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dynodon

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Everything posted by dynodon

  1. dynodon
    I would think the recommended SLPR would be the safest at all times. You want to be AT your cornering speed and set up before you consider adding more speed or reducing or stopping your slowing rate. Adding power and then turning may set you up to overdrive the corner and have to get off the gas quicker and at a higher rate. Thus making a smooth turn more of a problem. I do a lot of driver education high speed track days in cars, and fully believe in setting up for the turn before getting into the turn. scrub speed, evaluate the turn, get the suspension set, and get ready to press back into the throttle before the apex.
  2. dynodon

    Mazdas?

    dynodon replied to craigatcsi's topic in Watering Hole

    I have several friends who have new Mazda 6's, and they love them. I have heard nothing but good for the smaller version, the 3. Have you checked sites like Edmunds.com to see what if anything they say about tests etc? You can also search sites like Car & Driver, road and track, Motor Trend, Automobile etc and see what tests/comparisons they have that include the 3. For small cars though, the Honda Fit is one of the best. A good friend of ours just got one, and she loves it. It gets top reviews for small cars every time. also, don't overlook the Ford Focus. This car has been updated, and looks much nicer now, they are making great deals on them, and they have great reviews and seem to be very dependable.
  3. dynodon
    Thanks for the replies, at least I know I am not alone on this.
  4. dynodon
    OK, I know a few people have problems with that "other" venture club, but I and a lot of us here are a member of both. I believe in live and let live, the internet is big enough for everyone. But starting yesterday, I have been getting virus alerts when I try to go to the venturers.org site. It doesn't appear to be coming from my McAfee site advisor though, but from Google? Has the site been hacked and attacked? Can't seem to get through to post a note, even if I ignore the warning, it comes back with every click on the site. Never seen it before. thoughts? And please, no blasts, again, many of us are on and appreciate both sites.
  5. dynodon
    Not sure if it was this site or the Venturers, but you can take a long thin screwdriver, and after removing the cruise control panel, you can tighten the head bearings without doing anything else by just tapping on the washer you can see. My '86 wobbled bad, but I tightened the bearings just a notch or two and it went away totally!
  6. dynodon
    Want to give a to Mike for being classy and bowing to Krispy's excellent find of a real "Shady Rest". Class act, Mike, for not only recognizing brilliance in Krispy getting the true target, but also giving the rest of us a chance to remember Poopy's again and understand that you were having some real fun with this topic. Well done both of you! Yes, Krispy, set the next target, one of these days I hope to be able to get one! Oh, and to those that have not been to Poopy's in Savanna, IL, it is worth a ride, not only for the great roads near it, but for great food, and a fun experience on the weekends with live music. The place is newish, clean, and interesting. Love this topic, maybe moving to the fun & etc section was a good thing, at least we can find it now and quit fighting over whether to stick it or not!
  7. dynodon
    Yes for sure he was looking into that hole and went right in. And guess what? his buddy was looking at the bike in front of him and did the exact same thing! Rule of driving and riding is do your OWN ride or drive. Do not look at the bike in front of you but the road. First bike wasn't going that fast, heck he didn't even lean over much at all. Rider that thought he knew everything. Oh, and the "bikers" image caused the people in the vehicle to leave, even though they did nothing wrong that I can see, they felt in danger from the other riders. Didn't look like a M/C to me, just a bunch of riders. They would have appreciated it if the driver had stopped probably.
  8. dynodon
    Jeff, thanks for your very well written and researched article. I especially found the comment about the magnet picking up nails and such as a good laugh. I wonder though, if sometimes, the magnet might pull nails or other sharp objects over some as you drive by, and leave them in the path? My wife has horses, and if they have shoes, they pull them and leave nails in the pasture all the time. The wife has a magnet "trolly" or sweeper, on wheels that we use from time to time to find the shoes and nails. when I had the roof on my garage replaced, we used them to sweep the yard for screws (metal roof) and got hundreds left in the grass by the crew! I use them on my gravel parking area under a carport and am surprised at how much metal I get from year to year, that I have no idea how it gets there! I do have one question. how do they ship these? I would imagine they are in a huge box to reduce the magnetic effect, or they would arrive attached to a few extra packages with metal in them for other people?
