Hurray, home sweet home

I like being home, almost no hassles. Traveling is a pain in the tush. Just ask my offspring visiting from Wisconsin. Even going to Ruidoso in the winter can be no fun. I've got things to do at the house. I can almost always find something to do on one of my 5 bikes. Simple chores around the house. Male friends I can call or get together with and my best friend is here, you know her.

The Internet is my filler, but biking is my main interest. Dahh. You've got to have a strong interest to stay alive after doing that wage earning thing. Can't wait for 62 when Social Security kicks in. We'll have plenty, to do almost anything we want then.

I'm actually running out of things I want to buy. I went to Mr. Motorcycle yesterday and could not see a bike I wanted. Then I went for a ride on my Red 92 Suzuki 1100 and it was a blast. Why would I want another bike? Well things change, I'm looking.

Waiting still on a tool to check the valve clearances on the Venture, then I can put it all back together. I hope I did everything right! I want to put a lot of miles on it. It is so comfortable and smooth riding. Until then I do have 4 other bikes. Poor me...

Still don't miss the Vette, but that's "Home Sweet Home" behind it.

Remind me not to do this too..

Well, it was not windy Sat. and Sunday in Ruidoso. But Monday thru Friday it was. 65 mph gusts 2 days. So bad I brought my bike home Wed, windy but not as bad as the other days.
Boring and expensive. Didn't do anything except watch TV and read some. BIG waste of money could have done that at home much cheaper. Condo was cold on the upper floor, no heat. Owner/operator had two "so called experts over to fix it" "We don't know what's wrong, HVAC is not like anything we've worked on before". Guess we'll get you 2 space heaters?#$!
I fixed it! The thermostat had a wire in the way of the mercury switch so it could not come on. Dahhh! HVAC system was so noisy it kept Wes awake and waking me up.
Dishwasher door fell over when opened, " we'll be back tomorrow to fix it, WHICH TOMORROW? . Toilet would not shut off, Smoke alarm and TV remote needed batteries.
4 floors and many steps. Floors creaked badly. Bottom floor was claustophobic.
Linda's mom could not get out so no one did. "BORING" I came home early.
In the winter go where it is warmer not colder!!!! I'll make the plans next time, thank you.
I'm not going to waste time and money and be bored.

Last one for awhile

Going on vacation but real close by. Got a cabin/condo for a week in Ruidoso in the winter??

I'm riding a bike, but we will have 4 cars or more up there, you know we can't live without our own transportation. For me if it gets boring and I know it will, I can get out and drive to a few places I normally can't get to especially in the winter.

I'm taking some magazines and Linda's taking her computer so I can keep up with emails and Ebay motorcycle parts as they come up cheap. Hope they do have internet service and cable TV.

Suppose to be in the 30's at night and 50's during the week. Windy one day.

I'm taking my "Old Reliable" because the Venture is still apart, the battery on the Red Suzuki is dying, The Virago is not comfortable long distances and it is way too far for the Dual Sport 400. Choices and decisions made for me.

We have a 5 bedroom condo for 10 of us. Hope the Living room is big. I'm planning a White Elephant gift giving for Christmas, It should be fun because I changed every normal rule. In addition, cash awards will be giving for the closest, furthest, worst wrapped, biggest, smallest, most like you, least like you, cheapest, expensive,etc gifts. We'll see....

And the pic IS NOT where we're going, but that is The Cloudcroft Inn. Linda & I stayed at several years ago, had a great meal.

And yes we are still getting ready for Ruidoso. "I bought the Rum and put it with all the other stuff. But I had to go to Columbus NM to get it"

Progress

Well the engine is back in the Venture. I had good help today. The bike is about 1/2 back together. Then we worked on the carbs on Mike's Venture and fixed his gear shift indicator. After that we put crash bars on Lowell's VTX 1800. I'm very tired. 6 days of working on it. That's it all apart in the pic.

At least there's some more room in the garage now.

I got to take a break. Also waiting on some special tools to check the valve clearances, next.

Been real nice last couple of days. In the mid 60's.

Were getting ready for our trip to Ruidoso.

I'm doing it

Get your mind out of the gutter! I'm tearing my Venture 3/4 apart to fix 2nd gear. The engine has to be taken totally apart to get to the gear box. To do that it had to come out of the frame. But to do that the entire rear end had to come out. All the wires, cables, hoses, filters, carbs, exhaust and lower fairing had to come off first.

Why? At about 50,000 miles second gear starts slipping out under hard acceleration. Which gear takes the most punishment, 2nd of course!

These engines were manufactured from 1983-1993. After the first ones got some miles on them, they found this problem but did not fix them until mid 1985. Guess what I bought, a 1984. I knew it before I bought it but went ahead anyways.

Good winter project. And it was today, started out 53 degrees and went lower into the 30's and SNOWED/rain mix!! I was cozy in the garage.

Got the engine apart today. Only 35 bolts holding the 2 halves together, I numbered each one because most are different. Had to buy tools I sold a year ago.

I'm up to $200 in parts and tools. ALL FOR A $1.00 washer that was too soft. But of course I needed 2 and only ordered 1 so I have to wait a week or 2 for it to come in.

But what to hay, it's keeping me busy. More soon. The picture is nothing compared to how much is actually apart now.

Last group ride of the year

We had 6 touring bikes today. The 3 Yamaha Ventures, Benny's Honda Goldwing, Larry's BMW and Charlies's Yamaha Cruiser Tourer, 4 Yamaha's total. Went to Alamagordo, NM via boring Rte. 54. It is very safe now, not much to see, but lots of time to dream. This group rides very conservatively and courteously. We're all in our late 50's to mid 60's. It was about 40 degrees when we left and mid 60's coming home.

So far I've driven over 22,000 miles on my bikes this year. Sold one bike, bought 2 better ones. I try to alternate between them so they all get driven every week. It's hard on seals, batteries, and carbs if they are not.

Yesterday I drove to Columbus, NM about the same distance, 90 miles, as Alamagordo. They are building the fence along the border. It's not very high so I think it could be jumped over easily. Or lean a primitive ladder on it and jump down. Total waste of "Millions of Dollars". Did the Great Wall of China keep out the Mongols?

Right now there are many dump trucks along Rt. 9 Columus Border Hiway, so it's not isolated from traffic as usual. This is also a primary route for oversized loads, some very heavy and wide. Used to be no traffic at all 5 years ago.

Montana (or Carlsbad Hiway to the East) now has many trucks especially Walmart's, so it is much busier too. My 2 favorite roads from Carlsbad Rd to I-10 are still isolated, luckily.

I've slowed down but most vehicles have sped up, as well as most speed limits are up. I get passed a lot now. Rte. 20 from Socorro to McNary was 55 mph 2 weeks ago, is now 60. I-10 from El Paso county to Big Springs is all 80 mph. In the winter it has even more trucks and RV's than usual. Carlsbad Hiway is 75.

The above is my Suzuki 400cc dual sport (road and dirt) I don't use as much as I did when I got it. Only put 7,000 miles on it in 4 years, 14,000 the 1st 2 years. It has a large plastic box on it so I use it to pick up parts, go to bank, and a rare trip into the desert. Picture was taken right after several carpets got washed after the cat pee'd on the them. Bet you needed to know that!

Bla, Bla, Blog

Since I haven't heard from my offspring in weeks, I thought a HELLO from me might get some action. You'll be here in a few weeks so I guess it's "OK" to not say anything.

This was our least celebrated Thanksgiving ever. We took prepared plastic dishes to the hospital with Turkey and most of the other stuffing's. No one even thought of saying a blessing.

Friday Linda did what's she's been doing for weeks, caring (good thing) for Mildred. I worked all day on a friend's bike and Sat. we did it again. Sunday was probably the same, can't remember it was more than 20 minutes ago.

