| Author | Message | ||
     Adrenaline_junkie |
John, I seem to remember that you have a set of wire spoke rims for your sportster. I've always been told that wire spokes are stronger than the cast wheels for "off road" type behavior. They have the added advantage that you can lace up whatever size rim you want on the back to make those Adventure Touring tires fit. | ||
| Zac4mac |
As far as tires for offroad, I love the TKC-80s I put on the Uly. Run the rear at 25-30 and the front a little higher and gravel rides like tarmac.  | ||
| Crusty |
I wonder how a City X would fare on a ride to the Arctic? There's a 2008 XB9X on Craigslist for $3600 that has 10K miles. Hepco&Becker make saddlebag mounting racks to fit bags to it, so I could put my Juniors on it. It has the right size wheels so that TKC 70s would fit. That might be an acceptable alternative... Naw. It's either going to be an EBR or the Roadster. And tonight, the Roadster's in the lead. Of course, tomorrow, I'll probably be thinking the Black Lightning would be a better way to go. We'll see. | ||
| Crusty |
Pertinent Thoughts Yesterday, I rode down to a Chili competition in Taunton (Mass). Jim (Damnut on Badweb) was entered as a competitor, and had told me about it. The weather was cooperative with a high temp in the low 40s, so it seemed like a good idea. I went down, sampled something like 18 different chilis as well as some blueberry ice cream, then left for home before the temperature dropped very much. The place where it was being held was mobbed with people, but I had no trouble finding a place to park the Roadster. When I walked up to the entrance, I saw a couple of Harleys parked close to it. That was pretty neat to see. Usually, in January, I don’t see too many other bikes. Anyhow; the point I’m not making is that it was about a 45 minute ride down Interstate 495, which gave me some “Quiet Time” to enjoy with the bike and my thoughts and I had a couple of realizations. First, I thought about Bill and how his unexpected death spurred me into this latest bout of Tramping on a Sportster. Bill was extreme in his love for Iron Motors. His personal opinion was that all motorcycle evolution stopped in 1985. We had been planning a ride across the US on Iron Motors when he died. (I was going to ride his ’78 and he was going to ride the Desert Rat. When I set out in 2015, I hit all the spots we had discussed when talking about the trip, as well as continuing on to places we didn’t discuss. That eventually led to my hitting the 48 contiguous States on the Roadster this past summer. That led me to think about the comment that to ride the Roadster to the Arctic Ocean and then Alaska would be “Epic” and would “complete the journey”. It kinda hit home. A while back, I read an article about a guy who rode a Harley 45 from his home in Georgia to Alaska in 1946, when he got out of the Army. It struck me that if someone could make that trip on a 45 over the roads of the time, and on the tires available back in those days, then I sure as hell can do it on a much more modern Roadster over the very improved roads of today. Hell; I read on ADVRider about a guy who rode his Gold Wing to Inuvik. If someone can ride that far on that big of a bike, then I sure as hell can do it on the Roadster. I’ll probably be passed by all kinds of dirt bikes, but I can get there. I’m not in a race, so that doesn’t matter. The feeling I get when I’m standing in the water of the Beaufort Sea in Tuktoyaktuk will be exquisite. I still plan to get an EBR and set it up as a Gentleman’s Express (hey; I've already got the radiator and oil cooler guards!), but I’m pretty sure that when June rolls around, it’ll be me and the Roadster in the Northwest Territory; street tires and all. (But I will convert it to chain drive for the trip) | ||
| Pwnzor |
I'm rooting for the Roadster... can't wait to start seeing pictures and reading snippets! | ||
| Damnut |
Hey John, thanks for coming by and showing your support! I really appreciate. It was a good day yesterday and after 8 years of trying I finally reached the promise land.  I think the programmer messed up the font size on the 1st place. | ||
| Crusty |
Jim; that's impressive! I don't think my vote did it, though; I think your cute daughter with her sign saying to vote for her daddy influenced more people. Your chili is pretty damned good, nevertheless. I voted for you as home chef, the Taunton Fire Dept. in their category and a BBQ joint (I've forgotten their name) in the restaurant category. All three were the best; although, of the 18 different chilis I tried, there wasn't a single one that wasn't really tasty. Now, what they need to do is have a BBQ Rib cook off! That would be incredible! | ||
| 86129squids |
