Misadventures in wrenching and riding

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#1 Unread post by **Skier** » Tue Jul 11, 2006 7:24 am

Well, it's about time I start a thread to keep all my pictures and trip reports stuffed together. So here goes!

I'm Matthew, a 22 year old rider. I'm in the middle of my third season of riding and love every moment of it. I started riding by purchasing a friend's 1986 Yamaha Radian when he was leaving for college. $800 and I was into my riding career! I loved that bike and put around 12,000 miles on it before selling it. 10,000 or so of which were done in my second season of riding.

Here's a picture of the girl right before I sold her:

Last I heard, the guy I sold it to was taking it on road trips across states in all directions. I'm quite happy to see the bike continue its adventures around the US.

Bringing things up to the present, I currently ride a 2004 Honda 599. I bought a faired bike between the Radian and the 599 and found I prefer a naked bike, as well as the seating position of standards. So when a 599 came up at a decent price, I begged the parents for a loan and picked it up for under Blue Book. She had less than 400 miles on her and looked immaculate, save a bit of dust. A friend drove up with me and I picked up the bike. Note the huge grin:

That was about two months ago, right before I graduated college. Now I have over 4400 miles on it and wish I could get out and ride more.

There's certainly no shortage of roads to ride around here, with some of these stars:

Scenery isn't too bad, either:

Moving on, my misadventures in wrenching are on my 1989 Suzuki Katana 600, which I found out was a basketcase I overpaid for. Bunch of fun with it, especially the carbs:

But it will succumb to my tenacity! Sooner or later it will run and run well.

That's all for now, but I'll be sure to post my ride reports and other projects in here (such as my home-brew rear hugger for my 599).

Ride safe!

Nalian · #2 Unread post by **Nalian** » Tue Jul 11, 2006 7:32 am

Good ol' pullman/eastern WA. I do miss it crazily at times (I am from the tri-cities).

Nice photos, I look forward to more!

VermilionX · Tue Jul 11, 2006 2:30 pm

will you change my oil and clean my chain?

that 77 miles of winding road... is that a canyon or a twisty?

twisties are more fun since it's less likely that the turns are blind.

either way... that looks like a great 77 mile run.

CORSCO · #4 Unread post by **CORSCO** » Tue Jul 11, 2006 3:51 pm

Nice pics. Just curious why you broke down the bank of carbs to clean them? What parts were inaccessible to have to split the bank? Anti-backfire diaphram?

#5 Unread post by **Skier** » Tue Jul 11, 2006 7:12 pm

CORSCO wrote:Just curious why you broke down the bank of carbs to clean them? What parts were inaccessible to have to split the bank? Anti-backfire diaphram?

VermilionX: it was a canyon. A twisty canyon.

CORSCO · #6 Unread post by **CORSCO** » Wed Jul 12, 2006 2:40 am

yea, that's ugly. What does the tank look like?

#7 Unread post by **Skier** » Thu Jul 13, 2006 6:53 am

CORSCO wrote:yea, that's ugly. What does the tank look like?

Surprisingly perfect.

Last night I signed up my GF and myself for Idaho STAR basic rider training. This will allow my GF to get some riding experience as well as her motorcycle endorsement. It will also give me a chance to brush up on the basics, it's been a while since I took my MSF course.

#8 Unread post by **Skier** » Fri Jul 14, 2006 4:28 pm

Today started off particular bad. Trying to do things around the house and everything that could go wrong did go wrong. Get some minor issues with my car sorted out, then back over my tool box in the driveway, spraying Craftsman silver everywhere. 10 minutes of tool-sorting later I'm missing a socket. I then work on the bike and test fit my homemade rear hugger skeleton. It snaps apart at the joints like I feared it would, so back to the hardware store tomorrow for material I should have started with.

I also turned in my hours for my part-time job a bit late and only got to ride my bike to and from campus. :/

On the bright side, I received a job offer! It's a decent wage for a recent graduate and I get benefits to boot. Should prove to be fun and allow me to pay off all the loans I have (silly student loans!). Woo!

#9 Unread post by **Skier** » Sun Jul 16, 2006 5:36 pm

I had to go riding with my good buddy Cary after he logged in a grueling 100+ miles earlier this morning. He was quite happy to go.

lol Idaho:

20 MPH twisties with no guard rail, you mess up and you're travelling 50 vertical feet onto a bloody cow:

Surprisingly technical road, that's only a small portion of it.

VermilionX · Sun Jul 16, 2006 5:41 pm

Skier wrote: 20 MPH twisties with no guard rail, you mess up and you're travelling 50 vertical feet onto a bloody cow:

Surprisingly technical road, that's only a small portion of it.

we also have something like that here...

it's low speed limit, blind corners, no guard rail, and lots of elevation changes, decreasing radius turns.

i don't think i'll go back there again.