Ventureless

I am a big guy so the Harelys are out for me. I haven’t found one yet that I feel like I fit on. I am cramped on their “big” touring bikes. It depends on what style bike I would buy. Chances are I would keep the Venture, but if not, I would go with the Victory CCT. It is very roomy for someone my size and comes standard with a lot of would be options on other bikes. If I kept the Venture, I would buy and adventure style bike. Still pretty roomy for a tall guy and loads of fun. I rode a Triumph Explorer ( I think that is the big one) a few weeks ago and loved it. But not the price of $22K. I am pretty cheap so I would probably look for a leftover new 2012 Suzuki Vstrom 1000. You can find them close by for around $7K. Not bad for a brand new leftover bike. Plenty of power. Comfortable (for me). And I just can’t overlook the price. It almost justifies me buying a second bike.

You will get a lot of different opinions on this. Your best bet is to go to a range and rent a few and shoot them. Or borrow or go shoot with friends that own different pistols. I got a lot of pressure from my best friend to buy a Sig. I shot his all the time and couldn't hit anything with them. I started shooting my dad's Glocks and loved them but the price kept me from buying it at the time. I ended up finding a deal on a new Springfield XDSC 9. It was like a Glock clone for $250 less. Shoots great. Never had any problems with it. Holds 16 or 17 rounds. Some other guns I own that people down play all the time are Hi-Points. I own a Hi-Point .380, .40, and .45 now. As well as a Hi-Point carbine 9mm rifle. Never have any problems with any of them (unless I shoot TulAmmo). They are cheap, warrantied for life, and go bang every time. They aren't pretty. They are fairly heavy and blocky shaped, but for the price and the warranty, they are hard to beat for cheap guns. If you have a problem, you send it back and they either fix or just give you a new one. Made in Ohio I believe. I especially like them for camping. If I drop it, if it falls in the water or mud, or whatever, I really don't stress. Like I said, you will get a lot of people bad mouthing them, but in my experiences with them, I have never had any trouble and can't say anything bad at all.

Ok I haven't made anymore progress, but I do have everything I need to make my quick release passenger backrest. At least I think I do but I have a question. My plan is to take a strip of 1/4 inch steel and weld a piece of solid square piece right in the middle. Then I planned on getting longer bolts and bolting the strip across the 2 bolts that hold the top of the passenger grab rails. My question is will those 2 bolts or what they go through,l carry the weight? I know the trunk is bolted with 6 bolts and is pretty sturdy with a passenger leaning back. And just to add some info about the backrest build, it will be like a trailer hitch turned up. The backrest from my trunk will be mounted to a piece of sheet metal which will be welded to a hollow steel square tube. That will then slide over the solid steel square mounted to the trunk rack. Then a pin will go through and lock the backrest on. Easy on and off just like a trailer hitch. And the piece coming up from the rack will be somewhat hidden when no backrest is on by the plate and luggage rack that will be mounted on it.

Not what I expected when you start a comment on a thread about eating balls with "brings back memories of a bachelor party"!!!!!!!!

I like it. I wish my 74 XLCH had that front end. I know the 74 is far from the 59, but it was a fun little bike (even though it was the AMF Harley era). That ironhead ran great. Mine was kick start only also and I remember the first time I injured my knee and shin. It also was the last year they used right side shift and left side foot brake. I got used to switching back and forth, but all my riding buddies would hop on, take off, and stop shortly and tell me to come get it. They just couldn't get the hang of it.

Well got an email from Motorcycle Superstore. They are full of sh^t if they think I am going through their "process". Of course they want me to send it back so they can inspect it. I explained that I am not opposed to having someone look at it, but asked if they could pick a dealer in my area and have them act as a go between. Then they say that I have to pay return shipping. What a load of crap. I buy almost a $200 product from you and it is defective and I have to shell out more to get something proper. Then to top it off they say it can take 4-8 weeks. BS. I sent their email to Mark Wagoner at Avon to see if there is anyway we can handle this better. We'll see what happens. If this is the route I have to go, I will just toss the cracked tire and buy something else and be done. I figure even if I send it back I will be buying a new tire right away and having it mounted because I ride as long as their is no snow or ice and 4-8 weeks doesn't cut it. And if I just end up tossing it, I will never buy from MS again and I certainly won't buy another Avon. They are also not happy that I have been contacting Avon directly along with them. I figure if things went sour, at least Avon could see how the companies selling their product conduct their customer service. I know that if someone was selling my product, I would want them to remedy the situation quickly and easily even if I was losing a little cash. That is just good customer service and apparently MS does not understand that. Sorry for the rant. I am kind of worked up.

True, but I could always use more. Don't need to be rich, but would love to be able to retire at 50 when my last kid goes off to college ( or just graduates college and goes off to work).

I am jealous now. You have almost doubled your cash so far.

Black Owl, I just put in an order for another company. Ticker is AEGY. Wish I would have bought last month but didn't. I just put my buy order in for 300K shares at $.0102 a piece. So I am looking at a cost of $3060. But for every penny it might go up, I make another $3000. So even it if goes to .02 and I cash out, that was a quick $3K to be made. Hard to tell but the consensus is a rise to about .20 in the future. I would be cashing out with $60K if that happens. Once again, don't take my word for anything. Do your own research. I am no expert!!

