LilBeaver

I did not go any where exotic like the mountains, out west or the north pole but I did want to share a few pictures from my last trip. In between traveling for work I spent 2 weeks on the road (only put on 4600 miles). The main purpose for my trip was to visit with family. My sister just had another baby (boy) so I wanted to spend some time with her and the newest (as well as spend a little time with my niece (child #1)) So that was a stop in Illinois for me. While I was up there I figured my family in Michigan is not that much farther away so I hopped on over there to see my parents and grandparents. My parents have not taken a vacation in about 6 years (not even a weekend getaway for them) and they have been really stressing lately, courtesy of the terrific economy especially in Michigan. So I talked them into taking a two-day 1 night all expense paid excursion with me. My dad's sister lives in Traverse city and my wing is in my parents garage (both of my parents have ridden bikes all of their lives) so we took a nice and leisurely trip up to traverse city (via a very scenic route along the eastern side of michigan) and visited with my aunt and uncle. The next day we headed out just after sunrise (and one heck of a breakfast... My family LOVES to eat; if you couldn't guess we are a family of bikers) drove around traverse bay and followed the coast all the way down south of Muskegon where we picked up the highway and headed back east to Brighton. We all had a great time and boy my parents complain a lot! In fairness we spent about 15 hours from when we left my Aunt's house that morning to final arrival in Brighton. Total we put on about 800 miles between both days. A few days later I spent some time with my grandparents (mother's parents). My grandfather has ridden motorcycles all of his life too (him and my grandmother toured together until he had a stroke at age 75 and was told he would never walk or use his left side again). 8 years later he is walking (he does have limited mobility of his left hand and he cannot bend his leg very far) and doing much better than the doctors told him he would. My grandma told us that once he was able to move around on his own, he would go out to the garage and sit for hours - really upset that he would never drive a bike again. Well, 4 years after his stroke him and I were talking about some of the riding I had been doing (I had just rolled over 8,000 on my GS750 since I had gotten it) and he said that he would like me to take a look at his bike and take it for a ride (he had given all of us grandkids many many many rides on his wing - and thanks to him I developed an addiction to bikes). It took a while, but between me and my dad's brother we pulled it apart, rebuilt the carbs, and did a lot of other work to get it going (since it sat for so long without being ridden). So I took it around the block and when I was going to put it back in the garage for him he said that if I took care of it I could keep it. I'll stop yammering now and get to the point. The next summer I was visiting them and we were talking bikes and he had mentioned that he had never ridden on the back of a bike and would never want to. About 15 minutes later we were out in the driveway and I had managed to talk him into letting me take him for a ride. Now a last week ago when I was up there the first thing he did was ask where I had parked my Venture then went to check it out. So, I asked him if he was interested in going for a ride and his response in about 1/2 a second was . So I took him out for a 45 mintue or so cruise through some reasonable curves aournd there. He enjoyed it. The next leg of my trip was supposed to be a run to the HUB to meet up with the group with a stop in Louisville and Nashville, TN (for more family visiting). But thanks to the flooding in louiville and a few things that came up with my family while I was visiting I had to put those plans on hold and miss the HUB. Overall we had a great trip. The ONLY rain I hit was a 15 minute sprinkle (and I could hardly call it a sprinkle) going through Kansas. The 1st day was HOT (100s+) but it is the summer so that was expected. The last 2 days were hot, humid, and unbelieveably windy (20-40mph). Outside of that I couldn't have asked for better weather (every day was somewhere between 50 and 80 and mostly sunny). Anyways - I included a few pictues here with explanations above. Enjoy!

Very cool! One thing I never liked about mountain climbs like that is dealing with the cagers going the other direction since many of them either go way to fast so they use the whole road (especially around curves) or they don't care so they use the whole road (especially around curves). BUT they are ALWAYS worth the drive Thanks for sharing

Oh hey, I just saw that you were in Texas... I know Texas is one of the bigger states and all but we do have members all over. If you are close to someone you may be able to arrange a meet up to take a look and see what you think (if someone has a set on their bike that is near you). If you are anywhere near Lubbock I would be happy to meet you somewhere when I am back in town. Just a thought!

+1 to that... There are only so many places those wires go -- so if you do not see anything in either of those places, just trace them back through the bike but I suspect you will find the issue there. You could check the socket for corrosion and such too, but the wires is an easy check and probably the culpret. Good Luck!!

