V-Rodder

A fine summer

2012-11-04T16:50:00.001-05:00

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

2012-08-22T09:57:00.000-04:00

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

2012-07-23T22:39:00.001-04:00

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

2012-06-11T16:38:00.002-04:00

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

2012-06-03T18:32:00.000-04:00

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

2012-05-31T12:22:00.001-04:00

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

2012-05-26T18:59:00.001-04:00

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.

Happy Mother's Day

2012-05-13T22:46:00.002-04:00

On behalf of all of us sons, husbands and fathers I would like to thank all of you mothers who put up with us.

Thank you for putting up with us when we were babies and needed our butts cleaned.

Thank you for putting up with us when we were children and peed on your favorite flowers.

Thank you for putting up with us when we were teens and came home drunk and holding our heads out of the toilet while we swore we would never drink again.

Thank you to the women that put up with us and would later take on our names.

Thank you for caring our seed and giving birth to start this all over again.

Thank you for putting up with our second and third childhoods.

Thank you for putting up with us when we are old and needing our butts cleaned.

Happy mother's day and I hope you spent it doing something for you.

Weekend Ride

2012-05-10T19:11:00.000-04:00

We went out for a ride last Saturday. It was mid 60s with only a slight breeze.

I didn't need a destination, just a direction. My fiance pointed in a direction and off we went. At the second intersection I was waiting for the oncoming traffic so I could turn left when a bike sitting at the red caught my eye. With my full face helm the rider couldn't see me watching him, but I could see him talking to his son on the back (I assume it was his son). They were on a Fat Boy and what caught my eye was that he pointed in our direction, in fact, at us. When I looked I could read what he said to his son "that is what I want next". That put an instant smile on my face. A traditionalist wanting a vrod, who woulda thought!

On we went. We rode though several small towns and ended up taking a break at a country cemetery. My fiance's grandfather was buried there and she wanted to make sure it was being taken care of. It was a nice and peaceful break.

We rode on a little more before coming home. I have to mention the move we watched that night, The Change Up. I laughed my butt off watching it.

I am sorry I didn't take any pictures of our adventure. Maybe next time. Ride safe and ride on!

Tech: Wire Harness Cover

2012-04-19T18:01:00.003-04:00

Awhile back I had made a plate for the speedometer to mount to. This plate mounted the gages where I wanted them but it did not cover the wire harness plug in the back. Well I finally got the time to make my cover.

I started with a piece of cardboard (like most of my modifications) and mocked up what I thought I wanted. When I was close to what looked right to me I flattened the cardboard and drew an outline on some aluminum sheeting I had (the same plate I used for the speedometer plate).

After it was drawn I used my Bladerunner (a table top jig saw) to cut out the profile.

I then used a small vise, a hammer and my hands to shape the bends.

I had to make adjustments as I went, but for the most part the cover fit right away.

To get the edges straight after bending I used a pedestal belt sander. This left a rough edge that I had ti file down before sanding. I used a sanding block to shape the bends so that they were uniform because when using black paint, light reflection can bring out the slightest mistakes.

I prepped it for primer and then sprayed it black.

I then had to mount it to the speedometer plate. I drilled .190" holes and used 8-32 button head screws and Locktite.

And the final look with the speedometer mounted.

I am very happy with the way this looks. I do not think this project took more than three hours of my time and now my wires are not exposed.

Tech: Front Fender

2012-04-08T10:08:00.000-04:00

I like the front fender on some of the Victory motorcycles so when it came time to address this part of my bike I looked around for something to start with that would be similar. Ghost Rider Customs had a metal fender that I really liked so I saved it to my favorites during the summer. By the time fall came and I was ready to order it, they stopped caring it.... They replaced it with a fiberglass model that they are adamant is much better. My first reaction was no, so I looked around for another steel fender. I wasn't very successful so I came back to Ghost Rider and decided to give this thing a try.

The web site states "Comes Gell Coated ready to Prime and Paint, or we can paint it any solid color for you for $200.00 (choose custom paint option at checkout) or email us for Custom Paint quotes!"

http://www.grcustoms.com/shop/NEW-V-Rod-Front-Fenders/ so I figured that this would be a quick job.

The box took a couple of weeks to arrive. I was surprised to see that UPS had not crushed it. Inside I found the fender was well wrapped in paper and bubble wrap. My first impression when I pulled it out of the box was disappointment. This was definitely NOT ready for prime and paint. I emailed GRC and their response was that it is supposed to come rough.

Above you can see the rough and uneven edges that the fender came with. I let it sit a couple of days before deciding not to send it back and continuing with the project. I knew I had the ability to make this work, I was not expecting to put the extra time into it. "ready to prime and paint". I also expected better for the price.

Here you can see where I had to remove the inside build up so that the fender would sit on the wheel evenly.

Remember to use proper safety equipment when working with fiberglass and paint.

After that I had the fender roughed down on the inside and evened the edges so that I could get a good fit with the fender and see how it looks on the bike. I used a climbing rope to set the clearance height. This will give it a tight look, but it should give it even clearance all the way around the tire.

With the fender in place I could see how the lines flow with the rest of the bike. The fender did not follow the lines of the rim, so I used a marker and drew where I needed to cut.

