The F&$^*%& Guzzi

Well, it seems bikes can hear.
At least this one can. Not second after I said to myself
"wow this has been a great ride so far, the sun is out the bike is running with out a hitch"

POOF

It's dark, no lights, no nothing. I call the better half
I've had a bad day but was having a good day on the bike until the bike stopped
We had words, I was not a happy camper. She was not a happy camper.
She came to my aid.
I called someone from the group I was to meet he came and tried to help.
Here we are two very white guys in a very not white 'hood
One with a non running Guzzi the other a Cobra replica with about 500horsepower and pipes to match.
To say we stoodout would be an understatment.

He pushed but the bike would not light.
We tried to jump it
The bike would have none of that.

I called the other half she came.
I had time to look into the problem.

Oh I almost forgot to mention the fuel line was leaking
I got that fixed pretty quick however.

I pulled the bike apart. Tank off, seat and rear fender up,
Battery out.
I looked all over, I found nothing.

So I decided to put it all back together.
Just as I got the last battery line hooked up I noticed.
There was a wire loose.
A nice thick wire
With a big plug on it.
The wire when to the battery.
But the other part was not connected to anything.

Hmmm it had a big spade style connector so it shouldn't be to hard to find.
And it wasnt' but I had to pull the battery back out.
So I did got the cable hooked back up and was just about to start hooking the battery back up when the other half showed up.
Here hold this I think I might have found the problem.
Sure enough the bike started right up.
Rode it over and put it in the car and bike show. And it won best paint.
On the way home the bike was running really good.
My guess is that connector has been bad for a while.

Bikes You can't ride them and if you toss em off a cliff they sink.

The Ducati 750 sport

While i've come to decide that it's now time for the duc to move on and live with someone else.
I just can't ride sportbikes anymore so it's up for sale.
Hopefully the money raised by it's sale will give me enough to get both BMW's back on the road.

Good weekend

Ahhh got to go for a good weekend.
up the 'crest. Nobody fell down. No wait one rider toppled over right in front of me (and everyone else)
as I was weeding my way past the bikes to ride down the hill.

Great weather the day started out a bit chilly but warmed up to damn near hot by mid day.
Got home and managed to get the oil changed on both comfy bikes.

Nice.

AMA

I decided to join the AMA about three years ago
I'm still wondering if it was the right thing to do.

They need to spend more time on riders rights, lane sharing should no must be legal in all 50 states.
Parking cost for motorcycles should be reduced to next to nothing. at least a 1/5 of that of a car.
There should be more legal spots for motorcycles in every major city.
It's time that motorcycles be promoted as a way to decrease congestion and increase parking spaces for cars.
On top of that there needs to be more done to make drivers aware that motorcycles are a legal part of the transportation mix.
Not just a sunday morning toy for rich people to use.

And the AMA focuses way too much effort on the helmet issue and not enough on the other areas of riders rights.
Don't get me wrong i'm pro choice when it comes to helmets (it's your own damn fault if you bang your head up when you crash and I shouldn't have to pay for your choice but that's something else)

And the AMA needs to split the racing promoting away from the rest of the "stuff" they do.

Motorcycle racing is some of the more intresting motorsports in the nation. and yet the stands at daytona hardly have anyone in them.

Shops!

Why can't motorcycle shops be better?
We had breakfast with a group of riders from our "other" club the ones that ride the comfortable bikes.
And every one at the table had a story of being mistreated by a shop.
Last weekend we heard this story of someone who is a poster on yet another list.
so this poster runs a shop and he totally screwed up this womans bike.

I remember back in Seattle there was a shop that charged my buddy and arm and a leg
to do a really simply job (R&R a rear tire on a 74 CB750) And the grease chimps forgot to hook the rear brake back up.

Add that kind of crap to the junk that you have to go through when you go into a bike shop it's no wonder that the motorcycle industry isn't doing better then it is.

S@#%

Time, there is so little of it.

Again, another weekend flashed by with out nary a wrench taken to a bike.

I did get a chance to put the first few miles on a Ninja 650.

Eek gads! That was an experiance that I didn't like. The 06 that I rode to Laguna that year was much better.
This bike with it's solid red paint looks and feels much more like a cheap bike. No make that CHEAP bike.
It felt like something you'd get from one of those indoor swapmeet/produce/clothing stores that are all over LA.

I did ride the Guzzi into work on Friday and to lunch the same day.
On the way into work it performed flawlessly on the way to lunch it was a little more rough around the edges
but it still did pretty well.

Enough to make me rethink the grand plan of getting ride of it and getting a Thruxton.

The goose is just so much more intresting.

Seeing the light at the end of the tunnel with the GB's will help.
Getting them gone before the end of spring is my goal.
The get the SV and move the 400 4 out of the garage and I'll have some room again.

I still need to figure out the best plan of attack on both the BM's the GS is still a big unkown
(but at least that whole debacle is over)

And I'm wondering should that bike get painted and new graphics Or restored...

The ST just needs work. I listed off all the trouble I had with that bike and diesel was stunned to say the least.

Nothing

Not a damned thing was done on the bikes this weekend.
I did make it to a travel show and picked up info about riding in the great white north.