Matt's Garage

Old Man Winter can be a real wise guy..

2008-02-06T19:15:00.000-06:00

This photo is from about 1pm today. As of yesterday evening the driveway was completely clear as were the cars. This was only the beginning though - by the time it stopped the snow was about up to my bumper.

Not only did we get around 12 inches of snow, but it was the heavy wet snow. This would have been great news if I was 10 yrs old because you can have great snowball fights as well as make snow forts and what not. 20+ years later and it's the kind that I dread. When you have to shovel a driveway 3 cars long it'll break your back. Thankfully Razor hooks me up with his snow blower so it isn't as bad.

Digging out the car was real fun - I really like rear wheel drive cars, but in the winter they're somewhat of a pain. My car has a pretty sophisiticated traction control system that was a $2000 option when the car was new (me=3rd owner) but it only really has an effect when you're moving. If you stop in snow like this, you sink, and then you're stuck - just like any other large RWD sedan. The tradeoff is how the car drives, but even so, I think my next car will be front wheel drive.

Bike show is almost here!

2008-02-04T10:21:00.000-06:00

That's right- the Motorcycle show is just around the corner for us Chicago folks. The general consensus is that the show gets worse and worse every year.. that might be true in the sense of good deals to be had, but it's always cool to check out what the manufacturers have to offer.

With the explosion of custom bike builders, there is always a ton of that stuff to see - and honestly it all starts to look the same. It's still cool to check out the details and craftsmanship of these bikes even though many are not very road worthy.

The show gives me an opportunity to sit on many bikes that aren't within my price range- which pretty much is all of them... haha. A new bike won't be happening for a while, but it's cool to check out the bikes without having a salesman pestering you. Most of the time at the dealers the bikes are in tight rows so you can't even sit on them if you wanted to. It's fun sitting on anything from a $20,000 Goldwing to a $2000 mini dirtbike.

Maybe the good deals are few and far between - but for a motorcycle enthusiast like me in the middle of winter, this show is the perfect "fix" since I haven't ridden in over 3 months.

Wait a minute......

2007-12-28T12:02:00.000-06:00

I was walking out of the office building near the loading dock and I happen to notice our large dumpster. Those are blue bins used to recycle paper within the office. They've all been replaced with a more rugged model for disposing of secure documents.

I thought to myself - "couldn't they have recycled these?"

Let there be heat!

2007-12-04T18:20:00.000-06:00

Big news! I'm a proud new father. I'm still getting used to that title - even typing that last sentence was strange. My wife and I have been blessed with a beautiful baby girl. I will be starting a blog for her once I come up with a title for it.

She was born Wednesday the 28th of November, right on the due date. We all went home on the following Sunday. My wife was getting a little paranoid thinking the house was too cold for the baby. We usually keep the house at about 68 degrees so I bumped the thermostat up to 70 in hopes that would do the trick.

About an hour later I was sweating bullets. I convinced my wife that it truly wasn't that cold in the house so she let me turn it back down to 68.

Later that evening the temp dropped considerably and the winds really picked up. I checked the theromostat and it said the house was 65! WTF? It was set to 68 but allowed the temp to drop that much. After horsing with it a little, it still wouldn't kick in.

I reset the main power switch on the furnace and then upped the temp again - it then kicked on. Success! Oh wait, lets not pat ourselves on the back too quick. I could hear things spin up, and the gas clicked on with a hiss, but did not ignite. Wha?? Turned the power back off and pulled the front panel off. I had a problem last winter where the flame wouldn't stay ignited - and the culprit was the flame sensor. A quick cleaning with steel wool did the trick. This time it wouldn't even light up.

I popped off the ignitor and it didn't look too bad, but I could see a tiny crack in the element. I remember they should glow bright orange (hot!) when working correctly. I forced the furnace to kick on again, but this thing wasn't doing squat. I jumped on the internet and found that it doesn't take much for these to fail - even a little discoloration is a sign of failure.

Well this should be an easy fix right? Not at 9:15pm on a Sunday night.... everything is closed.

After three stops I got the part. Home Depot doesn't sell any of this stuff & Ace has a limited selection. I guess Ace IS the place with the helpful hardware man - the guy told me where I could get the parts and even drew me a map to find it. Millers Heating & Cooling in Grayslake hooked me up with the parts I needed. I got the new ignitor as well as a replacement flame sensor for about $70.

Here is a pic of the failed ignitor and the old flame sensor.

About 30 mins later I was home, and the parts were installed. Let there be heat bitches!!

I can't even imagine how much a service call would have cost... I would have kicked myself to watch a technician replace this simple part!

P.S. - I forgot to mention this and I feel like a jackass. I had emailed Sean about my problem with the furnace after 10pm - without even hesitating he was ready to offer up a heater for me to use. He had emailed and called back just before 11pm saying I could come and grab it if need be. Sean - thanks for looking out for me and my family.

Membership has it's price

2007-11-20T12:57:00.000-06:00

I purchased a used 1999 Lexus LS400 two years ago and it's been great. In fact, it's the nicest car I've owned even though I got it with well over 100k miles on it. I've taken it in for oil changes at the dealer where the previous owner took it and time and time again they tell me the car needs nothing. That was soon to end.

This time they tell me I need new brakes all around and the back ones have 1000 miles left. Wow, these guys must be good if they can give an estimate like that! Actually my wife took the car so I'm sure they said that to freak her out so she would agree to the work. Oh yeah, this could be done for the tune of $1250. Ouch!

Then they tell us we need to get the trans fluid, the coolant and the differential fluid flushed - for a mere $550 more. In my best Dr. Evil voice...."riiiiiiiiiiight."

I can do all this work done myself for considerably less - for about 20% of the stealer's estimate.

That same day I took the wife's car to get the oil changed and while wasting time I look around on the used car lot. Then I come across this car:

This is a 2005 Lexus LS430 with the sport package - the next car I'd like to own. I actually like this color a lot mainly because it's not as common as the silver/black/white/gold I usually see.

So I'm peering through the window and the car beeps as if someone unlocked it. I backed off because I thought the porter was going to move the car. He tosses me the keys and tells me to take a look since he's just moving cars around. Pfft - heck, can't say no to that! I got in the car, turned the key and the mirrors unfolded themselves as the steering wheel moved into position. I fired up the engine so I could play around with the gadgets. This thing had everything from navigation, heated/cooled seats, and even the electric sunshade on the back window. Nice - I could get used to this... but it wouldn't be today. As I handed the keys back to the porter he told me "you should buy it, you look good in it!"

If it was only that simple.......

The end is here........

2007-11-20T08:56:00.000-06:00

The end of the riding season that is. A few weeks back was unseasonably warm and I took advantage of it. My uncle met up with us and Rich and I took him on a nice loop through some back roads of Northern IL and Southern WI. Of course a ride wouldn't be complete without a good, inexpensive lunch. That's where Halftime in Johnsburg comes in - 1/2 price pizza on Sunday... aw yeah. We did a little more riding, afterwards, but my uncle wanted to be back for the Bears game. All in all, it was a great way to end the season.

A few somewhat warm days have come and gone since, but with my work schedule it's been tough to take advantage of them. Kudos to Sean for bundling up and commuting in the chilly weather. Been there, done that... I got nothing to prove. Hehehe...

Let the record show...

2007-10-15T07:27:00.000-05:00

...that Harley riders are bigger pussies than scooter riders. Yes I said it.

This pic was taken from yesterday morning. The temps were in the 50s, it was cloudy, and rain was on the way. Did it stop me from taking a little spin? Hell no!

These 5 or 6 scooters all rolled in for breakfast - most of them were probably 30 yrs old or more. I have to give those guys a big thumbs up.

Yeah -it was a crappy morning but I had to get out. I wasn't the only one, probably a dozen or more people showed up.. and only one of them was a Harley. We all know what that bike's owner had planned for the day - cleanin chrome!

Season ain't over yet!!!!

It's always something....

2007-10-13T22:19:00.000-05:00

In hopes that the rain might hold off for tomorrow morning, I figured I'd get the bike ready for a little ride. The temps have dropped significantly in the last week so it's time to make the switch to the taller windscreen for the remainder of the season.

My fuel guage light has been burned out and it can't be accessed w/o removing the windscreen - so I guess here's my chance to take care of it.

Having never ventured in this area of the bike I didn't know if this job was going to be a simple one or a PITA. I took a look and voila - one simple screw and the guage cup pops off. I knew having those stubby screwdrivers would come in handy one day.

Pulled the bulb holder out and popped out the bulb... dang, this sucker is tiny! Hmmm - it's barely 9pm - Walmart is open so I hopped in the car in search for the bulb. Bahh.. of course they don't have it. Everywhere else is closed.. oh well.

Everything was buttoned back up thinking the morning ride will happen.. but I think Mother Nature has other plans.

Picture Time!

2007-09-18T08:55:00.001-05:00

Yes - I've been definitely slacking here, but everyone likes pics right? Enjoy these from the local motorcycle spot.

It was a great turnout considering it was Labor Day weekend.
Bikes were coming and going all morning. A very clean Kawasaki 750 2 stroke cafe racer

A vintage Honda CX500 Turbo
This is about the coolest Moto Guzzi I've ever seen - although I think it's a custom with just a Guzzi drivetrain.

