Topic: 25 Rides in 2025, Frank's New Years resolution that we can all enjoy.

[newday777]

Off to the John Deere store to pick up a part for the lawn tractor that quit half way through cutting. Nylon clip that holds the throttle rod to the carb. Heres what you get for $10. #81 90km.

Nothing runs like a deere......until it doesn't

[Kevin D]

The weather has been really crappy lately, Spotty and I almost froze to death in his garage working on the GPZ1100 on Saturday. I was looking around for something to do at home last week and I remembered that the Ducati 916 S4 desperately needed new fork seals. Now I've probably done 50 fork seal changes on conventional forks over that many years, but until now, I've never done upside down forks with internal damping rods and adjustable rebound.

I didn't have a workshop manual and of course, no special tools, but ignorance is bliss, so I very carefully raised the front of the bike and used a couple of car stands and a long socket handle to hold it in a slightly less precarious position, then removed the wheel, fender, fork legs and brake calipers, that were both soaked with fork oil, and dropped the complete calipers  into my ultrasonic cleaner. Disassembling the forks was a PITA, as was reassembling them, requiring some redneck engineering (tie down straps to compress the springs worked really well)

Ducati fork fixing by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

Ducati fork fixing 5 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

And I also had to machine up some fork seal drivers as you can't just replace the fork seals on these forks with the tubes out, like you can do on conventional forks. Happily, it worked.

Ducati fork fixing 3 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

So after 3 days of farting around with them, I reassembled the front end, gingerly lowered the bike after cleaning the calipers, blowing them out with compressed air, flushing them with brake clean, and finally bleeding them. The weather yesterday was cold and overcast with rain threatening, but I had to go for a ride to make sure that everything was working fine. It did, and I had a magnificent ride. After riding my VMax I was thinking that the power of the little 916 engine wouldn't excite me, but it was quite the opposite, I hit 220 KPH (140 MPH) a few times, and found myself going around corners at 20-30 MPH faster than I would on most of my other bikes.

Ducati Monday 2 September 2025 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

All up I did just under 120 miles, and only really turned around when my fingertips started to go numb. #34 down, and maybe #35 today.      

Ducati Monday 2 September 2025 1 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

Very nice Terry, once again you show your skills/acumen with an unusual motorcycle repair. No special tools, except what you made,no reference, experience and knowledge carries the day. Topped with a
 “proof in the pudding” test ride. I’m impressed.
 Me, I have one, one that I know, kind of know, and a bevy of experts here at SOHC4 backing me up when things go wrong, which isn’t very often.

[lash]

Nothing runs like a deere......until it doesn't
[/quote]

Cant say I’m upset about it. I bought this L130 25 yrs. ago and the projected life was 500 hrs.by John Deere. It now has 1200 hrs of rough use and is still going strong. Routine maintenance.

[lash]

Cool and windy today, 147km for #81.

[PeWe]

#28 195 km ride. 16-17* at the start. Sunshine came later with a few degrees more.

The usual country roads passing Norberg, just before  Fagersta winding road to Söderbärke I have seen for years but always passed it.
Nice views, forests, fields and lakes.

Photos in Ängelsberg. A train arrived after me. I raced against it earlier.
It's roof is visible in the background. I could not resist to ride faster. Not a fast train, not even 100Mph





Lunch/dinner when back home after mowing the lawn.

Minced meat "steaks", mashed potatoes and a spicy saucy stew. Lingonberry  jam...
Spanish red wine La Planta 2020 from "Ribera del Duero" district, very tasty  and good bang for the buck

[Kevin D]

Ride #23   72 miles    67f

A Sunday afternoon jaunt. I found myself alone and the weather was nice enough and no particular chores on tap so I got out of town for a while. I came home to find the Tigers had lost and the Lions are on the ropes and sorry, I have no photos to share or stories to tell. The Honda ran very well and the Shell VPower was $4.54 per gallon.

Per your meal looks too nice for a restaurant, its home yes?

[willbird]

#63, 9-6-2025, 56 miles
Rode over to Defiance, OH to grab a spare shield for my Helmet.


#64, 9-7-2025, 121 miles
Took a run over to Ft Wayne to grab some wool blend socks and some boots roomier enough to allow wearing them in colder weather.

[Kevin D]

Ride #24  79 miles

I made an abbreviated ride today due to afternoon appointments. We are back from the cold snap to seasonal average temps….which means temperate… and it’s been dry….double good. I’m on the verge of completion, I wasn’t sure I’d finish this year, too many distractions for the usual once a week rides so I have been doubling up when the weather is good.
 The roads that I use: Seven Mile, Hamburg, Strawberry Lake, Mast, Huron River drive,Pontiac Trail, North Territorial are all secondary roads, speed limit 50-55mph(HRD 35mph), no shoulder so it’s hard to stop for a photo. But I had Huron River to myself today and I stopped at a wide spot, didnt leave the bike and snapped a photo. Probably my handlebar is in the road but it wasn’t a problem today. I took the photo and moved on…
to the parking area near the boat launch, no cars there today, and no river view either. So I snapped a photo of my CB alone in the parking area. One more for Frank.

[PeWe]

You are almost there, Kevin!
1 ride and minimum 1 month left.

Yes, my last ride meal happened at home.
Yesterday it rained so no burger at the nearby biker club.

[Alan F.]

Excellent progress Kevin!

