BigLenny

Now that's crazy! That thing looks like it might be a bear to ride. Maybe not though. Makes me wonder what that final drive configuration looks like. Big Lenny

Hi Yama Mama, Long time no talk to. I miss our late night sessions in the chat booth. I certainly understand getting to a place in life where a change might be made. 2 and half years ago, Teresa and I sold our RSTD and went for something more stable. We bought a Can Am Syder Touring Tryke. After many years of riding together, Teresa was beginning to have some concerns with getting on the bike. 3 wheels has been a wonderful answer for her concerns. We are both absolutely loving riding again. Age and life events bring changes. It’s a fact that most of us aren’t gonna be able to avoid.

Hi All, Been a long while since I checked in. Sold the RSTD back in 2020, and switched to a Can Am Spyder for safety's sake. It's so good to see some of the familiar names still here! And dang grateful there are quite a few new names. WOWZY WOW WOW WOW!!! I noticed ole Puc is back! Last time I checked in on the site he had taken a sabbatical. It's not the same place without the Pucster. Don, I read where you are dealing with cancer again? Well, I'ma slide you into my morning prayer sessions. The Big Guy upstairs will take care of that for ya. I seriously don't know what the heck I would've done without this site during the 12 years we had Ole Red (RSTD) Y'all saved my butt many a times with fixes and ideas, and general good ole encouragement. Skydoc saving me with a clutch spring kit right before we were to head out on a 2 weeker comes to mind. Oh, and some of you taught me what a helicoil kit was, and talked me through fixing a stripped out fork thread just a few days before another two weeker we were about to take. I could go on and on. Just seriously thankful for the Venturerider site. I do most of my forum looking now at the Spyderlovers site, bein's we own one now. Nice folks, but its not VR. I'll do my best to start hanging around more. Your Friend, Big Lenny

Hey Gang, Back a few years ago I faced this same decision of epoxy coating, or snap together tiles. After spending some substantial time doing research, I decided to lay snap together tiles. There are two main players in the garage floor tile world: SwissTrax, and RaceDeck. I decided to go with RaceDeck because their pricing was considerably less than SwissTrax. NOTE: SwissTrax has an excellent floor layout design tool on their website. I used their design tool to configure my layout, but wound up buying RaceDeck. I have never regretted going with the tiles over a floor coating. Very durable product, and withstands jacks, and jack stands excellently. As far as oil spills, I did have a substantial spill when I accidently dropped a drain pan full of oil on the floor. It was a large spill. I cleaned up the spill with oil dry, and Oil Eater. The tiles looked great afterwards. I suppose there was some oil that might've seeped into the seams between the tiles, but it never left an odor, or showed up later. Either option is costly (coating or tiles). But, the tiles give you the potential to make some cool designs. We sold that house a couple years ago, and have since moved about 40 miles down the way to a new house. I am already starting to plan for installing tiles in the garage of this new house. Big Lenny

Hey Gang, It just dawned on me that I never posted pics of our new ride. So, here it is.

The new low forecast for Monday here in Little Rock is 0 degrees. They need to STOP IT with the new forecasts.

Squidley, 12 degrees in Houston really is crazy. Its supposed to be 2 degrees here in Little Rock, Arkansas Monday night. Somebody up north left the gate open, and let the ole Frosty head down south.