Vulcan done and returned

2007-08-13T10:56:00.001-05:00

I'm a little late to getting around to posting this, but at least it's done. The carbs put up a pretty good fight during reinstallation. But lucky me, I got to do that fight about 3 times! I figured out kinda how they go in, got them in place and then realized I forgot to reinstall the choke cable. FRICK. Pulled them back out, but not completely, and got the choke cable back in (~30 mins).

Then I wrestled to get the carbs back in - again. I now had trouble getting the band clamps in place. This one time, in band clamp... oh wait.. a half hour later they were back in. SUCCESS!

Onto the air box reinstallation. These suckers came right off, but would they go back in just as easy? Hell no, of course not! The rubber snorkels needed to be fit in and until I found a trick to get them to fit right I was really frustrated. One side took about 40 minutes, the other side took about 10 mins.

The gas tank went on pretty easily - just had to attach a couple fuel lines, vacuum line, a vent line, and the electrical connection for the fuel guage.

Moment of truth - fuel switched on, pulled the choke lever, turn the key, and.......... YES! Fired right up after the gas filled up the carbs. The engine seemed nice and strong, and the bonus was that no fuel was dumping out the front header.

I did a couple of laps around the block and all the power was back and it runs like a top. I was happy to give a call to my coworker and he swung by to pick it up shortly thereafter.

The Vulcan may have won many "battles" against me by putting up a fight with those carbs and airboxes - but I consider myself the victor. If you know anyone who needs work on a VN750 Vulcan, don't mention my name.

Dirty carbs? No problem.....

2007-08-02T21:06:00.000-05:00

Yeah - that's what I thought when I agreed to "take a look" at this problem. Actually, it appears that the float for the front carb was stuck so gas was just gushing into the cylinder and right out the exhaust valve - right onto the header!

I knew a dealer would probably charge a couple hundred bucks minimum to pull the carbs, clean, adjust and replace so I offered up my services to my co-worker. I can tackle this right? He had a service manual so this shouldn't be too bad.

Well the service manual mentions that all this stuff has to be removed including draining the coolant and removing the reservoir...yikes - uncharted territory for me.

Carbs - 1, Me - 0

After taking a closer look I realized that removing this stuff wouldn't help remove the carb - so far I'm not holding much validity with this manual. Here's the best part - the manual says to remove various hoses and cables and then "carefully remove the carburetors from the right side" HAHAHAHA!! Are they kidding? I literally spent about 2-1/2 hrs trying to get these carbs separated from the engine. What a nightmare.....

Carbs - 2, Me - 0

I finally get them off and continue reading the manual to figure out what I need to do to get to the floats. Needless to say these are the weirdest carbs I've ever seen. There are three phillips screws that need to be removed for each carb to get to the float. I got one loose, but the other two might as well have been WELDED on. I found a nice fitting bit and attempted to use my power drill to unscrew them. It has a slipper clutch so after so much force is applied, it will slip instead of stripping the screw. I would increase the applied torque after every attempt that it slipped while at the same time putting a huge amount of weight on it so it wouldn't strip the screw. At nearly the maximum amount of torque, it just completely shredded the screw head.....faaaaack.

Carbs - 3, Me - 0

No worries, Mr. Dremel to the rescue. The dremel cut-off wheel sliced through those screws like a hot knife through butter. That's right you mutha F@#@er!!

Carbs - 3, Me - 1

The carbs were cleaned out and reassembled. I went to Ace hardware and purchased some stainless steel hex-head bolts and replaced all 6 for both carbs. Never again will this be an issue.

Crap - these things hafta go back in... frick, this is gonna suck.

Here's the space...
..these carbs have to go..

Yeah, yeah... so I'm lazy.

2007-07-30T20:53:00.000-05:00

I'm not sure what my problem is.. I meant to have some decent posts about my trip but I guess I got a huge case of the fuk-its. The trip went well, except for a huge down-pour when I was only 30 miles from home. All the other days it was great, as long as you didn't mind a little heat. The highest I saw it posted was 104 degrees, but I bet it was over 95 degrees for most of the time. It was still 90 around 8:30 at night! Thankfully the A/C blew cold in the rooms I stayed in.

Click on THIS and THIS for the photo albums from me and my riding partner for half way, Ben.

It was kinda nice having the extra room back in the garage with the Yamaha Seca being gone - but it didn't last long. Here's my new project:

A co-worker's 1993 Kawasaki Vulcan that needs new tires.

I did the front wheel first, then the back wheel. I've done tires on a couple of different bikes, including one other shaft drive bike - but this one had to be difficult. Kawasaki thought it'd be a good idea to have the exhaust tips right in front of the axle and axle nut. This means the exhaust had to be partially disassembled in order to slide out the axle.

The front was pretty simple - only one brake caliper had to be removed. Those bolts put up a little fight, but it was nothing an 18" breaker bar couldn't handle.

But tires were only the beginning..................

(to be continued)

Ain't she purty?

2007-06-30T11:26:00.000-05:00

Nothing like a new clean chain - especially when it's bling-bling gold! After cleaning up the back wheel and swingarm, I reinstalled the wheel. The wheel has always been a pain to get back on because you need to lift it slightly while aligning the brake caliper bracket and wheel to slide the axle in. I read about someone using a shovel to pry and lift the back wheel while installing the axle and it worked like a charm! With the long handle of the shovel you have plenty of leverage to move the heavy wheel. Score!

As you can see from the photo, the chain fits like a charm - all I need to do now is install the master link. Having a chain rivet tool is the mutt's nuts and thankfully I have one. It's one of those tools that is kind of expensive and you end up not using it that often, but when you do use it - you know the purchase was worth it.

Back to work I go......

The trip is on!

2007-06-28T20:34:00.001-05:00

Finally got the trip planned with my friend Ben. A week from today we'll depart and he'll take his bike to it's new home - Seattle. I'm going along for the first couple of days and then will take an alternate route back. The route to get out there isn't anything exciting, but it'll still be fun to hit the road. Basically, Ben has to be back at work on Monday morning.

Getting out of the highly populated burbs is a welcome vacation. Travelling through South Dakota is pretty peaceful and the skies are so much more blue. I am used to the pace of the burbs however, so I definitely couldn't live out that way.

The Seca is pretty much ready for the trip - I only need to make some minor adjustments to a few various things. My bike, on the other hand, needs a little more work. I got home early today so I was able to start getting it apart. The major thing is the new chain. The old one came off with no argument thanks to my Dremel. I pulled the axle and the rear wheel was as good as out. The mess left behind, however, is a different story. I probably removed 5 lbs of greasy sludge which built up from all the chain lube hidden behind the front sprocket cover. The swing arm was pretty nasty too.

The bike was running a little funny the last time I rode it so I pulled the carbs and checked them even though I recently cleaned them. They were all ok so I drained the gas tank and installed an inline fuel filter. The plan is to get it buttoned up tomorrow.

Random sightings..

2007-05-27T20:56:00.000-05:00

This is the first cell phone I've had with a camera on it... and it takes pretty decent images at 1.2 megapixels. Perfect for blogs and sending over email. It's come in handy to snap pics of interesting things I see anytime I'm out and about.

Today I post a couple of things I've seen in the past week that make me say to myself - "what the hell were these people thinking??"

First is this guy here.

It was a little cool this morning on my way to work - probably about 6:30am. I give anyone props for suiting up and taking their motorcycle, especially when I didn't feel like riding mine (such as this morning). I'd like to say that a lot of people ride their motorcycles because it's fun, it saves gas during their commute, and they think it makes them look cool.

What's cooler than a Honda VTX1800 motorcycle? It's a pretty big, bad-ass ride that is intimidating to many because of it's sheer size. Cool bike - check.

Ride a cool bike, you need some leather. This guy is wearing a black leather jacket - check.

This guy was on the right track until I saw his head. Hmm... he's too cool to wear a helmet... but what is that? It's a freaking PURPLE headband. First off, you're a turd for wearing any headband on a bike. Scratch that, unless you're jogging in the early 80s no guy should be wearing a headband (man law anyone???). Then all of his cool points are immediately revoked... because it's PURPLE. Did this guy borrow it from his wife?? It gets better...

Then I notice he's wearing dress loafers with thin dress socks - his dress slacks have ridden up about 6-8 inches above his ankle.

QUICK - someone confiscate this motorcycle and get him a friggin moped.

-------------------------

I had to run an errand the other day and parked next to this older Honda Civic 3 door. Something was weird with both doors. Upon further inspection I notice they did some less than half-assed body work.

On the stock vehicle there is a black moulding that runs along the door. When this trim is removed, there is a recess in the sheet metal. Apparently they were going after a smoothed look on the door - it would have been a nice detail if they didn't use BONDO. Bondo is a plastic body filler used to smooth out lightly damaged metal. It can be sanded and then painted on so shallow dents can't be felt or seen. I think Bondo is only supposed to be used to fill recesses of 1/8" or less. The proper way to do this modification would be to cut out a section of metal and weld it into the recess so that it was about level with the rest of the door. This is what you get when you take shortcuts. Chunks of the filler have fallen off and it left behind unpainted, rusted sheetmetal. Sure looks trick now! Friggin morons...