After cutting the shape I fit it again to make sure it was where I wanted it to be. I was happy with the first try so now it was time to shape the edges. As a tool maker by profession I have a few metal files lying around and I have had to shape a few metal parts by hand in the past so that is what I chose to make clean lines on the edges. I filed it at a right angle to the sides, just concentrating on smoothing out the side profile. When I was happy with that I used the file to put a rough radius on the inside of the edge. The wall thickness changes along the edges so some spots needed a little more work, while other spots need little or none.

After I filled the edges I used 120 sand paper to smooth the edges further followed by 220, 280 and then 400. As the sand paper grit got smaller, the more I worked the outside of the edge, gently creating an outside radius.

After a couple of days I was satisfied with the general shape of the fender so I wet sanded the gel coat with 280 and then 400. I was able to sand out a few of the imperfections in the molding, but others I would have to fill and sand later. I painted the fender with primer and then wet sanded it. I followed this procedure 2 more times, prime, wet sand, prime, wet sand. Eventually I had a smooth looking fender.

I had to build a stand to paint the fender. It was easy to make from scrap wood I had sitting around. I used a piece of plywood for the bottom. The center post can be any length, as long as it doesn't make the stand top heavy. Last thing you need is for the stand to fall over when painting. On top I used a 6" long piece of wood that I nailed like a "T" to give the fender a nice broad place to sit.

After the fender was primed and wet sanded to my satisfaction I wiped it down and painted it with a burgundy. When this dried I wet sanded that and then painted it two more times. The burgundy wasn't the same as the bike color but close. This was a lower cost but quality paint alternative, because there was no metallic in it.

Over the burgundy I used Dupli-color Burgundy Berry Met. This was the closest thing I could find to the original Harley paint. I painted the Dupli-color twice, wet sanding between followed by two layers of clear coat. To get a nice smooth surface I used a 3M buffing kit. It came with a 1000 grit sanding pad, two buffing creams and two buffing wheels that fit into a standard drill chuck.

After bolting the fender to the forks the front and rear of the fender tweaked a little, closing the clearance between the fender and tire. I had to take the fender back off and slot the holes to move the fender away from the tire more. I should have checked the fit with bolts before painting.

The color is slightly off, but with plans of repainting the tins next winter if funds allow, I wasn't going to spend a lot on the Harley custom paint. Summer project will be cleaning out that messy garage.

After a couple of weeks of cold wet weather I was eager to get the bike out and ride it to work Wednesday. I have to say that in the sun the paint matches closely and you likely wouldn't notice the difference unless you were told.

It took more work than I intended, but I like the way the fender looks. I was also able to sit with my 12 year old son while working on it. Hopefully he learned something from it, like maybe hard work can pay off.

I picked up the fork bag at the Harrisburg, PA Swap two weeks ago. I don't know if it will be on long term, but for now it gives me a place to stash my stuff.

Harrisburg Swap Meet

2012-04-02T08:12:00.001-04:00

I had never been to the Harrisburg swap meet before, I have never been to Harrisburg, PA for that matter, so I was eager to see what they had going on. My fiance joined me for the 5 1/2 hour ride there from western New York. We packed up the three dogs and left on Saturday before the rain moved in.

The GPS wanted to take us on a rout I had never been on so I rerouted it to take us through Bradford because I knew that area. The rout was quick through New York but it quickly turned into back roads when we were in Pennsylvania.

I enjoyed the rout through the mountains and rural towns through out PA. So many scenic hills and wooded areas that the light rain didn't make much of a difference. About 20 minutes before Harrisburg the sky started falling. It rained so hard I had a tough time seeing the vehicle in front of me. Luckily with the GPS I could judge when turns were coming up so I didn't need to jam on the brakes when I could see them through the window.

The swap meet was going to be held at the Farm Show Complex so we decided to get a room at the Staybridge Hotel. I was told that this hotel had been completed late last year, so everything was new. I was not expecting a small kitchen in our room. This was nice because we had the dogs with us and I wanted to limit the amount of time they had to sit in the van (the van was set up nicely for them).

After checking in we decided to visit the local Haley Davidson dealer, Susquehanna Valley Harley-Davidson. This was a nice dealership. They had two new Vrods and a flat black Muscle. They did not have may parts, and per usual, no VRSC section. They were running a pre Swap Meet Sale on many of their items.

I am getting married this August and have not found a wedding ring yet. I saw a ring I liked and joked about that being my wedding ring. Not funny I guess. =)

After the dealership we grabbed some food at the grocery store and holed up in the hotel.

In the morning we were welcomed to a good breakfast at the hotel then we loaded up the van and drove around the corner to the swap meet.

At the meet there was an assortment of people, parts, bikes and merchandise. Instead of describing it all, I will post a few pictures.

I enjoyed my time at the show and would have liked to take a little more time digging into what everyone had but with the dogs in the van, I didn't want to leave them alone too long (our dogs are spoiled and were in no danger at any time). I only bought one thing, a used $65 fork bag in great condition for $20.

Our ride home was pleasant. It did not rain and there are plenty of great mountain and woodland views as well as the great little towns that dot the land. I let the GPS take us on a different rout home. This rout was quicker through PA but slower through NY.

This was a good way to spend the weekend.

