Dragonslayer

It has a new Odyssee battery reading 12.95 volts fully charged. Now battery fully charged and solenoid clicks but starter doesn't turn at all.

I've been sufferring from starter drag for a while. It would sound like there wasn't enough juice to turn the starter over and all of a sudden it would catch and fire up. Didn't seem to matter if the bike was hot or cold. I did the battery cable upgrade and it didn't seem to make any difference. But lately it seems to be getting worse then ever and now one or two starts will completely drain the battery down. I pulled the starter out and tested it and it spins fine under power but when I put the starter back in place, same problem. Any suggestions?

Like the little dog said when the train ran over it's tail: It won't be long now! The project that Matt and I have been working on is coming together after it had been sitting idle collecting dirt dabber's nest and pine straw for the past eight years. Problem started when he lost the seal on anti dive valve and lost fork oil in front shocks. He let a buddy work on who let it fall over in his shop which broke the stator cover where the shifter rod penetrats it taking the shifter linkage out. So then it sat in the drive-way, out in the rain, full of bad gas, for eight years. Like I said collecting dirt dabbers and pine straw. We managed to get it pushed up onto a trailer to get it hauled over to my house where it has been for the past few months in various states of disassembly. Matt and his wife Charlotte have been very patient with me while I took a month off to Sturgis and to ride around in the wild west on my latest adventure. So when I got back it was time to buckle down and get back to work. So.... We drained the fluids removed the side covers and had them dipped and polished Went through the electrical system cleaning and checking electrical contacts removed and rebuilt the carbs changed out the fuel filter fixed the anti dive valve replaced the fork oil replaced the clutch perch and slave cylinder Bleed the clutch system and recharged replaced the covers new oil filter and oil new brake fluid cleaned and repaired all the plastic body parts Synched the carbs In the morning we are going to rebuild rear brake caliper and as soon as we get the brakes right put the plastic back on. I expect that we will be riding tomorrow. :7_6_3[1]: Before and after pictures to follow tomorrow. I quess next project will be to find a job. I've about milked this last motorcycle adventure vacation which has lasted six years. Just hope I can find a motorcycle job,

I'm glad things are looking up. Ain't it great the way a long ride on a pretty day with good friends can change your perspective. Enjoyed the ride on Saturday hope to ride again with you soon.

If your looking for a camera to mount on the scout check this site out. oregonscientic.com http://www2.oregonscientific.com

Cindi, When I was kid growing up and my older sister would be being mean to me, my mother would always tell me to pretend she was a cabbage head and whatever she was saying to me to be mean really didn't matter because after all she was only just a cabbage head. As adults we might use the cliche "consider the source" in smilar situations. So, my advice to you is: Unless you can get the help of your Fairy God Mother and her magic wand to turn them into Cabbage heads I would just say Bippity Boppity Boop and move on. Hope that helps.

Shame, I liked that feature to see who was paying attention.

It si msoe wath sacrry to me that ouyr emsseg amde erpfect snense to me nad I onw unerdsantd wyh sa a writtre os amny fo oyur essagmes ( I wnot mnetne ayn names) masek snsee ot em eevn atfer I hve bene dirnknig tekiller all atfrenono lnog:whistling:.

You bettcha, Last time I was there about every sixth or seveth vehicle was Law enforcement. 35 MPH strickly enforced.

Done, she'll be running rings around your slow self in no time.

The Honda shops sell an aerosol product that is great on windshields and on the plastic body parts to clean and shine called HONDA PLASTIC POLISH. Be careful what kind of cloth you use to wipe the lexan windshied many will leave scratches like cotton towels and the paper towels furnished at gas stations.

Great video, thanks for sharing. I must be computer iliterate or something cause I can't figure out how to load videos and larger pictures in my messages. I've got over thirty hours of video on this trip that I wish I could share but I don't know how. You may want to check out some of the other post from this trip Dragonslayer in Texas, Detained by the New Mexico State Police , New Mexico Part 1.

I too have the Verizon wireless broadband modem and was also told that it would work anywhere I had phone signal. BULL S..ttttttt. I recently got back from a 6500 mile touring trip of the country and the system did not work not even once, even in areas where I had phone signal and good phone signal at times. As a result in the month time I was gone getting internet access was impossible therefore as a result I could not access email or ebay system and my ebay account got screwed up because I could not monitor what was going on with my sell items. I hope you have better luck I'm just saying I would not trust it for anything important it let me down. Being completely useless to me on this trip which is what I got it for in the first place I went back to Verizon to cancel it. Verizon said it would cost me $175.00 to cancel. I'm now contemplating getting a new carrier and telling Verizon to shove it.

