[High On Octane]

Texas!?!  Didn't you just score a dream job?  A man's gotta do, I guess.  Will that be in 2018?  And... are there any hills there?

I do love my job, but I am making little money doing it, and cost of living in Colorado is ridiculous.  One of the local news stations did a study/article a couple weeks back, and right now 2 adults have to be each making $18/hr to live comfortably in the Denver area.  My wife and I aren't even close to that. 

We pay $1400/month for a 960 sqft 2 bed 2 bath apartment that is constantly getting water damage.  (Just finished going thru our 9th incident in 3 years).  That same apartment layout is currently going for $1550/month for new move ins.  We were looking at houses over the weekend and 2 bed 2 bath HOUSES are going for $80-90K with estimated mortgages of less than $500/month.  We even found a 2,100 sqft 4 bed 3 bath on .73 acres for $130K.  Also, my mom and step-dad are getting ready to sell the house in Wisconsin and will be living in Harlingen permanently soon, so will be nice to be close to them.  Plus all the produce is local and fresh and extremely cheap, same with beef.  For instance, my mom recently bought a 25 pound bag of giant onions for $15.  Onions are about $2 a pound here and are never fresh.  And let's not forget ocean fishing any day of the week!

So, yes, we will be moving somewhere much more affordable to live.  But, I am sticking out at the current motorcycle shop to continue growing my knowledge and experience, and will try to find work in Texas at another motorcycle shop or dealer.

[Narada]

I spent hours trying to find 1-5/8” silencer clamps that would fit for my ongoing (almost done) Thruxton to Scrambler exhaust swap. 

I had purchased new clamps from the Triumph dealer. They were stainless steel clamps and fasteners.  After waiting about 10 days, they arrived.  I tightened the silencer clamps up on each side, and mounted the support brackets at the rear peg locations. Feeling quite satisfied with my work, I grabbed a silencer and gave it a shake to verify a quality installation, and was very surprised that they both were loose at the clamp locations. Upon further investigation I realized that the threads on both of the stainless steel clamps had galled and there was no way to save them. 





I called Triumph and they were happy to file a warranty claim (for clamps?!?!) and once that is approved, order me two more which would probably arrive about 10 days after that! 

Even my cat could not believe it.



This got me thinking, being a car guy all my life… you can get muffler clamps at any auto parts store, they used to even be available at gas stations, back when they had repair shops.  It seemed to me that clamps should be readily available somewhere in the motorcycle world so I set about finding some locally which I could just pick up on my way home from work.   

I called every motorcycle business I could think of, Japanese, British, dirt bike, street bike… no one carries motorcycle silencer clamps that can be obtained by size.  All anyone knows anymore is to go by make and model, then check part numbers. The few clamps that were found had to be ordered.  I could have ordered over the internet but didn’t want to wait for delivery.  Amazon prime could put them on my porch in two days, but what the hell happened to just buying a damn clamp! 

Finally, I called a small European classic bike shop, and they recommended an old European sports car shop with a bunch of old guys working there, and they had a bin full of nice 1-5/8 stainless steel clamps with regular steel fasteners (which I was told would prevent galling) right on the shelf in their regular inventory.  The price..? $8.00 for the pair!  And these looked like a much stronger design than the Triumph ones too.  I haven’t had time to install them yet, but will put a little anti-seize on the threads when I do, just for good measure. 

[Otto_Ing]

Keep dreaming of it... the SS900 from 2002 is cheap, if my friend who is a frame builder makes me a frame like this, than I get Walt Siegls tank...and and and 

[Guaire]

Nice clamps.
  Changed oil on the Nighthawk 450.

[gizzo]

Today I put a digital voltmeter in the dash of my old Pantah. about $4 from ebay. Reads about .3v different to my digital multimeter so that's good enough. I've been having some battery issues lately. Seems like the RR is not playing nicely with the lithium battery. So it'll be good to be able to keep an eye on it. I think I'll be forking out for a AGM battery soon though. Went for a ride through the hills on it today with a couple of friends on a KTM RC390 and Kwaka 650 Ninja. Good to see the old bus can still dominate the new guys

[Otto_Ing]

Today I put a digital voltmeter in the dash of my old Pantah. about $4 from ebay. Reads about .3v different to my digital multimeter so that's good enough. I've been having some battery issues lately. Seems like the RR is not playing nicely with the lithium battery. So it'll be good to be able to keep an eye on it. I think I'll be forking out for a AGM battery soon though. Went for a ride through the hills on it today with a couple of friends on a KTM RC390 and Kwaka 650 Ninja. Good to see the old bus can still dominate the new guys

A fireball has same amount of horses on the wheel as a stock RC390. 

