Topic: 22 Rides in 2022 - Frank's legacy rides on!

[Terry in Australia]

Thanks David, well to maintain some perspective, they're both "Naked" bikes, both weigh about the same, and both cost about the same here when new, so no, the Honda wasn't aimed at a lower target market, but rather Honda wanted it to be the "Ultimate cruiser" (their words) version of the GL1500 Goldwing.

The 1500cc Valkyrie was produced from 1997-2003 and then the GL1800cc Valkyrie was released, which was probably a better bike, but particularly ugly. Neither of them was a patch on the Rocket III power-wise, and while I've never even seen an 1800cc Valk here in Oz (as I said, they're farking ugly....) I've blown full dresser 1800cc Goldwings into the weeds, much to their riders disgust. The Rocket III was released in 2004 (mine's a 2007 model) with it's monstrous 2300cc 3 cylinder engine, with the same bore and stroke as a Dodge Viper.

I've done the European river tour, back in 1974. Was a fantastic trip and you see so much magnificent scenery from the rivers, and while the boat that we were in was pretty big for country folk from Oz in 1974, were nothing compared to the boat that your sister would have travelled on recently. Those river tours aren't expensive either, my older sister isn't what I'd call wealthy, but she goes to Europe every couple of years and does just that.

Is your CX500 a "Shadow" or a "Custom"? I've had both, the shadow is uglier, but has an 18 inch rear wheel whereas the Custom only has a 16" rear wheel, so being shaft drive, Honda effectively geared the Custom down by around 20% as they didn't alter the gearing, and they dropped the arse end of the bike down a bit. I put an 18" shadow back wheel on my Custom, and it was a much better bike for it, I can't remember exactly how many RPM's it dropped at 60 MPH, but it was significant.

When I've got nothing better to do I'm gonna give my CX500 a birthday and get it going again, it'll probably need the "ignition fix" black box made by the guy in Adelaide that I bought the one for the CX500C, as it's an early model with the dodgy ignition system. I'll also put some Mikuni carbs on it and get rid of the horrible "H" pipe, and it'll have just enough guts to get out of it's own way. I'm the same height as you, I'm 2 inches shorter than I was in 1991, due to 4 crushed discs from bad parachute landings.

[RAFster122s]

Yeah, I would love to spend a week on the beach and recharge my batteries but the CA parks near the coast want $35 or $40 ,for primitive camping you have to hike a ways into when I tried booking during the pandemic only to discover they were shutdown. So, when I last went and sat on the CA beach to recharge and destress it was Nov 20 during a lull in the pandemic in California and I picked up my MC trailer from a place LA on trip back home. I overpack for everything... So, naturally I overpacked clothing and other stuff and the things I needed to concentrate on didn't get done. I booked a really great place inland the first night arriving really late. Then to realize I forgot to pack the deep sockets I needed as I knew the physical part of doing the hitch install was a 3-4 hour job and I had bad weather after the hitch arrived and I ended up spending the morning in the Morrow Bay small old renovated motel that was quite nice property the second night. The first night I stayed in Santa Maria, home of Santa Maria central Coastal Californian tri-tip steak, and sandwiches. Slow cooked peppered and marinated tender beef that is mouth wateringly delicious. Of course that was part of the reason for the trip as even Santa Maria styled tri tip roast I can get seasoned by the Costco butchers doesn't hold a candle to that of the real deal in California.
I could never live there as the politics and the liberal attitudes of much of California is not to my liking, not all Californians are liberal...but it is not called the land of fruits and nuts just for the produce and legumes but not the tree nuts likes walnuts and pecans as well as almonds...
The water needs of many almonds and other nut trees has seen hundreds of acres and farms uproot and destroy their nut orchards as they won't have enough water for the super thirsty trees in California last year and especially this year. So last year and in late 2020 they were ripping out or orchards.

There are non-native willow trees in the Sierra Vista, Hereford and Palominas areas along the San Pedro river that flows north out of Mexico. Well between the non native Mesquite that cattle from Texas brought to the area and then raised or finished in the high desert grassland of that area brought with them lots of mesquite seeds the cows had eaten and then pooped out fertilizing the seeds really well and those mesquite are quite hardy and adaptable and they consume a lot of water for a tree that has long thorns doesn't provide much shade and the only good thing it produces is burled mesquite that is gorgeous when finished nicely, mesquite charcoal or wood chips for smoking meats and a fascination Americans were sold on Mesquite imparting some superior flavor. So, it can but you will find the processed food people doing mesquite smoked flavorings that are chemical concoctions.  A good smoked slow cooked meat is very rich in flavor but the artificially flavored stuff is merely an imitation.

