baylensman

I can see a permanent "cross hatch brand" matching the cylinder head on the back of my fat leg though.

So my wife was out of town for a week. I used her car almost every day due to weather and having to run errands after work( remember she's out of town so I had groceries and the vet and what not). Her milage computer in the dash started the week at avg 16.1 MPG now this is an SUV (Ford Freestyle) used for around town, both of us work fairly close to home so no longer trips. Well anyhow end of the week the trip meter now shows 17MPG average! I guess she's a little more aggressive behind the wheel than I am! So in just a week i've increased the avg by 1 mpg, doesn't seem like much until you consider the trip computer was last reset 5000 miles ago and i only put on about 200 of those, so my actually MPG was probably much higher. Just to show what driving/riding style can do to MPG. Now if I can just do that on two wheels HAHAHHAHAHA

Just to ask a few maybe dumb questions, So we are talking converting current CV carbs to TBI carbs? I've been looking at the kits for VW based buggys, small TBI and complete electrics can be had in the $2K range. Also looking at the Holley 2BBL self contained kit under $1K either way would need some sort of manifold. I did do a Steel tube manifold years ago for a small V8 ( 221 CID mercury) we were trying to run in bracket racing. WE built it right on the block, before we sent it out to be cooked and cleaned, we used some 1" exhaust tube and a knocked up box from our brake then tacked a 4 bbl spacer plate to it. It worked! If i had a spare engine sitting around hmmmm....

Just talked to my Bro, his "New" harley 2 years old, has a wobble in the front, dealer says we gotta repack and seal the forks. Yeah its got some miles it but over $1K to brink the forks back! Repack reseal adjust and new oil a thousand dollars!!!!! Evidently the Fairing has to come off in order to service the front end! I guess HD does mean 100 dollars!!!

So yesterday afternoon, I pull into the carport, hop off the bike and evidently left the key somewhere between off and on. At 5:30 a.m. I go out to go to work, The little panel on the radio control is lit up! I grabbed the key and it moved maybe 1/4" and the light went out. well back it up past her truck and the pole onto the street. turn the key back on the headlight comes on I hit the starter, bike say to me "click click NO WAY click click NO WAY click click NO WAY" Ah ****, push the beastie back into the carport ( pushing up the grade with no room between the carport support poles and the truck isn't easy). So i'm wondering what is the recovery like on the batteries? Is it toast or can I charge it up and keep it in service for a while? I know on some of my older bikes with smaller batteries one good flat line and they wouldn't hold a charge anymore. So should I stop at Wally world on the way home and get one, or is it worth trying to see if it comes back. On the plus side, I drove the car today, and there was a surprise pop up storm dumping lots of water all over this end of the county So no rain suit no goggles and i didn't get my freshly washed and waxed bike wet. (first time that's ever happened It always rains after i clean it)

Just heard this one from my friend TJ he's new to the trucking biz. A lady screamed at him about not stopping quick enough, she said "It's so easy for you to stop, you have all that weight pulling you down!"

Well I followed everybody's advice. New KN filters, synthetic lube. Sync carbs, Drive it different (keep revs hid and speed down) higher tire pressure. new platinum plugs. Changed the angle of the lower deflects cut down the windshield waxed the bike real good. took off all the extra chrome. Wear a skin tight leather suit, aero dynamic helmet. Now I have another issue, every week I have to take gas back out of the bike!!!:banana:

So many one liner come backs to yours so much bigger.........

I guess politicians are sales people of a sort, they sells us a bill of goods every couple of years.

do the newer 4x4s still have the extra shift lever or are they all push button now?

Been perusing some old posts trying to catch up, Seems that a lot of us have had humorous or just plain dumb things told to us by sales people. Let's post a couple of gems here just for grins. I'll start being told by a "youngish" motorcycle salesman that "only 2 strokes have carbs that's why they smoke so much" Over heard at Sears in the Lawn and garden department "Only put premium fuel in your mower because it does n't have Ethanol in it" At Staples being told "400 DPI printers have a higher Drawing to picture interface that the 300 DPI printer" Probably my favorite at Home Depot " Front loading wash machines are for short people, because they can't reach all the way to the bottom of a standard washer"

To sum up. Its not the hauling that's the issue is the loading unloading. Even an older small truck like a Mazda B200/ford ranger or a Jimmy/S10 can handle the bike weight wise. You need a lot of hands balancing the beasty as it goes up and down the ramp. We had a small winch, that dropped into a pocket in the bed for snow mobiles, we used that truck for hauling my 1st gen when I snapped the drive shaft.

It's an ages old battle. Going back to the 90's. At poker runs and shows people always stop and look at my bikes (whichever i happen to own at the time, alway big Yamahas) I get oh's and ah's and nice bike from most folks, then some look it over and see the Yamaha on the case covers and the refrain is always the same, " Oh its just a Harley wanna be" Usually I ignore it, but every once in a while I can't let it go. So my first question is what do your ride? 90% of the time "Oh I don't have a bike" or " I used to have a Honda-BSA-Dirt bike" When the response is "i'd rather not ride japanese junk" I uncork on that sucker. Give him both barrels so to speak. Performance the edge is to the bigger Yamaha, handling again the Yamaha, cost blows 'em out of the box. Then I talk reliability and 5 year warranty with unlimited milage versus 1 year with a deductible and a max milage unless you pay extra. One time a guy got back on my case about overseas jobs. Oh boy, I hit him back with Yamaha America employs more people than Harley, the dealer network is wider and employees more folks at better wages. That's the only time I really got angry at a knuckle head, he raised his voice and stepped up!! So did I! 6 foot tall and 280#'s with a 56 inch chest right in his face. He turned and walked away muttering something about Jap lover or whatever. Since then I don't let it bother me.

