Let's Eat!

Riders, Post your general location so I can get a handle on whether or not a Sunday ride to a steak dinner at some central location would be feasible. We may be able to just get a few together at different points at different times as I figure folks are pretty spread out, but I don't need much excuse to ride to a good meal.

MM I got you in Indy.
Nate's near Nashville.
Welldigger is near Nashville.
EP is near DFW.
Bill is somewhere Gawd-awful near as I can tell...

Pipe up, y'all

The Times, They Are a Changin'

Some old ridin' buddies went on a poker run today. They met for breakfast at Cracker Barrel in Lexington, then on to Midway for their meet up.

I was invited. I didn't go. We not exactly, "didn't go"; I met 'em for breakfast and rode with 'em to the meet up.

A couple of these guys have been faithful riding buddies for many years, and leaving them with the poker run organizers I felt like I was abandoning them to a nursing home. What can ya' do?! I talked until I'm blue in the face, but they are beguiled by the flatulent, toothless pachyderm. So, abandon them I did, lest I fall along side them into the morass of fatman's whimsy where reason may not reach and from which there is no salvation.

UPDATE:
I heard back from one of the old-folks. It seems one of the harley ridiers t-boned a roadside tree. From the description it sounds like another Harley rider 30 mph freeze-up. Popped over a hill, saw a curve and a driveway equipped with optional 16" ( " means inches, SB) diameter tree and fixed his paniced gaze upon the tree. You know the rule, look where you want to go. He looked, He went.
Bike is wrecked. Head is bashed, brain is scrambled (it was before) since he wore no helmet. I am told he had no idea where he was, what he was doing, what day it was, or how he got there. He was alive when they hauled him off, though his breathing was laboured and he was wheezing badly.
He sure looked cool w/o his helmet on. Bet his family will think he's cool, too, when they have to wipe his ass because he shits himself now.


Ride safe y'all. And ATGATT; You're worth the trouble.

JACIII

Counterpoint: Honda Shadow 1100 (Sabre)

Ok, 'tis my turn at bat, so to say , 'specially since Bill 's bloviations are done and Nate got in his first salvo on this here deal, Neither on the topic at hand , btw, but I digress . JAC, first of all kudos to ya for taking the time to do a real-deal from the saddle test / your perspective of riding a bike that is not what you would normally ride, but did it with us in mind, a most noble endevour, fo' sho'. Now, to the VT1100 . The ergo's may not be too your liking, but it is de rigeur for " cruisers" , damn I hate that term, but they are made for easy ridin', and no, the aint got the handling thing down to a tee, a good set of tires helps, but the mushy factory suspension needs some help too, Gold valves make a Big diff. The neck bearings could prolly stand a snuggin, too. Are they good bikes ? yes, for the value and their intended use, absolutely . Do I think they are better than a Harley, no.
Brand X

Off Topic: That there's a pic BrandX sent me of some of his kin roundin' up dinner. Always wanted to try 'gator.

Alien Abductors Are Pussies

There's a new airplane terrotist threat so, you guessed it, we need to tighten security at airports! Bend over boys, those "black wands" will soon be put to more probitive use and unlike our pals the alien abductors the rent-a-cops won't have to flit about procuring their own probe-ees. They're linin' up like cattle in a chute for the procedure.

Oh, and somebody please tell me why exploding ragheads need to actually board a plane to slaughter civilians when several planeloads worth are lined up for the taking? Are we gonna have an airport security checkpoint checkpoint?
That's it, line up, single file! Be patient, pretend it's a breadline in the old USSR. There now, we'll pretend it's an interesting historical exercise instead of a mind-numbing, dehumanizing exercise in futility.

Bike Review: Honda Shadow 1100 (Sabre) Conclusion

Sorry I took so long to finish this up.

... I rode the Shad'er for about 50 miles, took my youngest daughter for a spin. She liked it. The oldest sneered at it and went back in the house.

