I Hear Crack is Cheaper

Since the last post there were a couple bike events that I attended. The first was the Annual Fellowship of Christian Riders bike blessing and ride. On this ride I got to "ride safety" that means started up front and stopped at an intersection, held traffic and waited for the group to pass. Then ride around the group back to the front to do it again.
The other event was the American Legion 2012 Bama Southern Romp. This is where I met Greg Williams. Greg was at this event as a vendor. His company Light One Up, sells LED kits for motorcycles.I had him install one on my bike. He did say that I would want more.
He was right.
As of today the bike looks like the top picture.

Original install

I Guess 4s

In January I posted that I had decided to stick with my venerable iPhone 3Gs and with Apple's iOS 5.1 update, I was happy with that decision.
It seems that someone else also liked my 3Gs, in it's nice red Mophie Juice Pak, with four awesome looking blue LED battery indicators...

Well Poo.

What to do now?

Do I make the jump to Android or not?

Not.

For these reasons, in random order.
-There are too many android models to choose from.
-I have legacy apps for iOS.
-I bought a mount for a mp3 player and it was for an iPhone 4/4s.
-I had subscribed to iCloud  so all of my music is not on the phone

Well ain't that exciting

I commute on the bike, although this year I have decided to drive the car at least once a week. That's the plan. However I expected to pick the days or drive because of weather. Not so much yesterday.

Well, while I was downtown, I pulled up to a stoplight, down shifted to first and pop the clutch lever hits the grip. Great! I took this weekend off to ride. I've invited several people to a motorcycle event. Grrrrr! I called my dad and he came with my trailer to pick me up. I think I'm going to get a front wheel chock for my trailer. I think there will be less stress in moving the bike this way with a chock. Anyway, I called the dealer and ordered the parts. The guy said that it would be there Friday. Tuesday to Friday without the bike? No. I had them sent Next-Day-Air because if there was a problem, I would have time to rectify it. 

Today, I am on the bike again, $116 later and it took about 10 minutes to replace. Sigh...

On (Engine) Guard!!

A little while ago, I bid on and won an engine guard and a drivers back rest  for my bike on eBay. The backrest arrived first. I carry some tools with me so I can do minor repairs(usually, popping the seat off so that i can jump-start the thing!) When the back rest arrived I popped the back seat off and intended to install it quickly. I thought that it would be simple, after all the instructions had for lines:

1. remove side cover
2. remove passenger seat
3. remove latch mechanism and install bracket under mechanism. 
4. reassemble

Simple right? NOT! 

 Epic FAIL!

There was a telephone number on the piece of paper with the aforementioned instructions. Upon dialing this number, I speak to a young lady that sound as though she was recently hired. After some time on hold she asks me to email pictures to them. Right. But, I do as I am asked, and the email bounces back. Well, I wait for Monday and this time i eBay Message them. They respond with some story that they recently changed the mount. Well their new mount doesn't work. I begin the process of returning it. Yay! I get to spend money to ship something back.

About the same time I bid on an engine guard for my bike. I wanted one so that I could install highway pegs and driving lights. I waited and waited for it to arrive and when it did, I was excited. I opened the box and held the new (to me) engine guard  up to my bike imagining how nice it was going to look. So, I grabbed my tools and sat down to install my new piece. I took the radiator shroud off, put the clamps around the down tubes of the frame, and my heart sank. the description on the eBay post said that it used the stock bolts. Did I miss something? Maybe this was for a regular VN2000, and mine was a Classic LT, and somehow it is different. I contemplated fabricating mounting tabs and brackets. I also posted these pictures in a Facebook Group for Vulcan 2000 owners, and asked for their opinions. Mariano Vincent de Urquiza one of the members of this group came to the rescue. Not only did he explain the situation but due to a recent accident he had to replace his engine guard and he had the necessary hardware. He offered to ship me the mounting hardware if I paid the shipping. Let's see how fast I can operate PayPal. Mariano's parcel arrives and again the excitement brews. I get started at 4pm on Good Friday, not one of my smarter moves. I had to abandon the project after 30 minutes because I had to be at the church at 4:45 to run sound for the 6pm church service. Mariano's also had some advice for the installation. Start with the lower left side. He is correct!

Sqeak-no-more!