  Congrats, Jim! As much as we cook at my house, I'd love to take a shot at a competition like that... yes, I do realize the seriousness that goes into all that cooking! If anyone does a write-up overview of the whole shebang, I'd be curious to read it. Any hints on your formula?  And- if you cared to, all that extra area left on the plaque could be used to post your recipe, with some teaser omissions... Crusticle, I do believe you're on the right track to make the journey on your Roadster. After all this time, it should fit you like a favorite pair of house-shoes... and I've seen how natural your riding is on that steed. One very important consideration: If you have a breakdown of any sort, the XL should be a relative breeze to fix, the EBR would be the opposite! Kinda like me having an old Airhead BMW- riding it almost anywhere globally would be OK, due to the level of mechanicals involved. Heck, at least you can get parts of almost any kind for the XL- me or an EBR owner, not nearly as easy. | ||
| Fb1 |
^ Damnut, congrats! --------------- Crusty, you obviously love to share your passion for motorcycles, the ride, the people, the adventures; you have a way with words. Have you considered approaching a moto-focused publisher of some sort (print, digital) about publishing your snippets (perhaps in an "expanded" version)? With a well-pitched proposal I could see a publisher taking enough interest in your upcoming journey to perhaps be willing to offer an advance. You have a proven track record of well-written moto-prose and this, along with the promise of some equally well-executed photography (even cell phones these days are capable of producing remarkable photographs), may be of enough interest to a publisher to offer an advance. If so, this money could go a long way toward resolving some of your present road blocks. One of the things I quickly learned when I was trying to make a living by (in part) chronicling my moto-adventures back in the 90's is that a publisher typically needs both words AND accompanying photographs - one without the other greatly diminishes the value of either. You have BadWeatherBikers (and all your years in the wind) as bulletproof bona fides. I know you've got it bad for the Black Lightning. That burn, combined with the relatively-outrageous goal of riding it to the Arctic Ocean, may be enough "bait" to gain the attention of a prospective publisher. Just thinking out loud.  | ||
| Crusty |
Jerry; I've never had any luck with getting my chicken scratches published, so I just do them for folks who enjoy reading them. I was going to ask EBR for some help and had written a rough draft of a letter outlining my plans when they announced they were halting production. So, I've taken that as a sign that I'm supposed to Man Up and do it on my own. I just spent a couple of hours online looking at things I'm going to need in order to prep the Roadster for the trip. I've found a headlight guard, and handguards and a chain conversion kit. I also called Progressive Suspension and got their recommendation for fork springs. I figure I'll replace the lifters and oil pump drive gear with the upgraded bronze item. The engine should be pretty reliable then. That should be all the Roadster's going to need. Well; new tires at the start of the trip, but that's to be expected. I think that with the new Lifters and the Bronze gear, I won't be so apt to worry about the engine and I'll be able to focus on the ride and enjoy it more. | ||
| Fb1 |
Ride on. | ||
| Damnut |
Brad, here's a writeup on the event. http://www.tauntongazette.com/news/20170129/taunto n-community-comes-together-to-serve-up-great-chili -for-great-cause | ||
| Damnut |
Here's a closeup of my chili. It's a 2 bean, angus beef with a variety of peppers and what sets mine apart from the rest is I add corn.  | ||
| Pwnzor |
That chili is technically not chili... according to every rulebook I've ever had the displeasure of reading. My kids and ex used to always tell me I needed to enter a chili cookoff, and when I looked into it I found I could only enter in the "other" category. I also use corn (white shoepeg) in my chili. I also use 4 kinds of beans, 4 kinds of meats, and 4 kinds of peppers. Beyond that, my recipe is classified top secret. YOUR chili looks GREAT to me... the lawbreaker that I am... lol | ||
| Crusty |
It tastes pretty freakin' good! The idea of maybe getting a bunch of Badwebbers to come is a good one, but they'd have to move the date of the cook off to a warmer month. January is just too flippin' cold for a long ride like riding up from New York. You said that they get a lot of bikers at that location in the summer. Why not try to talk them into either moving the cook off to the summer or having a second cook off? Bikers tend to like Chili, so I bet the event would be a success. Then again, maybe they should do a BBQ cook off. Now THAT would be interesting! | ||
| Wolfridgerider |
Okay Jim... can ya PM me the recipe That looks good and I think I need to try it! | ||
| 86129squids |
Looks pretty frickin awesome, buddy! I almost stuck my head through the computer screen... Now, did anyone think to do some jalapeno cheddar cornbread? MUST have some with a good batch of chili! Every year we put up as many jars of homemade chili starter as we can, along with pasta sauce, all from our garden... my sweetie has gotten pretty good at it! Dang! | ||