Something I noticed while doin' some city ridin' on this thing is that cruiser riders are real catty toward each other. They don't necessarily wave back and they do a lot of checking out the other guy's bike out of the corner of their eye. 99% of the time anybody on any motorcycle waves to me, on the SwampThing, on the Voyager, on Big Red, but not on the Shad'er. Weird, huh?! My theory is that cruisers are all about looks and all about looks is a distinctly feminine perspective so, of course they're gonna act like bitches toward one another.

Finally, there is no question the Shad'er is well built with all the fit and finish you expect from Honda. That said, it is a royal pig on the road. The front end manages to be heavy and unstable at the same time - neat trick that. The riding position is bizarre and no one who has ridden a modern bike with a rational riding position any length of time is gonna tolerate the gynecological exam riding position (or in Nate's nomenclature the "flying squirrel").

Conclusion: The Shad'er is an OK bike for What It Is. Now, "What It Is" is an antique motorcycle with a few (very few) refinements. I can understand a motorcycle company that has never designed or manufactured a modern, competent motorcycle (Harley) turning one of these out, but not one of the Big Four. Their engineers had to be taught how to make a bike this inept. Sadly that is what the American market demands a lot of. Go figure.

If you took a poll of random Joe on the street:"What kind of motorcycle would you like to have?" Most would answer some form of cruiser, so it is true most people would like to have a cruiser. It is also true that most people don't know shit about bikes.

Bill, Bill, Bill.....

Here's some input on the cruisers of yesteryear from Bill:

I'm not aware of a decent "cruiser" made today. They took the decent engines (which MUST, MUST, MUST be a water-cooled V-4) and wrapped all this ugly plastic around them. I've never been impressed with the Shadow, or any twin for that matter. They just can't spool up fast enough, what use is being on a bike if you don't have power on tap? It's like being in a car except you get wet when it rains. My Magna (sadly gone lo these many years) could cruise happily all day at 120, and it'd get there in a hurry. If you didn't mind shifting gears it could hang in there at 150, but was a bit buzzy and the wind was beginning to be a problem, and if your balls are bigger than your brain it can hit 180.

The older cruisers handled pretty well, too. Dragging foot pegs is a constant problem, but with minimal countersteer and reasonable body english you can throw one through a decent line on a curve (just ignore the sparks and they'll go away).

When Harley came out with the V-Rod Honda was wonderin' what all the fuss was about since they already made that bike 20 years earlier and no one (hardly) bought it.

I like havin' you around, Bill, so rather than figure yer blowin' smoke up my ass about the 150 MPH Magna, I'll mark it down as hyperbole. It reminds me a lot of most older fella's I know who remember their old cars/bikes as a lot faster than they really were even allowing for optomistic speedos.

Dad still swears he drove his old '46 ford 130mph throught the mountains of Tennessee on the way to Florida to elope with Mom. We just smile and nod. What are ya' gonna do?

Bike Review: Honda Shadow 1100

I spent the day on a cruiser. I know, " It must be snowin' in hades!". Well, first thing is first:

JACIII Review - Honda Shadow 1100

First thing I noticed was the handlebar controls , mirrors, and gauge (singular) were all in the right places. Fit and finish, from the paint to the shiney bits is nearly flawless with only age blemishing the Shad'er, and then inconspicuously.

It's carbeurated, so I set the enrichener and hit the starter. Fired right up. The Cobra pipes have a nice snap on-throttle, but off-throttle there's a kind of hollow gurgling sound. Weird and out of charecter.

Time to go! I notched it into first (once I found the shifter up by the front wheel) flipped the enrichener off and fed in some throttle as I eased out the clutch. Easy, smooth take off. No surprises, no faltering engine. The Honda has plenty of oomph to get out of its own way and no feathering of the clutch is called for.

Once out on the road I had to make myself short-shift it as I am used to SwampThing's 7500 RPM redline which isn't much, but Swampy's a screamer compared to a cruiser. No tach, but I figure it cruises 65mph at about 2500. It's entertaining trying to get it to lug at low speed. It'll do it, but you have to try to make it happen. Basically, it doesn't much care what gear it is in.