  9. dynodon
    Nice looking rig, seems you have probably everything but the front porch from your home on there! LOL
  10. dynodon
    Rather than carpet, get some of the rough stuff they put on running boards or steps etc, like sandpaper? Not sure exactly what it is but I bet they have it at major home supply/builders stores. Self-adhesive.
  11. dynodon
    I would be interested, maybe my son and wife too. I have a rally route that starts in Franklin a few miles south of Indy to Nashville and around that area, a nice ride that takes up about 5 hours. with a lunch break in Nashville, winding up near Columbus. If interested I could get you the route. It was used the the BMW club (cars) national convention for a rally in 1999. I practically grew up in Southern/Western Indiana as my parents would camp out there every weekend they could in the summer. I love the area. Columbus has a number of hotels that would be a good home base to work from, and it is an interesting city in its own right. Or Bloomington with the college has a number of hotels/motels. Of course it is a long way, but French Lick is a great destination and with the new West Baden casino, there are two superb hotels to choose from there, and the West Baden complex is a tourist destination itself along with the French Lick hotel. let me know if I can help.
  12. dynodon
    Well Squeeze and JimBob, with all due respect. I have ridden a new Glide and it wasn't that much different. I am an instructor for several car clubs for track days, and understand and know good brakes. If you can get to the limit of your tires adhesion, and control the brakes at that point, you are doing as well as you can do. Most problems with brakes are with maintenance, or pad choice or how they were broken in or used. Many times bigger brakes give you a bit more thermal capacity, but not much more braking capability, sometimes NO extra capability. Now if you are talking taking your RSV or VR on a road racing track for a long session, then yes, give me all the brakes I can get, but I doubt that is the point. go for it if you want more brakes, but my '86 has great brakes.
  13. dynodon
    Red Ryder, I would think letting up on the front brake and applying a little foot brake might help stabilize it, but if not, then some gas would be my next best guess, but that is all it is, a guess. Need someone that has experimented with THIS bike (Royal Star Venture) in that situation to answer that one! Sounds like you did OK if you didn't go down. As for the deer, I was afraid you were going to conclude that if you had left the loud pipes on, the deer would not have bolted, but you just can't make that assumption. Could be that every deer you saw the last years would have bolted with the loud pipes, you just can't say what motivates these critters. I use a deer whistle that I like, but I am going to stop short of saying it works. Maybe, maybe not. I know that I used it when doing the One Lap of America, driving 5000+ miles in a little over a week, mostly at night. We SAW three or four deer, and they all looked at us and turned away. The car was pretty quiet except for the whistle. But I had one of those on another car recently and collected my first deer in 45 years of driving! Here is one to tell your friends. When they were fixing my car, I called the body shop and asked them to pop the deer whistle off the old bumper cover and put it in the glove box for me to put back on! You could hear the guys in the shop howling over that one, and I was laughing with them, but I paid 3 bucks for that damn thing, and wanted it back! LOL
  14. dynodon
    Wow, I never thought of my '86 VR as being weak in braking at all. It can haul down really quick. Good disks/pads and fresh fluid should give you about all the brake you can use. Maybe you need to work on your grip strength and ankle exercises?
  15. dynodon
    Since cars built in the US today all must meet basic safety standards, then physics will win out most of the time when a heavier vehicle hits a smaller vehicle. If I drive a 4000 pound car and hit a I run the club for the Ford Taurus SHO. I have several members that are alive today because the Taurus (and SHO Taurus) are some of the safest cars on the roads today, even if more than 10 or 15 years old! My friends are alive because the car was strong enough to protect them from the worst. We have two direct examples of people sitting in their cars after the accident, hearing the EMT's come up and say (direct quote): "It's a Taurus, they might be alive". I know that for a very small car, the Smart car has a pretty strong and safe frame/cage. That still doesn't mean I would trust my grandchildren to one!
