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cmiles3

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Everything posted by cmiles3

  1. cmiles3
    A fireman was hit here this week when the round in the gun cooked off.
  2. cmiles3
    De nada. Posted to a bunch of sites; I think yours generated a reply or two.
  3. cmiles3
    Amy made some neck gaiters with drawstrings for ski trips a few years back. Just cut some fleece, sew a tube that fits over your head, and you're ready to ride. The draw strings also let them double as hats, with the opening closed. We still use them as winter hats, or when riding in cool weather. You could make them with a skirt that goes into your jacket, too. Picked up a camo fleece hood that I use sometimes, in the hunting section. If they still have them they should be on sale as hunting season's over.
  4. cmiles3
    Looking at the Yamaha parts list for '87's the Aurora Silver/Orion Silver are the blue two tone Ventures so popular with us. If I interpret the parts correctly, Orion Silver is the darker blue color, so Aurora Silver is the lighter color. Still doesn't help with the brown/white colors you're looking at.
  5. cmiles3
    If you don't get it, give me a PM.
  6. cmiles3
    Well, I did what I could to spread the word. Probably will get banned from Yahoogroups, but posted the message to all the riding groups I'm in.
  7. cmiles3
    Bent rim? Warped rotors? Wheel hop from threshold braking (tires slip, then grab, then slip... repeat cycle until stopped)? Brake cylinders/master cylinders need rebuilt? New brake lines needed? I'm just guessing, but some or all of the above can lead to similar problems. Haven't experienced what you describe, but if your brakes are locking then releasing you might feel your bike rocking from the suspension reacting.
  8. cmiles3
    I patched a similar, but different hole in my saddlebag this fall. I had a bottle of brake fluid that leaked, and caused a blowout on the bottom inside corner. What a mess. I used ABS cement (thick, sticky stuff), available at your local hardware store in the plumbing section, and fiberglass mat to reinforce the area. I wasn't missing anything, so no holes to fill & fair. I cleaned the area with alcohol, used cement to coat the repair area and the FG, pressed into place, recoated the FG with a coat or two of cement to stiffen the reinforcing, and used masking tape to hold everything together while it set up. Seems to hold up so far. Try to protect the painted surfaces where possible; it may cause some wrinkling of the paint. Most of my reinforcing has been on the unpainted side (black side). I used the same technique to patch a hole or two in my lower fairing; cement & FG on the back side of the fairing. To fill & fair the hole, I used Plastic Weld resin available at WalMart or Autozone. I had some lightweight glass microbead filler from West Marine, so I added that to the Plastic Weld mix. Spread it in the hole after the cement & FG set up a day, then let it set. Faired it- still need to paint it, but I'm too busy riding. Used both techniques to patch a few spare plastic parts I've acquired; I'll post a photo. Not pretty, but a little work scraping, sanding and painting will help. Used the same technique to reinforce cracks on my lower cowling (under the radiator). Darn stray cat.
  9. cmiles3
    Someone's peekin' in my MP3 player. Here's a few more: Aquarius In the Year 2525 American Woman He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother Maggie May One Toke Over the Line Mr. Bojangles Brandy The Letter Wooly Bully Smokin' in the Boys Room Spirit in the Sky Black Magic Woman Roundabout My Generation Happy Jack Uriah Heep Yes Led Zeppelin Dr. Hook Then: Styx Aerosmith Eagles Rush Black Sabbath Ozzy
  10. cmiles3
    Can't say for sure, but the Yamaha parts online shows a Venture for '88, but not for '89. All the '89's have the D designating a Royale.
  11. cmiles3
    Progressive is who I use. I use and independent agent, so they check prices with several insurers. When the premiums go up, she calls me with a better offer before it renews.
