BlueSky

I don't think it is a good idea to put your finger on the spark plug hole with the engine turning. If your finger somehow got sucked into the head, you could be in a heap of trouble.

From past posts on this forum, I would suspect the fuel pump.

Will the typical carb cleaner damage the diaphragms?

Are there any radio noise issues with using copper core wires?

Those rubber grommets can be purchased from Partzilla.

Exactly, I worked handing tobacco for $3/day in the summers to make a few dollars starting when I was 12. When I got to about 15, they let me break tobacco all day for $7. And I had to spend the money on school clothes. From 15 to 18 I worked at a grocery store bagging groceries, taking them to the customers cars, and stocking shelves on Saturdays 13 hours for $7 and the last year of high school I also worked 3 1/2 hours after school on Fridays for another $3. In 3 years I never missed a Saturday. My Dad never gave me any money after 15 yrs of age. I found out at an early age that I had to depend on myself. Did a little of that picking up pop bottles and cans too.

Be sure to let us know how you like it, what features are good and if there are any negatives. I doubt there will be many negatives on that bike. It usually comes out on the top or close to the top during the sport tourer bike comparisons.

Congratulations! I've been reading sport tourer comparisons on the web and the BMW R1150RT or 1200RT comes out on top in many areas such as wind protection and handling. Lots of police departments bought them.

The last thing I picked up was a wallet. The only reason I saw it was that I ran over it and I see money flying through the air in my mirror. So I stopped and retrieved it as traffic would allow during rush hour in Raleigh NC. I also picked up all the money I could find. Turned out a waitress at a downtown restaurant where I had had lunch many times put it on the top of her car and forgot about it. On the phone she sounded like she was afraid to come get it. So, I assured her I would be at work during the time she was off and she could get it from my wife.

Hey, that's even better than road kill!

After reading the comprehensive testing the LAPD did on potential police bikes, I don't think I'd buy a BMW R bike. The manufacturer gives an acceptable oil temp of up to about 300 degrees as acceptable. 400 degrees for the Harley oil temperature acceptability! No air/oil cooled bikes.

Me too. I did some stupid and dangerous things during my misspent youth. But, I did not ever hurt anybody and with age comes a little maturity.

Yeah that Karma thing. One Christmas when I was in high school back in the early 60's, 3 of my buddies and I were riding around throwing cherry bombs. I drove by one of our male teacher's home whom we didn't particularly like and the plan was to toss one on his yard. The guy in the back seat didn't get it out of the car. He yelled firecracker in the car. I put my elbows on the steering wheel and covered my ears. I found out where it was then. It was between my back and the seat back. It blew a big hole in my London Fog jacket, a big hole in my shirt, and t-shirt and burned an area on my back about the size of a silver dollar. Not to mention what it did to the car. I stopped and pulled out some burning cotton from the hole in the seat. When it went off it felt like someone hit me in the back with a baseball bat. Those old cherry bombs had some powder!

Back in my young days, people walked the road shoulders picking up pop bottles for the deposit and aluminum cans to recycle for cash. I haven't seen that happen in a long time.

There are still lots of low mileage Gen I's out there that come up for sale occasionally!

I owned a 1983 Yamaha 750 Virago in the past. It was a good bike but to me it felt under powered and it vibrated. Another thing I didn't like that wasn't the bike's fault was that a PO had put straight pipes on it. They sounded good for about 15 minutes of riding. My smaller bike that I have now is a 1985 kawasaki ZN700. The 4 cyl engine has 74 hp and in a 500 lb bike it screams pretty good. No lack of power and the 4 is smooth. Just has a small seat that won't do for riding any distance.

I tossed my High School ring out the window with a beer can back in the day. It was a loose fit.

Does it have balance shafts to smooth out the vibration?

Well, it was all worth it to get your wife to laugh so much!

Well, you didn't really know if you liked it until you rode is a ways. Should be easy to turn around and sell as sharp as it is.

You can see the board under the front wheel and the board under the frame but it's still amazing. Running in salt water would take some cleanup afterwards!

When I was doing the searches, I found a link of a 2009 LAPD test of several potential police bikes. Among the many things they checked was oil temperatures to verify they were within factory recommendations. On the oil/air cooled Harleys, oil temps up to 400 degrees was acceptable according to Harley. Geez!

But even he dropped the bike.

We saw it. We just don't wanta bash Harleys. Lots of forum guys love them. A Harley shirt worn by a Vic rider though, we can make fun of that.

Wow! It's going to be a full time job just to keep all those bikes exercised! I know it's a tough job but someone's gotta do it!