  16. dynodon
    Fun and Frivolous seems like the same as Jokes, and would be like hiding our rowdy group away in a corner. Yea, we whine about sticking this one, but it is fun, and is BY FAR the most used topic on the Watering hole, thus earning a stick IMO! Plus if it isn't stuck, then there is a bunch of wasted bandwidth "bumping" it up all the time. so we have the most used thread, by a factor of 15 or more! and it has FIVE stars! By what criteria should a thread be stuck if not those? (sorry beginning to sound a little like a founding father!). Boss, it is your show.... but remember we are a whiny bunch!
  17. dynodon
    Yes, I remember that most of the time I have been a member this has not been "stuck". I think that something like this that goes on, and is for everyone, should be stuck. Maybe if the consolidated some of the stuck threads about the rally?
  18. dynodon
    I actually put a deposit down on one over a year ago. When they did a drive event in St. Louis, they asked everyone to sign up to drive one. I did, got my instructions and when I arrived at the appointed time, there was a 2 hour wait to drive one. I found out while waiting that I was about the ONLY one to sign up, everyone else just walked up when they saw some free food/water and other stuff. The organizers didn't make any attempt to pull the prospective owners (with deposits down) from the crowd, and I was steaming and steamed by the sun by the time I got to drive one. Yes, the transmission is crude to say the least, much worse than any lawn mower I have ever had. Engine was rough as a John Deer 2 cyl diesel tractor. Room inside was amazing, and I have to say the car didn't drive tiny, you felt like there was more car than was really there. But after the treatment and drive, I got my deposit back and will stick with bigger cars for sure. Plus, they only brought to the US the biggest engine, and MPG is not any better than any number of cheaper/bigger cars like the Ford Focus, or Honda Fit. Much more practical four seat cars that are better all around. I don't see many in downstate Illinois, and I won't ever be a buyer for one.
  19. dynodon
    the person that sets the target does have a say in IF the new solution is valid, but basically it is kind of a group thing. Sometimes the person that set the target doesn't reply for a while. If it is obvious that you got it, then the new winner goes ahead and sets the target anyway, and if there is a question, the group will catch it and a couple times the catch has been disallowed. So far this thread had been very democratic and diplomatic, I just wish I could get one of the catches! Someone set a target of "you your bike and a corn field" I would get that one easy! LOL Of course so would 10,000 others.
  20. dynodon
    excessively loud Motorcycles (and cars, boom box cars in general) are a pet peeve of mine. They aren't any safer, in fact, they can startle a driver into making a move that would not be anticipated, right into the bike! Some bikers (Harley almost exclusively) use their LOUD pipes as a weapon sometimes, intentionally laying on the throttle when going by a car or other bike. At those times I wish for a multi horn air setup off a train or ocean going ship. When the head of Harley himself says it is time to quiet the bikes a little, then you KNOW it is time.
  21. dynodon
    If the surface is rough, use detail clay first. Most parts stores have it, I like the Mothers brand clay (yellow). Follow the instructions. Works like a charm on the rough stuff, then use a glaze or polish (cleaner/wax will work in a pinch) by hand if possible. I find that a buffer is more work than it is worth, and it is very easy to harm the finish, plus they almost always put little specks on everything within a 100 yards! I am talking about the low speed random orbital types, don't even THINK about using a high speed buffer unless you are a pro at it already.
