| Author |
Message |
    
Zane
| | Posted on Wednesday, April 16, 2008 - 12:52 pm: | 
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No problem. I'm no tea tottler just gave up heavy drinkin' before my liver fell out on the ground.
You used to live in Daytona? I live in the Clearwater area. Before that grew up in the Pompano Beach area. Bleech! It's a nasty place now, much prefer central Florida. Why did you leave Florida? Taxes are a lot less here than Cali. Of course we only have one road with a twistie in it. It's booked for the next 4 months. |
Ezblast
| | Posted on Wednesday, April 16, 2008 - 01:44 pm: |
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I was raised in Cali - prefer the weather and roads. The Navy put me in Fla and I stuck around for about 8 years afterwards. Daytona is a great place for a single man to have fun and live in, but the weather still melted me pretty regularly - besides I never could get used to the 2" flying cockroaches - lol
EZ |
Zane
| | Posted on Wednesday, April 16, 2008 - 03:53 pm: |
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Never been to California. Have a brother how was in the Pacific Fleet aboard AD-15 Prairie. Home port was San Diego. When stateside he spent a lot of time in the Hayward area. He loved it out there. I’ve lived in South West Ohio (ok) North East Ohio (great people but too dang cold) and Greensboro, NC (Loved it there).
For the foreseeable future, I’ll be here in Safety Harbor (Clearwater area). After that, who knows. I might travel around as an itinerate computer programmer. Get to see the country that way. I’ve always wanted to go west and take a look around. |
Fast1075
| | Posted on Wednesday, April 16, 2008 - 05:46 pm: |
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You have to be able to deal with bugs to live here...the worst on the street is around full moon when the midges are swarming (most people call them blind mosquitoes) they will totally black out your visor or goggles in seconds...but my worst run-in with a bug was at Bradenton Raceway....Junebug strike to the neck at around 160...I thought I had been shot! |
Ezblast
| | Posted on Wednesday, April 16, 2008 - 05:54 pm: |
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Hayward is my neck of the woods - great riding in the Bay area - I would say the best in the US.
EZ |
Reuel
| | Posted on Wednesday, April 16, 2008 - 07:37 pm: |
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Quick note on that torque wrench thingy: If you have lots of inch pounds, divide by 12 to get foot pounds. 124 inch pounds is 10 1/3 foot pounds. See? You can use it! |
Zane
| | Posted on Wednesday, April 16, 2008 - 08:39 pm: |
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Hey Reul,
I finally got the chance to read the Motoman like you sent. The guy does make some sense to me. I still have to work out some things and do some reading before I decide how to do the break in, but I'm at least more open to the method now. The part about changing the oil after the first 20 miles makes tons 'o sense to me.
Ok, this is a general call to the Buell world. Has anyone used the Motoman's break in methods on a production bike? How is it running after 30,000 miles? |
Swampy
| | Posted on Wednesday, April 16, 2008 - 10:00 pm: |
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Tools: Allen sockets and wrenches, good ones in different lenghts, torks bits, torque wrenches, inch and foot pound, a primary locking tool and a 250 lb torque wrench.
Blue Loctite, Red Loctite.
Tire changing equipment and balancer, the cheaper the better. |
Gearheaderiko
| | Posted on Wednesday, April 16, 2008 - 10:20 pm: |
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Torque wrenches is the best bet. After that buy as you need (tools to guys are like shoes to women-any excuse to buy will do). Nothing is real special for general maintenance and since you used to wrench professionally, you should have a good idea of whats available. I keep all the Blast specific tools in the racebox and make a list of things I need (or want) as they come up.
A new stock Blast isnt prone to parts vibrating loose (when properly assembled). Mirrors do tend to fall off though!
See the following link for tool help.
http://www.badweatherbikers.com/buell/messages/201 64/309879.html?1205766193 |
Gearheaderiko
| | Posted on Wednesday, April 16, 2008 - 10:31 pm: |
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Personally I trust NRHS or Revolution Performance for break-in. The NRHS, as I read, seems close to Buell recommended.
One (there are others) reason to break-in gently is the chain. Abuse the chain and you'll likely get a badly stretched chain. This will cause excess vibration (and everything that goes with it). The chain will stretch unevenly anyway, but if you've ever ridden a lot of miles with an badly unevenly stretched rear chain you can really feel the difference (one reason I like belts). |
Gearheaderiko
| | Posted on Wednesday, April 16, 2008 - 10:36 pm: |
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PS"stopping the room from spinning" I thought bed spins were half the fun!? Frankly, not knowing where the bed I'm in was when I woke up was a bigger problem! |
Zane
| | Posted on Thursday, April 17, 2008 - 09:57 am: |
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Gearhead,
You're right about tools. For all her faults my soon to be ex wife never griped at me for buying a tool. She always saw how much money I'd save us by doing stuff myself.
