Well, alright... somebody gave me my own "I Love Me" page where I can write whatever I want! Hee hee heeee.... suckers! Oops, I meant "thanks, guys!"

Right, well, let's get into it then...

If you haven't read my introduction in the "Start Your Engines" forum (Gananoque Greetings thread), here's the obligatory bio: My name is Mike and I am a bikeaholic. I live in Gananoque, a small town just east of Kingston, Ontario, in the heart of the Thousand Islands region (EDIT: in Mar 08 I moved to Durham, a small town in Grey County, Ontario, approx 2.5hrs northwest of Toronto). I'm a former Canadian Army soldier now working as a Millwright for a pharmaceutical manufacturing company in Brockville, ON, (EDIT: I now work as a Millwright at Chapman's Ice Cream in Markdale, Ontario) and motorcycles are my passion. I've ridden pretty much all of Canada, Germany and most of the northern US in my 23+ years of riding on varied mounts; '81 Honda CX500 Custom, '71 BSA Thunderbolt 650, '86 Sportster 1100, '95 Triumph Thunderbird, '01 Triumph Tiger and a '99 Kawasaki Drifter 1500. I'm now riding my dream bike, an '04 Harley FLHT and have a '79 Dnepr MT10-36 that I use for weekend runs with my dog Hector (EDIT: I now ride a... oh, forget it, just read the damned blog...). My sweetie, Angie, rides her own '01 Vulcan 800 Classic and the two of us spend a lot of time motoring about visiting wineries, flea markets, chip trucks, bike shops and whatever. I have my own website but there isn't much on it right now, if you're interested you can take a look: Gummiente's Roadhouse. I'll try to get more stuff on there but riding is my first priority.

And maintenance. Looks like I'll be busy this week; I took my Dnepr out for a nice 80km run yesterday and upon returning I noticed a nasty clattering noise coming from somewhere within the engine casing. I posted a query about it on some of the Russian motorcycle forums I frequent and some possibilities are a grenaded alternator, loose flywheel bolts and a shot crank bearing. I'll be diving into it tonight after work, hopefully it won't be something major.

In the meantime, my trusty Harley will continue to be my primary mode of transport. I put 31,890km on her last year - my car sat pretty much unused from March to November. This year I'm going to see just how long I can go without having to use the car. If I can get the Dnepr fixed it will take over the grocery getting duties, as the sidecar can swallow just about anything I throw in there. Groceries are about the only reason the car would be needed in the summertime for me.

And now it's time for work, I'm on the day shift this week. +10C with a forecasted high of only +11C. Looks like I'll be wearing the full length Rhyno jacket with liner, leather chaps and my electric vest again. Thw weather really sucks this year so far.

Cheers!

Had a good, if somewhat chilly, ride to work today and yet another 104km round trip is now history. I have the luxury of three routes to choose from on my daily commutes;

1) The 401 HWY, a four lane divided highway that runs West from the Quebec border through Toronto and continues on to... well, I'm not sure where it ends... Hamilton?

2) HWY 2, a two lane secondary road that basically parallels the 401 and has a lot less traffic, and

3) The Pretty River Parkway (my girlfriend Angie's favourite) that runs along the North shore of the St Lawrence River from Brockville to Gananoque. Makes for a very scenic and relaxing ride home after a brutal, stressful, action packed, laugh in the face of death day of a professional Millwright.

I was running late this morning so I wicked it up to 120kmh on the 401 and cruised in comfort to work on my Harley. I took the Parkway home and enjoyed all the scenery and geese along the roadside, teaching their young how to forage and swim and honk at passing Harleys and other goosey things. Checked the mail when I got home and found a parcel pickup notice in the mailbox, which turned out to be my $20 slightly used stock Sportster mufflers I scored off of EBay. Bonus! I'd been searching for quieter pipes to replace the rather raspy ones on the Dnepr, it was playing havoc with my poor dog Hector's sensitive ears on long rides.