Glad you like 'em!

I would believe that. I have seen a lot on the showroom floor that look terrific - Though I can honestly say that I never inspected the stripes on H-D that closely. And the only bike parts that I have painted have been tanks, fairings off of crotch rockets that people abuse beyond belief and a few tanks and saddlebags for some touring bikes (a few 80's wings and ) that were just a color change or a best match to freshen up the look.

I have not checked where these things are all grounded (obviously everything gets grounded to the same place in the end -- but if there are two different grounding points that then lead to the common [real] ground for the circuit(s) this could provide some fishy behavior if some part of the electronics start misbehaving... But I really do think that is a stretch... I'll have to remember to check out some of that wiring (for curiosity sake) when I get home (and get some time).

Possible sure; but boy that is sad that the bike has been sitting for so long... My g/f's grandfather has a 1968 Mustang (I am pretty sure it is a GT500) sitting in his (heated) garage that be bought new that he just rolled over 6,000 original miles on it...

Something else to consider might be along the lines of what it does to the suspension - unless you support the wheels to keep a little compression on the suspension. Personally I would not worry about the 'stressing the frame' since the frame is designed to hold the guts of the bike and the weight distribution across the frame members allowing for the centered lifting point... But I am no expert on materials, just my opinion...

East of Vancouver, BC; Tennessee (Eastern half); Upper Penninsula of Michigan (Specifically the Keweenaw pennensula and anything else along Lake Superior) are the first things that come to mind for me... I suppose I could go on and on with a lot of places that I have ridden and would happily return to ride again as could many people I am sure

Alright! Glad you are in good shape again I am curious about that fast signal thing too. I agree with the other folks about the circuit diagrams not showing anything that would hint that is there but we could have an outdated manual or there is an *gasp* error in the manual! Thanks for the update

You could always try --> Maybe that will flatten things out for you! Seriously though, it is unfortunate that it is so difficult to find a good fitting lid. I settled on a HJC CS-5 a couple years back that was supposed to replace the $15 no-name helmet I got from Meijer when I was learning to ride... I find myself back in my original helmet more and more, just because of the way it fits... I have had my head in a lot of lids and while there are some real high priced ones that feel nice to the touch and work well for some, as you are finding everyone's melon is shaped differently and thats just how it goes. (Some of us were just born with goofy growths on top of our necks) If you are ever bye one of those super-delaerships, sometimes they have huge selections of helmets it could be worth a day drive to go try a bunch on for fitting at least. I realize you have probably thought of this but just in case you hadn't... Good luck!

I put on a set of the Kuryakyn Longhorn offset dually iso 7980 with 1" clamps a few weeks ago before my 4600 mile trip and I am SO glad that I did. I thought the bike was comfortable before, but after I got them on and positioned appropriately (it took a while to figure out exactly where I want them... and I found myself still fine tuning them even after I got back from my trip) I found that it was really nice to be able to get my feet (safely) away from the heat from the motor and out in the breeze. I felt that $130 is quite a bit to be spending on pegs but I read up on them a lot and figured that Kuryakyn must be doing something right with their products and I am NOT dissapointed for the money I paid. (That and I really couldn't find anything else that I was happy with or felt would work and 130 was a bargin compared to what some places wanted for them). I chose the longhorns due to the 3.25" extension allowing for a huge variety of positions. I did find that due to my excessively large feet I had to mount them somewhat high on the crash bars but it works out so that I can rest my feet directly on them (like one would usually use pegs), set me heels on the floor-boards and ends of my feet on the pegs, and lastly lay my feet across the top. I am 5'8 with a 32/33" inseam and I have my offsets mounted so that the bars stick up almost completely vertical. So if I had shorter legs there would still be plenty of room for adjustment. I do not really have a good picture of what they look like mounted or with me on it and my feet up on the pegs to show you how they are (to try to give you a little perspective on what how they actually end up positioining everything). If I wasn't 1600 miles away from my bike I would gladly shoot some of those for you; maybe someone else could do that for you if they have them and you are interested. I cannot really tell from the picture if the offsets that "ablumny" has are the same as what I have or not. If memory serves me correctly you can get a 2" or 4" offset extension from Kuryakyn or the 'longhorn offset' that is 3.25". As others have said, check e-bay etc. I just did a google search for "kuryakyn longhorn offset 7980" and they came up in many places. I got mine from yocracing.com but they have raised the price since I ordered them (they are up to 134 not including shipping) but I found (for me) they had the cheapest shipping around. Also if you use 'star' in their cpn code box it'll save you 5%. A place that I would NOT suggest getting them from would be meancycles.com They offer free shipping and a low price but their customer service was rediculous, communication was next to impossible, and it took a long time to get them. (Medium-long story why I ended up with 2 sets...) Do be cautiouned that many places do not actually keep the the longhorn offsets with 1" clamps (which is what is needed for the RSV) in stock and shipping from Kuryakyn can take a while (to get to the supplier). I did find that my local stealership sold them but I was not willing to pay the 140+8.25% tax that they were charging so I dealt with the wait time. http://www.yocracing.com/accessory_store/store/yoc_viewItem.asp?idProduct=2145 Wow: 128.95 & Free shipping http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1-KURYAKYN-LONGHORN-OFFSET-DUALLY-HIGHWAY-PEGS-7980_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQ_trksidZp3286Q2ec0Q2em14QQhashZitem4a99f46098QQitemZ320410509464QQptZMotorcyclesQ5fPartsQ5fAccessories Enjoy!

