Misadventures in wrenching and riding

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#141 Unread post by **Skier** » Sun Jul 22, 2007 4:11 pm

Wrider: I'll catch you next time, there wasn't a lot of time for other activities on this trip.

I just finished instructing my second Idaho STAR rider training class. It went well, I had a lot of fun and I am now a range intern. Since I moved up in status, I actually get paid for my time teaching new riders! Rock on, that will help beef up the savings a bit.

Temps were 98 degrees F (36 C) today, so I'm a bit burned out from the rangework. Time to sit in front of the AC unit and relax.

#142 Unread post by **Skier** » Thu Jul 26, 2007 1:16 pm

Attention Sev: should I have a spare valve cover gasket on hand when I do the 16k mile maintenance on the Hornet?

#143 Unread post by **Skier** » Mon Jul 30, 2007 1:42 pm

16,000 mile maintenance time. Woohoo!

Ready to be pulled:

Spark plugs look fine, but are specced to be replaced.

#144 Unread post by **Skier** » Tue Aug 28, 2007 1:58 pm

What a busy few days. Saturday was my sister's wedding, so Kim and I took off Friday to hit up some of the rehearsal stuff and get free food. All kinds of stuff goes wrong with our trip, our hotel, our food,, etc... but nothing major.

Wedding went well, my new brother in law is a good guy and I got to see a lot of friends and family I haven't seen, some as long as six years!

As a funny coincidence, our hotel was a half block away from a big Harley dealer in Oregon City, OR. I take advantage of the situation to drag the GF on over and we look at bike.

We stroll in to the sea of chrome, sales folk and people attempting to get financed for their expensive bike. I immediately spy the Buell corner - a small room off the showroom floor with about eight bikes in it. I start drooling over a used Ulysses (wow that's hard to spell), fully decked out with hardbags and other accessories. Looks good! I'm trying to keep the drool from showing as I'm checking out the bike. Several minutes pass and nobody makes eye contact with either Kim or me.

I move on to some of the other Buells, just to get a feel for size. I've only been around a few and they were heavily modified.

A few more minutes pass and I recall the horror stories about Buell support and the general Harley dealer snobbery to the brand. It doesn't make a lot of sense to me, but I put it to the test. Well, there were a sea of salesmen, at least a half dozen were talking amongst themselves or just not helping customers, and I was being ignored.

I drag Kim over to some of the ACRES OF CHROME, DAWG bikes. It takes about 45 seconds for a salesman to come over and ask if we've "found our two bikes yet." I inform him we're still looking and I'm interested in the Buells back in the side room.

The salesman deflates.

He tries to salvage it with "I had a Buell, it was a great bike..." and keeps going. He was being kind of weasily on the price of all the Buells, too. We politely brush him off and his offers of "good deals" for financing and head past the apparel section to the exit.

Seriously, who buys Harley Davidson socks?

At the exit was some new model of Harley I hadn't seen before. It was the only one there that rubbed me the right way. Sleek, understated lines. Simple, naked motorcycle, as God intended. Belt drive to boot!

I take a quick look-see, decide I'm still probably going to snag a new Tiger 1050 eventually and we head back to the hotel for a quick nap. A few hours later, off to the wedding, then the reception, then the after party, then sleep, then the eight hour drive home.

Still trying to get some semblance of sleep back in me, but that's not working too well. Oh well, I can dream of polishing acres of chrome with my new Harley Davidson socks, Harley Davidson fashion leather vest and Harley Davidson fingerless gloves.

#145 Unread post by **Skier** » Wed Sep 26, 2007 3:32 pm

Purchased a secondhand PS2 and a copy of Guitar Hero 2.

Helped my buddy out with his '81 or '82 XS650. It's almost roadworthy.

I've got a class for Idaho STAR coming up. I get to teach both classroom and range. Nervous about the classroom part, it will be my first time in front.

Also been reading a lot, finished up a couple "hard sci-fi" books by Stross. Love his stuff. Currently working on Dawkin's Ancestor's Tale.

#146 Unread post by **Skier** » Wed Oct 03, 2007 6:45 pm

Hooray, I'm another year old. 365 more days until decent insurance rates!

#147 Unread post by **Wrider** » Thu Oct 04, 2007 8:38 am

Yay! Happy birthday old man!

Don't forget the prunes and Ensure!
Wrider

#148 Unread post by **Skier** » Tue Oct 16, 2007 2:59 pm

I taught the last class of the season for my home range. Classroom went reasonably well, but it really picked up the second and third nights after I received some coaching.

There were 24 students packed into the classroom the first night. It was the first time I've taught a double class and it was interesting managing time when groups had to switch between the range and the classroom.

All said and done, another good time. I can't wait to teach a lot more next season!

#149 Unread post by **Skier** » Sun Nov 04, 2007 2:11 pm

My buddy finally passed his rider training course, picked up a bike, got it up to snuff, got his gear and found time for us to ride together. Hooray!

I've taught them well:

#150 Unread post by **Skier** » Mon Nov 12, 2007 1:51 pm

I had a bit of money left over from budgeting in the past few months so I snagged some goodies. I picked up a set of metric ratcheting box end wrenches and a manual impact driver. Hooray!

I also grabbed some more pegboard and another light for the garage.

Before:

After:

Working on clearing up a bit more room in the garage. Gotta stuff my bike in there and do my winter modifications and I'm storing a buddy's bike as well.