After supper I went out to the garage to investigate the cause of the rattling noise I'd heard yesterday on the Dnepr's Sunday run. I fired it up and... wtf??!!.... the noise was gone. So I decided to put the new mufflers on and fire it up again and then check with my mechanics stethoscope to see if I could hear anything unusual. The bike is a LOT quieter now - I'm sure Hector will agree next time we're out. I'd noticed while replacing the mufflers that both exhaust header retaining collars on the cylinder head exhaust ports were loose, when I fired up the bike and let it warm up it gradually began to make a ticking noise that I traced to both exhaust valves. Looks like yesterday's spirited ride against a strong headwind was a bit much for the old 650 short-stroke boxer twin... that rattling noise must have been a tired and hot motor sounding off about it's abuse.

Massive sigh of relief - I think everything is okay. I'll adjust the valves tomorrow after work when the engine is cold and see if that cures it.

Another cold commute at +8C. At least there were three other bikes in the parking lot at work today when I arrived, so I didn't feel quite so crazy for riding on a day like this. Sometimes a hardass needs company, anyway.

Bike parking, hey, there's a story to share with you...

Two years ago, anybody who owned a motorcycle was allowed to park it inside the factory compound near the bicycle racks while all the lowly cage drivers had to herd out in the employee lot like the bunch of undisciplined cattle they are. The only downside from a rider's viewpoint was that the bikes had to park next to a huge scrap metal bin and if one didn't pay attention while parking it was easy to pick up a sharp piece of steel and puncture a tire. But at least we were safe from ignorant twits bouncing their doors off of our steeds. Then one day the company went smoke-free inside the factory and a portable tent was set up outside to keep the addicts happy - right where the bikes were parked. Not good. But my boss is a bike nut from way back and it only took me five minutes of whining... sorry, righteous complaining... before a new bike parking area was designated. The first three spots in the employee lot that were nearest the fence and closest to the factory were cordoned off with concrete berms and I had the honour of putting up "Motorcycle Parking Only" signs there. All the lazy, mouth-breathing cager types complained about it of course, so I posted a note on the bulletin board directing anyone with a beef to come and visit me. Nobody showed up. Eventually the fuss died down but to this day the more ignorant ones still mouth off about it from a safe distance. During the winter a few yahoos even go so far as to bump their pickup trucks over the curbs and park in the bike spots, like they're proving a point or something. Anyway, every time I slip through the bike sized openings in the berms (because if they were placed Hyundai-sized widths apart, some mook in a Hyundai would try to squeeze in beside my Harley) I can't help but feel a bit of pride and a sense of accomplishment. And I know the other 8 riders appreciate it, too.

Ok, I know I was supposed to go out to the garage and set the clearances on the Dnepr's exhaust valaves tonight, but it's too cold and there's still lots of beer in the fridge. Besides, it's "Two Wheeled Tuesday" on the Speed Channel tonight and one must support programs dedicated to one's lifestyle, no? I like to watch "American Thunder" with the sound off.

Bis spater!

"Global Warming", my butt. If the weather doesn't improve soon I'm gonna snap... these 6C morning commutes have long since lost their novelty appeal, if they ever had any to begin with. Long range forecast doesn't predict anything above 22C for at least the next 14 days, it's like we're permanently stuck in a March weather feedback loop.

Took a closer look at the Harley's odometer today and it appears I've rolled more km's this year than I'd thought. I now have just over 5,400km since 19 March which is not too shabby considering the lack of decent riding weather we've been suffering through so far.

Futzed around with the Dnepr last night and tonight checking and setting valve clearances. Both exhaust valves were way out of spec, no doubt a result of that long distance ride taken on Sunday. I adjusted them and rechecked the clearances and everything seemed fine except for the fact that all four pushrods were bent. It had obviously been run this way for awhile (ie: before I bought the bike) and I kicked myself for not checking them sooner. Tonight I removed and straightened them using a couple blocks of wood, some carefully applied pressure and the TLAR (That Looks About Right) method. I was about to replace the valve covers when I noticed some sludge in them. It turned out to be a mixture of aluminum shavings and what seems to be crumbled bits of gasket material. Aaaaggghhh!!!