I found this last night, i think i'm going to try it https://revivalcycles.com/products/flexible-led-taillight

I know i read a post years back about the LEDS in the factory wing being too dim or quitting altogether. I can't find the post on repairing replacing that led strip> It may have been on another (GASP!) forum. Any input on how to replace it?

Saw an interesting car show about wiring and off road vehicles. The guy doing the wiring used all crimp connectors his explanation was "new FAA specs call for crimped and shrink wrapped connection on aircraft, due to vibration cracking newer low lead or lead free soldered joints over time" don't know if i buy that or not but it was interesting either way.

Go out to garage, drink an Imported beer, take the beer can cut it open. Make two shims slight smaller than the circumfrence of the 1" bar ( like 3") loosen clamps slide shim stock in place retighten. The go Read "zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance" by Robert Pirsig. Then tell everyone you fixed the clamps with the finest bavarian shim stock

looks like this one. Switches are inserted then nuts on the back. wires soldered on common on post #1 , three separate leads out for three accessories one on each #2 post. I'm think I'm going to use a needle nose and loosen the nuts and put a dab of silly cone in there and retighten and maybe grab a spare master cylinder gasket from the drawer and add that? if you have the lighted LED model theres two hot and a ground also. I had that one before and ditched because the switches didnt last

Gravitational vortex? Poltergeist? Steroid enraged chipmunks? Any number of "Rational" explanitions, the "rational response SEE ABOVE

no nuts on the front of the switches. the nests are on the back and the switches are soldered in, but i'll see about shooting some petroleum jelly into the pivots, to seee if that helps.

So we are all sitting around the pool deck at the clubhouse, generally enjoying our retirement. This guy charges through the building, you can hear doors slamming open, well at this time of day there is nothing going on inside, door are only open to give access to the pool. Finally this guy bursts through the door onto the deck and says "where Alice?" we all look at each other nobody knows anybody named Alice. We tell the guy nobody here by that name. Well the guys shoulders slump and he looks real disappointed. One of our braver members ask him why he's so depressed. He explains that he has a new girl friend that he couldn't keep up with in the sack. She told him See Alice before we try again, turns out he's been hunting her for days.

So i've posted before about my LEDS and wet weather. I've been chasing what I thought was GALVANIC action at a bad connection. Well I've actually traced it to the KURYICAN switch block. The unit does have a gasket around the top and tapered screw holes with a good fit. I guess its just not tight enough with the driving rains in florida. the bike is under cover but sometimes it rains side ways! Also I ride in the rain. SO does anyone have a product that I can spray or apply over the back of the switches to dispel the moisture? WD40 seems to work for a while but it don'ts stick and keep working.

First let me say that so many things affect mileage. None more so than riding style and trip length! I've owned an 86RSV , 96 RS and 2007RSV. Around town and short tripping (95) of my riding is below 60MPH) my MPG has never been higher than 36 or lower than 30. I've taken two long distance trips in the past two years (considerable time at 60+MPH) on both trips my MPG was 41. Now I ride it like I stole it every day, all three bikes the same way. to and from work the store or whatever. Trips always required the van (kids and ex wife) Now that I'm paying off the divorce not a lot of trips under my belt yet. But 35 mpg and the wind in my face is much better that 14 mpg in the lincoln! So as others have suggested to get a good baseline plan a trip somewhere out 120 miles or so Fill the bike prior to the leg out and again just prior to the way back. One way try and keep the needle steady and the rev's even the other way get a little more aggressive say 60 mph versus short sprints to 80+ passing and what not. This will give you a great idea of what the bike can get in MPG and what riding style does to it. Plenty of MPG threads here refer to the Vacuum operated throats on these bikes and why keeping the revs higher helps. the bike should not ever see 5th gear unless you have a chance to run at 55 MPH or higher for a distance.(i've then mine to 80 in 4th without the bike screaming!)

A lot depends on when and where! 04-09 RSV here in FLA going for between $4 and $6k and they're selling different bikes listed every couple of weeks. the big issue is that everyone wants Fuel Injection. The general motoring public has bought ito the idea that carburetors are evil cause global warming make bikes unridable and cause tooth decay!! I was amazed at the Stealership a youngish sales guy comes over while i'm looking at a GW, when i mentioned fuel injection, his response was that all bikes are fuel injected and have been for decades, only two strokes had carburetors thats why they smoke!! So preserve and try multiple listings don't count on craigslist. try cycle trader and local biker publications, take the old bike to a show and shine or two with a sale sign on it when you park. On a warm night go to a local hot spot, put the sales sign and sit for a while have a sandwich watch some ball on TV. Word will get out.