Thursday, October 24, 2013

Shop addition!

I'm PUMPED!

     I just added a new addition at the shop.  A LIFT!  It's that one item that when you start wrenching on your own bikes you lust after everyone you see.  The older I get the more I feel it is just a must have.  Two bad knees and two surgically repaired shoulders make lying on the cold cement and getting up and down in my carport seem less and less attractive every time I do it.  Years ago I studied MTM (Methods Time Measurement) pretty extensively and in the normal work place the hardest repetitive motion was standing from a kneeling position.  We never considered lying on your back rolling over, getting to one knee then standing, that is just counter productive, not to mention painful as you get older.  The wooden elevated platform had worked OK for the Special but it only weighted 300 lbs.  That wasn't even an option for the BMW at 680 lbs.  It had become apparent that I had to have a lift.  Harbour Freight has about the cheapest actual bike lift on the market.  I purchased a wheel chock awhile back from them and that put me on their mailing list.   I have had my eye on their lift for awhile but just couldn't pull the trigger.  They were having their annual yard sale and the lift was listed for $300.  So I jumped.  Drove to Athens on Friday afternoon and picked one up. 


     I will admit I stopped off at the Varsity on the way home .  http://thevarsity.com/
If your not from Georgia then you might not know about The Varsity.  The familiar "What'll Ya Have?'  and then the call to the line, "two dawgs walkin', fry, ring, frosted orange!"  A normal Varsity meal has enough grease, fat and cholesterol to do you for a year, but God it's good!  It fueled many a down to the wire study session in the early 80's for me, as well as many a pre and post game meal over the years.  Just part of the whole Georgia Collegiate experience so I thought it was appropriate for this trip.  That was my excuse and I am sticking to it.  

An Athens, GA Landmark!

 
     The story as I understand it is that the guy who started The Varsity was a student at Georgia Tech.  He flunked out then went across the street and started the original Varsity in Atlanta.  He later opened a second location in downtown Athens right across from the hallowed Arches and Old Campus.  That location was actually my first real encounter with a Varsity chili dog!  Some years later he move about a mile down the road to his current Athens location at the corner of Broad Street and Milledge Avenue.

 
    The new location had several separate dinning rooms opposite the counter where you placed your order.  Each of the dinning rooms had several booths and on the wall at the far end was a TV, and in each room there was a different channel on the TV.  Sitting here writing this it hits me that this may have been the precursor to today's sports bar.  In the late sixties early seventies it was a pretty unique experience to leave the came and go grab a bite and see what was happening in the other games around the country that day, while you ate.  Now there are seven locations and the catering truck.  They will bring the Varsity to you for a price.  Mostly corporate and communitty events.
 
       When I got back to the shop I called a friend whom I had helped with his lift a few weeks earlier and we unloaded it, unpacked it from the incredibly thin Chinese oak boxing.  I felt like the dad in "A Christmas Story" when he unpacked his "Major Award."  A hammer and a crow bar prying the box apart and then there it was; it was magnificent!  Ferrai Red!  Then all of the sudden I was like Ralphie running my hand over it, the most beautiful tool I had ever seen.  I know I had that same lustful stupid look on my face but who cares, I have a lift! 
        We set it up.  I wasn't thrilled with the wheel chock that it came with, and strapping down the BMW was going to be a little daunting by myself, doable but not without risk.

 
So I removed the stock chock and installed the one I had bought earlier to use with a trailer if I ever find one of those in my price range.  Cheap!

 
It makes loading the bike by yourself so much easier!

 
I may have to put a plate underneath it later to reinforce the deck.  There is some flexing of the deck due to the increased torque on it from the chock, when the bike is being pumped into the air, for now it is fine.  The bikes are stored and plugged into their battery tenders and covered for a couple of months maybe longer. 
 
 
My shoulder surgery is next week so they will be ready when I am. Wish me luck.

Wednesday, October 23, 2013

Just a little problem.