I'm going to drain the oil tomorrow and see what's in it. I'm thinking maybe the lifters and/or the camshaft have been damaged... looks like the Dnepr's season might be over way too soon.

I need a beer.

It's Friday! Let the long weekend begin!

I left work early and went to the Harley dealer to get two small rubber mounts for my Harleys' mufflers. The original ones were worn out and the muffler bodies were shaking about at idle and making a very annoying squeaking. I got home, replaced the rubber mounts, had supper, then returned to the garage to start the teardown of my Dnepr. I needed to find out where all the metal fragments I found in the rocker covers are coming from. Armed with many helpful tips and hints from the fine members of the Russian Iron Motorcycle Club and Dneprheads (Yahoo Groups) forums (one of the really cool things about owning a Soviet made motorcycle is the worldwide support network of people who are just as crazy as me about them), I started the repair process on my beloved Irina.

First task - drain and remove the oil pan, then filter the oil to check for debris. I have a handy oil change container that slides under the bike with a drain pan that screws onto the spout once the cap is removed. As the oil needed to be strained I figured I'd save a step by tearing up an old bedsheet and placing it in the drain pan, that way it would drain and filter in one step. Pretty clever, eh? Nope. I removed the oil drain plug and watched the oil flow into the pan and begin to filter through the sheet... but the filtering process was taking longer than the draining. Within seconds I had at about a litre of old oil flowing like a river over the edges of the pan and all over the garage floor. *$%#@!!! I whipped the sheet off the pan, getting oil all over myself in the process, and grabbed some rags to sop up the spill. It's a good thing the neighbours had already left for their weekend camping trip because the air was pretty blue inside my garage.

Finally got the oil drained into the catch pan, then filtered it the smart way by pouring it into a 5 gal bucket with another strip of bedsheet as the filter over the opening. Found many small flakes of high-temp orange silicon sealant and a lot of fragments of what looked like the crumbled gasket material I found in the rocker covers yesterday (which apparently is the remains of the fibre washers that were under the valve springs according to one helpful email I received today). Not very many metal shavings, though, and nothing magnetic.

Removed the oil pan - and one stripped screw that apparently was only held in place by a generous glop of orange RTV - and was relieved to see a metal mesh filter screen on the end of the oil pickup tube. It was covered in orange flakes and fragments of valve spring gasket and one small aluminum toenail clipping. The bolt that held it in place had backed out and was literally hanging by a thread. The bottom of the pan had more orange flakes and one large 1/4" diameter glop of the stuff, but very little metal shavings. The rocker covers collected all of the sludge, it seems.

I repaired the one stripped screw hole by running a 1/4-28NF tap into it, which is just slightly larger than the M5 screw that was in there before. I now had a clean hole with strong new threads, saving myself the hassle of a metric helicoil insert. Hey, sometimes it's better to take the easy way out. I replaced the filter screen and smeared blue Loc-Tite on its securing bolt, then cut a new gasket to replace the oil soaked, orange RTV covered mess of a cork one that fell out when the oil pan was removed. I laboriously cleaned all the orange RTV (are we getting a rough idea of how much of this goop was in there yet?) from the screws, ran a bead of Perm-A-Tex gasket sealant on both surfaces, then slapped everything back together.

Tomorrow's project - removing the left cylinder head to check the valves and seats.