Anyway, the grasslands are never standing crotch high and green like they were 40+ years ago and the mesquite are thriving as they adapted to the moderately warm weather of the high desert a d winter does kill them. The willows groups fight to keep consume an enormous amount of water.
We have lots of natural mesquite, or at least I think they were hear naturally.
My friend Randy who has lived in Sierra Vista and Palominas his whole life feels the proliferation of the mesquite that now dots the landscape everywhere you look in the former grasslands that are still grasslands but I never have not had he seen it green like it was when he was a young dry. The willow at 10s of thousands of gallons of water...

[Terry in Australia]

So there I was, comfortably snoozing in my leather recliner when I thought, "You really must take that poor neglected Sportster for a ride today", so, being that the temps have dropped significantly in the last week (it only got to 60 today and was overcast with occasional showers) I found a thermal long sleeved top to wear under my long sleeved T shirt, under my leather jacket.

Just like yesterday the Sporty fired right up and idled happily away. A pretty young thing who works at the self storage place wandered past and told me that I have some beautiful bikes, and to return the compliment I told her that she has a beautiful arse, but under my breath, of course..... I let the bike warm up while I put my jacket, helmet and gloves on, and noticed that the fuel petcock was on "Reserve" so decided to take it to the gas station first, assuming that it was low on fuel, because I never usually put it on reserve, because the petcock lever has always been really stiff. I pulled into the gas station, and laughed at myself when the most I could get into it was 2 litres for a total of $3.68 (yes, fuel is really expensive here) but it's only got a 12 litre tank, so even though it's good for over 60 miles per gallon, it's good to fill it right up.

I'm betting that the 10 litres of gas that was in the tank is at least 12 months old, but the old Sporty wasn't fussed, it just purred away. Years ago I installed an 18 inch rear wheel so that effectively geared the bike up, but the engine has so much torque that I didn't need to gear it down again, and that's a good thing as I would have to convert it from belt drive to chain drive to alter the gearing. Anyway, it cruises along at 60 MPH pulling just 2900 RPM, which probably contributes to it's excellent fuel economy, because I still ride it like I stole it, and I saw "The Ton" a couple of times again today, on nice quiet backroads. I even did some dirt road riding, the Sporty seems to love dirt roads, it feels more secure on dirt than my old BMW R1100GS "Adventure bike" did, probably because you're sitting "in" the Harley, not "On" it like on the BMW.

Sportster Sunday 1 May 2022 1 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

Anyway ride #11 is in the bag, and the ol' Sporty is still going well and I had a thoroughly enjoyable 80 miles on it today. If the weather's nice next weekend, I might have to drag the Ducati out for a ride, with clip on bars and high reasets, it certainly won't be as much fun......    

[Kelly E]

Terry I really like your Sportster. I had better get one soon if I am going to have one. What year is yours?

[Terry in Australia]

Thanks mate, it’s a 1994 XLH1200. I bought it from Ebay Oz when I was working in Canberra in 2015. The PO bought it new in Milwaukie in April 1994 in “Australian” trim with a KPH speedo etc, who rode Route 66 then imported it back to Oz in May. When I rode it the first time, it was disappointing. It had been “blinged” to the max with lots of accessory chrome etc, had “Shorty” shocks, and was pretty gutless.

I installed the 18” rear wheel, Ikon gas shocks, Mikuni HSR42 carb, and Bassani exhaust, and it transformed it. Harley’s of the era are interesting, they come with the same Keihin CV carb that Harley was putting on Iron Head sporty’s from the 80’s and they seem to go pretty well with them, but you can keep putting bigger carbs on them (to a point) and the results are impressive.

I found that with the Bassani pipe mine was running way too lean with the biggest main jet that came with the HSR42 flat slide carb, so I kept drilling it out until it ran too rich down low, but would happily do 120 MPH @ 6000 RPM, then I dropped the main a couple of sizes, (still much bigger than the largest jet that Mikuni supplied with the carb) and now it’ll “do the ton” and not much more, but is much nicer around town and I average 63 MPG (Imperial gallons) which is about the best fuel economy of all my bikes.

I bought the bike with only around 4000 miles and took it to the local Harley dealership for a service, and they confirmed that it had only had its first service prior to my buying it @ 21 years old. It’s now approaching 8000 miles, which isn’t a lot. I need to give it an oil and filter change as I don’t want it self cannibalising like the 2012 883/1200 that a workmate dropped off for me to take a look at recently, that has a lot of metal in the oil, probably due to its current owner riding it hard and putting it away wet.