Over the years, my tool needs changed. Stopped working on cars and started working on the house. Now with a son who likes old cars, it's come full circle.
I love tools just for their own sake.
Swampy, I thought it was a big deal to change a tire on a cycle. How many times would I have to do that to break even on a tire changing machine (and I assume some spoons)? I'd guess it would have to be 8 or 10 times at least. |
Gbaz
| | Posted on Thursday, April 17, 2008 - 10:06 am: |
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depends on the tire changing machine. A harbor freight one will pay for its self in 2-3 tire changes. I think the shop charges 1-2 hours to change 2 tires if you give them the rims off the bike. A friend was just charged $300 for a oil change and replacing 2 tires.... |
Zane
| | Posted on Thursday, April 17, 2008 - 10:20 am: |
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$300 for two tires and an oil change???? (Expletive Deleted). At that rate it wouldn't take long at all to pay for one. Especially since the Blast seems to be hard on rear tires. Is there one that's easier to use than another or are they all pretty much the same.
How hard is it to change tires on a Blast? Back when I was young (mid 1800's) I changed car and the big truck tires. Can't be that big a deal if only charge 2 shop hours for a front and back.
Speaking of shop hours, what is a HD/Buell dealership changing for a shop hour these days?
(Message edited by Zane on April 17, 2008) |
Ezblast
| | Posted on Thursday, April 17, 2008 - 11:16 am: |
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Shop hours in the Bay area is at the 125.00 mark and rising. Thats why I do all my own maint. - I'm an accountant - I know I can't afford that.
Swampy's right - I'll probably get the Harbor Freight item but I'll probably pick up some extra spoons from No-Mar - since they are specially designed and coated to not mar a wheel.
EZ |
Zane
| | Posted on Thursday, April 17, 2008 - 11:31 am: |
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I thought all you accountants were rich guys, flush right now with all those tax preparation fees. I'm just a poor, lowly computer programmer. Still on days where I'm tempted to complain about my job I think about being a roofer and that puts everything back into perspective...lol. |
Ezblast
| | Posted on Thursday, April 17, 2008 - 12:22 pm: |
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Here the programmers and tech.s make the money - lol
EZ |
Krid80
| | Posted on Thursday, April 17, 2008 - 04:52 pm: |
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$78/hr at surdyke hd |
Gearheaderiko
| | Posted on Thursday, April 17, 2008 - 08:45 pm: |
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Blast tires are easy especially with the Harbour Freight machine! Wait for the regular sale! |
Swampy
| | Posted on Thursday, April 17, 2008 - 10:18 pm: |
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All you need to change tires are at least two tire spoons, and a bead breaker. I made my bead breaker from a 2X4, 5 foot long with another 2X4 about 12 inches, with a pointed taper at one end. I then drilled a hole about 12 inches from one end on the long 2X4 with a corrosponding hole in the short 2X4 at the opposite end of the taper. Those two pieces are bolted together so they can pivot. I position one end under something sturdy, in my case a wall purlin on a metal pole building, and with the taper pushing on the bead near the rim, push the tire off the bead. Of course everything needs to be supported properly off the floor using 4X4s or something similar to keep from pushing the rim against the floor and to keep presssure on the bead. It doesn't take tons of pressure, just steady pressure.
I then used an old 120 lb grease drum with a bolt coming up throught the center off a tee bar to hold a 13 or 14 inch car rim to the top of the drum. The bike tire goes rotor down(front) or pulley down(rear) and with the right amount of lube and correct application of the tire irons off comes the tire!
All told I have about $20-30 in tire irons and $60 in the balancer.
I was out behind the garage tonight listening to the turkeys gobbling just after dark and I counted over 9 tires piled in the moon light that I changed last year.
Find what ever it takes and learn to do it yourself! Learn to scratch your own wheels for free! |
Zane
| | Posted on Friday, April 18, 2008 - 11:56 am: |
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Swampy brings up my next question. Once I've changed a tire, how do I balance it? |
Gearheaderiko
| | Posted on Friday, April 18, 2008 - 11:23 pm: |
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Swampys wheel balancer:
http://www.badweatherbikers.com/buell/messages/201 64/252545.html
Static wheel balancing (see above tool-others like it can be found for sale)) is pretty basic and the method could be found in most older MC repair manuals or do a search online. The Blast repair manual doesnt give the 'how to' on it  |
Zane
| | Posted on Friday, April 18, 2008 - 11:33 pm: |
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Thanks Gearheaderiko. |
