NorthernPetes Bike Adventure

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NorthernPete
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Joined: Mon May 02, 2005 4:24 pm
Real Name: Pete
Sex: Male
Years Riding: 11
My Motorcycle: 1988 Kawasaki Vulcan 1500
Location: Northern Ontario, Canada

Re: NorthernPetes Bike Adventure

#241 Unread post by NorthernPete »

damn you be smart. brought the bike to yonder shop, Carb were BADLY out of sync and dirty. they are now cleaned, synced, new plugs, chain adjusted and lubed and oil be changed. the bike is running like new again. thank your Paul Bouchard Performance in Chaput Hughs. I recommend anyone in the area (of which there is no one) to visit them of you need any work done on small engines.
1988 VN1500
2009 GS500F

Wrider
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Real Name: Ryan
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My Motorcycle: 2005 Kawasaki Z750S
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Re: NorthernPetes Bike Adventure

#242 Unread post by Wrider »

Woohoo! Glad you're back on the road!
Have owned - 2001 Suzuki Volusia
Current bike - 2005 Kawasaki Z750S
MMI Graduation date January 9th, 2009. Factory Certifications in Suzuki and Yamaha

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NorthernPete
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Joined: Mon May 02, 2005 4:24 pm
Real Name: Pete
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My Motorcycle: 1988 Kawasaki Vulcan 1500
Location: Northern Ontario, Canada

Re: NorthernPetes Bike Adventure

#243 Unread post by NorthernPete »

well, this has been a cool week. both literally and figuratively. been riding to work the last 8 days, as my wife headed out of town for some medical stuff down in Ottawa. In the mornings I have been layering. Thermal longjohns, riding jeans, leather jacket, sweater and t shirt. then the long johns and sweater hit the saddle bags on the way home. *lol* northern ontario weather. gotta love it. also managed not to get rained on, despite what the weather man says. so over the last month, Ive put almost 1000 Kms on the bike, commuting and heading to town. thats pretty much 1/4 of the total riding milage on the bike since I bought it in a month. Ive also been fairly good about ATGATT. although I did do a quick t shirt/jeans clad ride to a resteraunt last night for supper. 5 kms. I know, should still gear up, but it was kinda liberating. but Im still more comfy in the full gear. Bike is running real good, and it is plenty fast. anyone saying they outgrow the 500 Vulcan is lying. I cruise along at a buck twenty and Im in 3rd gear. still 3 more to go, plenty fast enough. although some more leg room would be nice for longer trips, its not a deal breaker. So heres to a summer of riding!
1988 VN1500
2009 GS500F

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NorthernPete
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Joined: Mon May 02, 2005 4:24 pm
Real Name: Pete
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Years Riding: 11
My Motorcycle: 1988 Kawasaki Vulcan 1500
Location: Northern Ontario, Canada

Re: NorthernPetes Bike Adventure

#244 Unread post by NorthernPete »

Side note, My bike likes gas. The down side of not really riding much the last few years is I havent gotten a feel for how far a tank of gas will get me. I know know. about 3 times back and forth to work... I was riding home on my 3rd shift and bike started hitching. once I figured out it was low on gas went to flip to reserve....to discover it was allready on reserve. ugh. put it to prime, leaned it over to get all the gas. and hammered the throttle to get as much speed up as I could.... died out..... coasted.... stopped... choked the bike...it started, but wouldnt take any throttle, so by feathering the clutch I was able to make it to the gas station, and coast up to the pump. there is a certain sense of satisfaction about filling up with premium from bone dry for 14 bucks though.... so now I know, and I while I have had to switch to reserve another time this week (I am able to catch it on the fly now) I think I wont be running out again anytime this summer..... and allways remember to put the petcock back to on, res is for RES!
1988 VN1500
2009 GS500F

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NorthernPete
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Real Name: Pete
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My Motorcycle: 1988 Kawasaki Vulcan 1500
Location: Northern Ontario, Canada

Re: NorthernPetes Bike Adventure

#245 Unread post by NorthernPete »

Hmmm, I totally pussed out of an OT shift today cause its raining out.....Im not hard core I guess, cause I aint going out there in the rain unless its a schedualed shift....*lol*

Mile stone. Rolled over 1000Kms for the season so far. A new record for me. at least so far. I think I put 1000 K on the first year, but never so quickly. so heres to summer weather!
1988 VN1500
2009 GS500F

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NorthernPete
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Joined: Mon May 02, 2005 4:24 pm
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Location: Northern Ontario, Canada

