Wrench

Dan, when I retired in '09 I had 3 months to roll over my 401K. Man, I scoured and scrounged and lost sleep, definitely didn't want to let T. Rowe continue to nickel and dime me and still not make anything. I got hooked up with a financial planner that put mine into annuities. At that time both companies he used were paying a 10% "bonus" on 401 rollovers, plus they were both locked in the first year at 8%. Since then I've consistently made 7-8%/yr returns. All depends on how much/how long you want to go. The banks definitely aren't paying anything, you almost wind up having to pay THEM!! Good luck.

The weatherman says that by this time LAST year we'd already had a couple of 80deg days, and several in the 70's. So far we've only had a handful of 60's, and maybe a couple of 70's. Got a couple inches of snow on the grass today, and 31 lovely degrees now. Planning on doing an Easter Basket ride in Louisville this Saturday, forecast says about 60 and sunny, not too bad,,,,,,, if it happens. It'll probably bust wide open in a couple weeks, heat like a blast furnace with no Spring to speak of. I told my wife today that somebody needs to treat that damn groundhog like we used to do 'em 40 years ago,, shoot him and hang him on the fence!! I'm SOOOOOO over cold weather.

I am working on a bicycle rack and a overhead carrier basket that I can raise to open the toppee and lower to keep a low cg when on the road. That reminds me, last week I saw a guy on a Gold Wing with a mountain bike across the back. Kinda got a little chuckle outta that one,,,,. Yeah Snaggletooth, I'm leaning toward leaving mine as-is and try it for now too. If I do pull it somewhere, it most likely will be loaded for at least a long weekends worth.

Depends on how much $$ you want to spend. Here's a couple of places to try, they both carry good quality hardware. I've also saw a few types of latches at TSC that probably would work. www.mscdirect.com/ www.mcmaster.com/# I need to get my hitch and wiring on this Venture, then get the trailer out and cleaned up. Did I read a post somewhere that most folks take 1 leaf spring out?? I only pulled mine on one "long" trip to the Smokies back in '09 and it seemed like it was pretty stiff. Been kicking around selling it, still not sure if I'm going to or not. I may wind up building an aluminum box, a friend of mine has plans that use one 4 X 8 sheet of diamond plate. I was following a semi on the interstate last week and also thought that the "quilted" look that is on some trailer doors would look pretty good too. You still can't beat that little trailer for the money though.

This article came out today in the local paper. If there's half the turnout for this that they have for the annual car cruise it'll be big. They close off the old courthouse square for the show. There was somewhere close to 4000 cars at the last car show/cruise. Looks like it pretty much combines the 3 things most of us already love. Here's the link,,, www.thenewsenterprise.com/content/new-festival-features-music-motorcycles-barbecue

I've got a question. After the first dose of Seafoam, or homebrew, how long does it take/or what's the noticable difference? I dosed mine this afternoon and rode it about 25 miles to get it into the carbs and about the only thing I can tell is the exhaust smells different now. It's another one of them "inqiring minds" things. (I did notice it wanted to run awfully close to Dodge trucks with Cummins diesels)

Yeah Mike, but I THINK he's asking about using the backrest as a passenger backrest? At least that's how I'm reading it, otherwise it should be a simple bolt up for the RSTD driver seat. I modified the Utopia off my '04 RSV to fit the '03 Roadstar and used the passenger seat bracket to mount it to, but I'm getting something different here.

WOW,,,, this thing is gonna be EPIC!!!!

My favorite accy's are Kuryakyn highway pegs and a Utopia backrest for comfort, and a nice-sounding set of mufflers.

I did buy another one. That year I was without one was a looonngg year, even though I had no complaints with the Roadstar. If anything happens to this one I'll definitely buy another one,,,, in a heartbeat.

LMAO!!!!

YES!! Dry Falls, Bridal Veil Falls, Looking Glass Falls, all a beautiful ride. It's actually Hwy 28, south from Hwy 19/74 at Lauada, to Franklin, and on down to Cashiers. I've been riding that area for about the last 10 years and have never found a bad road.

I know this probably won't sit well with the Seafoam "purists",, but,, anyway. I stopped at Advance Auto last night specifically to pick up a can just to try it. A guy that works there, whom I've gotten to know with all the trips during the air cleaner thing, walks over and we start talkng about Seafoam. He picks up a can of STP brand in a similar can and says he's told that they are the same, that the patent has run out on Seafoam and now STP is canning the same stuff. The Seafoam is $10.99 vs $8.99 for the STP. He also said pretty much what's said here, either you're a believer, or you're not. I'm going to dose up my next can of 2-cycle gas to see if it'll clean out my lawn stuff.