Hi All, It has been a looooooong time since I've been on the site here. Teresa and I have had some crazy things come up in our lives the past couple years that have taken our focus off of riding. We have occasionally gotten on the bike for maybe a short ride to go eat or something here and there, but probably haven't put more than a couple thousand miles on it the past couple years combined. IN the past couple years, we have dealt with: Me having 2 heart events that required hospital stays, and surgeries. The last one this past June 2020 was an event that happened while I was playing golf. My heart went into ventricle tachycardia, which resulted in my heart stopping, and me having to be carried to the ER, and hospital for a weeks stay, and a defibrillator installed. We're also dealing with two ailing mothers,, one of which we've had to move into our home to live with us. This has taken up great amounts of our time, dealing with selling my moms house and property and all of the work to get that completed. As well as Teresa having to go stay a day or two per week with my 93 yr old mother in law to help her. The list goes on and on. It has been a strange couple of years for us. We still have the 2007 RSTD that prompted me to become a member here way back in 2008. She's still a beaut, and runs well after all these years. She has taken us to 37 states over the years. Buuuuut.......We have been kind of losing interest with riding, due in large part with my heart health issues. With the defibrillator installed now, we have a concern that if we ever did go down, it could be a serious situation with the electrical connections and such with my heart and the defibrillator. We are getting to the age where going down just isn't something we want to deal with, or at least we want to reduce the chance of it happening as much as possible. However, we both agree that we aren't finished with our desires to drink the wind, and experience the therapy that we all know comes with riding out in the open air across this beautiful nation of ours. So..........this past October 7th, we purchased a brand new 2020 Can Am Spyder RT Limited. Big beautiful red/black machine that has completely won our hearts. We purchased it on October 7th, and two days later, put it on a trailer and towed it to Flagstaff AZ. Left our truck and trailer at an RV park in Flagstaff, and rode the new Spyder on a 1250 mile loop around northern AZ, southern Utah, and eastern NV. Took me a few days to get used to the thing, but now we are flat out excited to have it! It runs and rides smooth as a baby's behind, and has all of the fancy dancy thingamabobbers you can get on bikes nowadays. And, it comes with a far more secure feeling of not having to worry as much about going down. I know the rule; I'll post pics soon. I just wanted to jump on and say hi to all of my old friends, and say hi to a lot of new names I haven't seen before on the site. Please accept my apology for taking a loooong break. I'm baaaack! Big Lenny.

Hey 40, You are going through the exact thing I've been dealing with the past few months. Woke up from a nap, and my neck and across my right shoulder, and about half way down my arm were in so much pain I couldn't stand it. I was delirious for 3 days, with no sleep, and constant excruciating pain. I couldn't function. Stayed immobile. My right arm was buzzing, and my hand was tingling, and weak. My wife convinced me to go to a good chiropractor that she goes to. After 13 visits over 5 weeks, the pain was way better. Actually, it was getting where the pain was almost gone. But, I still had the buzzing in my arm, and hand, when I turned my head, and kept it in a certain position. The Chiro had taken X-rays the first visit, and had stated it appears to be a bulging disc, along with some degenerated discs, that were narrowing done on the nerve. But, the Chiro, after 13 visits, suggested I go see a specialists, and have an MRI done. I did that, and it showed a bulging disc between the C5-C6, that was pushing against the nerve cord. The specialist gave me 3 options: 1. Give it some time and see if the nerve gets used to it, and the bulge may work its way back in. 2. Get an injection in my neck that would deaden the nerve. 3. Have a discectomy surgery, going through the from of my neck, and replacing the disc with an artificial disc, and fusing the two vertebra together. I chose the give it some time option, since the pain has subsided. I have been 3 months since the ordeal started, and the pain is gone, so I'm not having to deal with that, but I still do have the arm buzzing, and hand tingling when I hold my head in a certain way. It's getting more livable. Tomorrow, I am gonna pick up an over the door neck traction unit that Chiro is wanting me to try. Hopefully, that will assist the disc to ease back into its place. We'll see. At least i can deal with it now, and get a full nights sleep. I hope you get better. BigLenny

Pucster, Thanks for all that cipherin that we didn't have to do. You Da Man!!! Polaris has a bike habit that I would bet they support with their sales of side by sides, and 4 wheelers. They sell a bazillion of those each year. Like you said, I'm glad they're in the market, and taking a whack at the establishment. It only makes for great products for us all to choose from across all brands. Big Lenny

OH, MY HEART ACHES!! Bob was truly a legend around here. In 2012, Teresa and I had a 2 weeker planned for an out west ride, and 2 weeks before our leave out date, while taking the front axle off to change the front tire, all of the threads in the left axle came out when I unscrewed it. I was in a full blown panic. The shop that I had taken it to to have the tire changed the last time, had not put anti seize on the threads. I immediately started having visions of having to buy a new fork, and all of the mess it was gonna take to get that fixed before our vacation. I jumped on the site here, and voiced my predicament, and it was BongoBob who responded, and urged me to calm down, and trust the knowledge of the people on this site to help me rectify the situation. Bongo immediately recommended a helicoil solution (I had never used a helicoil kit), and he encouraged some others here on the site to chime in on whether that would be a good idea or not. He basically took my situation to heart, and ran with it. Well, the helicoil was the exact fix that was needed, and we wound up having the best motorcycle vacation we've ever had. He even kept checking with me to make sure it was still doing good on the ride. We are still riding that bike with the helicoil fix. Bob was a special human. And, I love the fact that he was not shy about his faith. Words can't express how much he will be missed. I will continue to keep his family in my prayers. Rest in Peace Great Man!

