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The weather for this weekend is looking pretty stellar for this time of year, with highs in Dallas in the high 80s/low 90s and in OK/AR in the low-mid 80s. I was thinking of doing another run out to Talimena. It's a pretty long day, last time we finished with ~490 miles round trip to/from Mckinney. With 560 miles on the day for me and somewhere around 600 for Skreemer. I'd like to change things up a little from last time. The end of the trail saloon was interesting, but not 20 extra miles on what is already a really long day interesting. Both Talihina and Mena are biker friendly towns and I think we should just eat in Mena. The Talimena Scenic Drive site recommends The Mena Chopping Block and County Express. I'm fine with either of those, I'm sure there're other options if people want to look around Mena, both of those places are basically right at the end of the scenic by-way. I'm also not sure that 144 was worth doing. It's a neat road, but it has long sections that are 30 mph for no reason and a fair amount of construction/gravel. I'm thinking skip it and just do the really cool section of 259 with the switchbacks and otherwise out and back on the scenic drive itself, which is amazing. This is my proposed Route. The other difference is we stay on 75 a little longer and take 43 directly to Talihina instead of going through Antlers. My plan last time was to take 271 up which is supposed to be an alright road, but it's closed for repairs so that didn't work out at all. 43 looks like a slightly nicer road than 2 and we get to ride by a lake for a while. The ride up 75 is long and boring but once we're off 75 it's at least scenic and the byway/259 are both really cool mountainous twisty roads. We could also come back via 2/271 just for a change of scenery depending on how nice 43 is. Overall the route's a couple miles shorter than the route we took last time, with a slightly larger amount of quality roads vs. slab. Last time we got started around 8:30 and I'd like to start earlier this time, around 7. Starting earlier lets us take a small break for a snack/light breakfast somewhere, and then take a really long lunch. Hopefully that'll make the ride home not as grueling. Also tried to organize it so that we get as much done before lunch when we're relatively fresh as possible, and then do some nice twisties after our break and then just monotonous slab until we're home. I think this'll make for a slightly nicer ride, but it's still a long way. Also this time I won't ride 450 miles the day before so at least I won't start the day sore, that'll be nice. I'm also thinking of trying out a bead seat if anyone has any recommendations for continuing to make my SV650 look like the least hardcore motorcycle possible.
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Jul 28, 2014 18:45
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kuffs posted:MNS: I don't want to put any more significant miles on the BMW before our trip. Right now the odometer should have me in St. Paul, MN by the time it needs its valve clearance checked. I'm mildly tempted to try the ninja, but I really don't know about that seat after 8 hours. I seem to have come down with a cold or something, so probably not going out this weekend, and definitely not to Arkansas. Oh well, hopefully I can muster up enough energy to work on my bike while the weather's nice and I'm not wringing my shirt out every 5 minutes.
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Aug 2, 2014 05:39
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Got my bead rider and my Aerostich, I'm ready for retirement.
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Aug 7, 2014 03:10
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Alceste posted:And a quieter helmet too, I see. Still testing to see if it fits, I'm wearing it as I type this. It's looking pretty good though no real hot spots. The internal visor is pretty awesome and having a pinlock visor should be awesome. I got it as a blemish from Revzilla, so there's apparently a scratch on it that it took my wife about 2 minutes of inspection to even locate which saved me $150.
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Aug 7, 2014 03:19
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Alceste posted:What model is it? I have always really, really, really wished that my RF1100 had come with a pinlock. I am not entirely clear if it's possible to retrofit one to mine or not. Also, that's a very nice deal. Shoei GT Air it comes with a pinlock insert in the box, but as far as I know the RF-1100 visor should still have the fittings for a pinlock insert, you'd just have to get one. The inserts are specific to visor type for Shoei as far as I know. I almost got an RF-1100 because you can pick them up on closeout relatively cheap now but I really wanted the internal visor, and the GT Air is supposed to be really quiet while simultaneously flowing a ton of air. Haven't done anything besides sit around in my house in it though. The neck roll thing on it is really beefy compared to my Suomy though, so I got high hopes.
