meach

So I ordered a new digitizer from eBay, cost me $22, installed it and 550 works as good as ever, beats paying $150

We had a great time in the area, didn't get to Marquette much, made a Wally world trip one day from Big Bay for supplies but we spent about 4 days in the area. Came up 35 to 553 thru Guinn (sp?) and passed by what looked like a biker bar, on the way home we back south on 41. The groom is from Marquette/Big Bay area. Grew up in Marquette (his mother was a doc but later moved her practice to Escanaba) He's working on his masters at Northern Michigan and works part time in a local BBQ rest., I don't recall the name but the day of the wedding they had to close because most of the kitchen workers went to the wedding and did the food for the reception afterwards. He does stream ecology work all around the area, even up on the Huron Sportsman property. Not sure we would have ever gone up there if not for having a good reason, had never been to the great lakes region, glad we made the trip. On the way home was chatting with a fellow at a stop who used to live in Marquette, worked for Catapillar and his family couldn't take the winters so they moved back to the south after several years. Be hard to live where you had to stop riding for several months, I'm too used to riding year round.

Where did you get your screen? I've looked at a couple sights but haven't ordered yet. I would prob. use my 550 more if I could read it without putting reading glasses on. If I had $ the 665 would be nice to get with the overlay weather maps.

Reminded me a lot of driving thru the Sawtooth Range (minus the snow peaks) in Idaho, the smell of fir trees in the air all the time. We loved driving down thru western lower MI. We came down 31 along the lake then camped in Interlochen below Traver City then south down 37 thru some of the national forest. Was going to go up the Kewanee P. but too much rain the day we had to head out so we headed on south. Will do the K.P. another trip up. We'll be back again.

Took 11 days and 3000 mi to go to Big Bay MI (22 mi north of Marquette MI) and back earlier this month to attend a wedding. Went up thru TN, KY, IL & WI and back thru MI, IN, OH. We tent camped most of the time. This was our first long trip on the RSV Some campgrounds we stayed at: City of Rantoul, IL - Prairie Pines Campground - (formerly Chanute AFB trailer park) Township of Big Bay, MI - Perkins Park Campground (where wedding reception was held) Chain O' Lakes State Park, IN (huge park and campground) We stopped by IR in Galena on the way and was going to camp at Blanding Landing but was made aware of train tracks right next to campground with trains all night blowing whistle. (Learned a Canadian salute of sorts while we chatted with a couple folks regarding the trains at the campground) ended up staying at Chestnut Mtn, I guess the desk girl felt sorry for us after spending all of one day riding in rain as she gave us one of their really nice rooms with a view of MS river (see pic) Was one of the most unique weddings I've attended. Ceremony was held on top of Thomas Rock (aka Gobblers Knob) which overlooks the town of Big Bay, Lake Independence and Lake Superior (see pic) Was a little nervous crossing "mighty mac" from UP back to lower as there was rain following us and didn't want to cross bridge in rain. We had to drive on the metal grate due to construction and front tire kept wanting to follow a joint in grate thus wobbling a little but all went well, beat the rain and stopped for fudge in Mackinaw City:) My 07 RSV did great. Had an issue I was afraid was in final drive making noises, had new oil in drive but went to Autozone in Rantoul and bought knew oil and changed it in parking lot, inspected old oil and all seemed fine. Noises would come and go rest of trip, changed final drive oil again in Big Bay. Decided noises were tire related and possibly those 5 pins (not sure what they are called) inside rear hub being dry (put molly on em and drive spines after getting home) Spending time riding along Lake Superior and Lake Michigan was kind of like riding along the coast but a whole lot cooler. Found a few lighthouses. The lighthouse at Big Bay was awesome, on a bluff overlooking Superior. (see pic) Spent one night in a little converted pop-up camper in backyard of daughters house given as a wedding present to them, was actually really nice inside. 4 wheel trail right behind leads to a system of 4 wheel trails all over the UP. It seems everyone up there has a snow mobile for winter and a 4 wheeler for summer. Amazing you can walk out of the camper and go forever (if you wanted) and not cross a road or see anyone. So anyway, a little summary of our 11 days, had a great trip. Weather was mostly great, a lot of rain on the way up but nice and cool in the UP, wedding went well, met a lot of yoopers, looking forward to next trip.