Tech: Front Turn Signal Relocation

2012-03-27T20:24:00.000-04:00

I finally bought the relocation kit to finish my turn signal project. I went over the rear turn signals in an earlier post. I will go over the front today.

Here is a picture before I started the project.

I first started by unscrewing the turn signals.

Then I removed the left front side cover and the air box cover. I was able to follow the wires from the lights to the plug and unplugged them. Make sure you mark the plug so you wire the new pug correctly. Both lights share the same plug, with three wires each. A couple of zip straps needed to be cut.

I could have cut the old wires and removed them easily, but I wanted to keep them as one unit so I had to unbolt the headlight and headlight bracket to give myself some room to work with.

Once the old parts were removed I bolted the new mount to the new light snugly, but loose enough I could adjust it when I placed it against the bike. When I had the angle I wanted, I tightened the bolt and then bolted the mount to the triple tree. The instructions say to run the wires above the bottom triple tree, but I went underneath. I fed the wires up to the air box and used new zip ties to keep the wires where I wanted them. I cut about 12" of wire off so that there wasn't so much to tuck into the frame before crimping the plug ends and then pressing them into the new plug that comes with the turn signal kit.

When the wiring was done I bolted the headlight mount back on as well as the headlight. Refer to the service manual for the headlight alignment.

Here are a few pictures of the new lights.

I like that the front lights sit like the rear lights do, almost as if I planned it that way...

Harrisburg Super Swap 2012

2012-03-18T19:46:00.001-04:00

Don't forget about the Harrisburg Super Swap this coming weekend.

http://syracusesuperswap.com/05indexhar.htm

I have not been to this one yet, but hoping to get there this weekend. Maybe I will see you there!

On a side note, what a beautiful weekend. I was able to get some outside work done around the house and I was able to get some work done on my front fiberglass fender too. Saturday afternoon I took my lovely fiance out on the bike for a little over an hour. On Sunday I took three different rides, one with each of my kids. Soon the fiance's daughter will be home and bummed about not getting a ride.

Enjoy life, be safe and I hope to see you out there.

Product Review: Kuryakyn 4" Adjustable Peg Offsets

2012-03-12T07:12:00.000-04:00

Anyone who has ridden on the back of a VRSC for a long ride will agree, the stock foot peg location is uncomfortable. I have debated a few different options from making a full custom hanger to replace the existing mount, to looking at what other companies provide. I liked the way the Kuryakyn Offsets looked so I thought I would give that a try.

I looked around on the Internet for the best price and found BKRider. http://www.bkrider.com/bkrider/index.asp

The price of $65 plus shipping didn't seem too bad. I would give the price a 8 out of 10.

The package came about a week later. The box was a UPS 18" x 13" x 3". It arrived a bit beat up. Almost standard for UPS handling.

The only protective packaging was a piece of brown paper.

The packaging was very poor. The parts come inside a plastic cover stapled onto a cardboard back plate. Some staples had popped out from the rough handling and poor packing and parts had been floating around in the box. I give the packaging a 4 out of 10.

I took a picture of the parts after I put them back in the Kuryakyn package.

This comes with instructions but I doubt you would need them. The instructions are easy to follow and have nice pictures to show how they mount, the parts and how not to adjust the offsets. It does cover the limited warranty in the instructions. I give the instructions a 8 out of 10.

10 parts make up the Kuryakyn offsets including chrome hot spots to cover the bolt heads and anti-seize compound. The main parts are a cast metal that have been chromed and polished. These parts are of a good quality. The bolts and spring washer are made of stainless steel. I will say that the spring washer is very thin and weak. If you have an extra set of foot peg springs, you may want to use those instead. For the quality of parts I give it a 8 out of 10. I would have given a 9 if the spring washer was more effective.

I mounted these on my bike easily. They bolt onto the original foot peg mount. Both ends of the offsets rotate and have splines between the moving parts so that when you tighten the bolts, they will not rotate. Once you have the position you want, you can mount the pegs and install the chrome hot spots on the bolt heads. For the ease of installation and the many positions you can move these into I give a 9 out of 10.

For the value of the product, price vs. quality, I think you get a nice part. I did not find any other parts that were as versatile as these for the price. The value I give a 9 out of 10.

That gives a grand total of 7.67%. The packaging from BKRider really brought this rating down.

Here are a few more pictures.

If you would like for me to review and rate one of your products, you can contact me at budki@roadrunner.com. Please use the title "product review (product)" so I do not think it is spam.

The Kuryakyn offsets are very nice and my fiance loves the the new location of the foot pegs. Personally I was not happy with the way these looked on my bike. If the bike had saddle bags on it, I think I would not mind how far they sick out from the bike. I will use them for my rider until I can make some custom relocaters that hug the bike a bit more.

Tech: Spedometer Plate

2012-03-07T16:35:00.000-05:00

When I bought my bike, it was used and the original owner had replaced the stock handle bars with a high rise and drag bar. To mount the speedometer he ground the original upper bar clamp and drilled 2 holes in it so he could bolt it to the new upper bar clamps.

I did not like the way this looked and when riding the bike, the angle of the face of the speedometer did not sit very nicely. I wanted something a little better, so I decided to make a speedometer plate to mount my speedometer to. The old owner had drilled and taped the new upper handle bar clamps, so I decided to start there.

