zagger

Hey VentureFar, What is "distinctive urban styling"? I guess that I must be too much of a country rube. zag

It sure seems like my leak is gone. I keep checking the pressure every day. It has gone down a little but that loss might be caused by my inability to get the tire gauge on the valve without a little loss of air. I think I will let it sit for a few days and then check it again. zag

I know that this is very frustrating. Until this morning, I never suspected the tire valve. Seemed like the leak was too small. When the valve finally failed, I was happy to go get a new valve core. Hoping that this solves the problem. zag

Hey Bob, Thanks for the input. I'm gonna just see what the tire pressure looks like tomorrow morning. If it is stable, I'll figure that the problem is fixed. If it goes down, I'll be spraying soapy water like you suggest. Thanks again, zag

Thanks for the help MiCarl! I just got back from the hardware store with valve cores - $2 for four of them. Screwed one in and pumped up the tire. Seems good. I'll recheck the pressure tomorrow just to be sure. After struggling with this for a year or more (assuming that the leak was somewhere along the tire bead) I'm more than ready to have this issue go away. Until the tire valve started leaking like crazy this morning, I hadn't suspected that the valve was the problem. Hope this simple fix does it! zag

My '83 venture's front tire has been slowly leaking air for a year or more. I thought that the tire was leaking around the rim and I just checked it every 4 or 5 days and topped off the tire pressure. Less of a hassle than removing the wheel and having the tire reseated. This morning I checked the pressure and it was zero. Normally it has been in the high 20's or so. I added air but when the pressure got up a bit, the valve was obviously just blowing it right back out. Seems to be a real pain to get a new valve. I just went to a dealer and ordered a new '83 stock valve but it won't come in for a few days. I asked about just replacing the valve core and the guy just laughed. Are there valve cores available someplace? I looked on Amazon and ebay and didn't see anything. I'm starting to wonder if I should have a personal stock of valves just in case the other wheel gives out. I'd appreciate any advice on this. zag

Sorry to hear. I'm really chicken to ride after dark on the roads around here. Too much chance of a close encounter. Had one jump over my front wheel but somehow miss my windshield. Too close. zag

Was pushing mine into my garage and lost my balance. Bike dumped over into the garage door frame and shattered the windshield. Had to make a new windshield from scratch. Now I stop in the street, open the garage door, and ride it in. Bikes left parked in the garage are safe from damage, using them is where the crap happens! zag

If you want to see a dog head for the side, just aim your bike right for it. They come tearing out, but if you just swerve a little and go right for them, they head for home asap. No big deal. Never had to hit one yet. zag

Sorry - just noticed my typo. The speeds were in the one hundreds, not the two hundreds. The final record setting average was 111mph. This same bike can do about 130mph on a paved road in Wisconsin. The salt flats are much tougher since the elevation is around 4200ft (vs. 750ft in Wisconsin) and the surface of the salt is somewhat loose. zag

Lots of crazy machines out there getting up to 500mph. zag

Set a new speed record: 211mph vs. 205mph. Took two runs (one at 208mph and one at 214mph) to get the average. zag

Got back from the salt late last night. zag

zag

Just so ya know, I was at some bike thing and someone noticed that I didn't have any Harley parts included. So I ripped off the headlight bracket that I had made, and welded up a new headlight thing using a panhead Harley primary chain. Just for the esthetics. Nothing beats the idiocy of a primary chain. zag

Hey Loy, The first section of pipes from the engine were stock (mostly to keep the curve around the engine), but they were then cut and new pipes added. Everything downstream was custom built. But I had to find baffles that fit, so I made my final pipes to match. The baffles cut down on the sound somewhat, but I added a couple of big washers clamped onto a crossbar inside the baffles. They help with the sound but are really there to set the backpressure which is vital for the carb operation. zag

Been using Rotella T4 15W-40 for many years. Buy it in 2.5 gallon containers from Farm and Fleet. No idea if it is screwing everything up. Seems to run fine. zag