I’m more than happy with mine “as-is”, and as it’s eventually going to my youngest son I won’t open up the engine, but I do have not one, but two big bore kits for an early 1200 or 883, so when I can find a cheap rat that’s had a hard life I’ll buy it and treat it to a big BHP and torque increase, not because it needs it, but it is fun blowing modern sports bikes away at the lights, even if it’s only for the first 60 feet, or so.

[BomberMann650]

An honorable mention.
Back from The 1 Moto Show and putting some break in miles on the engine.
A nice lap around the lake.
Will ride smooth down low.  There's a little break up as the throttle turns.
Then the engine takes a gulp of air and blasts off down the road
A little fine tuning and this bike will be quite the head turner.

[Kevin D]

Today, May 5, I got my first decent ride of the season, and it was a cold and cloudy 80 miles. Lucky for me I still had my jacket liner zipped in, and my gauntlet gloves nearby. They went on mid-ride. 61f today, supposed to be in the 80’s next week. The ride grew in scope after it began a couple times, as the roads/traffic improved as I got away from the city.
 I was running on 2021 gas, and after was a bit surprised to see $5.39/g for the V-power and $17+ for the fill up. But it’s still a bargain for all  the smiles produced.
Home - Whitmore Lake - Hamburg - Dexter- Plymouth - Home

[Gurp]

Finally got my shop organized up enough to where I'm starting on my 550/500 projects. This sporty my buddy is throwing together for me has been nothing but a headache. I suppose learning all about a new brand and parts from a distance and pics wasn't supposed to be smooth though. Set back another week for it with a broken line and shipping.

[Terry in Australia]

Today, May 5, I got my first decent ride of the season, and it was a cold and cloudy 80 miles. Lucky for me I still had my jacket liner zipped in, and my gauntlet gloves nearby. They went on mid-ride. 61f today, supposed to be in the 80’s next week. The ride grew in scope after it began a couple times, as the roads/traffic improved as I I got away from the city.
 I was running on 2021 gas, and after was a bit surprised to see $5.39/g for the V-power and $17+ for the fill up. But it’s still a bargain for all  the smiles produced.
Home - Whitmore Lake - Hamburg - Dexter- Plymouth - Home

Well done Kev, and if it makes you feel better, it won't get out of the 50's here tomorrow when I plan to do ride #12. I bought a "Lightly used" Triumph branded jacket from a guy on FB and it arrived today, and appears to be a good fit, and will hopefully be a tad warmer than the jacket I wore last weekend which is good for >60 degree days, but not so much for the weather I'll be "enjoying" for the next 4 months or so.

[Kevin D]

Today, May 5, I got my first decent ride of the season, and it was a cold and cloudy 80 miles. Lucky for me I still had my jacket liner zipped in, and my gauntlet gloves nearby. They went on mid-ride. 61f today, supposed to be in the 80’s next week. The ride grew in scope after it began a couple times, as the roads/traffic improved as I I got away from the city.
 I was running on 2021 gas, and after was a bit surprised to see $5.39/g for the V-power and $17+ for the fill up. But it’s still a bargain for all  the smiles produced.
Home - Whitmore Lake - Hamburg - Dexter- Plymouth - Home

Well done Kev, and if it makes you feel better, it won't get out of the 50's here tomorrow when I plan to do ride #12. I bought a "Lightly used" Triumph branded jacket from a guy on FB and it arrived today, and appears to be a good fit, and will hopefully be a tad warmer than the jacket I wore last weekend which is good for >60 degree days, but not so much for the weather I'll be "enjoying" for the next 4 months or so.

 Hi Terry, I’m just happy to have one Honda CB750 and one ride on the books before you have all 22 on your carousel of shiny motorcycles. I’m imagining a Carvana elevator would be the ideal storage space and maybe someday.
 I have made a couple additions to my CB to facilitate travel: rack, voltmeter with USB charging, phone mount. I got a used K2 rack without hardware and even making a mounting spacer was a chore for me. The voltmeter $15 is nice, the voltage swings all over the place, but good at 13.7v cruising at 60 with lights on. It matches my Fluke and my 5 year old phone battery said 100% not 15% at the end of the ride. The VM is tapped securely to black and green with crimped soldered insulated 3.5mm bullet connectors in the headlight shell. I really don’t want that black wire coming loose. The 3ft coiled charging cord makes itself unobtrusive. The phone mount is convenient and ugly and I used a GPS speedometer to check my optimistic CB speedometer (+3 mph) the CB speedo is always faster than the GPS. Nothing but bungee cords on the rack yet, but there is a waterproof bag on the way, and a top box in the garage collecting dust somewhere.
Imagine this full of YOUR favorite motorcycles:

