Mordalo

Don't hold back... I sense a bit of frustration... are you getting enough fiber?

sigh... unfortunately, New Mexico is a virtually doughnut-free state. My wife is still mourning the loss of Krispy Kreme. Albuquerque's mayor actually instructed the cops here not to patronize doughnut shops while in uniform for a while back in the late 90's.

So did you ever find out which basket you actually had originally? And if you don't mind me asking, how much did all this cost (or was it covered under warranty? I've forgotten...)

On my old VW Bug and my older Chevy pickup when that started happening on the turn signals it was because the relay was gettin' ready to burn out. They should be pretty cheap too...

My wife is always whining for a Trike. That'll work.

I had a Mustang saddle on my Shadow Sabre 1100 and while the boys were indeed a bit more crowded, Monkey Butt and back pain were greatly reduced. My a$$ had a bunch more room after I donated the $400 for the saddle! Seriously though, I think every saddle is going to have some sort of issue, be it up front or in back unless you have it tailored. IMHO the best riding saddle is the one you have done locally where you can try it repeatedly and have it tailored to your buttocks.

thanks Freebird. Unfortunately I read your post about 30 seconds too late... but I hadn't even thought about picking up a used one. I think I'll do that. thanks!

So, has anyone compared the various 'baskets'? I mean race car mechanics have been shaving gears for decades. I'm certainly no machinist. Heck I can't even spell it (thank God for spell-check). I'm little more than a shade-tree mechanic who's willing to wrench on anything so long as I have some instructions and the ability to replace it (i.e. can afford to replace it). My local yamma dealer (we'll just call him Satin for now) will be glad to sell me an "H" basket for $215 USD because that's what the Yamma parts catalog has in it. I haven't torn in to mine yet to see which one I have, but I was thinking about running my current basket down to to a machine shop and having them shave a little off each of the teeth. I figure if I'm gonna plunk 2 bones on another basket anyway it's worth trying make this one go first. I was just wondering if anyone else has already tried this. I'm also wondering if perhaps I'm going the wrong way? Perhaps the teeth need to be thicker? For the record, I just picked up a 99 RSV about 200 loud, whiny, brutally annoying miles ago. I've owned Hondas that have their own annoying sounds (ever heard of the "honda tick?") but this is just BRUTAL. It's actually louder than my radio will go (without blowing the speakers) at 2500rpm in second!!! I love this RSV, it rides like a dream but with this whine I don't even need a gremlin bell! The whine will drive the gremlins crazy and make them fall off! Any thoughts on machining? thx!

I weigh about 350 and my wife is about 100 pounds lighter than I. I started of on a Honda 1100 city cruiser and eventually moved up to my current mount, the RSV. Aside from an Ultra-Classic and the BMW 1200RT we've not had many issues with riding two-up. I practiced in parking lots for about the first 10,000 miles before I ever tried riding with a passenger. The BMW was just plain hard to keep up even with just me on it, and the Ultra Classic is well... not made for fat people. I agree that the passenger should be lighter than the rider, and I agree that riding with more than the OEM-rated combined weight is a risk. For that matter, riding is a risk. Now that I think of it, every day that we live we're at risk of dieing. You have to decide whether or not it's worth it for you. From a scientific perspective here are the risks that I can think of when exceeding the OEM-rating for weight capacity: 1. Braking - the brakes are designed to stop up-to the rated weight at a safe rate of deceleration. Any more weight than that and you're going to have a harder time stopping (which I do experience when I ride with myself and even more so with the wife) 2. Center-of-Gravity - this one can simply be compensated for, but you have to get used to it and build what sports coaches call "muscle memory." That is to say, you have to train you body to AUTOMATICALLY compensate for the change in Center of Gravity, or you will become intimately acquainted with the effect of gravity. 3. Stress on the Frame - this one is not as big of a concern unless you REALLY overload the bike (like try to bring home a load of gravel on the bike) because the OEM builds the frames to handle MUCH more weight than two fat people can produce. 4. Wear-and-Tear on Suspension - Primarilly shocks and tires. This just means you'll be buying more shocks and tires. Or you can do what I do and just trade the bike in for a newer one every 30k miles or so (kidding). By the way, on my Honda 1100 I averaged 8k miles on a single Dunlop 404 series front tire, but 14k miles on the same series rear tire. I have to assume part of that is because of the fat-guy in the captain's seat. So my point is... yeah... forgot where I was going with that. Nevermind.