Wrench

That is good advice, especially if you're riding with folks that you haven't ridden with before. We used to have group rides several times a year where I worked. Somehow I usually wound up in the lead or second and got in the habit of flashing my brake lights whenever we approached a stop. I also flash mine a couple of times when stopping for a redlight, that's my biggest fear, getting tagged from behind. While I was changing tires and getting ready for riding season I added a couple of 18" LED strips to the fender struts an wired them to the brake lights. I don't think you can get too much light on the backend. Here's a couple of pics so Puc won't be chastising me.

I saw that earlier today too. Are dressers the only ones with hydraulic clutches? There were a few comments in the article I read that said, "duh, just don't start it in gear". Well "duh", if the clutch isn't fully "disengaging" then you're going to get a surprise when you drop it into 1st gear. Weird that they are calling it a gassing issue, maybe bad fluid? If it is then I'd have some concern about possible brake issues too.

Well, here's my opinion, based on some guesstimating of my own and some personal experience. Around here about any dozer/highlift work will run you around $100/hr. You didn't state how long it took him to complete the job but it does sound like he did a good job for you. Are you doing the building project yourself? If not then the rough leveling work would have to be done at some point by someone. Basically you're looking at a 45' x 65' level spot, which if he has already done is a big plus. It all boils down to whether you are satisfied with his work, which it sounds like you are. If you both agreed to the higher bid, then I probably wouldn't pay him extra. But there is also one other thing that I personally would keep in mind and that is that he was the only one you got to come out and look at it. That may prove to be helpful later on if you need more cleanup/dressing after you get the building up. The few times I have had work like that done I've always left a little leeway for the operator to use his own judgment if needed, because it can look different from the seat when they are working. Just my .02, good luck!!

Yeah I know, but I might melt!! Besides, I just got it all cleaned up from a ride in the rain last fall, don't want to have to do that again this soon.

There's been some patchy frost here the last 2 mornings, and sounds like another chance tonight. The wind has been howling here today, but the temp made it to 59 and it's been dry for the last couple of days. The news said we've moved into 3rd place for the wettest April on record, we're something like 10" over "normal" for the month. At least it ain't been snow!!!

Yes indeed, Happy Anniversary to you both!!! As the years add up the time does seem to go by faster. My wife and I will be married 38 years on the 29th, and sometimes it just seems like yesterday.

The early results are favorable, it definitely handles different with the smaller tire. Now I just need the rain to stop so I can log some miles.

I've never had Chicago pizza, but the best I've had so far in my life was at Central Islip Pizza on Long Island.

There is an auxiliary fuel tank available for them, that'll give you more distance. http://justgastanks.com/product_info.php?products_id=3518

Finishing up my tire swap tonight, had it on the jack and didn't want to wrestle it again. Hopefully the weather is going to clear up tonight so I can get a "first" ride in tomorrow to see how the new tires and hip are going to do. I'll let ya know how it goes.

Got my tires yesterday afternoon, gotta admit I was pleasantly surprised. These came packed in a box, with cardboard bead seperators in the tires. The last set I ordered came wrapped in plastic and taped together, made it harder to get them to air up since they were packed so tight. Got the rear mounted last night, cleaned and greased the splines, also did a little housekeeping while I had it apart. Getting ready to go work on the front in a few. I ordered them from MotoSport and the date code on both is 3914, so they're fairly "fresh", and they shipped from a whse in Virginia.

I dunno, there's leaves on the trees. Ain't no leaves in Michigan now is there??

I saw way more pros than cons, and I had a set of the original Commanders on my '04 and really liked them. Do you have leveling links on yours?

You know these pics are gonna give Larry ideas!!!

Good for you Char, glad you are back on the bike. Planning on getting mine out Sat for our first voyage. Seems like every time it was nice I had something else to do. The rain is supposed to go away this weekend, and I've already told the wife I'm riding.

Just ordered a set of Commander II's. After much reading, nail biting, do I/don't I, I've decided to go with the smaller front tire too. I thought I could get by one more season with my front 880 but it's got some cracking in the tread, date code is 1910 so it's almost 5 years old. It's got leveling links so I'm hoping for a floorboard scrapin' monster when I get these new skins on it.

This may be the one you saw,,, http://www.ebay.com/itm/Demo-2013-F6-B-with-R-18-Reversed-Tike-kit-installed-/221487747021?pt=US_motorcycles&forcerrptr=true&hash=item3391b2cfcd&item=221487747021&nma=true&si=av1ObQmHY247Mv5wnL58xTyR8a8%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557 The kit is a Sturgis Motoren reversedtrike.nl That's pretty cool!

The new gray capacitor is a replacement for your old one, the microfarad rating is the same. That's what the 10uF on it means. New capacitors are not oil filled like the silver metal one you have thanks to the EPA. As far as the board goes, if soldering the burnt spot fixes it then you are that much ahead. It is possible that the motor was drawing more amps on start due to the capacitor being weak and burnt that spot.

I did a little searching on Bronson and found my answer. The tank decal is the "All seeing Eye", I remembered that after seeing the article. That sure brings back a lot of good memories.

A couple of years ago my son bought a D-404 for the front of his Shadow ACE, it was an oddball size, like a 120-19 I think. Anyway, we put it on and it was slick like the top of my head and cracked in the tread at 4500 miles. I don't remember the particulars of the date code but it was somewhere around 4 yrs old when he bought it. I think sometimes that tires wind up sitting in inventory for a long time and start to dry rot a little, and maybe some of the "discount" places buy closeouts from other suppliers. Is there an actual "sell by" date or shelf life on tires?

The wife and I finally got our last vehicle paid off last Nov. They aren't new by any means, an '06 Equinox, '01 Dodge Ram, '99 Venture, but it sure feels good to NOT have that extra payment each month. You just have to sit down and figure what makes the most $$ sense to you and attack it from there.

I don't think I can add much more than the others, but I do have a front row seat to what you're going thru. We get so caught up in a set "routine" that anything that deviates from that just rocks our little worlds. Back in '09 the company I worked for offered an early retirement incentive to reduce their global workforce. I had about 3 1/2 weeks to decide the fate of my 28yrs with them. I lost sleep over it until I talked to a friend who had retired from there a couple years before. He told me how he approached his decision, sit down with your wife and put a pencil to it. I do know how the "tired" thing goes too, you get to a point where you kinda want things to slow down just a bit. I do know that there's no way that I could do the maintenance work now that I was doing then. I worked for a tanning salon company for 18 months, 12 of that on the road as a tech. It had gotten to the point where I was doing 10-12 hours a day and 2500-3000 miles a week, it felt like a merry-go-round that would not stop. I guess I took the long way to get here, but you can make it work. Good luck, and you know we're all here for you.

Cool pic! Every time I see a Midnight it makes me miss my Blackie.

Yeah, it was a little hairy in a couple of places, a lot of loose gravel too. Yes, you can coast all the way from the top to the bottom. The Ky/Va pic was taken on the walkway to the Pinnacle Overlook on top of the Cumberland Gap Tunnel, the Overlook is in Va. If you're ever in that area it's well worth the time to stop and check it out, it's a beautiful view of Ky/Va/Tn. I've lived in Ky all my life and that was my first time there.

Thanks for the Bronson vid,,,, just one question. What was the triangle decal on the tank? It wasn't an "official" Sportster decal was it?