It has been warm here, low 60's to low 70's so I can ride but windy. If I stop for a break it's for a very short time because it's warmer riding behind the windshield than standing in the wind.

Soon I will be tearing my Yamaha Venture down to fix 2nd gear that goes out before 50,000 miles. Much cheaper now than replacing many gears, seals, etc. later. It has only 19500 miles now. Wes said he would help, right son? The guy I helped last weekend is going to help me but at different times. Just found out I order 1 part short, $6, but is $16 shipping! May wait to find out if I want/need something when I take it down.

That's my brother in law (without the hat). He and my 2 sisters are off on a Panama Canal ship tour for 2 weeks.

Mission Accomplished!!

Mike Portillo and I worked 3 days (1 full and two 1/2 days)
getting his '88 Venture Royale running right. We removed,
cleaned and bled 2 of 3 calipers, it had NO BRAKES at all.
Bled the clutch it was not disengaging, it shifts smoothly now.
Removed drive shaft grease and reinstall correctly so rear
wheel turns easy. Removed the steering, repacked
the bearings and adjusted, it was hard to turn and noisy.
Installed fork seals. Cleaned many parts soaked in oil,
dirty and rusty. Lubricated many moving parts, all levers
were hard to push or pull.

Next we need to check gas mileage, the Neutral light is
intermittent, engine shuts off when kick stand is down,
and starter needs to be cleaned and a better ground.


This is the third Venture I've done this on, it is
getting easier to do.

Mike and I had 3 days of fun, laughing and joking around.

Can't get Firefox to let me install any pics, dang.
Will use IE next time.

I copy and pasted this from Juno. Won't do that again.

Busy, busy

Monday, lunch with friends, do errands thought up over the weekend.
Tuesday go riding
Wednesday, work on bikes
Thursday go riding
Friday do whatever whenever
Sat, go riding with friends
Sunday watch videos, & relax what else?

That's it just trying to keep you informed!!

So you think I'm motorcycle crazy...

I bought my Yamaha Venture in June. I let my friend who bought one of my Suzuki 1100's drive it. He immediately loved it and bought one. We got it running late summer. Then we had another friend drive his and mine. He liked it so much he bought one. It came in yesterday.
Mine is a 1984, was $1800 and I've got about $3000 in it now. The first friend bought his 88 for $2500 and has about $4000 in his. The third Venture was bought for $2000, also an 88 and he will probably put at least a $1000 more into his.
Now to my point. I have 5 bikes, first friend now has 3, and the second friend has 7! He has a friend who has over 30. Almost everyone that has been biking a long time has more than 1. Only the newbies or returnies to motorcycling have 1.
I've had 24 bikes in 40+ years. Most I only kept a few years except for the 91 Brown Suzuki 1100 that now has over 100,000 miles I bought in Feb 93.
I kid one of my friends, his wife has 2 boarded horses they are far more expensive to buy and keep. He should have 2 bikes for every horse to be even. Right?
The friend who has 7 has to keep some in a rental space. He also has a 36' 5th wheel, 1 ton pick up, a large SUV and his company van.
Gas has come down but my miles driven have not yet, but winter will slow it down. I'll put 21,000+ miles on my five this year. The Venture is so comfortable (for a motorcycle) it is getting the most, 5,000 in 5 months. The miles float by very easy. The seat is good for 400 mile day trips.
When we took the car to Ft. Davis, it got 33 mpg and cost less to drive than the Venture (47 mpg) in Sept. because gas is down so much.
Life is good in retirement, if you keep yourself busy, and don't have too many pains.

Pic is a light echo, don't ask me to explain that one.

Mc Donald Observatory

For the second time we went to Ft. Davis Texas to the McDonald Observatory this year. But this time we got look through the 107" Telescope. For $50 we got a nice brisket dinner, 2 presentations and got actually look at 2 objects. Only McDonald Observatory lets the public use their telescopes.
The 2 talks was very technical, I'm sure many did not understand. The first staff member did a overview of how 80% of space observations use refracting light (the rainbow color effect) to determine chemical makeup, speed, and distance of staller objects.
The second speaker was someone I thought I would never get to meet. He was a member of a team looking for planets around stars. McDonald Observatory is the main telescope doing this.
They have indirectly determined there are hundreds of Jupiter type planets out there. But so far their methods are not good enough to find earth like planets because they are too small. What they do is look for the star to wobble because of gravitational pulls. Even our sun wobbles because of Jupiter, which 5.2 times as far from the sun as we are.
I understood about 90% of what a heavily accented foreign speaker said.
Then we got 2 direct observations ourselves, 1 person at a time. The first was a star cluster 33,000 lights years away, stars about 4-5 billion years old. Maybe 100,000 stars together. Then we looked at a Nebula (cloud) of a exploded star 6,000 light years away. Way cool! Would never see them except through a large telescope.
Linda wants to buy a 107" telescope now.
Nice thing about this time of year is the sun sets much earlier and we got to leave just after 7 pm our time. Got home just after 10 pm in the car (too cold for bike). In Sept. we took the bike and got out at 9 pm and got home at 1 am.
Did not hit any suicide pigs and death defying deer. But see deer going to Ft. Davis in the day. We took the long way in, it is very scenic but dry there.
Was A Great day. Pic later

Projects = staying busy

So far I've almost done 80 things to the Yamaha Venture. With five bikes I can dream up things to modify, improve gas mileage, do some maintenance, go for a ride, clean & polish, go pick up parts, do errands, go visit friends, write emails for Saturday's ride, scan the net for parts or look for new projects, check to see what parts I need, look thru parts I got to see what I want/need, reorganize them, checkout the Venture Rider. org website out for other riders opinions, answer friends questions about their bike.

Yesterday a male 25 year old neighbor. who's name is "Wesley" came over asking me if he should buy a 150cc scooter. I said yes if he can get parts, wears a helmet, gloves, jeans, takes the MSF rider safety class at Community College. Presently he rides his bicycle to work as far as 5 miles. He is a roofer, and has applied for Border Patrol. 150cc is still faster than a bicycle.

Yesterday I installed a Variable Resistor in the ignition circuit, hoping I could advance the timing to get more performance and gas mileage. Was only $3, but did not work. Today I rode up to Orogrande about 50 miles. After filling up I "ONLY" got 48.7 mpg at 65 mph. I was hoping for mid 50's. Half of the fun is installing something I've never done before, hoping I don't burn out the electronics ($50-500). The other half is the excuse is to go riding to see if my idea worked.

Most of the time they do.

Dorothy (my sister) said last year "Do you ever NOT modify anything you buy?" Well our Accord only has new floor mats and a freer flowing air cleaner, does that count?

Example of a good modification: We have 2 home humidifiers. When I bought the 2nd one I took the 1st one apart to clean the fan blades. I noticed a dramatic increase in air flow without the grids. So I cut out the ones you can't put your fingers thru anyways. The other grids on top I cut out every other grid. So large objects would not fall inside. I smart enough (most of the time) to NOT put fingers in turning blades and since our kids moved out 10+ years ago....

Got any ideas?

Rennaisance Faire

Linda & I to Las Cruses to this art & crafts, food and entertainment fair. Only $5 to get in. Best of the 3 times I've gone. The music we heard wasn't the best, but there was many vendors and entertainers in period costumes.

When we started out at 9;00 am it was in the mid 50's, by the time we left LC at 1:30 it was in the 80's. No wind, this is the best time of the year to ride.

We took the Venture, it's running great, got 48 mpg 2 up. Gas was down to $2.53, only $6.50 to refill it up.

I was hoping to listen to more music but Linda's stamina is not up to 100% yet.

