zagger

Well I can tell you, you are not the only one. I moved my '83 foot controls 18 inches forward - a comfortable position for me. I built the custom linkages which were necessary. I have two bikes with forward controls - I guess that I don't enjoy being crunched up. zag

I like to spend my time zigging and zagging on the small back roads of Wisconsin. zagger

The whole weekend is supposed to be great around here. Just got home from an afternoon ride with a stop to listen to a band playing outside of a waterfront bar. Gotta think of someplace to go tomorrow and Monday - don't want to let perfect weather slip on by. zag

Good Luck! My daughter totaled our minivan when she first started driving. Pulled out in front of someone, who then put a deep, car sized imprint into the side of the van. No one hurt. That was 10 years ago, and she has safely driven ever since that first smashup. My son started driving a few years ago and eventually bought his own pickup truck. Good thing too - he ran into the back end of someone waiting to turn and crunched the front bumper, grill, hood, etc. Since he didn't have collision insurance, it took some work with a winch and installing a new hood to make the truck almost as good as new - if you squint your eyes! And don't notice that the headlights are attached with wire ties and the hood color doesn't match the rest of the truck. I'm hoping that experience stuck deep into his head since he now also has a motorcycle. Best wishes, zag

I have to wonder how anyone could prepare to have some big thing drop into the road right ahead of them? Seems like the person on the bike took reasonable evasive action but the rolled up thing just happened to end up right in their path. Wrong place at the wrong time. Yesterday I darned near ran straight into a cement truck on a 90 degree blind corner (a house built close to the road totally blocks the view of oncoming traffic). This small rural road typically has almost zero traffic - I only saw two cars in about 1/2 hour. But, as bad luck would have it, the cement truck arrived at the blind corner exactly at the same time as I did. And it nearly filled the entire road. And, probably because of the non-existent traffic, the truck driver chose to run through the stop sign facing him at that corner. I didn't have a stop sign in my direction and was moving at a reasonable speed through the corner - only to find the road nearly completely blocked by the oncoming truck. Hard braking, swerving, some rear wheel sliding, and I cleared the truck by 3 or 4 feet - just as he noticed me and started to hit the brakes. Geesh. Darned near got creamed on a back road that I've been riding on for many years. Sometimes luck has a big part in our lives. zag

Ok, I'm probably naive. If someone steals my registration card and insurance card - so what? zag

Thanks! zag

Orlin, Maybe I missed it, but could you give your address? Thanks, zag

"Inflate to recommended tire pressure on tire... Not in bikes manual." Why? Isn't the pressure on the tire simply the maximum recommended? zag

Geesh. What MikeWa posted: tire pressure specs are for cold tires, not ones heated up by riding around. I guess that too much knowledge can be a bad thing! zag

"Just not sure where to start." Grab one wire, identify where it goes and verify the colors, decide whether it stays or gets chopped. There are lots of them you can live without. And a bunch that you need. I'm sure that you can figure out which ones are essential. Of course, none of this is irreversible. If you cut something out by mistake, you can simply solder it back. In my case, I kept none of the original wires since the placement of components was changed. Not big deal to run new wires to replace old ones that were cut out. My real advice is to take your time. The wiring bundle will get smaller and smaller and the job gets easier and easier as you go. You should be able to crimp on connectors (I like the "bullet" style that are easily purchased at a hardware store) and be able to solder. I like to solder each connector after crimping simply to make the entire thing more waterproof. Note: I yank off the colored plastic things on the connectors since they are useless and would melt when the connector is soldered. Then I wrap connectors with fusion tape (the non-sticky, stretchy, black tape that only sticks to itself) to give added vibration resistance and weather proofing. If you add all new wiring (buy a spool of wire from the store or order online) then you are free to route the wires anywhere you like and can clean up the installation to suit yourself. Good luck. zag

I would suggest that you carefully remove all of the wiring, identify the function of each wire, and keep only the ones you actually need. The removal list would be way too long and confusing to attempt online. This is my '83 with the wiring hanging out: Probably will take a couple of weeks to sort it all out. zag

At least it wasn't this: zag

Out of curiosity, where is the gas that the engine is running on? zag

"No, that's not a record. With the older Avon Venom rear, I regularly got 22-24,000 miles." Ok, now THAT must be the record! I don't think that I tried Avon Venom tires but I become used to new Metzelers every 8,000 miles or so. Since mounting and balancing is part of the total tire expense, I found a guy who does tire changing at his house using professional equipment that he got from a dealership that went bust. $20 to mount and balance - just wait a few minutes and it is done. Seems like a deal to me. Of course you do have to bring him the wheel, not just drop off the bike. zag

"It's got about 18,000 miles on it" Is that some new world record? I don't think that my Metzeler rear tires have ever gone beyond 8,000 miles - and one brand I tried went much less than that. zag

Geesh. Voltmeters are pretty darned cheap, and I actually own more than one. Licking batteries, hot wires, or trying to resuscitate some electrocuted person with my fingers up his rectum - not gonna happen! Call me crazy, but I just measure electricity with a meter and stay away from electrocuted people. zag

If (like me) you like the normal concept of "foot = rear", "hand = front" then de-linking makes good sense. I did it when I first bought my '83 several years ago. I'm not so sure that the other various brake upgrades are worth the effort. De-linked brakes with the regular '83 stuff seem to give pretty typical brake performance (compared to other bikes I own). zag

If you can post a picture of the installed filter, I'd sure like to see it! zag

Sunny today for the first time in weeks. Gonna get out on the bike after it warms up. zag

Yup - I remember tracing every single wire to figure out whether I could live without it or it had to stay. Takes awhile, but you might be able to cut out some of the confusion and toss those wires in the trash. Good luck. zag

Wow. I had forgotten how much stuff is jammed in there. Years ago, I chopped and hacked until the pile was much smaller. Best of luck with your work. zag

I didn't attach any name to my bike. My riding friends started calling it the "black beast" and so that's its name zag

"The days are getting longer and nights are getting shorter and it wont be long and we can crank up the bikes and head down the road for a ride." That's a nice way to look past the upcoming freeze. I was feeling pretty gloomy and was dreading the need to walk the dogs and probably carry them home after their feet get so cold that they won't walk. zag