Boats.net

I ordered my belt, and two air filter elements for my scooter on boat.net which carries a lot of parts for bikes, scooters, atv, and watercraft.  They were the cheapest.  I got two filters which I thought were for each side of the Majesty.  Apparently there are THREE air filters--one on each side for air intake then a separate one for the variator!  I got online this morning to order and found the right part.  I also ordered the variator weights that I might end up needing, plus four specialized bolts that have rubber washers around them.  Only after I hit the pay button did I get my purchase order via email which said they would ship on the 31st!!  I need to get this work done asap, so I could not wait for the 31st.  I cancelled my order and called Yamaha-Suzuki of Louisville.  They can have the parts for me Thursday or Friday.

I still have to find some way to extract the salt and oxidization-welded bolts and screws from the scooter...needless to say I am not a happy camper.  Still, my friend Jeremy says we should be able to get it done before the rally.  I am concerned...I did not expect nearly as much trouble as this.  It should have been at tops a 2hr job.

Wrenching & Screwed

I have to get the belt and air filters changed on my scooter before WKRP rally. Unfortunately this has turned from a 2 hour job into a week long job. My friend Jeremy and I started working on the scooter at 4pm on Saturday and made very little progress. We did get the new fender on, and ran the wire for the GPS, but every bolt and machine screw was frozen in place for the filters and belt. The phillips heads were getting gouged out pretty quickly. My friend Vince sent me a text message to ask how it was going and I told him it was not. He came over to help, even running to Sears to get a set of Easy-outs which helped get another screw or bolt off. Every one will have to be replaced anyway... Sunday, Jeremy and I ended up getting a few more off using a drill with phillips head atttachment. We did manage to get the right side air box off, only to find that they had sent me the wrong part. At least when I do get the correct part it may be much easier to get the screws off...we are replacing them all with stainless steel. Between Jeremy and myself we have buggered up the heads of all the screws & bolts that have to come out. One has the entire head sheered off. All the phillips heads are rounded out at least somewhat and will have to be replaced. We finally got one of the major bolts out to find it is a specialized bolt with a rubber flange thing. This has quickly become a nightmare. I have less than two weeks before the rally. Jeremy thinks it will be fine, just take more time. Right now my bike is in peices over at his place and cannot be ridden. We had to stop working about 4pm Sunday due to rain and I had to clean up and be ready to get the kids at 730. I am really hoping the penetrating lubricant we got at Autozone will help. Everything else hasn't so far...

Out riding around.

We are somewhere in Indiana...no clue where. :)

First guts!

Ah....wonderful! I got the first bug guts of the season on my helmet Tuesday night! That makes me happy!

Hubers Winery and Arni's Pizza

Here are a couple pictures we took from the last weekend ride.  I wanted to post them earlier, but have had no time to download from the camera!!

 

The first by the white building is Hubers Orchard & Winery.  The second is (of course) Arni's Pizza up at the top of the hill on Paoli Pike.

Not optimal. :(

Today is a pretty nasty day. I probably could have scooted, but I just figured I could give my worn V belt a rest...

US-129 / the Dragon Shut down

Apparently rock slides have caused US-129, aka "The Dragon" to be shut down several times recently...

 

http://www.clevelandbanner.com/index.cfm?event=news.view&id=676FA670-19B9-E2E2-674E0086762774FD

 

http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2010/mar/16/after-reopening-the-dragon-shuts-again/

 

I am thinking fallen rocks might present more hazards there than the crazies who rip thru at 100mph...

The "Bulletproof" (or SWAT style) leather vest

I have seen many motorbike guys wear leather vests.  I never really wanted one until recently.  The reason is not about looking tough, about the protection of leather or really anything about vests...  As my wonderful friend Paula K. (Rest in Peace, darlin') said "I'd do anything as long as there is a badge or patch involved...it's all about the patch!"