It's on about 20 acres there were a few hundred vendors, very little junk. Mostly quality products. We bought some cheese and jellies for Christmas. I was hoping for more period food vendors, but we stuffed ourselves on chicken, chocolate, popcorn and pastami.

Later Sam came by we finished up his case guards on his Yamaha Virago and put forward footpegs on them.

Good Day. But then most are, when that "W" thing is gone.

Good days, bad days

Saturday: Couldn't go riding as usual with biking friends. Broke my glasses. Spent all day waiting, for Optometrist app't, waiting to be served to at EyeMart, and for glasses to be made. Spent twice as much as last time, but got a spare set. The best prescription I've ever had.

Sunday: Got to go riding to Las Cruses, ate at a new to me restaurant, very good, finishing up 1 of the 2 bikes I was working on for other people, made some money, nice warm day.

Sunday night: Sam finally came over. Surprised him with crash/case guards for his Yamaha Virago. Didn't have bolts to mount them correctly. Very windy up to 40 mph in evening. A/C banging in the wind.

Monday: Went to lunch with friends. Was going to do errands. Came home to get some money. Found Linda was very sick with abdominal cramps. Took her to doctor then emergency room to get a Cat Scan. Was either a blockage in digestive track or a virus. Vomited twice, had to get nausea and pain shots.

Tuesday: She appears better. Coldest night so far this year. Will get out today to do errands.

Crap Nebula

Pills, health, recommendations

I've had some abdominal pain lately. We went to Western Playland 2 weeks ago at the EPEC picnic. They had food of course. I ate way too much because we were late eating dinner for us. Late for us is after 3:30 pm.

Anyways I got really sick & blooted. The next day I'm "Expelling" (TMI) the excess. Get it? Dahhh! Your eating to much!!

I've cut down on my intake. Guess what? I feel better, have more energy and the pain is subsiding. I've always had a fast metoblic rate, and rather than gain weight the extra passes thru. I was up to 182 recently went down to 176, and now am at 172. This is my recommended weight. Until I hit 40 I was always about 150.

Hands. We all have them. But after rebuilding Lowell's 88 Yamaha Venture, my hands were so sore, I'm getting arthritis, I could not close them. Lowell gave me some Glucosamine with Chrondrotin (1500mg with 1200mg). My hands, shoulders (hurt for over 10 years) and rt. knee are getting better.

I'm taking St. John's Wort to help my attitude. A senior vitamin (horse pill size) for general health. I have high cholesterol (240) but hate statins. Bad on your liver and joints. So I take Flaxseed Oil (Omega 3, 6 & 9). I'm not done.

If my shoulders really hurt after a work out (bad word!) I take a generic anti-inflammatory. But these are bad for my gastritis.

Every night it's a mild Walmart sleeping pill.

I carry Aleve and aspirin for headaches.

Ginseng is good for mental alertness, I'm not as stimulated as I was when I was doing that "W" thing.

Me take PILLS" never!

Earth at twilight is above pic.

Won't do that again

There is a Website for my low miles '84 Yamaha Venture called "VentureRider.org" One of the recommendations was to remove the rear wheel, then grease the drive shaft splines and rear suspension joints. Sounds easy enough except...

The seat, saddlebags, trunk, rear fender and mufflers all have to come off first. The tire only comes off if the rear brakes are removed too. Never done it on this bike and of course since it's 24 years old many of the bolts are very hard to turn out. Age, rust, corrusion, thread locker and poor prior assembly, work against me.

I tried greasing six posts that make the rear wheel turn but would not come out even with my largest pry bar, 2' long. Forget it. And 2 of 4 small screws had to be unscrewed with vise grips, ruining them. I didn't have any spares so they had to be reused.

The drive shaft would only come out with large pliers instead of with fingers. This did need grease bad on one end, the other had so much grease I used it on the dry end. 1/2 hour to get it back in. Could not get splines lined up.

When the mufflers came off, 2 bolts were so rusty they almost stripped and broke off. Had to replace them.

Taking the suspension apart. 1st 2 bolts came out easy. 3rd had to be pushed out with a punch. 4th one was behind the exhaust pipes. Exhaust Pipes would have to be taken off to get bolt out. That would require 2-4 hours work and buying more parts. NO WAY!

I got out the hand oil pump and tried to get as much oil as possible on the joints, hoping it soaks in.

Put 3rd bolt back in and when I tightened down on it, the suspension would not move. So I took it out, drilled a small hole in the head and safety wired it. That and thread locker should hold it, but not tight. So the suspension will turn.

Cleaned the mufflers, put grease on every bolt and screw so they will come out in the next 24 year cycle. New muffler bolts now have anti-seize on them so they might come off later.

Put grease on the wheel splines and it would not go on far enough, take it off, shift transmission in gear so splines don't move and finally get wheel on far enough to reinstall the brakes. I've got so much grease on the caliper by now I have to use Lacquer thinner to clean it.

Reinstall rear fender and the plastic has a crack in them, repaired with crazy glue. The extra brake light I installed a month ago is in the way, of course.

2 brackets for holding the saddle bags on need to be bent so they line up.

Put the seat and trunk back on, then neither saddlebag will go on. The 2 brackets are now in the wrong place by less than a 1/4"

Take seat back off. Try to figure out why they saddlebags won't go on. "CUSSING is now permitted". I have to bend a different locking bracket and remove a washer off each bag. Takes over an hour. Reinstall seat, saddlebags install much better now.

Put tools away. What should have been 2 hours, takes "5" But it's done "FOREVER" as far as I'm concerned. Never did this on my 100,000 mile Suzuki, and it's only 17 years old!

The space shuttle has nothing to do with my bike other than they couldn't possibly have as many problems as I did today! Ya right!

Why 5?

Why not? 5 bikes that is. Sold the 99 Corvette 2 years ago. $750 just for insurance per yr. It took premium gas, got about 20 MPG in the City. Took up 1/2 of the garage and got used 2-3 times a month. 1500 miles per yr. Groceries, hardware, and then out to a show or dinner.

OK I had the oldest Brown 91 Suzuki, the dual sport 400 then. I was getting into working on bikes more and every time I wanted to work on one I had to move Linda's Cadillac out.

I've rebuilt about 7 bikes in the last 3 years. They are a lot easier to work on cars, less expensive and frankly a lot more fun to drive. Even the 99 Corvette never really impressed me. It was fun to pass with 360 hp, though!

Linda said get rid of the Corvette and the bikes could be inside. Yaaa!! And 4 bikes will fit where 1 car was. So I bought 4 Suzuki 1100's, I liked them that much. Then asked my self do I need 4 exactly alike? Sold two. Bought the BMW I never liked, then sold it a year later. Had plenty left over to buy 2 more, but all different. This time got the Yamaha Virago, Linda likes it. It's good around town bike, is lighter and handles great. We still wanted a touring bike for 2 up day trips and someday maybe a long trip.

Oh no that's back to 5, Ya kept track?

Here's the present stable: 1.)84 Yamaha Venture 1200 Touring bike. 2.) 98 Yamaha Virago 1100 Cruiser (low, slow and chromed out). 3.) The old 91 Suzuki 1100 (just turned 100,000 miles) I call Mr. Reliable, 4.) The Red 92 Suzuki 1100 is the replacement for the brown one (if it ever wears out), it's cleaner, low miles, and the fastest of the 5. 5.) My '00 Suzuki 400 Dual Sport, I use for picking up parts, and riding on the dirt.

All five cost me less to insure, for plates, inspections than the Corvette's insurance.

Lately I got smarter and put the car on the side closest to the inside door. Then the bikes could be in the side by the workbench so I did not have to walk around the car every time I needed a different tool.

Oh the poor 400 is in the new shed, all by itself, lonely, I think it needs a friend...

