AndyJ

I want to be there but all I can do is a "maybe" for now. I should know by September if I can make it.

Cool, maybe the GA contingent can bike-pool (or share trailer space) up there.

Let me know what plans you end up with, I just might want to tag along if'ens u don't mind?

Low odds, but never know.

Well, that would be great except I'm moving to Ohio in a week and a half

Also, on an unrelated note, perhaps Seb and the ride planners should be called Badger Ops: AFblues comic

Where in OH do you have the misfortune to be going? Be sure to join us at http://ohioriders.net/ after you arrive, lots of group rides going on. (there's a mandatory 200+ mi bike-sharing thing that we do for new arrivals.... )

I need to look into this weekend abit - maybe I can combine with a quick visit to mom & dad in central MA...

Nice! So, ho do you power that thing?

C

I have a homemade power connector under the seat made from a 12v extension cord from radio shack. Cut off the male cigarette plug, leaving the female on the other end. Spliced and soldered a fuse to the positive lead and added ring terminals to both. It's long enough to drag out from under the seat and route into the tankbag, where I can connect any 12v device with a cigarette plug. So I will attach my gps car adaptor plug, leave that in the tankbag, then just run the mini-USB end out to the gps itself and done!

I did something similar for mine, but it's a short pigtail that ties into the Tightwad-sourced fuse block under the seat. I just use the stock power cord, and put a wine cork in the power plug when not in use (wife's one donation to my riding habit).

I have a ball mount on the tank with a 6" RAM arm on my bike. It works great with my smaller tankbag, but not as well with the larger one I commute with

Great part 1!! The ausfahrt sign made me think about when I was in Austria & Slovenia when I was in high school - still makes me laugh too.

Now we'll see if the TSA lets him back into the US on the way home.....

Edit - just went back through all the pics - this road, and the entire picture, is just amazing!!!

I rode 93 south from Wellston a few weeks ago - lots of fast sweepers, and there are a ton of great roads in the area. We had lunch In Ironton (Toro Loco, good food for cheap) and I rode 52 west for awhile on the way home- just a 4 lane slab with quite a bit of construction between Ironton and Portsmouth. (I'd recommend avoiding rt 335 if it's wet when you're down there - parts were great, but about 5 miles of it were patched with this uber slick glossy pure asphalt, and I had a rather exciting ride thru that part)

Maybe try posting on www.ohioriders.net or just look around on the routes and rides forum for ideas - there are several people who post up their routes.

Check this out for some ideas: http://www.locostusa.com/

Basically a modern interpretation of the Lotus Seven - I was thinking about building one several years ago when I was doing a lot of autocross and car trackdays. I'd think the ST engine would be a better/easier fit

I also have a throttlemeister that was already on the bike when I got it - works ok for slabbing. After a 500mi day this weekend I'm going to try a throttle rocker as well to see if that helps for non-slab or riding in more traffic than is safe with the throttlemeister.

Does the vista cruise lock the throttle solidly or are you able to roll on/off a bit to keep your speed on hills?

Nothing useful to add to the lid discussion, but I'm glad I'm not the only one who needs a breathalyzer interlock on my PC

I 'm wondering what the story is with the vents - factory seconds or early model maybe?

But hey, $12 for a snell lid is a pretty good score either way!

Even though I don't have any sliders(yet), I think that was real nice of you to make'em for our folks.....Just saying.

+1 - thanks for creating them for us! (I already have my set, which I haven't used yet (knock on wood))

Currently filling out PTO form for next year...

If I could just get to Franklin, everything would be OK....

Looks like a blast, especially compared to being at work 12 days straight.

Timmy - where did you get the Awry sticker made? Same as Seb's Nohlins?

Wow, over 12 hours, and no one's posted a picture of Timmy's special house brand paint?

Update: I did my own pseudo load test - just left the key on/engine off with a voltmeter on the battery. It started off at 11.9, slowly dropped to 11.4, then fell off the cliff to 7.8 in a few minutes. I was expecting a pretty linear discharge rate. Bad battery?