Didn't you have a previous engagement on the other side of the world or did you just say so to get a free Hooter's sendoff.

This year was my first time to go to Sturgis. I just completed an 6500 mile round trip from Atlanta, Ga to Sturgis then a tour of the west on the way back home to Atlanta. In my opionion, once you've been to one bike rally you pretty much have been to them all. Granted Sturgis is one ,if not the, largest as far as motorcycles attending. But the rally pretty much was like all of the other ones I've been to. The same vendors, the same sort of main street activities, the same sort of assortment of bike, bikers and attitudes. But, I believe what makes each rally unique is the locale and rides associated with the locale. The Black Hills, in south Dakota was awesume as was all the rides I enjoyed in Montana, Wyoming, Idaho, Utah, Colorado, New Mexico and Texas. I guess what I'm saying is by all means do the Sturgis thing the trip will be well worth it but only because, It's not the destination it's the journey:7_6_3[1]:

Bill, First off, welcome aboard the site. This is a great site with great people who will certainly make you feel welcome. I'm sure everyone has thier own story on the hows and whys they ride what they ride, I can only give you my perspective. I ride a 87 Venture Royale XVZ1300 which is about to turn over 100k miles. I just returned from 6500 mile trip covering 20 states, towing a trailer. I ride my biike everyday. I can't imagine riding anything else. I've riden the Goldwing and think it is a fine bike in many ways but, I still perfer my Antique Venture. The best way for you to find out is to ride one.

I am so sorry here the news about the crash of a fellow, Club member, bike traveler, and Bob. My prayers are with him and his family for a speedy recover and also to his traveling companions for all of the anquish they have and are enduring. My well wishes and prayers go out to you.

I bought this thing in Utah for $4.95 it's called the Sucker. The idea is that you put your drink in it and put it down on a semi flat surface like your gas tank and the suction cup action keeps it in place. That is untill you get up to about 45 mph and the dang thing blows off with your drink and you have to turn around and go get it out of the middle of the road. So, I guess you can say that the sucker really sucks or maybe they meant if you bought one of these things like I did you would be the Sucker like I was. PS it also works for the passenger as shown in the photo

You were right about the after market fork seals the left tube seal gave up in the badlands in South Dakota and bled fork oil all the way back. Gas mileage got better when the gas octane started getting better without ethonol, #4 carb float still sticking and I had to change plugs twice, the two plugs on left were black and sooty two on right fairly clean. It was losing power on the long incline pulls up towing the trailer and my big butt at high altitudes other than that she carried me 6,506 miles. I did run all the rubber off the rear metzler in the desert of NM and had to resort to putting a Harley Davidson Dunlap on in Tucumcari, NM. I couldn't help it that was the only motorcycle tire in that whole town I was just glad it fit.

Hey don't complain North Georgia needs it Lake Lanier up a foot and 1/2 17 more feet to go.

My roommate the dog expert shes shepard and chow I say wolf, when in doubt you can always call it an American Dingo

