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MitchT, I had this same problem when I was a new resident to CA several years back and didn't know any better. I had purchased an Aprilia on eBay from a seller in AZ and the bike only had 4K miles on it. I tried to register it here in CA and got denied. They gave me a temporary permit by mistake (new and young DMV person) until I figured the situation out and I ended up riding on that for 1 year (it had expired 3 months after I got it so I was basically riding around illegally for 9 months). The problem for you now is that the DMV has record of you trying to register your bike with under 7500 on it and regardless of what you do to get above the 7500 mile requirement, they can easily look back and see that your bike is not registerable in the state. This is what they told me when I went back to try and get my Aprilia Futura registerd with over 7500 miles. I ended up selling the bike after 1 year to a CA resident who had to get the bike registered back in AZ through a friend's address. It was quite the mess. Luckily for me, he really wanted the bike. After I sold that, I bought an 02' XX from a seller in CA. Now I know that if I buy a bike outside the state, it has to have more than 7500 miles when I bring it into the DMV the very first time. I typically only look at bikes for sale within CA now to avoid the DMV issues. The DMV here SUCKS! Plus, now they have that law where if it's an out-of-state vehicle and you have owned it less than 1 year when you bring it into the state, you need to pay CA a gap tax (tax difference between the location where you last registered it and your current CA location). On a car, this could be thousands of $$ that a person could owe the state just for having brought the car into the state! Total BS. Best of luck to you on your 97' but you may be up a creek at this point, unfortunately. Please post the outcome when you get a chance ...I'd like to see what you experience. Steve

Ahh, now that's what I'm talking about! I had not seen that one yet. Unmolested, adult ridden, and silver, the fastest color. I will be calling him. Thanks Jeffro!

Aurora, I've never really liked the red color on the 01's. It's really bungandy and it just has never really excited me. I like the red on the Ducati STs but not the red XXs. That's the only reason why I have omitted the 01s from my search. Jeffro, I came across that listing the other day and it appears to be a nice bike ...the few downsides are the 4 into 1 pipe and the scratches and chips. His price is good, though, and miles are fine. If I bought that bike, I'd rip the Yoshi pipe right off and re-install a nice dual exhaust but I guess if I can find one that has the original pipe set-up, that would be better. It's definitely a possibility, though. I'm looking for a cherry example of a bike ...the 02' XX I owned some years back was in pristine condition and I want another like that. They are HARD to find like that. Thanks for the input guys, Steve

Thanks Keith ...yeah, I did find that one on a search all craig's site but based on the price and the fact that he didn't list the miles, I figured they were high and I really didn't care for what looks to be square yoshi pipes. Also, I like the OEM black wheels and the owner of this one has put some chrome or silver wheels on it. This one did not scream buy me.

Hey guys, I'm in the market to get my hands on a nice 2002 or 2003 Blackbird but I'm having difficulty finding one that I like in California. Anyone know of any good ones anywhere in the state? I have to buy one in CA due to the DMV laws so if it's outside the state, I can't register it here unless it has over 7500 miles and even at that, the state will get me for an extra sales tax if I've haven't owned it for longer than a year outside of CA and I won't pay that so it's gotta be for sale in CA. I'm looking for one with less than 20K miles. If anyone knows of one, let me know. Thanks! Steve

GT mule, Very nice bike ...does it have any scratches, dings, or dents or has it ever been dropped before while moving or standing still? Thanks, Socaldiablo

That's pretty cool ...never heard of that being done before. The only thing is would they have to raise the entire driveway or only to the first control break? Guess we won't know unless he posts a pic.

The CFO's cage drags?? :icon_think: Not sure why the Chief Financial Officer's car couldn't clear 2 inches w/o scrapping. What kind of vehicle is it? Something low profile? Ferrari maybe?? Huh, when you mean glue paving stones to the cement, I'm assuming you mean mortar them to the driveway and not actually using "glue". Don't know how that would look if you stuck paving stones where the gap is. This is quite an issue. Damn Katrina! Other than ripping out the entire drive way and repouring it, it might be best just to leave the 2" drop and get an SUV/truck that can clear the gap w/o scrapping. The only thing that might be halfway decent is to pour some concrete to act as a mini ramp up to the slab/garage but not sure how that would turn out. Post a picture so we can see what you're talking about. Steve

I have Two Bros slip ons w/o a jet kit and the bike runs fine. I will tell you that my Two Bros pipes are, for me, very loud. C4s and have maybe 8K miles on them (02' XX). I can handle short jaunts but for any ride over 5-10 miles, I 100% of the time wear ear plugs. They sound awesome with ear plugs in. Really great sounding pipes but a little loud for my tastes w/o ear plugs. I've ridden other bikes with Two Bros single slip on and it was nothing like the ones I have. My 2 cents worth ....

