icebrrg3rd

Ok, anyone coming from this area or passing thru this area on Sunday the 28th, around noon? I am going to be in Hudson, WI (right across the border from the twin cities) and will be heading down to Galena. If plans are still set, I'll be meeting with P-roy and we'll be most likely taking the twisties and river roads to Galena. -Andrew

Trader, COP = Coil On Plug, this replaces the coil packs and plug wires. Putting the coil right on the plugs eliminates the plug wires and they have just normal wires running to them. And yes, what Honda donated these COP & wiring?!?!? I would love to do this, as I have the new TCI also. -Andrew

Jeff, you must have gotten the gremlin wet, and now he multiplied. Better get this fixed ASAP before he multiplies more! Yup, I vote "yes" on de-linking, I had that issue several years ago, hit the rear too hard and locked up both, was on my side before you could blink. Delinked before I rode it again. -Andrew

Like they've all said, clean out the master cylinder and definitely clean out the expansion hole. I dealt with the locking rear brake on my first long run (never got it hot enough locally) and just did the bleed to release the caliper to keep moving on the trip. Once home, I tore it a part and cleaned it well, new fluid, and haven't had a problem with it since. It's not that hard, and other than new fluid, I reused all my old parts as they were in fairly good condition. -Andrew

I only have 5 more days, we take off on Sat to start our family vacation in western WI, then heading down to Galena the next Sunday. Can't wait, still got prep to do. Woo Hoo! So Yammer Dan, planning on staying at Blanding? Good, I've been looking for volunteers for babysitting... -Andrew

Here is a few more pics, I didn't want to completely modify the wiring so I could put the '83 cluster back in if I wanted to. For the most part, all the wire colors match up for the function they do, so blue to blue, green/red to green/red, yellow/black to yellow/black, etc. The only ones that don't match up to any are the ones you have to run to the gear selector. I found a harness that matched up to the selector plug and wired it up. -Andrew

Was just wondering about you & your bike, Jeff. Knew you were getting your parts soon so was just waiting on some positive news from Cudahy. Heh, heh, positive and Cudahy in one sentence. I cracks me up. Glad it's running, hope this fixes it. And NO, don't send that grimey little gremlin back my way. Send him to the Hardley museum, those bikes don't run anyways... -Andrew

Could you find one short enough at a hardware store? I couldn't, so I stuck the plug bolt from the rear master reservoir in with a copper washer, then stuck a longer bolt in the reservoir with a nut to take up space. Works great, no cost to me. -Andrew

Well, after a few days of riding it, I realized I prefered the look of my '83 gauges over the '84 gauges. The '83 is numbered 10, 20, 30, 40, etc to 120, and 60 is straight up so the gauge looks "balanced", 0 is between 7 & 8 o'clock and 120 is between 4 & 5 o'clock. The '84 is numbered 5, 15, 25, 35, etc to 115, with 55 straight up. This rotates the marks, putting 0 at 8 o'clock and 120 at 5 o'clock. Just looks off-balanced, or maybe I'm just so used to looking at mine that the new one looks odd. Long story short, I swapped the gauges so the '83 gauges are in the '84 cluster. Now I'm happy with the looks & function of my gauge cluster. -Andrew

Just as an aside, there have been numerous times I see the driving school cars (w/o students) zipping around like the rest of the idiots on the road. So even some of the so-called "teachers" don't drive like they should. I do agree on better standards and tiers for getting a license, both car & cycle. And something for periodically testing too, for all ages. My aunt (79 y.o.) just totalled her car. Went off road & hit a parked car. Daylight, no other traffic. Just couldn't see the road. Finally admitted that she couldn't see and had given up driving. Luckily no one got hurt. I know it'll be hard for me to give up driving when that time comes. -Andrew

Condor, I replaced my motor with one from a '88, so it had the gear selector on it already. I just had to run wiring up to the gauges. Here are some pics, I am having trouble downloading & saving some of them. Dang smartphones, outsmarting me. -Andrew

Got mine yesterday too. They look great! Now who's gonna attach them to my jacket... -Andrew

Well, since I had a nice set of '84 gauges and when I replaced my motor it had the gear indicator sensor, I figured I could replace my worn & faded gauges with a nicer set plus I could see what gear I was in. The '84 gauges had the connectors for the computer in them but the wires were cut off. I made connectors so I didn't hack up my wiring, in case the newer gauges were bad and I had to re-install my gauges. All of the wires matched color for color, all I had to do was run 5 wires to the gear indicator sensor. It was a little time consuming, but the result is now a nicer dash (with over 50k LESS miles) that has a gear indicator and illumination brightness control. Plus the "new" computer "fixed" my high-beam issue. I took some pics of the harnesses I made, plus the gauges too, just gotta get them downloaded. -Andrew