There's not much grunt down low, but it tractors out pretty well. The top end is, well, . The Shad'er fills in the torque curve at the midrange, though. It's has some passing power from 45 to 60, but you are still at the mercy of traffic flow rather than its master. Momentum is your friend as there are no sudden bursts of speed, quick direction changes, and you're not gonna bleed of spped at a steep rate, either. Plan ahead. Sorta like towing a travel trailer.

This is one heavy steering bike. Between the 'flying squirrel' riding position and the big inputs required to make this thing turn, I can understand why cruiser boys don't ride very much. I had to hold it into the turns with continuous steering pressure. No 'set it and forget it' here I'm tellin' ya'. You're probably thinkin' it's the compromise cruisers make to be stable at highway speeds, right? Wrong. This thing tracks every ripple, rut, seam, and crease in the roadsurface. SwampThing is more confidence inspiring on the interstate. That said, the Shad'er is pretty happy clippin' along at an indicated 80mph. Past that it starts gettin' squirrely; vibratin' and waggin' it's head. Some of this could be the old-style tread pattern on the tires, but then again it might not be.

I pusuhed it up to and indicated 100mph. 100 is no place to stay for long on this thing.

I'll have more later on the Shad'er. For now, though, some explanation is in order.

It's snowin' in hades because I leant SwampThing out to a friend of mine so he could take his son out on the trail on his little JR50. See he rides (I use the term loosely) a cruiser so he would not have been able to take the boy ridin' someplace besides his back yard unless SwampThing stepped in.

I got to worryin' about somenoby else bein' out in the woods on my bike so I called him and told him to bring me his bike so I could hold it hostage. That way he might think twice before gettin' careless with ol' Swampy. I figured I could always run his bike through the creek if he mistreated SwampThing. Swampy came home without much more than a broken turn signal lens and he coughed up the $30.00 right quick so I have no complaints.



I found this while looking for an image of the Shad'er.
Caution: Not work safe!

I've been stirrin' shit elsewhere

So your example is right on target to show the need for a representative democracy. But where is the need for the electoral college?

Its foundation was based on the concept that local people would only vote for local candidates as it was impossible for one cadidate to present their views to all voters (back when this all started, it is just a little different today) and was a means of preventing one local with a large number of voters from constantly electing the "local hero".

Additionally, it was setup to try to protect us from political parties (that did not work) and it has been modified to a point where it now helps protect the two party system that we currently have - this is supported by statements from supporters of the Electoral College.

If we are truely a "Representative Democracy" then our representatives, including the President, should be elected by those they will be representing not by the electoral college.

Mike

It's the part of representative democracy where "winner take all" applies to the allocating of delegates and representatives that we should not dissolve. This preserves (somewhat) geographic political distinctions and representation thereof.

Example: There are surely some treehuggin', bleeding heart commie rat bastards in Kentucky and they are concentrated in Lexington, Louisville, and Frankfort near colleges and universities, however most of the state is good God fearin' redneck. As such this state should be represented by those beholden (theoretically) to the rednecks hereabouts for votes and not the pantywaist girlytypes in town. We don't want to proportion the block lest the useless cityfolk vote here gets combined with the useless cityfolk vote everywhere else to create a national representative power block of these no good critters when within most smaller geographic political boundaries (states) they are the minority. There is no homgenous "American" culture, much as "progressives" (socialists) would like us all to believe other than the hive dwellers.
Edit/Delete Message

Man Down

I just got word a rider on the GPZ1100 email list went down after a cager ran a stop sign in front of him. This man is an accomplished rider with mucho miles and time in the saddle. Seems he was able to get the impact velocity down to a glancing blow but it still broke his pelvis when he finally hit the ground. As bad as that is, I submit the following from the notification email:

Fortunately he was wearing full gear including his riding pants and has
no road rash anywhere, something which apparently surprised the
emergency room attendants who are used to seeing the Harley guys come in
looking looking like a freshly skinned deer (or ungulate for Mr. Mason).

