A fine summer

I have not posted much this summer but that is a good thing. That means that I have been busy living life, having fun and getting things done.

To start, I must say what a fantastic summer we had here in Western New York. I believe it was the second driest in recent recorded history. For farmers this was a bad thing and I feel for them, I really do, but for me it meant riding my bike to work about 70% of the time. 45 min ride both ways. It meant camping with my family was dry and our wedding was on a beautiful day. Yes, I got married this summer too.

I am one of those people who got to marry his best friend. I will not gush over her here as this is my bike blog but without her I would not be where I am now and doing what I do and enjoying life as much.

 

I am going to post some of my pictures from this year.

 

A lot of soccer over the summer.

 

Daughter 1 catching a fish.

 

Daughter 2 catching a fish.

 

Daughter 3 catching a fish.

 

My son loading the rifle.

 

The wifey riding the quad.

 

Niagara Falls.

 

The Maid of the Mist.

 

Wedding day.

 

Wifey.

 

Our cake.

 

Brother 1 catching a fish.

 

 

Brother 2 catching a fish.

 

Nice little fall ride. Hope to have more.

 

I hope everyone had a good and safe summer. It will be warm again before you know it and I will see you out on the road soon!

Tech: GPS or Phone mount

About 7 years ago or so I bought a GPS unit for my cars and really liked not having to use paper maps any more. I didn't like the surprise that I had to pay on a regular basis to get road map updates, so when I eventually figured out that I could get free GPS on a smart phone I decided to move to using those.

 

I have used my GPS for many road trips with my family over the years. It has allowed me to just pick a destination and go with out much planning. It has also allowed me to just up and go, discovering new places and not worrying about finding my way home.

 

I wanted this freedom on my bike too. When I first got my bike, Carrie and I wanted to take off somewhere but on the trip I took a wrong turn. I pulled out my phone GPS and placed it on my leg while I got back on track.

 

I needed something to hold my smart phone so I could use the GPS. I bought a Cell Buckle because it was cheep. Unfortunately there were three issues that I really didn't like about the Cell Buckle while riding. The first was that the phone would shake a lot while the bike is running making it hard to see what I needed to see. The second problem is that it has no way of keeping the phone charged. GPS tends to use a bit of power so long trips would kill the battery. The third problem isn't really a Cell Buckle problem, but the phone is not visible in direct sun. I would have to cup my hand over the phone to see it.

 

So now I have the criteria for my new mount. It has to be able to hold the phone firmly enough to be able to read it, be able to charge it and to shade it from the sun.

 

My last project was relocating my headlight housing. This gave me the perfect place to start. I could use the headlight housing to shade the phone. Now I just needed a mount and charging system.

 

I found an Echo Plug & Go unit on sale at Stan's Harley Davidson to start with. This unit has a nice mounting system that mounts to the handle bars but that was not good enough for me.

 

I cut out a piece of card board as my template.

I did not use the template pictured. I ended up modifying it before cutting out the aluminum plate. I thought I took more pictures of the making of this but unfortunately I did not.

 

I cut the aluminum with my saw and had to file the edges smooth. I rounded the edges and the bent the plate. To bend it I clamped wood on each side and then bent it by hand. I used a hammer with plastic ends to form tighter ends. The Echo had to be taken apart so that I could mount it to the aluminum. I seperated the power box and the actual mechanical mount. This let me put the power box on the back of the plate and the mechanical mount on the front. Using the existing screws, it is firmly a part of my aluminum mount now.

 

I then tried it. When I was happy with it I primed and painted it.  Here are a few pictures of the finished project.

 

I have used this since making it and I am very happy with it. Normally the screen is visible. There are a few times that the sun has been behind me and caused glare but nowhere near what it would if it were mounted to the handle bars.

 

The Echo system is nice because I can change the plugs easily for different phone or GPS types. The Echo has two wires that connect to the battery. To place the phone into the Echo mount there is thick foam padding that will lock down on your phone. To remove the phone you press a button and it opens up spring loaded.