I traced the bottom of the speedometer with a marker on cardboard. Then I cut it out and made adjustments so that it would fit to the back of the speedometer. When I was happy with the fit I traced the cardboard onto a flat piece of aluminum, about 15 or 16 gage. I cut this on my table jig saw and filed the edges until I had a good fit. After that I drilled the holes.

There is one taped hole on the top of the speedometer housing that I could use for mounting to the new plate but there really wasn't much else to hold it tight so I drilled two holes and taped them in the housing. Tip: if you bolt the plate and housing together (with the gages removed) you can drill trough both at the same time to have a good location. I used 8-32 button head screws for a low profile look.

After I was done cutting, drilling and filing I sanded and buffed the plate with a cotch brite wheel on a grinder (a sheet of scotch brite and doing it by hand would work) before painting it black.

Here is just the plate mounted.

And with the speedometer mounted.

Can you see the button head screws?

Here is a comparison of the two. The top picture is with the plate and the bottom is the before picture. You can see the angle changes and the speedometer sits lower.

The original mount did hide the speedometer connector. I am not sure what I want to do with this yet, but I'm sure I will post it when it is done. I could shrink wrap it, or make a plate, or machine something to bolt on. I am not sure yet.

Adsense by Google

2012-03-03T10:12:00.000-05:00

I started this blog so that I could share my thoughts and experiences with others. When I found out I could have ads on it that would be relevant to the subject matter that readers could could check out if interested, I was a little excited. The thought of earning a little money on the side from it was a bonus.

I can usually figure things out eventually, but I am not a computer wiz by any means. It took me about 5 hours to sign up, set up and read the very long and confusing "how to" instructions for AdSense (by the end of it I didn't know if I had to enter source code or it it would be applied automatically).

I had to wait a few days before getting approved. When the approval came I have to admit I was a bit excited. I logged in and noticed only a few of the ads had anything to do with motorcycles, the whole theme of this blog. Things like "get your degree" and "Ford truck" ads were popping up. I thought, "OK I will give it some time and the ads will get better".

Meanwhile I was set on getting the word out about my blog to get more readers aware of it's existence. I posted on Facebook, Google+, V rod forums and by word of mouth. At first it was slow going.

Fast forward a month. Now I am getting a few regulars visiting the site. I am getting feedback from friends on what they think. I have gotten new friends on Facebook through the blog. And even though the ads never completely adjusted to motorcycle content like it was supposed to (about half or less were motorcycle related) I had started to build up a little money in my AdSense account. About $32 over the month.

On Wednesday night I decided I would fill out the tax information so that AdSense could send a check to me when it was ready. I filled out everything except the PIN number because I wasn't sure where I put it and everyone was sleeping, so I decided to wait to finalize it. The next morning, only a few hours later, I logged in to finalize the account only to find out I my account is disapproved!

I am normally a level headed guy, but when I read that I got a little fired up. What did I do wrong? How do I remedy this? Where do I go for answers? Here we go with the automated "how to" again. I looked around to find out what I had done wrong, I was unable to find the answer. Filled an appeal, and received and automated email saying my appeal was denied. The only explanation was that they cancelled my account to protect their customers, the owners of the ads, from fraudulent exposure.

Now, if Google wants to suspend me for a given time for something I did wrong, I am fine with that. Just let me know what I did wrong so I do not do it again. I understand protecting the customer, but shouldn't they be willing to work with the content providers that create the content that draws potential customers?

You get one chance to get it right. It would be like you get your driver's license, but if you do one violation (and no one tells you what the violation was) you lose your driving privileges for the rest of your life. No explanation other than "for the safety of the other drivers, we no longer feel you should have a license".

Or taking a test that has two answers to each question. As long as you keep answering correctly you can move to the next one. One wrong question and you get kicked out of class for life, except in this situation you would at least have a clue what question you got wrong.

I am not upset about the money. I am not upset about the pulling of the unrelated ads. When an ad was motorcycle related I was happy for my readers (one ad was for Ghost Rider Customs and another was for Bell Helmets and another was for saddle bags) because it gave them new resources. What does bother me is automated responses. What bothers me is there is no effort to help new people understand how this stuff works. What bother me is that AdSense hides behind secrecy to protect their spy software that they use to monitor what we do.

I may have violated the regulations, but honestly, I have no idea what it would have been. If I was allowed to know what it was, I would learn and adapt so that it didn't happen again. If it was something one of my readers did, I would make an effort to keep it from happening again. But that does not happen. Google AdSense make no effort to explain the violation and when I try to get answers, the automated responses are so general you just go in circles, getting no real information, just the explanation that they can tell you nothing so they do not compromise their spyware.

Since this has happened on Thursday I had expressed my frustration to a few people. I was surprised at how many other people had the same thing happen to them or someone they know. Of the people I had talked to that knew what AdSense was had nothing good to say about it.

The above is my personal experience and my personal opinion of AdSense. I you feel differently, please feel free to post a comment. If you or someone you know has had a similar experience, I hope you too will post a comment.

I know this is a long post and a long rant. Thank you for making it this far. To sum it up, I would like to say the theory of AdSense is a nice one, but the way it is set up and handled, it is not friendly to the average Joe who is new to this kind of stuff. I feel I waisted a lot of my time with AdSense. If you try it, good luck. You will get very little if any help from Google AdSense and if you mess up once, you are done for good.