     My wife is going back to school to become a Doctor of Education. It has become fairly apparent that you have to be really smart and work really hard to become one of these. So let's just say I have some time on my hands. Actually "The Lycan Project" was started to help fill the time she was going to be busy working on her degree. Of course I went to work and pretty much got the thing done. Conclusion, it is much easier to build a project bike than it is to get a Doctoral degree.  Ya think?
     Well she had been out of town taking classes, The University of Alabama to be exact.  Think that's not hard for me to swallow?  Just look at the pictures of this bike, Yea right.  There is Herring Bone everywhere all of the sudden.  One of my friends really pissed her off recently with the comment "I can't believe Danny is letting you do that!"   Yeah, honestly that exact thought crossed my mind but I am proud to say that I am above any petty sophomoric collegiate allegiances and realize that anything that is for the betterment of the home team (Me and Her) is a good thing.  If she can endure "The Hell Hole that is Tuscaloosa Alabama" and get her degree God bless her I'm behind her.  Anyway she had not seen the fruits of my labors so I took it by the house for her to see.  She gave me the obligatory praise as per our agreement, she's my wife.  Then I took it back to the shop.     
     There is a slight incline into the shop.  So after riding the bike I never ride it into the shop, I push it, not sure why but I do.  This had never been a problem until that day.   I opened the doors, came back out grabbed the handle bars and lowered my chest to the tank, pushed with my legs and felt it tear, my left rotator cuff.  I new it as soon as it happened.  Pain, not incredible but sharp.  Then I couldn't raise my arm.  I rode the bike into the shop and went home.   Doctor visits, MRI's, and more doctor visits.  I have bone spurs and a partially torn left rotator cuff.  They say it won't be as bad as the right cuff I had repaired in 2009.  It took Six Months to get over that.  Complete tear, 3 stainless steel anchors, worst surgery I have ever been through.  Their saying 8 to 12 weeks with this one, so we will see.
     Over the couple of weeks since the tear I have learned to compensate somewhat and I can function pretty well, even ride the bikes.  The pictures below are from one Sunday afternoon trying to get a few miles in before surgery!   I had received a call from Riders Hill that the Sidi boot parts I had ordered had arrived.  Not knowing when I would get a chance to pick them up I decided to head over that way.  I headed out on my other bike a BMW R1100RT, I call him Blue, about 10:00 AM and was about a mile from the house when I fell in behind a couple of  black sport touring bikes, a Honda ST1100 and a BMW R1150S.  They were headed in the opposite direction from me but what the hell, I swung around and headed after them.  I pulled up at a light, they asked where I was headed and I said "Just Riding mind if I tag along?"  "Sure come along."  So I followed.  We stopped somewhere along the way and one of the guys said they were going on some pretty curvy roads, was I OK with that.  I just smiled and said sure.  Not long after that it became apparent they had no idea where they were going.  At one point of confusion they asked me if I knew a place where we could get off the bikes for awhile.  We weren't far from The Tallulah Gorge Overlook so I took them there.  After Cokes in the old 7.5 oz. glass bottle I offered to take them on some of my favorite roads.  They were happy to follow. 
     The statement about being up for some pretty curvy roads had kinda stuck with me.  So Brer Rabbit here decided to take them into my proverbial "Brier Patch!"   First we cruised along Lake Rabun for one of the prettiest Lake rides in the state, making sure to not get too far ahead,  over to Hwy 197.  For those of you that don't know, Hwy 197 from Clarkesville, Ga to Hwy 76 between Clayton and Hiawassee is referred to as one of the most scenic drives in North Georgia.  I winds along the Soque River and Lake Burton and is truly beautiful in a car.  On a motorcycle it is 24.7 miles of "The Dragon" with driveways, pontoon boats, and scenery.  Once we hit 197 at Brooks Store, about the midway point, well lets just say Ole' Brer Rabbit ran off an hid in His Brier Patch.  I pulled over at the junction with Hwy 76 and waited a good 5 minutes.  In their defense there was a little traffic.
     They need to head back to the city and I need to get to Riders Hill so we headed in different directions.  It was a great ride over the mountain to Hiawassee and then to Young Harris where I spent two wonderful years from 1979-1981 finding out I wasn't going to play tennis for a living, had a lot of fun though.

Young Harris College,  Class of 1981!

From there I proceeded over to Blairsville and headed toward Blood Mountain but turned on Hwy 180 to Suches, GA over Wolfpen GAP.   A few rain drops and some low hanging clouds at Two Wheels of Suches made me decide to head on over Woody Gap to Riders Hill.  Once there I had lunch and picked up my parts and headed home.

Riders Hill.


Boy there is always some eye candy at Riders Hill! 
Moto Guzzi V7, Wow! 


It was about 3:30 PM when I got back to town and I thought I would take a few photos of the BullDawg Special at the local Depot. 

The Big Red Apple.



Tallulah Falls Railroad Exhibit.



Water Park at the Depot.


Off the Rails!


My composition is improving.


Surgery isn't too far off so it was good to get one last big ride in before the ordeal.
Wish me luck.


Friday, October 4, 2013

Getting up to Code!

