JohnT

3. I totally take back all those times I didn't want to nap when I was younger Oh, to have someone look me right in the eye, point at me, and sternly say, "I don't want any sass. YOU TAKE YOUR NAP MISTER!"

My brother was 20 year U.S.Army. He spent time helping to develop then use some pretty nifty satellite and microwave communication equipment. The closest hint to what he actually did from time to time was him telling me he was trading his ID card for diplomatic credentials for a trip to "provide communication support" for elections in the Philippines. He will still tell you that military intelligence is a contradiction in terms.

Ruffy, even at 1700 it is cheaper than a new rig. It will be a cold day in hell before I buy new again. Never, never, never, never, never. I can still find really good, reasonable mileage behicles for $5000 at the MOST. Last car, 1998 Ford Taurus with 54,000 geezer miles was $3200 all in. Including all new brakes, tires and a gas tank. Nope, it's not new, it's not fancy. But I handed over the money and it's mine. I would hop in it and drive to anywhere right now. Well, after the snow stops. Why do I live near Tug Hill?

However many miles I rode it wasn't enough. Did not add a single state this year. But I did ride the heck out of the Adirondacks.

I have warm clothes, a snowblower on my garden tractor, and a snowmobile. On my snowmobile I can go as fast as it will go, or get back into places you can't get to most any other time of year. I can gently cruise the wilderness, or go night life hopping across most of northern NY. Then again, I spent 3 hours behind the wheel in Lancaster County Pa. yesterday and finally made the 40 minute trip from York to Hanover. I hate folks that are just to dumb to drive in "bad" weather. (barely snowing, accumulation of like 4 inches) The old gag of "idiots and morons". Idiots to dumb to slow down a little who crash. And morons that think they can hit the bottom of a hill at 10 m.p.h. And when they can't make it, block the road for 40 minutes trying to climb to the top. I finally got impatient and walked up the hill. I offered to tun the car around for HIM (not her, him). I then demonstrated a reverse 180 and walked back down to my truck. In all fairness I used to have a ball driving in winter. Maybe to much fun. Disclaimer time. I don't really like anything about winter anymore.

Almost any time a group I was in were adddresed as "gentlemen" I was in the poop. As in. "Do you gentlemen have any idea what you have done?"

Win 8 and.like it? So, you're the one.

Has anyone tried just absolutely destroying, I mean removing Win 8 and doing a clean install of Win 7 on current hardware? If and when I have to replace my hand built box I hope to still be able to use my multi user Win 7. If not, it's Linux or Mac for me.

Talked to my brother yesterday. He lives about 2 hours south of Dallas. Now he hasn't had to deal with our Norther NY winters in 32 years. His take on local reaction to the weather event would tick off those whining about it.And he is living in it. I do empathize with those dealing with it. It does suck. But it's not a tornado or tsunami for Pete's sake. Ice and snow events are very survivable. My wife and I had learned to get through as much as a week without power. With no generator. (we do own one now) In the last 30 years we have seen major ice storms,(1 was 6 days with no power), 1 "micro burst" another 5 days with no power, to many long term outages due to snow to even count, and so on. Plus the "ordinary" outages due to inclemnt weather, accidents taking ut poles, transformers puking and so on. And as for driving in it. that again is an adjustment. Or just don't. Don't drive any faster than you want to be going WHEN you crash. Odd ball and extreme weather events seem to be more likely for some reason. Those that prepare and adapt will be OK. The rest, not so much.

Hey there Ben, way cool. Glad that you got a happy turn.

Brakes are the slowing device which allows us to take advantage of the superior performance and handling qualities of a 1st Gen.

Bubba, RandyR and Syscrusher nailed it.

I still have everything mounted and wired in my fairing and it still has been never used. I haven't had the heart to remove my instument cluster to have my friend do the circuit board modification. (even my buddy Tim couldn't get all the screws back in when he changed his cluster, so I may as well not even try) So I took the after market headlight bulb that I bought for my GS 1100 and put it in the VR. This is the PIAA lamp that I have. https://www.denniskirk.com/piaa/h4-high-performance-halogen-bulb-xtreme-white.p22387.prd/22387.sku At almost $50 it is nearly as pricey as a cheap HID. And it is amazing. It is bright and it has far more range than stock. It has also proven to be reliable. I ran that bulb for 3 years in my GS and part of this year in the VR. Light Output is 110/100W Power consumption: 60/55w

It's an entirely different world above the clouds. I hope to see it for real one day before I go .

:doh:Oh, like elbows and knees and such,,,,,

I would love to get my hands on a Valkyrie, the old one. The one that looks like a motorcycle. George Jetson would not be caught dead on that, it's hideous. Mr. Spacely's wife maybe. I mean her on the bike, not George on,,never mind.

Not really, they can and do go cheap at times. A friend here just got a 16 foot trailer with a hardwood plank deck and 15 inch wheels. Mesh gate though. For $250. I wanted to strangle him. Have seen a few sound but fixer upper car haulers here for $400 to $600. $1000 to $1200 (total) would have had them in nice shape.

My windshield is cut down a bit by the P.O. I am finding I am going to need to dig out a full coverage helmet for temps below 40 (F) And fix my lowers this winter. I wish I could afford a "winter rat" motorcycle.

Riding with this bunch, or my local friends, where will I ever find a beer can?

Bought my 86 1 year and 6 months ago. Can't picture not having her around now. Have big plans for her over the next few years. Exhaust, trailer hitch (in the shed now) more or better stereo, some (more) lights, and many more miles. And a trailer to go with the hitch so I can take more stuff more places. Gonna camp in style at Pioneer in 2014.

A few of you saw what my prescription looks like. (insert Hubble telescope reference here) Over the last few years I have tried HIGH price ophthalmologists with boutique onsite glasses and have also done the retail chain stores. The difference? 1 pair for $700 including the exam or 2 pair for $400 including the exam. At the chain stores just pay a bit of attention. Does the person actually seem to understand the piece of equipment and what they are doing with it? Or are they just following the procedure with no clear understanding? It is definately the people, not the name of the chain. In Waterton NY Sears Optical is pretty good and Pearle Vision is OK if you have a normal plus / minus 1 to 4 or 5. Get into my area, +17.5 and +18 (NOT a typo) and it gets dicey no matter where I go. :rotf:My big issue actually is the extreme prism needed to keep my eyes in line with that star wars RX. One of these days I am going to get caught peeking out of the "corner" of my prescription to pass my eye test.

My winter blend is an appropriate guess of Seafoam, a pinch of Marvel Mystery Oil, and a "long term" ratio of Stabil. In non ethanol fuel. I do the same thing in my 2 stroke snowmobiles. And I never get "green" carbs with them. With either the bike or the sleds if I am going to burn the fuel that day non ethanol is not that big a deal. If it is going to sit in the tank at all, non ethanol.

I don't stop riding till they salt. And they haven't yet. But any fuel now is my "winter mix" and will be till salt hits. I just now got home. Left mid to late afternoon to run errands and visit Mom and such. Was repeatedly accused of not being "right" and got some odd looks. It's at least 40 or so out there.

They're just slow any where they are. But they are . Disclaimer,,, for the obscene money paid for them, they sound like $1,000,000.

Man oh man, you let in 2nd Gens and , Gold Wings,,,, Trying to be fair to those that aren't riding 1st Gens,,, And see what happens? Next thing ya know ya got guys buying Harleys, on purpose no less. Geez!