RandyR

Re: drive train lash I also just downsized, but jumped to a Kawasaki 900 with belt drive. Not much experience with belt drives yet, but they do need to be inspected and maybe adjusted periodically, per the Clymer manual I bought and the User Manual I downloaded from Kawa. 3,000km is just broken in ! But the way I read forums and the books, getting a rock caught in the belt can cause this kind of problem. My books show inspecting the belt for tears and wear, as well as the pulleys (called pulley instead of sprocket) for abnormal wear. The book calls for adjusting the belt to a certain amount of tension (which should take up any slack, if the belt and pulleys are ok). Experienced wrenchers on the Kawa forums say that if you don't have a tool that measures belt tension, that if you can 'just' twist it in the middle almost 90degrees and it snaps right back, then the tension is ok. I haven't tried this yet. I've not noticed any lash on my new bike, so don't think its a generic problem with belt drives. Do you know if the bike received its first service which should have been at about 1,000km? inspecting the belt should have been part of that. Was the rear tire changed for any reason?

A prayer sent.

Its early mushroom season, and I thought you were gone talk bout m'room caps??? hmm. carbon tracks.... thats a new one. I did watch the vid. Interesting.

How about a couple Hula Girls instead of flowers?

I feel your pain Larry. I lost a long time friend and companion Strength last year. The dog on the right in my signature picture. If there's a heaven, then good dogs will be playing there waiting for us.

Randy, Thanks to those who represented us. We'll miss Dan here.

I know you gear heads have wondered what one looks like inside..... https://imgur.com/gallery/3gs1Qrf

Here's to all the Mom's !!!

Done Thanks for the reminder.

I'm betting on Happy Trails accompanied by a ukelele ! Pretty good deal.....

Not the news I wanted to hear.

Even a short ride will make you smile !!!

Tom, Great, you can buy us all lunch !

I know several riders that have them and had nothing but good things to say about the ride. The c50 was high on my list of mid-weight cruisers to purchase for myself although I ultimately found a better price on the Kawasaki VN900 and decided to buy it.

Georgia. Sales between private individuals aren't regulated assuming that the weapon isn't on a restricted list, The recipient isn't a minor, and neither is a felon. Sales from commercial dealers requires that federal transfer papers be filled out and that the dealer does a background check which is supposed to be 'instantaneous' against the federal database. Occasionally the background check will result in a hold of a few days, and assuming you're not related to Osama or have the same name as someone recently released from Sing-Sing you get the gun. If however, one has a Georgia CCW permit, then you have already been finger printed, photgraphed, and run thru a background check, and had to wait about 10 days to get the CCW. In which case, just fill out the Federal transfer paperwork that has to be done for any non-restricted weapon. There are a few instances where having a CCW does not exempt one from the dealer background check requirements, but they are rare (the DCM 1911 government surplus pistols for instance). I have a class 3 curio and relic Federal Firearms license, and thats another discussion.

I made a 70 mile lunch run over to Helen, GA for some wienerschnitzel this afternoon after getting my insurance this morning, and then registration and plates, and donating to the Georgia Governor's Donut Fund. I'm happy. Very smooth shifting, reasonably comfortable seat, certainly not in the same class as an RSV but I've ridden a thousand miles or more on smaller, less capable machines. btw, ediddy58@gmail.com who used to be an active VR member is still my insurance agent and will help members here out. He said he's stopped riding.

I'll plan on a day trip to visit with everyone and maybe take a ride. Looks like I'll be on my new Vulcan 900 unless the weather is bad, in which case I may cage it and bring my dog along. Is the German restaurant in Black Mountain, Berliner Kindl, on the schedule?

And the rest of the pics. Waiting to get thru to my insurance company so I can get it properly licensed and on the road.

It appears that good things do come to those that wait !!! tick- tick-tick

Since I have to show pictures here before anyone will believe anything.... Here is the Vulcan 900 Classic arriving at my domain. By the time I got the tie downs off and the Vulcan off the trailer it was too dark for more pictures, so those will come later. I'll also mention that the dealer I bought the Vulcan from, Mid State Motorsport at Cookesville TN has both a 2018 Venture Touring and Eluder sitting in his shop, as well a very nice used 2006 Midnight RSV. I got a good deal from them.

Thanks for all the input. Mostly positive things said about it. The stator failing at 30,000 miles seems to be something I heard on Vulcan forum also as well as here. I can live with that, as it doesn't seem to be too difficult or expensive to replace if I do the work. Ha ha, it happens enough that how to replace it is well documented. The biggest negative is the spoked wheels, I'd much rather have tubeless tires and be able to plug a tire on the side of a road than wrestle with an inner tube. Been there, and done that, before; but not recently. All things equal, or close to equal, I'd choose tubeless tires. I never had a MC with a belt drive before, and the Yamaha and BMW shaft drives I've had the last 20 years have done well by me, but I'm led to believe the belts are much better now than the old ones, and I'm willing to give one a try. The plus for a belt seems to be lower inertia and less gearing than a heavy shaft. I think I recall Puc recently recommending carrying a spare belt with the tool kit if straying too far from home. re: Honda VTX 1300. Was high on my look-see list, but the price for them was much higher than what I found this Vulcan for. I had a couple of used VTX's nearby on Craig's List I was thinking about. Custom. Thats a good looking ride, I'll admit.

I watched that tv show when I could. Its probably the one reason I still look at a Sportster fondly.

I've been tire kicking new and used bikes for several months now. I do like Yamaha, but found a sweet deal nearby on a 2014 new-old-stock Kawasaki Vulcan 900 Classic. Its water cooled which I do like, vs the 900 Yamaha is air cooled. Its about 150 lbs lighter than my RSTD with a lower seat. Its a vtwin, but in reading the Vulcan forums, it seems to be almost as reliable of an engine as the V4 with several people near 100,000 miles and one report of a 200,000 mile bike. And gas mileage a little better at 45-50mpg. Like FlyingFool, I need to downsize. But this is not a drastic downsize, and some of the smaller bikes were, well, too small, after riding a Venture and a RSTD. What do think? experience/recommendations with this bike before I pull the trigger?

This thread prompted me to buy a smallish dual fuel generator today. I've had a couple of 4-5 day outages recently. I also have a kerosene heater which will keep the house from freezing in the winter, Thats enough for a couple of days. under $300. I don't expect A+ quality. https://www.ebay.com/itm/Dual-Fuel-Generator-4000-Watt-Portable-Gasoline-Liquid-Propane-RV-Power-Outage/173286213408

Yep. Don't use the wrench in your hand to swat at wasp's.