Stator checks out OK. I let it run at idle with the fan on, voltage was 12.8 fan off, when the fan kicked on it went down to 12.1-12.2, then started very slowly drifting below 12. I did have a minor revelation that if ever in that situation again, you could use the 'choke' as a kind of idle-up. Set at 2000rpm, voltage with the fan on was 13+.

yup.. thats me the 1 in every group.. and as much as i hate to say seb is wrong.. the r/r dumps the extra juice into the frame.. i have removed ALL the lights and guages and turnsigs and added a small 35 watt projector,and a strip led tail light... and put a simple on/off switch and put a TINY battery from a 50 cc on the bike.

that was 4 years ago.. and it still has the same r/r.. i texted and asked when reading this ..

as for my first post.. i had assumed that all the other stuff was taken care of. :laughing6-hehe:

Until Thursday I thought it was all taken care of too...

Did a new RR & VFRNess right after I got the bike, always goes on a battery tender, & never any trouble until this one event. I just don't expect a vehicle to be able to power everything at low rpm for that long without discharging, whether we're talking bikes, cars, airplanes, or whatever.

From what you guys are telling me, it's not quite a direct comparison.

OK so am I understanding correctly:

The mfr designs the system to put out exactly what's needed to power the stock electrical equipment, any excess gets burned up as heat in the RR. But there's also variability with RPM, like when you do an idle & 5000rpm voltage test. So if you add load, there's a bit of reserve output and you can spin it faster to get enough output, but if you reduce load, it just adds to stress on the RR?

OK Next stupid question for the gurus- based on my searches around VFRD, the euro VFRs apparently have a headlight on-off switch. Are they using different RRs/stators to make it work properly?

yup, thats the way to do it.. an on /off switch :laughing6-hehe:

There's one in every group.... :)

Battery's about two years old, so that may be part of the issue. I normally have it on a battery tender anytime I won't be riding the next day. This hasn't happened before or since, seemed like the worst combination of low speed/RPM etc with max electrical draw for a good hour straight of stop/creep. That plus the H4s drawing 110W vs 90W for the Hondology bulbs. I should be expecting it to idle with everything on and not discharge?

I guess I'll be checking the stator tomorrow...

The other day while riding in stop & go traffic, my battery discharged to the point it shut the bike off. I was able to get going by unplugging the headlight bulbs and bump starting it (fortunately someone stopped to help bump, as it was uphill). Everything checked out fine when I got home; I think the fan running constantly along with 2 H4s and everything is just too much when crawling along at idle for an hour.

So, along with ordering a Signal Dynamics voltage monitor, my plan to avoid a repeat is to make the headlights switchable so I can unload the electrical system while idling or creeping along. Looking at the wiring diagram, I'm thinking the easiest way to do this would be to put a switch inline with the white wire on the headlight relay (same wire that goes to the hi/lo switch.)

I'd be interested in a lower temp fan switch as well MD. I had a nice 1.5hr commute at walking pace Thurs due to some massive accident. Stop & go traffic on the highway, bailed off onto secondary roads, which were also all creeping stop & go. Fan was running constantly, to the point where the battery drained & it died on me on the highway. Fortunately I unplugged the headlights and a guy stopped to help me bump start it (uphill, of course).

The fan was running the entire miserable ride, and never cooled below about 210, even on a few stretches where I got up to 55-60 for a mile or so.

For longer trips I've got this--the Cortech Tri-bag. You con configure it anyway you like. I've had it for years and it's still going strong!

I have one of these as well, came with my bike, so I haven't had to look at what else is out there yet. It's great for commuting- I can get shoes, work pants, lunch and a set of Froggtogs in it, plus carry it like a backpack when I get where I'm going. The small top half is good for just running around with. Downside is the tank pad is ugly, but it also comes off quickly.

Timmy - I'm amused that a proud member of the police force in Maryland seems to have cut his mudgaurd plastic when the Queensland Plod here in Oz are nicking local riders for the very same thing!

