saddlebum

Replaced the plastic elbow between the water pump and thermostat housing. turns out every time my highway pegs scrapped in hard turns it would bend the engine guard a tad and eventually it rubbed a hole through the plastic elbow. while I was at it the 86 parts bike I have had a 4 brush starter so I swapped that out at the same time since I was in there anyway. Also cleaned up any wire connections that were accessible while I was in there as well. Also going to weld some additional material to engine guards to make them a bit stronger. Seems to me for an engine guard the bend just a bit too easy.

Nice article. I was perticular looking to see if you commented on visibility in bright sunlight as that has always been my pet peeve with GPS's. I have always been a fan of TomTom's mapping as I found it much better and quicker than Garmin. My 1st motorcycle GPS was the TOMTOM rider II, but I did later switch to the Garmin 660 however only because its daylight viewing was marginally better than the TOMTOM which was terrible. Now I use the TOMTOM GO app on my phone so I get the best of both worlds with good visibilty and a mapping app that I feel is better than Garmin's. It also has a winding road feature. However I have had my eye on the new TOMTOM rider 550 for a while now saving my penny's and therefore I really enjoyed your write up on the unit.

So were is the Mask

Don't give Marcarl any ideas He has enough of his own when it comes to trying to overshadow a national event with one f his presumed birthdays. I think he tries to get three a year as it is.

Happy Canada Day EH. to all us lucky Canadians (or Kanuckians as good old cowpuc would say) In either case I hope despite all negative circumstances that have befallen us all world wide I hope that at least for today we all can enjoy celebrating living in one of the best countries in the world . :canada::canada::canada::canada::canada::canada::canada::canada::canada::canada::canada:

Why Thank you BIG TOM. and BTW your secret is safe with me, No one will ever know how you really know. However it is with much regret that this huger must sadly disappoint so many Hugees this year because I have had to remove myself from the attendees list and will not make the rally this year. I guess this is why Marcarl is displaying so much confidence since he knows his main obstacle will be grounded. Due to a number of past health issues which includes 3 bouts of work related walking pneumonia over the past 50 years, high blood pressure and stent surgery, My Dr. already had me stop going to work since mid march. and now with the closing of the border, Its pretty obvious I will be missing this years Rally. I hope that those who do attend have a great time but remember to follow all the safety guidelines to stay safe and healthy. Hopefully there is a not too distant future, where we can put all this behind us and life will return to normalcy, with improvements. Such as a little more compassion and less greed world wide, with heads of state actually becoming public leaders for the people they serve and not just self indulging figure heads.

Hey I resemble that!!

You will get there faster with the 1st GEN.

Actually I was thinking more of the time when Trader and I took a shortcut according to Garmin from the hotel where the Galena event was being held to the campground we were staying at and ended up on a cow path through the bush with lots of roots, ruts and washouts, going through it, which dead ended at a railroad track and we had to turn around and backtrack about a mile through the same stuff back again. We literally were literally off roading It reminded me of my motocrossing days. But our ventures took it all in stride.

First let me say I glad your alive and able to feel pain. The alternative may not be a good thing. Secondly; Herbrand used to be a big rival to snap on I do not believe they are any longer in business. It has been years since I have seen a Herbrand tool truck but during my apprenticeship days I bought quite a few Herbrand tools, some I still own. I guess you could say its a collector wrench now. Now as far as @cowpuc,s suggestion to hang it on the wall. You may want to reconsider. I think it should go back in the saddle bag since it just may be your Gremlin bell. You could have been a lot worse off were it not fo that wrench.

Lowering the front or raising the rear both effect fork angle/rake. Having said that generally speaking decreased fork angle normally improves low speed handling and cornering, while increased fork angle improves high speed handling. Just food for thought. If loading your bike try loading heavy stuff like tools etc. Low down in your saddlebags keeping lighter stuff near the top. As a last desparate resort you could toss a brick or twoo in the bottom of each saddle bag. More than anything which I found is just learn to alter your riding style to suit the bike such as maintaining a more upright posture while allowing the bike to lean under you. By this you tend to counter balance the bike. The slower you are moving the more upright you maintain your posture. The faster you go the more you lean with the bike.

