severdog

For now, yep. Kids getting bigger and more expensive and business is rough these days.

Hanging up my spurs for a while. 2007 ST1300 ABS model, serial #2 for model year 2007 8960 easy miles, motoman initial break-in and Amsoil since 3k Bestem topbox hard-mounted to luggage rack (easy to revert back to stock) BMW Grips and Dual Star Grip Heaters MCL handlebar risers, Laminar Lip Honda RH police switch for control of headlights, grip heaters, kill switch, starter, and BMW vest socket. One open switch position. Relay bank mounted in trunk for control of aux fuse panel, grip heaters, vest socket, plus two open relays wired into terminal block in front cowl ready for lights or horn. stock BT tires, rear has between 4/32" to 5/32" tread left Bike has NEVER been tipped over, dropped, down, nothing! Have not had to do a thing to it other than lube clutch handle, change oil and rear drive fluid. Runs very sweet and capable of 52 mpg. Webshots album of pics here: http://good-times.webshots.com/album/567738476IHmjrC $10,500. I would need to pay off note and forward title. Yell with any questions..best email address to use is craig_severson at yahoo.com .........Craig

I agree that most decent oils will last a lot longer than we give them credit for....however I usually change oil based on feel, and not mileage. Somewhere north of 2500 miles, the bike will start to shift "tight". It just gets more notchy and doesn't have that smooth "snick snick" feel any more. I've noticed that going to an expensive MC-specific oil delays this some....but in almost every case I'm changing it before 5k miles. But I wouldn't hesitate to use M1 red cap, Shell 15W-40 Rotella dino, Rotella synth, Delvac 1300, etc etc as long as it doesn't have friction modfiers. Thanks for the analysis to confirm what we always suspected!

Here are some of the pavers in place, probably about 30' wide at this spot:

These don't show the patio/pavers, but it shows how much of a bitch it is to pour concrete stairs. Those that know what they're doing with concrete might want to cover your eyes at this point..... about 3 yards of mud. The small red tractor was not used in the job. The wooden 4x4's will be encased in painted poplar with banisters and stringers and all of that fancy stuff. Winter project. The Schnauzer did not assist with the project.

FInally finished the job. Bought a Harbor Freight tile saw and base for about $300. Had a little water pump and everything. The diamond-tipped blade was $26. I probably had to make about 500 cuts when all was finished....the blade barely made it through....but the saw worked fine. I don't recall the name of the pavers but they're from Canadia. Tumbled concrete pavers, 7 pallets of them. Now I have to figure out how to mortar these to the sides of my concrete steps. Drill in some brick ties?

Hey, I lived in Lawrenceville for 5 years; a subdivision right off of Lester Rd. (pleasant hill becomes lester at route 29) 1989 - 1994. The traffic was bad even back then. Only buy the K&N if you're looking to save $ long term vs. replacing filters. I don't think there's a performance advantage with the amount of air that we're passing....or at least I've never seen any advantage through the metrics that I can measure, which is basically mpg.

I put in pavers for a living. Tile saws will not work they lack the power needed to cut pavers. Pavers are made of 9000psi concrete (most driveways are 3000). You need to get a quicky saw with a wet/dry dimond blade so you can cut in place or take them out and cut them. Rent the saw for the month and buy the blade. Blades run about $200. I would also recomend you cut in place. This is better than taking the paves up and cutting them. Just take the snap edge and put it down where you want to cut, take soap stone (in the welding section of HD) and mark the pavers. If it is a straight run snap a chalk line. TAKE YOUR TIME WITH THE CUTS THEY MAKE THE JOB!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I don't know what patern you are doing but make sure you pull string lines every 2'-4' to keep your runs straight. Good luck!!!! Thanks Mike.....I am doing English Cobblestone pavers so by choice I'm not doing straight runs. I want the random look. Will the electric chop saws with 14" blades work?

You'd think that if it can cut through tile, it'll cut at least an inch through a concrete paver. I might go this route. Thanks.......

Tim- I called the local NationsRent and they recommended a gas powered brick saw with a wet sump, however it's $64/day. This project will probably drag on for another month or two, so that won't work. I've asked them to price a used unit for me. Thanks for the answer....

I am in the middle of a pretty extensive patio project where I'm grading my backyard and adding about 650 sq. ft. of concrete pavers. I've found by trial and error that scoring and breaking the pavers with a chisel isn't a very good way to do this. What tool would you recommend that I purchase or rent to finish this job? Or should I just buy a diamond saw and slap it on my radial arm saw? thanks.....

Gord- I've had three ST's and one Bird. The Bird is one notch up the food chain in terms of pure riding; engine, brakes, and handling. The power and acceleration is addictive dope. Compared to the ST it was very light and handled great. But I found that 99% of my riding was either on the slab or touring 2-lanes, where the ST is a lot easier to live with. The ST is a lot more comfortable over the long haul, gets much better range, and carries a lot more crap.....all very important factors to me. I also lacked the basic maturity and self-control to ride the XX at "normal" speeds. The power is addictive and everything under 90 mph feels like you're CRAWLING. So I went back to the ST. But I do dream of the day when I can afford two bikes in the garage; I would get another XX in a heartbeat.

Hob- IIRC there's a place called FORKING BY FRANK that builds replacement fork tubes. (......running off to find contact info.....) Here you go: http://www.frankmain.qpg.com/ You're in luck, there's in Evanston, IL. (bows, exits stage left....)

