Ahhh.... It was a good night.

Feels goood! A productive garage night!

My Toyota 4-Runner's ignition locked up, the key won't turn. $54 @ NAPA gets you a new ignition and two keys. Remove the plastic under the dash so you can get at the bottom of the switch. Put the key over to ACC and push on the 1/8" diameter pin on the bottom. Gently pull the key and the tumbler comes right out.

Put the new key in the new tumbler and turn it over to ACC. Push it in. Done.

Second triumph:

I about got rear ended on the Naked Goldwing because some fool didn't see my brake lights or turn signals. I added a 1/2 X 3" amber LED turn signal on each side, safety first. The bike's been tied up for a week because I mounted the LEDs and got them to light up, but they wouldn't blink. Aarrrrr. If the circuit isn't complete or it's mis-wired, they won't blink. I started over. Removed the headlight, traced all the wires out, it has to be something simple. If not, I'm out, I get along better with a Saw-Zall than electricity. FINALLY. The blinker thingie, relay? It's a round cylinder that clicks with each blink. That thing is old school, it's a piece of metal that heats up when hit with electricity and it jumps off the hot connection, then it cools off and lays back down. That's what causes the on-off of blinking.

That old stuff doesn't work with LED. I replaced the relay with $9 of electronic replacement and BANG, bliinkers!

It took another 45 minutes to wrap the connections and button everything up, but this was a very satisfying garage experience. Especially so because for the last week I've been going out there and staring at this stupid bike with no blinkers.

Oh look, it's beer o'clock.

Dan

That round thingey is the flasher. Yes it's old school and I wish cars were still old school.

Trying to do some paperwork and ending up thinking about taking my uncle up on his offered 83 CB1000c and working it over similar to what you did to that goldwing. Only question is how to get a bike that hasnt been ridden in a decade from Colorado to Maryland. (it reportedly runs fine, but needs brake work, tires, etc. dont think riding cross country with little to no bike experience is a good idea though)

Its always a good thing when things click and work out.

dang, taking off the fairing and changing the handlebars does so much for it http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N_TrSuABke4

Is that the bike your uncle is offering or just somebody's CB 1000? If that is the one offered and you don't want it, you get the usual finder's fee, I'm taking it!

Cool bike, is that the one with the hi-low for each gear? Making it a ten speed.

If you're driving cross country, DON'T remove the fairing. I ride 26 miles one way to work. At 65 - 70 mph I'm tired when I get here. The wind tries to throw you off the back so you're doing a sit up for the whole ride and if your hands relax you're looking at the taillight.

YMMV, I'm old.

Ah yes, with the highs come the lows. They just told me I have to go to Ft. Hood, Texas. 10 hours of flying, 4 hours on the ground, fly back.

Oy.

Yikes! Four hours in Ft. Hood, why do they hate you?

It isnt THE bike, I dont have any pictures of it.

Yes, it is the one that effectively has a 10 speed with the high/low split setup. The last of honda inline 4's IIRC.

His has about 25k on it and a vetter fairing (wouldnt be removing it before riding distance) My uncle is a 64 year old type 1 diabetic, so he had to give up riding it awhile back. He has offered it to me a few times over the years and I keep resisting for a few reasons.

I've had mopeds since I was 14 and have put a few thousand miles on them, but cant really ride them much after I moved to the mountians (17mph going uphill makes traffic mad enough I fear for my safety, been run off the road a few times).

I keep hemming getting it (or a dualsport) to get some open road enjoyment, but due to student budget constraints havent really decided to (did come awfully close to getting a $1500 DR350 last winter though).

It looks like shipping the bike would cost $500-600 and while I could stay out there, fix the bike, and ride it home I dont know if moped experience + just getting the moto lisence is enough experience to really do that. (not to mention as a first run after sitting for so long) I also dont know if that large of a bike is a good idea as a first bike.

Bike as sits looks more like this

Pay the $500 shipping and doink with it at leisure. No one's gonna run a 1000cc off the road.

Dan

I love this place. Now I know why turn signals click- I would never have thought of that in a Brazilian years.

Good looking bike.. I love the "old school" bikes over the new ones

belive it or not.. my Fiat uses something similar to a blinker for it's delay wipers. Put it in delay, the wipers turn on, overheat the relay so the metal flap releases the circut, the wipers come to a rest for a few seconds until the relay cools enough to make a circut.. the move again and the metal flap thingy breaks the circut again.

Not bad for a 1968 design.

Cherish those moments when a "This should only take me an hour" job only takes an hour. They are few and far between.

poopshovel wrote: Cherish those moments when a "This should only take me an hour" job only takes an hour. They are few and far between.

Quoted for the hard kick in the stomach truth it is.

914Driver wrote: Ah yes, with the highs come the lows. They just told me I have to go to Ft. Hood, Texas. 10 hours of flying, 4 hours on the ground, fly back. Oy.

Sounds glamorous.

New plan. One day travel, one day on the ground, one day travel. I'm too old for this stuff....

Apexcarver wrote: It looks like shipping the bike would cost $500-600 and while I could stay out there, fix the bike, and ride it home I dont know if moped experience + just getting the moto lisence is enough experience to really do that. (not to mention as a first run after sitting for so long) I also dont know if that large of a bike is a good idea as a first bike.

DO IT! Just remember it's not a moped! When you twist the grip on a 1000 or bigger you tend to GO! oh yeah don't slip up and dump the clutch in first on a bike that big. Wheelies on crotch rockets aren't so bad..Wheelies on 800lbs plus of full fairing touring bike while impressive, call for a skivy check. Seriously, I learned to ride at 14 on my old mans 1200 wing, big bikes are comfortable, plenty of torque to get things moving without having to worry about revving it up to get moving. Big cruisers are NICE! I took my old mans latest wing out for a spin in September last year, was only planning on going down the road a bit, and bringing it back as it had been sitting for a while. 4 hours later, I came back with it, and made the statement "THAT'S WHY YOU LIKE EM SO MUCH!" Sportbike vs Cruiser has been a bit of an argument between us for the last 12 years or so. Still like sportbikes, but damn that was a nice relaxing ride.