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Aug 7, 2014 03:31
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kuffs posted:That aerostitch suit looks like it fits you perfectly It's like a glove, thanks for the recommendation. If I gain any weight I'm pretty much hosed though because all the adjustments only go tighter and that's not happening. Also the former owner says they're taller than me but they must be all legs or something because it's right on the edge of too tight in the torso. Now I get to wash it and nik-wax it and see how it does in 100 degree weather.
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Aug 7, 2014 04:56
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I noticed someone posted this up in the Austin thread, so I figured I'd post the Dallas one. Harley's bringing project Livewire to Dallas in December, you can sign up now apparently for test rides. I signed up for any possible time slot so I hope I get to do it, looks pretty cool.
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Aug 13, 2014 00:18
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I got back from our trip about a week ago now so I should probably post something. I think kuffs doesn't finish up for another week. The Ozarks were really impressive, especially given that it was 100 degrees and it still stands out as an amazing place to ride. I really want to try a weekend trip there where we go out friday night after work, and then ride all day Saturday and then come back early on Sunday. It's about 260 miles if you just slab from Dallas to Ft. Smith which puts you right at the entrance to the Ozarks. I really want to do some mountain riding without 80 pounds of poo poo on the back of my bike so I want a hotel where I can dump everything off and then ride and come back to. We also managed to pick up a warning for speeding in Arkansas on our first day out. I'm a real menace on my 2005 Suzuki Samurai. Apparently all roads that aren't interstates in Arkansas max out at 55, even if they're arrow straight 4 lane highways. That poo poo'd be 75 in Texas. The dragon and the Appalachians were also really cool, and we spent a bit more time riding around in there than we did the Ozarks, but it's a long way so who knows if I'll make it back anytime soon. I'd say the dragon is worth doing as a tourist destination, it's certainly an amazing road, but I wouldn't want to be there on a weekend. It was a complete cluster gently caress on the Tuesday morning/afternoon that we did it on, I can't even imagine what it would be like on a nice Sunday. It did give me this picture though:  This I feel is the quintessential Tail of the Dragon experience. Here you are stopped behind a semi that is blocking 1.5 lanes of traffic in a blind corner, while a police officer tends to the passenger of a downed Harley that was only wearing a helmet. Kuffs and I actually helped the Harley rider pull his bike out of the dirt before heading back down the mountain to see if we could find a cop. We found one but he was escorting this semi up the road and here's the result. The rider was fine but the bike fell on the leg of the passenger and her knee was pretty hosed up, wouldn't support any weight and she didn't want to get back on the bike. There were a lot of other cool roads in the area, but we ended up mostly stuck behind local traffic going slowly on them. The Cherohala Skyway was amazing and if any of you ever head east I highly recommend riding it in addition to the dragon. The Blue Ridge Parkway was also super scenic but at least chunk we did was not supremely technical, definitely a cool road that probably suffered from coming at the end of a bunch of days in a row of really good riding. Dragoncon was also super awesome and I highly recommend it if you like dressing up as nerdy poo poo and drinking (especially the drinking, holy poo poo the loving drinking.) Open containers all over downtown Atlanta, 50k+ nerds in a tiny rear end area, wall-to-wall people at all times it was completely insane. Reviews of some stuff: Bead seat: Worth every penny, we did 300-500 miles a day on the way to Atlanta, a lot of it through the mountains and I did the 800 mile ride from ATL to DFW in one day on the way back and this thing was a life saver. My 1000 mile test weekend without was brutal. 800 miles in a day is still incredibly grueling but at least my rear end wasn't sore, just the rest of me. Axo boots: Kind of fell apart on me. The toe sliders popped off on one boot in such a way that it couldn't be reattached and just in general didn't hold up to the abuse of 9000 miles and daily commuting I've put them through very well. I paid 70 dollars for them on a sale though so I guess you get what you pay for. Pack Jack: This thing seemed like a really cool idea but it was basically impossible to get to work with my lowered bike/side stand. Did manage to take out a bunch of chunks of asphalt in a motel parking lot though. Ended up rolling my bike with kuffs' help to do my chain maintenance. I guess buyer beware, it does seem like if you had a standard setup it's a neat idea for bikes without a center stand. I did manage to get the bike off the ground in my driveway with it before I left, but it took forever and I almost dropped the bike doing so. Air Compressor: Worked really well, has a long cord so it was easy to share between bikes, the gauge on it seemed pretty accurate. Packs down pretty small for an air compressor. Didn't get to test out the plug kit. Everything else performed about how you'd expect, really liked my Shoei Gt-Air helmet. The internal visor's excellent and it had great ventilation for the hot days we had. My bike held up really well with all the miles. Everything is covered in bugs. I also have some super boring footage of us on the tail of the dragon(was actually pretty empty for this): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6UnEezQfkmY
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Sep 8, 2014 22:56
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kuffs posted:Your video is tagged as Private, may want to change that to Unlisted. Yeah, but there was that gravel ending. Still pretty awesome. Changed my video back to unlisted, it complained when I originally put it up that it was too long so it must have defaulted to private when I reactivated it.