[BomberMann650]

Today, May 5, I got my first decent ride of the season, and it was a cold and cloudy 80 miles. Lucky for me I still had my jacket liner zipped in, and my gauntlet gloves nearby. They went on mid-ride. 61f today, supposed to be in the 80’s next week. The ride grew in scope after it began a couple times, as the roads/traffic improved as I I got away from the city.
 I was running on 2021 gas, and after was a bit surprised to see $5.39/g for the V-power and $17+ for the fill up. But it’s still a bargain for all  the smiles produced.
Home - Whitmore Lake - Hamburg - Dexter- Plymouth - Home

Well done Kev, and if it makes you feel better, it won't get out of the 50's here tomorrow when I plan to do ride #12. I bought a "Lightly used" Triumph branded jacket from a guy on FB and it arrived today, and appears to be a good fit, and will hopefully be a tad warmer than the jacket I wore last weekend which is good for >60 degree days, but not so much for the weather I'll be "enjoying" for the next 4 months or so.

 Hi Terry, I’m just happy to have one Honda CB750 and one ride on the books before you have all 22 on your carousel of shiny motorcycles. I’m imagining a Carvana elevator would be the ideal storage space and maybe someday.
 I have made a couple additions to my CB to facilitate travel: rack, voltmeter with USB charging, phone mount. I got a used K2 rack without hardware and even making a mounting spacer was a chore for me. The voltmeter $15 is nice, the voltage swings all over the place, but good at 13.7v cruising at 60 with lights on. It matches my Fluke and my 5 year old phone battery said 100% not 15% at the end of the ride. The VM is tapped securely to black and green with crimped soldered insulated 3.5mm bullet connectors in the headlight shell. I really don’t want that black wire coming loose. The 3ft coiled charging cord makes itself unobtrusive. The phone mount is convenient and ugly and I used a GPS speedometer to check my optimistic CB speedometer (+3 mph) the CB speedo is always faster than the GPS. Nothing but bungee cords on the rack yet, but there is a waterproof bag on the way, and a top box in the garage collecting dust somewhere.
Imagine this full of YOUR favorite motorcycles:

Get you some ROKstraps brotha.  They hold on tight!

[Kevin D]

ROK straps. I’ll look for some. Maybe my son has them.
The bag is ROCKBROS with built in straps on 70CB750’s recommendation.
Thanks bro

[Terry in Australia]

Ha ha, I had to save that pic Kev, yes, I would love to be able to store all 26(?) bikes at home, I have 2 years of paid work left in me, and once I retire I will have to reduce my outgoings by around 50% so the self storage place that costs me around $5K per year will be one of the first to go, followed quickly by the annual $6K insurance bill, by selling 20 bikes and just keeping the ones that I can comfortably store in my garage. (I think there's 10 or 12 in there at the moment)

Anyhoo, back to reality. Freezing cold weather today, the coldest for 2022, 13 deg C, or 55 F. Considering that it was in the 90's only a month ago on my 1260 mile ride from Queensland, it really is a shock to the system. Oh well, the longer "Slightly used" winter weight Triumph jacket that I bought off FB arrived yesterday, so I thought it would be a good choice for the ride today.

Rocket III Saturday 7 May 2022 5 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

Considering that the Triumph battery was pretty flat last weekend, I grabbed the Yuasa that I'd kept from Davey's Harley and before I left for the storage place where I keep some of my bikes I pulled the battery off the charger. When I pulled the Triumph out the engine was able to be cranked about 4 revolutions before it gave up the ghost, so I whipped it out and compared it to Davey's battery. Yay, they look identical!

Rocket III Saturday 7 May 2022 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

But look closely dear reader, and you'll see that the terminals are reversed. Fcuk. Of course it took a 30 amp fuse to blow before I noticed. Oh well, I was able to turn the battery around and stretch the battery cables across, and all was good. The bike started right up, and I was away. There were a couple of "1 percenter" bikers who were moving furniture into another storage unit who came over to chat to the old man with all the bikes, and one said, "A bit cold to go for a ride today, Bro", and I replied that "it's never too cold for a ride", but of course, I was lying. I was wearing two merino undershirts which are paper thin but do keep me warm, I don't like wearing bulky clothes under my jacket that tend to bunch up at the elbows, shoulders etc, so along with my "Turtle Neck" neck warmer that my mate Johnny Baines gave me 25 years ago and I still love, I put the jacket on, helmet and gloves, and hit the road.