I am a rather un-rozzer-like member of the filth. In Washington DC though. I just live in Maryland. not to be confused with the Heddlu (welsh police force.)

OK we need to know the story behind the picture....

Is there really so little interest in a high mount Delkevic for the 5th gen? Or has this topic just gone unnoticed?

It went unnoticed by me, but I've been working 12-16hr days all week.

I'd go for one as well!

Thanks!!! For me, that's usually how things start, I start on one project with one idea, but then it transmogrifies into several different things all going on at once. If you're gonna have your bike apart, that's a great time to paint it, as you'll have access to pretty much everything, and it'll give you the time to apply several coats, let it cure and make it really nice!!! Post up pics when it's done!!!

Yeah I'll probably get going on all these sub projects after the snow starts flying here (which could be this weekend for all I know; we're talking Ohio so anything's possible) Ideally I'd like to drag it down the steps into the basement for the winter so it's warmer, paint will cure rather than freeze, and the beer fridge is close at hand. My kids (well, daughter anyway) are starting to get into helping work on things, and better environment will help keep her more involved. I have all the stuff for de-dumbo'ing and adding Bling mirrors ready to go as well.

Douglas I'm really liking the silver/black combo on your 4th Gen!!

I remember seeing the pics of Toro's 5th gen and I really like the black frame look. hmmm.....if I go the truckbed liner route it won't be expensive, and I'm already planning to take it apart for an F4i front end....

Thanks for the info everybody!! Going to start parts-collecting soon once I get my cage ready for winter.

I'm expecting to need heavier springs at both ends as part of this. I'm ~210 with gear, so I'm planning get with Jamie this winter as part of my upgrade.

I'm starting to do some research on fork upgrades for my 5th gen. I've seen a few references to using F4i Forks/Triples/brakes from BaileyRock & Jon (BR wait til you're feeling better to respond). Not a whole lot of info in searches that I could find yet. It 'seems' like a relatively inexpensive way to upgrade and gain more adjustability in front. I'm not a big fan of LBS, so I wouldn't miss it either.

Anyone have any info about dimensions, stem compatibility, etc?

Is this basically a bolt-up, or would I need to have some machining done? Any advantage to using VTEC vs F4i stem and triples?

I put my 929 shock into my 5th gen today. I used part of a 1/4" x 1 1/4" kart axle for the spacer, and made it 45mm longer than stock including the washer. Heavy and not as elegant as some of the other beautiful spacers people have made, but I'm way more overweight than the bike anyway. Plus I only spent $35 for the shock and 3/8 grade 8 hardware.

Due to the larger diameter spacer, I had to grind a little notch in the top of the spacer to clear the protruding angle in the frame rail. No clearance issues. I rode about 15 miles this am, starting with the preload on the 3th increment from max, with damping set in the middle on both comp. and rebound. So far seems like an improvement in ride quality and control compared to the old stock shock.

Try and set up the shock by your sag measurements. If you are over 170 lbs you may need to get a heavier spring in her.

Yeah I'm hopefully going to get time to do some measurements later in the week and tweak as needed. I had to get it back together and then get to work supervising my son's science fair project. (I thought suspension upgrades would be a good topic, but got voted down by mom and teacher). I'm about 210 with gear and planning to send everything out to get more appropriate spring rates over the winter.

I put my 929 shock into my 5th gen today. I used part of a 1/4" x 1 1/4" kart axle for the spacer, and made it 45mm longer than stock including the washer. Heavy and not as elegant as some of the other beautiful spacers people have made, but I'm way more overweight than the bike anyway. Plus I only spent $35 for the shock and 3/8 grade 8 hardware.

Due to the larger diameter spacer, I had to grind a little notch in the top of the spacer to clear the protruding angle in the frame rail. No clearance issues. I rode about 15 miles this am, starting with the preload on the 3th increment from max, with damping set in the middle on both comp. and rebound. So far seems like an improvement in ride quality and control compared to the old stock shock.