Mooseduncan

Okay so which button do I press to do that? The "insert image" button asks for a pic with an adress, like something from photobucket would have. You're not dealing with a very pc savvy guy here...

So I can upload pics directly from my pc (which is where they are) and I don't have to move them to photobucket first?

At work here I have a whole slew of pics from my trip 2 years ago that I'd love to share, but I can't figure out how to transfer pics here from anywhere else but Photobucket and it would take forever to transfer the pics from where they are to photobucket then here. Is there an easier way?

C'mon!! The more the merrier as far as I'm concerned!! We make alot of stops though... Basically anything that we see that looks good to eat, good to drink or good to take a picture of... My uncle went with us one year and he didnt like it at all. But he's the type that goes to Iowa to see my aunts and uncles and does it in a day and a half. I have done that trip with him and my butt had no issue with it, but it wasnt all that fun.

Good call Beaver! I will do that for certain. Yeah Mike I wish I had somewhere that I trusted like that. For now though I'll just turn my own wrench.

Each year my best friend and I take a trip to somewhere on our bikes. This year we are headed to Washington. We leave in less than three weeks!! WOW I can't wait!! We live in Modesto, CA. Gonna head out over the Altamont Pass, take 680 to 24 to 80 to 101 and on up. Stopping the first night in Fort Bragg on the Pacific Coast Highway. Day two will see us up Hwy 1 to Cresent City where we will crash for night two. Then up into Oregon to see my little sister in Toledo, OR for night three. Day four will get us to Portland, OR where we will stay the night but not before we explore the southern part of Washington. Day six gets us back down to Eugene, OR. Easy day, nice hotel and probably a movie at the theater right across the street. Day seven gets us around Crater Lake and down to Mount Shasta, CA for the night. Day eight to Paradise, CA and back home on day nine.

Hey thanks to everyone for letting me air this out! Whether we agree or not it felt good to converse about it. So seriously, thanks.

Not to start an argument with you here wing, but I do ride it and enjoy it! I also take alot of pride in it! To each his own though...

Pig spit is the best thing I've ever seen bar none. A little pricey but worth it.

Thanks Dragon Rider! His name is Alan, his dealership is Mallotts Honda Yamaha in Manteca, CA. He really did do right by me... And Lilbeaver, that is BADASS!!!

Okay it's finally over! When I last wrote, they had called and said the bike was ready. So I got there at about 4:15 and the first thing I noticed was that the front tire whitewall was shining like new! That was cool to see. The service manager made it a point to tell me that the mechanic had cleaned it for me to match the new rear tire and that he had wiped my bike down for me as well. I thanked him and asked him if we could go start it and look it over. We walked back there and I went straight for the front fender to look and see if the scratch was still there, it was. I commented on how nice the tire looked and he yelled back to the mechanic (i guess) that I really liked the front tire. I was looking the bike over as he was doing that and no sooner did those words come out of his mouth than I see a HUGE scratch on my rear fender! Huge and deep! Looks like perhaps a wrench was dropped on it or something. I immediately said "I'm not too happy about this though" and he walked right to me and looked, all surprised like, and said "we didnt do any work back there, that wasnt us". I told him to look where the scratch was and look where one would work to take the saddlebags off!! He just went, "oh yeah". He called the mechanic over and asked him if remembered doing this. The mechanics reply was one syllable "nope". The service manager looked at me and said that he was gonna have to stand by his guy on this one. That was my boiling point. I got on the bike and started it up, backing it out of the shop. As soon as the sunlight hit it, I almost puked. The "wipedown" that the mechanic did on my bike was either done with a brillo pad or, more likely, the same shop rag he had been using for the service! My black bike looks like it's been sanded. Even the chrome bezel around my speedo is scuffed to hell! I put the kickstand down, pulled my helmet off and started in towards the shop. The service manager saw me and came walking out, asking me if everything was okay. No, nothing is okay I told him and proceeded to show him. While doing this we found another actual scratch on the rear of the right saddlebag lid. I told the service manager that I wanted to speak with the owner right now. He told me the owner had already gone home for the day and that although he didnt think they were responsible, he would like to take care of this for me. I asked him what his idea of take care of this was and he said he has a buddy who paints bikes. I stopped him and told him to let the owner know that I would be coming back tomorrow (today) and that if he wanted to sit in on the conversation he was more than welcome. I took the bike to Dutch Boy Mobile Detailing, he's the guy who washes our fleet, and asked him if he thought he could bring it back, he said yes to all but the three scratches, but he told me to get some touch up paint and he would fill them for me and make it close to new. So this Saturday, he's gonna do it for me. I had to go see a job this morning, so I made it over to the dealership at about 11:30. The owner knew I was coming and saw me right away. I asked him if the service manager would be joining us and he said no it would just be the two of us. He asked me what he could do to make things right which calmed me down right away. After going back and forth for a few minutes (I shot for the stars and asked for all my money back plus they pay for the detail) we ended up agreeing on the labor being refunded, the parts at cost and they pay for the detail (125 bucks). I left with a check for 573.52. I shook his hand and told him that he had impressed me with this and that while I would probably never bring my bike back in for service, I would continue to be a customer. (I have purchased a quad and a dirtbike from them) So on the whole, I guess I'm okay now. Still reeling from the headache this gave me but hopefully come saturday it will all be behind me!

It's 4pm and I just got the call. Bike is done and ready to go. I'm heading over there to get it in a few minutes. Gonna be out in the field in the morning but I'll check in about mid day with an update...

Oh man, an SS convertible?? That's close to the Holy Grail right there!! Can't wait to see the pics of that thing!

