After last weekend's ride, I decided that perhaps my suspension needs just a touch more work. I took a ride on Craig's bike and with his Superbrace fork brace, his bike seemed really solid at high speeds. Conversely, Craig noticed that sometimes when I was in high speed open turns, my frame seemed to wobble, to the extent that he thought I was going to just break loose and lose it! I did notice that my fork was undulating and wobbling a bit, but that just seemed natural to me. Or maybe I'm just used to it, now.
Well, I got to thinking- this is my main bike now. I'll be riding for probably most of the winter, provided it's not wet out. If the frame is shaking, then the tires won't keep a good solid contact patch, and with motorcycles, you don't really have much patch to begin with.
After going online and shopping for the lowest price, I decided to purchase a Superbrace for my bike. Of course, I got the denim black paint to match my bike's semi-gloss paint scheme. With tax and shipping, the cost was just over $190. Not horrible, but for a 6 oz. piece of aluminum, it seems a little steep. I did consider buying a cheapo Chinese brace off of Ebay, but who really wants a "Made in China" suspension piece of their American made Harley. I rest my case.
A collection of blurbs stemming from mostly the motorized projects that I do. Some posts mixed in have to do with my experiences in X-ray school. (Some entries are from older blogs that I killed off.) Some of my toys are a Mazdaspeed Miata that I work on and take to the track, a little Harley that I can't stop modding and an old Yamaha RD400 that I've been collecting parts for over the past 15 years. When I'm not wrenching, sometimes I mountain bike, sometimes I snowboard, sometimes I make beer.
Wednesday, August 19, 2015
Saturday, April 4, 2015
Beach Bound!
After commuting with the Blackboard all week long, I felt that she was definitely roadworthy and ready to hit a little bigger stretch of road. I just happened to have this weekend off, so I called up my good friend, 808Nightsta, and we headed down to the Santa Cruz area for some lunch.
We were fortunate that the sun was out, because there's a front approaching and the rain was due to arrive by Sunday. We met up shortly after 10am. I was ten minutes late, due to a bad valve in the rear tire- it only went bad, when I was checking the air pressure! Luckily, I had a couple of extra valve cores, so I swapped the bad one out, took my handy bicycle track pump to it and I was good to go!
We topped off before shoving off. I turned on my bluetooth headset and we were on the road. We had a pretty leisurely ride down 680 South until we hit 880. There was a small fender-bender near Camden Avenue which slowed traffic a bit, but we just split the cars, so it didn't bother us too badly. From out of nowhere a trio of Sportsters appeared, merging onto the freeway. The lead guy gave me a head nod, then jumped up on his seat and flanked one leg out, while weaving between the cars. His minions followed. I was slightly in awe that some young hooligans took up the hefty XL to do some stunting! I had never seen that before! I guess that Harleys have really made it into the fold of the mainstream!
Once we got to Santa Cruz, we merged onto Hwy 1, then exited at 41st Street. We took the scenic route down Opal Cliff Dr., enjoying the sights of the coastline to the Capitola Esplanade. We pulled up to two motorcycle parking spaces just waiting for us along the beach, locked up our stuff, and paid our parking fees. I am really digging the room in my HD hard bags! I was easily able to keep my glasses, hat and other knickknacks in there awaiting my use! I locked both of our helmets onto my new Ztechnik license helmet lock and we were off to eat.
We grabbed some patio space on the back deck of Zelda's. I had a Fat Tire ale and a spicy chicken sandwich, while Craig had grilled mahi mahi. Both dishes were delicious. It was just great to sit and relax, soaking up some sun. It was a really tough week at work, so I felt this reward was just. Afterward, we took a walk around the shops and snapped some pictures. After spending a couple of hours in Capitola, we got on our bikes and headed for downtown Santa Cruz.
Downtown we found some free parking, which was really nice. We strolled down the sidewalks of the Pacific Garden Mall, me telling stories of long ago, before the Gap store had ever appeared. I was actually a little shocked to see that Downtown now has an American Apparel store! But mostly, I was surprised to see that Lulu Carpenter's had risen from the dead! It was in it's original location with what looked like the original sign! I told Craig about how way back in the day, they used to have this 1 lb. spaghetti special on Thursday nights, and free jazz music all night long. But when the Loma Prieta earthquake hit, it took Lulu's with it and closed it down. On the way out, we stopped by Pizza My Heart and waited in line for almost a half an hour. I ordered a slice of pesto and a blue T-shirt, while Craig got the mushroom. He said it was the best pizza he had ever had!
It was getting kind of late in the afternoon, so we topped off at some gas station on Ocean and headed back home. Our original flight plan was to take Hwy 1 back up to Half Moon Bay, but we had pissed away too much time, so we were forced to take 17 back all the way, just to recover some lost time.
It really was a fantastic day! Sun, beer, lunch, beach and pizza! Oh, and motorcycles! Love that bike!
We were fortunate that the sun was out, because there's a front approaching and the rain was due to arrive by Sunday. We met up shortly after 10am. I was ten minutes late, due to a bad valve in the rear tire- it only went bad, when I was checking the air pressure! Luckily, I had a couple of extra valve cores, so I swapped the bad one out, took my handy bicycle track pump to it and I was good to go!