Prayers for a speedy recovery are appreciated.

Be safe out there fellas. Wear your gear and watch them sons-a-bitches. That goes double for you MM and DJ.

Montana: No Alligators Allowed

By KRISTI ALBERTSON The Daily Inter Lake


Boys reel in 5-foot, 60-pound alligator in Kalispell pond
Some birthdays stand out as exceptionally memorable; 16 and 21 usually make the list.

Josh Bryant will never forget his 11th birthday, when he came nose to snout with a 5-foot alligator in Kalispell.

On Monday afternoon, Josh and his mother, Lynn, were trying out the new fishing pole she’d given him for his birthday. The Shady Lane fishing pond near the old Steel Bridge, where he spends three or four days a week during the summer, seemed the perfect place to test the rod.

*
It was about 4 p.m. when Lynn Bryant spotted something swimming toward them.

“I thought it was a muskrat,” she said.

Then she took a closer look. Muskrats didn’t swim with just their eyes and back ridges sticking out of the water.

The Bryants couldn’t believe their eyes, but there was no doubt the animal swimming toward them was an alligator. Bryant moved to the edge of the dock and started taking pictures with her camera phone, knowing no one would believe them otherwise.

At first the alligator was almost friendly, she said, but they still wanted to get it out of the water so someone could come take care of it. A friend grabbed Josh’s pole and tried to hook the gator. He succeeded a few times, but each time the alligator simply swallowed the lure.

A few more would-be fishermen showed up soon after. One of them had a stronger pole; he, too, tried to catch the alligator but once again it swallowed the proffered minnow, hook and all.

By this time, onlookers had called friends and soon a crowd of about 50 people had gathered. Some simply watched. Others tried to help subdue the alligator, which was now agitated.

“This thing was very aggressive,” Bryant said.

“It was snapping at us kids and adults,” Josh added.

Someone brought a bow and shot it. They knew the alligator had been hit because the arrow was sticking straight up, Josh said. Then the arrow — and the alligator — disappeared for almost an hour. Suspense mounted on the banks of the pond.

“It was like a serial killer movie or something, a killer alligator,” Josh said.

The gator didn’t stay down for good, though. When it surfaced, the crowd was ready.

“His dad jumped in the water,” Josh said, pointing at his friend, Kaynen McGuire.

McGuire, 11, nodded. His father had plunged in the water with a stick, grabbed the alligator by the tail and swung it onto the bank.

“This was right out of ‘Crocodile Dundee,’ I swear,” Bryant said.

Four men held it down and tied its jaws shut with fish stringer, then put it in a canoe and dragged it up to the road. Someone produced a knife and tried to slit the animal’s throat. Still it didn’t die.

Wouldn't you like to be able to tell that tale?
"Yeah I grapped that ol' gator by the tail, pitched his ornery ass up on the bank, but he wouldn't settle down. I ended up havin' to cut his throat. Damned shame, too, he woulda looked good in my goldfish pond..."

Go There. See That.

This right here.

This is why anyone dumb enough to want to buy a Harley should have his/her (chick bikes remember?) motorcycle endorsement revoked.

Note the pussy sayin', "They're gonna beat our asses." Been watchin' Orange County Hospital ???

Vacations are Hard

and Sailing's hard work.

So, I got out the genoa yesterday. Man, that's a powerful sail!

We were hummin' along on Green River Lake waiting for the wind to pick up just enjoying a 3 to 4 MPH port tack after we came around this point, I came about and all of the sudden the wind just grew, and grew, and GREW. Before I realized what was going on we were heeled over 30 degrees and Mrs. JAC was asking if I wanted her to release the genoa halyard. I was just startin' to have fun so I said, "What for? We're OK."

Wrong answer. Man we were really hummin', too.
I finally noticed Mrs. JAC was white knuckled and pale so I brought her in a little closer to the wind until the main started flapping just a bit on the upper luff and eased up on the traveler to let the main spill some air. I just all but released the jib sheet and it popped out like a parachute in front of us. The boat quicly righted and .....