I'd filled the tank last weekend and had done around 90 miles, so I decided to ride to Heathcote for a pie, and fill the bike when I got there. I was pretty impressed that I'd done 267 Km (167 miles) on 14 litres (3.78 US gallons) of gas, or 44 miles per US gallon. (or 54 Miles per Imperial gallon) Considering that I'd seen 100 MPH several times, and 140 MPH once when I over estimated my overtaking prowess and had to get past a line of slow moving vehicles before I became a Kenworth's new hood ornament. As scary as that was, my "close call" of the ride was when a knob towing a trailer with a dirt bike on it pulled out of a side road across my bows, which tested my brakes, and my ability to scream at him and give him and his wife the finger as he drove by.

Regardless, ride #12 was great, and the Triumph was the best tool in my shed for a cold Autumn day's ride. I will definitely continue to use it this winter, I only wish it had heated grips, but I don't want to bother with installing them, so I'll remember to take my heated gloves next time.

Rocket III Saturday 7 May 2022 2 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr   

[PeWe]

#4
13*C is nice spring for us at latitude 60* north
A better day a few degrees moore

I had a short 80km long ride last Wednesday visiting a bike club's start of their Wednesday meeting where hamburgers are grilled. Take self service to fill the grilled burger with cheese and bread. Extra of everything.

Nice to see other bikes and people too.
A CB750 is always notified by people that has owned one back in the 70-80's.

I rode my brown K2.  Visible if zoom in.
One of the first outsiders. It was around 50 bikes there when I left. Met more bikers on my way home

[Terry in Australia]

Ha ha, excellent Per, the “Mashed Kidneys MC” sound like a fearsome bunch! I’m going back to see my surgeon on Tuesday to see if I’m about to drop another kidney stone as I’m getting a little pain on my right side. I’m hoping that if there is another stone there, that the ultrasound I had in Friday will have picked it up and my surgeon can blow it away before it drops.

I had a curried steak pie on my ride yesterday and while it was delicious it didn’t agree with me so I was up all night and I’ve taken curry pies off my menu from now on.

[PeWe]

The name from over 40 years ago is more about the bike design with no rear shocks

[Terry in Australia]

The name from over 40 years ago is more about the bike design with no rear shocks

Yes I wondered if they were commenting on the hard tail frame bikes that were all the rage back then.

[PeWe]

The guys in front of the garage door is another club from my town still going strong.
They imported Big Dog bikes maybe 7-8  years ago. A  few of them had CB750's 50 years ago or more.

Bikers are nowadays a club of old men, often retired still kicking!

[Terry in Australia]

Yep I’ve recently been buying cheap slightly used leather jackets, wet weather gear etc from guys who have sold their bikes and given up riding, and I’m constantly surprised that most of them are younger than me. I really can’t imagine life without at least one more ride to look forward to.

[PeWe]

I had a pause between 30-52 yo when I finally restored my old bike.
So, they might come back if fuel is available.

[Terry in Australia]

Wow, 22 years without a motorcycle ride Per? How did you do it? I couldn't go 22 weeks? Well I might have over the Covid-19 lockdowns, I'll have to check.

[PeWe]

I hired a bike for a week on Koh Samui Thailand 1991.
Dangerous when they drive on wrong side of the road. When I used the throttle, my automatic tracking kicked in for right side.

Tested a friends GPZ900-87 when he bought it 1997. He had no bike license yet.
I had other interests that drained my wallet

[Terry in Australia]

No worries, I don't think I've been without a bike since I was 9 years old? Well, I suppose that you always had your bike, you just didn't ride it for 22 years. Anyway, the weather must be improving on your side of the planet as it turns to crap on my side, so you need to get on your bike and get your 22 rides in this year, to make up for the 22 years that you didn't ride it!

[Kevin D]

My eye went right to the power station in the background of the photo. I worked (too much) on power transformers like the one pictured here. First ten years in an indoor test facility. In ‘87 I changed to field work, every job trouble, many customers service in jeopardy, way too much OT. Also parked my CB for 15 years. In 2002 I had a big job at Northwest station and across 8 mile road from Northwest was a tire store with a big sign “MOTORCYCLE TIRE SALE”, started me thinking… I bought a set of Spitfires/tubes for $100?, and was riding soon. The boss never understood why I was turning down so much OT work.

[PeWe]

The club house has been a power station where a diesel generator could be used as a power reserve.
An engine like used on big ships.
But it failed, exploded many years ago.
Building cleared out to be used for better purposes.