| Crusty |
I Just Don’t Get It I have a friend who works (worked?) for EBR. With everything that’s been flying around on the internet, I decided to e-mail him and find things out for myself from a trusted source. I asked him about some specific parts and about the Black Lightning. I told him that I wanted to build a “Gentleman’s Express” and described what I meant. Basically, I’m SOL. The Black Lightning was just what I was looking for, but zero were built. I don’t get it. They must have known that they were going to shut down manufacturing. Why go to all the trouble and expense to have a display at the IMS? Why show off a model that they weren’t going to produce? I know that at the New York show, there were many people who showed a lot of interest in the Black Lightning, and that I wasn’t the only one who was taken with the bike. Hell, my friend Kathryn, who normally prefers classically styled bikes, left the show with an appreciation for the EBR and exacted a promise from me that when I got my Black Lightning, I’d let her take it out for a ride. To me it seems like they shut down just as things were about to take off. They made the right changes to make the bike better and appeal to more people, showed it off, then pulled the plug. First, Hardley - Ableson shut down Buell. Then Hero tried their chicken sh*t move to try to take over the company for very short money. Now, Liquid Assets is pulling the rug out just when things were starting to show a little promise. It almost seems like someone is waiting in the shadows making sure that Erik will not succeed. The bikes that Erik built were truly amazing machines. They made me a better rider. And they felt wonderful. The world really is a much poorer place now that EBR is no longer building bikes. And that magnificent Black Lightning will never be built. That really sucks. | ||
| Crusty |
FTW I woke up this morning with a hair across my ass (to use one of my Dad’s expressions). Another phrasing is I got up on the wrong side of the bed. Neither of those expressions makes any sense, but who cares? Or, to express it more succinctly, Who gives a flying ****? I woke up feeling pissed off at the world. It’s snowing as I hack this out. That means I have to shovel before I can take the bike out. Then, when I do go out, the Roadster’s going to get covered with salt, brine, calcium chloride and Christ knows what else. Of course, the nearest Quarter car wash is something like 12 miles away, so if I go today, the bike will be covered with road phlegm again before I get home. And the weather isn’t going to get back up into the ‘40s for at least another week. That means this ugly white shit will be around for a while and the roads will suck to ride on as well. I need to get over to the shop. I’ve been carrying a hundred dollar bill for a week to put on my account. I also want to tear into the bad engine and get an idea on what needs to be replaced. Before I can do that, I need to talk about it with Guy and Little Guy. I also want to find out prices for fork springs, lifters and the bronze oil pump gear. Plus the chain drive conversion. I can ask when Jimmy’s nephew is going to be there, so I can hopefully talk him into welding my broken saddlebag mount. Why is it so freakin’ hard to find a welder who’ll do a small job? Vern would do it for me, I’m sure; but he’s in Tennessee. Some days I really kick myself for not learning the skill when I had the chance. I thought the welder I found in Waltham was going to be my “Go To” guy, but he won’t return my phone calls. I am sick of all the negative shit I see about President Trump. He does the same thing that Obamaladingdong did a couple of years ago, and he’s labeled as a racist and Islamiphobic. It doesn’t matter what he does, the press, (media, whateverthe f**k you want to call them) just shit all over him. They didn’t dump on Nixon this bad during Watergate. They’ve got a hard on for him and they’re doing everything they can to make him look bad. This shit is getting old. Give it a break. I’m pissed that my brother got bit by a Brown Recluse Spider. Now, he’s on heavy duty antibiotics and his leg looks like hell around the bite. First, his spouse was hospitalized with a blood sugar level over 500, then just when it looks like they’re getting that under control, David gets bitten. Typical Jackson luck. And I’m very unhappy that EBR motorcycles have stopped production. Just when they introduced a model that really appealed to me, they’ve decided to shut down. It makes no sense to me. They didn’t even produce any Black Lightnings. They had it at the New York show and some other shows, and, from my own personal observations, it drew a lot of positive attention, but they never built any. Not even one. They just had the show display bike, and it ain’t for sale. And now, there won’t be any built. Don’tcha think that hurts and pisses me off. Oh well.That’s the way it crumbles; cookie wise. (Message edited by Crusty on February 01, 2017) | ||