"Man, we were really cookin'! You alright?"

"No. That's it. I'm done. No more sailing for me." And I got the waving index finger.



Wanted:
Sailboat crewmembers.
Hard work. Low pay. Bad food. Free beer.
Hours of relaxation.
Occasional intervals of boredom punctuated by moments of sheer terror.
Apply within.

Gone Sailing

Back by ?

And You Thought They Were Just Pretty Horses...

I started a poll over on KLR650.net to take a poke at some of the yankees there and this fella popped up from the Netherlands.

Location: Amsterdam NL
Posts: 241
Rep Power: 3


Besides forcing the US civil war on me at school way back, I was forced to watch "North & South" every week by the Wifey last Century too...

Much obliged Mmam..... I use to tell her

But I still think the whole idea sucks....We have the Friezian people in the North that claim to have their own language, laws and intrest in autonomy too.....just cant grasp the concept of being "different" or "better" from the rest....

So, I did a little research 'cause the only Friesians I know have feathers on their feet. (Yes, I know that you know what 'feathers' are, SB.) Imagine my surprise.

From Wikipedia:

Friesland distinguishes itself from the other eleven Dutch provinces through having its own language, which is also spoken in a minor part of the province of Groningen, to the east. Closely related languages, East Frisian ("Seeltersk", which is different from "East Frisian (Ostfriesisch)", a collection of Low German dialects of East Frisia) and North Frisian, are spoken in the Saterland and in North Friesland areas in Germany, respectively.

The English language is also closely related to Frisian. There is a saying about it: "As milk is to cheese, are English and Frise."

Another version of this saying reads (in Frisian): "Bûter, brea, en griene tsiis; wa't dat net sizze kin, is gjin oprjochte Fries", which in English reads: "Butter, bread and green cheese, whoever can't say that is no real Frise". The saying plays on the sound differences between the Dutch and Frisian words for "butter, bread and green cheese", which in Frisian are pronounced almost identically to their English counterparts (showing the original closeness between the two languages), while in Dutch ("Boter, brood en groene kaas"), these words sound quite different.
Frisian cattle
Enlarge
Frisian cattle

Friesland is mainly an agricultural province. The famous black and white Friesian cattle and the well known black Friesian horse originated here. Tourism, mainly on the lakes in the south west of the province, and on the islands in the Wadden Sea in the north, is an important source of income, too.

The province is also famous for its speed skaters, and also for the Elfstedentocht (Eleven cities tour), a 200 kilometres ice skating tour.

Another interesting feature are the many windmills. There are 195 windmills in the province of Friesland, from a total of about 1200 in the entire country.

Friesland was the first to acknowledge the independence of America's Thirteen Colonies from the United Kingdom.

Even the Brits are Going Wobbly

It's Summertime. It's hot. Woe is me...

This year has so far been the fourth warmest summer on record,

beaten only by 1976, 1995 and 2003.

I know reporters thrive on crisis reporting, but damn! It was hotter just three years ago. What a bunch of greasy haired, crooked toothed, unwashed, body pierced pansies. Let 'em spend July in Memphis. Pussies.

The Harvest Begins: Tomato Faves

Turns out EP and I have kinda the same idea when enjoying our fresh picked yummy garden tomatos. Here's my take:

Halve, pit, and skin one ripe avocado. For those who don't know - an avocado is ripe when it is soft. I like to be able to readily depress the skin about an 1/8". Those green ones at the store probably aren't ready. To skin it use a tablespoon (after halving and pitting) worked up between the skin and the meat. Place both halves in the bottom of a salad bowl with the little depression the pit left facing up.

Cut a tomato or two into small wedges. Red ripe here boys, not orange or grainy. Place them into the bowl. Salt 'em.

Chop up some of your favorite onions. I use red and green. Go easy here; you can overdo the onions. Put 'em in the bowl.

EP adds cucumbers here and skips the avocado. Nothing complements a tomato like an avocado; once he tries it he'll love it. I ain't putin' cucumbers in mine - wrong texture or somethin'. blech!