Woke up early and washed the Harley in prep for a Saturday ride. Angie's mom is visiting this weekend and we had planned to give her a tour of Prince Edward County, which is an hour away and full of wineries and flea markets. They went in the car (both our bikes have solo seats, so the car was the only option for her mom) while I took the bike. We stopped at Maracles Leather Shop, which is about the halfway point, where I bought a new pair of leather chaps for the bargain price of $130. The store is on the Mowhawk Indian reservation, so there are no taxes on any sales. When we went back outside I saw black, ugly clouds on the horizon approaching fast, so I decided to head for home while they continued on. Had a good ride back until 10km from my garage... it POURED down on me and got my bike all dirty again.

After drying off, I went out to the garage to carry on with the Dnepr repairs.

Another rainy day in Ontario, but I really didn't notice it much because I was out in the garage for most of it. Took a short break to ride over to the Beer Store on the Harley to, um, stock up for the remainder of the holiday weekend. Met a guy on a sharp looking '03 BMW 1200GT out in the parking lot and we talked bikes for about ten minutes before going our separate ways.

After two days of working on the Dnepr I decided to make today a riding day. Problem was, the skies were overcast and it was windy with a forecasted high of only 13C with a 60% chance of showers. That meant Angie wasn't going with me. I was supposed to meet the First Officer and a couple of the Road Captains from the SCRC #446 Brockville Chapter that we belong to, the plan was to go scout out some new routes for the weekly rides. But they were a no-show and I had to strike out on my own. I found out later that the First Officer had to take his wife to Emergency at the local hospital. Fortunately everything is okay with her now.

I rode about 200km and saw just three other bikes... I guess only the more dedicated riders were out and about today. Traffic on the secondary highways was bugnuts due to it being the last day of the holiday weekend; every pickup/boat/trailer combo, motor home and overloaded minivan in the Eastern Ontario region were called to active duty and people were doing some pretty stupid things with them out on the roads. So I opted for the smaller, less travelled county roads and had quite an enjoyable ride. I brought the camera along but there just didn't seem to be very many photo opportunities.

The gentleman who built the motor in my Dnepr called me last night, quite upset that one of his engines had failed. He will be coming to look at it in two weeks to try and determine what went wrong... and he has offered (insisted, actually) to rebuild it for the cost of parts only. I like that.

Anyway, I eventually ended up at Iron Legends in the town of Smiths Falls, one of my favourite motorcycle shops. Mike the owner is quite a character and has given me many deals on parts and accessories over the years. If you ever find yourself in my neck of the woods you HAVE to stop in there.

The wind was strong against my back on the return trip and 3 hours after pulling the Harley out of the garage I was putting her back in again - having ridden the whole time without one drop of rain! It was a great way to close out the long weekend.

Still suffering through lousy weather. Had a strong tailwind on the way to work this morning, which was good. Had a strong tailwind on the way home, too, which was strange but also good. Managed to avoid the rain but probably won't be as lucky tomorrow - forecast calls for 80% chance of showers. Well, at least I know from previous rain rides that the Metzeler ME880's on my bike are pretty surefooted in the wet.

Brought home some measuring tools from work to record the wear and damage on some of the Dnepr parts removed over the weekend.

Wicked! Two days in a row of good riding weather - it's about time! Angie surprised me yesterday by being out in the parking lot waiting on her bike when I got off work. Made my day. We had a nice ride home together, followed by a nice supper, some wine and then a relaxing hour just sitting in the chairs on our front porch and watching the traffic go by as the sun went down.

Tonight I did a bit more work on the Dnepr and washed the Harley and Angie's Vulcan 800 (hey, she's worth it) in preparation for this weekend's event. We're hosting a "Chili Run" at our house this Sunday and we have 9 bikes and their riders (our closest and most trusted riding buddies - everything from a Harley Softail to a Kawi ZX12) confirmed to attend. We start out with a coffee and gab session, then I lead them on a 150-200km run through the nicest county roads in the area, then return to our house for some of my famous chili and Angie's incredible strawberry shortcakes. This is an annual event that we've done for 5 years now and it just gets better every time. I'll post a trip report about it on my website next week.