| 86129squids |
Yeesh, John! BE SURE to tell your brother to do all the right things to deal with that bite- I lost a dear cousin several years ago to a brown recluse. He was an Eagle Scout, big time outdoorsman, living in NC with his fiancée. He decided to clean out his boat, and got bit- knew what had happened, and went to the hospital... once they started treatment, somehow his body completely went haywire- he had 3 cardiac arrests, went into a coma and... gone. We dearly miss cousin Kirk. I'll be putting up prayers and good mojo for your brother. I think you're doing the right thing, outfitting the Sporty for ADV touring. Don't let the b%tches get you down, buddy! | ||
| Buellish |
"Don't let the b%tches get you down, buddy!" +1 John,Glitch Badness is only 57 days away! | ||
| 86129squids |
So- I'm a sticker junkie. If you look at the back of my POS truck, I've got over 100, and a just slap a new one over any that fade... found another that might help the CrankCrust. "Don't sweat the petty things, pet the sweaty things." | ||
| Crusty |
You're a sticker junkie, eh? E-mail your address to me at: nmwprime *at* gmail *dot* com and I'll send you a 2" round Nurd Motor Works sticker. | ||
| Njloco |
Sweety things like, you did wake up ! | ||
| Crusty |
So I Went To The Shop Today I finally went over to the shop today. I’ve been wanting to get over there for over a week, now. I wanted to give Sandra a hundred bucks towards my tab, and I wanted to tear into the dead Roadster engine and a couple of other things. I told Little Guy that I wanted the Shop to sponsor me. Jimmy said, “That means you want money”. And I told him no. I wanted to be able to do the prep work on the bike there. I’m going to put Progressive Suspension springs in my forks and change the fork oil. I also was talking about replacing my lifters and oil pump drive gear. I got the green light to tear into the bad engine. The rear head and cylinder had already been removed, so I pulled the rocker box off the front cylinder, then I pulled the cam cover. I was expecting to find a real mess in there, but it didn’t look that bad. All four lifters seem fine. The rollers move smoothly and they’ve lost no needle bearing elements. The oil pump drive gear also looked fine. However, all four cam bushings had spun in the case. The bushings came out with the cams. Two were immovable on the camshafts, but the other two spun freely on their cams. What we figure (for now) is that the crank pin wore enough that the oil pressure went to hell. So the problem as of now seems to have been caused by a bad crankshaft. That’s not a final diagnosis; we still need to pull the front head and cylinder and I want to take the oil pump apart and check that out, but it sure looks like it was a bad crank that caused the problem. When I went to the shop this morning, I was thinking that I was going to replace both the oil pump drive gear and all four lifters before I set out. However, after looking at those parts in the bad engine, I won’t bother. One thing that I did was to pull off the saddlebag mounting frames and leave them so that Chris can weld the broken mounting tab. I had hoped to leave the shop by three o’clock or three thirty. However, I didn’t get out of there until well after five. I gassed up at the Speedway gas station down the street, and it was exactly 5:30 as I was leaving the pump. It took me 28 minutes to go 7.2 miles, but the rest of the ride home went fairly smoothly, and I arrived at the house in Hudson at about 6:45. I expected the ride to take longer. Anyhow, a few thoughts occurred to me on the way home. First, I’ve really gotten a lot softer. It never fell below freezing, yet I was not happy with the temperature at all. I had my Gerbings jacket liner on, but I found that I prefer my Firstgear Kilimanjaro jacket with its liner to the Aerostich Darien with the Gerbings. Another unrelated thought is I don’t know if I’m going to rebuild the bad engine. I can just buy a used engine if the one in the Roadster takes a dump for a lot less than it would cost to rebuild. Of course, if I rebuild, I won’t know if the crank I put in will last like it should, or if it will die prematurely like the original crank did. The bad crank has really shaken my faith in Sportster engine Durability. I know that Parrothead has over 200K on his, and that’s how a Sportster should be; but mine bit the dust at 57K, and I didn’t mistreat it. Unless you consider running down the Interstate at 3500 RPM to be mistreatment. I dunno; I guess I’ll just ride the bike and not worry too much. Next week, I'll change the fork oil and put the new springs in. Hopefully, I'll be putting the repaired bag mounts on, as well. | ||
| Etennuly |