If you have read any of my blog, you may have picked up on the fact that I ride a motorcycle. If you are an enthusiast, then you may want to know the brand and model of my bike. It is a 2006 Kawasaki VN2000F6F. The reason I bring this up is there are unique issues with these bikes. One of these issues was driving me nuts lately. The final drive belt on these bikes occasionally makes noise. It has to do, I think with a slight misalignment of the pulleys. Everything has been dandy until this wet weather and the final drive belt started squeaking when it was damp. On the recommendation of someone that I met in a Facebook Vulcan Owners group, I when to the local Harley-Davidson Dealer. I purchased "Poly-Lube" this is supposed to be used on the primary drive belt. awesome advise!

DeICEing - the first step

Well, I started it. I have wanted to make my old bike electric. That poor bike has been sitting for years. I finally  took the first step. One of the blogs that I found about this called this de-ICE-ing (Internal Combustion Engine).  I did finally get the motor out but it was too dark to take a photo with my phone. There is still more work to do, removing cooling reservoirs and other non essentials. I have no idea how long this is going to take.

Perspective...

I got this in an email. I thought it was cool.




Need a perspective, try this on for size.

I certainly thought this was enlightening.
Did you even realize we knew much beyond our sun?


It's a big universe.

Antares is the 15th brightest star in the sky.

It is more than 1000 light years away.
1 light year is 63240 AU(Astronomical Units)
1 Astronomical Unit = 92,955,887.6 miles



The universe is so vast it is not comprehensible by the human mind.
It would be like an ant trying to understand the wonder of the internet.
It can't be done.

The universe humbles us, as it should. (How much more ought we be humbled by the creator of such a universe?)

I've been remiss

Ok, so I've been bad, I have not posted anything in a couple of weeks. Not only that but my riding has been sparse as well. It has been rainy and cold or just plain rainy. With a nice, new(to me) warm and dry Suburban, getting on the bike and going to work in the rain just doesn't sound fun. I did take a nice photo of the bike.

Not Something I Like To See

Yes, that is rust on the brake. I haven't ridden in a couple days. While I figured out vehicles, the bike was over at my parents house. I would have ridden yesterday but it was raining and I was ill-prepared.  I'm back to riding again.
Going for a year-round riding season.as I stated in and earlier post I bought this bike in May. It had 1880 miles on it. At the last fill-up it had 10507. That is 8,627 miles of everyday driving in 8 months. People have asked me why am I riding on a cold or rainy day. Before the answer was that my car quit working. Now that I have one that does, I'll have to think of another excuse. Right now the one that comes to mind is fuel economy. I have bee tracking the MPG's of the bike and here is a screenshot of the app I have been using to keep track of it. There are some cars that beat my mileage but they are not as much fun to drive! Also I don't think anyone would come into the store saying " Who's Smaart Car is that?" or "Gee, that's a pretty Prius"

Darkside Part 2

Here are some of the questions I can answer about putting a car tire on a motorcycle.
1]  Are you CRAZY?
     Debatable, not that I can tell. I installed this tire after research.
2]  Did you modify your bike to accept a car tire?
     No. the OEM tire is 200/60-16. I installed a 215/55-16. The last number indicates wheel size in inches. It fit the stock wheel.
3]  Who installed it?
      I did with the help of a friend. You have to do this yourself, or find a mechanic who will do it in their off time. A shop typically will not install something not designed for its intended use. no body wants to get sued.
4]  What kind of tire is it?
      General Altimax HP (V rated)

I also want to clarify the economics. I mentioned in an earlier post that the motorcycle tire was $290 and the car tire was $120. The prices are correct but do not reflect the true "value" of the car tire. A tire that is designed for a motorcycle is made of several rubber compounds. typically, a hard compound in the middle and softer on the sides. Because there is only two points of contact between bike and pavement, the motorcycle tire is designed for grip. They grip very well but don't last. Motorcycle tires usually last on average 10,000 miles. I had to replace mine after 6,000 miles. Back to economics, $290 tire for 6000 miles is 4.8333 cents per mile versus a $120 tire rated for 40,000 is 0.3 cents per mile.

Gooks Tigers!

I don't follow football.  NFL, College, or High school, Sorry.
I couldn't tell you who is on which team. This is not to say that don't like football or that I would not enjoy watching a game. (I think the guy who paints the first down line on TV is amazing!)

Apparently there is a big game today. Alabama vs LSU. I was unaware of this fact until a customer came in and asked when was kickoff. after he received his answer he said "Gooks Tigers!"
It took me a minute to Figure out what he ws saying. I think he meant "Geaux Tigers!"

And The Winner Is....