I gotta question... My wife has a training she has to attend in San Mateo, CA the week of July 14th. She wants me to go with her, and us spend her off time seeing points of interest in the area. We'll probably go a few days earlier, and stay a few days after. If I go, and we rent a bike from Eaglerider, or some place like that, and we ride a couple days, can I technically count that as California being a state we have ridden in? Or, does it have to be on our own personal bike? Opinions??????? Big Lenny

Hi Status, I'm super excited you and your bride are gonna get to take a good long ride. I bet its gonna be a great trip. The Kentucky Horse Park is great! I noticed you said 800+ miles from Hannibal to Lexington. Google Maps shows it to be 453 miles. Are sure you have that correct? 800 miles is a lot to cover in a day. Big Lenny

Hey Skydoc, I hope you’re doing well. I bought the clutch kit from ya several years ago, and now I need to do it again. Please contact me and lets work work a deal. Thanks, Big Lenny

Hi Condor, Not sure what year model your Titan is. Those dudes used to be gas suckers, but Nissan completely remodelled them in 2017, and they get a lot better mileage now. 2017 is the model year I have, and I just looked at the avg MPG before I came in the house and jumped on the forum. It says its averaging 17.9 on this tank of gas. But, I've been running quite a bit of city stuff the past few days.

t_hole, My sentiments exactly about the Titan. And, believe me, I NEVER EVER EVER EVER thought I would be saying that about a Nissan Titan. I have the regular Titan, but I have an acquaintance who owns the Titan XD which has the Cummins Diesel, and he loves his rig too. This Titan is turning out to be a more tightly built rig than the Fords, and the GMC that I have owned. But, as I stated in my original post, you gotta be your own, stand alone man to own this rig, and not have a hint of a follower personality, because people are gonna rib you about it being non American and such. I totally enjoy having things that are crazy high quality, but aren't part of the status quo. It's why I ride an RSTD instead of a Harley. Look, all of the American trucks are high quality rigs, but, the Toyota and Nissan are right there with them in quality, but you get some things you don't get with the American rigs. In the Toyota Tundra, you get the advantage of owning the second highest resale value holding vehicle in all of the automotive market. The Toyota Tacoma is the #1 ranked value holding vehicle, and the Tundra is #2 . So, the cost of ownership will be less over time than American trucks. BUt, the downfall is they don't offer a 3/4 ton truck. The Nissan offers far more content for less money than the American rigs. And, right now, Nissan is putting a 5yr, 100K mile bumper to bumper warranty on both the regular Titan, as well as the XD to entice people to try it. So, there is even more value savings.

January 2018, I was in the market again for a new truck. I am a sales rep for Grainger, and I drive 3000-4000 miles per month. My vehicle is my office. It has to be extremely reliable, or I can't make a living. I had owned 7 Ford F150's in a row. I also owned a GMC Sierra in 2010 at the same time I owned an F150, because I had a buyer for the F150, but the deal fell through. That allowed me to drive both of them for a while, and I gotta say, the F150 was easily better quality than the GM product. But, lets get back to January 2018. I began the process of looking for a new truck again. During that search, I found an article, I believe it was in Truck Trend, magazine, or maybe it was in 4X4 Magazine. Not sure exactly. The article was about how big peer pressure plays into the purchase of full sized trucks in America. It talked bout how if Grandpa owned chevy's and he raised his son on Chevy's, grandson better not get a Ford. Its a big culture thing. Chevy owners poking Ford owners, and Ford owners poking Chevy owners, and all of them poking Dodge owners. It's a big culture thing. It talked about how Toyota and Nissan haven't been able to break into that American peer pressure culture as much, which is why those 2 brand names fall far behind the American names in truck sales numbers. But, as I read the article, it finished up the last paragraph by saying "Peer pressure plays a huge part, because after all, if it was about quality alone, Toyota and Nissan would be at the top of the sale numbers heap". That one quote caused me to decide to take a serious look at the newly redesigned Nissan TiTan. I had looked at the Toyota Tundra, and knew of its reputation of top of the line quality, but the gas mileage 13/15, wasn't going to work for me. That would kill me in monthly gas expense, compared to the other trucks on the market. I test drove the Nissan 4 times, then went a mission of asking every Titan owner i ran across for about 3 weeks how they liked their Titans. I was stopping people randomly at Gas stations, the grocery store, and everywhere else I saw people with Titans. This resulted in great discussions about how much Titan owners love their trucks, and how good a quality they are. Well, in February of last year, I made the scary leap of buying a 4X4 Nissan Titan SL. I had buyers remorse for about 2 weeks after I bought it because all of my buddies and relatives were wearing me out because I had bought a Titan instead of a Ford/Chevy/GMC/Ram. Making fun of me, and some still call it a Datsun just to try to bug me. I have owned it for 13 months now, and have put 51,000 miles on it. It is on the road all day, everyday, and I can now say; it is rapidly becoming in the top 2 or 3 of my favorite vehicles I have ever known. The truck is a beast compared the Fords and GMC I owned. The 5.6 Dual Overhead Cam, 32 Valve engine is so much smoother, and a heck of a lot stronger that the Ford and GM engines I have owned. This truck only tries to be a truck. It doesnt try to be a luxo-truck, even though it is very nice and loaded with leather seats and such. It is a pulling beast that is a truck at heart. I get about 17-18 mpg average. ONe of the main buying triggers for me was, Nissan is putting (and still is on the 2019's) from the factory, a 5yr/100,000 mile bumper to bumper warranty on it. You can buy so much more content for way less $ than the domestic brands. But, you have to be your own man to own this truck. You can't be a follow the crowd type personality. I think the domestics make great products, but, this Nissan has stolen my heart. Very good truck at a great price, with a great powerplant. ````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````