The one thing I've noticed is that "old" bones heal slower!!!

But,, everywhere around there is Primo riding. Forget 40, get off I-26 below Asheville and get on the Blue Ridge Parkway and head west to Cherokee. Eat lunch at the Pisgah Inn 20 miles into the BRP, great. Then just enjoy the parkway. March,,, dress warm, you will be at 5000+ feet. Mike G. EDIT: um, Just looked. Parkway will have closed sections through April. Why you going in March? More Edit: Also, I remember a few weeks ago there was a slide on US441 that goes from Gatlinburg to Cherokee. So Hope that is not your return road. Just beaming sunshine huh. Yeah, I just checked a couple of nights ago and 441 is still closed, with no estimation of when it will reopen. I'm guessing that they will get it open pretty quick though, since that's the main tourist route. The Cherohala Skyway has reopened with one lane at the slide on it. Either of those routes, and I-40, can have snow til late March, the first time the wife and I rode the Cherohala it was late April and there was still ice on the rock walls, brrrrr. You can also catch the Foothills Pkwy off I-40, then take 321 into Gatlinburg, that's a nice ride too.

Sounds good! As of right now I don't have anything going on Saturday. Hey rag, check out the updated pics of my air cleaners, I just added a couple in my album.

djh3, the part # is 8162, and they come in red, black, & gray, $19.99ea, I went with the red to make them a little more noticeable. They are with the K&N displays at Advance Auto and Autozone. ACCE50, they are an oiled filter like K&N's. My son ran that exact filter on his KIA Sportage for about 60k miles and never had a water issue, and he even did some creek-splashing with it last summer. I'll probably get a couple of pre-filter "socks" to keep in the trunk just in case of a deluge. I updated the pics with the finished look to show how well they are tucked in. I talked with an old hotrodder and he advised me to not go any bigger than stock with the intake openings to start with so it would'nt get too much air. I measured the area of the openings in the air boxes and welded a tapered "plate" into the adapters to restrict the air. Right now it's comparable to the stock boxes with K&N's, but I think it looks WAY better. For the adapters I used a 2 1/2" X 3" exhaust reducer cut down to approx. 1" on each end, then welded brackets on to bolt to the stock location. The way they are tucked in you really can't see the adapters. I'll try to scratch together a drawing and put it in my album. Thanks for the comments and the interest.

You can find some pretty decent deals on the C-50/Volusia, I had an '02 and loved that bike. It was big enough that the wife and I had plenty of room, and plenty of power too. There's a Suzuki forum that I still belong to, volusiaowners.com, that is a wealth of info on the bike, and usually there's a couple for sale there too.

Definitely find something that fits her, and she's comfortable with. I know this is a Yamaha site, but take a look at the Suzuki Volusia/C-50. It's a very well balanced, low bike and doesn't weigh a ton either. I know several female riders that got their start on the Suz and say they're glad they did. Keep us posted on the progress, and good luck!!(to you both)

Haven't dropped one ,,, yet. Came as close as I ever wanted to with my '04 RSV a few years back. Got my left boot caught under the passenger board doing a turn-around, and my wife was on board too. That was before I had my left hip replaced, and it was absolutely all I could do to keep from dropping us. Man, I STILL remember how much that hurt, I was sore for days.

When are you coming back this way? Maybe we could do a quick meet-up and let me get a look at it????

I just got finished with my air cleaner upgrade, I used Spectre filters from Advance Auto Parts. The total cost for both filters and the misc stuff for the adapters was less than $75.00. The Spectre's are similar to K&N's, but only cost $20 each. I got it out for a short ride this afternoon and the throttle response is great. It now runs and sounds like a Venture should. I posted a couple of pics of them in my album. Check them out and let me know what you think.

Did you get all the salt and grime washed off? How about that long, boring drive down the WK Pkwy? I dislike that stretch probably more than any other road I've ever been on. I got out for a little ride this afternoon, and the 'ol bike runs great with the new air cleaners. No problem so far. Looks like you're going to have some decent weather til Sun/Mon, got some rain coming in then. You'll probably get it all nasty again going home.

Continued good luck with the mending Carlos. I know how hard that recovery thing can be, but it's all good when you're healed up.