Mike's Motorcycle Blog

Okay... Iknow I'll catch crap from my sport bike and sport touring friends, but here goes.I picked up this Cruiser for 2-up riding with Marty (wife). She prefers this style of bike as a passenger. I had been looking for an 2004-2006 1300C model, but this bike came up and the deal was right so Ijumped on it. Bought today with ~8600 miles on it. Mods already on the bike when purchased Factory front floor boards Factory Toe/Heel shifter Factory wide brake pedal Chrome Driveshaft cover...

Read More "New Bike for 2-up Riding"

Well, Ihaven't ridden the DRZmuch at all in the past 9 months or so. Inoticed at the end of the season last year that there was a ticking sound that was a bit unusual. Power and everything still seemed fine however. Ifigured it was the manual cam chain tensioner that needed adjusting, and I'd put it off until the next season.Well... in April or so Ibrought the DRZ up to my office/shop space and did an oil/filter change and attempted to adjust the cam chain tensioner. Well, two problems. 1) Barely...

Read More "DRZ Repairs Needed"

Well, was able to find some replacement parts pretty quickly. Some have already arrived, some are coming, and some deals still need to be found Iended up finding a left side rear set for $55 shipped, which also included the shifter and shifter linkage. I'll be able to sell those for between $30-40, so total cost for repairs Ineed on the rear set should set me back maybe $15-25.Also found a perfect condition tank cover for $75 shipped which was another steal. Mine wasn't damaged that much, but...

Read More "Repairs have begun"

Been slacking on my Blog entries here again. One reason is it's been pretty darn hot so far this June, and we had quite a bit of rain, etc in May. Busy on most weekends which has kept me from quite a few Arkansas trips and Track days.However, Iwas able to make an Arkansas trip this past weekend. We stayed up in Eurkea Springs with plans to ride the AR side on Friday, and the MOside on Saturday. Day started off nice (although highs of 91) hitting some of the regular great roads. Here is some video...

Read More "Lack of blog entries & AR trip"

Todd posted up a lunch run out to Paris and Albie and I decided to go along.  Weather was great, and we ended up doing 230+ miles including lunch at Ta Molly's in Paris

Jim from NTSBA organized a member day over at Eagles Canyon Raceway and many of us went out today to enjoy the track!

Weather was good although windy.  Had a real good turnout and was quite nice to have the track to ourselves.  As usual, ECR did a great job!

Here are some pictures, and Video's below (MS Media Player 9+ format)

• Everyone driving by (6.7mb)
• Session 1 (114mb)
• Session 2 (64mb)
• Session 3 (66mb)
• Session 4 (25mb)
• Session 5 (80mb)

Here's a YouTube vid of part of Session 2 also.

Seems I forgot to make a post about this. Last year Ipicked up one of the GoPro cameras to play with for use on the bikes and even in the cars. It came with a very nice suction cup mount and some other options for mounting as well. However, the lack of any screen for reviewing video or even seeing what you are currently recording was a very weak link on the unit. It has a tiny little view finder, but it's like an old 110 camera view finder. Also, there is only a little LEDthat blinks in the view...

Read More "Video Camera's"

Well, weather has been great and I haven't had time to do a ride lately.  One of the guys from NTSBA posted up a moderate paced ride for Saturday, so I figured I should get out!   We ended up doing about 200 miles, and the weather was quite nice.  A little cool in the morning, but good overall.  Nice to get out and ride for a change

Well... been very busy past few months, but finally decided yesterday was a good day to do some much needed maintenance on the 600RR.

The bike has 5220 miles on it and I took it up to my office/warehouse to do the following:

• Swapped out the plugged rear tire (pretty worn too) for a new Pilot Power
• Did oil change and new K&N oil filter (easier to get on/off and works very well)
• Cleaned, lubed and adjusted the chain

I really should have taken the DRZ up there too, as it needs some of the same maintenance, but I guess I'll save that for another day 

Well, it's been quite a while since I've gotten out and done a ride.  Just been busy with work, family on the weekends, holidays, etc.

However, today's weather demanded a ride    Temps started out in the upper 60's, and it hit mid 70's by the time we finished up around 1:30pm.  Great weather for Albie, Matt and myself, even if we only did about 150 miles or so.  Stopped at our great little mexican place for lunch in Leonard.

Oh... I also noticed my rear end was getting real loose before we got to lunch, so I pulled over.  Sure enough, a nice gash in the rear tire.  Luckilly we were only about 1/2 mile backtrack from the last gas station.   They had a plug kit and air, so after a few minutes there, I was good to go (phew!)   So looks like I'll be putting on the new Pilot Power I picked up the other day sooner then I thought

Yes, I know I haven't posted many updates.... it's been 100+ here, and I've been real busy on the weekends lately. I've done a few rides, just your typical SaMR/SMR 120-150 mile loops, but not a ton.