Pucster, I haven't been on the site in a while, so after I jumped on tonight to catch up on things, I'm so saddened to read of your little brother's battle with bone cancer. It is breaking my heart to read your updates. I want you to know Teresa and I are both keeping your brother, his family, and you and Tippy, and your family in our prayers during this difficult time. As you have already said, we will all be facing our time someday, but it sure doesn't make it any easier when we lose our siblings, and family members who we've been so close to. Prayers up. Your Brother in Christ, Big Lenny

Bongo, i havent conversed with ya in quite some time, but I just wanted to let you know I’m keeping you in my prayers. Hang in there brother. Big Lenny

Congrats to you all!!! And, lemme say this; I am so glad to see, and am impressed with you guys working into your 70's before you retire. I'll be 56 next month. My wife and I have done the right things with our money to set us up for retirement early. I could retire now if I wanted to, but, I just don't want to yet. There is unbelievable peer pressure now adays to retire as early as you can. I have several friends and family who are either retired at 55-60, or are going to soon. And, they're looking at me like I am some kind of alien because I want to stay in the game and stay relevant. I enjoy the challenges of my job. It is a high level sales career that keeps me on my toes balancing the needs of my clients and keeping up with new technology. I get to schedule my own time, so the flexibility helps to not feel trapped. Every day is something new in my job, and I like that. I am certainly not a workaholic. My wife and i travel a lot, and we both take time to stop and smell the roses. Several of the friends and family I know that have been retired for a while, just seem to have slowed down some as far as the alertness of their minds, and definitely slowed down in their bodies. I'm concerned about me doing that too. I don't know, I'll figure it out. But, I don't see myself retiring until at least 65, and hopefully, it'll be after 70. But, that's just me. But again, CONGRATS to you guys! Big Lenny

Thats a cool looking adventure bike! I have been having a hankering to get me an adventure style bike to do my solo riding on. Something like a Super Tenere, or I really like the Honda Africa Twin!

Has anybody heard from Cowpuc? For him to not post in over a month is major weird. Brother Puc has had a full blown addiction to this site for too many years for him to just stop cold turkey. Im not liking the feeling I’m getting about this. Big Lenny

So, am I to assume you guys are only doing liability? I'm doing full coverage. Bongo, is that $500.00 per year for liability only? Casey, I see you said liability only. Slowrollwv, is that $559 for full coverage Thanks.

Okay Friends, Just got my new 6 month premium bill from State Farm, and am now gonna pay $60.00 per month to insure our 2007 RSTD. I feel like I'm getting bent over and given the ol hoo ha. If you don't mind me asking, what are rates that you folks are paying out there? Surely to goodness, there are better rates than this. We insure our house, 3 vehicles, and a motorcycle with State Farm, and haven't had a claim in years. Thinking I need to go shopping. Thanks, Big Lenny

Holy Crap! That is a hot mess! Is that a solar panel on top? BL