Hi, I just checked my files and didn't find any info on the speedometer ratio. Actually, I'm not at all sure that I ever knew it. As I recall, I simply got an old Yamaha speedo and hoped that the engineers would have left the internal gearing about the same and wouldn't have completely redesigned it for a different model bike. In reality, it is pretty good but it does read a little faster than the bike is actually going. Maybe 5mph at highway speeds. Probably not a bad thing since I'm usually going a bit too fast anyway! As I recall, I had much more trouble getting the speedo cable to reach from the wheel back to the handlebars. My front end is pretty long and I had to get an extension for the speedo cable made to increase the overall length. zag PS When I got my bike I didn't know if it had the second gear issue or not (bought it from a salvage place). Since I had it all torn apart, I pulled out the engine, opened the transmission, and pulled out the shaft which has the stupid little retainer. Mine was somewhat ground down, but not far enough yet to cause problems. I put in a new one after rigging up a very dangerous spring compressor setup using a couple of brick carriers and a hydraulic jack. I added the little retainers to my basement shop mobile of idiotic catastrophes in my life. The most recent addition to my museum was a brass plumbing splitter that just broke in half and sprayed water all over my house - with my wife trying to stop the pressurized water with her hands. I came into the house from a bike ride to a disaster scene and my wife screaming. Ya just never know!

I vote the Walther PPK pistol as the most uncomfortable firearm that I have ever owned. I got it because it was James Bond's gun. But firing it was pretty much like getting smacked on the hand with a hammer. Not nice. Brought it back to the gun shop and traded it for a Keltec. I like Keltec pistols - very simple, no safety, just point and shoot. I've got three of them now. The 380's are very small and light - good for concealed carry. Very reliable. I also have a Keltec SU16 rifle, nice gun with a folding stock. zag

I don't know, but it sure seems like you need a new gun to play with. zag

Backrests are great if they keep you from slumping over. Mine push me upright so that I'm forced to keep my back straight which gives much less fatigue. "Why is my back tire literally disappearing before my very eyes after every 50 mile or hundred mile trip? I mean it wasn't an expensive Tire, a Shinko tourmaster, but front barely shows any wear?" Years ago I decided to do my own tire evaluations to see if I could save something on the cost of rubber. Shinko's were the worst and simply ground away almost immediately. In the end, the effort and cost of changing tires was the determining factor. I have two bikes, both running Metzeler tires simply because their running life was reasonably long. zag

Sorry - didn't mean to create a problem. zag

Sorry! I do have Amazon Prime and the video is "free". I guess that I thought it was free for everyone. Not a big deal, I will give you the main idea: big open space, guys messing around with tuning, bikes disappear into the horizon, ewwwwwwwwww. More standing around. Someone figures out the speed - not a lot of complicated plots or anything! Going to Bonneville from Wisconsin is a long week of driving and lots of motel expenses. The motels which are close to the salt flats are quite expensive and I told my friend that I couldn't go if we had to stay at the places closest to the racing. So he booked rooms at a Motel 6 which is only 100 miles away and only costs $100 per night. Such a deal! zag

My friend built a bike to set the speed record in its class at the Bonneville salt flats. I'm heading out there with him in about 3 weeks. The bike is a 650cc Triumph Bonneville T120. A few of us are headed west from Wisconsin in his Suburban with the bike on a trailer. Racing at Bonneville has been cancelled due to rain for the last 3 years. Hopefully it goes off this time. This is a video of the last time he was out there: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B075QN4TDN His bike is the yellow Triumph. NOTE: WATCHING THIS VIDEO FOR FREE WILL START A TRIAL SUBSCRIPTION TO AMAZON PRIME WHERE YOU WILL BE AUTOMATICALLY CHARGED IF YOU DON'T CANCEL. zag

Couldn't agree more! Actual CCW is a nightmare of state and local restrictions - along with local police who just do what they want. It is easy to become a victim of government over reach. And that is assuming you never are forced to shoot someone who attacks you. If that happens, you might wish that the perp had succeeded! zag