For all of us with two wheels also

First run up/dn Palomar Mtn on Sunday.

The ride down was TIGHT for a bagger, but I managed to flip it around pretty well.
Found the lowest/widest parts of the new center stand.
I was able to ‘machine them down for clearance’…

WestCoastDan said:

First run up/dn Palomar Mtn on Sunday.

The ride down was TIGHT for a bagger, but I managed to flip it around pretty well.
Found the lowest/widest parts of the new center stand.
I was able to ‘machine them down for clearance’…
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Tell me more about the center stand. Does it help with oil changes and does it make it take up less room on the garage floor?

Weasellee said:

Tell me more about the center stand. Does it help with oil changes and does it make it take up less room on the garage floor?

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Incomplete installation currently, but yes, those are exactly the reasons that influenced my purchase.
I’ve run all wiring to switches on the IGN console, in place of the factory blanks.
Momentary switches connected to a reverse -polarity motor controller.
Legs are supposed to fold rearward when stowed & down/forward when deployed, but the factory cross-under exhaust prevents that approach from working… they hang too low to ride it - even on city streets.
So rather than change exhaust, I decided to flip the function and fold them down/back when deployed.
This meant new mechanical stops behind the legs, rather than in front of them.

Still a work in progress as the legs are not the correct height for my 13” Legend shocks…
These are intended to work best with an air ride setup, which I’m not doing.
I just need to assemble the new stops, and connect power.

There’s the wide/low spot on both sides.
That scrape and the tread marks tell the tale!

Rode 101N to Santa Barbara, then up through Los Olivos to Santa Maria, then down to Jalama Beach for a burger.
Great ride, great burger.
Almost 500 miles round trip.
Weather was amazing, traffic wasn't bad at all, even though ChopperFest was happening in Ventura.
Lots of bikes out today.



Some scenery











Here is the view where we stopped for lunch.


That's Vandenberg Air Force base over those hills.
We happened to catch the Falcon9 launch on our ride to the beach, but my onboard camera didn't catch it.

The haul from Sunday's Chicagoland Bike Swap.

I went to find 650B tires and came back with a truck load.

The red Schwinn is a 73 or 74 Speedster 3 speed. The green one is a 70 or 71 Schwinn Breeze 3 speed. I'll keep the red one and probably flip the green one.

50+ year old tubular wheels for my Italian race bike.


I grabbed this wheel, center, because it has a rare Sachs 5 speed hub and it was dirt cheap.

I'll build bike around this. I'm kinda weird that way. And those are the tires I went for.

Cheesy said:

The haul from Sunday's Chicagoland Bike Swap.
View attachment 671241
I went to find 650B tires and came back with a truck load.

The red Schwinn is a 73 or 74 Speedster 3 speed. The green one is a 70 or 71 Schwinn Breeze 3 speed. I'll keep the red one and probably flip the green one.

50+ year old tubular wheels for my Italian race bike.
View attachment 671242

I grabbed this wheel, center, because it has a rare Sachs 5 speed hub and it was dirt cheap.
View attachment 671243
I'll build bike around this. I'm kinda weird that way. And those are the tires I went for.

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I knew a guy, he’s passed, that built a trophy hot rod around a steering wheel his dad gave him. Well, that was his story.

I'm still dicking with the Honda. It's been one clusterfcuk after another. The water pump cover o-ring shifted while bolting it down and cut the o-ring. Found that out when coolant was coming out as fast as I was filling the rad. New o-ring showed up yesterday and seems to be a better fit. Maybe it wasn't my fault. To get the water pump cover back off after the engine is in place requires pulling the carbs that are shoehorned in there. Pulling the carbs always makes me question my life choices.

Needed a new battery. Batteries Plus listed one in stock so I picked it up on Wednesday. Opened the box today and the posts are reversed. Take it back along with my dead battery and the counter monkey insists that the battery they sold me is correct per their 'puter. Then I got the "Are you sure?" from the monkey. "Yes, I've owned the damn thing for 16 years and the dead battery is the same as the one I replaced 8 years ago." Got my money back, then drove down the road to Menard's. There's the battery I need on the shelf for about half what Batteries Plus was charging for the wrong battery.

The one thing that has been bugging me, straightening out the bent shift lever, turned out to be a piece of cake despite being bent on three planes. I have an induction heater that turned out to be the catsass for heating and bending the lever back into shape. Fingers crossed that I can wrap this up this weekend cuz we are going through False spring right now with temps in the sixties.

WestCoastDan said:

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Easy, I had to start somewhere

Success! Everything works and nothing leaks. I'm letting it cool overnight before hanging the tank, seat, and rad shroud. I have used up this month's allotment of swears and a good part of next month's on this project. Brushing up against a hot exhaust pipe will probably push me into using April's.

Cheesy said:

View attachment 672160

Success! Everything works and nothing leaks. I'm letting it cool overnight before hanging the tank, seat, and rad shroud. I have used up this month's allotment of swears and a good part of next month's on this project. Brushing up against a hot exhaust pipe will probably push me into using April's.

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I like the on-board clock. I did the same thing to a Cat loader that I operated. Needed to know when break time and quitting time was.

It looks like a motorcycle again. The windshield is the final hold up. I remembered that I wanted to modify a section of the windshield to get better access to the trip reset. Maybe an hour tomorrow, then ride into town to fill the tank. Might just forget how to get back home for a while.

Cheesy said:

It looks like a motorcycle again. The windshield is the final hold up. I remembered that I wanted to modify a section of the windshield to get better access to the trip reset. Maybe an hour tomorrow, then ride into town to fill the tank. Might just forget how to get back home for a while.

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Those are called Scenic Short-Cuts.

Back together.


I forgot what a good runner and smooth rider it is. Quiet, too. The quiet and smoothness means excess speed kind of sneaks up on you. I was in a 55 zone heading home from gassing it up. Glanced down at the speedo and I was touching 70.

Cheesy said:

Back together.
View attachment 672440

I forgot what a good runner and smooth rider it is. Quiet, too. The quiet and smoothness means excess speed kind of sneaks up on you. I was in a 55 zone heading home from gassing it up. Glanced down at the speedo and I was touching 70.

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These are cool bikes ! , smooth and way stronger than they should be . Great Job on the freshen up Cheesy !!!!

Crank sensor went out last thursday and i finally got one.
Worked on that bike all day today.
I ain't cut out for that shit anymore!
Sucked that it broke down right after I filled it. That fucker holds 6 gallons!
Had to take the tank off and on three times to reroute shit. That's my own stupidity, but that thing is a super tight fit requiring some serious yoga to get installed.

Got it buttoned back up except for the pretty parts, and went to start it...nothing. Wouldn't even try to turn over. Rechecked every connection, made sure the fuel pump was working, went ahead and plugged the seats in just in case there was some gay software shit that wont let it start without the seats. Set the date and time because they were at zero because of the battery disconnect, thought that might be some stulid software issue too...still nothing. Turned it off and on a few times, went through all the menus. Tried again, nothing.
I just cleaned up my tools all sad and was gonna leave and try again tomorrow...then, I remembered, I had clicked it out of neutral to use the wheel to turn the motor so I could gap the sensor properly.
Clicked it into neutral and it fired right up...mighta jizzed myself a little.

That bike sounds so good!

Hate going nuts trying to fix something when everything says it should work.
Years ago a buddies Kaw quit on him on the way home from work. I rolled up behind him to give a hand. He was starting to dig out tools when I pointed to the kill switch. He bumped it into the OFF position. He said, "Shit, please don't tell anybody". I've kept my mouth shut for almost 40 years but I still give him a little smirk about when I see him.