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Sep 9, 2014 07:51
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After the showers tonight it looks like the weather for Sunday should be really nice if anyone wants to get out for a ride. Haven't been doing much besides commuting since our trip and I feel like I should get out there and enjoy the beautiful weather. No real plan but could just do a route somewhere around Mckinney if people are up for it, or FM4.
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Oct 3, 2014 04:00
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Alceste posted:I've been feeling like that too. Rode to Plano to run some errands earlier this week just for an excuse to do it, though it was mostly in a straight line unfortunately. I could go in the afternoon, the weather should be cool enough all day that it doesn't matter if we get started early. I'm also on a really non-adult schedule right now so it's easier for me to show up somewhere in the afternoon than the morning.  By the way, I'd like to try swapping bikes with you for a bit if you're up for it. I've almost talked myself out of the FZ-09 finally because buying a naked to do thousands of miles of touring on is probably dumb, but I want to try a naked at highway speeds just to see how the wind feels.
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Oct 3, 2014 20:46
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Alceste posted:All right, I'll try to make sure I remain free that afternoon. As of now there aren't any other plans. What time do you want to do this? People want to meet up for (possibly late?) lunch in Mckinney somewhere then do a loop around FM-697?
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Oct 4, 2014 19:04
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Well I probably won't be buying an FZ-09 since I bought a VFR800. 2008 with 600 miles and an absolutely hilarious skull paintjob thing on the windshield. Look at this poo poo. Who does this to a VFR800? 
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Oct 4, 2014 23:28
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Alceste posted:Ha ha, wow. That's a sharp bike other than the, uh, skulls. Are you going to want to take it out tomorrow? I'm sure the picture doesn't do it justice. We were going to meet up for lunch at The Pub I think. Meeting there at 1 is fine or we could get there early and plan to leave at 1, either way's fine for me.
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Oct 5, 2014 02:33
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Alceste posted:e: image link for the map/route is broken now but maybe MNS can repost it  It's a beautiful ride. I wouldn't mind doing that again before it starts to actually get cold. I also still want to try to do a trip up to the Ozarks over a weekend or something. I just need to get out more, been just commuting lately and I need to break my new bike in better. I still haven't changed the tires on it yet. I have the adapters for my stand though so I'll probably get around to it fairly soon.
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Oct 22, 2014 19:24
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Alceste posted:
Well, I haven't actually been riding it either, I have 2 bikes after all . I was just waiting for the adapters to come in so I could get both wheels off the ground to take them in, the only place that sells Abba stand bullshit is in Canada so it takes a bit. That said although my tires do not feel nearly as good as the PR4s on the SV650 they don't feel that bad, plenty of people ride on old tires and don't die, I'm just not going to do anything that involves much turning before I change them.It took us something like 13 hours to ride there and back last time we did it including stops so we'll probably be in the dark a bit. Should definitely aim to be heading out of Mckinney at or before sunrise I think (which is about 7:30 now.) I'm not too worried about deer because most of the ride back is on 75, should be clear of deer territory before it gets close to twilight.