It all makes perfect sense to me....

Another finally

Ever since I rebuilt the carbs on the Red 92 Suzuki 1100 2 of the 4 carbs have not run correctly. It's #1 and #2 cylinders. #3 & #4 are running right. Taking a spark plug reading 1 & 2 are running at the correct air to fuel mixture from idle to high speed. In fact I never seen plugs that clean (correct).

#2 was rich with a little black soot. It was fixable by dropping the needle down into the jet about .030"

But the real kicker was #1. No matter what I did it was way rich. This causes low gas mileage and poor performance. This bike new to me, got 47 mpg at 80 mph. At 65 it was 50 mpg and at 55 was 54 mpg. It was also the fastest of the 4 I had at one time.

Lately it's been in the middle 40's driving 55-60 mph. Just off idle it would stumble (mis-fire).

That's what I get for trying to clean old carbs.

With gas prices at $4 and sometimes 180 miles between stops 45 mpg is not getting it.

Today I said I've got to take a different approach. Didn't Einstein say "doing the same thing over and over and trying to get a different result is a sign of insanity? "

Well the one thing I had not done was trying a different jet. Several months ago I plugged several worn out ones with J B Weld and redrilled them out with a smaller hole .099". I put one in and now it was way too lean. After several attempts of trying the get the needle to richen it up by rising it, it did not work. So I drilled the jet out to .102" (just .003" larger). The same size as the original! Now it ran about right , just a little hesitation.

I put in a worn out needle and adjusted it more, went for a 10 mile ride and came back to do another plug check. It was clean like the other 3. Hallelujah! FINALLY right!

Ready to go on a longer ride to do a gas mileage check. Should be back up to about 50.

A few days ago my neighbor across the street said I should get a scooter. Ya right! I said my bikes get 50, how much does your full size truck get? Mumble-Mumble.

I never seen it with stuff in the bed either.

My 400cc bikes gets 75 by the way. Fill ups at $4 a gallon are $8 and I go 150 miles!!

When your a hundred...

I hope your in as good a shape as my oldest bike I've had since Feb 93. My 91 Suzuki 1100 turn over a Hundred Thousand miles today. I've set several personal records. Never had a bike this long, never had even close to this many miles on one bike (highest before was 33k), a bike that was as reliable, fast, smooth, economical, and required so little maintenance.

It's in better shape than every bike I've rebuilt.

New, it would do 135+ mph, but only got 40 mpg. I did have to put in newer cams a couple of years ago, but the power is mostly back now. It does not burn oil yet. Less than 1/2 qt. in 3000 miles.

Now it gets 50+ mpg, but I have slowed down some too. I used to drive it at 75 but 55-65 is a lot more tolerable now. Especially since I'm on probation for 6 months after getting 3 tickets at one time on my other Suzuki 1100, 2 years ago.

After an accident it handled bad for years until I figured out how to compensate for the slightly bent forks and frame.

It still has the original front brake pads, but the rear's wear out after just 10-15k. It' had an oil leak, I had to drive it twice 50 miles putting in a qt. every 10 miles. But a $5 weld job fixed that. Parts were $125 I did not buy! So far it has always started away from the house, except once when I loosely connected the starter wires.

In 100k I changed the oil 33 times (198 qts. oil), had 6 batteries, 6 front tires, 9 rear tires, 9 rear brakes pads, & I'm on the 2nd rear disc. The gear box at the rear wheel has leaked from day one, but only about an ounce every 1000 miles.

It's been to Colorado twice, AZ several times and to NM hundreds of times. On my favorite road out off Sierra Blanca maybe 150 times. My guess it's been on 500 trips, and started over 2000 times. That's about 2400 gallons of gas or $5000.

It owes me nothing and I could still get over $1000 out of it. Parted out it would be worth about $2500, But I won't do it. It is the only vehicle I've ever gotten attached to. The other 29 cars and 25 bikes were always expendable.

Know anyone that's got 100k on their bike? I do, his has probably 200k now. Goldwings cared for get 200-300k on the original engine. I suspect this bike could go 150k.

Sure is nice.

1. All bikes are running great. 2. A reliable car. 3. No major house projects. 4. Bills all paid. 5. Weather is nice, 50's at night, 80's during the day. 6. Hands, shoulders & knees are better since I started on Glucosamine and chondrotin. 8. Linda's feeling better most of the time. 9. Only one friend is ticked at me now. 10. Getting fines, classes etc. done for my three tickets. 11. Not as many tailgaters lately. But found out tailgating is the 5th leading cause for accidents. 12. Back on St. John's Wort helping my attitude. 13. Gas prices are coming down, it's one of my major expenses, $150-200 per month, just for the bikes. Over 21k miles per year. 14. More new episodes on TV, but more conflicts with 2-3 good ones at same time. 15. If I don't sleep well I can always sleep in to 7-9 o'clock.

Got to do's: Dentist. Physical, Flu shot, Shingles shot, new glasses.

Pic is looking at a galaxy, they usually are 100,000 light years across or 5,870,000,000,000 miles. At the center is a super black hole holding it together, or is that sucking it all IN? But just wait in 4.5 billion years our sun will go super nova....

Finally!!!

Ever since I bought the Venture it's had a short. I've blown many fuses. I did install a circuit breaker so I don't have to keep buying fuses. It resets when the power is turned off.

Every time I came to a stop, then after idling awhile the breaker would interrupt the ignition circuit and the engine would stop and not restart. After 5-8 minutes it would restart and run good for the rest of the day. In a previous blog I described this problem.

Luckily it never happened at a stop light holding up traffic. Or when I was moving, because the engine was cool. Hint-hint.

Today I was driving slow on a gravel road, in 1st gear. It died going around a uphill corner. I backed up getting out of the middle of the road. This time I checked to see if the water coolant gauge was high, and it was. Ah hah. It's in the circuit that when it gets warm it turns on the radiator fan. It did, as always restart, after a few minutes. When the engine cools a little, the fan switch turns off allowing the ignition circuit and breaker to work again.

When I got home I let the engine continue to run. In less than 5 minutes the engine died. Yipe it's the fan circuit. But where?

I disconnected the fan switch and grounded it. The breaker did shut off the ignition circuit and the fan.

OK what next? I had added a manual switch to turn on the fan in case the automatic switch didn't work. I keep my eye on the water temperature gauge and usually turn on the fan when I think it's getting warm. Thinking about the times it died I had not turned on the fan, the automatic circuit went on, but the fuses/circuit breaker caught the short before the fan made any noise. With the engine running I could not hear the fan start up either.

So now I disconnected my manual switch and the fans/engine came on like they should. There is a ground wire on the manual switch so the internal light works. I disconnected the ground and reconnected the switch. Everything worked correctly still.

I taped off the ground. Put everything else back together. Tested one more time. Alright!

No more engine stalling. (I hope)

I've had better weeks

Had a run in with Benny, one of my oldest friends. I was caught in the middle between him and another friend I just met, after they had bad words.

Another friend befriended me, has a really bad attitude, is very immature, then asked for his $40 back on some tools, 7 of us bought 2 years ago, and he used. Good luck collecting!

After 2 years the courts finally settled the 3 tickets I got. So far $400. It's on my driving record, insurance could go up and the DMV can surcharge for 3 years too.

The lawyers I hired didn't help much, I could not get them to call me back to explain the repercussions. I sent them records twice they should have used to get one of the three dropped.

I was working on the Venture and could not get my project to work.

Can't get the carbs on my red Suzuki 1100 tuned right.

I had another flat tire on the brown Suzuki.

My thumbs,left index finger and right wrist hurt from working on my bikes.

Linda got sick again.

And for the GOOD NEWS..... the sink hole above wasn't in my backyard.

From the correct perspective...