Re: NorthernPetes Bike Adventure

#246 Unread post by NorthernPete »

Hmmm, had to buy another set of wheels.... 4 wheels....as much fun as my bike is, I noticed that I missed the heater and roof on rainy days. SO I bought a 2008 Dodge Ram SXT. Take that gas savings from bike!!! Hemi power...yay... picked it up last week end, only 34000 KMs on it and clean as a whistle...although it does absolutely stink inside.... nothing a few little tree airfreshners wont fix (if it was cheaper, I would have say maybe its like that urban legend of the guy selling the cheap cadilac cause somebody died in it and he couldnt get the smell out *lol*) SO I picked up the truck, went to work one day in it. the next day said, hey, its nice and sunny out, Ill ride in! and then ended up getting a chunk of rock on my wrist, and couldnt ride my bike home from work for 4 days *lol* but all better now, and the bike is safe and sound at home. Oh, and another great thing. they build us a new change area at the mine, and we had to move all our gear from our old lockers to the new ones. Now the tops of the old lockers were flat and I could put my helmet on top, the new ones have a big tilt in them. so I have to leave the lid with security now. Am I a bit odd for not liking the idea of not knowing whats going on with my helmet during the day? I do know that I didnt know what was happeneing before when it was on top of my locker, but I felt better having it there then in security. thoughts?
1988 VN1500
2009 GS500F

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jstark47
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Re: NorthernPetes Bike Adventure

#247 Unread post by jstark47 »

NorthernPete wrote:Now the tops of the old lockers were flat and I could put my helmet on top, the new ones have a big tilt in them. so I have to leave the lid with security now. Am I a bit odd for not liking the idea of not knowing whats going on with my helmet during the day? I do know that I didnt know what was happeneing before when it was on top of my locker, but I felt better having it there then in security. thoughts?
Two of my bikes have locking top boxes, but that doesn't work so well with a cruiser. Is your bike in a safe enough area that you could use a helmet lock on the bike? There are lots of aftermarket helmet locks if your bike doesn't have one standard.
2003 Triumph Trophy 1200
2009 BMW F650GS (wife's)
2012 Triumph Tiger 800
2018 Yamaha XT250 (wife's)
2013 Kawasaki KLX250S

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NorthernPete
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Joined: Mon May 02, 2005 4:24 pm
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My Motorcycle: 1988 Kawasaki Vulcan 1500
Location: Northern Ontario, Canada

Re: NorthernPetes Bike Adventure

#248 Unread post by NorthernPete »

good god its cold out. but went for a ride. i took it out two days ago cause my brother was moving and my bike was in his shed, oso of course it snowed yesterday. lol. anyway, my brother bought himself a 250 ninja and is my riding buddy. yay. we did a 125 km loop today after work, way cold out and its odd to ride and have snow banks on the side of the road. but the roads were clear and dry and away we went. so thats my update for now, shall get around to posting again soon. cheers!
1988 VN1500
2009 GS500F

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NorthernPete
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Posts: 3485
Joined: Mon May 02, 2005 4:24 pm
Real Name: Pete
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Years Riding: 11
My Motorcycle: 1988 Kawasaki Vulcan 1500
Location: Northern Ontario, Canada

Re: NorthernPetes Bike Adventure

#249 Unread post by NorthernPete »

Might go for a ride today. Seems nice out, but haven't really looked yet. Maybe. Maybe. Uuummmmm. Kinda. Lol
1988 VN1500
2009 GS500F

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NorthernPete
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Posts: 3485
Joined: Mon May 02, 2005 4:24 pm
Real Name: Pete
Sex: Male
Years Riding: 11
My Motorcycle: 1988 Kawasaki Vulcan 1500
Location: Northern Ontario, Canada

Re: NorthernPetes Bike Adventure

#250 Unread post by NorthernPete »

Haven't done a whole lotta riding. In the process of moving (ex wife wants half the house lol) which brings me to a question for you folks. In selling my house and splitting the proceeds I'm left with a bit of play money (seems odd for a guy going through a divorce I know) and I saw an ad for an 89 honda hurricane 600. Kinda playing with the idea of picking up another bike so it can be not riden with my vulcan. Lol. I know I said no more old bikes, but hey, its a honda, I hear they're pretty indestructable. Any thoughts on the make in particular. And is 60k kms gonna lend me any problems? Haven't done any inquiries on the bike yet, so just throwing this out there to the masses. Thanks.
1988 VN1500
2009 GS500F

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