I like the cultured stone look on fireplaces. You could somehow attach some cement board to the marble, slap on some mortar, and attach some kind of cultured stone to it like Eldorado, Rox Pro, or Cultured Stone brand stone (stacked stone looks cool). Guess it depends on how much marble, how it is situated on the fireplace, and your budget. Post a pic of the fireplace ...it will be easier to give you ideas. I have ugly ass red brick on my fireplace. I'd like to install some Eldorado either over my red brick or in place of the brick (remove it altogether). Check out the pic of the stone I installed on the kitchen pennisula. Steve

why don't you try some kind of moderate acid that is OK for concrete? Don't use phosphoric, though. It will take the aggregate layer off. I use sulfuric on stains ...if you go with something in-between the two, that might help dissolve the glue. Like the other guy said, though ...I would just tile over the bonded glue unless you think it will interfere with the mortar. Heck, people tile over linoleum and that stuff is slick. I always rip it up first but I've seen people do it with good results. Good luck. Steve

True, true ....it's hit or miss, especially the places that are extra busy. The place I go to is mostly very busy but they seem to really know their shit and are really nice but again, them being busy = greater chance at missing something. Good thing your issue didn't launch you off the bike! You know, I think I called the Harley dealership or something. I just found my owners manual and checked the "actual" 12K service interval (should have done that before I posted this thread or called the dealer) and all it says to do is replace the air filter, inspect the engine idle, inspect the EEC, replace brake/clutch fluid, and inspect brakes. Where the hell did plugs come from? Those are scheduled at: inspect - 16K, replace - 32K. And I told the guy it was an XX ...he was way off ....he mentioned changing plugs, coolant, and a bunch of other BS. I know he said plugs b/c he said they were real expensive. He must have a hot date this weekend and needs some spending cash ...fucker! I checked the receipt for the brake/clutch stainless lines that the previous owner installed ....the work was done in Sept. 04' and the installer used (2) brake fluids ....since the bike has mostly highway miles and the clutch/brakes fluid appears to be crystal clear through the windows, I will put this off until 20K or so. So as of now, all I'm doing is oil, oil filter, and air filter. Even though this thread started out as a fist fight, it turned out pretty damn good. I can do this stuff on Sat. and will cost me about ...?? $75? Awesome ...thanks all for your input and waking me up to doing this shit myself. Steve

Ha ha ....the show is over. No more bitch slapping each other ...I apologize for my comments. Just wanted some good solid advice for someone that can't spend every weekend in the garage tinkering with the bike. I haven't even washed it since I bought it ....just have too many other priorities at home at the moment so when it comes to vehicle maintenance, I typically just rely on the experts at the dealerships. I got good advice from most and the least this thread did was talk myself out of chumping over $450 to get butt raped. I mean, come on ....this is a Honda. These things are bullet proof, right? Will ...thanks for the invite. Definitely want to take you up on it ...I'll see what I can take care of this weekend w/ maintenance and let you know what I can't do and see if you/Tom can show me the ropes. Have fun at TBME! Oh, and I'm still good for bringing a case of beer. Steve

You may want to check with the person who replaced the brake and clutch lines if they also bled the lines during the swap. If they have not, it would be justifiable to pay for the $450 service because there is a slim chance that they may check the brake and clutch fluid levels from the master cylinder windows. :icon_shifty: Hey xxbird, yeah, I did check with the previous owner and he said he doesn't know if the clutch/brake masters were drained and refilled. And what I meant from my initial post was I wonder if the reseviors were drained then, not if the lines were bled. Obviously since the old lines were removed and new ones installed, all of the fluid in the old lines was removed and minimally, the reseviors were topped off to replace the lost fluid in the old lines. The fluid in the windows of both masters is crystal clear. The bike has mostly highway miles so the use of the clutch and brakes has been minmized compared with city riding. I think I'll bypass messing with these at the moment. Maybe at 20K I'll have them drained and filled. I can handle the coolant flush, oil/filter, air filter. I guess it's mainly the plugs that I haven't done before. Will and Tom and can help with that. Not sure I even need new plugs at this point. The bike runs great. bartonmd and rockmeup ...I reacted the way I did b/c the dude referred to me as foolish. I did not post this thread to be cut down. I asked a question and wanted people's advice ...to me, calling me foolish is not constructive critism. It's patronizing me ...this person does not even know me at all and comes off like that. And for him to come back and flip me off ...it just shows his immaturity.

Childish man, very childish. It goes to show ....you've got a myspace account. Nice .... Is that all you've got? Please. You'll notice I didn't say anything about where you're from, the bike you don't own or the girl who's on it that isn't yours. Doing that would be generalizing and I don't want to stoop. Huh? What the hell are you referring to? I never went to your lame myspace webpage if that's what you mean ...I noticed it on your sig. Sorry man but I can't bring myself down to scrolling through the mountains of crap and tenny bopper shit on myspace. I'm above that. You know, and I just noticed in my message box that you had requested an mp3 song awhile back in the pub section and I was nice enough to spend my time and pull it off the web and e-mail it to you. What was I thinking ...if I had known you then from the impression I'm getting today, it wouldn't have happened. You seem shallow and empty ....good luck man. I'm leaving tomorrow for TBME but seriously maybe even next weekend, Tom and I are old pros and if you came by you might want to see it being done, or if time is a problem the least we could do is do it and save you some $$$. Call me at: 760-300-5824 and we can talk about it. Will ...thanks man. Sounds great and spending the time to learn the more involved things is not a problem. I'll call you next week to see when a good time is ....I can get the parts in advance as well and will take care of the oil change/air filter in advance. Have fun at TBME. Thanks again, Steve

Childish man, very childish. It goes to show ....you've got a myspace account. Nice ....