Here's the true story about going to Fort Davis, McDonald Observatory. That's all the room we have for the 2 of us. ---->

Left at 1:45 pm Tuesday , late in the day for us. Usually I'm just about getting back from a ride, not just starting out. We've got food for dinner, lots of extra clothes and plenty of time to go the 190 miles there. Wrong. At the Sierra Blanca Border Inspection Station the Venture dies and won't restart. We pull out of the way, but instantly are told "You can't stop here" So they stop all the traffic and we push it to the opposite side. I pull off the battery cover and it restarts after 10 minutes. There's a short in the handle bars. I put in a circuit breaker rather than a fuse. It resets after cooling and shutting down all power. Off we go.

I'm not driving the speed limit, because I really do not speed much any more, Retired Remember? So we're a little behind schedule stop only 2 short times. Get there only 10 minutes before they open. We have to get ready for dark and eat dinner in 10 minutes.

The first activity is a repeat of what we did last fall. I volunteered to be "earth" and they did a demonstration of the solar system. We go inside and see their software they sell. We bought it on our previous trip, $160. Except this 5-7 year computer is too old for it to run well.

At 8:30 is the second activity. The instructor is very knowledgeable, knew every constellation and many many star's name. He has a hand held laser that seems to touch individual stars. Can project several miles.

Then they set up several large telescopes from 12 -20 inches. (Ours is a 70mm -2 1/2 inches). We see jupiter and it's clouds, several star clusters, with 1/2 million stars, and 2 nebulas, several hundred of lights away. Really cool.

On our way in we see deer. The astronomers remind us of the suicide pigs (Havalinas?). Great.

We leave at 9 pm. 4 hours home. It's warm in the 60's. Last year we froze in 40-50's. We do not even see 1 car the 42 miles back to I-10. The first 19 miles is very twisty. 25-45 mph. An Owl jumps off the road, we nearly miss by a few feet. No deer or pigs. Thank You Lord.

Linda actually has too many clothes on! Few trucks and cars, bike runs good, no problems.

Get home at 12:45 am. We're beat the next day, but had a great time.

Going back in Nov to look thru the 107" telescope. WaY CooL! Taking the car, dahhh.

New challenge

I've always wanted to know more about electronics. Especially how to design various circuits. I still can't design them but I can build them if I have the specs and a diagram.

The Venture has a lot of circuits, relays, 2 computers, accessories, switches, and a very limited supply of electricity. At 4000 RPM there is a 30 amp stator (alternator built into the engine, not external like most cars), but only 20 amps at 2000 RPM. Not much.

Most cars have a 50-75 or 100+ amp. alternator. Even at idle there is sufficient power to run almost all the accessories, i.e. power windows, heated seats, radio, A/C, moon roof, 2 headlights, multiple tail lights and much more.

Anyways the draw on the stator is more than than is generated at idle and low rpm. So where does the extra come from: the battery. That's OK if it is for a short time, the battery is fully charged and there is time (20 minutes) to recharge the battery after starting the engine, (100 amps?). Short trips to the store 1 mile away does not restore the energy used.

Car batteries are way over-sized and can live with short trips, multiple times.

But motorcycles batteries are under-sized and under used. Once a month usage is hard on them they lose 1/2 to 1% of their potential power per day.

Back to my project, remember how I started out this blog?

Well I was online on the VentureRider.org website and a fellow Venture rider mentioned how to keep the battery from being discharged.. Add a relay that drops out unnecessary drawdowns (auxillary lights-radio) when there is low stator output. Sounded simple so I started to build it. But it did not work. Bought the parts and got help redesigning the circuit from them. Did not work. Asked original Poster on the web for more help. Did not work. More redesigns, more no works.

Finally called Mike (Website Poster) in Oceanside, CA. Talked for an hour. More changes.

Then he suggested adding 2 more electronic parts I had for years sitting around here. IT WORKED!

Went for a ride today and it works too well! At every stop the relay drops out, the driving lights and radio shut off saving the battery. The driving lights are for safety. I want them ON so other cages (cars) see me. So I may have to override my new project.

Lessons learned: Don't add accessories more than the OEM designed the bike to handle. Also need to reduce amps to accessories already installed.

6 Sat's, 1 Sunday

Retirement is like being on vacation, but staying home. What day of the week is it. Who cares? Only the true Sat. has any meaning, when I can organize and go riding with 1 or more of my biker friends.

Sunday's are for family, swimming and/or a movie.

Monday's are for running errands and working around the house. Weeds are growing like crazy, have to pull several a day or maybe 50 a week. Wish my neighbors would.

Tuesday is for riding, but so is any other day it looks like it may not rain. Up to 7" inches now and caught part of 3 hurricanes this year. 2 off the Gulf, one off the Pacific.

Wed. is for bike maintenance. But so is any other day. The day I organize the Sat. ride.

Thursday is for relaxing, but so is...

Friday is for, well you get the idea. And then it starts all over again. Too many stressful days lead to finding time to do what I want.

But the worst part there is no payday, the best part is there are NO BOSSES!

Decided to slow my spending on bike parts and more on gas. Hard decision.

Hard to tell but the photo but it about the Milky Way black holes, many are there.

Well almost finished another...

bike. Lowell bought a 1988 Yamaha Venture touring bike like mine except...

Mine was in way better shape, red, cleaner, less problems, closer to home, less miles but has smaller bags, no cruise control & 100cc less.

His is a 2 tone gray, from Columbus OH, has a shifting and rear end problem now. The previous owner said it was in good enough shape to ride to El Paso, but had no brakes, ran rough, no fluids were changed, low tire pressure, handled (wobbled) bad, was filthy, some instruments did not work, fork seals leaked, battery low and on and on. Glad I turned down riding it to EP.

Edger's bike, I talked about previously, will not run when it gets hot. Waiting for him to get it out of here. Gave him 4 hours free service.

Mark's Suzuki 1100 I sold him, which I never could get good gas mileage on, I finally gave up on, told him I don't want to work on it anymore.

My Venture, in which the main fuse keeps blowing, did not blow the last time I drove it. I think the fuses were bad and wires were stressed (pulled too tight).

My 2 Suzuki 1100's are still rock reliable, as my 400 dual sport. The Brown 1100 now is at 98600 miles.

The Yamaha Virago I bought last winter would not start occasionally, the emergency stop switch was dirty, fixed that.

Will need batteries for Virago and 400 soon.

By the way we still have not taken the Accord in for service, nothing wrong in 20 months!

WaY ToO BiG

Miles of Miles, of Miles of Miles. Dang this state is big. 650 miles to DFW, 725 to Indio CA, 1400 miles to Springfield, 1600 to Madison, 1700 miles to the twin cities, were too far from our family.

10-11 hours to see Tori in Garland and she is the closest. Benny's pick up is the best truck I've ever ridden in but it's still a truck. Harder ridding, seats uncomfortable for me, back and hip aches both ways. It got 19mpg, not bad at 70 mph but the car gets 29. $275 for gas 1300 miles. Dang!!

Glad to be rid of the extra 55"HD TV, an air compressor and exercise treadmill. in 2 days we got 20 projects done around her house and watched an entire Battlestar Glalacita season episodes. but the 2 other days driving are a killer.

Tomorrow Lowell gets his 87 Yamaha Venture like my 84. Got another bike to work on soon. Missed my bikes.

Doesn't look like I need those winter clothes pictured on my Virago above right now. 96 out.

Rain, rain, go away!

Enough is enough. We must be over our rainfall average by now. Very limited in what we can do.

Hurricane Dolly has been sitting over us for 3 days. Winds are very low, but the clouds are low and just keep feeding themselves more moisture.

Pool is almost overflowing and cold. Rain and no sunshine did that. Might just give up for this year going swimming anymore.