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Oct 22, 2014 20:15
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Alceste posted:Anybody going out this weekend? This is about when I need to start reserving my time. I kind of failed to get tires, the place I got them from before couldn't get them until next week, so I decided to go through Amazon. Amazon prime decided tires weren't one of those things that actually get 2-day delivery so they won't be here until Monday. Also my license plate holder on my SV650 got ripped off (along with the plate) and I'm being lazy about fixing it. I kind of want to get a whole new under tail thing going so I can have better rear indicators/a legal light for my license plate, but I'm stalled out on what to actually get. It's also going to be freezing in Oklahoma this weekend, but I doubt it's going to be any warmer next weekend. I may just get a new plate and ziptie it back onto the remains of my license plate holder and go for a ride around Dallas somewhere though. Maybe superglue my indicators back in.
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Oct 30, 2014 19:25
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nitrogen posted:Was hit and run, unfortunately. They are out of the hospital this morning, banged up but otherwise ok at least. Smidsy is the worst. Sorry to hear that. Hope your friends recover OK.  My tires got here today despite the tracker saying Monday, so I'm definitely up for a ride on Sunday if I can get my tires installed tomorrow.
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Nov 1, 2014 00:51
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Skreemer posted:Are you going to do them yourself or take them in? I've changed tires "by hand" before and can assist if needed (and I'm right down the street at the office). I'm going to learn to do it by hand. Seems like a useful skill.
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Nov 1, 2014 07:53
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Alceste posted:I hope your first home tire change experience was smoother than mine was. Is it too early to ask how it went and if anyone is going out tomorrow? I've had a ferociously lovely few days and I need some two wheel time in a bad way. Everything done except seating the bead on the front tire, also my dyna bead balancing + 90 degree valve stem plan was a bad one so uh, I guess they won't be balanced immediately.
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Nov 2, 2014 01:03
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Tires swapped, I can't balance them but I don't anticipate that being any worse a problem than riding on the tires I had on there before. I'll work out a solution for that next week. I'd prefer to do the grab brunch/lunch and ride thing if we can. Maybe meet at The Pub around 12? If anyone else has other post it up otherwise I'll be there tomorrow at noon.
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Nov 2, 2014 02:02
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Alceste posted:What happened with the dyna beads? I used Airsoft pellets myself - - which are cheaper, and about as dense - - but I really have no idea if they work better or worse than traditional weights. All I know is that I haven't had any problems. I do wish I had thought of 90 degree valve stems though. The beads don't exactly fall into the right angle valve stem. I'm watching a guy on youtube shoot them in with compressed air so I guess I'll do that this week.
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Nov 2, 2014 03:48
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Z3n posted:Dyna beads are bullshit, don't bother. Well, I already have them so I may as well shoot them in there now. Skreemer posted:I just put the rear inner fender back on my bike (don't take it to the shop, they forget to put bolts back). We're meeting at The Pub at noon and then go from there.
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Nov 2, 2014 04:21
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Skreemer posted:I'm there and have a parking spot out front. Good times riding around until the end there. That wind was brutal and that traffic. I guess that's one way to get a lot of practice going 2 miles an hour on my new to me bike.
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Nov 3, 2014 00:08
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WTF Harley. I'm the one who told you all to sign up and they didn't give me a demo. 
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Dec 4, 2014 21:44
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nitrogen posted:dump question for dallas folks. Texas Transportation Code posted:Sec. 545.060. DRIVING ON ROADWAY LANED FOR TRAFFIC. (a) An operator on a roadway divided into two or more clearly marked lanes for traffic:
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Dec 19, 2014 21:09
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Alceste posted:FM4/Granbury sounds interesting to me too, as a change of pace. Has anyone got that mapped out? I am open on Sunday but it would be nice to get an estimate of how long I'll be out. It's a long day for you, which is why we usually do the 697 route when you're available. It starts in Jacksboro which is about 95 miles from Mckinney, runs like 80-120 miles, and then finishes down in granbury/cleburne which are another 100 miles from Mckinney. Though the best part is the 40-50 mile stretch from Palo Pinto to Granbury, not sure what route Kuffs has in mind exactly, but it's probably close to 300 miles total, maybe 250 depending on where we meet and if we cut out some boring parts. I'd be up for going but I need to be home by 6pm so we'd have to start early. Probably a good idea to start early anyway since it's a bit of a ride.