I'm back home now in Atlanta safe and sound after riding into the remnants of hurricane Faye's rain from Birmingham all the way to Atlanta. The last part of the trip I was trying to complete the Saddlesore 1000 from Amarillo to Atlanta. Which I will cover under a different post. But, I still needed to finish telling y'all the rest of the New Mexico portion of the trip which be covered in three parts. This part being # 2 which will cover from the Cimarron Canyon to Las Vegas, NM. Which was one of the most interesting parts of the trip. Leaving the Cimarron Canyon I reach a place called Eagles Nest. Where Eagles Nest Lake is. Supposedly the best Trout fishing in New Mexico but I'll never know because my fishing pole blew off the trailer somewhere in Tennessee. But I know it sure was windy all the way to Angel Fire. NM where I toured the National Vietnam War Memorial. I spent some time there and was sincerely moved by the exhibits and the movie presentation of the Vietnam Years both in country and stateside. Vietnam was the war of my generation and the images depicted brought back quite a few poignant memories. After Angel Fire as I'm entering Taos, NM I stop to check the map. While stopped I decide to answer Nature's call so I step off the road and into the woods and walk down this incline about 15 yards where I reach this creek culvert where I stand to add to the water flow of the creek. As I'm finishing up I look over to my left, and notice something strange down in the creek. It appeared to be some bones sticking out from under some clothing. The clothing appeared to be some sort of jacket. Now if it were just bones I would just assume it was some deer or animal carcuss but since it looked liked it was wearing clothes and I had never seen any wild animals wearing clothes in this sort of setting my next guess was that it was the bones of a person not an animal. Not knowing exactly what to do at that point, I decided that I probably should not get any closer to it so that I don't get totally grossed out or disrupt a crime scene should it be one. So I take a picture of it and climb back up the hill and get on my bike and ride on into town. As it turns out I find a New Mexico State Police office about two miles down the road so I stop to make sure I can ride off with my conscience being clear. So I pull in to report it. One of the Officers followed me back up the road to where I had pulled off and I lead him down the hill to the exact spot on the culvert where I first saw the bones. He evidently saw the same thing that I had seen because he immediatly gets on the radio and calls for a Supervisor and back up. While I was wondering why he needed back-up I slowly backed-up the hill. Turned out he needed a Supervisor to make a decision on what to do next and back-up for a third opinion on if it was a crime scene or not.So by the time the third, fourth and fifth cop car showed up and all of the officers had a chance to walk down the hill and stand where I first stood. They all had decided that it was very suspicious and maybe they should call for the criminal investigators to come secure the scene. It was at that point that they politely asked me if I wouldn't mind waiting to tell the criminal investigators How I happened to stumble over this exact spot all the way from Georgia by way of South Dakota, Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, Utah, and Colorado to this exact spot in New Mexico. One of them did suggest in somewhat of a joking way, I wasn't laughing, that they did have handcuffs and I could be REQUIRED to sit in the back of one of the cop cars until the investigators arrived. Seeing the futility of refusing their invitation I graciously accepted. I did however agree to sit in the back seat of one of the cars when it started raining only under the conditions that they would leave the door open and I could leave one leg out with one foot on the ground. I stayed there only as long as it rained and used the excuse that I wanted to take a picture of the double rainbow as a ploy to escape from the car. So five hours later after everyone arrived and stood on the spot on the culvert and then the ones dressed in suits got to get down in the water a drag it out of the water since they were they ones that got paid the big bucks to do that sort of thing. I was set free to go my merry way. I could have stayed there and camped out but some of the officers had been talking about the big mountain lion that had been seen in the area and if this could possibly be a cougar kill. That seemed somewhat unlikely to me since by now they all had agree that the clothing I first saw now appearred to be a large sack tied up with rope. But, to be on the safe side I opted to ride off into the night and find a safe motel well away from any wild animal danger. Which I did some hours later in Las Vegas, NM.

Just got back from that trip total miles 6506 from Atlanta, Sturgis, Yellowstone, Grand Tetons via GA, TN, KY, IL, MS, KS, NE, SD, WY, MT, ID, UT, CO, NM, TX, AR, MI, AL, Back to ga in time for the rain from Hurrican Faye.