Wow Jim, that car is bad to the bone! You do the body work?? I'm loving the front end of that thing! And Lil Beaver, you make some valid points. I know I should'nt have gone into the shop like that, but it was instinctual. I was in there doing what I was doing before I knew it... I too hope this thing works out in the end.

Thanks SilvrT! Yeah scratches and chips will happen, but I want them to be ones that happen on the road while riding... Good reference about the fender mats!

My Chevelle. For the car buffs out there... http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm6/beendad/thedream.jpg

Glad I'm not alone in this Massey... Straycatt, I get what you are saying about getting all bent at the guy who's gonna be taking my scoot apart, that's why I told the service manager that I wanted him to personally oversee my service. I know scratches can be buffed out and I fully expect to have to clean my scoot after this service, but should I really expect to do some scratch buffing? Is that just an accepted part of the process? I don't think it should be. I havent mentioned the name of the dealer yet because I'm a patient person. I dealt with the mechanic as I felt the situation called for at the time. I'm gonna reserve judgement on the whole thing untill tonight, when I can inspect the bike from top to bottom. Accidents happen I know but most can be avoided by being smart from the get go. We'll see if they wisened up after I left.

I'm tryin Sly, I'm tryin... I'm actually an extremely calm individual, I'm just anal about certain things. This will definitely be the last time I take my scoot to the dealer. It's 13 years old and looks brand new, something I take alot of pride in. I also have a 69 Chevelle that I restored myself which is 41 years old and looks brand new. No one touches her but me as far as wrenching goes. My best friend tried to talk me down by telling me that it's "just a bike, not your car"... I don't know...

I have ALWAYS worked on my own bikes. But they were Harleys and I knew them from top to bottom, easy bikes to wrench on. I just bought my Royal Star and since I have my big trip coming up here in a couple of weeks, I decided to take it to the dealer for the 16,000 mile service, just this once... The reason I have always worked on my own bikes dates back to the first time I took my first Harley into the dealer for a simple oil change. I went to pick it up and low and behold, there was a scratch on the tank. When I brought it up to the service manager, I was told that it was there before before they began to work on it and was looked at like I was trying to pull a scam. Needless to say, I raised hell but still only ended up with a free detail and did not pay for the service. I was able to buff the scratch out when I got home but that set the precedent for me. Take bike to dealer=get screwed. Back to the story at hand though... I took my bike to the dealer and spent a good half hour talking to the service manager about the pride and care I take in my bike's appearance and that I expect to come back to ZERO scratches/dents when I pick it up. The service manager ASSURED me that he would take extremely good care of my bike, there was nothing to worry about. I dropped it off Saturday for the service and a new rear tire. Well, I swung by today as they are only a couple of miles from my office to see how it was coming along. When I arrived my bike was parked about 10" from the bike lift, which had a dirt bike on it at the time. The mechanic who was working on the dirt bike had to repeatedly walk from the lift to his tool box, each time literally squeezing past my front tire and fender, his jeans actually rubbing on the fender. I immediatley walked over and moved my bike back about 2 feet. The mechanic asked me who I was and told him I was the owner of this bike and that I was not comfortable at all with how close it was where he was working and walking. He looked at me like I was crazy. I then looked at my front fender and big surprise, there is a small scratch right smack on the front of it!! I got more than a little upset and asked him how this happened. He looked at me and shrugged. I asked to speak to the shop manager and all he did was walk to the phone and over the loudspeaker, asked for the shop manager to come to the shop, customer waiting. When he arrived, I showed him the scratch and told him this is exactly what I was talking about! He rubbed the area with his finger and said it felt smooth and that he didnt think the scratch was new. This is after we had already walked the bike on Saturday looking for scratches and dents. As we were discussing this, the mechanic had pulled the dirt bike off the lift and had pulled my bike on and was taking my hard painted bags off. The first thing he did was set the bag and lid on a metal counter, no towel or anything down! That was my breaking point. I went from talking to yelling instananeously! " That is EXACTLY the sh-t I'm talking about!!" and I stormed back there, grabbed the bag and lid and walked right back to service counter where the manager was standing, mouth agape. I grabbed a couple of shop rags that were on the counter and put the bag down on top of them, latched the lid and turned the bag over. Thank god there werent any scratches, but still! At this point my head was pounding so I took a couple of deep breaths and then slowly tried to explain that this is the reason I don't usually bring my bike in for anything, it's not his bike so why, other than pride in workmanship, would he care?? The service manager looked as confused as I've ever seen anyone look in my life. I asked him what his plan was because I'm not happy at all right now. He asked me what I would like him to do. I told hime I would be much more comfortable if he would personally oversee the sevice of my bike, which he agreed to do. He promised me that my bike would be done today. It's 2:15 right now so at 4:30 when I leave I'm gonna head back over. Do you guys think I'm being over the top here or does everyone value their stuff the way I do? Be honest!

Tank is about 1/2 full right now, gonna ride it tonight after work and check/clean or change the filter tomorrow. I LOVE this bike. Seriously, coming from a Harley Wideglide to this bike was definitely a step in the right direction even if the air filter is under the tank!! Has anyone found anything to go in the empty space where the air filter on a Harley would normally be? I see that the Road Stars have the air filter there... wonder if the cover could somehow be fitted there...

I'm at work right now but you guys are making me soooo excited to get home and take the tank off my bike dive right in!! NOT!! I did find the pdf file on this site for my repair manual so hopefully that helps.

Oh how convenient!! Thanks for the help bud.

I'm feelin like a total newb here... I can't locate the air filter on this bike!! Any help?