 

I thought this mount would shake a lot because it is only mounted at one end but it only moves when I go over bumps. I could have used a thicker gauge aluminum or steel to reduce this if it were a problem.

 

Over the past year I have done quite a bit of custom work on my head light/ handle bar area and I really like the transformation. I hope you do too.

Tech: Headlight relocation

I like the way the headlight looks when the bike is sitting with no one on it, but as a tall person I did not like the way it looked with me on it. I wanted to try making a head light relocating bracket.

I started by creating my basic drawing or blue print. To make the bracket I had a block of aluminum that was being tossed out as scrap.

I stayed three nights after work whittling away at the block on a manual mill. After the first night I had to cut angles onto the block to make clearance for the housing.

On the second night I only had a little left to cut away for clearance. And then on the third night all I had to do was smooth out the edges for painting.

Here is a comparison of the new bracket and the old.

I had mounted my front turn signals on the lower triple tree awhile ago. I have a couple of pictures before I raised the turn signals to the upper triple tree and raising the fork bag. You can see how far the new bracket raises the light.

Here are a few pictures with the turn signals moved.

It took me awhile to get used to the new look. I did have to align the light after the above pictures so the housing is pulled farther back now. I don't have any pictures of it yet.

The first ride I took on the bike I noticed a huge difference. Before when I rode there was a lot of wind pressure in the center of my chest at moderate speeds and I would have to lean forward at higher speeds. Now I felt some wind pressure on my shoulders. This diverts the air nicely for a tall guy like me. I even took it on the thruway (not saying the speeds) to see how well it worked. I was impressed. My arms and hands didn't get as tired as they did before from the wind pressure.

I will have to get some pictures of me riding it so that people can see how it fits my body sizes now.

Hollywood Happening 2012

Our day at the Hollywood Happening was a pleasant one.

The weekend was supposed to be a wash out, and it did start out that way. Friday was rain, but the rally still rode. Saturday started with rain, and by 11 am it started to clear up. The forecast was calling for more rain by 4 pm so I got ready and headed out the door for Gowanda while it was dry.

Those of you not familiar with Western New York weather, you get used to sudden changes. The lakes can add watter to the air and make it rain or it can suck the moisture out of the air and keep us dry, all in a seconds notice. If you live here you know what I mean. You can not plan your day or weekend around what the weather forecaster says.

Our ride out to Gowanda was a bit uneventful. The rain stopped, but the winds picked up over 20 miles an hour. Usually not a big deal but having new tires that I had very little time on did put a little fun into it.

We pulled into Gowanda and like usual the main street was blocked off with bike parking only. To my surprise a side street was also blocked off for the "Star Boys" to do their stunts down. When we got there, not many bikes had arrived. It was about noon. Carrie and I walked down the side walks and visited the booths and vendors. Eventually we wandered over to watch the "Star Boys". Carrie likes watching them do their stunts.

I didn't get a lot of good pictures because I was taking it easy. Carrie got a few better ones but I don't have the patients to download hers too.

In the center of this old town is an old theater, The Hollywood Theater. I don't know all the dates and facts, but it is well over 100 years old with a lot of history. As a kid growing up I had seen a few films there, and remember the last film I watched there with my dad at about 17 called Medicine Man. Shortly after it was condemned as unsafe because parts of the ceiling were falling.

About 14 years ago someone got the idea of raising money to fix the place up and with the help of the local bikers, started the Harley Happening. Live bands, boothes, vendors, bike rides and even celebrities like Willie G showed up to sign jackets for raffles.

This went on for awhile, but eventually Harley didn't want to sponsor this event any more so it became The Hollywood Happening as the organizers were not allowed to use the Harley name any more.

A couple of years ago, the town of Gowanda had a massive flood that covered main street in a few feet of water. The theater was in several feet of water and it destroyed a lot of the work that had been done to it over the past years.

This event still draws about the same amount of people as it ever did. Even though it rained for the rally, people rode. Even though it was forecast to rain all weekend, people came. http://www.gowandahollywoodhappening.com/

Here are some pictures of the theater.