First Ride of 2012

2012-03-02T19:04:00.000-05:00

Let me start off by saying I had a rough week this week. At work things have slowed down and even though it happens every few months and I have been in the machining trades for 12 years, it still bothers me every time. At home my teen age son has been getting into trouble. I had a lot of pent up negative energy.

This morning I woke up just hoping that the temperature would break the 40 degree mark so I could get the bike out. No such luck. It only made it to 35 degrees by the time I had to leave for work and I do not have good cold weather gear, so I was a bit disappointed to start the day off. All day at work I watched the temperature rise and the sun came out. It was making me itch like poison ivy.

At the end of the work day I almost ran for the door. On the drive home I noticed the temperature was up to 50, but the clouds were rolling in.

When I got home I went in the house and said "hi/bye" to my fiance and ran out the door to the garage. Fired the bike up and away I went.

I decided to hit some back roads because there was a storm warning for later and I figured the trees would help with the high winds when they got here. I rode to Chestnut Ridge, a local state park, and rode through there. As I rode around, parents were at the play grounds with their little children. Walkers were out, some with pets.

My first stop was a little parking spot with just a bench. Awhile back after a night of all you can eat crab legs, this is where I proposed to my fiance. It looks much nicer in the summer.

I rode around a bit more. The roads were not bad. There was a bit of buckling in the roads and the turn arounds were a mess. The turn arounds still had snow and ice in spots, so to avoid those I had to ride through the mud and muck. Wide street tires are not meant for that deep mud. I couldn't imagine what a 300 tire would do in the mud.

On the way out I had to stop and take a picture of far off Buffalo, New York. To the left of the tree you can barely make out Lake Erie.

I was out for almost an hour so I decided to head home and get some dinner. On the ride home the winds were picking up and the temperature was dropping quickly. By the time I got home, the temperature was 45 degrees. This was the first time I rode with out the small wind shield on. I noticed it in my chest at higher speeds, but the new full face helmet did it's job well.

I also took a picture of the muddy fender for giggles.

I don't know why or what does it, but when I was done riding I felt so much better. I was so happy to be able to get out today. Unfortunately there is a storm rolling in and I will not be able to get the hose out and wash the bike down. Oh well, it will be there next time.

Ride safe and maybe I will see you out there.

Product Review: Bell Revolver Helmet

2012-02-29T19:34:00.001-05:00

I am 37 years old and for all of those years I have never worn a full face helmet. Off road I used a helmet with a chin bar. As a kid I had an old open face helmet that was my fathers (one of those metallic gold flake things that I painted flat black). On my Sporty I wore a half helm. My Sportster had a full wind shield so for under 60 m/h a half helm was fine. Over 60 the helmet would pull up and back, but the 883 motor is rigid mounted and the suspension of the Sportster made over 60 less pleasant. It was a good bike for cruising around town, but it really wasn't a high performance machine so it didn't matter what helmet, if any I wore on it.

Riding the VRSC with a half shield and a half helmet, I would not recommend much. It is fine for cross town riding, but the bike is made for speed and a half helmet is not. The bike launches from 0 to 60 in seconds. You can hit 75 m/h in second gear with out red lining it, so when I say it is made for quick take offs, I'm not exaggerating.

For Christmas I was looking around for a full face helmet to ask Santa for. I know Santa has a lot of children to pay for so I didn't want to go very expensive and I really have no experience with full face helmets so I didn't want to spend money on something I wouldn't use. I started by looking at halmets at the local dealers. I tried on at least 20 different helmets several times to see what size I liked and what functions I could afford.

After looking at the dealers I came home and looked at helmets online. I himmed and hawed for days on what to get. Eventually I ran accross a helmet on sale online that had the all the functions at $100 and it was Bell. My off road helmet was a Bell and I was satisfied with that so I asked Santa for 2, one for me and one for my side kick. http://www.bellsports.com/en_us/powersports/helmets/street/revolver

Christmas morning I was as bad as the kids. I couldn't wait to open the box that looked like a helmet was hidding inside! I had not found a Bell helmet at the local bike dealers so when I opened the box, it was the first time I had really gotten to see one in person. My first impression was "man this thing is big" but that was a comparison to my half helm and I wear a XXL, not compaired to other full face helmets I had tried on. My second impression was "this thing looks very cool".

For the price compaired to similar helmets ($100 on sale, not the $200 retail price), I give this helmet a 9 out of 10.

The helmet came in a normal helmet box and inside, it was covered in a nice red helmet bag and inside that, a foam bag. The packaging is adequate and the addition of a helmet bag was a welcome surprise. I give the packaging a 8 of 10.

The helmet comes with an instruction manual with the warranty card printed on the back. The book explains most functions properly with a few pictures for the chin strap, but I would have liked to have seen ilistrations for the other functions of the helmet. For instructions I give it a 6 of 10.

The helmet is made with a plastic shell, some moving parts are metal, and a thick padding inside. The padding is held in place with plastic snaps. For the quality of the parts I give it a 8 out of 10.

