Sailor

$ 1.36/Liter here today. Took over $100.00 to fill the tank on my dodge 150 Ram.

With the Japanese building Harley copies biking has gotten a trifle boring. Why didn't Yamaha do this? Two Yamaha I4,s created a V8. Check out the PGM motorcycle. Yamaha could have done it cheaper and had a powerful sports bike and detune it for a cruiser.

Who the heck would buy one of those? I use my pickup to haul firewood, top soil, gravel, furniture, etc. Where the heck is Yamaha going?

I always drove sports cars but then the prices started climbing and I could no longer afford them. That is when I bought my first motorcycle. I have been riding for 40 years and now the cost of bikes is climbing. I can no longer afford the big bikes. I have noticed a lot of scooters on the road and a surprising number of young women riding smaller sports bikes. I don't think the sport is dead, I think its priorities are changing back towards smaller and cheaper bikes. There has long been a government/police/media bias against bikes and bikers. This is partly driven by the media and movies which always depict all bikers as villains. I am not the least bit shy about going after the media/government/police when I see them wrongly reporting incidents involving bikers. I am looking for a smaller bike now and my son wants to take over the Venture. My other son also has a bike but is too busy to get out and ride much.

Electric vehicles are not free or as good for the planet as people say. Check out the mines where they get the lithium to build the batteries. Is the electricity being supplied by a coal fired power station? Atomic powered? How often do you have to change the batteries and at what cost? How many batteries are there? What about the factories manufacturing the batteries? How do you dispose of the batteries? All questions you never see mentioned in any conversation about electric vehicles.

I am a member of the Defenders MC Chapter 12 which is in Victoria. We are having a poker run Sept 10th starting at the Pro Pat legion on the Gorge and going out to Sooke . Janet and I are going over to help out. Registration starts at 0900, depart by 1000 and finish at Buckys Tap House. Everyone welcome.

Janet works for Susan De Stein. We are on the corner of North End and Fairway. The run went great. As usual the RCMP told us to piss off. They turn out full force for the gay/lesbian events but won't lift a finger for underprivileged children. Last year we raised $5000.00. I don't know the final total this year yet.

Did you pickup the local paper the Driftwood? If you did that guy on the front page in the Santa suit on the Venture was me. We had about 95 bikes show up for the weekend and run. What part of the island are your friends moving to? We are on St Mary lake.

Always wise to go with what you know. Fortunately I know nothing about anything so the field is wide open for me.

I am actually going to take a serious look at it. At my age I don't have that many riding years left so why not go out in style, if I like it. The big question is " Does it fit me?"

Normally I use amber sunglasses, darker at the top and lighter at the bottom. It helps when going from light to dark and back again. At night or in the rain I use yellow shooting glasses. They block glare without reducing vision and you can actually see through the rain with them.

Check this bike out. It is everything the new venture should have been but isn't. Lighter, faster, cheaper, etc. My only criticism of this bike is the lack of storage space and the garbage can exhausts.

I grew up in the woods and on the ocean. A bit of a loner. I liked nothing better than going out in my little boat into the teeth of a storm and daring it to sink me. As soon as I learned to drive I found how much I liked to push it. faster was better. I wound up buying various British sports cars and drove them hard. I even got my racing licence. But the cars increased in cost to where I could no longer afford them. I switched to motorcycles and sailboats. I think they are comparable. You have to be really alive and aware to run either. Now I like to cruise on either. Although I have been clocked at 150 MPH on a bike ( Darn radar traps) And I have been out sailing in storms which I barely survived I do not think I am a dare devil or Adrenalin junkey. They were calculated risks. I once gave an interview on the radio promoting our toy run. The announcer was rather hostile. At the end he asked why anyone would ride a bike. I asked him why would anyone climb a mountain, sail a boat, race a car, explore a jungle? He had no answer. I have no answer either. I think we are all individualists, each with his/her own reasons.

I think the main problem is that Yamaha looked at Harley sales and figured that is what North Americans want. They built a bloated Harley instead of a Venture thinking they could sell it to Harley riders. They ignored the fact that Harley riders only buy Harleys and Venture riders want Ventures, not Harleys. They built a nice bike that nobody wants. It is a nice bike except for the power train and being overweight

Bring him along. he might find the island interesting.

A reminder to those who might be interested. August 25,26,27 is the 21st annual Saltspring Island toy run for underprivileged kids on Saltspring. Friday Aug 25 we open the grounds for camping. There is a BBQ and music in the evening. Saturday is the ride. Depart at 11:00 sharp with yours truly leading. The ride takes about 1 hour. In the afternoon there is a beer garden and the biker games. That evening there is a dinner and dance. Sunday is coffee, muffins, clean up and depart. This is put on by a small core of about 8-10 volunteers. We usually get about 100-130 bikes and 230 participants. All proceeds go to Santas Workshop which consists of two ladies who have a wish list provided by the food bank. We provide about 95% of their financing. New, unwrapped toys, gift cards or cash are all appreciated. For more info go to the Salt Spring Island Toy Run web site or face book page.

When is the last time you heard a pin drop. BTW that pin has nothing to do with computers.

When is the last time you saw a mimeograph machine? In grade 5 every Friday I used to get three of the best on each hand with the razor strop. Told one young girl I would " catch ya later" meaning I'll see you later. She thought I was going to chase her down and catch her. My mom always said I did not need to worry about drowning as I was born to hang.

Riding along, just cruising, when a Harley went flying past. One of those flat black bobbed, low handle bar jobs with straight pipes. I knew there was a long, steep hill coming up so I made a point of cruising past him in a higher gear while he was slowly grinding his way up in low gear.

I think that guy must have been trying to ride it like a Harley, low and slow. As a consequence it bogged down. If he had revved it properly he would have been impressed.

The article I read took into account every variable they could think of including, age of rider, experience of rider, size of bike, type of bike, miles ridden in a year, type of road surface, weather conditions, time of day, amount of traffic on the road, type of traffic, speed, bike maintenance, increase in ridership, etc. It wasn't until they looked at the cars involved that they found that accidents involving suvs and mini vans resulted in higher death rates which matched the rise in popularity of those vehicles.

It is the plastic panel. There is no Phillips screw. I will try smacking the Allen wrench next. I tried the tightening trick already.

It is the back screw I can't remove. I will try to see if I can locate an impact driver.

'02 Venture. It is the panel just above the passengers floorboard on the right side. There are two fasteners. One came out easily and the other won't budge. I have tried WD 40, cooling it, heating it, and nothing works. I suspect there is a short in a wire behind it as when the ignition is on if I wiggle a wire the horn honks.

Some time ago I read a report that tried to figure out why motorcycle deaths had increased. After taking all factors into consideration they were left with the conclusion that the only real change had been the increase in mini vans and suvs on the road. When a biker hits a car he is usually thrown over the roof and survives. When he hits an suv or mini van he gets thrown into the vehicle and chances of survival are far lower.