BlueSky

The original post was political.

I'm surprised that he lumped Hollywood with Fox News? Lots of liberals hate Fox News which is by far number 1 in the ratings. The other networks are so far into the liberal progressive camp that they still don't realize why Donald Trump is going to be our next President. John Cleese is British and should spout his opinions to the British people, plenty of stupidity there. The British people are still supporting their "royal family", the family that was their slave masters!!! CNN admitted that they did everything they could to get Hillary elected. And it was the New York Times that told their employees that it was their job to get Hillary elected. We need Fox News to counteract all of the other networks. It reminds me of when super conservative Jesse Helms was one of the NC senators. A coworker commented we needed Jesse in the Senate to counteract Ted Kennedy.

Yep, with the V-Max engine and an 8 speed automatic transmission!

Much of the Harley market is all about image. The aero looking swoopy motorcycle probably isn't the image most buyers are looking for. I'm not speaking for myself. I've never wanted a Harley. After learning to ride on my vibrating Honda CB350 parallel twin and then riding my 73 Honda CB750 Four back in 73, I could never be happy with the vibration no matter how cool I looked. Make mine a four that functions well. I never cared to be or tried to be cool. I might would be happy with a BMW R bike?

We have to live where we can get a job. When I was laid off after 21 years when the company was downsizing and trying to shed as many retirement obligations as possible, I started working temporary contracts doing the same job at other nuke plants. I spent winters in Nebraska, upstate Wisconsin, Illinois, Michigan, Ohio, mid-state New York, Virginia, and Pennsylvania. I had my fill of the frozen north but I was happy to get the jobs. The plant northwest of Richmond had snow a foot deep at Christmas. I also worked in Fl two times, in the Crystal River area and in Homestead for over 3 1/2 years. I loved the weather, the water, and the fishing in southern FL! Right after I win the lottery, I'm buying a house in the Keys! Ha!

Sunday, we had our first and only day so far that the temp stayed below freezing. Every day since then it's gotten warmer and it's supposed to be 69 degrees today and 71 tomorrow! I likes it!

Being an old fart and knowing about all the advice and predictions from the "experts" in the past, it's hard not to be skeptical. Remember when the lack of an ozone layer was going to be catastrophic? When was the last time you read an article about the ozone layer? Remember when they said eat margarine instead of butter? Eggs were bad for you? On and on. I'm one old fart mound of fat skepticism!

My opinion doesn't count since I will never buy a new bike that expensive but I didn't like the swoopy design of their bikes. They should have had one model that looked like a Harley since that is what everybody is copying anyway. All the other bike manufacturers aren't selling that many bikes seems to me except for Harley. Makes me wonder how they are staying in business. Probably from selling smaller bikes internationally.

I had a 59 Chevy Impala 2drhdtp, 283 cu in 230hp, 3 speed manual with overdrive. I stopped and let the clutch out quickly with the gas floored and broke the left side motor support. The engine fan started clanging against the metal fan shroud and scared the crap out of me. I thought I had broke the transmission. Those were the days before motor supports had safety catches to prevent the engine from lifiting.

Oh, it's not "Global Warming" any more. It's "climate change". Seems the predictions on warming weren't following the correct graph. Since the climate is always changing, who can argue with that?

Does anyone have an update on our hero Cowpuc?

I don't remember what it was in Homestead. I'm not sure I ever knew. The apt complex first provided free internet/tv service provided by a guy in a trailer across the road. It was awful. Then they made a deal with U-verse and paid for part of the service. But, I tried it when it became available in wilmington NC and it was supposed to be 50 down and 5 up. It was usually about 22 down and 3 to 5 up. That was probably ok but my wife claimed she had problems downloading her Russian tv shows so we switched back to TW.

When I was working in Homestead, FL and the apt complex I was in switched to AT&T Uverse, I was happy with the service except I had to reboot the box about once a month. If I didn't I would lose the signal and be forced to reboot. I also tried Uverse here in NC but of course the speed wasn't what was advertised much like all of them. I switched back to Time Warner cable. I'm now probably overpaying at $189/month for cable and internet that includes speeds (up to?) of 300 down and 50 up and 5 premium tv channels. If my wife quits working, I may have to get a lesser service. But all of the providers are trying to merge and get monopolies, so the price will go up.

Might make riders more likely to buy Harleys, a vibrating, snarling beast.

Lots of retirees in that area. I lived in Homossassa and worked in Crystal River for a year back in 2008. Drove down to Brooksville to go to the Sam's Club. There is a great outdoor shooting range about 5 miles south of Homossassa. You can target shoot on the pistol range, long gun range, or shoot clay pigeons. I always loved the "Bear Crossing" sign that was close to that area.

When mine was running ragged, I removed about 3/4" from the end of one of the spark plug wires and screwed the cap back on. Then measuring the exhaust headers temps with an infrared themometer, that cylinders exhaust was much hotter than the others. So, make sure there is no corrosion on or in the wires at the plugs and at the coils, TCI, etc.

Perhaps a lot of us can't wait for the holidays to be over and to get back to normal! That's one thing nice about retirement. The day of the week and the time of day matters much less!

Steel braided brake lines are a nice to have, certainly not a necessity. The MkIIs have 4 piston calipers already. The brake pads are the same size as the R1/R6 calipers. They slightly improve braking according to the members here but are not a necessity also. If the stock brakes are in good shape, they do fine. From what I understand, you have to rotate the end of the brake line to hook it up to the R1 caliper, so if you go to braided lines, you have to buy them especially made for the R1 caliper. Skydoc is a good resource.

I realize it's been a few days since you posted this. Did you have the throttle plates open when you checked the compression? That may make a difference.

Yeah, I love those 7 day weekends!

Actually, it was the pagans in Europe who started the custom. They decorated the tree, gave presents, and had a great time celebrating the winter solstice and the Christians adopted those same customs so they didn't keep losing members because the pagans were having more fun. They even adopted the date Dec 25 as the birthdate of Christ. I didn't learn that by going to church every Sunday as a boy. A writer for the Raleigh newspaper did some research and published an article about it back in the 80's and that is when I learned.

I've bought several things from bikebandit and had no issues. But, if you buy a helmet or something else that doesn't fit, you pay return shipping. Found out the hard way. You can't get a return shipping label from them at their discount price like rockauto either. I usually buy my OE parts from partzilla.com or boats.net which is the same company but different web sites. Dennis Kirk will pay for return shipping on stuff that doesn't fit.

Merry Christmas Everybody and Wishing 2017 be a Great Year for Everybody!

Ramps that have an arch will help keep the bike from dragging when loading and unloading.

I wonder why they don't list the load rating. I bought Metzler Laser tec tires for my Kawasaki ZN700 a while back from Motorcycle Superstore and the rear tire was 5 years old when I received it. Maybe they are getting rid of their old stock on Amazon?