  22. dynodon
    Squid, Glad you got a bike, and a wonderful First Gen to boot! Nice that you moved UP in bike while saving some money~! LOL Now, after the fact, but your experience is a good lesson in one of the first laws of towing a trailer: Always....ALWAYS check the wheel bearings and tires for temperature with your bare hand every.....EVERY time you stop! Ever see a truck driver hop out at a stop and go around his truck before high tailing it to the bathroom? They know that to get the "temp" of the vehicle, you check it as soon as you can after you stop. Touch every tire (on tow vehicle too) and the trailer, and also touch the axle/bearings. This means if you have hubcaps that cover the bearings on a trailer, you should remove them. Too hot to touch for more than a couple of seconds? Then you have a problem. Even on a 100 degree day, bearings should be just warm to the touch, never hot. Tire tread and sidewalls can get hot, but should not be too hot to touch for several seconds. This was probably building for many trips. Get in the habit of checking those things every time. Glad you weren't hurt and got home OK, sounds like a fun trip otherwise. Let us know how you like the new old bike! I love my '86 VR.
  23. dynodon
    I just bought an HJC IS-33. 3/4 with a face shield, drop down fighter pilot style sun shade, and nice look and interior. First helmet I have had that I can actually feel the airflow when those tiny vents on top are open. Fit very nice, size was true to their size chart. It seems to not go down as far on the sides by maybe 1/2" as the Nolan I still have. I buy the cheap J&M headset units with the thick speakers. I had to cut out all the padding at the ears to mount my speakers, but they fit great, don't touch my ears and the sound is good, still plenty of padding around the head to protect. You can get them lots of places, shop around you can get them for $120-125 with free shipping.
  24. dynodon
    I'll second that the V-nose isn't worth a whole lot in MPG, but I will say this, we had an aluminum 2 horse trailer with regular round nose, went with a V-nose just a little lighter, but in headwinds, we do a LOT better. But this is a much taller wider trailer than a typical 2 bike trailer, and we haul about 6000 or more pounds with two horses. GEt it tall enough that you can get in it easily, you don't want to be walking in with the bike, and have to be "small". Same with width. putting in two bikes is tough enough, but make it wide enough not only for the bikes, but for YOU to be there with the bikes! Get lots of factory tie-down d-rings or other mechanisms is you can. and a front walk-in door is a HUGE benefit in loading, unloading and tying down. When loading, you want to make sure that your hitch, the ball mount and the ball are rated for the full load, and put at least 10% of the total load on the ball. Biggest mistake is to put way too much or even a bit to little weight on the ball. Can be terribly unstable if too little especially. If your tow vehicle has a modest suspension, and you find the back end sagging, do NOT go with air bags, go with a weight distributing hitch. They cost a little bit (not a huge amount) but hold their value, and won't ever wear out. they stabilize the vehicle, and trailer, and make towing a LOT safer. Please consider this for any trailer if you don't have a heavy duty tow vehicle. Even then, for bigger loads, the better hitch is a good idea. Draw-tite and Reese offer several different load equalizing hitches. I would be glad to talk to you by PM about this if you want. I have quite a bit of experience towing with them up to 9000 pounds.
  25. dynodon
    I used to torque everything with a torque rating! No more. I became an adult (did the torque thing when helping my brother-in-law before I was 16!). Those torque ratings are for the FACTORY only for the most part, when bolts and threads are new, and parts are going together with perfect wrenches on an assembly line. The ONLY bolts you should use a torque wrench on older cars/bikes are Big bolts that hold important parts like lug nuts, axle nuts, rod bolts and nuts, head bolts etc. Most anything else and ANYTHING that is small and goes into aluminum or sheet steel, should be tightened by hand and when you feel it getting tight, quit! Many bolts today are designed to bottom out, things like valve covers have thin rubber gaskets or use silicone seals, they do NOT need to be tight. If you feel it bottom out, give it a TINY tug and quit. If you are concerned about it coming lose, use blue loctite (sp?) the red is for major stuff like rod bolts. If you MUST torque stuff a lot, then buy a really good wrench and have it tested from time to time, and don't use it to take OFF stuff.
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