This year the weather has been warmer than usual. The snow plows had salted only once before Christmas this year and that was weeks ago. On Christma day it was in the low 40s and windy so I was able to get out and test this helmet. I didn't dress right for the weather thinking that with out chin protection, my face would be the first thing cold. After riding 30 minutes I returned home. My face was not the coldest part on me, my legs were. My overall impression on how the helmet works, I was impressed. The helmet fit nicely, I could hear my pipes with out the wind sound and it never felt like my head had a parachute attached to it like the half helm. The flip down sun shield worked easily with one hand and did not shake or rattle. I did not use the vents as it was cold out so I can not report on how well those work. I give the over all function a 8 out of 10.

For the value I am very impressed with this helmet. For $100 I can not imagine you could beat this helmet. If I had to buy it for retail price of $200, I would have to say this can compete with other helmets in that price range. Rating for the price I got mine at I give it a 9 out of 10 (if I bought it for $200 I think I would have rated it at 7 of 10 as there are a lot of helmets to choose from in that price range).

That gives a grand total of 8.00.

Here are a few more pictures of the helmet.

Removing the liner is easy.

Two levers and the lense is removed. There are other lenses that you can purchase for this helmet in other shades and colors.

A picture of the sun sgield in place.

If you would like for me to review and rate one of your products, you can contact me at budki@roadrunner.com. Please use the title "product review (product)" so I do not think it is spam.

I am very satisfied with this helmet and can not wait to put more miles on it. I would like to congradulate Bell on a fine helmet and would recomend this helmet for anyone on a budget.

Tech: Relocating The Rear Turn Signals

2012-02-25T21:15:00.000-05:00

I had started changing the way that the rear of my bike looks like by removing the original rear license plate holder and turn signals. In an earlier post I covered installing a side mounted license plate holder. This will continue from there showing how I relocated the turn signals.

I wanted something better than the original black plastic turn signals. If I was going for the blacked out look they would have worked, but I wanted chrome so I ordered the Harley Davidson Flame turn signal kit.

The kit came with both front and rear lights as well as one electrical connector, zip ties and the metal plugs. It does not come with the mounts (the site does tell you to buy the mounts separately) and correct connector ends for the VRSC even though you can order the lights specifically for the bike (kind of odd to me that it comes with a connector for another bike). I bought the rear mounts and the proper connectors from a local Harley dealer. The connectors are not expensive but it is annoying that when looking on the HD site they do not tell you they have to be purchased or splice old wires, leaving you to make an unexpected trip to a dealer.

The lights are very nice with a small visor built in. I like the way they look.

I decided to use the existing saddle bag mount to mount the lights to. To do this I could use the square hole for the bolt, but needed a hole for the wires to feed through and a hole for the locating pin on the mounts. To do this I made a drill jig out of a piece of steel I had lying around from another project. A drill jig makes it easier to drill holes where you want them.

To make the drill jig I drilled a hole with a letter F drill so I could tap it for a 5/16-18 bolt. The locating pin on the mount is approximately .550" from the bolt hole and the wire is on the other side of the bolt hole, so I marked .550" on both sides of the taped hole on my drill jig and drilled two .280" holes. This is plenty large enough for the wires to feed through and the locating pin will fit into this hole with only a little wiggle room.

Next I bolted the drill jig onto the saddle bag mount. I placed a piece of metal between the saddle mount and the tire. If the drill breaks through and pulls the drill bit through it may pierce the tire, so better safe than sorry. I used the .280" drill bit in my low RPM hand drill and drilled the two holes. After drilling the holes I had to remove the burrs on both sides of the holes. I used a rota burr to clean the back side of the holes and a chamfer bit in a handle to clean up the outside.

When I put the turn signal on, there was a little play due to the square hole being a bit bigger than the 5/16-18 bolt. I added a large washer to the back to get a good fit and the play allowed me to adjust the two lights where I wanted them. When I tightened them down I could not move them by hand.

There are two holes in the inner fender where the original mount was. I fed the wires out through these and up to where the connectors are located.

After putting the outer fender back on and the sissy bar mount with the passenger seat, I was able to wire the connector plugs through the tail light hole in the outer fender. I had to cut a little over a foot of wire off and strip the wires before I could crimp the pins on. This isn't hard to do, but does take some care not to crush them. If you do crush then, they will not fit into the plastic connectors. Check to make sure the wire colors align before pushing the pins into the connectors all the way.

Over all, I am very happy with the way my bike looks now from the rear. the plastic license plate and turn signals are gone and now I have a chrome custom look. And I like being able to see a little more tire. I was thinking about mounting lights to the shock mounts but that doesn't look as good with this size light (in my opinion) and I'm sure I read somewhere that in NY they need to be a certain size to be "legal". Also I wanted them to be back far enough that drivers would have an easy time seeing them.

Reference Web Sites

2012-02-21T19:01:00.002-05:00

There are a few websites out there that I gravitate to when I want to look something up or need parts or just for something to do. I am going to share some of these sites with you.

For local events (to me), jokes, etc. I can always go online to http://www.hardtales.net/. This is a free online magazine in PDF format and supports many of the local (to me) events. Just try to get through all of the jokes and don't laugh, I dare you.