A most Excellent Adventure

2007-05-22T08:07:00.000-05:00

Last weekend's bike trip to Southern Indiana was a blast. My ride report would pale in comparison to Sean's so I won't waste your time here. Check out Sean's blog for the pics and the day by day commentary.

Short ride on Sunday

2007-05-13T19:35:00.000-05:00

I had to take care of some work in the morning and the day was turning out to be pretty nice. I couldn't let it pass by without pulling out the bike. Rich stopped by and after shooting the shit we hit the road. We made our way up north via Rte 12, headed towards Johnsburg, Bull Valley and stopped in Wonderlake for a snack.

On our way out from getting our drinks, Rich bumped into someone he knew. I didn't know this guy so I wasn't paying attention to the conversation. While I was standing there I saw something I've never seen before. I quickly pulled out the camera phone and snapped a shot.

I know it's hard to see, but this guy drove his riding lawn tractor to the gas station (bare foot too) to fill it up with gas.

Jeff Foxworthy and his series of "you might be a redneck" jokes immediately came to mind.

Another thing worth noting - the gas prices were the lowest I've seen at this place in the past week or two. $3.25!!! <-- saying this is inexpensive makes me want to vomit.

We headed back through McHenry and Lakemoor and split off at Rte 120/12. Came home and cooked up some brats for dinner. Mmmmm... brats.

Triumph Demo Ride

2007-05-13T19:11:00.000-05:00

My buddy Rich got a postcard in the mail from the Triumph dealer in Villa Park to demo ride any one of the 2007 Triumph motorcycles and invited me along... me say no to that? Pfft!

We got there right at 9:30am to sign up for the bikes we wanted to ride... but already the slots were filled up and the soonest ride we could do was 11am! We later found out people registered for bikes the evening before.. bastids! Rich didn't get his first choice which was the 675 and I wanted to ride the Speed Triple. I let him take the Triple and I ended up on the Tiger. After the ride was said and done, I'm glad I took this bike.

All new 2007 Triumph Tiger

It was a bit tall and when I came to a stop, only the tip toes of my boot could touch the ground on either side. Once underway, the bike was very well balanced and had power at all RPM ranges. This bike has a 1050cc inline three cylinder engine. It's kind of the best of both worlds - plenty of torque, and pretty smooth. This Tiger was all new for 2007 and they did away with it's off road ability but it still has that tall stance of a dual sport kind of like the Suzuki V-Strom and the BMW GS. All I can say is that I walked away with a grin ear to ear... if funds were available I wouldn't hesitate to buy this bike. It was super comfortable and I had no wind buffeting with the stock screen when at highway speeds. One of the Triumph reps said they offer a shorter seat which would solve my only gripe. Oh yeah, this bike retails for $10,500 - so it won't be in the cards anytime soon.

Below is a pic of the bike Rich ended up riding - the no nonsense, get-your-ass-in-trouble, F U bike - the Speed Triple. He goosed the throttle a little and the front wheel had no problems coming up. Nice.

2007 Triumph Speed Triple

Perfect Sunday

2007-04-23T07:16:00.000-05:00

Just when I thought Spring was here, we get dumped on with another 3 inches of snow. Mother Nature needed a severe beating after that. After this weekend, all has been forgiven.

This past weekend the temperatures were in the mid 70s, there was a great breeze and low humidity. Anyone who didn't take advantage of this weather should be checked for a pulse. Anyone who owned a motorcycle and didn't take it out should have it repossessed. The same goes with people who drive convertibles had still had the top up.

There was a pretty good turn out at Full Moon this Sunday morning. Lots of cool bikes made an appearance - old and new. To give you an idea how nice it was - even people with their custom choppers were in full force. These guys are pretty picky when it comes to riding those things...

After hanging out for a couple of hours it was time to hit the road. Rich on his ZRX1100 and me on my Bandit headed up North to Lake Geneva. Highway? We don't need no stinkin highway! Rich knows a pretty good route up to LG and it takes no time - probably due to our velocity. Traffic in downtown Lake Geneva sucked as usual on a nice weekend day like this. We made our way along the lake and found a spot off the main road to park and relax for a little bit.

It was pretty much lunchtime at this point and I was hungry since I hadn't eaten anything yet. Rich said he knew of a place to head to so I said - lead the way!

We started heading out and Rich made a wrong turn and we were heading directly west instead of south. I use the term wrong turn loosely because today was all about riding - if an unintentional turn yielded a little more seat time, it was all good - except this time my stomach was talking back to me.

About 20-25 minutes later we came to an intersection and Rich said "ok, I don't know where I am." No worries - the GPS knows! We were right on State Line road - and we followed it until it dumped us into downtown Woodstock - Rich got his bearing straight and continued to lead.

We ended up at a place called Halftime in Johnsburg, IL. Half price pizza and $1.00 drafts - need I say more? We kinda stuffed ourselves with more pizza than we should have, but who cares.. We were out of there for around $10 including drinks.

I only rode about 100 miles but today wasn't about covering the most distance I could, it was about being out and about enjoying the ride and taking in the scenery.

Success!

2007-03-13T12:45:00.000-05:00

After a little touch-up here and there, they are finally DONE! I must say that I really like the look especially after the rotors were mounted back up on the wheels.

The chain needed some attention in a bad way. I tried out my spiffy new cleaning contraption and it did pretty well. The main thing is that it cuts down on the mess when you use kerosene because that stuff just goes everywhere. After cleaning, the chain was adjusted for slack too.

It was Sunday afternoon and the weather was still pretty decent - I couldn't let this day go to waste! I could tell the bike wasn't happy about starting...afterall, it had been several months. Once the gas worked it's way through the carbs it roared to life.

I got all my gear on and the sensation was just great. The first ride of the year is always one of the best. When you're stuck in a cage all winter you forget just how much power a motorcycle has on tap.

It was a little too cold to take the bike to work on Monday, but when I got home it was around 60 degrees... knowing that it was going to fall back into the 30s in the second half of the week, I wasn't about to let any riding opportunity slip by. I had to drop the water bill off, which is only about a 2 minute drive... but that soon turned into a 20 minute ride. I would have stayed out longer, but rush hour traffic becomes a problem and it's just no fun being in traffic unless you have to.

Today is a good day. The temp hardly dropped overnight so this morning it was already in the 50s... that means I'm taking it to work. I forgot how long it takes to get suited up and to make sure I have everything together. The real fun is the ride home - it should be in the upper 60s by that time. Good stuff.

Sadly this will be the last ride for probably a week or two as the temps are supposed to drop...argh. Oh well - plenty of warm days ahead, just not soon enough.

Making progress

2007-03-10T19:10:00.000-06:00

Looking good if I must say... looks a lot like an aftermarket rotor which is what I was kind of after. Hopefully I'll get the wheel back on the bike tomorrow.

Congrats to Razor for having a successful maiden voyage aboard his new bike! I know you think it's fast now, but jus wait until you crack open the throttle in 3rd gear at about 6 grand....

It's all in the details

2007-03-09T06:55:00.000-06:00

What you see here are the bolts that hold the brake rotors on the wheels. After carefully masking and painting the carriers and cleaning off the wheels, I couldn't just put the bolts back as-is. A quick minute or two on the buffing wheel and the bolts on the left will look just like the ones on the right. I was hoping to just clean them up and had no idea they'd polish out this well.

A couple of more coats of paint on the rotor carriers and they'll be about ready. With the wheel off the bike and the rotors off the wheels, I'm reconsidering the task to paint the wheels too....hmmmm.. decisions decisions.

Not sure if I should do the wheels like this bike or something more of a gunmetal. Those wheels were painted with a rattle can believe it or not.. I might have to take a trip to the hardware store to see what colors they have.

Project started (finally)

2007-03-06T19:49:00.000-06:00

Winter has been stubborn about going away, it was barely 30 degrees today and snow still covers everything except the streets. I figure I might as well do something to the bike for the season. As mentioned in the previous post I want to get rid of the gold coloring on the rotors. After getting the front wheel in the air, the calipers were detatched and the axle was removed.

The wheel should slide right out - right? Wrong.. I didn't have the front end up in the air enough for it to clear the fender...doh. As it stands, the bike is super stable on the center stand and jack stands. I don't want to risk the bike falling over by having it only on the back wheel and jack stands. After removing four screws the fender was free and came out along with the tire. It's been a while since I cleaned under there anyway....

I've never taken a rotor off before and after really leaning into the six bolts they broke free. To ensure these bolts never come out unintentionally, the factory really loads them up with lock-tite on the threads. Here's a picture of the rotor right after removing it from the wheel - as you can see it needs a little TLC.

After about 10 minutes with some degreaser I got most of the junk off them - they actually don't look too bad when they're clean. After I was about done, I realized I could have blasted all of it off with some brake parts cleaner.. oh well. That stuff is a bit nasty in a non-ventilated garage and really dries out your skin. Here's the result of a little elbow grease:

That's it for now - hopefully I'll be able to get some paint on these suckers soon. Of course I have to clean the other rotor too.

Winter almost behind us (I hope!)

2007-03-01T08:52:00.000-06:00

Ahh - March 1st. I woke up to some serious thunderstorms and it was great...anything to help get rid of the snow! Now that the temperatures aren't in the sub-zero range, my motivation has increased to the point that I want to do some work on the bike. Not work in the sense that it needs work done, but more along the lines of some improvements, both cosmetic and functional.