Wanted to go to Hatch Sat., but the streets are wet continuously.

Linda is home thankfully safe, she is doing better. Been 5 weeks now since her surgery.

I walk out into the garage just staring at the bikes, looking for something to do or thinking when can I get out on one of them.

Maybe going to Garland soon to take Tori's TV, assorted stuff and treadmill.

Crude oil maybe going down, (so they can go back up?) Gas prices dropping slightly. Hurray!

Linda said Europe is paying $10-12 per Gallon, guess we should not bitch. Hope the greedy buttholes get it for price fixing. They are under investigation.

I spend $100-15o a month on bike gas. The car gets used less and less. 8000 miles in the last year.

Pic is of ice crystals in northern sky.

Not much new News

Linda's been gone a week and half now. Lonely days, lonely nights, where is my honey?

Been riding longer distances though. Been to Van Horn, and Pecos. And YES Pecos is even more depressing. The desert s green, much rain everywhere.

Finished Edger's 96 Suzuki Sport 600cc bike today. Made some money. Is hadn't run since 2002. Carbs and tank were extremely dirty. Needed, mirrors, turn signals and a front tire also. Now it needs painting. He took it home in the rain tonight.

I'm eating well. Salads and/or fruit every day. Trying not to eat or eat out too much. Except when I'm with the guys then... mostly salads.

Raining most every day. We're still .25" below average. Pool is very full, over the edge between the 2 pools.

Tomorrow think I'll go to Cloudcroft then on to Carlsbad, back to El Paso. Love the Venture, in the pic above, it's so comfortable. 380 miles to Pecos and was only tired because it was 95 out. Lowell my conductor, Air Force Corneal, and Utep administrator liked it so much he bought an 1988.

Was out 140 miles when the speedometer stopped working. It came loose on the bottom side this time and lost the inner cable. $7 at Pepboys. It gets 46+ mpg too. Was in Van Horn and a Pruis owner asked me what kind of mileage I get. His car gets the same!! We both agreed, many people are stupid having gas guzzlers, several SUV owners were present.

Something Different

Ok, weather. Average winter, low 30's at night, 50's late afternoon. Spring winds came in early March, lasted until Late May. Usual hot June 100's worst was 106. Now rains, started late June usually starts about mid July. If this is a trend, fall will start early too. My favorite time, cooler, drier, low humidity.

Linda is improving daily. Can do most things except pick over 10#'s and bend far over, but she is not exercising enough. She will be able to go on her trip. Her appetite is back, and weight down.

Out of projects on my bikes right now. I'm waiting on parts for a Suzuki 600 crotch rocket I'm getting going for a friend of Peter Faraone's.

Been in pool 4 times only. Rains really cools it and makes it hard to control chlorine levels.

Was going to Tori's and Dorothy's but with $4 gas it would be $300 in gas even at 45+ MPG.

Decided to do more long distance day trips around here on my new to me Yamaha Venture touring bike.

Sat. rides vary a lot in the number that go. Sometimes 3-4 then we might get 10, always different people. One husband and wife, she has her own Harley have gone 3 times this year.

No changes in neighborhood except on both sides of us they don't take care of their yards, called city several times.

TV is worse this summer than ever! Watching more PBS. Several good concerts with older groups from 60's-70's have been on and our TV broadcasts in HD and 5.1 audio.

Going to be way too quiet after Friday when Linda leaves for 2+ weeks.

Still want to fill in more states we've been in on a motorcycle above, but....

700 Miles and counting

The Yamaha Venture is running better with every mile. The engine now slows down between gear shifts, it's idling better, has more power, gets 49 MPG, and is riding smoother/softer. The 2 leaks of oil and antifreeze have nearly stopped.

The seat is the best I've ever ridden on. After 200 miles my butt did not hurt at all.

It has forward hi-way pegs so I can stretch my legs. My right knee hurts if I leave it bent too long. The handle bars at the perfect level and bend back.

I'm using the backrest off the Suzuki 1100. It is a cooler from Walmart and foam pad we made. It is at the perfect angle and fore/aft position on the Venture.

The Saddlebags and Trunk hold plenty. They are like suitcases, they key release from the bike. The BMW liners I got for my birthday, fit in the Ventures.

The only things it needs is a cruise control and the radio AM/FM tuner does not work. It uses Cassettes, which are really outdated. They unwind when not in the player or in their storage case.

Even in 84 they had computers. It monitors the kickstand, the brake fluid levels, engine oil level, battery acid level, headlight and taillights if they burn out, gas low level, has a digital bar gas gauge. If any are wrong, a red LED flashes. The engine water temperature, voltmeter speedometer and tachometer are analog.

If either headlight filament burns out it automatically switches to the other and a white light on the dash comes on indicating so. And it has a digital gear position indicator, dash lights dimmer, a stop watch, clock and headlight up and down adjuster when a passenger is on/off the bike.

AND the turn signals self cancel. After moving a certain speed and distance they turn off automatically.

Did I say I really like this bike?

Comparison

Got to ride my "NEW" 1984 Yamaha 1200cc Venture to Sierra Blanca. It is about 190 miles round trip. Been on this road maybe 100 times. I always take my newest vehicle out there because it's isolated and can think about it without worrying about the crazies in El Paso.

Anyways I was thinking about this bike and the 2000 BMW K12ooLT I sold about 2 months ago.

The Yamaha is 75# lighter, feels like 150# less top heavy, is just as comfortable, $5000 cheaper, is red so it stands out better for safety, has more low end torque, once I get the bugs all worked out will be more reliable, Linda thinks the passenger seat maybe more comfortable, I know she won't be afraid to drive it, is more stable in winds, handles well and got 45 mpg at 60 mph.

OK, the BMW got high 40's mpg at anything under 75 mpg, had Cruise Control, a little better wind protection, was cooler riding when over 90 degrees.

Now for $5000 less the Yamaha is by far a better deal, I can get a bigger windshield for more wind protection, looking at Ebay for cruise controls, leaned out the carbs today for better gas mileage, and I'm looking into making it cooler. Soooo.....

Oh ya, the Yamaha rattles going over bad bumps, but the BMW rattled all the time at idle, hummm....

Ready to Ride

I finished the initial rebuild on the '84 Yamaha Venture 1200cc touring bike we bought in PHX about 4 weeks ago. It needed the usual new battery, fork seals, change all fluids and carb cleaning. It only has 14400 miles. It is 75#'s lighter than the BMW was. Much less top heavy. It is very comfortable. But needs more wind protection.

Although red is not my favorite color I hope it stands out enough so I can avoid some the idiots here. The seat and paint are nearly showroom quality after 24 years. All systems work as of now. The carbs need further tuning. Idle is erratic.

I've got about $3000 invested, it is worth more with so few miles. It is now TTL'ed.

It needs a cruise control they did not have in 1984. Can't wait for Linda to drive it.

With 5 bikes I can still only ride one at a time, but, boy do, I have a choice now. Touring, Sport touring (2), Cruiser and Dual sport bikes. I'm in with the in crowd on any ride. I've got less invested $ with 5 bikes than one of my friends with 1 bike, a 05 Honda Goldwing. It will cost me about $500 a year in plates and insurance, still less than the insurance was on my 99 Corvette, ($750).

Update on projects

Only got 6 bikes around here now. A friend of a friend asked if I would get his 600 Suzuki running. The carbs and tank were the dirtiest I ever worked on. Every jet was plugged with old gas and dirt. Who knows what else it needs. Could be several hundred $ before it runs.