I recently took a bunch of measurements on my old 28A ST electrical system before I ripped it out and upgraded it. * With the stator plugged in to the VRR, I measured 12.0Vrms between any two phases at a fast idle speed of 2k rpm. I didn't rev it higher than that, but would suspect that I'd see something closer to 18Vrms at 5k rpm. * With the stator UNPLUGGED from the VRR, the phase-phase voltage on the yellow wires was about 24Vrms at 1000rpm, and about 60Vrms at 3000 rpm. I know that these systems are different, but they're essentially the same in that they have a PM-excited stator driving an outboard Regulator/Rectumfrier. So the specific rms voltages may vary with the system, but you're correct in that all phase-phase measurements should be within about 10% of each other. A resistance measurement might be a good test at this point. Measure phase-phase, and phase-ground for each. These should be consistent. Make sure to "zero out" your DVM as you're measuring fractional ohmage. But the fact that you've swapped a known good VRR leads me to agree with you that your stator be toast, mon.

WC- The AC voltage between the three stator legs will only go up to 50VAC *if* you are running it free of the VRR. Once it's connected to the VRR, the regulator will load it down to the 18VAC that you're seeing. You don't want to run a free stator at 5k rpm for very long as the fucker can arc over on you (and punch holes in the insulation) due to the potential that you're generating.

Have heard of many similar instances when an owner or technician "over-oils" the K&N filter.

Bryan- just about any switched power source can be used to fire the relay for the fuse panel.....the current draw of the coil is negligible. You're on the right track. Ultimately, it *really* pays to take your time and do a good job with these types of mods, since they're subject to a lot of abuse and vibration. They will fail when you need them most unless you overengineer the installation. Good practices are soldering/heat shrink/taping joints, soldering crimped lugs, using more tie wraps than you'd think, good wire looming, never using crimped tap splices, etc. The dual-stars are a very good product. I had them on my Bird.

Bryan- First off, what I recommend that everyone do that installs electrical accessories on their bike.....is to install a switched, auxiliary fuse panel. I wish I had taken photos of mine, but it's relatively easy to do. You might want to study Warchild's layout for some hints: http://www.superblackbird.com/farkledass.cfm I think it an extremely BAD idea to "steal" power from other sources like headlights, radiator fans, etc. Not only does this compromise performance of both items when they're running, it also creates liabilities. You switch your grips on, the fuse blows due to either a short in the wiring or some other gremlin....and then you're out of light. So I always recommend that you run the grip heaters from their own fuse. I also think on the Bird that it's best to run a ground terminal strip right to the battery negative lead. Plenty of room underneath the seat. Your problem is likely that your ground isn't really "grounding" anything and you're not drawing any current through the circuit. yell if you have questions........

Nice work, JRA! Your shop puts mine to shame. I have built a lot of furniture for my house but it's been a while since I've done a piece. I've done a fair amount of shaker pieces, they're relatively easy and they look good in small town Ohio. I've also been a rat bastard at times; to build my sons' bunkbeds, I "stole" the plans from a local furniture store. They had a unit exactly like what I wanted, so I sat there with a tape measure for about half an hour taking down all the measurements. "No, I'm just looking. I want to make sure this fits in my son's room." I have an old house, built in 1916. When I re-insulated the attic, I replaced the old 1"-by floor boards with inexpensive OSB. I harvested the wood, which was really tight-grained fir, and built a coffee table and a kid's playhouse out of it. It's cool to have a piece of furniture that was built "from" the house. But cherry is my absolute favorite wood to work with. Cuts great, sands easily, and in a year or so turns into that beautiful orange color. (not that dark crap stain color that is sprayed on the cheap furniture) Talking about this is giving me a woodie.....

Obby- I was just about to sell this little POS Bandit 600S that I somehow traded for. The eBay auction was going to pop this past Saturday. So, I thought I'd do the next owner a good deed by lubing the chain. Put the bike up on the centerstand....and..... SMASH!!!!!!!!!! ...down on the right side. $75 of parts are now on order. Auction canceled. :banghead: Glad you didn't hurt yer Bird.... Craig

The $4 quarts are already premixed. You only need 3 if you're doing a flush, since you can't drain all the coolant out of the block. For doing this only every 2 years or so, $12 shouldn't be something to cry about. Or get a gallon of the unmixed stuff and use distilled water. That brings the cost down to about $10. I readily experiment with different brands of lubricants, but I don't screw around with coolant....for as little as it costs, and for as long as it lasts, just pout the OEM stuff in there and fuhgeddaboudit. Craig

Jer- find a way to integrate a voltmeter into your bike. If you're lucky (or cheap) like me, you'll have a garmin GPS III+ which has one built in. Regardless, they can be picked up inexpensively these days. Monitoring your system voltage takes the guesswork out of it....as long as your running voltage stays above 13 volts, you're definitely in surplus. I rode back from Towanda with heated grips and vest on. (about 70 watts additional) Voltage would dip into the low 12's during idling (deficit) then would climb back to ~14V during normal rpms. Craig p.s. enjoyed the trip pictures. You DINKs have all the fun.

You could always ride one of these: Sorry, I don't know of any aftermarket kits...

Your electrical system is like the foundation of a house. If you have problems there, it'll manifest itself as problems everywhere and you'll be on a wild goose chase hunting down symptoms. Measure your battery/system voltage 1) with the bike off, and 2) with the bike running. You should be just above 12V with the bike off, and somewhere near 14V with the bike running. How long does the bike have to run before the FI light comes on? Make sure that you're measuring the system voltage when the FI light comes on, to see if it's changed. Start with this measurement....and if you're good there, then you can start to focus on the real cause of the problem.

got a website? I tried www.partunlimited.com and it appears to be heavy truck parts.