First thing I want to do is paint the rotor carriers black. They currently are gold in color and I'm not a big fan of that. I'm going for the silver/black look on the bike and it's just one of those things that sticks out. I originally wanted to get them powdercoated, but lets just say that the budget wasn't approved. I only considered painting them after I was told it works pretty well as long as I use the right type of paint. The biggest pain will be masking off the rotors from the carriers, as they do not separate from each other. What the F is a rotor carrier? It's the gold thing in this photo:

I also got this spiffy automatic chain oiler called a Scottoiler. This device has a reservoir of oil that is mounted on the bike. It is then connected to a vacuum line on one of the carbs and pumps oil, one drop at a time onto the chain near the back sprocket. It's not difficult to setup, but will require some thought for a clean, and hopefully mostly hidden, install. Photos of progress will be posted after I start working on these......

Bike Show or bust!

2007-02-09T19:00:00.000-06:00

Yes! The show is finally here! Lots of new bikes are out for 2007 including the sweet Kawasaki Concours 14 (see former post), Victory Vision tourer, and the replacement for my bike, the all-new Suzuki Bandit 1250S. Hopefully the vendor turnout will be decent so I can find a deal on some gloves and maybe a jacket. Either way - the bike show is a great opportunity to check out and sit on all the bikes and not get hasseled by scumbag sales people.

Officially tired of winter....

2007-02-05T07:50:00.000-06:00

As you can see, it's stinkin cold outside. This temp is not including the windchill either. I did see it go as low as -11 this morning, but didn't get a chance to snap the pic. My car isn't happy in this temp one bit. I think I could have turned the started faster with a hand crank. Even after warming up for over 15 minutes the steering feels like the power steering fluid has been replaced by maple syrup.

Since I now have a bike trip planned for May, I'm a little more inclined to work on the bike... but it's so cold out there, I don't even have the motivation to fire up the heater in the garage. I have plenty of time to get it ready, so no big deal.

With the bike show this Saturday, I'll be able to get my fix soon enough.....

It's lesson time

2007-01-22T21:33:00.000-06:00

As a motorcyclist, I'm always looking for ways to improve my skills while on the roads. It's sometimes tough to share the roads with other vehicles. Here are a few helpful hand signals to use:

Universal Motorcycle Hand Signals

Where to start......

2007-01-17T18:51:00.000-06:00

This is how I winterize my motorcycle.. Sta-bil is for wimps!

Ok yes, I've been a total slacker. I think because the riding season was over for me, regardless of weather, I haven't been motivated to do much of anything, including blogging. Now that's out of the way....lets move on.

BIG NEWS! My co-worker, friend, and neighbor Sean (aka Razor) is less than two weeks away from having a new motorcycle! We located a primo used 2003 Bandit 1200 with less than 2000 miles. A new one couldn't be cleaner... I'm excited for Sean because I know he'll have a blast once the warm weather is upon us. Due to scheduling conflicts it won't be picked up until the 27th... no matter, it's cold and icy out now anyway. It's the slower silver color, but I won't hold that against him. Hehehe..

The motorcycle show is almost here and I can't wait. It's a great opportunity to see all the new models from the various manufacturers. It's one of the many ways I torture myself since I won't be getting a different, let alone new, motorcycle anytime soon. I'm hoping the vendor turnout will be decent so I can try on some new jackets. I'm not holding my breath, but hopefully I can find a new sprocket as well. Then, to keep the tradition going, we'll go to lunch at Hooters after the show. Motorcycles, juggies and wings...does life get any better? Damn right it doesn't!

I want this bike!!!

2006-10-31T20:03:00.000-06:00

I haven't really been motivated too much to post as much as I'd like. Dealing with what I did on my trip, my bike left me with a bad taste in my mouth. There are things I need to address this winter and for now, I don't feel like even starting.

If money was no object, this would be the bike I'd purchasing next spring... being released in 2007, it's the 2008 Kawasaki GTR1400 (called the Concours 14 in the United States). It's basically a ZX-14 sportbike with a more comfort and adjustable windscreen and included luggage. The ZX-14 has about 185 horsepower and this will most likely be detuned to some extent, but it will still rip your head off if you aren't careful. No pricing has been announced, but I'm assuming it'll be in the $12-14k range. This ad is essentially just a teaser, but it sure got my mouth watering.

Stop Piracy - don't be a douche!

2006-10-25T18:29:00.000-05:00

Jack Black rules!!

I made it! The bike is another story....

2006-10-24T07:17:00.000-05:00

Overall the trip went well. I met a great group of guys and the roads in the area were awesome. The trip got off to a cold and rainy start and I often questioned myself if I should continue even only an hour or two into it.

Because of the cold morning it was almost impossible to warm back up as the day progressed. We made it down there in one day - about 650 miles. Most people there thought we were crazy and I don't doubt them. If it hadn't been for the weather it wouldn't have been as big a deal. I'm pretty sure we traveled the furthest compared to anyone else - and at least 6-10 of these guys trailered their bikes... WIMPS!!

The roads were unreal. Not only were there some sweet twists and turns over countless miles, but the roads themselves were in awesome shape. No tar snakes or gravel. Another great thing is that there was hardly any traffic. But because of the constant tight turns, if you did approach another vehicle - it was tough to get around them safely unless they pulled over for you. People that have ridden these roads several times claim that it's more enjoyable than Deal's Gap. Deal's Gap has become so popular, that the roads are pretty busy with regular traffic just trying to use it as a highway when traveling. Hopefully Northwestern Arkansas will remain a little known secret for a while.

We decided to make the trip home in two days. We got talking and decided to take a different route entirely. We headed east through Missouri into Illinois and stopped in Carbondale. We had both attended SIU at one point and had a huge craving for Quatro's pizza. This was the pizza that was "expensive" while at college. Both of us agree it would give any Chicago pizza a good run for it's money, and that holds true today. They have the best sauce and pan crust... my mouth is watering just thinking about it.

The next day was Monday - and it was raining...HARD. We geared up with all of our layers and hit the road. It was about 15 miles until the interstate, where we planned on gassing up. Problem was, my bike was taking so much water in the intake, it was running like hell and I literally coasted into the gas station...yikes. The tank holds 5 gallons and I put in 5.04..uh, it was EMPTY. Filled up and hit the interstate.

Problem - bike was NOT happy running above 65mph. It was a real struggle to get it any higher. All I could hear myself saying was "this sucks....this sucks." The miles weren't going by nearly as fast as they should. I signaled my buddy to pull over to the next gas station.

Not good - we had travelled 43 miles and I was able to put in just about 3 gallons of gas. This means I was getting less than 15 mpg whereas I normally get 35 (which still sucks). At this point I was soaked through, cold, and just plain pissed off because my bike was running like ass. I hated to do it, but I decided to call it day because rain was in the forecast ALL day and I knew I couldn't run the bike like this. Turns out it rained all day and night - over 2 inches accumulated in the area.

We got a room in Mt. Vernon, IL at the Super 8 and spent most of the day drying out our clothes and gear. My buddy spotted an Italian Restaurant out the window of the room and said "I could go for that" He didn't have to twist my arm. I ate a larger than average lunch, went back to the room and we both took a 2-3 hr nap... good stuff. Later that night we watched the Bears game and were both stunned to see them pull it off.

Tuesday it had finally dried off outside and the ride home went fairly smooth. It was overcast all day and probably didn't get much above 53 degrees or so.

So what have I learned?

- Bike with pod air filters + heavy rain = problems
- Waterproof gloves are only water proof for 30 mins
- Heated clothing doesn't sound like a bad idea anymore
- Make sure MP3 player is charged - music cutting out between gas stops sucks
- A motel hair dryer can be used to dry your boots and gloves
- Washing a waterproof motorcycle jacket deminishes it's water resistance
and finally
- Plan road trips between May & September only!

Eureka Springs or bust!

2006-10-10T20:55:00.000-05:00

In 10 hours I'll be on the road.. probably wondering why I would take such a journey in this cold weather. I was hoping that as the week progressed, the weather outlook might change for the better. Nope... it looks like it'll be somewhat cold and I'll most likely be pretty wet before lunch.

Fortunately as I head south the weather is supposed to be better. The rain should be behind us by late morning hopefully. I'd much rather ride in 70-80 degree weather, but I'll settle for 60s.

At this point I'm just waiting for a few clothing items to finish in the dryer so I can pack all my stuff up and have it ready for the morning.

Route is all planned out, more MP3s have been loaded to my player, air pressure in the tires has been checked, and the chain has been given another coat of lubricant. I know I probably overpacked, but it absolutely sucks when you don't have the right tool or item when you're on the road.

At least I'll miss the rain/snow that's being predicted for Thursday! Get out your snow shovels suckers!!

The bike is ready - but am I?

2006-10-07T22:17:00.000-05:00

After work yesterday I was able to pull off the gas tank and give the carbs a once over. I removed them but not entirely. The throttle cables are always a pain to deal with so they were left alone. All the jets were checked and were pretty much fine. Next was the carb sync.

