I had my fingers crossed, legs crossed and even crossed my eyes in hopes that the "very special way" meant that someone was gonna win a new bike.. Wishful thinking for sure but it certainly had me going!! When they finally did roll the new line of Indians out there were a LOT of WOWS to be heard amongst the crowd, it really was an exciting atmosphere - well worth the stop!! After the party was over we went back to our quiet prairie spot and watched a big storm come in across the prairie - there is nothing quite like the smells/sounds/winds and lightening coming off the Black Hills of South Dakota.. Test rides were being offered on the new Indians but our daughter was suppose to be home in a couple days to visit so we decided to head out and pick up a test ride when offered locally back in Michigan (which we did).. We made our way toward Wounded Knee by way of Rushmore.. After checking out Rushmore we came back thru Keystone and bumped into some local kids selling lemonaid so of course we stopped.. We love kids,, especially business minded ones.. The 25 cent drink was terrible but that didnt effect the 2 dollar tip we gave each of them.. We headed east to highway 44 (goes under Badlands National Park) headed to Wounded Knee.. 44 actually tips back up and comes into the little town of Interior which is one of the gates for the park - this time we turned off before Interior to head south down Bombing Range Road (gorgeous ride!!).. Just before we turned off we passed some folks on another Venture pulling a trailer - we didnt get a pic but we did SEE YOU and waved - who ever you were!! We pulled into Scenic (corner of 44 and Bombing Range).. A little biker party was happening so we stopped to say howdy.. Really neat little spot with lots of photo ops,,,, thankfully those jail doors werent lockable - gave me the jeebers (see pics).. Before we arrived at Wounded Knee we stopped for gas at a little gas station on the Reservation.. We were making good time and there were a couple little Sioux Indian kids playing around the pumps in a mud puddle and the little boy was admiring our bike and keeping a pretty close eye on us,, good for him.. After gassing up we pulled the bike over by his mom (sitting in the lot waiting for her hubby).. Wasnt long before I was playing in the water with em, I found a dime near the puddle and gave it to the little girl, she went bragging to her mom.. The little boy grabbed my hand and walked back over to his mom with me.. The little boy was whining about him not having a dime so I offered to take them treasure hunting, with the Moms ok - away we went... We found 63 cents around the lot and another 3 dollars worth of change in the tank bag on our bike hahahaha.. The history of the Wounded Knee Massacre, the museum, the cemetery and the area is awesome.. While not as impressive as the Little Bighorn park it sparked just as much historic interest for Tippy and I.. Years ago I lived almost across the street from a Sioux Indian (Dr. Cummings) back in Michgan.. He flew supplies into the Wounded Knee uprising back in the 70's.. There was lots of stuff at the museum about this at the museum as well as the massacre. We left Wounded Knee and had a really nice relaxing ride back up toward Murdo, made the gas station there right after dark.. The attendant there noticed our Oregon Ducks sticker on our bike and LOVED it, we sat and chatted with her about our trip and I snapped a pic of her and Tip,, gotta love these South Dakota folks - young or old,, some really friendly people!! Went down 16 (runs parallel with 90) about 3 miles and dropped the tent for the night,,, camping again on the open prairie!!

Getting ready to bring the story back to life here Dan and notice this comment of yours,, allllllll those guys pointing to each other really had me confused (more clarity on this when I finally get to VOGEL in my story)... It took me a bit to understand why no one wanted to admit to being the REAL Yammer,,, my bald head still has the proverbial pirates "black spot" where it bumped your head so I KNOW who the real Yammer is!!!

Lewis Cher and I are on the longgg list of folks praying for you (and your precious wife).. So glad to hear that some of the pain has lessened (hopefully this is what you implied about getting the shots).. We are both hoping and praying that the pain stays controllable up to the 13th of December.. Lay low buddie, we are all here praying for you!! Scott and Cher

Glad to hear all came out good!! I have heard thru lots of folks that those tater cuff surgeries can take a longgg time to get past, sounds like your doing it right - listening to the doctors - good for you!!! Puc