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Dave77459

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  1. Dave77459
    I joined primarily because I get a discount on my insurance that is greater than my dues. I also like that they are fighting for my rider rights. I have a lot of roadside assistance (insurance, AAA, and now AMA), but I do appreciate that too. The magazine is informational, especially since it covers stuff I don't follow in any other way (off road? races?). The article this month on noise testing was particularly interesting. Dave
  2. Dave77459
    Thanks! I like taking pictures of Roxie. I guess I ought to add them here...? I went to Orlando's (on Avenue Q) because Texas Monthly rated the burger so highly. I'll do TLC when I am up there next weekend for Family Weekend. Sorry I missed you this weekend. If you do go out one weekend, I advise doing a loop. Riding somewhere 1000 miles away means you have those same 1000 miles to return home, when you are a bit sore. Dave
  3. Dave77459
    I just did the log for my ironbutt ride from Houston to Denver. It was 1110 miles on the odometer, and 1070 on the GPS. The best mileage I got on the entire trip was 32.0mpg on the final leg, down hill in the dead of night. The worst I got was 24.0mpg into headwinds out of Lubbock. My average was 27.9mpg. Don't tell me to sync my carbs. They are. Don't tell me to check my carb floats. Done that. Don't tell me to change my plugs. Did that 2000 miles earlier when the floats were leveled. Don't tell me to check the tire pressure, because I was particularly careful to do it at 4:30AM before I left. They were at max. I even added Motorkote on the hope it would increase mpg. And yet, 27.9mpg. I got better mileage coming home, for two reasons: I didn't fight a 20mph headwind, and I didn't press it at 77.9 mph (or whatever the max my cruise control would allow). I probably got 35mpg by driving at 70mph. My bike is running great. Lots of power, purring like a kitten. But it also has a huge sail on the front that creates lots of wind resistance. I ride it like I stole it, because I love to ride that way. I have given up hoping to ever get to 40mpg, and envying those that do isn't gonna make it happen. Love your bike, and know you aren't alone. Dave
  4. Dave77459
    My wife flew this past weekend to Denver to visit her sister. Playing around with MapSource, I saw that it was 1070ish miles from Houston to there. I'd wanted to ride an ironbutt for some time, so I took this opportunity and did it. I left Houston around 5AM on Thursday, headed to Lubbock for lunch. My son is a freshman at Texas Tech, and it was a chance to see him. Lubbock is about halfway on the route I'd plotted, so I figured it would take 9 hours to get there. I was about right, getting there about 2:30. We lunched at Orlando's Italian Restaurant, because Texas Monthly had recently judged their's the 10th best burger in Texas.[1] From there I went to Denver via Raton. I took this chance to try out the sheepskin I had bought at IKEA for $30. It rained most of the way to Lubbock, but was sunny from there out. Great sheepskin weather. Or so I thought.[2] Even though it wasn't raining, it was blowing hard. Hard enough that my bike thought I was doing 95mph and my mpg suffered. I saw another post today where someone gets more than 39mpg. I rarely will break 35mpg, and with the headwind and climbing in elevation, I got closer to 25mpg. The worst of the trip was the trip over Raton Pass. My legs hurt, I couldn't get comfortable, and the temperature dropped like a stone. My windscreen and headlamps were plastered with bugs when I finally pulled into Raton. I warmed up a little in the gas station and pressed on, within smelling distance of Colorado. I finally arrived at my sister-in-law's at 11:15 local, 12:30AM my time. I'd gone 1063 miles by the GPS, in 19.5 hours. They say it typically takes 18 hours, and I spent an hour with my son in Lubbock. I also stopped for gas about every 80 miles. My wife's flight was delayed, and she arrived 15 minutes after I did. She found me asleep in the rocking chair that I'd sat in to wait for her. LOL Even being tuckered, I woke up on auto-pilot at 8AM. By 10AM, my wife and I were heading to Wyoming for lunch. And to "color in my map". I planned to hit WY, NE, and KS, but we ran short of time--dinner was waiting. Had I pushed a little harder, I could have made the 1500 miles in 36 hour "Butt Burner". Oh well. The next day, Saturday, I headed home. I went out of my way to pick up Kansas. That's a pretty state. With no need to push it, I stopped at Wichita Falls, TX. I'd been in CO, KS, OK, and then TX. I like riding at night, so I was tempted to push on. But when I saw the ETA creep over 2AM, and I kept getting hit by large wet bugs, I stopped. Sunday was an easy ride home. Got there around 2PM. Final tally for the trip was 2637 miles. Notes: [1] - No way is that the 10th best burger in TX. Texas Monthly is plain wrong. They also gave something like 15 of the best burgers to Austin, and practically ignored Houston. This would be closer to the 50th spot in any list I made. I ought to do that. [2] - The sheepskin. Yeah, it's wrong for me when I am using luggage. It's nice and cushy to start, but then it pushed me to ride on the tank. It also rode up and pressed on my tailbone. I was much happier ignoring it when riding with the luggage, and sticking with my "Butt Butler" seat. That is comfy all day long. Pictures follow. If you want to see bigger versions, I can scare up a link to my Flickr account. Dave
  5. Dave77459
    Ha! I used it yesterday to get the attention of a white-knuckle cager (seriously, who drives with a death-grip on their steering wheel?) to alert her that her gas tank cap was dangling from her car. I like to think air-horns are polite. :-) You'll love it. Dave
  6. Dave77459
    He went to ship it the same day I sent payment (this was last November), but the UPS store was closed. Such things happen. But, he was exceedingly prompt. A+. I use the $89 Harbor Freight lift with no problems. I prolly use it twice a month, at least, just to wash the bike and shine the chrome. You can see it below in the background: http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3368/3561873758_0091e75d72.jpg
  7. Dave77459
    Holy crap, tears are running down my face! THANKS! Dave PS, I mean, that musta been awful.