In order to synchronize the carbs, you need to make the adjustments while the engine is running. This means you need to rig up your fuel supply up out of the way so you can get to the carbs. Auxillary gas tanks that hang from above can be purchased.. but they're like $40-50 and I just can't see how a plastic bottle should be that much. Instead, I just use a 5 ft length of fuel tubing and connect my main gas tank. The only thing you need to do is to have it located above the carbs so the fuel is gravity fed since the vacuum lines won't be connected. It turns out the carbs weren't too out of whack. A little adjusting and it was good to go.

I finished up putting everything back together this morning and was able to take the bike for a spin. I wanted to make sure it was running ok even though what I did shouldn't really have any negative effects. I also wanted to start scrubbing in the new tire. After reading on the Sport-Touring forums how a guy dumped his 2006 Triumph sport bike because of a new tire - I was a little nervous even though this is the 3rd new tire I've had.

While I was out I stopped and filled up with gas. Mid-grade was only $2.27 a gallon! It was great being able to top off the tank for under $10! The lower gas prices will be very welcome for this trip.

I also was able to install the racks for my side cases. Looks like the bike is ready to go.. nothing else should need to be done. I've already started a collection of tools I'll be bringing along. I know I probably bring way too much, but if something happens to me (or a friend) it's sooo much better being able to work with normal tools instead of the garbage in the included tool kit that the bike has.

I checked the weather outlook and at this point it looks like we'll be getting wet. I checked various cities along the way and all of them have rain or scattered storms in the forecast. Kind of a bummer... but I expect to get rained on during every trip - might as well get it out of the way.

New tire installed

2006-10-05T20:38:00.000-05:00

Awaiting the new tire

The new tire arrived yesterday - right on schedule. A big thumbs up for Dennis Kirk. Since they're located in Minnesota, standard delivery to IL is only 2 days..bonus! And they price match other sites so I was able to get the tire I need for about $40 less than their price...double bonus!

As you may or may not know, new tires have a slick coating on them from the factory. I'm pretty sure it's there to help the tire from drying out while being stored or something. Either way, it's pretty dangerous to ride on so you want to make sure it's worn off before pushing the bike into a corner. It can be done while riding carefully at first, or if you're impatient like me, you can do it the quicker method. A little burnout never hurt anyone right?

The flash was on for the photo and it made the license

plate appear as if I blanked it out intentionally.

Leaving for the trip in less than a week, hopefully I can get everything done on the bike I want to. I should have time to give the carbs a quick clean up as well synchronize them.

10 days...

2006-10-01T21:07:00.000-05:00

I tell ya - I can't win. Thinking I'm pretty much all set for my trip another expense reared it's ugly head. I took a closer look at my back tire and it's worn much more than I realized... frick. I might be able to get away with using up the tire for the upcoming road trip, but do I really want to be worrying about it? Simple answer - NO! If something did happen and it was all because I didn't want to spend another $150 I would never forgive myself, not to mention the wife would probably make me sell the bike.

Plenty of tread left on the sides but the center is pretty much toast:

RANT
While out for a ride today I think I've come across the ultimate retard turd who shouldn't be on the road. Light turns green and they seriously have to think about it before going. "hmm.. green means go I think, now where did the gas pedal go??" Meanwhile in my head I'm thinking of multiple ways this person can be exerminated. This guy has three strikes against him - 1. Drives a Saturn. 2. Wisconsin plates 3. Most likely a Packer fan. At least they weren't on their cell phone...not sure if that technology has reached cheeseland yet though.
/RANT

17 days and counting...

2006-09-24T21:08:00.000-05:00

I try to go on a road trip once a year and so far I've been able to do that. Last year I did my trip early in the year and this time it'll be late in the year. So needless to say it's been almost eighteen months since I've been able to hit the road.

On October 11th I will be heading to Eureka Springs, Arkansas. Yeah yeah - it sounds like some hillbilly hangout, but I've heard from multiple people that it's a sweet area to do some scenic riding. It's a group ride organized by a local who has been doing this for about 20 yrs. So far it looks like over 30 people will be attending - should be a blast.

I also am usually able to do some sort of upgrade or enhancement to my steed every year. The gel seat, larger windscreen and my detachable hard luggage were all welcome add-ons for long distance riding. I decided it was finally time to upgrade my GPS. The model I had works well, but is limited in the memory department. You need more memory to store the street level detail so you can find gas stations and restaurants - as well as being able to search for addresses. This new one has removable memory cards so if you get the largest capacity - you can essentially hold the data for the entire United States and Canada....nice. For now the 128 mb card that is included is able to hold about 10x more than the old one.

Oh yeah - this one also has a larger, color touch screen. I fully admit I'm a gadget geek. I use the GPS everyday while commuting - it has a super accurate speedometer and if I'm stuck in traffic I can easily find an alternate route even if I'm not familiar with the area.

Here's a pic of the new toy. The top speed was achieved on a closed course (ha!)

A few observations this weekend...

2006-09-04T21:34:00.000-05:00

Found out this morning that Steve Irwin, better known as the Crocodile Hunter, lost his life today from a freak encounter with a stingray. I guess he was doing something he loved, but it's a shame that he leaves his wife and kids behind witout a husband and father. Some say he was crazy to do the stuff he did with the crocs and snakes..either way it made good TV and he made learning about that stuff somewhat interesting.

I have to comment about a couple of things I saw today that just blew my mind and leaves me thinking WTF (WHAT THE F#$K)!!!

The wife had to do some errands and really wasn't in the mood to leave the house, so I told her I'd tag along. It was a rainy day today while in the car, I saw two guys on sportbikes sitting at a light. At this point it was just wet out, not raining. You'd think these guys would at least "gear up" for this kinda of weather. Nope... not at all. I think they both had jackets, but the things that caught my eye were above their shoulders. Both were wearing knit skull caps and friggin goggles over their eyes. WTF?? Ummm...yeah, you guys are both retards.

We ended up going to Bed Bath & Beyond (yes, this is how nice a guy I am...to tag along to this place) because she had to get some crap off a wedding registry for a co-worker. We got through the line ok and they offered to gift wrap the stuff for us at no cost. Sure, what the heck. Bad decision..it took close to 15 minutes. AACK! "Get me outta here!!!!!, " I shouted inside my head.

While waiting another person approached the counter to get something wrapped also. She said to the clerk, "Can I have this off the box?" The clerk looked back at her with a confused look. ".. I need it for the rebate."

Oh my friggin god... are you KIDDING ME??? You cheap bitch! If you're gonna keep the UPC tag, at least wrap the gift yourself you stupid bastard!

This reminds me of my own wedding - someone got us a $20 item that we registered for (from BB&B) and right on the box it said in large lettering "$10 REBATE!" Sure enough, there was a square cut hole on the side of the box. I'm sorry, but THAT is being a cheap-ass.

I know I sound angry... I'm not going to deny it. If you think I'm angry - watch this clip from National Lampoon's Favorite Deadly Sins with the Diceman...

(Not safe for work due to language, what a surprise)

Click Me

Flyers & Tires

2006-08-13T20:49:00.000-05:00

Today definitely ranks as one of the top ten days of this summer. Opposed to getting poured on like the previous Sunday, today was about as perfect as weather gets for being outside and on the motorcycle.

Started the day by meeting up with my friend Rich over at Full Moon. It's one of the meet-up places for motorcyclists on Sunday mornings. I thought this nice day would bring out a much bigger crowd, but no big deal. Still a semi-decent turnout and it's always fun to check out what other people are riding. I tell ya, it seems like every third bike rolling in was a Goldwing. I think Honda sent out a "FREE GOLDWING" coupon in the mail and I must have missed mine.

At about 10:30 we took off and headed to Galt Airport in Greenwood, IL for the annual Flyers & Tires airplane, bike, and car show. I had never been to it before but it seemed like something worth checking out. A pretty good variety of cars were there - everything from a Lamborghini Diablo to a 1967 Corvette. I was hoping there would be some older military planes there, but it was mostly smaller privately owned aircraft..most of which I know nothing about.

The show had some stunt flying going on, a burn out contest with the hot rods and even some remote control airplanes. One of the nicest attractions were the two hotties working the beer tent....NICE. They were doing such a good job, I couldn't help myself but to make sure they didn't miss a customer.

Another thing that was cool was that Woodstock Harley Davidson was there offering free demo rides on any of their bikes. Rich signed up to ride a V-Rod and I signed up to ride a 2007 Electra Glide Ultra Classic. This '07 model has their brand new 96 cubic inch engine as well as a 6-speed transmission. It's basically Harley's version of a Goldwing - full dresser bike with stereo, cruise control, you name it. I have to admit, I'm not much a Harley Davidson fan. In fact, I kind of think their bikes are overpriced for what they are. But it was cool to hop on a twenty thousand dollar bike and take a seven mile jaunt. I don't think I could ever see myself owning one, but now I do see how so many can ride them across country...they are that comfortable.

Rich and I headed out at about 2:30 or so and made our way on some back roads through Wonder Lake and McHenry... good stuff. From walking around the show I am almost Lobster man, but who cares - this was one of the finest days to be outside. Those perfect days are almost gone for the season - don't waste it by sitting on your arse!!!