You got it ...I'll even throw in a case of whatever beer you want. You serious? I can change the oil/oil filter/air filter ...no problem there. Since the bike had new stainless steel brake/clutch lines installed about 2 years ago, I wonder if they bled the lines then?? It was done before I bought the bike from another party. The bike is running fine but I'm usually anal and follow all of the scheduled service maintenance in my trucks and bikes, and typically let the dealer do it since they are the experts. I thought $450 was a bit steep for slightly more than an oil change. Listen bro .... not sure if you're joking but I'm not laughing. Not cool ...it's more a matter of my time and the available tools I have to do my own work. If it costs me $450, then so be it. Was just inquiring on whether I should get a 2nd opinion on the rate of $450. Sounded high to me ...frankly, if you have a negative comment to say on this thread, keep it to yourself next time.

Hey all ....my 02' XX is coming up on it's 12K service. I called my local dealership and they told me it could be as much as $450. WTF? Is this accurate? Does the bike really need $75 plugs with only 12K miles? The coolant flush is understandable ...what else do they do to justify taking 4 1/2 bills from me? Any advice on what else to do or am I shit up a creek? Thanks! Steve

are those easy to fix? Ha ...I guess if I have to ask, it's most likely something I can't do myself. I don't know where I'd even find parts for this thing. You think I should just realize I got my money out of this thing and buy a new one? I need one ....the slope behind my house needs wacking and I had planned to tackle that this weekend. Total bummer this thing broke down on me now. Thanks for the info ....Steve

Ah man, that sucks. I had no clue you lost your legs. Dude, I'm truly sorry. I did wonder why there was an elevator in your place but the interior looked pretty fancy and I just assumed you guys were going all out building it yourself that you opted for an elevator. Great piece of land you got there ...7 acres is huge for a residential yard. Well, your friends are truly amazing. Congrats to all of you for a job well done. Steve

hey ...I got a question (not to steal this thread) ....I was using my Troy Built trimmer yesterday and half way through the job of trimming my yard, the drive train gave up. The engine would rev, but the head would not spin leading my to believe that the drive that engages the head broke free or came loose. Anyone have this problem with any model trimmer and any ideas on how to fix this? The trimmer is 2 years old and has been problem free until now. Thanks, Steve

Come on down, I'll give you a world famous dip. You've missed it for 15 months................... Does your famous dip contain some of that shit you're digging out of your nose?? Hey man ...like animal mother, I just came across this thread. You ever think of taking all of your buddies and getting into the home building business? You guys do excellent work from the pics. Love the attention to detail with the tray ceilings and other levels you've created on the ceilings, the recessed cans are always nice and modern, love the window in front of the nice tub you plan to install, and I've always been a fan of the stone veneer. I used Eldorado Stacked Stone veneer inside and outside of my house and it's amazing the look it gives. You guys have done and outstanding job!! What's the square footage and how much property do you have there? Also, have you crunched the numbers to see what you're saving by doing this yourself?? I'd be interested in knowing. Steve

No, I haven't ...great point! What's the best way to check for that? Condensation leaks? Pressure testing?

I looked at them last night ....they appear to be stock and untampered although my eyes are virgins for this. I think it would be hard to tell based on the rivets. I may run by my service shop and have the guys there tell me what they think ....they would know best and they are usually very cool about talking to customers about this sort of thing. Thanks for all the help! This just confirms my suspicions about these cans. Thanks again, Steve

I have a digital video camera ...I wonder if I video/audio tape it, could I post a wave file up here? I'll try that and see if it works. I want you guys to hear this beast. When I was fueling up last night, my debit card wouldn't scan at the pump b/c the strip on back is worn so I had to go inside of Costco and get one of those cash cards ....as I rode from where the pumps are to the store location, I didn't put my earplugs back in and the roar of these pipes was horrible after having worn the ear plugs for several weeks. My ears were ringing ...there has got to be something wrong with them. The guy who bought my Aprilia back in Jan. had a 98' Superhawk with single sided Two Bros can and while he test rode my bike, I followed him on his bike and the sound of that pipe was totally bearable ...it was a real nice mellow sound. No ear plugs needed on his. Mine is at least 3 times louder than his. I'm just afraid of pissing people off when sitting at a light or riding up right next to them when sharing lanes or when leaving/entering my family saturated neighborhood (along with damaging my ears). Steve