Motorcycle Mike

Sadly all the old photos of my bikes were destroyed when my parents basement flooded when I was overseas in the Army. But my afliction is very simalar to pucs. I had to be born with it. I remember trying to talk mom and dad into letting my buy one of thos little bicycle motors out of the back of magazines and wearing out the sears catalog looking at the Allstate motorcycles. There was a Harley shop just a few miles from the house and I'd spend a large portion of my Saturdays there dreaming of rideing those HUGE motorcycles. When I was about 8, one of the big kids in the neiborhood had a minibike that would not run and his parents told him to get ride of it. I was all to happy to take it off his hands. Mom knew I'd never get it running so she didn't worry about it. After messing with it for a couple of weeks and some "secret" help from dad I was tearing up the back yard and the beast was out of his cage. When i was 11 dad came home with a very slightly used Suzuki 80 like this one. http://www.suzukicycles.org/photos/K/K11/1964_K11_Sport-80_red_450.jpg It took mom along time to forgive dad for that. She was sure I was going to kill myself. I built some ramps in the back yard so I could do some jumping. That REALLY made mom happy. From then on I just kept moving on up to bigger, faster bikes. Never bought a car till after I got out of the service. Mom eventualy warmed up to me rideing and became a trusting passenger and my biggest supporter at the track.

I quit rideing when it gets below freezing a few years ago. Not because I couldn't take the cold but because Shirley let me know how much it worried her. Even though I only rode on dry days, she worried about some jerk opening a hydrant or someones sprinkler system. Then one day some jerk DID open a hydrant when it was in the low 20s and made a real mess of things. It didn't effect me but she laid the law down, No more riding below freezing. That don't look like Misheygan to me!

I've rode to work in the teens many times. Don't usualy see single didgets this far south. If you layer up and top it with leather you can get 15-20 miles before you even start feeling it.

Alot of folks use these and love them. I hear you may want to weld the corners so beef it up. 78" Tag-Along Trailer - 600 Lb. Capacity

Good post Randy. I've practiced emergency stopping on every bike I've owned and work in refreshers throughout the year. It's saved my bacon on a number of occasions. If you don't know how to stop it, you probably shouldn't get it going.

I was hopeing to make it this year. Had to pick my vacation before you posted the date. I picked 1 week late. There are rumors that my job will be done away with before then and I'll have to retire 7 months early. We shall see.

Yuh huh. And the Falcons were just a couple wins away too.

40 degrees here with a wind chill of 32. I acually saw 20 maybe 30 snow flakes. It was terrible man, just terrible. Seriously, I don't know how Y'all stand that stuff. Hope your stupid groundhog is wrong. Ours, Gen. Beauregard Lee predicts an early spring.

I'm sure that has no effect on handling. I wonder how it does passing a semi on the interstate.

And then the guy muggs ya. WOW! You sir, are not the one with a problem. I've never seen you put down anyone or any bike. Sleep easy friend.

Santa converted my RSV to a trike and installed granite counter tops in the kitchen. That pretty well blew the budget for putting anything under the tree.

Working today and Christmas day too. You would think after 28 years on the job I'd have enough senority to get holidays off.

Well, my name is Mike and I've been rideing motorcycles since I was a kid. Genius huh?

I would not for one second consider loading a bike the size of these into the bed of a pickup. It's too big and heavy. Very high probabilty of it and you ending up on the ground, bottom up. Rent, borrow or buy a 5X10 utility trailer.

Here is a cross reference that list oil filters that will fit most motorcycles. I've had it a while. You may notice the latest dates are 2003 but the filter on the newer Ventures is the same. I use the Mobil M-110 because its a good filter, the auto parts store always has it in stock and it fits both my bikes. http://motorcycleinfo.calsci.com/FilterXRef.html

I got tired of after market/straight pipes by the time I was 20. I got a bug and put some after market pipes on my VTX about 8 years ago. Left them on about two weeks. I guess I've been old along time.

Blue. The red is just a little hard on my eyes.

Prayers and condolence Scott. I know too well the pain you feel. You mention he was close to the Lord so I know for certain he is in a far better place. Take care of mom.

Thanks Don! Looking good. You Da Man!

Sigh...........at least I get to ride to work and back.

I appreciate the heads up about you doing this. I've been on other forums when they just did it without warning and leave you wandering WTF untill it comes back up. Thank You!

We'll be heading to Maggey Vally Sunday. Ventures Randy and Linda are supposed to drop in Monday. If you get a chance come on by. The weather forcast keeps changing but it looks like 'most' of the days will be fine. I'm certain we'll get wet somewhere along the way. I seem to have a knack for finding showers.

It'll be great to see you and Linda again. I sure hope the weather cooperates.