My 550 died after returning from a long trip, 50 miles from home the touch screen went south. Did the freeze thing shortly before leaving for trip and battery removal solved the freezing. Going to spend $20 or so to order new touchscreen and replace myself, if this doesn't fix it then prob. just gonna buy a different GPS, this one came with bike from PO. I don't use most the features of the 550 anyway, use google maps (or an actual map). Mainly was using the 550 for the built in mp3 player and for more accurate speed. Garmin has a pretty good reputation for customer service, sorry you're having to wait. The 550 are older tech. by todays standards.

Last time I passed thru Dickson on my way to Dresden, TN the road from I40 to Dickson took forever cause of local traffic. Was up in Kingston Springs, TN (just East of Dickson) a few weeks ago (stopped to visit brother-in-law on way N. to UP of MI) We take 840 around to where it crosses Natchez Trace then next road is Pinewood Road which takes you around to NT which is a nice ride toward Nashville over the famous arched bridge and easy to get to I40. Would like to pick up NT sooner but have to travel farther west out of the way. Meach

Assuming this to be the site for 2014 IR (which I get the idea hasn't been finalized) here are a few suggested rides . As somewhat of a newbie (I've never gone on any VR rides, have stopped by a couple of events) not sure what everyone likes to do, see, etc. I've done a lot of riding over the years in N.E. AL, some of it with a VTX group, after I got tired of riding the same roads in GA. From Guntersville to: Lynchburg TN, tour Jack Daniels distillery. Around 170 mi. round trip http://www.jackdaniels.com/visit Little River Canyon, east of Ft. Payne. 11 mi loop road around canyon. Around 90 mi round trip. Also if any folks are the group Alabama fans there is a museum/gift shop in Ft. Payne which is part of their fan club. http://www.nps.gov/liri/index.htm http://www.thealabamaband.com/fanclub.html Mt. Cheaha State Park (highest point in AL) , south of Oxford AL 180 mi round trip, they have a restaurant with a decent buffet as I recall, been a couple years but we would ride over eat lunch then ride home. http://www.alapark.com/cheaharesort/ Cloudland Canyon State Park, GA. east of Rising Fawn, GA. 150 mi round trip http://gastateparks.org/CloudlandCanyon meach

NT is a nice ride, slow and relaxing if you like that kind of riding, too slow for some folks. If you like to camp there are campgrounds along the way and they are free. I rode to Natchez and rode it from S. to N. and spent three days taking a couple side trips along the way (visited an uncle in MS, family farm in TN) and camped three nights. Can be hot and muggy in the summer. A lot of native indian history along the way. The northern half tends to be more scenic with more elevation changes. Near the TN river in AL I found a local park with a nice creek to swim in to cool off. You can follow the original trace across the creek on the original stones placed to cross the creek without getting wet. The northern end has the famous arched bridge http://bridgehunter.com/tn/williamson/5570463P0000000/ Have ridden the TN section many times as it goes thru what used to be family farms, watched them build the trace. Spent many a summer playing in the creek that now has a NT bridge crossing it. A lot of people ride the trace on bicycle, have to watch out for them especially on weekends.

Wife and I are headed from here in GA to the UP of MI (Big Bay) for a wedding Sat. Aug 3. We were going to go up via MI but now looking at going via WI and thought we might leave earlier and allow time to swing by IR in Galena on the way. Still debating bike vs cage but leaning toward bike/trailer and camping along the way and doing most sight seeing after wedding. There are a lot of "IF"s such as how good a time we make, weather, etc. Can't be away from home long enough to do entire Rally then on to wedding, etc. Will probably come back to GA via MI and take our time. So anyway, looking at camping at Blanding wed. night and perhaps stopping by Rally at some point to say hi, I met some folks at earlier M&E at B2MOM's that will be at IR (would be fun to meet more). Then we're heading out first thing Thurs for UP. This would allow a couple days to get to Big Bay. Any suggestions for most efficient routes from Galena to Big Bay for those that know WI well? Whats the basic weather around the UP in early August, biggest fear is cold and rainy. Taking a mixture of state roads and interstate to get to Galena, choosing a route as we go, sight seeing along the way as time allows. Neither of us have ever been to that part of the country, will be my wifes first long haul (around 3K mi round trip) on bike assuming we take bike, rains about to wear us out). Thanks for any suggestions, etc. Thanks, Meach