Entering the theater I saw my high school art teacher Mrs. Dye, and she honestly remembered me. I was impressed because I had not seen her in 19 years (and 40 ponds ago).

I ran into a few others that I knew (I went to high school in Gowanda and then moved to Hamburg a few years after graduation).

We walked around and then to the back street, where most of the action is. This is where the beer tent is, the food vendors along with the normal vendors you see pawning off their normal wears. Also back there was a display for the Eden Chopper Class. For those that do not know, we are lucky to have a local school that teaches high school kids how to work on and customize motorcycles. I wish we had that when I was in school. http://edenchopperclass.com/ Check out the link to see some of the cool bikes these kids built.

After walking awhile we found a bench out by the main street and bike watched. Guys and gals were riding their bikes up and down the street. By this time the street was full of bikes.

When we decided to go,  and since it didn't start raining, we took some back roads and headed out over the Indian Reservation to Sunset Beach in Irving. It was still windy so we had the place to ourselves.

We took our time, but eventually made it home just before dark. Netflix had delivered a movie so we curled up on the couch and took it easy for the rest of the night, because come tomorrow it was back to our normal grind.

New Tires

I need a new set of tires to pass my inspection this year. I have a pair of Dunlops that I put about 2500 miles on last year. I am not sure how many miles the previous owner put on them.

I figured it would cost less if I take the wheels off myself, that way I wouldn't have to pay someone an hour in labor to take them off. I used my new Harbor Freight motorcycle jack (I had a coupon from a motorcycle magazine and got mine for under $60). When I had it up where I wanted it I used three tie downs. Two tie downs I used on the handle bars to keep the front stable and one strap across the back. The jack has nice rings welded to it so you can strap the bike to the jack.

The front wheel was easy to take off. Remove the large axle nut, loosen the two Allen screws on the other fork and the axle is ready to be removed. I removed the four bolts to the front brakes and wrapped the calipers in old shirts so they didn't scratch anything. When the brakes were out of the way I marked the wheel spacers R and L and then removed the axle by tapping it out. The wheel is off.

The rear wheel took a little more work. I had to remove the left lower rear shock bolt to get the chrome axle cover off. The right side of my bike doesn't have one, yet. I removed the E-clip and then the large axle bolt and the right tension adjuster. To tap the axle I had to remove the muffler. Once the muffler was removed I also removed the belt guards. Those are easy, they are not held on by much.

I needed to support the rear wheel when tapping the rear axle out. The brake caliper is mounted to the axle bolt so that will need to slide off of the swing arm when it is off of the axle bolt. I bungee corded it to the rear shock. I used a metal rod to tap the axle the rest of the way. When the axle was out I could take the belt off of the wheel sprocket and roll the wheel out.

For the tire I did a Little research on 1130cc.com. I was able to find a few recommendations for the Avon Cobra tire and even some recommendations on where it would be cheapest. Unfortunately I missed a $40 rebate offer by a month. I went to http://www.rockymountainatvmc.com/ and then compared a few other sites for price. Rocky had the best offer so that's what I went with.

I took the wheels to Hamburg Honda where they mounted and balanced them for me. Unfortunately they added some ugly weights to the front rim. I may have to look into options for that.

I wont go into detail about reinstalling the wheels as it was just the reverse of taking them off.

I pumped the brakes when I got the bike outside. The front had good pressure but the back brakes needed to be pumped several times before having good pressure. When I took the first low speed ride the rear brake didn't work well at first but soon it was back to normal.

The first long ride I noticed a big change. It was a very windy day so balancing the bike under 5 miles an hour took a bit more work (the old back tire had a flat worn on it, I could balance for a long time). I noticed the corning improvement right away. I had a few miles on the Dunlops and even when they were fairly new they did not cut corners like the Avons. I noticed that I was riding around corners at about 4 miles an hour faster with the new tires with lest lean and effort. I went with the Avons for their cornering and they corner great. If I were going for more of a cruising tire I would have tried the Metzelers. The Metzelers are a wider tire with less crown from what I have read.