Congrats!!! At 42 I just became a dad again. Problem is unlike grandkids, I can't send her home to her parents (that's me), but I get her back from the grandparents all riled up!!! Enjoy the next stage in life. Pretty soon you'll be going to 3pm dinner buffets and driving 2nd gens... -Andrew

Other than I still have that 4k rpm drop-out issue every now and then, my mpg is around 35, but that is city (25-30 mph & many stoplights/stop signs and an aggressive right hand). My latest hwy cruising averaged 43.4 mpg, with speeds maybe exceeding the legal limit . So my TCI seems to be working ok. Just my $.02. -Andrew

It's the quiet ones you need to watch out for... So total distance to & from & riding around was 458 miles, not too bad. And I pulled 43.4 mpg for the whole weekend. Maybe next year they will call for 30% chance of sun and we can get more riding done. I have already marked the date in my calendar for next year's meet. Orlin, you did make sure that Curly didn't ride off with anyone, didn't you? It was nice meeting you guys (and gals), some new faces and others I've seen before. We had a strong showing of 1st gens, a couple of 2nd gens, and even a Goldwing trike showed up. And thanks for the breakfast Orlin's wife. j/k thanks Sharon! -Andrew

It was a BLAST!!! I got home at 3pm, it was a beautiful day for a ride, too bad that Sat had only a 30% chance of rain. Can't wait til we do it again, will have to get pics downloaded. Thanks Orlin for the wonderful MD, and we had a fun time, and maybe a few too many laughs. Ok, maybe not too many, but I think I laughed more in a few hours than I have for a month. They call me Andrew...

Darn, beat us to the punchline, of "While you're in there..." I suggest to eat them & repair your bike at two separate times, or there will be a ton of gremlins crawling around in your bike. Too bad about missing the MD, at least you should have it running to make it to the Int Rally, right?!? -Andrew

That is too bad, as I could have dropped off a control for you. Lousy standard Mk1s. So you still a no-go for the weekend? Or still trying? -Andrew

If you think it's related to the speedo, did you just lube the cable or did you also do the bushing in the back of the gauge? That needs to be lubed, someone here made a tool specifically to lube it. -Andrew

So Jeff, how's it going with YOUR gremlin (he's not mine anymore!)? Have you gotten your bike to stay running? Just wondering as tomorrow evening is fast approaching. Just let me know if you're riding with me to Orlin's, or else I'll be heading out solo. -Andrew

That's probably because you haven't been to Bangkok... Watching you-tube videos of drivers in other countries reminds me of watching b&w films of US cities in the beginning of the last century, when cars started taking over the streets from horse & carriages. People were all over the road with little regard to others. Difference is that those early cars were lighter & slower, nowadays the cars are quite a bit heavier and a lot faster, and can cause a lot more damage & injuries. -Andrew

This was only a test. Had this been an actual emergency, you would have received further instructions on what to do. Remember, this was only a test. This has been a test of the VR emergency broadcast system. Please, people, STAY CALM!!! This was only a TEST!!!

All I'm saying is I'd get a 2nd gen instead of opening up my motor. Just stating how much I don't want to go back inside of my motor. That said, I would most likely get another 1st gen IF I need a replacement IF my bike ever dies. I have a long ways to go before I go down that slippery slope of accepting that I'm old and resign myself to slowdom. -Andrew

Hey! That sounds like the gremlin I had last year! I musta lost him in Cudahy and he found your bike. Uh Oh, you haven't sync'd your bike lately, have you? Maybe that's how he transfered from my bike to yours... I never did figure out what was causing the cut-out in my bike, it just stopped happening. I had cleaned/sprayed the kill switch, messed with the fuse box, starter relay, it would still kill off in mid-ride, only to be restarted in 30 minutes to 2 hours later. Then all of a sudden, it hasn't happened (knock on wood). I have had my bike partially disassembled, so maybe I move something unknowingly. I do have a new battery in it, running the new TCI, still have glass fuses (I know, I know), old starter relay, new starter, I did resolder the computer recently due to a headlight issue, and touched all the connections, maybe that fixed it? -Andrew