 

I have a very modest collection of patches.  I have my Saddle Sore patch which you can only get after completing the certified ride and having it verified by the Iron Butt Association. I have my new Louisville Scooter Group patch that we just got this year.  I have a Yamaha patch that I ordered from ebay and was shipped from Japan.  Then I have five patches from the four scooter rallies I have attended (Gasoline Rally 2008, WKRP Rally 2009, Gasoline Rally 2009, and the Burgman/Dragon Rally 2009)  Also I have one patch with a pinup gal that they were selling at Gasoline Rally this year.  So...I had all these patches on my old worn out Jafrum textile jacket.  They were not sewn on (big mistake) but put on with cloth glue.  I got a new jacket this year (the Power Trip Dakota II) and had it altered to fit me about perfectly.  This was not an unsubstantial cost.  I was reluctant to transfer these patches to my new jacket using the cloth glue...  I decided to remove them from the old worn Jafrum jacket and then decide later.  After removal, the jacket was trashed.  This made me even more reluctant to put them onto the new jacket.  What happens if my new jacket gets trashed, or I get a new jacket in a couple years?  Plus what do I do about displaying my patches when it's too hot to wear that jacket and have to use the mesh?

 

My friend Jim Owen told me he was getting a vest, so I looked around and gave it some thought.  For a long while I did not see a vest that I like.  They all looked either western, or would make the statement "I wish I owned a Harley instead of this here scooter".  Finally I found one on sale that did not give either impression.  Does it look odd?  Well, that might be because you are used to seeing something like this say "SWAT", "FBI", "ATF", or something like that on the back.  They style is "Bulletproof"...distinctly different than the western or biker vests I had seen previously.  I like how it looks and it is also pretty comfortable.  I may not wear it while riding much because I do like the protection of a fully armored textile jacket.  But it will be the perfect thing to use when I want to be the normal casual me at scooter rallies and meetups.  My girlfriend Kat only worries "I hope nobody shoots at you to test it out!"  My only worry?  I might get a few more patches and have to get these removed and rearranged!!!  By the way, Ms. Chong does a fantastic job applying patches on leather (or anything else).

Vince's spill

My good friend Vince took a bad spill early in the morning one day this week. He is ok, just a little banged up. Some stupid cager in a jeep cut him off and he had to turn sharply which caused his front wheel to contact the concrete median divider. His brand new scooter..the 2009 Suzuki Burgman is not trashed, but banged up a little. While insurance and stuff is being sorted out, he is without a ride. I actually hope for a rainy spring so he wont feel too bad. You should stop over to his blog and tell him hi, and send some good wishes to him. His blog is at http://vince-tid-bits.blogspot.com tell him I sent you...

Missing the Cheddar Depot

Somehow...again probably a learning curve with the Garmin...I missed our next planned stop-the Cheddar Depot in Salem. I was chatting with Kat the whole day via the Cardo Scala Q2 headsets which worked pretty good with only the occasional "huh?" because my hearing is not as good as hers. We wandered Indiana in a twisty route. At one point, I look back and see that Vince and Ken are gone! Ken's posterior had went to sleep and he needed to stop! We stretched our legs and decided to scoot off to lunch. We ended up at Arni's Pizza up at Highlander Point at the top of Paoli Pike road in Floyds Knobs. There are a few Arni's around as they are a regional chain. I always think they must have the same supplier as Pizza King as the pizza is nearly identical. After a warm lunch, we zipped down Spickert Knob road to New Albany and over into downtown Louisville via the 2nd street bridge. We all split off downtown to go our seperate ways. Kat and I want to Sunergos coffee to warm up before going home to get ready for the John Mayer concert.

It was a good first Louisville Scooter Group ride around Kentuckiana for 2010. And we have lots of leftover cheese!

Hubers Winery & Brewers

Ken, Vince, Kathy and I left Rick, Gina, and JD (who couldn't ride) at Nulu Scooters and we went off into Indiana. I had a few problems with my route which I chalk up to learning curve on the Garmin. Once I got everything straightened out we rode around not as much twisty roads as I'd have liked, ending at Joe Huber Winery where some of us partook of the excellent goodies they have there such as cheese, jams, jellies, dried fruit and nuts, as well as candies.
No wine this time, but we did take a look around their wine shop & tasting facility. I took the opportunity to grab a cup of coffee and also a bathroom break! After this we wheedled around some really good roads to Brewer's General Store in Borden, home of Rat Trap Cheese. They also have all kinds of Amish made goods. It was cold, I didn't wear my Colorado Chaps, and the temps were taking their toll on my legs.