In all I am very happy with my new tires. I was surprised with how much of an improvement in cornering these tires provided. Removing and installing the wheels myself saved me at least $100. Now I just need to learn how to mount and balance the tires....



Hollywood Happening: June 1,2,3 2012

Do not forget that the 14th annual Hollywood Happening is going on this weekend, June 1, 2 and 3 in Gowanda, NY.

http://www.gowandahollywoodhappening.com/

Weekend Rides 5/19/2012-5/20/2012

What a beautiful weekend for riding!

5/19/2012

My Friday morning started by having to sit in court. The meeting was adjourned about 5 minutes after it started because there was a misfiling. I will have to go back, but I had taken the day off from work so I didn't need to go back to work. Since I was a little worked up about having court even when I got home, I decided that I needed a ride.

I pulled out the bike about 10:30am Friday and headed off in the direction of my dad's house (about a 45 minute ride). I zipped through the back country roads with no direct rout premeditated. The old roads I went down had farms and wooded areas. Very scenic. I even passed by my great grandmother's old house (now owned by a stranger). It stirred up childhood memories about playing in the front sun room and the creek that ran out front. Good memories.

Finally I made it to my dad's and my step brother was there with a friend. We all chatted awhile. It gave me a chance to vent, much needed. Dad also let me know that there was going to be a bike blessing at a church in the village of Cherry Creek on Sunday and that if I wanted to ride with him and his friends where to meet.

I took a different rout home. This day I was riding the bike a little harder than I usually do. Nothing dangerous, but a little rush helped clear my head. I came up behind a truck pulling a hay wagon so I decided to take a right, and found my new favorite road! Yocum isn't a long road, but it was cool. The signs said seasonal traffic only, so I had no idea what condition it would be in. Around here seasonal usually means a dirt road with many pot holes. Not so here. I did have to go slow, first and second gear mostly, because the road was narrow with tight turns and fresh gravel but this gave me a chance to take in the view. The road twists through a wooded area and down a hill. There were a few houses hidden in the trees. Very nice.

Carrie was there when I got home. She had taken the day off also and used her time to clean out a corner of the basement so we could paint. That is how I spent the rest of my Friday.

5/20/2012

Saturday I woke up, drank some coffee and watched the morning news. The news covered a story about an old building being tore down and how Buffalo Transportation had put about $8 million into the south Buffalo lake front and were expecting to sell it for $1 dollar.

This got me to think I would like to see what they were talking about. Carrie and I hoped on the bike and headed out.

We do not live far from Buffalo so in about 10 minutes we were coming up onto the Skyway. I turned off and rode the new roads below on the lake front. They twist and turn under the Skyway. I pulled into a parking lot and we went for a nice walk.

The old building that is supposed to be torn down has a little history. South of Buffalo used to be big into metal smelting and forming. Bethlehem Steel owned miles of the lake front. I do not know an accurate account of the history but I do know a little. Bethlehem Steel closed down decades ago and some of the buildings have been sold to other companies, but most of it became a waste land. As a kid it was a joke when driving through the area because it smelled like sulfur or rotten eggs.

Now the area is used for storage and they are the site of several large wind mills. The building in question I believe is a 100 year old office complex.

The building is in rough shape and it would take a ton of money to rebuild/restore. It is also in an area where there is very little chance it would attract business if someone restored it, so I can understand it being taken down. It will just be strange to travel the Buffalo Skyway and not see it anymore.

After checking out the building we wandered the lake front some more. It isn't finished but I have to say they are doing a nice job. In the past you wouldn't come down here. It was covered in weeds, waste and about once a week a stripped down stolen care would be set on fire here.

Buffalo was known for it's canals and ship yards 100 years ago. Over the decades these had been filled in or left to deteriorate. This area is being restored so people could come and walk, bicycle or fish. Much better than the waste land it used to be.