Not sure yet what they will cover. The guy from Avon was quick to respond and I think will help me out. Motorcycle Superstore finally contacted me last night and wanted the year, make, and model of the bike and wanted to know what pressure I was running in the tires. I have a feeling I might have some issues with MS and will be contacting the rep at Avon again. He is being copied on all emails so he can see how one of his dealers treat their customers. I pull and reinstall the wheel myself and have the local shop mount and balance the tire. So the mounting would be an hour most of my time and $25 to the dealer. I would like them to cover it, but if they don't, no biggie this time.

I agree for the most part. I also do know that I put nothing but Avons on my sport tourer and never had a problem. I like the E3, but the set I got on the bike probably had 1/3 tread left and the ride started feeling really crappy. So to pay that much and only get 2/3 of the life of them doesn't seem like a better solution. And going back to the Avons, they are like glue to me. They stick like their is magnets in the road and in the tires.

I will do whatever as long as I get a new tire one way or another. The Avon is the only tire I keep that high. It holds a higher psi and I am a rather large guy at roughly 300 to 320 so 50 psi fits me well I think.

Avon rep emailed me back and he said they are definitely in need of replacement and will be warrantied. I just have to go through Motorcycle superstore though. He said if I had any issues to contact him and he would work it out.

I have a Pirelli on the front. It is wearing well and goes through all kinds of road conditions fine. The Pirelli Had on the rear sucked. Rode fine until it started wearing. It wore funny and then started feeling funny.

Just sent an email off to Motorcycle Superstore and copied Avon. Added a copy of my purchase receipt and pics of the cracking and tread depth. We'll see what they say.

They actually turned out good for game day. I soaked them in the salt/sugar water again for about an hour. Got my water boiling and added a couple bay leaves, lemon juice, and cayenne pepper. Dropped them in for about 7 minutes and pulled them out and dropped in cold water to cool. Then I cut each one into about 5 pieces. Doused them with lemon juice and coated them with salt and pepper and sweet ginger garlic spice. Then we grilled them for about 15 minutes. I thought they tasted a little like bologna. Others said liver but not as pungent. Everyone at the party ate them except the one lady who doesn't eat meat. My 7 year old son tore them up. He was asking if we could have them again.

Damn right it is. More annoying than anything. I have had the bike just over a year and this is already my third rear tire currently on it. I ran the E3 down. Replaced that with a Pirelli which I really liked, but it wore funny and started riding terrible. Now the Avon. And now I will have to put another one on it. I am going to email Motorcycle Superstore and Avon this morning to see what they will do. And I pulled the receipt out last night. I bought the tire October 22nd. So it has been on the bike for only 3 months.

I keep it right at 50 pounds and even not being ridden but once in the last month, it still has 50 pounds in it.

I know there are several threads about this, but I wanted to post and see if everyone thinks this is bad enough for me to try to get a replacement. I will say that I really like the Avon, but if given the choice will go back to the E3 now. My rear Avon is less than 6 months old (my time with it). I checked the date code on it when I got it and it was only about 6 months old from the factory. So at most it is roughly 1 year old since made. I have only put at most 3000 miles on it. Attached is a pic of the tread depth (lots left - If my son held the penny up against the side, it would be about to Lincoln's nose) and an example of the cracking. What you see in the pic is on both sides of the tire and all the way around on both sides. So is this bad? Makes me nervous but it might be perfectly fine. But I do commute to work every day if there is no snow or ice and I am on the highway for about 20 miles each way at 70-80 mph. Thanks

Trying to cook them without having to fry them.

Ok so my buddy has a SB party each year. He makes food and finds beer indigenous to the area of the 2 teams playing. I decided to surprise them with some Rocky Mountain Oysters (or by the name I like better, Montana Tendergoin:rotf:). Well I have eaten them, but never cooked them. Got them from the butcher yesterday and decided to try cooking one yesterday. The membranes were already off so I soaked them in cold salt and sugar water for about an hour. Then I drained the water and rinsed. I then boiled them in more salt water with a touch of white vinegar for about 10 minutes. Then pull them out and place in cold water to cool back down. Sliced a little more than 1/4 inch thick. Then sauted in butter, sweet ginger garlic, diced onions, and a touch of oil. Well they turned out all right, but more irony tasting and tougher than I have had in the past. So does anybody here have any tips for cooking other than frying them? I was going to try taking 2 whole ones and after boiling, toss them on the grill and then slicing and serving with some sort of sauce.

Will have to remember this brine solution. Might have to get some tips from you when we get our equipment built.

A Cajun microwave mounted to the trailer was my original idea. From everything I have seen and read, they are really easy to use and almost fool proof. The one thing I didn't like was that there was no smoke flavor. Then I found where a lot of people have built mini smoker boxes on them to add smoke in the box. That would work. Just wouldn't smell up the neighborhood when cooking!!

Yep I have to have one. And my best friend (friends for 30+ years and like brothers) and I decided we have to make one and try it out. Then we can take it wherever we want when we want. We have done several underground. Works well, but I am tired of digging big holes. I know when we were in college, I am sure our landlord hated us for the soft lumpy yard!!!

Can't remember if I bought it at Auto Zone or Best Buy. One of those 2 places. Here is a pic of the label.