[Kevin D]

 I have paddled on the Huron, but not in this lower section in the backwater above Barton dam and Argo dam. The canoe rental is at Delhi mills, the mill is long gone, theres a rapids and an iron bridge. The livery takes you upstream to Hudson Mills, this mill is also gone. It’s above Dexter near North Territorial. There’s a cider mill at Dexter but I don’t believe they use the river for power.
 On the lower sections there are two large meandering bends in the river and the road follows these bends very closely on the south riverbank, maybe 8-10 feet above the river and 20 feet back from the water.   Yesterday the water was glassed and there was a perfect reflection of the trees, sky, clouds on the north. There’s no walking path, the motorcycle is an excellent way to take in the serenity, many bicycles here as well. This place is always a highlight of my rides.

[newday777]

Looks like a great ride area Kevin

[Kevin D]

First pic upstream above Hudson Mills, from North Territorial bridge.
Second pic panoramic glassed at the big bend boat launch.
It’s very tough to park here, a steep slant to the river, the CB might roll over the side stand.
A larger rock is needed under the stand.

[PeWe]

First pic upstream above Hudson Mills, from North Territorial bridge.
Second pic panoramic glassed at the big bend boat launch.
It’s very tough to park here, a steep slant to the river, the CB might roll over the side stand.
A larger rock is needed under the stand.

I'm sure that people with a canoe dream about a creek/flood or lake like that.  Fishing and camping gear....
Hopefully no man eating fluffy monsters around.
But probably more dangerous in most cities or buses nowadays.

[Kevin D]

Stu, If you show up this Sunday morning at the Sunoco a nice shiny new Ducati of your choice will be provided for your ride. Too bad for me, I can’t make it.

[newday777]

Stu, If you show up this Sunday morning at the Sunoco a nice shiny new Ducati of your choice will be provided for your ride. Too bad for me, I can’t make it.

Oh well. At the earliest I can head out of here is September 30th

[newday777]

But I might swing through your area to have a meeting and greet when I get there

[Kevin D]

First pic upstream above Hudson Mills, from North Territorial bridge.
Second pic panoramic glassed at the big bend boat launch.
It’s very tough to park here, a steep slant to the river, the CB might roll over the side stand.
A larger rock is needed under the stand.

I'm sure that people with a canoe dream about a creek/flood or lake like that.  Fishing and camping gear....
Hopefully no man eating fluffy monsters around.
But probably more dangerous in most cities or buses nowadays.

Per, no man eaters around here. But coyotes are making a comeback. They might take your smaller pet or threaten your toddler. Northern Michigan has bear, puma, wolves, but I don’t know that I’ve heard of an attack on humans. Many deer visit my yard to eat the garden plants. Lots of folks have big dogs.

There was a wandering bear that wandered down from the north country to the Dexter area a few years back. He was treated as an unwelcome celebrity, every appearance was photographed and documented. I believe he has wandered back to the north country since he didn’t find any of his own kind.

[Kevin D]

But I might swing through your area to have a meeting and greet when I get there

You would be welcome.

[BenelliSEI]

First ride after the last race weekend! #18. Headed down to Rice Lake for “wings night” with a few friends. The K1 cb750 ran flawlessly on a perfect evening. Ran it hard on the way home and never missed a beat. Left my phone in the shop so no pics!

[BallAquatics]

First ride after the last race weekend! #18. Headed down to Rice Lake for “wings night” with a few friends.

WOW, that brings back memories!  I spent a month camping on Rice lake the summer of 1969.  What a great place to fish and explore of a 12 year old boy.

[Kevin D]

Ride #25  136 miles  79f

I’m in! I started out solo today, but I had intentions to go further today so I called my pal Jim and he was happy to come along, even though he already had 600 seat miles earlier in the week. We had put the lunch run to Schlenkers in Jackson on the back burner a couple weeks back but it was moved to the front burner today and Ann Arbor-Dexter-Chelsea-Jackson gets a ride on Huron River and the full length of Seymour rd. We met at the North Territorial Sunoco, where the Ducati test rides will be offered Sunday. Jim already has his ultimate bike and so do I. It might be nice to have a Multistrada in the garage but I am quite happy with what I have. Our first stop was at the Cedar Lake boat launch, it’s a half mile of winding dirt/gravel through the trees down to the lake. Usually I’m the only one there but there were two boaters that had already launched so I took a pic up the hill. On towards Jackson, not much traffic, Jim was leading, a pickup pulling a trailer makes a left into a driveway and slows leaving the trailer dead in front of us. Lots of heavy braking and I hear the beemers double horns locked on solid in front of me. The pickup driver moves the trailer in the clear, TYVM. At Mt.Hope road it’s now a 4-way stop and there is a shiny new memorial on the SW corner and it occurs to me that the new Seymour rd stop signs were paid by the blood of the deceased. A little further and we see a lady waving her arms, closer and we see that she and her compadres have dumped several sheets of their 4x8 plywood into Seymour. We avoid the lady and the plywood and make our way to Jackson and Schlenkers. It’s a small place in a neighborhood, there are 14 stools around a U-shaped counter and you WILL meet the other patrons and the waitresses. The menu is very small and the sirloin burgers are very good, unfortunately they were sold out of their pies.
 Our return ride was uneventful. I filled up at the 5mile/Beck road Shell with VPower at $4.29.
It’s $4.79 at the corner near the house. I saved a buck and a half, woohoo! 49mpg and change.
 So that’s it, I’ll go to the box on the table now and fish out one of Buds fine creations for myself:
 a shiny blue Frank Motschko 754 25 Rides in 2025 tag.

[newday777]

Congrats Kevin.

[PeWe]

Congrats Kevin.

Welcome to the 25:ers Kevin!
Bonus rides from now.

[Alan F.]

Congrats Kevin!