My next plan was to get back on the Skyway and ride into the city of Buffalo where we could grab something to eat, but we had a problem when we were leaving. The road right in front of the old Bethlehem Steel building had a series of pot holes that caused us to bottom out hard (we were going under 10 miles an hour) that popped my rear brake light out, breaking the plastic tabs. Carrie had to hold it on for the ride home where we called everywhere looking for a replacement. On par for Harley Davidson, no dealers carry Vrod parts so I would have to improvise.

After about an hour I went out to the garage and tore apart the rear end of the bike to come up with some ideas. It didn't take long. I cut a piece of aluminum, drilled some undersized holes (so that they would be tight on the wood screws) and used the plate to drill some undersized holes in the bottom of the tail light. I used some locktight hoping it would bond between the aluminum and screws.

This caused small visible cracks to form on the underside plastic, but I wasn't worried because the light took some damage when it bounced down the road. I will have to replace it eventually, but needed something to get me through the weekend.

When I had the bike back together I went in the house and woke Carrie up from her nap, telling her we need to go now.... the sun was setting now and I wanted to take a ride down rout 5 by Lake Erie.

When riding down rout 5 we were able to watch the sun set behind the lake. It was gorgeous. As we rode it began to get darker and buy the time we got to Sturgeon Point the sun had mostly set. Carrie and I hung out there for awhile before riding off to Angola and then back home. We didn't get home until about 10:30 PM Saturday night.

5/20/2012

Sunday I woke up early, made coffee and feed the dogs before heading outside to wash the bike. This was the first time I used my Harbor Freight motorcycle jack to wash the wheels. That made it so much easier to wash, clean and dry.

The day before I called my dad when the light broke and told him we would not make the blessing. I never told him I had made a temporary fix to the light because I didn't know how the light would hold up.

Carrie was excited about the ride. We don't ride with groups much and she is a social person. When she woke up I was finishing up cleaning the bike so she helped a little before we went inside and ate breakfast and had more coffee.

We headed out around 10 AM to Gowanda. I stopped at a gas station in Gowanda to gas up. A few minutes later a couple of bikes pulled in, one being my dad and step mom. They didn't see us as we were on the other side of the pumps. I able to give them a bit of a surprise.

After gassing up we cruised over to the meeting spot. About 8 bikes showed up, most were 2 up. We took rout 353 out of Gowanda, through Dayton and back roads to Cherry Creek. The roads through there I knew well, old stopping grounds. We stopped at the Methodist Church in Cherry Creek.

I would say about a hundred people showed up. I saw a few people I had not seen in awhile. The ceremony was nice. I would like to thank everyone for showing up. After the prayer we were asked to make some noise and head to Someplace Else, a new local bar in Cherry Creek.

Standing outside Someplace Else with my Pepsi in hand, I chatted with friends while guys with loud pipes ran up and down the street. After everyone had a few drinks we split up into a our riding groups and headed out.

Our group head south through the hills. The first stop was The Backyard Bar and Grille. A couple of other groups came and went too while we were there.

A few drinks later we headed south again to the outskirts of Jamestown. Our final destination was The Swamp. Other than the bar tender and 1 patron, our group had the run of the place. We ordered some food and hung out in the back. None of us remembered sun screen so we were crispy by now. This is where Carrie and I decided to head home since we had the longest ride by an hour.

We drove through the city of Jamestown and followed rout 62 north. I opened the bike up a little for the ride home. We ran into a few of the groups we met earlier, but we only stopped for gas in Gowanda. I took back roads from there, taking Carrie down Yocum for her first time.

When we got home I told Carrie thank you for coming with me. Her response was that she was glad she had a full face helmet because she was smiling from ear to ear the hole time and was afraid she would have looked like a dope if she didn't have the helmet. So easy to say she enjoyed the 7 hour outing.

Carrie had a few videos of the trip (she took the pictures I posted), but they are either at a right angle or upside down when I play them on the computer so I am not going to post them.

In closing I would like to thank everyone involved and the establishments that hosted us. We had a good harmless weekend that we will all remember until Alzheimer's kicks in.

Ride on and ride safe.