For parts I like http://www.grcustoms.com/shop/Custom-V-Rod-Products/. The site has a very nice layout and many custom options for VRSC as well as other bikes. I have chatted with a couple of sales people there and they were very friendly and helpful. The black bike you see is the bike the site's owner built. The http://www.the-hog-farm.net/index.html also has parts, clothes and events listen. The store is located outside of Buffalo NY and is filled with new and used parts, bikes and clothes. http://www.chopperkitusa.com/index.htm has raked front end kits. http://www.bikerschoice.com/ has a bit of everything. http://www.custom-motorcycle-parts.com/ has some cool custom parts. http://www.directharleyparts.com/ is another place to look for parts. Custome controls and brakes at http://www.jbrake.com/. Leather at http://www.leatherworksinc.com/. J & P Cycles http://www.jpcycles.com/. Pro One http://www.pro-one.com/. Custom license plate mounts http://www.topdownproducts.com/index.html. Motorcycle Superstore http://www.motorcycle-superstore.com/. More custom parts at http://www.exoticchoppers.com/vrod_parts.html. And more custom parts at http://www.harleycustom.com/. Dennis Kirk https://www.denniskirk.com/frontpage.jsp.
Kewl Metal http://www.kewlmetalstore.com/index.php?osCsid=8a72b0598afcc3e699a39798504a1d3a. Chopperworks http://www.vrod.com.au/parts.html. JC Whitney http://www.jcwhitney.com/motorcycle-parts-motorcycle-accessories/j3s2.jcwx. Drag Specialties http://www.dragspecialties.com/catalog. Body parts at http://www.exoticbodyparts.com/. Moto Hooligan air cleaners http://www.motohooliganperformance.com/.

If you are looking for custom bikes you can visit http://www.choppercityusa.com/index.html. Custom bikes and parts at http://www.rolandsands.com/. For really custom VRSC http://www.sculpturecycles.com/index.htm. More custom bikes at http://www.ratshopcustombikes.com/ratshop/en/home.aspx.

Glasses: http://www.sportrx.com/ http://www.wileyx.com/index.aspx

Forums: http://www.1130cc.com/

Wikipedia for VRSC: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harley-Davidson_VRSC

Product Review: Cell Buckle

2012-02-15T20:06:00.000-05:00

Today I am doing a review of the Cell Buckle. I had been looking at different options for holding my phone/GPS on my bike. The Harley Davidson tank pouch (around $50) wouldn't work because my "tank" is aluminum. Most of the handle bar mounts seemed a little steep in price, so I decided to try the Cell Buckle ($20). http://thecellbuckle.com/

Ordering it was easy. I went to the website and ordered the unit. You need to know what size handle bar you have before you order. I have a 1" bar so I ordered the 7/8"-1" Cell Buckle. The other size is 1 1/4"-1 1/2".

The price was $20. I wasn't sure what I would get for that price, but I thought it was worth trying. For price I give a 8 of 10.

The Cell buckle came packed with plenty of packing and had the standard heat sealed plastic packaging. I give the packaging a 8 of 10.

The instructions are on the back of the packaging and the warranty is available by looking it up on their web site according to the back of the packaging. It is a basic product so it doesn't need very detailed instructions, and these are basic instructions. I give a 6 of 10 for instructions. After looking for a bit, I did not find the "warranty" page on their web site. I did find a disclaimer and the return policy. A restocking fee of 15% if the package is opened will be charged on returns. For the warranty I give it a 4 of 10.

The cell buckle is made from a flexible but hard plastic surrounded by a rubber outer layer. It comes with 2 rubber o-rings to hold it on. The materials are medium quality and it has large parting lines from the rubber over mold. I give it a 5 of 10.

Attaching it to the handle bars is relatively easy. I ordered the model listed for my 1" handle bars. When I attach it to my bars I have to stretch it out quite a bit and the o-ring has to stretch a lot. It does not fit well, but at the same time, it will not turn on my bars when I ride. The clamp that holds the phone is very easy to operate. It slides tight easily and loosens with the press of one button. In my opinion there should be a middle model between the two available models for bar size. I give installation a 4 of 10.

I have attached this to my bike about 4 times now and the rubber is showing some tearing because of the poor fitment to the handle bars. My phone does not fit well because of the windshield mounts being so close to the Cell Buckle. This is not a mark against the Cell Buckle but I have to note that if your phone or GPS hangs out like in the picture above, it increases the amount of vibration the phone does. At $20 I wasn't expecting much. This is a cheaply made Chinese product but at least they don't over charge you. It does work but leaves much to be desired. If it were of better quality, it would have a higher price so I need to take that into account when rating customer satisfaction. I do use it when I have to, but I do not leave it on when I do not need it because it looks like it doesn't fit right (because it doesn't) and it looks like a cheaply made holder. I give it a 6 of 10.

That makes a grand total of 5.83.

Here are a few more pictures of the Cell Buckle.

If you would like for me to review and rate one of your products, you can contact me at budki@roadrunner.com. Please use the title "product review (product)" so I do not think it is spam.

The Cell Buckle is a low cost solution to holding your phone or GPS on your handle bars. You can also mount it to other things like grocery carts and strollers. Not really something I would recommend for anyone with a show bike.