Maybe you're too young but can't believe Gordon Lightfoot wasn't on the tip of your tonge when it comes to Canadian singers, one of the best ever. His double album "Gord's Gold" is on my garmin mp3, nothing like having Gordon playing riding down the highway. Another one I don't normally listen to that wasn't on the list is KD Lang, her performance of Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah" at the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame was awesome (was also sung at winter olympics in Vancouver back in 2010, I think she also sang in 88 at Calgary olympics )

Get a scanner, mine was only like 40$ or so from Advance Auto several years ago. Its handy having your own scanner because sometimes the CEL will come on for minor things as stated before, by having your own scanner you can check the OBD code and then clear it and start up vehicle to see if same code sets again or not. Wifes 05 T. Matrix light started coming on but only in the winter, would clear it and wouldn't come back on until some time. After several years of doing this I did a little research and found out Toyota in certain years used an inferior intake manifold gasket (they would never admit to it) that after a several years during cold weather would begin to barely leak just enough to trip the CEL. Never happened anytime except during the coldest months and even then not consistent. Performance was not affected. Had gasket replaced when car died to faulty ECM that was replaced under a recall, I had em go ahead and replace gasket while in the shop and CEL has never come back on. Truck CEL light came on, checked code and did a few min of research and found most common cause which turned out to be gas cap was loose.

Before I purchased my tag-a-long I considered using a HF trailer I'd had for years and mounting a cargo carrier I also had on top the trailer. I didn't like the 48' width on the old trailer and I didn't have the expertise, tools, etc to cut it down, modify the tounge, etc. so I went with the HF and added some LED's to rear for better visibility. The HF 44" width pretty closely matches the width of my highway pegs when folded down so I know in close encounters if my pegs clear the trailer will clear. One of my biggest fears was having the trailer too wide and catching something with the trailer going down the road. The trailer's been great so far, used mostly for camping trips. Another mod I've see and may try to do eventually is moving the box mount back a couple inches to make trailer less tongue heavy due to I also mounted a cooler on tongue and when cooler is full it's hard to keep tongue weight down. I just put anything heavy to the rear and all light stuff toward front and we usually keep cooler empty until arriving at location, keep a small cloth cooler with couple drinks, snack,etc for the road in side bag.

I'm getting even more if I just help transfer his $ for safekeeping, he must be an honest fella after all he is the "branch manager", got the following email: My name is Jorge Alcantara,i am the branch manager of Banco Pichincha Quito Ecuador.I don't know if we can work together in transferring the total of ($3,750.000.00.)from my bank to your bank account for safekeeping.Meanwhile you will get 35% of the total sum after the transaction,if you wish to work with me,kindly write back for details.Thanks

My bike has done that twice and both times it was simply the battery connections were not making a good connection, took a few min to figure out the first time, second time I knew exactly what it was, used a wrench to make sure it was really tight. The PO had added some accessories with power coming off the battery thus more connectors getting in the way of making a good connections.

A lot of the afore mentioned issues seem to be random bike specific rather than a specific year. Some issues might depend on how well bike was maintained. When I was looking a little over a year ago I looked for specific years due to each year being a different color and any after market accessories on the bike, otherwise the bike really didn't change from year to year. The PO of the bike I purchased took good care of bike and had put several after market accessories on bike. Good luck on hunt, if you find something far away perhaps someone on the board here might be close and could check it out for you. at the least make sure its not a scam of any type.

I used the powered Hopkins 46255 converter from Amazon for around 38$. The only one I could find in local auto store (Pep boys) was 50$, none other had it or any other brand (autozone, advance auto, etc). I originally wired up a different converter I had laying around the garage but went with the powered model after I was messing with trailer lights and shorted one out which blew fuse on bike, no more of that. With the powered converter all the lights are also brighter on my HF (I added some additional LED's)

Had a case a day or two ago of a semi passing a HD pulling a trailer on I75 nearby, wind against the trailer caused the driver to lose control according to police report causing bike to roll killing the driver. No idea what type of trailer or its shape. http://www.ajc.com/news/news/local/paulding-funeral-director-killed-in-freak-motorcyc/nX2rh/ My recent HF trailer doesn't seemed affected by passing trucks, etc. I have driven at different speeds while on interstate (recently took 800 mi trip w/ trailer) fastest being about 85 under differing conditions to see how trailer responds. The only time I was a little nervous was driving in a constant rain where I kept the speeds much lower. Was worried about slick spots on road, etc. Meach