Well John, the only good thing I have found about winter the last twenty five of my nearly sixty years is that it ends into my favorite time of year, SPRING!!!Most importantly is that after months of suffering it will finally end. Here in East Tennessee about mid March it is like someone 'up there' turned on the switch, (or they finally received payment for the sunlight bill) to which we go from winter cold doldrums directly into summer. No messing around with slow cold damp early spring days here as it was in Northern Pa where I grew up. COME ON SPRING! Six more weeks, although it has been a mild winter here thus far. | ||
| Crusty |
Blue Friday Morning Blue Friday Morning Today’s not a good day. I have a really negative attitude about everything, this morning. I need to re-prioritize everything and I’m no longer sure what my priorities are. I guess I should look at everything and write it down. That will help to put things into perspective. Right off the top is the Roadster. When I tore into the engine yesterday, I was expecting to find the oil pump gear had fragged and/or the lifters had lost rollers from their needle bearings. Instead, both the gear and lifters were fine. That means that it was a crank failure. So, instead of being able to replace the lifters and oil pump gear and feeling confident in the durability of the engine, I now will worry about the engine in the Roadster as long as I have it. I suppose I could just buy a new crank assembly and install it, but who’s to say that it won’t die a premature death also? I could get a pre - rubber mount Sportster with the old style crank. It might vibrate a lot more, but it should be reliable for a lot more than 100k miles with minimal maintenance. I’d have to start over in setting it up for traveling, but I doubt I’d worry nearly as much about a major failure. I could just get another bike. I’ve heard of EBRs going for well under 10K. If I got one, I’d have to do a bit of modification to it to get it set up tor traveling, but it sure would handle sweetly. I’m not really enthused about having to maintain a chain, but I could get used to it. Pretty much, those are my options as far as getting another bike. Nothing else picques my interest. Then, there is the house in Cincinnati. Twice, I’ve found a house that seemed to be ideal for my wants. With the first one, somebody beat us with an offer. With the latest house, David got bit by the Brown Recluse spider and is not in any shape to go look at it. It’s feeling like I’m just not meant to move to Cincinnati. I don’t really care for my present living situation, but I can do nothing to improve it at the present time. I can’t get people to return my phone calls lately. I’ve tried to reschedule my next Cystoscopy, but I can’t talk to whoeverthef*** actually does scheduling. Instead, I get some flack who tells me that they’ll pass my request on to the person who schedules them, and they’ll call me back. Except, they don’t. I've called a few welders to get the saddlebag mount repaired, and they won’t call me back. I had to remove the mount from the bike and leave it at the shop and hope that the welder comes in soon and welds it for me. I call friends and get their voice mail. I leave messages, but they don’t call me back. hell; even my daughter won’t call me back. I’m starting to wonder if I’m that much of an a** hole that nobody wants to talk to me. And people wonder why I like riding alone so much. Then, there’s money. If I buy an EBR and modify it to travel, or buy another Sportster and do the same, then I won’t have the money to travel. So I’ll have a nice traveling bike, but I won’t be able to ride it anywhere. And just to top things off, right now, it’s 19º F (-7 C) out. it’s supposed to get all the way up to Freezing this afternoon. Since this is New England in February, the sky is dull grey. That just lifts my freakin' spirits, I'll tell ya. They make a big deal out of a rodent crawling out of a hole in the ground on February 2. If he sees his shadow, there’s going to be six more weeks of winter. And if he doesn’t see his shadow, then Spring will arrive in only six more weeks. I’m not sure whether to be bummed out or pissed off. (Message edited by Crusty on February 03, 2017) | ||
| Crusty |
Big Ass Spider As I’ve mentioned, my brother David was bitten by a Brown Recluse spider. The bite turned into a really ugly looking wound, and he’s been on heavy duty antibiotics, which seem to be doing the trick. The last couple of photos that I saw looked a lot less concerning than the previous pics. He also was in quite a bit of pain and the doctors put him on one of those Oxy drugs for it. Oxycodone or Oxycontin or Oxyclean or whatever; I can’t tell the difference between them. Anyway, yesterday, I was looking at the TV listings and noticed that the SyFy channel was going to be showing a movie titled, Big Ass Spider at 4:00 AM. So I sent this e-mail to David: Insomnia at 4:00 AM? If you happen to be up at 4:00 AM tonight/tomorrow, turn the TV on to the Sci-Fi Channel. They're showing a movie just for you He replied: Hardy Har Har! And maybe that big ass spider will bite your big....... I’m glad he’s starting to feel better. (Message edited by Crusty on February 04, 2017) | ||
| Pwnzor |
Glad to hear he's on the mend... | ||
| 86129squids |
+1000! Good to hear he's healing well. |