Pegasus Parade

Rick of Nulu scooters has offered several LSG folks a spot in the Pegasus Parade. We are taking him up on the offer! Its a Thursday so I will have to make some arrangements for work, but it should be fun!

The Cheesy Ride

A couple of us folks who braved the temperatures to meet up at Dizzy Whizz for breakfast. It was really tasty, and I will be back! Bacon, eggs, toast and your choice of grits or hashbrowns for right at $4.50!

After that hearty start, we swung by the grand opening of Nulu Scooters on Barret Avenue. They have a good amount of opening stock in both scooters and gear. I saw almost a dozen scooters from 50cc to 250cc ready to ride. The owners, Rick and Gina showed us around. They also have a shop with several other bikes that they appear to be going over with a fine tooth comb before putting out into their showroom. They have Lance, Motofino, Propel, Peirspeed and Peace brands. All these are mainland Chinese scooters in origin, but Gina tells me they have the parts availability and maintenance to keep the Nulu customers happy.

Parts are in

The parts I ordered for the Majesty are in. There are two air filters, a belt, and a new front fender. Oddly, the fender, which has broken mounting tabs from some unplanned offroad I did last fall (dirt bike roads which showed up as viable gravel on the damn Tomtom GPS). Now I can at least plan to get the regular maintenance done on the scoot!

I think we're done...

I believe that we are truly done with the ugly white stuff. Now? Bring on the rain!!!

All talk, no action...

We got started talking about every manner of subject from WKRP Jump The Shark Rally in Cincinnati, to the embroidered patches I handed out, to routes, mechanics, and weather. One friend handed out small super bright 9-LED flashlights that had "Louisville Scooter Group" and the LSG logo on them! I think the official Group patches (2 years in the making!) were well received, even at the price I charged them of 1000 miles ridden with me this year.

LSG Tuesday Night Meetup

For old time's sake, we met at Flanagan's, what used to just about be our regular haunt. We were nine strong which was great for a night when we were getting scattered drizzle.

Six, count them--six...

Breakfast of champions, or compensation for taking the cage? You decide...

The Louisville Scooter Group patches in!

The patches I ordered for the Louisville Scooter Group came in today. I was amazed they arrived unharmed by my postal carrier Who has a penchant for destroying packages that come for me. The patches look great, and I want every one of our riders to have one. I just hope everyone wears them, but I doubt they will. I think I am the only one enthusiastic enough about the scooter club to wear a hat, tshirt or patch. *sigh* Its a labor of love I guess. I'm just happy to have friends to ride with. :)

Garmin Scooter Mount Followup

I really do not believe that the Garmin scooter mount is gonna work
perfectly with my Yamaha Majesty, despite the suggestion from Garmin
that it would be fine. I might try and pick this bone with 'em to see
what they say... The ball joint is just loose enough so that
vibration affects it adversely causing it to swing down out of good
view.

Please…don’t kill me…

Blackburg sent this to the Louisville Scooter Group, and I’d appreciate you taking a gander. Forward this on to other people you know. The life you could be saving might be mine.

New Scooter Mount

My new scooter mount from Garmin came on Friday but I had no time this weekend to put it on. I will update again when I install it and see how it does.

Meetup at Moby Dick Seafood

Yesterday a couple of the Louisville Scooter Group folks met me for lunch. It was a very cold day for our Kencuckiana scooter club, so we decided not to ride. The fish is surprisingly good, and a regular fish sandwich comes with two large crispy peices of fried goodness. They have a lot of other goodies there too like deep fried mushrooms, fried green tomatoes, and even chicken livers! After lunch Ralph had to split on his Piaggio MP3, but Vince (Burgman 650 Executive) and I (Yamaha Majesty) took our maxi-scooters and rode down to Harbor Freight Tools to look around. They have a surprising amount of cool stuff. They also had a couple motorcycle stands and a m/c lift, as well as $7.99 battery tenders for those folks who don't do cold. ;) Afterwards he went off to run his errands and I rode over to my sister's to hook up her DVD player. It was plenty warm for the amount of time I was out riding in it. I took a call from my girlfriend on the Scala Rider Q2 teamset and it works pretty goos, but I think I have a short. When I wiggle the unit, it gets louder... I am going to call Cardo Systems today. I am starting to break in and get used to the new gear...