Saturday, March 30, 2013

Yes...some people work there.


Yup...I see it


T.E.Lawrence

The above photo is of T.E.Lawrence sitting on a Bike. Well..I agree it's a motorcycle, but I don't know about it being T.E. Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia)...

I mean come on...I saw the movie and this looks Nothing like Peter O'Toole

And it's a GUZZI!!!


Maybe it was a mistake

Don't get me wrong with where I am going here...I love the Harley Ultra Limited's 

and Ultra Classics












The ride on these is fantastic!!! They corner great and have plenty of power for the hill climbs or just when you want to get on it.




The same goes for the Road Glides











and the Street Glides











But as of late, moving the thing around, like backing it up grade, or backing it up in sand, snow or ice, is a major pain. The bikes weigh a ton...OK 900lbs and as in the case of where I keep mine, to get it out I have to back it up grade... in sand. 
















And as of late it makes me feel like I'm a little kid trying to move something larger than myself

















Maybe it's just that I'm too old and weak to keep dealing with it.













If I could swing it financially, I would trade the thing in for something easier to drag around

Yeah I could see myself doing that..


.
But Since I would be buying something smaller it would have to be painted black..
After all...It still has to say Bad Ass.




What you don't want to see in your mirror

Or in front of you for that matter


Last night was Jason's

There was a reason to celebrate in the Moran family

Seems ol' Junior had another Birthday...

Let's see if I can guess who was at the Party....

There was Mister Jack Daniels, maybe Jim Beam and Johnnie Walker, 
I'm sure Mister Jameson made it, he usually makes those occasions.

Maybe even an appearance by the Guinness Sisters..


All I can say, is I hope everyone had a really good time.
Happy Birthday Junior

March 30th

Well, it's Saturday...

Saturday March 30, 2013...

53 years ago today my mother was in the Hospital and my father was probably pacing the floor. So much work and worry for what? At 11:32 am I will "officially" be another year older...

Remember when you were 6 or 7? You wanted to be 12, one of the "Big Kids", when you were 12 you wanted to be 16 and have your licence, 16 was cool for a while, but 18 would be better (in the 70's the legal drinking age was 18, it had to do with the Vietnam war, 18 and 19 year olds could fight and die for their country but couldn't have a beer so they lowered the age). Being 18 and 19 was cool, except school was over and you had to go out and get a job, (Actually I was working at Stonington Subaru when I was 16, had to get working papers to do it.). Then the 20's came along, probably the best age to be, anywhere in the 20's and early to mid 30's. After that...

Then the 40's roll in, you still think you're a kid, you still want to do all the things you used to, of course your body knows the difference...it can still do just about everything it used to, it just does everything a tad bit slower. But you are still healthy and that's a major plus.

The 50's roll in and all of a sudden your close vision goes south, something to do with the cornea flattening out. Then there are aches and pains, and the occasional failure on the part of one or another of your systems.

So here I am...three years into my 50's and I've pretty much had enough. I have too many parts that don't work as well as they should and way too many more that hurt when they do anything.

Craig sent me a Birthday wish,
"Happy Birthday and many more"


God I hope not
the way the 50's feel...
I not so sure I want to try on the 60's
Hell, I still have 7 more 50's to deal with.

klay

Friday, March 29, 2013

Jim Olden update

For those of you who can remember, Jim Olden was on his way from Connecticut to Florida. He left on March 6th, I can happily report that he is closer to the end of his run, He has made it to Rock Hill, North Carolina. He said the roads and weather have been great, but that whole Baltimore, Maryland/Newark, Oho part was really confusing.

More as it comes in...

Relationships


Backing up your bike

Some people have problems backing up their bike, sometimes it due to that the fact that the motorcycle they have is too tall for them, or perhaps just too heavy.
 It could be that the ground was uneven or drops off on one side, they put their foot down and the ground is further away than they expect. 
It could be a slippery surface, a little sand, or ice or snow. The bike starts to go over, you try to stop it, you can feel the muscles in your leg straining and if you don't give up soon enough you stretch your groin further than you would ever want to or thought possible, one of those Chinese gymnast splits.

 Then of course maybe the reason you are having trouble backing up your bike is ...that the bike isn't the only thing you shouldn't be driving...maybe it's a problem with everything you drive.



I saw a video today...

It was at an airport and it was a motorcycle with an Orion P3 Aircraft body following a motorcycle with a submarine body. It was a Japanese demonstration for kids to show how Orion aircraft hunt down and kill submarines, It was a great video. As the Airplane bike catches up with the sub a remote control torpedo is released (from a crate on the sidelines),and chases down the submarine motorcycle. When it hits the sub bike the tail of the sub drops down and a red smoke bomb is set off to demonstrate the subs defeat. I looked all over Youtube for the footage and couldn't find it. My thought was that the Drill team could use this, put a red smoke bomb on each bike, when one goes down they set off the smoke, the rest of the team could put on fire helmets and ride to the rescue.

BUT...as I said I could not find that link...but I did find something...I was perplexed at first as to how this bike could be running without exhaust or air. But if you watch til the end you will see how. 



Here is the Link to the original footage I was looking for..it is on one of my favorite blogs...The Goaway Garage.
http://goawaygarage.blogspot.com/2010/09/isnt-it-cool-kids.html

Finally...a Patch I can relate to...




There is also a "Bad to the Bone" chapter (not shown)


And don't think they forgot about you Ladies...


http://www.sonsofarthritis.com/

Wednesday, March 27, 2013

Another Manufacturer visit..BMW


1924 R32

1940 R12

1952 R51/3

1956 R69


1960 R60/2


1977 R100/7

1988 R1100 RT

2009 R1200R

2011 K1600GT

R100S

K1200R

HP4


And who says you can't customize a Bimmer... I wanted to do this but rake it and give it a springer and have the case acid etched with a design.

I know

This has nothing to do with bikes...

But I have been a Formula One race fan for years...and these are the sounds that make me smile...


It's nice to know it's not just us...

Or maybe..it's not that nice to know. It would appear China is taking over the world as the major manufacturer of all things made. The United States seems to be heavily invested in Products made in China, everything from clothes and toys to furniture and Auto parts. But I was surprised Germany is going that way. I can see the lesser quality things in the world being sublet ted out to Asia,  but when a High line vehicle goes that way it's a bit of a shocker. We have long now been dealing with BMW clothing made in China, people look at it and turn their noses up in disgust, but now China has reached into the cars themselves. We ordered two ignition coils from BMW the other for a customer. The parts arrived, the customer came down to pick them up and was not happy to find out that the parts say "Made in China" on them. The original coils had stainless clips on the side, the Chinese coils have tin clips.

It makes me wonder, people pick on Harley because they use Japanese parts inside the engine, will BMW Motorad be any different? With Chinese coils on the cars, how long it be before Chinese parts find their way onto BMW motorcycles?