RedRider

I read this letter while .... er... um ... shaving .... this morning. Was wondering if they were an inmate. Thanks for pointing this out. RR

Not uncommon up here. Every year before deer season, one of the local jewelry stores runs a promo giving away a Benelli shotgun with the purchase of an engagement ring. RR

Mine are HID's from Martin Fabrication. Mount to an extended bolt that attaches the front fender to the forks. The headlight is also HID. Will try to get some pictures of the mount tonight. RR

You need 3 sizes of Allen wrenches to split the faring. The small bolts on the rider side of the faring require 3mm. The top bolt on each side is longer than the others, so keep them separate. The light bar requires 6mm. Place a towel over the front fender before you start to remove these bolts. You WILL drop the wrench, a bolt, the light bar, one of the spacers behind the light bar, etc..... There is also a long bolt at the bottom of the headlight ring. This requires a 4mm wrench. Once you do it a couple of times, it is no longer a concern. Easy to do. FYI - Don't go cheap on a set of Allen wrenches. A stripped out bolt is a difficult and expensive (at least time consuming) occurrence. You don't need to go Snap-On expensive, but I would stay away from HF or the bargain bin at the True Value.

I believe the Honda part number is 08734-0001. RR

Yes, that is what we are talking about. Pull the pumpkin and the drive shaft should come with it. Pull the drive shaft out of the pumpkin. Use Honda Moly 60 to grease the shaft ends. Reinstall. Several threads on here about aligning the drive shaft to get it back into the U-joint. RR

Under the fairing. I used double sided tape and have not had a problem with several years and 10's of thousands of miles. RR

I've been happy with Odyssey.

Why turn it off? Did you have the tank off? Just make sure you move it to reserve periodically to keep the seals wet. Other than that, I just leave it on. RR

Venturefar, With your ordeal and writeup showing how the fuel pump points can be accessed while the FP is mounted, I checked mine out. The points look brand new. Still the cross hatching on them (assume it was made like that since they are so uniform). 112,000 miles on this original pump. I feel better even though I have recently picked up an emergency spare. May need to check that one too. http://2000rsv.smugmug.com/Motorcycles/Misc/i-T8mbtZk/0/M/Fuel%20Pump%20Points-M.jpg RR

Check your local HD shop. Many are gearing up to trailer bikes down and back to Daytona for bike week. They may have some room to pick up the trailer on the way back. RR

And to answer your original question - No, there is nothing you are doing wrong. It is one area of stupid design on these bikes. Fortunately, this is one of the very few. I just changed mine last week. It is a PITA. RR

Yes, yes it will. If you are concerned with that, turn off the fuel petcock and run the bike dry. RR

Just for a point of reference, my father and my younger brother both purchased a N104 recently. They both have fairly narrow heads (egg shaped - or - in helmet parlance - long oval). Brother was previously in an Aria Profile and Father was in an HJC that got the forehead pounded out. They both like the helmet fit. Neither has done any long days in it, but the preliminary evaluation is that this helmet will fit a long oval head. I won't believe it until I try it. I also have a Profile shaped head. HJC is a slightly narrow shape (slightly more oval than round). If the HJC fits, the Nolan N104 may be too sloppy front/back. Try them on to make sure. RR

You may be able to do it on the bike, but it is really easy to take it off. Since you are needing to solder and there are a couple of small screws, I would certainly feel more comfortable changing out the points on a bench. Only real key in removing the pump from the bike, mark which hose goes to which nipple. Get a couple of twist ties, zip ties, etc. and put one on the hose and the other on the appropriate nipple. Good luck. Let us know how it turns out. RR P.S. Nice shirt. Time to find a Long Distance rally and put those LD chops to use.

That's a pretty fancy golf cart. RR

Russell Day Long. You will never think of a Corbin again. RR

Not sure about your ability to move, but check here. Seems to be in your line of experience. http://www.jfahern.com/careers/CSS RR

It appears you are new in here. Welcome. To expand on the above answers to your question - The side fins on the engine jugs are just cosmetic. Couple of cap head bolts hold them on. Remove these fins and you will likely see the freeze plugs that are leaking. Shim and/or replace as outlined above. Again, welcome. Drop your $12 in the plate and enjoy Venture knowledge and witty banter all year. RR

If you are into baseball, the Cactus League spring training will be going on.

Good luck whipping the big C. Enjoy your retirement and come on up to WI. It's nice in the summer (there will be a summer...right?) RR

Squidley is parting out a '99. Shot him a PM and see if he still has the light bucket. RR

Bert, How do you like the 4.5" LED lights? Thinking about a pair of these. Do you have a link? RR

Brings back a memory of a bachelor party many years ago. My ex's family were a bunch of farmers - highly educated farmers (almost all had masters degrees) - but farmers none-the-less. One of the BIL's was getting married and we had a bachelor party at his house (bad idea #1) while his fiance' went and hung out at her mother's. Much beer was consumed, cigars were smoked, poker played, pron playing on the TV. Typical stuff. I was in charge of cooking. One of the siblings brought RM oysters from a calf they had castrated on their farm. I peeled the skin, sliced, dredged, fried. Nothing special but they were eaten. Skins were dropped down the garbage disposal (bad idea #2). The fiance and her mother opened the door at 8:00 am the next morning (really bad idea #3). Pron was still running on the TV, beer cans and liquor bottles were everywhere, guys were randomly passed out everywhere (including the front door - he was hit by the door and just rolled over to allow it to be opened). Needless to say, the fiance and mother were shocked! Shocked! I tell you. (What the hell did they expect?) Anyhoo, I was the least hung over and started to clean. Tried to grind up the ball skins in the disposal. (bad idea #4) Not going to happen. Like trying to grind up a bag of rubber bands. Had to reach my paw into the garbage disposal and pull the pieces/parts out while the mother was standing there. She was expecting an explanation. None was given. It made for good stories. They have been married 25+ years now. Me and his sister? Not so much. RR

Another option you want to look at is Medjet. It covers getting you back to your hospital of choice if you are injured elsewhere. It is not medical insurance. It is only a transportation insurance plan that will provide medical transport from anywhere in the world to your home hospital. RR