"WHAT DID YOU DO TO YOUR MOTORCYCLE TODAY"

[Fatfatboy]

oldironnow wrote

Is that off the Zuk or XB?

[Fatfatboy]

hacksaw wrote

craftsman.
my whole house is built from craftsman stuff and the local brick yard.
both sears and the brickyard are long gone.
i still use craftsman screw  drivers and other tools if they are within reach.

Almost all my wrenching tools are Craftsman. I’ve always liked the way their screwdrivers fit my hands. The only ratchet I’ve had issues with is the 1/2” drive. Fortunately I got it switched out before all the Sears closed up.

I do have a stubby 3/8” drive and torx bit set that are Kobolt from Lowe’s. Kobolt seems like good tools.

Now craftsman can be bought at Lowe’s, Sears online and even Amazon. I’ve not had to buy any since the Sears stores were open so I’m not sure if they are still USA made or if they kept the same quality.

Our brick plant got bulldozed years ago. Lot sat empty for at least 10 years.  The house I had to tear down was built with their bricks in the 60’s.
I didn’t rebuild with brick. I’m not a bricklayer.

[Fatfatboy]

As to what I did to my motorcycle today (I checked the tenders last week), I put air in the tires of the XB, added half a quart of oil and took my first bike ride in over five months. WOOOHOOO!!!

The knee finally feels good enough to lift it off the stand and move it around and we hit 60 degrees so it was time.
I was only able to get 65 miles in but they were a quality 65  miles.
Shook the mirrors loose and swung by my shop to to tighten’em up.

[hacksaw]

“ I didn’t rebuild with brick. I’m not a bricklayer.”.

Are you a carpenter ?
I have to assume then your house is made of glass in which case don’t throw bricks! Lol.

I could only wish for a free pile of original brick .
My house is cinder block and stucco . Allthough I sided most if it .

Re using bricks I think I would have maybe built a garage or workshop out if them . I can understand trying to salvage a houseful of brick stuck with mortar and what not to be not cost effective .
But from a historical and recycling perspective , waste not want not .
Plus I would enjoy the energy of those that lived in that house . Even the brick plant workers.
My garage , I should have knocked it down . It was falling down anyway. But I just couldn’t see junking it . It was a lot of work and continued to be as years went by and carp ants and termites didn’t help .
I could have had a prefab dropped on the slab .
But I didn’t . And I realize who else would possibly care?
Anyway termites don’t eat brick .
Lol
I would have brought in a crusher and used scrap bricks for landscaping.
Of course I am assuming your bricks were red or some other aesthetically appealing color.

Recycled materials became a big thing back when I was still managing highway construction . All the knocked down factories and urban decay is crushed and tested now. Used often instead of gouging out local basalt hills fir crushed stone.
And why not? I am absolutely no greenie , but this is a true planet saver .  

[oldironnow]

Fatfatboy wrote

oldironnow wrote

Is that off the Zuk or XB?

The Zuk... "Ratana"

36 hours until the dealership opens up to begin another round of parts ordering.

[oldironnow]

Fatfatboy wrote

As to what I did to my motorcycle today (I checked the tenders last week), I put air in the tires of the XB, added half a quart of oil and took my first bike ride in over five months. WOOOHOOO!!!

The knee finally feels good enough to lift it off the stand and move it around and we hit 60 degrees so it was time.
I was only able to get 65 miles in but they were a quality 65  miles.
Shook the mirrors loose and swung by my shop to to tighten’em up.

LOVE this pic !

That bike needs blue Loctite everywhere.

Glad you got out there.

And, I am a touch jealous.


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[Fatfatboy]

hacksaw wrote

Are you a carpenter ?
I have to assume then your house is made of glass in which case don’t throw bricks! Lol.

Nope, not much of a carpenter either. Just wood and siding is faster and cheaper than brick. Plus I know more carpenters. I don’t know a single brick layer.
I would of loved to use brick, I’m not a fan of siding, but it just wasn’t in the cards.

The house was mostly cinder block with some white brick thrown in for character. The chimney was red brick. It all went a clients farm for erosion control in his creek.
I would of like to save the hardwood floors but I didn’t have time.
Termites ate the main beam running through the house. The house wasn’t worth putting the money into it to fix it. It was small and ugly.  So we moved into a camper while the house was tore down and a new one went up.
Insurance wouldn’t cover the chewing so we were scraping by on what the bank would loan to build.

I do wish I would of built a bigger garage, now. The two car garage only holds six bikes and the wife’s car with little room for wrenching.

[Fatfatboy]

oldironnow wrote

That bike needs blue Loctite everywhere.

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Thank you for the reminder. I got one bike that I put on the table just before the knee crapped out. Now I can finish that one then the Buell goes on for a long overdue going over.

[hacksaw]

That’s amazing! If I had my way I would live in a camper and build a big garage .

I agree cinder block looks bad. You can’t reuse it because it’s too brittle to survive demo .
My place was stucco’d. I have often thought to knock it down to fill in the basement and pave over it.
Kidding , or maybe not.

 Can’t believe I have been here for almost 40 years. Crime the last couple of years has soared around me. The only thing that’s risen faster is taxes. My youngest is still a high school junior. When she grads we are outta here. To where I don’t know.