[mevocgt]

Not offf much from the RC cup racebikes either.  Just watched a KTM Redbull cup race at Miller motor park, and they were boasting between 35 and 40 hpb....
  \

Ah, to dream.....

[Scotty Brown]

Took my little 650 Guzzi for a nice ride to visit the new dealer in Costa Mesa.  Good folks.  Then rode the hell out of it for the rest of the afternoon.  Having my C5 and my Guzzi is like having a wife and a mistress --- Both being wonderful.  Today I will exercise the C5.

[longstrokeclassic]

Connected the MT09 to the battery tender (it's been neglected of late) and dropped the oil on the Virago.

[billyron]

I just changed the oil in my Guzzi.

[Narada]

Bought an Avon Triple Duty tire for the sidecar on my Scrambler Rig.  It's rated for 75mph!

[Richard230]

I do love my job, but I am making little money doing it, and cost of living in Colorado is ridiculous.  One of the local news stations did a study/article a couple weeks back, and right now 2 adults have to be each making $18/hr to live comfortably in the Denver area.  My wife and I aren't even close to that. 

We pay $1400/month for a 960 sqft 2 bed 2 bath apartment that is constantly getting water damage.  (Just finished going thru our 9th incident in 3 years).  That same apartment layout is currently going for $1550/month for new move ins.  We were looking at houses over the weekend and 2 bed 2 bath HOUSES are going for $80-90K with estimated mortgages of less than $500/month.  We even found a 2,100 sqft 4 bed 3 bath on .73 acres for $130K.  Also, my mom and step-dad are getting ready to sell the house in Wisconsin and will be living in Harlingen permanently soon, so will be nice to be close to them.  Plus all the produce is local and fresh and extremely cheap, same with beef.  For instance, my mom recently bought a 25 pound bag of giant onions for $15.  Onions are about $2 a pound here and are never fresh.  And let's not forget ocean fishing any day of the week!

So, yes, we will be moving somewhere much more affordable to live.  But, I am sticking out at the current motorcycle shop to continue growing my knowledge and experience, and will try to find work in Texas at another motorcycle shop or dealer.

You don't want to go anywhere near the San Francisco Bay Area.  A two-bedroom apartment averages around $3,500 a month.  In some areas south of San Francisco, $1,500,000 will get you a starter home that is ready to fall apart and anyone making under $100,000 a year is considered poor and in need of government help.  My ("ticky-tacky") subdivision tract home, located in a "bedroom community" originally cost $38,000 when it was built in 1971.  Now homes in my area are selling for $1 million and last year a nearby home with a private gated driveway and a swimming pool sold for $1.47 million.  Property taxes are frozen at 2% a year, but even so, these taxes amount to over $12,000 a year for a recently purchased home, when bond issues, special assessments and sewer taxes are included.  It is a mystery to me how anyone can afford to live here if they are moving from another state.   

[heloego]

   It also explains why so many folks from CA "discover" a much cheaper cost of living in other states.

   Great for them. Bad for the other states' residents.
   Used to be you could get a nice 1 acre lot with a decent mobile home in western Montana for less than $15,000.
   The Real Estate agents would seriously jack up the price and very quickly noted the the CA residents made no attempt to negotiate, so soon a similar lot/home would sell for $50,000 or more.
   In all fairness, the CA residents were seeing a great deal, but just didn't think about what their "great deal" was doing to the local property values. 

[Richard230]

   It also explains why so many folks from CA "discover" a much cheaper cost of living in other states.

   Great for them. Bad for the other states' residents.
   Used to be you could get a nice 1 acre lot with a decent mobile home in western Montana for less than $15,000.
   The Real Estate agents would seriously jack up the price and very quickly noted the the CA residents made no attempt to negotiate, so soon a similar lot/home would sell for $50,000 or more.
   In all fairness, the CA residents were seeing a great deal, but just didn't think about what their "great deal" was doing to the local property values. 

The same thing is (and has been) happening in Oregon, Washington and probably the urban areas of Texas, too. 

[Otto_Ing]

Happened everywhere, not sure who to blame though. You won't find a dog shed anymore for a reasonable price in the entire Europe.