LilBeaver

Hey Bigdogcc: I am nearly certain it was a faulty ignition switch. There are two sets of contacts that get used in the ON position, the more common failure mode is a break in continuity between the main contacts such that power is not passed through at all. In my case, the second set of contacts that connects the power to the ignition system [but not the dash lights/electronics/etc] had corroded and hence I had intermittent conductivity to the ignition system. Ever since switching out my switch I have not had any problems. Cheers, --lilbeaver

Cool... although I have apparently missed it. I need to get my 78 GS750 out and put some miles on it...

Good info is always appreciated.

I do not know what your particular experience is with your RSVs (with respect to the clutch slipping situation), but I know my clutch started slipping around 45K miles [if memory serves me correctly] which is consistent with several other reports on here. Perhaps I masked the symptom by replacing the spring and the half friction disc at the bottom of the basket (furthest inside) with a full one. I did not rebuild anything beyond the simple spring and single friction disc replacement as everything measured within spec. I was on the road when the slipping became very apparent -- so I had done a proper fluid flush and clean everything I could get my mitts on and found no difference on slipping and hence I replaced the spring and disc. Regardless, good advice on checking the simple stuff first!!!

They guy that lives across the street from me would probably be all over that option! Every time I see him he brags about his 2003ish [or whatever it is] anniversary edition Road King with ~1200 miles on it that he bought new. But he is a 'hardcore biker' (as he tells me). I will hand it to him, it is very clean and shiny!

Sounds like they are not familiar with the engine as the cams do NOT need to be removed to swap out shims. Not to mention $200 to check would be a steal. Definitely a 5-10 hour [minimum] job (on the RSV anyway) for someone that knows what they are doing...

On or about page 6-6 of your owner's manual ( http://www.starmotorcycles.com/assets/service/manuals/2005/lit-11626-18-02_984.pdf ) will give you a table (titled "Periodic Maintenance and Minor Repair") which includes the recommended maintenance.

C'mon man, it is called job security In all seriousness, I need to watch a few more episodes before I make an informed comment on this topic, but it is interesting to see the few opinions [and other perspectives, of course] that are out here.

http://www.kuryakyn.com/Products/1001/Adjustable-Lockable-Offsets Longhorn offsets is one name that gets used. But with some searching on the Kuryakyn site [for options, not necessarily to buy through them ] it looks like there are several different types of offsets available.

Your friend's friend is in luck if she is in Pheonix [which you only allude to in your post] as the Cancer Treatment Center of America has a hospital in Phoenix. http://www.cancercenter.com/western/ These folks are rated as one of the best in the nation. My personal experiences with some of their other locations have been phenomenal. That Southwest airline travel grant looks like a sure winner too! Often times all it takes is a simple phone call or email and these companies are more than willing to work with you.

If she is in treatment and he is listed [or can be listed] as a caregiver then there should be financial assistance available via the cancer treatment centre as all of the ones I am aware of do. Not to be rude or disrespectful but if he did not want this news to be broadcast on facebook, are you sure that he would be comfortable with it being broadcast on this public forum? I know if it were me and I went to a friend and found out, in turn, that (even with good intentions) my friend posted my business (especially of this nature) on a public forum -- I would be very hurt as that, to me, is a severe breach of the trust that I thought I had with said friend. Again, I do not mean to be rude or disrespectful here, I am just simply providing that perspective. My heart goes out to him, you and everyone else involved. Sadly, I am all too familiar with situations like this. Best of luck.

Well there you go! I think you will be surprised at what you can see with just that little bit (relative to a high powered telescope) of magnification. If you want a list of objects you can see, check this out http://www.skymaps.com/downloads.html If you look carefully, there is a list of objects you can see with the naked eye, a weak pair of binoculars (e.g. spotting scope) and then some of the deeper objects for which you need better optics. When I teach the class on stellar observing, part of the lab out at our observatory requires that students print a sky map off, come out and find a bunch of objects. It is always good fun and this is highly informative.

The 8154-OF is the model of headsets that I have and my ONLY gripe about them is that the patch cable will only last me a few weeks before I have to have it replaced (the audio will start cutting in and out and it can be easily traced to continuity in the patch cable itself). So, I have had to buy one or two every two years (2 year warranty) and deal with the hassle of shipping the stupid cable back once a month (if I want a properly functioning headset, that is). One of the replacements I had worked for about 4 months -- incidentally it was about 4 inches longer than any of the others I had ever received, so I guess that was just enough longer to put less stress on the weak points of the cable. I will add that I use mine, quite literally, every day as my bike is my primary source of transportation, go to my office nearly every day, and I wear my helmet every time I am on my bike. I think I paid $65 each plus 10ish for shipping when I bought mine a few years back. At the time, I thought it was far better than paying the couple hundred for ONE headset but I just don't know anymore. I may consider swapping out these for a set of edsets as they claim to have some strain relief built into the patch cable area, but maybe I expect to much out of a simple freaking patch cable...

If all you want to do is look at the moon (opposed to galaxies, nebulae, etc etc), I would say save your money and get out a pair of binoculars or if you have a spotting scope -- go buy a tripod (if you don't have one) and call it good at that. The optics on any decent scope, if maintained, will last a long time. The real problem is that it does not take much to jack up a good lens (objective) or mirror by someone that does not know what they are doing. If I were closer, I would offer to go with you to inspect the scope before your purchase (if you really wanted to purchase). I am not really sure how much additional information you want here, but I am happy to provide more info if you want. I have attached a few pictures of one of the toys I have access to as well as some images I have taken with it. One is a 20" planewave scope (Schmidt-Cassegrain).

No hubs for me... No sense in running all of the peripherals through a single bus/controller That being said, almost all of my large bandwidth peripherals are all either eSATA or USB3, if not jacked straight into the MB...