My front tire on the 600RR was pretty much spent after the last Arkansas trip... so after much procrastination I finally replaced it today.  3250 miles on the bike and a new Pilot Power on the front now.

SaturdayWe all met up for breakfast at South Park at 7:30am, and headed out at 8:30am. Plan was for a 385+ mile day. Darren lead the quick group, I led the mid group, and Greg led the 3rd group. 30% chance of rain, and we ended up in a bit of fog, and almost 2 hours or rain, before we even got to Jasper. We waited for the rain to let up, then continued on, soaked. We were headed for the mountains, but lots of fog/rain was visible so we stopped for lunch. Afterwards, we pretty much just headed...

Read More "TSBA Spring IBI - Sat/Sun"

Our spring ride to Arkansas is this weekend.  Albie and I trailered up last night (Thurs) and got to the hotel in Clarksville about 1:30am.   Got up just after 6am and met Jim for breakfast.  We then headed over to the Paris area to look at a few houses.

Afterwards, we headed up Magazine Mountain, but the fog was real bad.  Our visability was down to about 15' or so for over 10 miles.  We finally made it to the other side, and semi-slabbed back to Paris and had lunch.  After lunch we headed back to the hotel to relax a bit and see who else may have arrived for the weekend.

About 7pm we headed to dinner at the mexican place nearby.  Good as usual, and I want to say there was about 16 of us or so.

Plan is to meet for breakfast around 7:30am, then head out for the day afterwards.

Well, loaded up the trailer with track necessities including Dave's bike and my bike Sunday in preparation for a 5am departure from the house on Monday morning.  Made decent time getting out to the track, and setup, etc. 

Day started out okay, but the rain came at the beginning of our second session, and never really let up.  First session was just slow laps getting familiar with the track, lines, etc.   Track is nice, and I definately want to get out there again.  Just a bit of a waste of time and $ this time around sadly.  

Some pictures are here.

Slacking on the Blog entries, sorry.  Have only done some limited weekend rides, nothing major.  Have been busy lately with other things, but starting to get back into the swing of things!

Did my first rear tire change on the 600RR yesterday at about 2200 miles.  Didn't really need to be replaced just yet, but I'm doing a track day at Eagles Canyon tomorrow, and wanted to have fresh rubber.  Plus there is a 3-4 day Arkansas trip coming up in a few weeks too.  Put on a new Pilot Power.

02/29/2008: Sold the F4!  Yup... I loved the bike, and it was a lot more comfortable then the new RR, but it was time to let it go.  Put it up on Craigs List, and had quite a bit of interest in the 2 days it was listed.  Hope the new owner enjoys it!

02/24/2008: I lead a ride with a few others last Sunday.  Weather was a little cool in the morning (50's), but got up to mid 60's on the return.  About 160 miles with a stop for lunch.

Sorry... WAY behind here! Let's see if I can recall missing entries.Back in November '07 TSBA had a dyno day over at Deans at MetricTech in Mckinney. Great time and good weather. The new 600RR dyno'd at 97hp to the rear wheel. Not a bad number to start with. I took the RR home, and picked up the DRZ so I could dyno it as well. Pulling in the parking lot, do a little SM wheelie over the speed bump... set it down, and the throttle drug (or stuck?) and I took off again... thought I got it under control,...

Read More "Wow! Way behind"

Sorry, a bit behind on my entries.  Did a Saturday ride out to Paris last Saturday with a few of the guys from TSBA.  Good ride, about 250 miles... leaves are finally changing colors and falling.  The RR  rolled over 1000 miles today as well.  Currently at 1026 miles.

Finished up the custom bracket mount for my radar detector and GPS for the RAM mount.  Everything is working well, and can still see pertinent gauges on the dash, etc.

Pictures are here

Today I got to pull most of the plastic off the RR.  Wanted to run the radar detector hard wiring under the tank cover and up to a usable location.  Taking time, the plastic came off relatively easilly.  Just have to watch for a few specific things as you do it.

After I did that, I replaced the front Honda tractor lights (signals) with flush mount LED signals as well.  Just cut the factory connector on the stock signals and soldered them onto the new flush signals. 

Also worked on a new bracket/mount for my radar detector and GPS which will mount on my stem mount RAM ball.  Will try and finish that up tomorrow.

Pictures are all here.