Freebird

What a relief. After buying the Slingshot, I really hoped to sell the Spyder fairly quickly. A retired gentleman and his wife stopped by and looked at it last night and just called to say that he would take it. So, I'll have some room in the garage again very soon. Just a little suggestion for those of you trying to sell things. If you are on Facebook, try their "Marketplace". Over the past 3 weeks, I've sold three things using Facebook Marketplace. I had my old John Deere 110 and a Agri-Fab leaf vacuum on Craigslist for several weeks and got no results. I put them on Facebook Marketplace and sold the John Deere the day after listing it and the leaf vacuum the second day after listing it. Had the Spyder on Craigslist and got a couple of emails but nothing else. Had about 6 or 8 inquiries from Facebook and sold it in 4 days. Having much more success on Facebook Marketplace than Craigslist.

Have you checked the local Craigslist? There are a few older Fords and etc. around here. Not compacts but 8N, 9N, etc.

So sorry to hear this. It's tragic when we lose any loved one but more so when it is somebody so young. It's just impossible to really make any sense of. You may not be one to pray but I hope you aren't offended by me saying a prayer for you and the family. You are in our thoughts.

Those old Farmalls never seem to die. I've spent many hours in the A, B, and C, Farmalls. Mostly raking hay when I was a teenager but also plowing fields in preparation for planting Soybeans. Most had crank starts but had been converted to electric start. They started every single day and never missed a beat.

Just added a fairly comprehensive list of hotels to the rally thread.

Just created a thread in the Rally's forum with more information about Maintenance Day. Will be adding information about local hotels and etc. over the next day or two. http://www.venturerider.org/forum/showthread.php?135026-Freebird-s-Maintenance-Day&p=1030048#post1030048

This is posted on the Cleveland Craigslist. It is only a few minutes from my house so if anybody is interested, I would be glad to go take a look at it for you. From the pictures, it appears to be in very nice condition. According to the serial number, I think it was produced AFTER the second gear problem was corrected. https://cleveland.craigslist.org/mcy/d/yamaha-venture-royale-1985/6517452260.html

Just updated the server side Tapatalk software. Supposed to correct a couple of bugs but don't know if it will resolve any of the issues that you have reported.

The price sounds fair enough but in my opinion, that mower is not going to hold up to mowing that much grass. Especially as high as the grass will be just mowing it 4 times a year. John Deere makes some heavy duty mowers that they sell through John Deere dealers and then they make a light duty mower that they sell at the big box stores. That model is the light duty type that is sold at the box stores. It has a stamped deck and not built nearly heavy enough to do what you are asking. It will very likely be no faster than the mower you are using. If I were looking for something to mow as much as 13 acres, I would be looking at a small/compact tractor. If I were just going to mow it 3 or 4 times a year, I would likely be looking for something with a rear PTO and then use a 5 or 6 ft. rotary mower powered off the tractors PTO. Something like a small Bush Hog. For that much property and letting the grass get that high, you are going to go through a lot of deck belts and probably drive belts as most of the light duty mowers use belts for the primary drives. Most of those cheaper stamped deck mowers have cheap pullies and etc. and you'll probably go through some of them also. Another thing to consider would be is the property mostly flat or are there hills? Zero turns do not work as well on hills. Even an older tractor like an 8N Ford or something along those lines would be a consideration. Around here, you can pick up old 8Ns in great running condition in that price range.

That may be a problem. May look at cutting the floorboards out.

All tucked in and I tell you, it will be a LOT warmer before it goes outside again.

Well, we just went and picked it up. I tell you what, it is 36 degrees outside and I about froze to death on the way home. Glad it was only about 30 minutes away. I have a 35" inseam and was plenty comfortable. I was concentrating mostly on trying to keep the icicles broken off my nose but I think I will enjoy it when it gets just a bit warmer. Already have a trailer hitch ordered from Carbon_One. Next thing will be a taller windshield.

Weekend of June 2nd.

When I took Larry's for a test ride a couple years ago the leg room was just a bit tight but I was comfortable. It will be a few months before I can comment on your other questions.

I was personally never happy with the Spyder. I thought I wanted one a few years ago but after an extended test ride at the NY Rally with a loaner from Pioneer Motorsports, I knew it wasn't for me. I really wanted to like it but my long legs and my back just did not get along well with it. Eileen loved it though so I finally bought it for her. She liked it but didn't like that we couldn't ride together on it. Though she likes riding it alone at times, she enjoys it more when we can ride together. We loved the test ride that we took on Carbon-One's Slingshot at my Maintenance Day two or three years ago and thought seriously about buying one then but never did. So when I ran across this 2016 with just over 4,000 miles on it at a pretty good price, we talked about it and decided to make the move. We'll see how it all works out. Certainly not a motorcycle in my opinion but that doesn't mean that it won't be a blast in a different way. Haven't picked it up yet. It's only about 20 minutes down the road but it's COLD outside. We are going to drive over there today and pay the buy for it but I may not actually bring it home until next weekend when it will hopefully be a bit warmer outside. Or I may get there and decide what the heck, bundle up and drive it home. We still have snow and ice though and there is a lot of salt on the roads so I'm probably going to leave it there for a few days.

Thank you all for the birthday wishes. It was a nice day. I have a lot to be thankful for.

OH yea, we have snow now. And Ice. Power went off for 20 hours yesterday due to ice heavy trees crashing down on power lines.

OK..she says that it's MY new toy but since we decided to sell her Sypder to get it, I'm saying that it's hers. Either way, I expect we'll have a lot of fun with it. 2016 Slingshot. 4,231 miles. Like new.

Let us know what you find.

Well, to be honest, I would suspect the battery tender. Have you got another one that you can try? I have seen them go bad and not shutoff and therefore overcharging and ruining batteries. That's the first thing I would verify.

OK....I'm probably being a little dense this morning but don't completely understand. You say that the Yamaha test says the battery is dead. I assume you have replaced it?

Neither of those bikes are 84's. If the white one is original paint, it is an '88. Other one is newer also. Both have the '86 and later bags and trunk.

Just noticed what I THINK is our first new Eluder owner. @Texas Tom just joined and lists an Eluder GT as his bike. Will be great to hear his first impressions. In his honor, I just added a new Tech Talk area for the Eluder. Hope he is the first of many 3rd Gen owners to join us. Welcome.

Well, your 1500 watt generator breaks down to about 12.5 amps at 1500 watts and 120 volts. Rule of thumb for most washing machines is probably around 10 amps. So, you are just about using all your available power just for the washing machine. With much of anything else turned on, lights, etc., you were very likely exceeding the power capabilities of the generator. Your 10/3 wire is rated about 30 amps so you should be fine with what the generator can put out. My guess would be that you are correct in that along with the washing machine, some lights, etc., the voltage was low and caused the motor windings and wire to the motor to overheat. It's been a long time since I've done any major electrical work but I was an electrician for about 20 years, almost all industrial, and low voltage can certainly cause such issues. I'm surprised though that if you were actually pulling too many amps, that the breaker on the generator didn't trip. I assume it has one. Of course, it's not like it would have tripped instantly as it would with a short circuit or something. They can take a good while to trip if you are just a few amps over their rating.

Moved to the proper area.