Increasing temperatures equals decreased motivation

2006-08-04T20:06:00.000-05:00

FINALLY the temperature outside is back to a tolerable level. For the past week it has been in the mid to upper 90s with the heat index at or above 100. I tell ya, when it's that hot outside you don't want to do a damn thing - including updating the blog. Even at 10pm when letting the dog out, it was unbearable. I'm not the religious type, but I thank the GOD of air conditioning for blessing my house and my automobile as well as my office.

Just found this pretty cool video from OK GO..... I though it was entertaining so here ya go:

Destickerfication step 2.5

2006-07-12T20:31:00.000-05:00

Tonight I rearranged the garage and backed in the Seca ("say-kuh") in preparation to remove the other side decal. When I removed the first one (previous post) it left behind a layer of adhesive in the same shape as the entire decal. That part took a good 20 minutes to remove.

I started at the tip at the rear of the bike and low and behold, this sumbitch came right off without leaving so much as a square inch of adhesive. Hmmm..what next? I know my buddy wants all the decals removed, but I think the bike might look ok if the "Seca II" logo remained without the, uh, garish colored background graphic.

Pulled out a fresh razor blade (no not a Razor blade) and went to work. I purchased a 100 pack of blades some time ago and I tell ya, they're super handy to have around. I carefully traced around the bottom portion of the text making sure not to push super hard. I knew that if I pressed too hard, I might leave some scratches in the plastic that would show up if the remaining decal was removed. What you see below is the result. See previous posts for what it used to look like. Not too shabby if I do say so myself....

De-stickerfication step 2, and some tuning...

2006-07-05T20:30:00.000-05:00

I couldn't take it anymore - that blue & purple stripe had to go! And voila, the result is what you see above. It came off in one piece too, amazing.

Also worked on trying to get the beast running smoother. It seems to have a hesistation right off of idle. I must have pulled the gas tank 4 or 5 times between yesterday and today to make minor adjustments to the carbs.

I think I'm on the right track - but I'm still frustrated only because I KNOW the tank will be coming off another few times before I'm done.

Yesterday I had a little fun - my friend Rich and I blasted up to Lake Geneva on some back roads. Weather was perfect and so was the ride. He knows a great way to get there and we only have to deal with a minimum of other traffic. For the first time I got my bike up to an indicated buck forty...heh. Good stuff......

De-stickerfication step 1

2006-07-02T19:58:00.000-05:00

What can I say - I was feeling a little motivated today even though it's pretty humid outside.

First step of the sticker removal was to get rid of the three warning decals on the gas tank & upper fairing. I couldn't take looking at all that purple and pink any longer so I started on the graphics too. For the fact that they were the smallest, I did the ones on the bellypan first. They actually came off quite easily and the adhesive came off even easier. Here are a couple of before & after pics.

Project Seca continues...

2006-07-02T16:11:00.000-05:00

Well, I didn't waste any time. The day I got the bike (8 days ago) I popped open the carbs to see what's what. A few weeks back when I first saw the bike, we got it fired but it ran like crap... so I knew it shouldn't take too much to get it running right.

I found that a couple of the pilot jets were completely clogged. I couldn't even clean them with compressed air, I needed to jam a thin wire through to clean it out.

I put it all back together, crossed my fingers, engaged the choke and pressed the starter. Success! Well kinda..... it was running, but even after a few minutes of warming up, the engine would die if I gave it any gas. Ugh... oh well.

I guess I'd have to pull the carbs afterall. No biggie - it's been done before on my own bike. Ha ha ha... boy was I wrong. After figuring out how to disconnect the throttle cables and get the carbs on the bench, I managed to strip three screws. I'm convinced that they were made of a material weaker than styrofoam. Thankfully my Dremel came to the rescue and I was able to cut the screws off.

The spark plugs were replaced and the bike was buttoned back up. This is it... moment of truth.
Choke engaged, fuel turned on, and..... nothing. At this point the battery didn't have enough juice left to get it started. I knew it'd take a good amount of cranking because the whole fuel system was dry.

Sean let me borrow his battery charger so I could get it charged back up. After about 30 minutes of charging and adding a little more gas in the tank, it now runs. YESSS! Like a little kid I was anxious to take it out for a quick spin. I quickly bolted down the gas tank and cleared a path to get the bike out of the garage. Feels a bit short on power, so I think I'm going to work on some tweaking.. then again, this bike only has about 1/2 the horsepower and 1/3 the torque of my own bike.

Next step - removing the garish decals........

New bike - needs some TLC

2006-07-01T15:31:00.000-05:00

One week ago I picked up a motorcycle for my friend. It was a pretty good deal and the bike is almost new. Well - it's a 1996 Yamaha Seca II, so I guess ten years old isn't exactly new. But, this forgotten set of wheels only has 916 original miles. You can see in the photo that the paint is still shiny and overall the bike is pretty clean.

Knowing that my best friend was in dire need of inexpensive, reliable transportation I figured this would be a perfect fit. After showing him some photos and doing a little research on this model (to see if it'd be worthy of his needs) I told him I would buy it for him and get it going - and that it could pay me pack. I fronted about 2/3 of the money for it and the wife knew that if the bike was going to anyone but him, we wouldn't have done it.

I love tinkering on this stuff and since I have the room and the time I told him it would be my pleasure to get this bike running.

Oh - and the bonus.... he's not taking delivery until September most likely so I'll have plenty of time to tinker and have some fun with this thing.

New Project!

2006-06-24T20:16:00.000-05:00

Got the seat covers that were mentioned in the previous post - and they're PERFECT. The car is going to look great once they're done.

I started yesterday with one of the back seats. The seat was removed from the car and brought into the garage. I just about have the cover off, but I have to clip some hog rings to remove the cover completely. I also need to find some special hog-ring pliers to put new rings in place for the new covers. No one seems to have them around..... argh.

Here's photos of the work in progress:

What can I say??

2006-06-13T21:44:00.000-05:00

I'm a slacker... nothing exciting to post really.

Just remembered the bulbs I ordered from the dealer should be in so I took a ride over there.. just my dumb ass luck, they're the wrong ones. FRICK. We couldn't find the supposed correct ones in the catalog so it looks like I'm SOL.

Sure enough though, the bulb that wasn't working is now functioning again... I'll probably forget about it until it craps out again and then I'll be annoyed when the front blinker is going twice as fast in a hyper-spaztic, epileptic seizure-inducing state.

Not sure if I'm going to hunt the bulbs down or maybe even swap out the indicators all together... hmmm... some trick LED ones might be cool.

On another note, I won some replacement factory seat covers for the wife's car on eBay. The ones in the car are a little worn and have some burns from the previous owners. So after they're put on, the interior will look like-a brand new for $85. Score!

Guess what time it is???

2006-06-06T20:56:00.000-05:00

Movie clip time! A great clip from a funny movie - what else could you ask for?

The perfect weekend

2006-06-04T21:15:00.000-05:00

I guess I couldn't ask for better weather on a weekend. Low 70s & sunny with a nice breeze on Saturday and a little bit warmer today. Because of my normal work hours being pretty early - sleeping in for me is getting up at 7:30-8am.

Today was no exception. Out of bed by 8am and out the door shortly thereafter to one of the local motorcycle meeting places. The turn out wasn't bad - but I thought it'd be better considering the weather..but as the morning went on, more and more people showed up. The place I like to go is called Full Moon in Lake Bluff on Rte 41 & 137. Here are some pics from today's gathering:

Did a little yard work in the afternoon but had the urge to take another ride because sitting inside on a day like this should be a crime. I hopped on the bike and headed NW on Rte 12. Took a right turn onto State Park road and it took me over the Wisconsin border. Using my GPS to guide me I tried some roads I've never been on - some of them were a little slow - but it didn't matter. It was a great relaxing ride and I almost wish I didn't have to head home. Good stuff.

Another group of people who need a beating...

2006-05-31T20:30:00.000-05:00

[RANT]
I'm not sure why this ticks me off so much... but I can't stand people who don't take care of their vehicles... namely their light bulbs, and even more specifically - the tail lights.

Does ANYONE ever check their lights to make sure they even work? I'm convinced that 2% of the population does.

Sure enough I was stuck behind a turd who had 5 of the 6 bulbs burned out. The only one that worked was one of the two bulbs on the high mounted stop lamp in the back window. Then I noticed that the side bulbs actually did work because it flashed with the turn signal... this actually means that their multi-function switch* wasn't working.

*Multi-function switch - your turn signal lever/stalk that is tied into the brake light circuit on cars that don't have separate lamps for turn signals.
After a few miles of bumper to bumper traffic, I actually turned and went out of my way just so I didn't have to be behind this a-hole anymore.

The worst driver out there has got to be someone who both has bulbs burned out AND they drive a Saturn.. but that's a different rant for a different time. Saturn owners are in their own little group that should be exterminated. See if I'm lying.... if you're stuck behind a Saturn owner, odds are they drive like complete retards.

So if you see a person giving you the finger in your rear view mirror - you might have a bulb burned out... so go spend 3 lousy goddamn dollars and FIX IT!!!
[/RANT]

How about another vid?

2006-05-25T19:37:00.000-05:00

Hey this blogging stuff is easy - post up a video from another site... niiice.

The bike is still disassembled, waiting for parts....

Here's a clip of Lewis Black from the Daily Show, his comedy is great.