We topped off before shoving off. I turned on my bluetooth headset and we were on the road. We had a pretty leisurely ride down 680 South until we hit 880. There was a small fender-bender near Camden Avenue which slowed traffic a bit, but we just split the cars, so it didn't bother us too badly. From out of nowhere a trio of Sportsters appeared, merging onto the freeway. The lead guy gave me a head nod, then jumped up on his seat and flanked one leg out, while weaving between the cars. His minions followed. I was slightly in awe that some young hooligans took up the hefty XL to do some stunting! I had never seen that before! I guess that Harleys have really made it into the fold of the mainstream!
Once we got to Santa Cruz, we merged onto Hwy 1, then exited at 41st Street. We took the scenic route down Opal Cliff Dr., enjoying the sights of the coastline to the Capitola Esplanade. We pulled up to two motorcycle parking spaces just waiting for us along the beach, locked up our stuff, and paid our parking fees. I am really digging the room in my HD hard bags! I was easily able to keep my glasses, hat and other knickknacks in there awaiting my use! I locked both of our helmets onto my new Ztechnik license helmet lock and we were off to eat.
We grabbed some patio space on the back deck of Zelda's. I had a Fat Tire ale and a spicy chicken sandwich, while Craig had grilled mahi mahi. Both dishes were delicious. It was just great to sit and relax, soaking up some sun. It was a really tough week at work, so I felt this reward was just. Afterward, we took a walk around the shops and snapped some pictures. After spending a couple of hours in Capitola, we got on our bikes and headed for downtown Santa Cruz.
Downtown we found some free parking, which was really nice. We strolled down the sidewalks of the Pacific Garden Mall, me telling stories of long ago, before the Gap store had ever appeared. I was actually a little shocked to see that Downtown now has an American Apparel store! But mostly, I was surprised to see that Lulu Carpenter's had risen from the dead! It was in it's original location with what looked like the original sign! I told Craig about how way back in the day, they used to have this 1 lb. spaghetti special on Thursday nights, and free jazz music all night long. But when the Loma Prieta earthquake hit, it took Lulu's with it and closed it down. On the way out, we stopped by Pizza My Heart and waited in line for almost a half an hour. I ordered a slice of pesto and a blue T-shirt, while Craig got the mushroom. He said it was the best pizza he had ever had!
It was getting kind of late in the afternoon, so we topped off at some gas station on Ocean and headed back home. Our original flight plan was to take Hwy 1 back up to Half Moon Bay, but we had pissed away too much time, so we were forced to take 17 back all the way, just to recover some lost time.
It really was a fantastic day! Sun, beer, lunch, beach and pizza! Oh, and motorcycles! Love that bike!
Saturday, March 28, 2015
FINALLY!! The Machine Is Good To Go!
Oh, God! If it wasn't one thing, it was another! Today I was down to the little stuff- just finishing up with the Dynabeads and mounting the wheel on the bike. I still had the beads in the old tube that the installer handed back to me, so I just cut the tube open and poured the beads into a bowl. For some reason, the Dynabeads were giving me shit today and it took a little longer than it normally does to get them in the tire. But once done, the tire inflated to a nice 30 PSI without incident.
I cleaned up the axle and gave it a new coat of grease. I got the wheel on, bolted the fender in place and mounted the brake caliper, then torqued everything down to spec.
Off the lift she went and we were off for a test ride! The bike felt wonderful!! The new rubber gave the bike a much more lively feel! It rolled so effortlessly and was smooth as silk! And maybe the last pair was a little worn (5500 miles), but this pair of tires turned in like it had power steering! It was marvelous!
Once back in the garage, I realized that there were still a few minor things that needed tweaking, like the new front brake line was swimming around loosely in the old brake line mount/holders because the old lines had these fatty rubber mounting areas, which was causing the line to slack up around the head tube, tightening near the lower fork. I took that old blown up tube and my tin snips and cut out a couple rubber strips. I got them rolled up and black-taped them around the brake line. Presto! They fit like magic and now they are held firmly in place!
The sun will be out this week and my car will be on jack stands most of the week, so it'll be the perfect opportunity for me to commune with my bike once again!
I cleaned up the axle and gave it a new coat of grease. I got the wheel on, bolted the fender in place and mounted the brake caliper, then torqued everything down to spec.
Off the lift she went and we were off for a test ride! The bike felt wonderful!! The new rubber gave the bike a much more lively feel! It rolled so effortlessly and was smooth as silk! And maybe the last pair was a little worn (5500 miles), but this pair of tires turned in like it had power steering! It was marvelous!
Once back in the garage, I realized that there were still a few minor things that needed tweaking, like the new front brake line was swimming around loosely in the old brake line mount/holders because the old lines had these fatty rubber mounting areas, which was causing the line to slack up around the head tube, tightening near the lower fork. I took that old blown up tube and my tin snips and cut out a couple rubber strips. I got them rolled up and black-taped them around the brake line. Presto! They fit like magic and now they are held firmly in place!
The sun will be out this week and my car will be on jack stands most of the week, so it'll be the perfect opportunity for me to commune with my bike once again!
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