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Mar 11, 2015 20:59
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kuffs posted:Here's what I've got so far: That planning software is iffy from an outside perspective. I'm unable to coax it into giving me turn-by-turn directions or the total distance of the trip or anything. Anyway that plan sounds fine for me, if I need to break off early to get home in time I'm sure I can manage.
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Mar 12, 2015 06:26
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kuffs posted:Great run guys. Thanks for coming Thanks for leading, had a good time as always. Post that picture when you get it if you can.
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Mar 16, 2015 01:38
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nitrogen posted:This is one of my favorite daytrips in the mid to northern arizona area. When I lived there, and people wanted to see how different the desert can be, i'd take them on this trip. This trip includes a LOT of altitude changes, up to 8k feet in some areas. the Sedona portion on 89a is VERY VERY twisty. Sedona and the area around it is gorgeous, my parents have a house in Pinetop so we'll probably base camp from there, only downside to that is how annoying going through reservation territory can be. I'm not sure how much city riding I want to do in California, but I also kind of want to see all the famous mountain roads (Palomar, Mullholland Drive, Highway 1 around Big Sur, Angeles Crest, why does California have so many famous roads?) I have a cousin who lives in Escondido and was a pretty active rider for a long time so I'll probably see what he recommends. I know he used to ride Palomar all the time at least.
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Mar 27, 2015 22:01
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I'll be there, might have to cut out a little early.
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May 31, 2015 00:45
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Wouldn't mind riding a Hyperstrada. https://www.facebook.com/events/102038290129495/
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Jun 5, 2015 20:27
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compton rear end terry posted:I live in Plano near 75/Bush. Where's the goto place to get my tires changed? I do mine in my garage, prices in DFW for tire changes are crazy. There's a Cycle Gear near there that'll change tires though and they charge about the same as everyone else. Pretty sure they require you to bring the wheels in off the bike, might get an overall better rate if you get your tires from there.
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Jul 20, 2015 22:53
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Alceste posted:RA was beautiful and it was funny watching people flop around like wilted flowers and sit under big fans while complaining about 82 degree highs. We explored the whole grounds on mountain bikes after the races were over each day and camped right by one of the good turns. Home ownership is the worst and I wish it on no one. Apparently ever since I bought my house there has been like a 1 foot square hole that gives direct access to my attic from the roof, and squirrels and rats have been building their own amusement park up there. Now I get to go in and replace all my insulation after already having put in new insulation when I bought the house. Not to mention the buckets of rat and squirrel poo poo. We also had our AC go down this summer but it was just the fan and it was a relatively cheap fix. It's bullshit that you can't just buy HVAC parts though since I was able to diagnose the problem and get the fan off so all the guy had to do was come and bolt the new fan in, and it still cost me a bunch of money because I can't buy my own fan. I need to ride my motorcycles more so I'm up for a ride if the weather is not absurdly hot.
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Sep 8, 2015 17:54
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Skreemer posted:Simply an excuse to buy another bike. Or fix the ones I have.  The gravel was fine, but my neck is still sore from all the drat wind.
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Jan 26, 2016 22:40
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Skreemer posted:And everything always happens about the same time. The tires on the Bandit are about shot so I've been riding the Duke around town. I picked up a pair of industrial staples somewhere in the rear tire of the Duke. Not even 800 miles on it yet and I have to replace a tire. (Yes I am familiar with riding around with plugged tires and it doesn't bother me, it's just that the holes for the staples are so close to each other, there isn't much material left between the holes to make me feel comfortable riding on them for any distance.) If you want a wider tire I have a PR4 rear for my SV650 sitting in my garage that I want to give away. It has maybe 5k on it? It's a 160/60 but the internet claims it'll fit on the duke 390. Though looking at the youtube video of it fitting doesn't make it look like a great idea. Goes for anyone else, I have a front/rear PR4 off an SV650 with plenty of miles left on them, I swapped Q3s onto it for the track and saved them but at this point I'd rather have the space in my garage. I should probably give some bikes away too I haven't ridden at all since my kid was born in June. Anyone want to buy a VFR800?
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Dec 7, 2016 22:00
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