The Yamaha Venture we bought in PHX is 1/2 apart. The water pump I can't get from stop leaking. Wasting antifreeze after trying to fix it 3 times. The gas tank took 2 gallons of cleaner to get the dirt and rust out. Put in 2 new gas filters. The front forks leaked so much they got the brakes soaked in oil too. New seals took 2 weeks to get here. Had to figure how to get everything apart. Needs new fork oil too. The new battery I bought came in and won't charge up. Some gauges don't work. Bought another fuel sending unit, original was bad.

My red 1100cc Suzuki I use on long day trips had the throttle sick open going down TransMtn. I used the emergency stop switch to control my speed. Had to put it on the back of a friend's pickup to bring it home. Loose nut jammed throttle open.

The other red 1100 Suzuki I sold never got good gas mileage, still working on it after a year. The battery died before I could finish it, this time. Waiting a week because we can't by them locally. So I loaned him my 97k brown Suzuki.

But my Yamaha Virago, Suzuki 400 dual sport and the brown 1100 have been running great.

Ride 6-14-08

Yesterday we had 9 bikes and 10 people riding our largest group ever. I tried to get a group together and got one person. Charlie got 6 more bikes and instead of going to Van Horn we went to Las Cruses because it was so hot. 102 yesterday.

Today we are going to Bennigans to celebrate Linda's birthday and do something else. Thursday is actually her B'day but she will be operated on that day.

I'm in the back. But always in the front leading the pack.

Cle's Funeral

It was today. Very disturbing. Emotional day. Only 62 years old. He was a very special friend. Always upbeat, with a positive attitude even when in pain. Everyone liked him especially women. A charmer, his sister said he never knew a stranger, everyone was his friend.

He drove by several times a week. Golfed Wednesday, rode Thursday with us. Was 1 month from retirement. Was going to ride with us Saturdays as soon as he retired. Had a girlfriend, KIM. She is very nice, met her today for the first time, probably the last.

Had to go work in the garage to try and try not think of him. We miss him. Work on Mark's bike trying to reduce his gas consumption still. Then his battery gave out, needs a new one. So I could not road test it.

Worked on my Yamaha Venture. Got the water pump repair kit in. Took the pump off the bike. Then found out the kit was wrong.

Came in, ate dinner, took a shower and had to admit it was "not a good day".

That's Cle's jacket. And him in it, last Dec, too cold for him to ride that day.

Saturday wild ride

We went to Columbus, there was 7 of us. It's a fast ride, 60 miles of straight roads with only a dozen curves so we make it in usually less than 1 hour so.... It was hot returning about 100 degrees. We went over TransMtn on the return.

Going up the mtn. I had a tailgater as usual so as soon as it went from 2 lanes to 4 I gassed it and went around several bikes and cars, it did not have it's usual power. I turned off the throttle and it was still going fast climbing.

I crescented the top and know something was way wrong when with the throttle off, it wanted to go 140 mph down hill. I shut off the engine with the emergency switch and coasted down the NE side to the picnic area before the last sweeping turn.

I restarted the engine and it immediately revved to max rpm. Taking the tank off and tops of the carbs revealed nothing. I made several calls and no one answered.

Finally Mike Portillo did answer, he was just finishing a project. He got there is 45 minutes, very fast. It took 4 of us to load and unload the 600# bike onto the back of his 4 x 4 pickup, very tall bed.

I took the carbs off the bike and a locking nut on the throttle cable was loose, jamming the throttle open a 1/4" inch.

It would have been a wild ride home, if it had happen further away from home. Luckily we took TransMtn., were under a shaded picnic area, closer to home.

Easy fix, all is is well.

New Bike

That's my good friend, Cle, in the picture, who just past away last weekend. I miss him, he had a great attitude. On his Harley Sportster, is real loud.

Went to PHX over the weekend. Met Carolyn and Bill. We went out to eat , ate way too much!. Spent way too much, partied too much, but what the hay, we can't take it with us. Had a great time.


Drove slow, because Benny said his truck only got 17 mpg. But we got 21, hurray. Took and extra 1.5 hours getting there/here each way. Still spent $250 on gas.


The new bike is a 1984 Yamaha Venture, but it's very clean, paint is nearly perfect, has only 14500 miles and it's 24 years old! It's a touring bike. I think it's already sold. Carbs are gummed up, tank is rusty , needs fork seals, battery and the water pump leaks. Gas gauge also doesn't work. I'm sure more needs working on.

Only in the city

We went to Sierra Blanca Sat. and to the Guadalupes on Monday. No incidents on the bikes outside the city limits. The 42 miles north of Sierra Blanca we exceeded the 55 mph speed limit some. 42 miles turned into 20-25 minutes. My Red Suzuki 1100 still got 44 mpg! Monday I drove the entire 200 miles at 70 mph, got 48 mpg 2 up, headwind, and saddlebags (more drag). We picniced on the long hill overlooking El Capitan and Guadalupe Peak. From about a 1000 ft up we could see out 75 miles. It was a nice clear day. Hot and windy coming home.

Sunday I visited Cle who had the accident, see previous blog. He was in the left lane on Montwood, a lady was in the right lane, did not look, and pulled into the left lane where Cle was. He could not avoid her and dropped the bike. He was operated on Monday, broke his left leg 2" above the ankle. He comes home today, Tuesday.

Monday's I have been going to lunch with Sam and Charlie T. Elmer's food on Montana has improved. $6 for buffet.

This weekend we go after a 1984 Yamaha Venture touring bike with only 14.5k miles. The gas will be the expense part of the trip. Will see my older sister and brother in law. See pic.

The following weekend we go to our daughter's, Victoria, to take her our HDTV, a exercise treadmill, air compressor, and stuff she left here 10 years ago.

Accident and potential bad incidents

One of my riding friends, Cle Fitzpatrick, was hit today by a female left hand turner. Not him in the pic. All M/C riders must drive with your bright lights "ON" all the time. I know for sure I'm still here because of it. I have gone to putting bright reflective material on the windshields. Left hand turners are the number #1 reason for motorcycle accidents.

Slow down, turn your head, look at them, anticipate, look for a way to avoid, keep fingers/feet near the brake levers, know they're idiots and blind.

Every one of my siblings who have driven here says we have the WORST drivers (in El Paso)they've ever seen.

I'm paranoid every time I go out. I rarely have problems as soon as I get out of the city limits. My worst incidents are tail-gaters. Linda had a good idea, Turn around look at them, then I wave then off and slow down slowly until they get off my ass.

Please be careful, We all know the definition of ASSUME ("Assuming" they see you).

What a weekend!

Friday Mark Al... brought over his 93 Suzuki 1100 over to work on, to try and get better MPG. I tore off the carbs, checked the valves, timing, cams, intake and cam chain. Are were ok. Checked the carbs one more time. Still no problem. About 10 hours of work later I put it all back together. Started right up and has great power. The spark plugs carboned up right away. Still not fixed. Really nothing else to do. Very frustrated. This is the only bike I can't fix.

Sat. Larry, Carlos, Sam and I went to Ruidoso to the rally. Got rained on just outside Ruidoso. Got to the Convention Center, stayed 1.5 hours, had lunch prior and left just before a second rain storm started. Benny, and Carlos left 10 minutes behind us and really caught it with mud rain. I went to Thomas' house in N.E. EP. We went to look at at M/C trailer in the lower valley.

The mud rain caught up with us, REALLY BAD WIND. We decided to put my Red 1100 on the trailer because of the dirt flying. The wind blew me and the bike off the trailer. Got about $250 damage and a sore rib. It could have been much worse. Thomas did not buy the trailer, it's too far off the ground.

Working on the Red 1100, lots of super glue, epoxy filler and paint will fix many cracked instruments. The windshield is badly scratched but not broken.

No good dead goes unpunished, when will I learn? But look it's keeping me busy!

What do you do next?