Termites suck. But I am now fighting off skunks , possum , woodchucks and coons. Before I fixed the fence I was getting bobcat and red fox .
Luckily i haven’t got the bears and coyotes seen in much of the rest of town . And yet we have as I said , a huge amount of urban crime. We are getting it from both ends.
And I can’t ride around here w/o getting killed!

[motogrady]

hacksaw wrote

That’s amazing! If I had my way I would live in a camper and build a big garage .

I agree cinder block looks bad. You can’t reuse it because it’s too brittle to survive demo .
My place was stucco’d. I have often thought to knock it down to fill in the basement and pave over it.
Kidding , or maybe not.

 Can’t believe I have been here for almost 40 years. Crime the last couple of years has soared around me. The only thing that’s risen faster is taxes. My youngest is still a high school junior. When she grads we are outta here. To where I don’t know.

Termites suck. But I am now fighting off skunks , possum , woodchucks and coons. Before I fixed the fence I was getting bobcat and red fox .
Luckily i haven’t got the bears and coyotes seen in much of the rest of town . And yet we have as I said , a huge amount of urban crime. We are getting it from both ends.
And I can’t ride around here w/o getting killed!

I feels ya Hack.

Even tho the place is paid, the taxes are really low, crime is not an issue, traffic, we don’t even have a traffic light in town, the air is clean and by and large people are friendly,
I still think of grass maybe being greener elsewhere.

I dunno.

Only thing that grabs me…….is somewhere warm in the winters.

A small coffee shop/cafe, in some seaside town, with a few motorcycles hanging on the wall, open at 9 and close at 2.
Grilled cheese sandwiches, tomato soup, coffee and donuts,
a mini Aces Cafe.   With a real air pump out back where a guy could fill his tires.  

Yeah.  Something like that maybe…..  

[Fatfatboy]

hacksaw wrote

That’s amazing! If I had my way I would live in a camper and build a big garage .

Camper life sucks after awhile. There were three of us  in a 35 footer. It didn’t take long for that to get old. We were in it way to long.
The city wouldn’t give me a building permit until the original house was gone. The day after the old house was torn down I went in to get my building permit. Found out my old house was built across a lot line and the new house was going to be built across three lot lines. The lots were all mine but the city maps still showed that there were four different lots and you can’t build across lot lines.
So I spent the three good weather months going to city meetings, getting the lots surveyed and put into one lot. A real PITA. By the time this got worked out winter came in slowing the build. We were in the camper for around 10 months or so. Way to long.
I guess a week or two at a time would be fun but 10 straight months sux.

[hacksaw]

Fat2
Man I can dig how frustrating that scene was.
All I need is a bath , a kitchenette , a place to watch tv and computer , and sleep.
Everything else is garage !!!
If I wasnt so bad at stairs a big garage with a loft living space would rock . I guess an elevator would be an ideal.
My wife would never agree. Lol.
But that’s another story .

[hacksaw]

That’s a great dream . I could deal with that .
Maybe a seasonal store of some sort in a quaint NH town I could like. As long as I had some outlier property to get lost on occasionally .
As to warm winters . Man I can dig the thought . My wife leaves for a month this week in the Philippines .
We have a big house in town plus farmland.
My mangos are doing well.
Plus I still belong to Road Rats MC Philippines .
But I tell you . I can no longer sit on a plane that long anymore . Certainly not coach .
I wish in some ways I was going this week myself. But my kid is here and so am I. Lol.

[Fatfatboy]

motogrady wrote

Only thing that grabs me…….is somewhere warm in the winters.

Freaking A. I’m with you there.  I’d love to live somewhere where I can ride all year without dressing up like the Michelin Man to do so.
But I gotta have hills and valleys. Flat Florida won’t work.

I like your dream. I’d hang out there.

[hacksaw]

Not flat in the panhandle. But I am talking seasonal anyway. I can deal with flatness by an ocean for winter.
Plus I am a new England boy thru and thru.
Ct isn’t New England much anymore. If you are filthy rich it’s ok. But the stonewalls and historic colonials can’t balance the high taxes and high energy costs for the common man .
As inner city crime has spread to the older suburbs it just ain’t america for you and me.
One needs to stay away from the nyc - Boston corridor .
Which means west of the white mountains. New Hampshire.
Vermont is like living in a park . And too liberal . Think sanders and pat Leahy. Taxachusettes has some nice areas but Boston sucks. I actually like Rhodey but it’s more crooked than even Delaware . And Maine ? You just can’t get there from here.

The best compromise is likely North Carolina . But so many retirement communities have proliferated that property prices suck .

[oldironnow]

The wheels finally went back on.

Then, Ratana would not crank. A dead battery.

Then, after charging, it literally would not crank.

Suspecting hydraulic lock, pulled the plugs.

Cylinder Three, wet with gasoline.

Could even see with a borescope a meniscus shaking at the bottom of the plug hole.

Blew out all the cylinders. Buttoned up everything.

Did a lap through town.

It seems to like the fresh plugs.




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[oldironnow]

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[oldironnow]

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[oldironnow]

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[hacksaw]

Lol!