Grab a beverage, this one is long.
Thanks to all who wished us well. Like I said, you never know what is going to happen. But here's what happened. Dad came home from the hospital on Friday - the day I was supposed to leave going to W.V. and he was doing well. So, I went ahead on the trip. The 750 did great! The shop in West Virginia had the cable and put it on for me. He charged 17.50 for that. Great shop. I already had a new drive chain (Tsubaki 530 non O ring) in my duffel bag but had no breaker to install it. So, I asked the guy if he had a breaking tool. He looked at my chain and sprockets and said the sprockets looked good enough to use with the new chain, and the old chain (which had been sounding awful) was probably from a Coal Mine or something and was not even the right kind of chain. It was called a size 50 or something. Anyway, he let me borrow tools and I installed the new chain. What a difference! No more high pitched shingshingshingshing at 75 mph and no clunkclunkclunk when starting off. Plus, the pegs and bars felt a lot less vibration.
The trip up was hot, with the temps staying above 100 (showed 109 between Birmingham AL and Nashville on a friends bike thermometer) for the first 200 miles or so before a slight shower cooled things off North of Nashville. Spent the first night in Lexington KY, and made the job site before noon after using a couple of hours finding the bike shop and working on the bike.
We put up the floor joists and most of the floor the first day.
Second day we finished off the floor and added all the first floor walls. Got almost all the top plates installed on the walls and once they are done the second floor joists will be added.
Spent about an hour after work on some excellent small mountain roads, just cruising - not blasting, around.
Spent the night and it was time for me and my bud (riding a 2007 HD Ultra Classic) to head for Alabama. We left at 7:15 Eastern and I pulled into my yard at 4:15 Central (5:15 Eastern) in Hoover Alabama. The return trip started off dry but hit rain for about 70 miles. Got breakfast during the rain and suited up in the right gear. The rest of the trip home was nothing but gas up the bike, drink 16 ounces of water, and ride 100 miles, repeat. We were pushing the bikes pretty hard - well at least the 750 - through the mountains of Kentucky, Tennesse and North Georgia but had no problems.
In all, maybe 1500 miles covered roundtrip. Used about 3 quarts of 20w50, I think because of the extreme heat and fairly high speeds. Was getting about 28 - 35 mpg. Noticed that at wot the bike bogs a little and if you back off just a bit, it will clean out and pull harder. I already have leaner jets and will change out soon. Expect to need to raise the needles with the leaner jetting.
Not to start another MOT(meaningless oil thread), but I think I will switch to Shell Rotella. It is available most places, apparently works well, and it is kinda hard to find Honda GN4 on the road on Sunday or by the interstate on Monday.
One other observation. I was wearing some cut off fishing waders from just above the knee to the top of the boots to keep from getting oil all over new Draggin Jeans pants. I had synthetic oil in the bike until just before this trip when I switched to Honda GN4. First couple hundred miles there was a pretty good bit of oil on the waders. Wiped it off at stops. But I started to notice that the further I went, the less oil showed up on them. By the return trip I was back to just a few specks here and there. Seems that the dino oil is less likely to leak through the tach cable connection and gaskets.
Only other problem was a burned out rear blinker bulb that was fixed at an Amoco. Are all lights made in China now?
Got lots of positive comments on the bike everywhere we went. Probably would like to add a small windshield before doing a trip like this again as the wind noise is rough on the ears. Grips were harder on the hands than the original grips were. Handlebar is just about perfect - a Flanders with 3.5" rise that is very similar to the Honda ST1100 bend I think. And the bike seems to be louder than it was before the trip, but that is ok. It was running the best it has since I bought it at the end of the trip. Hope the old saying that they always run their best right before they blow up isn't the reason.
Again. Thanks for your kind comments regarding my Dad. And I wouldn't have been able to take my bike on this trip without the resources on this list. Thanks to those that said - Go ahead and ride it, when I was reluctant to try. I believe the longest trip on this bike previously for me was 150 miles.
