Venturous Randy

I think it is Robbinsville that has a real good Mexican restaurant. Franklin used to have a real nice motel where you parked your bike in front of your door and each room had some good chairs. We were really disappointed to find out it has been torn down. Hope you guys have a great weekend and don't drown. Randy

Well Puc, you sure do keep us entertained and thinking, most of the time really good and occasionally, well..... There is no doubt that you and your family have been in all of our thoughts and prayers and this will continue. I can understand this being a double edge sword, but now things can be done to hopefully get this turned around and get you back on the fun roads of life. It is amazing what has been done in the field of cancer and with early detection and treatment, it can be beat. It also helps to be a tuff old coot and you for sure are that. Randy

57K miles is not a lot of miles. I would go with a used Venture starter rather than an aftermarket if it were me. Randy

Wow Gary, this is one of those "It could have been worse" events. I have yet to get my bike on the road this year and with all the bad things that have happened, I am almost afraid to. Glad is wasn't worse. Randy

The General Lee with a rainbow flag on it. Randy

A bad pressure sensor/hose probably won't give you the symptoms you are describing, but it may cause the bike to be a little down on power for not advancing. Ditto on Dave's suggestions on the sync and pin holes in the diaphragms. Randy

Since both the latches to open the bags and latches to remove the bags on an 83/85 are being discussed, I just wanted to note that I quit trying to use the latches that remove the bags on my 83 a long time ago. I just open the bags and remove the three small screws that hold the latch on and slide the bags back and off. When putting the bags back on, I just put the latch in place, slide the bags on and then replace the screws. I gave up many years ago on trying to keep the locking mechanism working on the latches that remove the bags. And yes, once any of the latches are no longer in the "locked" position, you no longer need a key to turn the latch to the "open" position. Randy

I always carry a 8mm or 5/16 wrench in a handy place, especially if I have been working on the brakes. One thing to remember with linked brakes is that if the rear brake is getting tight that the front brake should be also. The good thing about this is you don't have to get under the bike and bleed the pressure off the rear caliper, you can also do it off the left front caliper. Just try to have a towel so you don't get fluid on the pads. Randy

I joined right before the 1st Vogal. I was down in Birmingham on my bike and had to do a CMS resolder for loosing a headlight and when I took it for a test ride, I ran into Don and Susan Harrell at a stoplight. They directed me to a bike gathering and one of the first thing Don asked me was are you going to Vogal? I had no idea what a Vogal was. Then he asked me if I was a member of VR.org and again, I did not know about them. I ended up joining VR.org and went to the 1st Vogal. I had been a member of the other site, but was not happy with the attitudes or the site problems. I was also a member before the big crash and have been addicted ever since. My first name was RandyA and after having several Randy's come on the site and Venturous no longer being active on the site, I took over Venturous. After Venturous came back, I changed to Venturous Randy. Randy

I bet you are fun to dance with. Randy

Lewis, Linda and I will try to be there even if we are not on the bike. We may trailer the Timeout Camper down with one of the Miata's. I think this a good idea to at least try this for one time and see how it works. Being on Social Security has sure caused me to have to take a look at expenses and I am sure I am not the only one. The only thing I did for Asheville is collect information for an ICE (in case of emergency) list and that has helped on more than one occasion for people to have this to contact other members that are coming or there. For those that contributed their info, I would e-mail them before their trip or give them a copy when they arrived. I want to encourage everyone that can to come to Vogal and this great event. Also, I think this way will be a lot more relaxing and fun for you and Charlene. We might see if anyone wants to bring a grill and fix hot dogs and hamburgers for those interested as Vogal does not have the abundance of places to eat like Asheville does. But, I have yet to see anybody starve to death at any of our events. We just usually have a donation cup to help pay for expenses when we do meals. Randy

Yep, that would mess me up too. Randy

What year bike do you ride? It really helps to have that info in your header or in the context of your message. Randy

Actually, it is one of the things between a 1st and 2nd gen that caused his crash. If he had been on a 1st gen, he would not have went down like he did. Randy

First of all, are you sure it is not 124,000 miles? When I am looking at a potentially low mileage bike, the first thing I do is feel how much of a grove there is on the outside edge of the rotors. Also, at 47,000 miles, that is just about the point when the 2nd gear problem starts. Randy