The 1999 GMC Suburban. The deal was too good to pass up. The trucks that I looked at yesterday had issues that were also unknowns. The Suburban has minor issues for the same price. Plus the history is known on this vehicle. Brad FTW!

Short Ride

Since the trouble with the car I have borrowed my Dad's truck. That means the bike has been at Mom and Dad's house for the last couple of days. I made up for it today. I rode to Phenix City by way of Tallassee. I burned a whole tank of gas. In Phenix City there is a dealership that had some trucks listed on AutoTrader.com that looked interesting. These are two that caught my eye.

4S or 3GS, Hmmmm....

I have been thinking of upgrading my iPhone. I'm with AT&T. I know,I know, coverage is better with Verizon. I might be able to make calls from my house! But, I'm locked into a Family plan.
  I wanted to try Android, but I'm not sure about the GSM selections. I almost talked myself into the Samsung Nexus but its not available on AT&T yet. So many choices, so many versions, I don't know which is best suited for me. Alas, I may stick with my 32GB 3GS.
  I feel like Apple will force me to upgrade this year by releasing an update that will render my phone useless. The example that comes to mind is iOS 4 on my 3G. Luckily, a freind updated to the new one and let me get the old one.
  I am becoming adept at repairing this phone. I have repaired the iPhone 4. I prefer the separated digitizer and display of the 3GS. I have had to replace each on separate occasions. I have replaced the battery three times. The first time was to replace a battery that was intermittent.  The second time to remove the defective replacement battery and the third was to install a better battery. My reliability issues are gone fro the time being.

Darkside

I did get the car moved but I'm going to put that saga on hold for today.

Instead I'm going to upset some new-found and re-found friends. I have gone to the darkside. Well I really went Dark in October. for those who aren't familiar, darkside refers to installing a car tire on the rear of the motorcycle. I did allot of research, listened to the pros and cons. in the end it came down to economics. $290 for the least expensive motorcycle that will fit my bike. I spent $120 on this tire. I will say that there is a difference in handling. It likes to go strait but I have scraped both floorboards. Another difference is rear braking. It is a whole lot harder to lockup the rear than it used to. Now I don't recommend this for anything but heavy cruisers. Let the Comment Wars begin....

You Should Never Talk Bad About Your Car

Yesterday I got the car running and took it on a small drive. Today, I decided to drive it again. I had to go downtown and gets some parts for the gas pumps. I got in the car, it started right up, and I drove downtown. About the time I get to the interchange of I-85 and I-65, the tachometer went to zero and all the pretty lights came on. I was travelling at 55 miles per hour or so and this was my exit. I put the car in neutral and hit the hazard lights. Luckily the exit is downhill and my destination was at the bottom of that hill. We'll see what the problem is later. Guess I'm on the bike, so it's not all bad.

Drove My Car For The First Time This Year

I know it sounds funny. I bought my second motorcycle in March of 2011 then traded it in May for the Vulcan. I have been riding most every day, using the bike as primary transportation. There has been about six days I missed, I think, three of them I was in Atlanta. I have been averaging 39 mpg on the Vulcan while the Pathfinder was getting around 20. Well, if you leave your car alone for too long, bad things start to happen. Well they happened. The battery died, tires partially deflated and the gas went bad. I have been planning to do something about this for a while. I have aired up the tires a couple of times, I tried cranking it in October. That's when I found the battery was dead. I got a new one and put it in but didn't connect it. I figured that the gas was bad, so I waited. Finally, I did something about it. I got some good has and added a fuel additive. Poured it in the tank, connected the battery, and hoped for the best. It cranked right up! Unfortunately, the tires have a flat spot. I'll have to drive it more often. Oh well.

Don't Be Afraid Of The Big Bad Bike

I know this is an older photo but I wanted to post something about my motorcycle.

In May 2011 I traded my Honda Shadow 1100 for this bike, A 2006 Kawasaki Vulcan 2000 Classic LT. It had 1880 miles on it at the time of purchase. I wanted a bike that I could carry something on, what is commonly called a "bagger".  "Bagger" is a subdivision of cruiser motorcycles. I was initially worried that  this bike might be too big.  A 2053cc v-twin, this motor is larger than several cars that I have owned. My concerns were unfounded. After an adjustment to the handlebars, it is quite comfortable. I'll write more later.

Resolution Time

Well. Its 2012. I don't usually do " New Year's Resolutions " but this year I'm going to attempt to blog atleast once a day. Wish me luck!