uncledj

Came home from work just as the wife was going outside to throw some fish food in the pond. Amazing how many fish are in that small pond. Anyhoo, she screams that she needs a stick 'cause there's a BIG spider over here. I went and took a look, and was fascinated by this guy (gal?). I sat there and watched it buid a web for about a half an hour. Amazing. How can that little spider know how to do that bit of architecture.....and do it so efficiently. So I smashed it with a shovel........ Just kidding. I'll see what the finished product looks like tomorrow, if I can keep the wife from going after it with a stick. lol:cool10:

I kinda like my RSV....I think they did that one just right......(maybe coulda' done without the cassette player)

She's a beaut!!! I'm a Camaro guy myself. 325 is pretty good for a 6 banger, and with a manual 6 speed, you oughta be able to make her dance. Looks like a lot of fun. Enjoy:cool10:

Thanks for all the great advice / opinions. I think I'll pass on this trailer. I checked out the link FlyinFool sent, and it'd make sense to pay a couple of extra bucks and get a new one. The 7x18 looks great, but I'd like to see if they can do a 7x20. 9' per bike should do it, but without much wiggle room....10 per bike would be even better. As far as the width, I recently trailered my first gen and my second gen side by side on a trailer 6'2" x 10'. It may have been a little tight, but it was very do-able. 7' width would be even nicer. It's not something I need right now anyway, ...so maybe in the Spring. If anyone has one for sale in the meantime, lemme know. Glad I didn't pull the trigger on it without first asking the opinions of the most knowledgeable people on the planet. lol Thanks again:cool10:

If he still has it this weekend, I'll think I'll take a look to see how heavy the axles / springs are and how difficult it'd be to move them forward. As far as the weight, I come up with more like 3200lbs for 4 bikes, and I don't know that the trailer itself will weigh enough to surpass the 5,000.b hitch limit. Some great advice all around, but what I think it' comes down to is that I need to take the 1 1/2 hr drive to take a closer look at the dirty side. I don't think I'd want to use it as it sits. Thanks:mytruck1:

I'm kinda half looking for a trailer that can hold 4 heavy bikes, so that I have a way to load up my motorhome with friends and bikes and head out to areas / events (Sturgis?) or the like. I came across this one, which is a converted boat trailer. The price is certainly right, and it's big enough, but what I'm worried about is that the axles are so far rearward, and it sits so low that I'll have problems turning into tight spots, and that, with the motorhome hitch 12' or so behind the axle, ...I'll have problems bottoming out going over humps / dips. Am I being too critical? http://columbus.craigslist.org/for/4601774471.html

Dunlop 404's front and rear. I'm pretty happy with them. Seem to grab pretty good in the rain. Maybe a bit soft, but I usually equate that with better traction, but quicker wear. I don't worry too much about the wear since I usually put less than 5000 miles a year on the bike. Considered going darkside, but couldn't talk myself into it.

I added the last post about 10 minutes ago, and it prompted me to "google" the issue, and I realized where the difference lies. When the contact is poor, or wire undersized, the voltage is dropping, and THAT is what causes the increased amperage, causing a catch 22. Poor contact causes voltage drop, which causes higher amperage, which causes heating and increased resistance, which causes further voltage drop, which causes higher current draw. HMMM....I'm seeing a pattern here. It sounds like a cop out, but I think the situation is that we're all right. The variables of the experiment are changing. Anyhoo, I'm done. Peace out

SHARP!!!

I think the misunderstanding here is that your're discussing electronics, whereas I'm discussing electromechanical equipment. A common example would be a contactor that overloads will burn the contact points. If it's not replaced, it'll continue to burn the contacts until they either weld, or burn so badly they won't pass current. I saw where someone mentioned the difference between types of loads. Pretty much everything I deal with runs a motor of some sort, (inductive load) although I do see the same scenario with electric strip heat, which I believe is a resistive load. It may also be the misunderstandings that occur between applications, which can change things quite a bit from theory or, in this case OHMS law, and actual situations in the field. I don't want to misinform anyone, but I know what I know....from 26 years of working with it and seeing it nearly every day. Once a contact becomes poor,...that contact heats, and will continue to heat until it fails. I stand by that. If you try to run too much current through a wire, it'll heat until it burns, which is why you need breakers or fuses to protect the wiring / property / life in the first place. I'm just sayin' But....back to the problem. I saw someone mentioned arc flash breakers that may be reacting to a plasma TV. Now that's interesting, and something I can't speak to, but certainly seems to make sense.

The heat of a bad connection will only trip the breaker if that bad connection is at the breaker and causes the breaker its self to heat up. The thing about a bad connection or overloaded wire heating up is that, as it heats, the resistance increases, which causes amperage to go up which will heat the connection / wire up even more,....and it just keeps going until the connection or overloaded wire burns, or the breaker trips. A typical breaker begins to heat as current passes through it, and when the current exceeds it's rating, it'll trip. So...my point was.... A bad connection, and the resulting resistance WILL produce heat at that connection when current is draw through it, if that current is greater than the carrying capacity of that bad connection. (Weakest link in the chain) Actually, to be technically correct, I should say that unless you're using a superconductor, any device that uses electricity, or has electricity pass through it will heat. If we're talking about wiring that's sized properly, the heat is negligible, but it's still there.