I'm working on Mark Albertson's Suzuki 1100 he bought from me (in the pic). He's only getting 29 mpg. My 2 get a minimum of 45 up to 55. Avg. of 49. I used to get low to mid 40's with his.

So far I've rebuilt the carbs 6 times, checked the ignition advance, looked for leaks, checked the float levels and lowered for economy, dropped the jet needles down to lean it out too. Also checked the air filter, it is clean. No obstructions in the intake. The throttle valves and internal vacuum system system seems to be working ok.

The spark plugs are very black, he says is runs worse now at low speeds. He's slowed down to 70 on IH-10 from 80. But his gas is red??

Yet to do. Check valve clearances and valve timing. See if exhaust system is plugged. See if tires rotate freely, and brakes are not dragging.

If this doesn't do it, what do I do next?

Right now Mark has my 91 with 97,600 miles that runs better than his.

Got Any Ideas how to get back at the gas companies?

So far I've spent $165 this month on gas. That's only in my bikes. And they get 47-70 mpg. Gas went up another nickel today. It's over $3.60 now. 6 weeks ago I was at Walmart Gas station and the previous fillup was $200, 53 gallons of diesel. It had to be a big truck.

I can get $14-16 in a tank in my bikes, now. That's only 4-5 gallons. Our car is usually 10-12 gallons ( only 1/2-3/4 empty) and $40! Linda fills up a couple times a month.

My little 400 gets 65-75 mpg in the pic. I should drive it more but it's not a road bike for hi-way speeds. It usually takes 2 gallons (125 miles) $7 now was $3.50

Diesels costs $4.15 here. A friends Chevy diesel pick up takes over $100, not empty.

I really feel sorry for the poor. Just trying to get to work and shopping could break them. I saw a $5 fillup, They got 1.4 gallons is all. In the city that's maybe 2o miles?

Jim mentioned a friend of his that drives over 30,000 miles a year, thats $5000 per year for work. Why isn't he using his phone more?

SUV's: Saw one last weekend pulling a 20 ft trailer. It was an Excursion, probably gets 8 mpg and a 40 gallon tank. Even at 30 gallons x $3.60= >$100 every 240 miles! Our old RV did this too. I used to bitch when we put in 25 gallons at $1.79= $45

And the gas companies are making billions in profits, and our President (who owns a petrol co.) is doing nothing!

Crude oil was over $125 a barrel. Could go to $200, gas will be $5-6-7 per gallon then! But my 5% rebates keep going up too on my Credit Card, gee thanks.

Counting

I counted at least 19 motorcycles have been bought since we start our riding group in 2 1/2 years. 5 were mine. Sam's had 2, Thomas 4, Benny 1, Ken 2, Lowell 1, JD 1, Cle 1, Mark Ai 1. Mark Al 1. Reasons: Better gas mileage, want bigger bike, an accident, want more nostalgic bike, want to go riding again after raising family and more.

Me, I just want something to keep me busy, looking for something better, more comfortable, lighter.

I'm trying to get better gas mileage for most of them. Most get 45-50. The warm weather helps MPG too. Before gas went up when someone wanted more power so they added bigger carbs and aftermarket exhaust. This almost always decreases MPG, unless they get them tuned correctly. Sam was getting 35 in town and now gets 44, Thomas was getting 40 now gets 50 with his HD. I leaned both out and both run better now. Going to try 1 more time with Mark's 1100 Suzuki Friday. He only gets 29.

Oh ya, we did get a new bike for Charlie G. He has a beautiful 07 Yamaha 1100 V-Star Classic full dresser. Rides, handles, looks better and has more power. A pretty silver. He can ride 2 up now. Congrats! His is the one on the left.

Next week is the Ruidoso rally. I know 6 going.

Pic is Greenlee, Thomas and me on our Cruisers.

Wow!

Went for a ride yesterday, about 137.45 miles! 2.87 gallons or 47.89 mpg. Not bad for an old gal. Got the Inspection sticker. It ran better than before I put it down. I need a throttle rocker to help my weak right wrist and a back rest is all to be my main bike again.
Going with friends to several bike dealers for Charlie Greenlee to buy a bike. He wants a larger cruiser to go riding with us.
Still more winds, for May it is not hot, yet. No rain since Jan. The Rio Grande is full, Colorado got a lot of snow this year.

Looking for another bike. The only one I want is a 86-96 Yamaha Venture Royale. It's a 1200 or 1300cc touring bike with front fairing and saddle bags. Should be less expensive, more reliable, less top heavy, easier to work on, less to break and maybe more room for Linda. Older Goldwings are hot riding.

Pic is of all the States we've been in, on a motorcycle.

It's just like me.

With my expensive BMW gone, & nothing to do today, my old Brown '91 Suzuki 1100 came out today. It had a new battery, oil change and servicing in the fall before put it in the shed for 4 months in Jan.

Today it got a new front tire on it, changed to fork seals and fixed another oil leak. Put some fresh gas in it, primed the carbs and it started right up. Drove around the block and it's still has a kick in the pants.

Like me it's getting old but doesn't want to be 6 feet under yet. It's not pretty, my friends say when are you going to give up that "Old Piece Of ____" But it's reliable, fast, nearly vibrationless, economical, comfortable, easy to work on, I've got many spare parts, and most parts are still available from Suzuki.

Reliable: Just needs batteries, tires and oil changes, very really breaks down. Little to break.

Fast: 12 second quarter miles, 115 mph (used to be 135)

Vibrationless: Does not cause hand and body fatigue, good size windshield.

Economical: $.16/mile, 46 mpg, parts less than 1/2 of the BMW. BMW was $.36/mile, most cars are .50

Comfortable: Sit up seating, everything positioned ergonomically.

Easy to work on: Air filter changes 1/2 hour vs. 3+ on the BMW where most parts were inaccessible without removing body parts with 50 screws.

Parts: Got about $500

Happy days are here again!! We're back!

It's gone, hurray!

Like 29 cars and 17 motorcycles, the BMW is gone! Sorry I probably won't miss it, either. By far I've spent more on vehicles, 2-3 times as much as housing. Maybe only spent more on food. Bought it for $7500, put another $1900 including TTL and got $8000 for it. Not one of my better moves. Put 4,000 miles on it. Linda never liked it. It was top heavy, bulky and 835#'s empty. Really bad at slow speeds. Not reliable. Too many gadgets and parts to break.

I'm sticking with Japanese vehicles. The Honda Accord after 17 months still has no problems. My old 91 Suzuki 1100 is coming back out of retirement. Only needs a front tire and fix a couple of small leaks. It has current plates but I will have to re-insure it, costing $1 to transfer from the BMW.

Down to only 4 bikes. Poor me. But I've got $8000 to play with! Got any ideas? No more cars and luxury vehicles. KISS. (Keep It Simple Stupid).

Don't know what I'm going to say....

Except my Son can make fun out of pain. Read his blog. A gift he got from someone other than his parents. Linda says he's ours....

His knee is bad. Let's see maybe it's revenge for when we went motorcycling one time... To this day several M/C accidents have my right knee hurting, anti-inflamitories work good. Actually hurts most bent, least standing.

Well the crazies are really out to get me, had only 8 tailgators this week. Me, paranoid?

Went to a friends today he has thousands of CD's, LP's and the best Stereo equipment I've ever seen . But he doesn't have a Blu-ray or 1080p HDTV. Or 5 current motorcycles (23 total). And lots of tools, 300,000 miles on motorcycles and no debts. Depending on your Status Symbol determines "he who with the most toys wins" (& can't take it with him/her).

Then again it's not how much you make, it's how much you DON'T spend.

Going to the appraisal board tomorrow to try reduce our house taxes. Pray for me! They went up $400 this year.

Pic is Spider canyon in Australia. Taken by NASA