When in Rome......

2006-05-21T21:54:00.000-05:00

I guess the cool thing to do on your blog is to post up a video clip. Well here's one for ya... I'll laugh everytime I watch it. I sure do miss Chris Farley........

BTW - if you don't think this funny, check your pulse.

Every garage should have this...

2006-05-18T19:11:00.000-05:00

If you're like me, you'll appreciate a great device to make your life easier when working in the garage. This hose reel I purchased from Harbor Freight is the bee's knees. It holds 100ft of air hose and mounts just about anywhere. The mounting plate is rather small, so I mounted it to a section of plywood, and then fastened that to the studs in the wall. This sucker isn't going anywhere.

Most hose reels at the hardware stores only hold 50 feet of air hose - plus they were around $50 or more. This hose reel was about $30 including shipping. Why 100ft? Keep in mind my garage is two cars deep and the 50 ft length just doesn't cut it if I want to use air tools on the driveway.

Motorcycle update: New part has been ordered so hopefully it'll show up soon so I can put it back together.

Cleanin' carbs, jammin to some Weezer

2006-05-15T21:14:00.000-05:00

Ok ok - so I haven't posted in a while. Been busy at work and tired when I got home. It's been raining for the past week or so and it's really been a bummer except for the fact my lawn looks pretty good.

Rain is still in the forecast for the next few days and since the Bandit hasn't been idling right I figure it'd be a perfect time to clean out the carbs. It doesn't take much to clog up a pilot jet with an opening smaller than that of a sewing needle.

Disassembly:
-Removed tank cover, fuel switch handle, and disconnected fuel and vacuum lines.

-Removed seat, unbolted gas tank, and removed K&N air filters from carbs

-I pulled off the plastic side panels from the side of the tank and the FRICKIN part I had glued up came apart. **MUTHA FU$#&ER!!! Well crap - I guess I'm all in now!

-Disconnected the throttle & choke cables and after loosening 4 clamps - the carbs are free.

Hmm.. fuel is still in these. Usually I just dump this outside in the dirt, but with all the flowers the wife has been planting that didn't sound like such a good idea. I was able to empty most of the gas right into the lawn mower...nice.

Flipped the carbs over and pulled off the first float bowl. Hmm - surprisingly clean inside.. always a good thing.

I removed the first main jet and I could see it had a little build up.. but it came right out by just knocking it against the bench. First pilot jet was a little gunked up, but nothing a little carb cleaner and an air compressor can't handle. The opening is so small it's tough to tell if it's clogged at all - usually either you can see a little pinhole of light or you see nothing (which isn't good).

Got to the second carb and sure enough that pilot jet was completely closed up. Yup - that'll definitely cause an idling issue.

Moved onto the other carbs and had slight build up mostly in the pilot jets but all are now perfect. The bike should run much smoother and idle great without having to mess with the idle adjustment.

Before I button it back up I want to lube the throttle and choke cables, which I've never done. This is something that'd be more of an issue if the bike sat outside and routinely was exposed to moisture and then dried. Being stored in a garage helps tremendously.

** so now the damn plastic panel is broken again. Two points are broken and it has some scuffs from removing the tank in the past in a rush. I can't believe I actually got the thumbs-up from the wife to order a new part! She's like, "well, the part is broken and you tried to fix it - it's fine to get a new one."

"hey you know the rims on my Lexus are broken too, can I get new rims too??"

"Nice try... but no."

Oh well - it was worth a shot.

I guess pimpin out the LS will have to wait...

Today is Hot Fudge Sundae Day

2006-05-04T10:19:00.000-05:00

Here's to you, dad.

Today is my dad's birthday - he would have been 58. It's kinda weird to think of my dad as an older man. No matter how old I get I will always think of him as being the same mid-40s dad.

It was always a treat when I was younger to have a hot fudge sundae. He always made a big deal of it and made sure my sister and I had ours just the way we wanted it. So in rememberance of him we now always make sure to have a perfect hot fudge sundae on his birthday.

Mission Accomplished

2006-04-23T19:14:00.000-05:00

What needed to be removed
Posted my issue with the damaged body panels on Maximum-Suzuki and got some great info on how I should attempt to glue it up. Got it all squared away on Friday night and was able to put it all back together on Saturday afternoon.

Still needed a light bulb and couldn't find it anywhere.. turns out it's some special size that you can't get at the auto parts store...argh. Called up the local stealer, er dealer and they said they had several bulbs to fit the brand of turn signals I have. Knowing my neighbor Sean couldn't turn down a trip to the dealer I asked him if he wanted to tag along...

Of course they DIDN'T have the bulb I needed... "Son of a....!" Themore I looked at the bulb the more I kept thinking - it sure doesn't look burned out or damaged. For some reason I decided to plug it in and lo and behold - the M-effer works. Don't understand - don't care. That meant I could now put everything back together.

Took the bike out this morning to a local bike hang out and saw some nice rides including a prestine 1983 GS1100E just like Sean has. Of course I didn't bring my camera...doh. Not a huge turnout, but I ran into a guy that I knew and we had some good conversation. Good times..

If it isn't one thing......

2006-04-20T17:34:00.000-05:00

I noticed on my way home today that my right turn signal was flashing much quicker than normal. Crap - a bulb is out. I got home and sure enough - the back one is out. Of course since I have custom signals installed the bulb swap isn't that easy. The weather is nice so I might as well have at it..

I knew I had a broken mounting tab on one of the tail panels, but after taking the bike apart I realized I have a total of three broken mounting points...FRICK. And of course one is on a different panel. I was thinking about replacing the one panel that I knew was broken, but I sure don't have the $$ to replace both.

Thankfully when I repair the plastic, none of it will be seen because it's on the backside of the side panels. Here's one of the broken mounting points:

Before I knew the bulb was out, I realized it could be a wiring problem since I had different connectors on the new signals. On a postive note, my wiring is totally fine and the bulb was simply burned out.

Here's a photo of what my rear turn signals look like: Pic

Anyway - it looks like I have something to do this weekend!

Enough with the stupid support ribbons

2006-04-18T08:38:00.000-05:00

Everyday on my commute to work I see countless cars and trucks with these magnetic ribbons. The first ones I remember were the yellow ones that said "Support our troops." Then I saw a pink one for breast cancer awareness. Now you can get a ribbon for just about everything. The reason I had to put in post here about this stuff is because I saw a ribbon for probably the most obscure thing - Autism Awareness. Ok - what the eff. Apparently April is Autism Awareness month. I guess I did learn something. Am I going to do anything different now that I know this? Um...no. Am I being an insensitive prick? Probably.

My problem isn't because people have these ribbons - it's the fact that in probably almost all cases - the purchase of these magnetic ribbons does NOTHING for these various causes. I noticed a buddy of mine had a yellow "Support our Troops" ribbon on his truck. So I asked him - "did any of the money you spent on that ribbon go to the family's of the troops?" His answer - "oh, I dunno."

People - wake the fuck up and STOP buying these lame-o ribbons! If you want to make a difference - give these various charities your money! If you MUST have something stupid on your car - here ya go:

These can be purchased at Antimagnet.com, but I strongly suggest you save your money.

It lives!

2006-04-02T13:52:00.000-05:00

Ok - so the title of this post is similar to one posted less than a month ago.. bite me.

My mom's neighbor was cleaning out his house before he moved and thought I might be able to use a few items. Some of the items include a hedge trimmer, car ramps, a crappy ladder, and best of all - a Weed Eater brand gas powered trimmer. Score!

I know these things aren't that expensive, but I've always been to cheap to cough up the money for one. My electric trimmer has served me well but with this house that I'm in, hooking up all the extension cords just to trim along the fence has been a pain. I think I trimmed only two or three times total during the past summer.

This thing has definitely seen better days. It looks like he put some crappy head on it with no line feeding mechanism and I don't think it's EVER been cleaned. I couldn't hold it anywhere and not have a handful of grime on me. After cleaning the drive shaft with some steel wool and using some degreaser cleaner on the rest of it - it now looks almost new. Checked the spark plug and it was ok, lets just say I've seen worse.

Since I never owned anything with 2-stroke engine I had to go out and get some 2-stroke engine oil and an addional gas can to keep the gas/oil mix in. I found some manuals for it online and it expained the starting procedure. Seemed simple enough so I figured "let's fire this baby up!"

Switch to full choke - check!
Press Prime 6 times - check!
Hold down throttle trigger and pull starter cord up to 6 times in a row - on the 4th pull it fired...yes!

Put it to half choke and let it warm up for about 5-10 secs - seems to idle just fine and it didn't even die on me.. not too bad. Of course I was in the garage while testing it out.. so now the garage is a bit smokey and I smell like 2 stroke engine exhaust.... ahh - the smell of success.

First Ride of the Season

2006-03-30T08:30:00.000-06:00

Today the temperature is supposed to be in the low sixties so I just had to pull the bike out and ride to work. With my early schedule I knew it'd still be cold but it's always worth it. The first 10-15 minutes of the ride was a bit chilly, but after my legs were numb it wasn't too bad..heheh.

I feel kinda bad because I have to warm up the bike before I leave. Let's just say the bike isn't exactly quiet - and the noise carries all throughout the subdivision. I feel bad about possibly waking people up, but not bad enough to not take the bike. With the crazy gas prices I'll take the bike as often as I can...sorry neighbors!