   On my recent visit to Riders Hill someone pointed out that my tag might be less than legal.  They said that the local LEOs (law enforcement officers) had written a few tickets for vertically mounted plates.  I looked up the Georgia code and found the following:
GEORGIA CODE
Copyright 2012 by The State of Georgia
All rights reserved.


*** Current Through the 2012 Regular Session ***

TITLE 40. MOTOR VEHICLES AND TRAFFIC
CHAPTER 2. REGISTRATION AND LICENSING OF MOTOR VEHICLES
ARTICLE 2. REGISTRATION AND LICENSING GENERALLY


O.C.G.A. § 40-2-41 (2012)


§ 40-2-41. Display of license plates


Unless otherwise permitted under this chapter, every vehicle required to be registered under this chapter, which is in use upon the highways, shall at all times display the license plate issued to the owner for such vehicle, and the plate shall be fastened to the rear of the vehicle in a position so as not to swing and shall be at all times plainly visible. No person shall display on the rear of a motor vehicle any temporary or permanent plate or tag not issued by the State of Georgia which is intended to resemble a license plate which is issued by the State of Georgia. The commissioner is authorized to adopt rules and regulations so as to permit the display of a license plate on the front of certain vehicles. It shall be the duty of the operator of any vehicle to keep the license plate legible at all times. No license plate shall be covered with any material unless the material is colorless and transparent. No apparatus that obstructs or hinders the clear display and legibility of a license plate shall be attached to the rear of any motor vehicle required to be registered in the state. Any person who violates any provision of this Code section shall be guilty of a misdemeanor.

Not very clear, huh?

 40-8-23  Either a taillight or a separate light shall be so constructed and placed as to illuminate with a white light the rear registration plate and render it clearly legible from a distance of 50 feet to the rear. Any taillight or taillights, together with any separate light for illuminating the rear registration plate, shall be so wired as to be lighted whenever the headlights or auxiliary driving lights are lighted.

 40-8-24 every motorcycle and every motor driven cycle shall carry on the rear at least one red reflector, meeting the requirements of this Code section.

Every such reflector shall be mounted on the vehicle at a height not less than 20 inches nor more than 60 inches measured as set forth in subsection (b) of Code Section 40-8-21 and shall be of such size and characteristics and so mounted as to be visible at night from all distances within 300 feet to 50 feet from the rear of such vehicle except that visibility from the greater distance is hereinafter required of reflectors on certain types of vehicles.

The link below will take you to a site that has title 40 broken down.  If you want to take the time to read it.  It's a lot of information.

http://law.onecle.com/georgia/40/

Based on this I am going to move the tag and illuminate it.  Not quite sure about the reflector.  I'm sure it will look like crap!  Not sure about installing it.  I may install one loosely and ride till it falls off.   Then I can say I had one but it fell off!  Not much of a plan but it is a plan!  It is my understanding that these laws are vague and left to the local municipalities interpretation.  The photo below might be interpreted to be illegible, and it would be pretty complicated to illuminate the plate in this position.


 
There are two threaded bosses in the rear seat risers of the frame.  They are threaded completely through the frame.  I used the top side to mount the sub frame for the seat and side panels.  The bottom side of these holes are perfect to mount the licence plate bracket to the frame under the fender well.  I left a small amount exposed above the tag to mount the plate light.  Detail of installation below. 
 
 
 
This the 5 LED light I purchased on ebay for $8.99.  The wiring harness on the savage  had plugs for the turn signals, left, right, and common.  A three wire plug for the brake and tail light.   It also had two additional female connectors for the stock plate light.  Installation for the plate light was super easy.  I fabricated a metal clip from an odd piece of 16 gauge steel I had left over from the build.  This was bent into a U shape that made a tight fit over the flange above the tag.  I then epoxied the clip to the light assembly and painted it black.  Once it had set and dried I wedged it into place above the tag.  I then drilled a whole in the inner fender and passed the wire through in to the area under the seat.  I covered the wires with two layers of heat shrink to protect them.  I then cut the wires to the proper length and attached two male connectors.  After plugging them in and turning the switch on the tag was illuminated. 


 
The LEDs are set to have a fan shaped spread to fully illuminate the plate.
 
 
In total darkness it is really bright.

 
Below is another interesting add on.  A bicycle speedometer.  This device was another $10.00 ebay purchase.  It measures speed, average speed, Maximum speed, two trip meters, an odometer, a clock, and a thermometer.  I tried to install a wireless unit but the bike seemed to interfere with the transmission of data.  This unit has a wire from the mount that runs down the fork leg to the sending unit.  The magnet that activates it is mounted to the brake disk.  After you measure circumference of the front wheel you can input this amount to make it highly accurate.

 
I don't think you ever finish.