[gizzo]

I went for a lazy roll around on my old Pantah.  Stopped in at a local craft brewery to meet a couple mates,  went along the beach,  watched a couple of kids ripping around in the scrub on dirt bikes and came home. Pretty relaxing. I love that old bike.

[gizzo]

A roar through the hills on the Monster. Saying safe by remaining socially isolated, me.

[hpwaco]

Only 91 F here in Waco today.  Took daughter's 03 Ducati 620 Monster for its annual "yep looks like a motorcycle " inspection at the local motorsports shop.   Now to get it registered as she's temporarily unemployed like so many others.   

[gizzo]

she's temporarily unemployed like so many others.   

Bummer. On the upside, she has a Monster. Life is good.

[Narada]

Replaced the Crankshaft Position Sensor in my '15 Bonnie. 

Had just ridden 120 miles through forest and mountains up to the snow line, came back as it was getting dark with the temp dropping fast. Luckily, the bike ran great all the way home.

First thing the next morning...no-start!  Tried many things to determine the problem, finally paid the dealer to diagnose.  They said their code reader was propriatary, but have since seen a guy on the internet using an OBD-2!   

One month later my part arrived. Pretty easy install, just gap the sensor 0.8 mm and route the harness. No problem! 

The story I was told is that the old CPS's had a tendancy to go out like that without warning. Mine was at 13,000 miles. The service writer said his popped at 5,000! Supposedly the replacements are improved and are much more reliable, I hope so!

Thai Bonnie now fires right up and runs great again! 

[Karl Childers]

My 09 GSA got a full service this winter to get it ready for spring, at 33,000 miles it was time to replace the driveshaft known to fail at that mileage  causing some very expensive collateral damage. The shaft is expensive and not meant to be rebuilt but some BMW riders do rebuild them and save a lot of money in the process. I decided to take a whack at it and was able to get the old u joints out and replace them with much better quality joints with zirk fittings so they can be greased once a year. The shaft should now last for the life of the bike.

Then it was my 13 Softail Slim's turn. I installed new rear shocks on it which compared to a motorcycle with a conventional swingarm is a miserable job. For starters the bike has to go up on a lift to access the shocks on the bottom of the frame, raised again and the wheel removed and the swingarm blocked up with an adjustable jack.  Here's where the fun starts, the  rear bolts are torqued to 110 ft lbs and loc tited and difficult to get a wrench on and the front ones aren't much easier to access but not torqued down nearly as much as the rear. What would have been a twenty minute job on my Enfield was a two hour job on the Harley. Just as an aside Harley has since redesigned their Softails to now use a single shock in a diagonal, more upright position, it looks to be much more easier to access and service. I prefer the look of the old style just not what it takes to service it.

[lavrentyuk]

Celebrated completing the rebuild of my old MZ ETZ 300, needed a frame swap, by taking it for a 15 mile shakedown along the edge of the Cambrian Mountains.  To my surprise nothing fell off, though low speed running could have been smoother.  Amazingly light, old school two stroke singles.  Light weight really helps and the left hand kickstart means I still can - gammy right hip otherwise preventing play.  It doesn't even kick back!  Stand on its left and use the left foot to start it, second kick, every time.

[gizzo]

Celebrated completing the rebuild of my old MZ ETZ 300, needed a frame swap, by taking it for a 15 mile shakedown along the edge of the Cambrian Mountains.  To my surprise nothing fell off, though low speed running could have been smoother.  Amazingly light, old school two stroke singles.  Light weight really helps and the left hand kickstart means I still can - gammy right hip otherwise preventing play.  It doesn't even kick back!  Stand on its left and use the left foot to start it, second kick, every time.

[TomZeken]

Bought myself an old HARLEY FLHRC1580 recently, had to put the best true dual exhaust for harley on it since it was from another bike, changed the paint, cleaned it, rode 50 miles on my state yesterday, goes great.

[gizzo]

Yesterday though...
Did a midweek track day at Tailem Bend with the Historic Motorcycle Racing Register and the Ducati Owners Club of South Australia. I only rode my regular track bike, the mighty DRZ400SM. Super fun and the first time I've ridden the East circuit. It's so good for the DRZ. The International Circuit is too long for the DRZ, it suits the high power sport bikes though. The east is shorter, no long straights and 22 corners in 3.9km.

Some very cool bikes in attendance: Plenty of modern Ducatis, being ridden sensibly, and a few older Duc's being thrashed about quite vigorously. A TT2, a Dramah, couple of Pantah race bikes and a very beautiful Gilera Saturno. The HMRR guys had Triumphs, a 650 Dominator, a couple Velocettes and a G50, various old Japanese 2 Smokers, a Benelli and others. I really enjoyed the day and seeing these cool old bikes being flogged around. It's more interesting to me than a regular track day with a lineup of R1's and Gixxer Bros. I wasn't even the only Sumo rider there: another Dozer and a couple of KTM's.

Too much fun.

[AzCal Retred]

Thanks for the pix! Sounds like the same reason I went to the IoM for Vintage Week vs. the G.P.; I already know the fast guys go fast. The older hardware makes such beautiful music, and for my money it's still blazingly fast.

[tooseevee]

Bought myself an old HARLEY FLHRC1580 recently, had to put the best true dual exhaust for harley on it since it was from another bike, changed the paint, cleaned it, rode 50 miles on my state yesterday, goes great.

       Wow. Look what's "old" now Good luck with it.

[gizzo]

Just got in from a 3 day, 1000km trip to the south east of the state for an interstate bike group meetup event. It rained off and on for most of the weekend so the majority of my trip was in some kind of rain. So glad I bought some new wet weather gear before the trip, it kept me warm and dry through some pretty torrential rain.

My old Pantah ran like a clock and didn't skip a beat even through the worst of it, to the surprise of a few of the other riders. Unlike the new BMW R1200GS that chucked a hissy fit and went into limp mode when it got rained on. Seemed to come good after sitting to dry out for a day but it doesn't seem very adventurous of it.....

[Karl Childers]

^ love those classic old Ducati's!

[Karl Childers]

Yesterday I took a long overdue and much needed day ride, A large building project at home that needs completing by winter has been eating into my riding time but my irresponsible side got the better of me and I broke the softail out and headed out for a "mental health" day. I gassed up in town, pointed the bike into the high desert, rode across the the 600' high gorge bridge above the mighty Rio Grande river. The loop then took me to the west side of the 35 mile wide valley and then south into the rolling hills of pinon and juniper trees and down into Georgia O'Keefe country and the back drop for many of her famous paintings. Heading east again I once more crossed the Rio Grande over a much less dramatic bridge and followed the river north  through verdant irrigated farm land until I reached the east side of the valley far south of where I started and began the trek back north following the river up the gorge until I reached the little village of Dixon. From there I headed up into the high country with lots of twisty roads and and elevation changes between nine and ten thousand feet. The air was cool and sweet up in the mountains and the forested vistas amazing as always. 40 some miles of that and I arrived back home clocking around 200 miles total for what was a perfect day of riding. Today it's back to the salt mines but I have yesterdays ride to carry me until I can sneak out again for another one.