Syracuse Supper Swap 2012: There and Back

2012-02-11T18:09:00.001-05:00

We just got home from the Syracuse Supper Swap and I couldn't wait to post my pictures. I brought my camera, but left it in the van so I had to use my phone. I am sorry that they are a little blurry.

Syracuse is about a three hour drive from my house. The weather was lightly snowing but the drive was fairly uneventful. This year the parking was much closer to the building that the swap is being held in. That is a good thing because it was about 20 degrees Fahrenheit and windy.

The building can get pretty crowded so we just followed the lines and visited each vendor and table slowly. For me that was good because I got plenty of time to look at the used parts on display. Vendors have everything from rusty old bike parts to unopened new parts and leather, jewelry, clothes, knives, and more for sale. There are motorcycles for show and some for sale. This year there were a few camping trailers for viewing. And all of this with a live rock band on stage.

There was one vendor selling Harley products still in the box. I found braided idle and throttle lines for $10 unopened that I am looking forward to putting on my bike soon. My fiance finally got one of those magnetic bracelets she had been wanting for years. I was able to talk the guy down 15% of his asking price.

About halfway through our tour we felt hungry so we went to the food court. I had a very tasty Ruben and my fiance had a hot dog and cheddar fries. It was a little pricey, but food at these types of things usually are. After we ate we continued our tour of the second half of the building.

Food Court

The Other Side

Led Zepplin Bike

I enjoy this swap meet and would recomend it to anyone looking to get out of the house in the winter to look at some nice custom bikes and other people's used bike parts. I would say that my fiance tolerates it for me, but in reality I know she likes looking at all the biker chick out fits that you can not see in stores. Last year I took our four kids and I dare say they had a good time too. The return ride too was uneventful, but at least I had new ideas and new inspirations to think about on the ride home. And there is something special about knowing you got a deal on something. I hope you enjoy my pictures.

Syracuse Super Swap 2012

2012-02-08T22:30:00.001-05:00

Don't forget the Syracuse Super Swap 2012 going on February 11 & 12.

Check out http://syracusesuperswap.com/ for details.

Maybe I'll see you there!

Tech: Side Mount License Plate Install

2012-02-07T19:32:00.000-05:00

One thing I really don't like about the VRSC is the cheesy plastic license plate and turn signal combo in the rear. This is one thing I needed to change to make this bike one step closer to mine.

There are several types of side license plate mounts out there, so this may or may not help you with your own project. Hopefully it will give a good idea of what is involved.

One day on my way home I decided to stop at the Hog Farm http://www.the-hog-farm.net/. This place is a mix between custom, used and new motorcycle gear and parts. There are gas tanks from 1970s choppers, at least 1 rolling frame, American made leather wear and a work shop in the back where one can only imagine what cool bikes are being built back there. So for me it is cool just to stop in and say hello while I look through the store. On this trip I found a used Softail side mount made by Kuryakyn. Working at a machine shop I figured if the price was right I would scoop this up and make it work on my Nightrod. Well the price was right and so I took it home.

This frame does not align with the NY license plate. I had to round the corners more and slot the mounting holes to fit this frame. I will also note that the exposed parts of this are very nice, but when you take it apart, the unexposed parts are sharp and some caution should be used or you may cut yourself.

For the custom bracket to adapt this to my bike I cut out a cardboard template and from there I took some aluminum that I had and cut it out on my scroll saw. This allowed me to mount the license plate and see how it would look. From there I took some measurements and made a blue print of it to make my steel bracket. I have the 1" lowering blocks on my rear shocks so this bracket is made to work with those. I do not think this would work with the stock set up. You are welcome to use my print to make a bracket for your own bike, but if it is used to make a profit, I reserve the right to claim a %. =)

After making the bracket I mounted it and measured it for a third hole to thread the wires through (as it is a lit up license plate holder). I went to the local hardware store and bought a wire grommet and some vacuum line. I fitted the grommet in the bracket and threaded the wire through the vacuum line so that it wouldn't be exposed to the elements next to the wheel.

From there I led the wires up under the seat and followed the wire harness to the rear where the original license plate wire plug is. I ran the vacuum line where the line would rub against metal to protect it. When it met up with the wire harness I did not use the vacuum line any more. I had to visit the local Harley shop to get a plug (under $3) and crimped it on.

To get the rear seat and outer fender off takes simple tools. Metric Allen wrenches are almost all you need. If you have saddle bags, you will need a set of metric wrenches or sockets to take the mounts off. To take the rear brake light out you can use a flat head screw driver under the outer fender and press the bottom clip in. I took the outer fender off with the light still attached. The rear plate mount and turn signals are basically one unit. This will come off easily after you remove a few screws and nuts. There will be three electrical plugs you will need to disconnect the license plate and turn signal assembly. The Harley-Davidson site has PDF files that can help if you need instructions. Look up the parts and some parts will have the PDF file right there to look at.

The two plugs that are not hooked up are for my next project, relocating the rear turn signals. I am still waiting on a few parts to complete that part of my bike.

Here is a photo with the new license plate on, but the rear outer fender and seat are not on yet. If you look closely you can see snow on the floor.

I froze my fingers off using soapy water to feed the wires through the vacuum line as I used the smallest diameter I could get away with. So far I am very satisfied with it and can't wait to finish the turn signal relocation to put it back together and see the final poduct. Soon.