  8. Dave77459
    I wrote up [ame=http://www.venturerider.org/forum/showpost.php?p=362865&postcount=8]a short description and added photos[/ame]. Might be helpful. Dave
  9. Dave77459
    Do you have image software that would let you merge them into one photo? Then you can upload the composite. The GIMP will do it, and it is free. You can try BigHugeLab's Mosaic Maker, but I haven't done that with two images, so caveat utilitor. Dave
  10. Dave77459
    I rode to Denver and back over the weekend, around 2600 miles. Now that I have around 3000 miles on this oil change/Motorkote, I can say that there has been no change at all in anything. Comments in red, below. Dave
  11. Dave77459
    It was posted to the "Yamaha Star Riders" Yahoo Group. Dave
  12. Dave77459
    I don't know! LOL! Maybe it does. Dave
  13. Dave77459
    I am passing through Lubbock on Thursday night, and probably coming back through on Saturday night. I can bring my SyncPro and long screwdriver. You can try it yourself, or maybe I could help. But it does sound like you have good plans already. Dave
  14. Dave77459
    I saw on one of the bike groups a pointer to an installation guide of a headlight delay (pdf). The point is to use a relay to turn off the headlight while the starter is energized. "Doing this eliminates a 10A drain on the battery when it is needed the most." I've not noticed many issues with my RSTD, even with passing lamps on. Has anyone done this with our bikes? Is it a PITA? Dave
  15. Dave77459
    It's so easy, even Dave77459 can do it! When you get it off, put in a couple extra leads in the chase, so you don't have to do it again. Dave
  16. Dave77459
    Depending on weather, I might be there. I've been planning to ride to Denver for the weekend, but it looks like there is a storm risk. If I don't go there, I'd like to come to the MX day. I don't know how big a deal it is, but I am nearing 26K on my bike, and thus the valve clearance check / adjustment. I don't know what that is, but it sounds like something I shouldn't tackle myself. I'll let you know around midweek. Dave
  17. Dave77459
    I am an avid photographer and take lots of photos. I have several memory cards that hold more than a DVD's-worth. I have upsized disk space as I went, and bought a 500GB external drive (it stored more than just photos). Unfortunately, it started failing on startup. If it died, I would lose most of my photos. What I have now done is bought a 4-disk "Network Attached Storage" device configured as RAID 5. If one of the disks fails, the remaining disks hold the information necessary to rebuild a replacement. Right now they are 4x 500GB drives, giving me about 1.3TB of pretty safe storage. If you have not yet worried about photo storage, I would guess such measures are beyond your need. You can buy a 1TB internal drive for $90. I would not use a flash drive, since they are more susceptible to failure. External drives die too, especially if you carry them, but you usually get an indication of impending death before it happens. Dave
  18. Dave77459
    Are the lenses rotated in the correct orientation? Mine is marked with TOP to put at the, um, top. It seems obvious, but the dealer installed it upside down and thus the light went up. Dave
  19. Dave77459
    750 miles in May. All in Texas, all one way. Dave
  20. Dave77459
    The dealer who installed the lamps did so such that they were on with the low beams and off with the high beams. I wanted them on all the time, and I didn't want to use the headlamp circuit. Wired that way, if you blow the headlamp fuse, you lose all forward light. I had an intermittent short in the toggle switch which would blow the fuse, so I know this. I used a relay powered by the running lamps to turn the passing lamps on and off. It is powered from the battery from a fuse box. Dave
  21. Dave77459
    I think this site is a far more practical guide on how to do what you are suggesting. There are excellent posts on adding an air horn, for example. The manuals I have seen are of no value for doing that. Start with doing a search, and if you can't find what you want, ask in the appropriate technical sections. You might also consider coming to maintenance days, where people from here will show you how to do some of what you want. Just my opinion, but this site rocks. Dave
  22. Dave77459
    Thanks. I wasn't too clear. If I buy ones that are too big, they might scratch the paint. That's why I want to get the right size. Thanks for the suggestion too! Dave
  23. Dave77459
    There appears to be controversy about beaded seat covers. My wife would like to try one, and I will too. I note in some of the discussions that the beads will scratch the paint, so I want to make sure I get the right size. Has anyone bought a Bead Rider for an RSTD? What size? Dave
  24. Dave77459
    Oh, I completely agree. I'm just not surprised Yamaha looked at the market and replaced the touring-quality motor with a V-twin. Dave
  25. Dave77459
    There are fewer things specified at the 24,000 mile mark, but they do say to check and adjust the valve clearance at 26,000. How much should they valve service cost? I'm at 25,000 or so. Dave
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