The only others that I have seen on the road were two going the other way on the expressway last week through Missouri and one that I parked next to at a rest area near Chicago (last eastbound exit on 94/80 -- before Indiana). I have yet to see another one in the town I live in (although I do know there is another member that lives not too far north of me and comes to town quite often)...

I have been eying your adapter since I bought my RSV and just haven't come around to spend the money since I will need to buy a jack too... I guess I should not wait too much longer - especially if you decide to stop making them at some point!

Oh yea, don't be afraid to ask anything... There is a search tool on the tool bar up top but there is so much information on here I know I have spent many many many hours searching and searching finding all sorts of good stuff (and learning a TON!) but not necessarily what I was looking for...

This may be elementary but I am going to say it anyway since it may or may not help you out, if you find that the 12V power point (cig lighter deal) is not getting power the fuse for it is behind the front right cowling -- that is the one by your right foot while you are sitting on the bike. You can find instructions on how to take that piece off on here or in the service manual (which is here somewhere) but it is 3 bolts and a plastic retainer that you could easily do before you take off from where you pick it up (if you are riding it back to where you will be storing it). I had a similar problem to what SilverT had except it was my cell phone charger and I guess it was a tad deep for the power socket. My solution was simple; turn off the phone and if I needed to make a call do it on my next stop with it plugged in while I was stopped. (This obviously is not an acceptable solution for your GPS if you are looking to drive with it attached). I am sure you will LOVE your bike. I know that I have certainly been enjoying mine. My only regret about picking up my RSV is that I did not do it sooner!! Keep it shiny side up!! Rick M.

Patrick46: I just took a look at your website that you have noted in your signature and I realize that we all missed an important point here. First of all, I am very impressed with the work that you have pictured up there and I am sure that the pictures themselves hardly do the real thing justice. I will agree 110% that if what is desired is some sort of image, flames, or large scale graphics then having it painted is the way to go, no question about that. There is certainly no substitute for well painted graphics. Before we started offering advice as to what could be done NONE of us asked the question that should have been asked of 'what did you have in mind' especially since the original question was simply 'where can they be purchased?' I, possibly mistakenly, assumed (and yes, I know what assumptions do) that what was desired was something very simple that involved following the lines of the faring, saddlebags or trunk for a simple accent (or something on that level). Which may or may not be what frankc wants.