Ahh - felt really good to get on the bike and be able to get around slow traffic. I sure did miss the instant power delivery...can't get enough of it! I find myself passing more people than I normally would. Why? Because I can.

The outside temperature should be around 60 when I go home, so the ride home will be even more enjoyable.

Side note: I think I found the latest form of spam - random people leaving comments on blogs that point to their websites. WTF - get a life you damn turds!

Just killing time until riding season...

2006-03-12T14:58:00.000-06:00

I've always liked the look of polished parts on motorcycles. I've seen bikes that have everything polished - frame, wheels, calipers, footpeg mounts - you name it. Getting that done costs some huge cash and I just can't justify the expense when it does nothing for performance.

I figure I might as well put my bench grinder to good use and see how hard this polishing really is. I realize now that it isn't too hard to polish something - it just takes time. Just like sanding wood, you work your way through several steps until you reach the desired smoothness.

I picked up a few compounds and a couple of different buffs for my grinder went to work on the clutch and brake levers on the bike. The one on the top is how they started. The one on the bottom is what it looks like after about 20 minutes of work. Not too shabby, but I think it could be better (the photo doesn't do it justice really).

It's Alive!

2006-03-08T20:16:00.000-06:00

Well kids - I'm officially ready for Spring. Mother Nature has been teasing us for the past week and it's ticking me off! It snowed a couple of inches a few days ago and today it was 50 degrees.

Thinking I might have a problem with my trusty steed I decided to try and fire up the bike after it has been sitting for a good 4-5 months without a charger or winter-prep. Turned the key and got full lights...score! Turned the fuel switch to prime, pressed the starter button and after about 5 seconds it fired right up! Ahh...I knew it wouldn't let me down! It hasn't yet and considering I'm on the original battery since the bike was new I'd say I'm pretty lucky.

Now the garage stinks of motorcycle exhaust.....ahh yes. Wife wasn't too thrilled, but at least I didn't do this:

2006 Bike Show

2006-02-14T22:34:00.000-06:00

Well I checked out the 2006 Cycle World International Motorcycle Show last weekend - it gives me the chance to get my fill of motorcycle stuff in these winter months. Overall the show was kind of a bummer - nothing really amazing and the vendors were kind of lacking. Even the custom choppers weren't anything special.. I think it's because they get so much coverage on the American Chopper and Biker Build Off TV shows - even the high dollar bikes start to look the same.

There is one guy that has been on Biker Build off a couple of times that I think is super talented. His name is Matt Hotch and his company is Hot Match Custom Cycles. My wife got me a hat with his company's logo on it for my birthday and this guy was at the show - so I was able to have him sign it for me.

I wanted to pick up some new gloves, but there wasn't much to choose from. I did find a dealer out of Waukesha, WI that was discounting all their gloves by 15%, which is a good deal considering the glove I wanted is normally never discounted, even on the internet.

They didn't have them there, so I called up and ordered them after the show, but was still able to take advantage of their show discount. So take a look at these bad-boys... The Icon Timax glove. 10 titanium plates for protection, not to mention they look intimidating. All I can say is don't mess with me or my bike or you'll find some hefty scratches on your car, or your face.

I got the mod bug!!

2006-01-25T08:25:00.000-06:00

Every winter I like to do a modification to my motorcycle. It's something that keeps me sane while waiting out the long, cold, not-able-to-ride winter months.

The first winter I had my bike I stripped the paint off the rims edges and polished the lips. For under $50 in materials and several nights in the garage inhaling paint stripper fumes along with a space heater, I added a cool detail to the bike.

The following winter I got back a nice tax return and purchased a Stage II jet kit. The carbs were removed and the new jets were installed. The stock air box was also ditched and it now utilizes free-flowing K&N pod filters.

Another winter I chopped the rear fender, removed the stock turn signals from the back and custom installed some flush-mount ones next to the tail light. I also converted the front ones to running lights by replacing the bulb socket.

I've also replaced the chain and sprockets during one winter.

Some of these things really don't take that long to do, but it still minimizes the down time during the riding season.

So the bike is pretty much where I want it - and I don't know what to do next. There are a few things that I wouldn't mind doing, but all require a little thing called cash. Right now I barely have two nickels to rub together....so the bike will have to remain as-is for this winter.

My friend is supposed to bring his cycle over so we can take care of a transmission problem...so at least I'll be able to get my hands dirty.

55 degrees yesterday, snow today

2006-01-20T22:31:00.000-06:00

Gotta love this wacky weather. It was 55 degrees and sunny yesterday - had the windows down in the car on the way home from work.

Tonight the snow is coming down pretty hard. I thought I'd get a head start and shovel the driveway so it wouldn't be that bad tomorrow. Cleared off the whole driveway - went to the store and when I got back about an hour later it looked like I hadn't even touched a shovel...ARGH! I need to invest in a snow blower.

The of course the damn plow guy does the street and the last 6 feet of my driveway is super deep. It took 3 tries to get the car in...that was fun.

Just snapped a quick pic - the car doesn't look too covered because I just got home about 10 mins earlier.

Here's to you dad!

2006-01-13T06:54:00.000-06:00

Friday the 13th.... some people think of it as an unlucky day. My dad's lucky number was 13 and his lucky day of the year was when it fell on a Friday, like today. I honestly can't recall anything "lucky" that ever happened to him on one of those days - but he always seemed to be more optimistic than most people on this day.

As of January 11th - it's been 9 years since he passed.

I think I'll make today a great day......thanks dad.

Do you like to ride motorcycles - or do you RIDE?

2006-01-10T17:24:00.000-06:00

A couple posts back I mentioned that I got the bike ready for a trip to South Dakota. In case you weren't paying attention I do live in a suburb of Chicago (is Round Lake too far to be considered a suburb?). So that isn't exactly your ride around the block...

Above, that's me leaning against my faithful steed, a 1999 Suzuki Bandit 1200S. and the background is The Badlands National Park in SD. The other bike is a 2002 CBR600F4i which my friend rode from Seattle, WA. Yes, he's crazier than I am.

I'm by no means someone who can ride like the Iron Butt riders, but I like take at least one decent length trip per season if I have the time.

Since that photo I've added even more gear to make long distance travel even easier. I have two large side cases, some forward mounted foot pegs and a GPS. What's so nice about this particular bike is that even when it's loaded up, I always have plenty of power on tap to get this sucker into the triple digits with ease. Maybe a radar detector should be next.

And here it is.....

2006-01-08T10:48:00.000-06:00

Did some quick clean up to the garage area to take pic for the blog. I picked up a 100 foot long air hose for my air compressor BUT I don't have a hose reel. Lemme tell ya - that thing is a pain to deal with when it's all over the floor.

After getting the floor cleared off I remembered I purchased myself a new shop light for above my workbench. Instead of hanging it by the chains, I just directly attached it to the underside of my cabinets so it'd be higher up and out of the way. Works great except it has noticeable hum from the ballast. That's what I get for a light that's less than $20.

Other things I've added in addition to the cabinets include the shelves on either side (6 ft long), the other fluorescent lamp above my bike, and a coat hook to hold my motorcycle gear. Not visible is a Craftsman wall mounted wet/dry vac that I got for Christmas. The workbench fits perfectly between the tool chest and air compressor - the bonus was that it was a freebie from a friend from work.

Before Matt's Garage...

2006-01-07T14:09:00.000-06:00

The picture you see above is what I had to work with before I had my own place - a cramped one car garage at my mom's place to do all of my work. Needless to say it was a pain.. I can't complain too much because I know lots of people who have nice motorcycles and they don't even have a place to do work or even store them.

My pride and joy is a 1999 Suzuki Bandit 1200. I snapped that photo above in the summer of 2003 if I remember correctly. I was in the middle of adjusting the valves and getting a new front tire put on. Believe it or not - I had the bike back together and on the road for South Dakota two days later! Thankfully because of my stupendous expertise (insert sarcastic remark here), the bike ran flawlessly during the 1800+ mile trip.

And being a car guy I should note that neither of the cars in the photo are mine. The Camry is my mom's and the New Beetle was my sister's (no longer owns, it was a POS).

Welcome!

2006-01-06T21:37:00.000-06:00

What's up people?

Ahh - the first post of many (?) on my blog. Why call it Matt's Garage? Well first off, I'm Matt (duh) and I figure a lot of my posts will be car or motorcycle related. I have this kind of stuff on the brain all the time it seems.

I'm also in the process of setting up the ultimate garage* for various household projects and so I can work on my motorcycle and do some maintenance on my car when needed.

* When I say "ultimate" I'm not talking about one of those 3 car jobs with the cool checkerboard floor tiles or a $10k tool chest. I'm a new home owner and I've always wanted a place to call my own. This place has a two car garage (one car wide, two cars deep) and I've managed to dedicate the back portion to my work area. More on this stuff in the future...

I'd like to consider myself a funny guy. I like comedians like Denis Leary and George Carlin who aren't afraid to say it like it is. I have a feeling this blog will be my outlet for various rants when I encounter some dumbass people I'm forced to share this planet with.

Reminds me of that line in Clerks "I hate people, but I love gatherings - isn't that ironic?"