  12. cmiles3
    '87 comes in Royale & Venture. I have an '87 Venture. The quickest way to tell is if it has the CLAS air suspension; you should have a couple of small air lines going to the forks from an air pump buried in the bike on a Royale; the Venture has a valve mounted near the ignition to adjust air pressure in the front forks manually. But a lot of Ventures have been modified by previous owners; changed plastics, added/removed radios, etc. The Venture won't have the Royale badges, but if the plastics have been changed this might not help. If you look at the parts list on Yamaha's website, the models listed with a D before the model, (XVZ1300DT) are Royale's while the Venture has no D (XVZ1300T). The California models have a C at the end. '87 Ventures are model T's. Doesn't help much if you don't know which bike you have. But most of the parts work for both.
  13. cmiles3
    That's part of the fun on both sites, seeing what everyone's passionate about! I can see an FJR in my future. A friend's got one, and he's a former racer. I'm not, but it is an interesting bike.
  14. cmiles3
    Been ridin' all year. Some days are better than others; it was in the 70's this past weekend. But the wind blew the stripes of the road. I got in a few rides in the 20's, which is usually against my religion. 30 is my usual limit, but the roads were dry and the timing was good.
  15. cmiles3
    Hey, some people like to keep score. It takes all kinds to make VR a fun place.
  16. cmiles3
    CJ, my son, was on Duke's list since grade school. They evidently use the standard test scores to identify talented kids, then offer summer programs and other activities to keep them high performers. We did not participate in any of the activities; most times, it's easier to let kids be kids. He did participate in a school program for high performing kids, TACK- Talented & Creative Kids during elementary school. Since it was local and he was interested, we put him in it. Currently, he's in "Project Lead the Way", a preengineering program offered to high school students through the local technical training program. If the activities interest her, and it's fun for her, get her into it. If not, you may burn her out. Social skills sometimes suffer from kids not able to spend time with their peers; you have to be the judge of that. Arica, my daughter, started "concurrent enrollment" her junior year in high school. Local college offers high school students "free" tuition and college credit for replacing high school course with college courses. The potential is for the student to graduate high school with 8 or more college classes credit for the same effort as high school. My daughter loved it; the students were more interested in learning, and she got to skip day school for a night class. Both took the ACT early; both scored well the first time. Arica's score improved enough the second time to earn a full ride scholarship out of state. CJ's 1 point away from a full ride in state. Both had/have lots of offers to consider many colleges. Both of them are pretty close to being burned out on school, though. They like to learn, but don't like "busy work". It interferes with their personal time. Both attended public school all their lives. It's a decent school system, large, with lots of AP and honors courses available. While private schools may be good for some (many of our friends & coworkers use private schools) it's more about the kid and you than the school; kids need to want to learn, and you need to know how to keep them learning. Controlling distractions, encouraging & punishing at the appropriate times, helping with homework, showing real world examples of the lessons they're learning, etc. Personally, I wouldn't send my kids away to school until it's time for them to move out (college?) But I know a lot of families do. Who's raising them when they're not at home? Who monitors their friends & their social activities? Who takes them to church? and so on. Several of my daughter's peers lived out of state while attending sports camps full time. Maybe it's good, but it's not for me. I offer this info not to brag, but to show how I answered the same question. My kids are still a work in progress; Arica returned home to attend a local college & stay closer to friends, while keeping CJ motivated to turn in his homework (!!!) keeps Amy & I from letting him run free.
  17. cmiles3
    You mean I'm not the only Venture Rider who's also a Venturer? If we want to list only Venture Rider events, better put it in a sticky. Sometimes, I catch myself starting a post on one site then realize it should go to the other site. I also need to check the calendar more often. Usually I'm in the forums or classifieds.
  18. cmiles3
    I thought you were talking about Tulsa. Golden Hurricanes!
  19. cmiles3
    Amy's mom has it & it gives her problems. But she refuses to eat the way she's supposed to, and doesn't exercise much. She also has a diabetes specialist who helps her, as well as her regular docs. How are you sleeping? The reason I ask, is a friend has serious problems with it, and can't sleep. The docs think if they can solve his sleep problems his system will level out. Your body processes a lot of sugars while it sleeps, so if you don't, it won't. My dad has arthritis in his knees, so he had to quit exercising in the gym. He started swimming, and it seems to work for him. Easier on the joints, and still gets your body a decent workout.