If resistance increases, voltage drops, amperage increases. In a situation like a bad connection, the resulting higher amperage will cause the contacts at that connection (weak link) to overheat and potentially burn. It depends on how bad the connection is as to whether it'd trip the breaker or burn the connection apart first. From the original post, it seems as if maybe you're having a ground fault issue, either with an actual ground, incorrect wiring, or a faulty GFCI, whether it be the breaker itself, or another outlet that is in the circuit. Some houses are wired so that one ground fault outlet will act as a circuit interrupter for other outlets. Electrical problems can be weird sometimes......I know....I deal with 'em every day.

It's always a pleasure meeting folks from overseas. I didn't get to talk to them much, and Jonas seemed like a pretty cool fellow....but I must say....the corn liquor I was passing around was worse than the Black Death. Don't get me wrong,..the Black Death may have tasted like S**T, but I think my moonshine was even more repuslive.

Welcome! Looks like you're a little more than an hour NW of me. Maybe we can get together sometime, do a M&E or the like. You'll like the site, ...a bunch of great folks, and there's not a question you can ask about a Yamaha (or anything else for that matter) that someone won't have an answer for. Glad you're here.

Glad you made it home safe. Where ya goin' in the Keys?....I used to live in Key Largo.

Got a new tire put on. Same as what was on there....a Dunlop 404. Had a local bike shop do it. $220 , tire and labor, out the door. I'm motorin' again!

Glad ya pulled through without getting busted up...or worse.... The skin will grow back, and any scars will give you character. I have a little of that myself. Enjoy your trip and take good care of yourself.... hope you heal quickly.

Wow. It's gettin' crazy out there. Must be sumthin' in the air. I'm very pleased to hear you're all right. Be well.

Wow.....Finally settling down. Had a great time at the WNY Mini Rally, met a bunch of GREAT people. Big thanks to Big Tom for putting it together. My friends and I are all safe at home....by the Grace of God ....and a little rider experience. All went well, great weather for the ride home. I split from my friends in Youngstown, to continue my trip home to Columbus. I was rollin' along at a pretty good clip, following a couple of cars that were in the passing lane, doing right around 80mph. I heard a minor "clink", kinda like I hit a pebble or something that hit the fender, and thought nothing of it, until about 15 seconds later when the back end got real squirrely, real quick. I figured out pretty quick that the rear tire went flat....(still doing 80)...Withing a second or two, I was going sideways down Interstate 71, in-between a bunch of cars. The bike started fishtailing, and started on the front brake only, so as not to separate the tire from the rim...(That's where the experience came in)...the bike started heading off to the right, and I could fight it, or cut in front of the car just behind and to the right, I cut across the lane to the right shoulder....at this point KNOWING I was going down and seeing the guardrail coming on pretty quick,....thinking "when I lay it down, try not to get tangled up in the guardrail.....Not too worried about me, but dreading the damage about to happen to the bike. Man...time goes into slow motion at a time like this.....your recall everything..... Anyhoo. The bike was still fishtailing, and I was riding like I was still in my dirtbike days. I brought it to a stop....UPRIGHT !!! I'm not a religious man, but I said a heartfelt THANK YOU to God. WOW. As I type...I'm still a bit shaken.... I'm serious....I was doing every bit of 80 when this happened.... Well, at least I wasn't far from home. I called the wife, and she got my neighbor to hook the trailer up to my truck, and they came and got me. A bit tricky getting it on the trailer with the flat tire, but all's well that ends well. I think I'll leave it on the trailer, and just pull the tire off there, rather than try to unload it with the flat. Somebody up there's lookin' out for me. One thing I found a bit dis-heartening was that I was on the side of the road for a little over an hour, and with the countless bikes that passed by, no one stopped. Well, I'm safe at home now. PS: This is the third flat I've had on a roadbike in my life. The first two times I went down.

It's actually pretty common for the plastic vent louvers to get hot enough to warp. Some folks remove them completely, I chose to block them closed and put a piece of foil insulation over the vent to keep hot air from hitting my leg, and to keep the louvers from warping. If you want a piece of insulation, lemme know and I'll send you enough to cover both sides.

Don't know much about SE OH, but I remember years ago travelling ? 555 ? or was it 60....and thought it'd be a great ride. Great views, lotsa twisties. I work with a guy that lives in Zanesville that knows the area. I'll ask him tomorrow.

A great hypothesis to be sure, but the wife just sticks everything in the dishwasher, and it's not that often that I see her wearing the ring anyway.

Weather report's lookin' up. I'm pretty sure you've already done this, but could ya post the address again so I have it handy for the GPS??? See ya there.

So far I think the Aliens explanation is the most plausible. I don't think a cut like that could have been made by any tools known to man. It's beyond our technical capabilities.

The wife is going through the cupboard and pulls this small drink glass out and asks me "Why'd you cut this glass"? I told her I didn't know what she's talking about, and she shows me this glass that she just pulled out. At first she didn't believe me, 'cause she (and I) couldn't understand how it could have possibly broken like this. No other glasses were stacked in it, nor was it inside another. It was just sitting in the cupboard. Weird. Last pic shows an identical glass that was sitting in the same cupboard.