Looks like another nice day in store for tomorrow - and it's Friday, too!

You realize of course that by washing your bike, you set off a self-targeting 'Weather Chain Reaction' which ultimately caused your OWN downfall?

Yeah, I know. Jeez, you'd figure after 23 years straight of riding that I'd have learned by now.

Reverse Discrimination

I know many of you have a common complaint that Harley riders never wave to you. Heck, before I owned one it annoyed the heck out of me, too. But I always wave no matter what you or I are riding... and since I bought the Harley I've experienced the lack of a return wave more from riders of other makes than from Harleys.

Case in point: Angie and I did a test run of the route we'll be taking our friends on for tomorrow's Chili Run we're hosting. Despite the nice weather we didn't see ANY other bikes out there until 3/4 of the way through the 180km route. We came through the small tourist town of Westport and noticed a group of about 10 bikes on the roadside in front of a cafe. The riders were in the process of suiting up and they all turned to look as we approached (no, my pipes are not THAT loud). There were a few BMW's and a smattering of metric cruisers and as we passed by I gave a friendly wave to all of them.

And got nothing in return except some blank stares. O-kayyy... whatever. Then we made a left onto the main highway at the next intersection and passed by a gas station that is a popular stop for bikes. HUGE crowd of bikes there, at least 30 of them this time, and as we rode past I smiled and waved. Nothing in return. Not even a nod. They were all looking at us, too - and I could see many metric cruisers amongst the Gold Wings and BMW's so it obviously some kind of non brand specific club, but Harleys were noticeably absent.

Ok, so, maybe the majority of them have been routinely ignored by Harley riders to the point that it was time for some payback. Fair enough. But Angie was riding behind me on her Kawasaki Vulcan 800 Classic, surely she should have received at least a couple of waves... but no. She told me when we returned home that not one in the crowd made an effort to acknowledge her, they just stood there and stared as we went by.

I'm thankful that the people we're riding with tomorrow aren't as stuck up as this bunch was.

I've always thought of it as Sport vs. Cruiser, really. Not sure I could tell the difference between a FLHT and a VTX at 120 km/h. But that's just me being ignorant, I suppose. I tend to think people often substitute 'Harley' when all they really mean is 'Cruiser'. But who knows?

So I'm riding home on the Parkway yesterday and come up to a car stopped behind a school bus that had its lights flashing. I knew that the bus would make several stops along this route and seeing as how it was a hot day (+27C finally!!!) I wasn't too keen on sitting behind it roasting in the heat and sucking in diesel fumes while waiting for all the kids to be dropped off. Apparently the car driver was in the same frame of mind, because he started edging out over the center lane for a look as soon as the bus started moving.

There were no passing zones for the next klick or so but finally one came up, only there was oncoming traffic so the car couldn't pull out to pass. But he kept edging over the centerline and at one point the way was finally clear... but he wandered back behind the bus again. I geared down and signalled, then moved out to pass him and the bus. My sixth sense alarm went off inside my head and sure enough, the car starts moving over towards me just as I pass his left rear quarter panel - I'm right in his blind spot now and he kept coming. So I nailed it and veered to the left, blasting by him just in time. My peripheral vision caught his startled reaction and I took a quick glance back at him before passing the bus... I had obviously scared the bejeezus out of him, because I could see dinner-plate eyes and white knuckles on the steering wheel. He pulled out and passed the bus a few minutes later, then caught up to and followed behind me for awhile before backing off. Probably taking down my licence plate number. And I can't say as I'd blame him for doing that.

It was a real stupid move on my part. I know that road well and there are many places to pass, I probably only would have suffered through one or two stops behind the bus before being able to pass safely around it. I was in no hurry to get home, no appointments to attend, nothing planned for the evening... I should have been content to just cruise along and take inthe sunshine. And I should have waited until I knew for sure that the car was or wasn't going to pass before making my move.