This is a true story. Years ago I worked at an aluminum/zinc diecasting company that had a tooling supervisor that was very talented in his ability to draw. Somewhere along the line, he decided he wanted to open a tattoo parlor. He was getting pretty good and was busy of the evenings, but was occasionally aggravated by some of the clientele. He had one of the skinheads that wanted him to print a word on the back of his head and he would always come in pretty drunk so he would have enough courage to go through with it. Well, Carl always made the client write down the word before he started. The guy wanted the word SCARRED for a tattoo. Just as he was finishing up, another guy that worked in his shop walked up and had this horrified look on his face. Carl had left out a letter and the guy left with his friends high fiveing with the word SCARED on the back of his head. Somebody finally explained what the word was and he was pissed. He came back to the shop and confronted Carl who pulled out the piece of paper and matched it up. I suggested to Carl that he should just go above the word and put the word NOT, since that was about the time NO FEAR was popular. Randy

My apologies for taking so long but I finally got some pictures. The box is now on my old camper and I will be moving it over to my Timeout Camper. I need to clean it up and paint it before I remount it. Hope this helps. Randy

This guy wanted a tattoo of a turbo charger so he took a picture to the tattoo guy. Randy I hope the tattoo guy didn't charge him.

Maybe the evil witch put a curse on the bike. Randy

If you are going to spend the time and effort to ride the BRP, the southern most part is by far the most majestic. In my opinion, even though the section thru Virgina is nice, too much of it is just riding through a forest and even most of the overlooks have little view. The southern part, especially from Cherokee to Asheville is wonderful and is also the highest point on the parkway. Then, the next best area is from Asheville to Boone and this takes you past Mt Mitchell, the highest point east of the Mississippi, and then over the Lynn Cove Viaduct. If you do this, make sure you stop at the visitor center there and look at the history of building it. This also takes you around Grandfather Mt. As far as coming through Ohio, to come down through Portsmouth, down 23 will take you all the way to south west of Asheville. You could pick it up around Toledo and have a great ride south. Going to Freebird's MD a few years ago, we spent the night in Portsmouth and enjoyed it very much. Highway 23 is a nice ride and is fourlane in some spots and will occasionally be interstate, as from Kingsport, Tn to Asheville, Nc, but that is a nice ride also. Even though riding curvy roads on a motorcycle is great on a trip, there can be too much of a good thing to make it enjoyable. I would suggest going to the south end of the BRP and then going north, allowing enough time to sidetrack off to see some of the local stuff. This way, if you still want to ride some curvy roads, make the trek back up through West Va. If you did an overnight in Portsmouth, OH and then stopped in Piegon Forge, TN, I think it would be a comfortable trip. Also, if you are in Piegon Forge during the week days, starting on Sunday evening, the motel rates are very cheap. From Piegon Forge, you can go thru Cades Cove spend a little time in Gatlinburg and then 441 across the mountain into Cherokee, NC. There is also some nice cabins on the river in Telico Plains where you start up the Cherahola Parkway and then you can do the Dragon. Not to be a downer, but with soooo many great roads in this area, the Dragon is more hype than anything, not to say it is not good, but there is just so many great roads. One other thing, the Skyline Drive is nice, but it is 35mph and almost gets tiring with the traffic. To me, the BRP seems to have a lot less traffic and a lot more to see. I think that riding the BRP from south to north and then getting off at Roanoke would be the best. Randy

Five and a half years older than when this thread started. Randy

I can't say what really came to my mind, but I hope she was OK and somebody learned something. Randy

OK, been a busy morning. Using a 20 ton bottle jack on a stack of concrete blocks along with a 3 ton floor jack, Shane, my grandson and I, were able to take the weight off the Rodeo without sawing any limbs off and with most of the weight being on the Maxima and the ground on the other side of the Maxima. As soon as we got the weight off the Rodeo we were able to back it out. It appears the damage was not nearly as bad as it looked like it was going to be. Mainly, it is the door facing that goes up beside the windshield. In fact, I am really surprised that it did not bust the windshield. If one car had to be a total loss, I am glad it was the Maxima as the Rodeo is worth a whole lot more. You can compare the pictures of the Rodeo from my first post and the actual damage. Randy

I don't even know if I will get the insurance company involved. I have a $500 deductible and I think the only thing that will be covered is the damage related to where the power lines were pulled off the front of the building. The power company was out here within 30 minutes after it happened without me even calling them as the meter had sent them a signal that it had lost power. The lines were on the ground and still hot. He capped them off and pulled them up so I could get a vehicle under them. My concern right now is getting the Rodeo out from under the tree without more damage. I think it would be better if I jack that end of the tree up just a little to support the weight and pull the Rodeo out and then start cutting the tree up. Right now, most of the weight is being held up by the Maxima. Randy

Years ago I made a cooler box out of wood for the old Travelite camper I was towing and mounted the spare under the rack. I painted it black and it has worked good. I may can take a picture of it tomorrow if I can get to it. I am going to move it over to the Timeout Camper when I can. Randy