Was good to be able to meet some of you northern folks, your 1900 mi makes my 400 mi seem puny. Glad you made it home safe and sound. When I was wiring my bike/trailer up I was messing with trailer lights and shorted one out which blew a fuse on bike, thats when I switched to a powered converter (aka isolator). I could just see myself shorting out something on trailer going down the highway late at night in the middle of nowhere. Meach

Pretty cool. Being retired I go to the library about each week and load up on DVDs (free and beats watching the crap on TV) a couple weeks ago I watched "The Motorcycle Diaries" which is about the 15,000 mi mc trip Ernesto (Che) Guevara and Alberto Granado took in their youth on an old Norton 500, the movie was pretty good, the early part of the movie was more about the bike ride, the bike died later in their trip. The beginning of this guys video is a take-off on the movie in case you've never seen it. The DVD had an interview with the real Alberto (must be in his 80s now) in which he says they wrecked the bike about 50 times along the trip and finally had to junk it just as in the movie.

yep and all it takes is something like today where they were chasing a lady that robbed a bank and she fled to I75 where she wrecks and they find she has a bomb in her car, now 75 is closed both N & S on the North side of the city. We might end up with the largest parking lot ever when all the other interstates back up as a result, feel sorry for all the road warriors that travel to and from down town every day.

Was actually up in TN doing some riding and visiting family at the same time this weekend. If you haven't left yet there is no good way to avoid Atlanta unless you swing wide before getting to the metro area, to stay off the interstate thru the metro area means a gizzilion traffic lights and traffic on side road. We just take the interstate until we get to farther out of the metro area. One way you can go is to swing over at some point and pick up US 27 which runs north and south well west of Atlanta, 4 lane most of the way and low traffic except going thru towns such as carrolton, rome, etc. 136 crosses I75 an hour or so north of Atlanta area at Resaca (known as Resaca-Lafayette Road) 136C (136 connector) runs down to Calhoun which is another way to go. There is no real direct way of going from north GA to north Al due to having to go over lookout mtn. 136 west toward Al is a nice 2 lane road, mostly local traffic. You'll climb up onto lookout mtn (southern end of cumberland plateau) cross over and back down into Trenton GA. Before heading down into Trenton you'll go by Cloudland Canyon state park. Good place to stretch and see the canyon, Nice scenic drive. There are other ways to go from N. Ga to N. Al just depending on destination, over the years I think we've gone about every way possible just for variety and destination. Another good way is to cut over to Al at about Rome Ga and ride Little River canyon and end up in Ft. Payne Al then up I59 if needed or keep going west thru Scottsboro Al up into TN. Most all the roads are good 2 lane with mostly local traffic which usually isn't bad. Meach

so I put an 1157 back in the bike tail light (there are still some other LED bars around the lic. plate that function as brake/turn/tail, there was no easy way to disconnect them) and there was no change to how anything performed. The trailer tail still has the original bulbs, I just added LED brake/turn/tail and mounted up higher on back of trailer. Later I may unhook the LED on trailer and see if that has any effect. Only real unexplained thing at this point is the bike & trailer flash at same time (both turn & 4 way) EXCEPT when brakes are applied and then bike & trailer flash opposite each other (both turn & 4 way), I'm assuming this must be a function of the converter. But I love how bright the LEDs are and the fact they sit up higher more in line of sight of someone behind you.

thanks for suggestions, did some trouble shooting, for the most part everything is working fine with a couple quirks, issues appear to be on bike side with the LEDs & what I'm assuming to be a load equalizer (small black box with "Street Magic" on it but no other markings, 4 wires tapped into wiring) PO put on bike. I'm using the trailer harness that plugs in under seat from member here on VR which just plugged in and I soldered/shrink wrapped pigtails going to converter/trailer. Didn't occur to me to see if the equalizer is upstream or down stream from what I did, will check that later. So now it only flashes fast when powered by battery only (ign on but not running thus lower voltage) when bike running all is mostly well, flash rate normal and syncronized between bike & trailer, HOWEVER when brake is applied bike & trailer turn signal flash opposite each other at but at normal rate which I can live with. Yea I also hate those clips that come in wiring kits all the time, never use them as they are usually just a problem waiting to happen.

Yea I've already done that, was just still having the other issues, thought perhaps others might have suggestions, at least where the grounds were located, guess not.