This trip has been a trip and adventure of a lifetime and I enjoyed every minute of it. Especially the time I spent in Texas.This was due in most part to the V.I.P. treatment i received from my guides and host. Jack aka the Silver Bullet and Brian aka tx2sturgis. I've met alot of great people on this trip ... but these guys were the bomb... If you every get a chance to get to Amarillo...... you gotta party with these guys. It was like I-40 was a giant red carpet they rolled out from the New Mexico/TX boarder to the Texas/ Oklahoma boarder just for me. When I finally landed in Tucumcari, NM with a rear Metzler showing thread all the way around, Jack offered to stop what he was doing to buy me a tire and bring it 150 miles to get me back on the road. That ended up not being necessary since I was able to find the only motorcycle tire to be found in Tucumcari which happened to fit even though it was a Harley Davidson emblazed Dunlap. The Tucumcari experience was a story in itself and I will tell that part under a different post. But none the less the next day Jack rode from Amarillo to the Stuckey's at the NM/TX boarder to meet me and escort me into Amarillo with lights and sirens blaring announcing my arrival. After a short visit at The Cadillac Ranch that actually is a local landmark of buried antique Cadillacs and not a house of illrepute as I had imagined. Which I probably could have used at that point in the trip. Once we arrived in Amarillo we caught up with Brian aka tx2sturgis and headed off to ride the Palo Duro Canyon area. My guides could not have been better or more knowledgeable of the Canyons sites and history if they had been employed by the park service. They even arranged for an after hours veiwing and private tour of the Canyon museum. At the point where we had completed the Canyon run it was decission time again and I needed to commit to if I was going to flip or fly..... stay in Amarillo for the night or continue my journey towards Atlanta. My options were to camp out in the canyon with the Rattlesnakes. That option would require unloading the trailer and settling up the tent which did not sound inviting at that time with the heat the way it was. Get back on the road and head for Oklahoma. Or, allow Jack to pull some strings for Luxury accomadations at a very fair price, adult libations, the promise of preatty girls waiting, and live classic rock music by a local band at one of Brians favorite watering holes. Brian knew all the right buttons to push so guess which option I choose. So after a short detour by the hotel to check in and drop some gear off Jack and I caught up with Brian at his favorite watering hole The BoonDocks to meet his Sturgis buddies and the lovely waitstaff who had cold Coronas and monster burgers waiting for our disposal. Our waitress Allison was a Librian in her day job and was very knowledgeable and friendly. Her repertouire of accumulated knowledge included just about every "Bob" joke I had ever heard. Her presentations , delivery and timing of which were flawless. After hearing some classic rock early George Strait.....and I still say Amarillo by Morning was a Glenn Cambell song.... come to think of it I really don't recall the band doing any Classic Rock as advertized, Jack started turning into a pumpkin and politely excussed himself. Evidently we were keeping him up past his bedtime so he rode off into the night. But, not before trying to arm wrestling me for the bar tab. My determination won out since Jack adamately insisted on picking up the tab for everthing so far and I agreed to let him leave the tip for Allison the "Bob" joke expert. But Brian wasn't finished showing me a good time yet so since BoonDoocks was now closing at the stroke of midnight he privately arranged for Jennifer the barmaid and Allison the waitress/Librian/"Bob" joke comedian to go with us to some of his other watering holes that would be open for a while longer. Our next stop was a place called "Running Wild Hogs". But evidently the the Wild hogs had done run off because by the time we got there it was last call. So we went next door to a place that I thought Brian said was a sports bar called Whiskers. I was somewhat confused when I did not see any TV sets and wondered how a sports bar could operate without TV sets hanging off the walls :confused24:until Brian explained that he didn't say it was a sports bar but a SPORTY bar. As I looked around a little closer I realized what I first thought was a target rich environment was actually a room full of Sporty Women talking to each other. :whistling:We then closed down one other place called Jomama's. The unofficial motto of Jomama's was Get your Drama At JoMama's. During the brief time that we were there before closing time I'm convinced that the bar got it's motto honestly. Having closed down the town Brian escorted me back to my hotel where we arranged to get in touch with each other the next day after I had checked out of the hotel. The next day I awoke to the sound of housekeeping wanting to get in and by a look on the clock it was five minutes before check out time. After a quick shower and packing up my gear I checked out and returned to BoonDocks to meet Brian for lunch. We spent the afternoon at Boondocks and then back to Running Wild Hogs where Brian introduced me to everyone he knew as if I was a traveling dignitary. It was obviouse to me that Brian was well liked and popular with all that he introduced me to and his ensthuastic introduction elevated my status from traveling stranger to V.I.P. guest. My time in Amarillo ended with a delitefull dinner with his friends at a mexican restuarant name Aculpoco serenanded by espanic versions of many early rock and roll songs including my favorite Bob Seger song Turn the Page, which I sing often at Karoke. But, Not in Spanish. We returned briefly to Boondocks where we filed out the start point paperwork for the Iron Butt saddleSore 1000 endurance ride I planned to complete where I would cover the 1,148 miles from Amarillo, Texas to Atlanta, Georgia in less than 24 hours. I pulled out at 10:30 P.M. Central time and completed the Iron Butt ride at 10:00 p.M. the next day with 30 minutes to spare.

Dano, I assure you I got pleanty of motocross experience with the scoot and trailer on this trip total trip mileage 6,506 miles probably 1,000 of dirt, gravel and rough roads. I'm very proud of the fact that in all that time and distance I did not drop my bike once. Palo Duro Canyon was great and I had the best guides possible.