Get some good italian dressing and slather it all over the place. EP uses his mom's homemade stuff and I bet it's damned fine.

Now, for the adventurous among ya'; crumble some feta cheese over the whole mess. and dig in.

I try to get a pice of avacado with every tomato wedge, there is just something about those two things together.

MMMM-mmm-MMMM!

From MM's place:

I just love the Cherry and Grape tomatoes. For breakfast, I take a handful and slice them up and saute them with a little basil, fresh-ground black pepper and some olive oil. Then I take them out, and use them as filling for an omelette. Good stuff. I just need to figure out a nice, exotic spicy sausage to put in there too.

Tomato Trouble

Why the hell are my tomatos bursting on the vine? This is the second year I have had this problem; the darn things crack open before they are even ripe. They seal themselves up with a kind of scab and go right on to ripeness. I still get a good (if somewhat assymetrical) tomato, but it's pissin' me off.

Well?

*Update*

Res-solution:

2 possible causes:

1. not enough calcium in the soil. We’ve learned to fix this by saving our egg shells, drying them and crunching them up and planting a couple of tablespoons full in the hole at planting time.

2. I’m not sure the exact cause but dissolving 2 tbl spoons of Epson salts in a qt of water and pouring it at the base of the plant seems to help. We do this once every 4 weeks from the time they are planted.

I’d try the Epson salt remedy right away and keep the egg shell idea in mind for next year.
Res Ipsa Edit comment Delete comment | Email | Homepage | 07.17.06 - 2:27 pm | #

P.S. Warm water seems to work best.

Bucket Tomatos!

JACmail

From Billiam:

Jac, was looking at maybe getting a sport touring bike. What do you think about the Yamaha FJR 1300? I'm going to test ride one next week. Also, I have a Z1R helmet, but the venting stinks. What helmet has decent venting. One of my pals says HJC, another Scorpion. Thoughts? Thanks,
Billiam

The new FJR (2006) is a great bike. The old one is just as good but with some niggling heat on rider issues. Keep in mind that it is still a big heavy bike and even though it will haul ass, it takes a lot to get it to turn in the tighter twisties. Your pectorals will be sore from yankin' it around, but it'll do what you forcefully tell it to. A friend I ride with has one and really enjoys it. The storage is great, the ride is great, the seating position is a little upright but not overly so, the pegs are in the right place, it's gorgeous, the windshield is adjustable so you can get some air if you want. The motor seems electric - there's power everywhere and it sounds like a turbine. It will shit and git.

Skip the factory top-case for 700 bucks. Givi makes one everyone uses for 300.

I use a flip-up helmet by KBC that is designed to be used with the chinbar closed or open. It is a very high quality helmet. I've had it over a year now and will replace it with another just like it someday. Bargains are on ebay. No other is designed to be used while riding with the chinbar up. I don't use it like that much, but it is nice when you want some air. The wife has a less expensive Vega flip-up she really likes.

Nobody makes better helmets than Arai and Shoei. If ya' got the clams look at them. The HJC's receive high ratings consistently. Stay away from the HJC Symax; it falls apart. I have never owned a nonflip-up helmet I can recommend. Welldigger has a Suomy he really likes. To me the only way to get enough air into a helmet is to open the visor. Make sure you get one with a removable liner system so you can take it out and wash it.

Good Luck, and let me know how it goes.

Ride Safe,

JACIII

It's the Rider. Not the Bike.

Finally a demographic that is even less cool than dualsporters.

High bandwidth warning. Belly laugh warning.

Note: It's the same color as EP's bike so it's almost exactly like it.

How europeans fight:

Here

Translation

Frog: "I love you. I hug you!"
Wog: "Stop that! My boyfriend will see."
Frog: "Your boyfroend likes girls."
Wog: "You smart off to me?"
Frog: "Yes"
Wog:"I push you! I push you really, really, hard!"
Frog: "Oh yes? Well, I fall down and cry!"