Oooh boy cut my teeth on those babies just did not loose any . They could be a nightmare. Tire shop down the road from where I worked lost two people because of them. One lost his head and another was thrown up against the ceiling were he left an imprint, when a huge off road tire blew. Sadly He was killed instantly as well. Its had me keep a wary eye And a large dose of respect for them rings while inflating them. Never had a cage though but would wrap two chains around rim and tire.....Most of the time

Hey Puc try securing the rim down and use a pair of truck tire spoons. with a length of almost 3 ft you get lots of leverage. But that is only good if you already have a pair or can find a good deal on used ones because the brand new price is not cheap. I have because I spoon or did spoon thousands of semi truck tires over the past 50 some years. But they work nice on any tire all the why down to tiny trailer wheels.

So I would guess no delinking of the brakes either then. That sucks because I like many others feel linked brakes are dangerous on loose road surfaces including gravel or sand covered hard surfaces.

You do realize for the sneaking part to work you actually have to stop talking yourself long enough to get past.

AWWW Does Tom Need a big hug............ . . ./ /. /. ;/ Too Bad .....Border is closed.

Happy Anniversary Marca and Carl

Waky waky Marcarl, It's a second Gen not a 1st Gen Burgandy /Blk Cherry MKII.

You left out the part about facing a wall while parked in the garage......Don't ask how he knows this

Thank You Carl and since when did you ever need a special invite. you know the welcome mat is always out for you.........As long as Marca is with you to keep you on your best behavior.

I pick up the back end then just sweep the center stand back with my foot after which a gently put the back end back down.

Starter and electrical issue diagnosing. Personally Jumping the solenoid would be my first step. seeing as it starts when you do that then you know power from battery to starter is fine. disconnect the small wires on the solenoid get a pair of wires and connect them to the solenoid then run one wire direct to ground and touch the other to positive if it cranks solenoid is OK and you need to look further if it does not then you have a bad solenoid and though its not impossible it is pretty rare and a good dose of bad luck to get one out of the box that is faulty. So assuming it fired up ok using your patch wires to trip the solenoid you now need to look for faulty wire or connections and this could include the contact points in the start button. You also want to make sure you have good ground connection to the solenoid. A good old fashioned test light works wonders here as I do not put much stock in using a volt/ohmmeter, specially the digital ones. Below is my procedure for diagnosing bad connections. I teach these procedures to all my apprentices. Starter and electrical issue Fault tracing Those could go back to something as simple as poor/dirty connections including bad grounds. Don't trust an ohmmeter here for testing grounds and other connections. They are fine for locating open circuits but not poor connections. Ohmmeters draw very little currant and may indicate a good connection were voltage is concerned but that connection may fail once a load is requested to pass through. A better method is to use a voltmeter and a bulb such as headlight builb with a pair of wire attached. take a voltage reading at various test points and then while watching the voltage connect the test light to the same points your volt meter is connected while watching the volt meter. If the voltage only drops a volt or two when you connect the bulb your ok if it nose dives by more than a volt or two you have a bad or weak connection. Another method is to use a test light (this needs to be one with a normal bulb not one of the LED types), Use the test light to bridge connections while the circuit in question is under load. If the light stays off that connection is OK. If the light glows (and the brighter it glows the worse the connection ) this indicates the currant is using the test light as a sort of detour or added bridge so to speak and than you have found a bad connection. (Think of it as only so many cars able to cross an intersection because there is a problem at the intersection and the test light is offering an alternative route for the remaining cars, so they can all get to the other side (the test light glows) but if they can all get through the intersection nobody uses the alternate route in this case the test light will not glow)

Nice looking bike I hope you get to at least get some leisure riding time even if they are only Sunday afternoon rides. Tis better'n not ridi'n atal lad. And from what I understand (not that I have ever ridden one) for an RSV wanna-be they are not too bad a bike. Not that they would ever compare to 1st gen of course ------ but you know at least you do get to have something you can ride. Plus with fuel injection you don't get that post hibernation cough and sputter in the spring time. So enjoy buddy. And thats all I have to say about that.

Well since you made a few wrong turns and ended up in Nova Scotia you may as well check out the the Halifax seaport farmers market market North Americas oldest market founded in 1750. Right next to it is the famous Garrison micro brewery and a little further up the road Kieths brewery founded in 1496. From Hallifax you go east and check out the Cabot trail or go west and check out Peggy's cove though you really don't want to miss doing the Cabot trail.