  20. cmiles3
    Check around; I have wireless DSL at home; so does my brother in law. Basicly it's like a satellite dish, but it's pointed at a radio tower (line of sight) that your DSL provider broadcasts from. Won't work if you can't see the tower, but sometimes you can overcome that by hanging your dish from an antenna tower. BIL has his on a 60' tower, and runs a home based business with it. My ISP provides something like 58Mbps service, but trees can cut the signal to zip when the leaves are out. Had to relocate my antenna; the original installer put it at ground level. Now it's on top of the house, 25' up.
  21. cmiles3
    Never lost a tire on the Ventures, but I had a rapid deflation on a scooter last summer. Valve was damaged, leaked and the rear tire went flat in a couple of miles. I had checked pressure before leaving home & it was normal. That was a wild ride. It was wobbling if I tried to brake, but would smooth out with a little throttle. Took a few seconds to bring it to a safe stop. Just from the description, sounds like Brad's tire was damaged by road debris, or else age/wear caused a failure. I think everyone talking about their personal experience with tire problems makes all of us aware that it could happen to us at any time. Personally, my max load rating is met when Amy & I ride 2 up without luggage. Better to empty the saddle bags and trunk and put it in the trailer if you're loading heavy. I think I read where the front tire is loaded 60%, rear at 40% while stopped. I don't the the weight transfer to the rear tire would exceed 50%, unless you're riding in reverse and braking hard. The front tire can get close to 100% load if braking extremely hard, but that will only be for a short time. I believe most tire failures are the result of damage from under/over inflation. The failure doesn't necessarily occur when the tire is under/over inflated. The damage is initiated, then heat/wear cause the damage to progress until failure occurs. Same thing with road debris damage. Tire might not fail for many more miles or months. Tires are constructed stronger than their ratings, but don't rely on that. The factor of safety is designed to account for short duration, unexpected things, like riding over a 2x4, 120 degree days, hard braking, and so on. If you're consistently overloading your tire, you're betting your life that all those chinese factory workers had a good day when they put your tire together.
  22. cmiles3
    No secrets, but I've been busy- spent 7 & 1/2 days of vacation and most weekends last month, playing lumberjack, cleaning up ice storm debris at my house and Mom's. I still have a lot of trees to prune, but most of my immediate needs are addressed. I'm hoping this wind will bring down some of the hanging limbs; my ladder only reaches 25' & some of them are way beyond that. And I just got finished cleaning up from the January ice storm a couple of months ago. Dammit. Some things you deal with immediately, others have to wait. Mary's family is still mourning; haven't had the chance to talk with her yet, but a lot of her friends in the office have pitched in. Her trials make mine seem like busy work. Home's where your family is. Keep yours close, and safe. Accept a helping hand when it's offered; I'm sure there's plenty to be done. Sorry I can't be there to help.
  23. cmiles3
    Maybe. It's too far away for any plans I make now to happen. Eureka Springs has a lot of hotels, but there's a big scooter rally in town the same dates. Eidelweiss may fill up, but you can find some others if needed.
  24. cmiles3
    Insurance and hard work will replace most of what's lost. Memories will have to replace the rest. Glad everyone's OK. Add a few prayers for a friend of mine, Mary. She lost her house to a fire during the ice storm and power outage, but her luck was all bad. Her son died in the fire- he stayed home when everyone moved to Grandma's house to weather the outage.
  25. cmiles3
    Maybe the price of gas has a bunch of SUV drivers scouring the countryside, buying up all the 1st Gens ready-to-ride for commuting? The fuel cost savings would pay for one in the first year (maybe 2 years for a nice one.) That's not why I ride, but it's a nice bonus. 78,000 miles on the odometer this month, that's 36,000 miles in 41 months. Hey, I've ridden my 1st Gen around the world! And saved twice the cost of my bike in fuel savings. Al Gore, Global Warming, take that!
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