We (my family) has run a body shop for years and it took us a while to find a good striper to do any of the complex stuff that we needed done (or when we got busy we even had him come out for the gravy jobs - which they could do with amazing speed and accuracy). Thanks to the handful of 'pinheads' (your words, not mine) we lost a lot of money sometimes having to go as far as to repaint panels due to the gross neglegence of particular 'professionals'. Now I have never seen your work and I have no reason to believe that you do anything that is not of exceptional quality, so please do not take that the wrong way. But this does reinforce the contacting of a local H-D dealership, hot-rod shop, or even a regular ol body shop (or contact several) to get reccomendations for a striper. My guess is you will find that you [frankc] will end up with the same pool of few folks that do terrific work. If you decide to go that route and pick one to go talk with ask to see some samples of some work they have done and have a REAL conversation with them. If you like what you see, great. If not, thank them for your time and try someone else. Remember, this is YOUR bike and YOU are the one that has to live with it every time you see your bike or pay to have stuff repainted, etc. If you are not exactly sure what you want or if they make some suggestions, certainly listen to what they have to say but do not let them talk you into what they think you will like (unless that is what you want, or they show you a sketch and you like it too). Not everyone will look at the same design and have the same feelings about it. I would challenge anyone to go through a new car lot and try pick out the cars that have painted pinstripes and the 'cheap ones made for kid cars'. Now, I realize that to a trained eye once you get up close or put your fingers on them, it can be pretty easy to tell (especially if the stripes are applied poorley). What you will find is that a good majority of them are stuck on by the dealership (or A dealership at somepoint). There are some obvious exceptions to this but again the majority of cars are done that way. Now, I realize that we are not talking about CARS we are talking about BIKES. So, anyone with a two-tone venture, go out to your bike and take a look at where the colors come together, what you will see that is a 'cheap' stuck on pinstripe put there for the explicit reason of hiding where the two colors meet up. This is done to allow for a very clean transition between the two colors and can often add a very pleasing accent to the overall image. I will let a reader draw their own conclusions from this point. frankc: I will agree 100% that if you find a really good custom pinstriper the painted designs will certainly maintain their quality much longer than the stuck on type. When you get close enough the painted ones will certainly look better as well. Certainly the more complex of a design you are going after the more likely you are to have a better finished product with paint instead of the stuck on type. You could spend 10 bucks and do it your self, or you could spend more than that and have someone else do it. There are advantages and disadvantages to each but do not be mislead by 'Patrick46's comment; stuck on stripes CAN look good if done properly. And do not be fooled, it is not difficult by any means to stick these things on. The process can be very tedious and will take a lot of patience and a very carefull eye to make sure that it looks good when you are done BUT it is not difficult.

Or one could just shimmy around in the grass like the animals do. That way you don't risk the harm caused by the non-biodegradable plastic bag being disposed of improperly and all of the polution created during the production of the TP. If you would prefer the more refined method of grabbing some of those leaves that tends to be a little easier on some parts. The atlas is handy at this point because it gives you something to read allowing you to be efficient and plan the next place you would like to go. :-P

I know your question was just where can you get them but I figured I would toss in a little more information too... Make sure when/if you do this yourself you make sure the area that you will be applying the stripes to is very clean of everything, including wax or polish. You can get a bottle of degreaser for painted surfaces for pretty cheap. Most of the stripes you will find can be put on dry or wet. What I have found to be the easiest is to start your application by lightly misting the surface with a water bottle (this allows you to easily slide the striping around a little bit when placed on the surface as well as smooth out any air bubbles or wrinkles that will occur during the application). Take your time and apply one piece at a time and when you are done with an area, take a step back and look at it before the water dries. If you are unhappy with an area wet it down and if you are careful you should be able to move the stripe. Once you are happy with how it looks press along the stripe in the direction of which you applied it with a small squeegie to dry the surface, ensure that the adhesive on the back of the stripe will bond to the surface, work out wrinkles and any remaining air bubbles under the stripe it self. Then dry the rest of the area with an appropriate towel. Give the stripes a day or two to finish setting up (and to make sure you are happy with it) then wax/polish your bike. This will help protect them from fading in the sun as well as cracking and peeling. Most importantly it will replace the wax/polish that is removed when you applied the degreaser (And you will have a shiny scoot - which is always good) Be patient with this, if you get frustrated or whatever, finish up the one you are working on or pull it off completely and take a break and come back to it later. Sometimes these things can be a bit of a bugger, especially on your own vehicle. I am sure that there are many others with suggestions on how to do this and maybe it is appropriate for a different thread - I just figured I could share some of my experience in hopes that you may find it helpful. Good Luck and have fun!!

+1 to that or any other automotive type store. Unfortunately buying them by the roll is about 2 or 3 times as expensive as it is for a body shop/customising place to get, but you aren't going to be paying someone a few hundred dollars an hour to get them put on either. Painted stripes of course will last longer and in some cases end up looking a bit nicer (especially if you want something that is rather complex or has a lot of curvature to it). Have fun and don't forget pictures when you are done!

Great pics! Thanks for sharing

I've been eying some maps and such for some time now looking to get up there... I am hoping to have a weekend get-a-way in the upcoming couple of weeks... If I do I will let you know what I find!

I am certainly interested. I did not make it to the hub this year - somethings came up...