All that work and you still question yourself if what you did was right.

I am finishing the reassembly of my 99 Valkyrie Interstate after replacing plugs, headlights, timing belts, radiator removal and repair, oil and filter change, clean air filter, replace O rings in water pump and replace the alternator cover that the chrome was peeling on. The only part of the maintenance that has me wondering is the timing belts. I have perfect matches on the marks on the right side and the shaft, but the left is just a little off. I wrote to a Honda mechanics line from an ad that Google has posted on this site and paid $15.00up front for an answer, if they can't answer of the information is inaccurate I will blog them hard as well as google for allowing them to advertise. Other than that like all projects of this type, if there are no parts Left over when the job is done then it's usually correct.

I have to wait for the air filter to dry out and then will finish the job, I went over to K & N air filters on my bikes several years ago and have been quite satisfied with the performance, the air box was very clean when I opened it. K & N furnishes a foam pre-filter that catches plant debris and large dirt particles the cloth filter was in excellent shape after a full season of riding. Next oil change I am thinking about Amsoil since I already run synthetic oil and a K & N oil filter.

I'll finish tomorrow night and fire up to check the timing and then replace the timing cover and the last parts of the fairing. I enjoy working on the bikes I ride and strongly suggest buying shop manuals, especially the ones the manufacturer puts out, and then following the instructions as they are printed, it's hard to make a mistake that way and since part of maintaining your own bike is to save a few bucks it's always a good thing to reassemble correctly.

Thanks for reading,

Election's near so this is your last chance to check which guy you think is the best for the job. My other blog has endorsed John McCain. I don't want my right to free speech modified by the no hate speak people and fairness doctrine which is one more way to pussify, and I mean pussify not pacify, America and push us one step further in the direction of Socialism. I love the freedom I have had all of my life and do not care for the prospect of the politically correct gestapo trying to dictate what I can and cannot say.

Don't forget to check out my other blog www.theindependentpost.com Just click on the link and it will take you right there.

So many new parts, so little time to install them.

As I work on my bikes on weekends and occasionally evenings, there is never enough time to get everything done, but that's OK since I enjoy working on bikes in general. This past weekend I actually accomplished quite a lot on my big bike's major maintenance project. I installed new headlights, a large project not covered in the shop manual, that requires detaching the front fairing and removing the speakers, to get good access to the light sockets unless of course you have hands the size of a chipmunk. I had one of the brights out and as every manual in the world will tell you, I replaced both lights. Then remounted the fairing and re-attached the speaker panels. Next was final removal of the radiator, this after removing the tank and the steering covers to access the wiring for the radiator fan. On the Valkyrie you have to work the radiator to the side and it finally slides off. The radiator is on the way to the shop today to be patched, which will probably be by welding, then cleaned and pressure tested, it should be ready tomorrow.

I tackled the timing belts since replacement interval is every five years or fifty thousand miles whichever comes first. The bike is a 99' with forty one thousand miles so I thought it time to do the work. The manual is very concise and very detailed in the instructions with good drawings and photos, from what I can see everything should be fine with my only reservations on the pressure used when setting the tensioners, but I pretty much matched the old set which wasn't loose at all. I had to get a new torque wrench that measured in foot lbs but made the mistake of getting the cheaper one with the dial indicator and should have gotten the clicker instead. I have one that measures inch pounds and may just use that to finish up but then again maybe not and probably not. You know, tools are like chrome on a bike, you can never have to much chrome on your bike and you can never have to many tools for working on a bike.

I still have to pick up a new fuel filter since a once a year change out is good maintenance, flush out the cooling system to include the reservoir, clean and oil the air filter and install the new plugs. One thing that I have found during this down period is loose nuts and bolts as well as one not completely tightened spark plug. I am using thread lock on just about everything as I put the bike back together and will periodically check everything going forward. I hope the weather is good next Sunday since I plan to have everything finished on Saturday. I can get back to the final tear down on my V65 then and get moving.

Thanks for reading,

The election is coming very soon. Make an informed choice and vote for the guy you feel is the best man for the job.

Don't forget to check out my other blog www.theindependentpost.com Just click on the link and it will take you right there.

I took a night off, but will be back at it tomorrow

I took the night off tonight from working on the bike. First of all I was tired after working out on the Nordic Trac and secondly it was my birthday and I invoked the little known "get your birthday off " rule and any way I deserved a night off. Honda called and my parts should all be in tomorrow during the day and I'm excited about that.

Thanks for reading,

Get ready for the election, lets preserve our Democracy, it works better than anything else out there. As they say, if it ain't broke don't fix it. Get rid of the bad guy's and get back on track.

Don't forget to check out my other blog www.theindependentpost.com Just click on the link and it will take you right there.

What looks like a simple job, sometimes turns out to be a little more complicated, Ah so what, I like working on bikes anyway.

I started out to remove my radiator to have the hole I put in it this past weekend and managed to open Pandora's box of motorcycle repair. Not that I am upset I just didn't think the job would be that involved. I have to remove more parts than I I anticipated and when I did get the parts off I decided to perform quite a bit of routine work for a bike going on ten years. Yesterday I bought new timing belts, water pump O rings and new plugs. I took a pass on the plug wires since the ones I have only have 40,000 miles on them and look to be in good shape, also, they cost $36.00 each and I had reached my pain threshold on new bike parts. I have to put new tires on the bike in the next few weeks and that another $500.00 or $496.00 to be exact. But then it's back to riding as often as I can during the Chicago winter and looking forward to spring again. I already have a trip to southern Colorado planned for next August to visit our friends in Ft. Garland Colorado, I think I will ride out and possibly do an Iron Butt ride on the way.

Well, I have to remove the tank tonight, the right steering cover and the radiator hoses which are a pain and my friend Ramon said to spray a little WDE40 on them to help loosen to remove. Then the radiator should be off and on to the shop for welding. I might remove the timing belt cover if I have time tonight and get ready to replace the belts. After all of this is done I'm back on the final tear down of the V65 and I can get parts in for media blasting. I have to start working on a paint scheme.

Thanks for reading,

Don't forget to check out my other blog http://www.theindependentpost.com/ Just click on the link and it will take you right there.

Remember, the election is getting closer every day and whether you know it or not your vote does count. Though I may not be the brightest bulb in the billboard, I do not believe we are now or ever will be ready for Socialist or worse, Marxist rule. Think long and hard before you sell your soul for a bucket full of empty promises that come with a very high price tag.

My mother always used to say, be careful or you might punch a hole in that radiator, I should have listened to my mother more often.

Today I spent the afternoon replacing the carb intake gaskets on my Valkyrie Interstate. It is quite involved since the side mount radiator covers have to be removed as well as the chrome carb covers on both sides. The bolts on the intake stacks and carb boots are loosened to get at the gaskets, all very time consuming but necessary every so many years. For my part I probably saved several hundred dollars and got to do what I like to do, work on my bikes. At what the dealer get per hour this type of maintenance is well worth the price of a good shop manual. For good measure and to save me a lot of aggravation I removed the handle bars from my V65 to keep from getting hung up on them every time I walked by to get another wrench. Anyway after four hours of work I was finally ready to put the parts back on. I had followed the directions and was putting the last three screws in the right side radiator cover and thought the one with the sleeve went into the hole closest to the radiator, wrong, I proceeded to hole the reservoir on the radiator, the old me would have had to go to confession twice for the language and general bad thoughts that would have been part of the ensuing tirade, but the new me looked at the anti freeze on the floor, went and got a bucket, drained the tank, took the bike off the jack stand, cleaned my work area up and called it a day, maturity really blows huh.

Tomorrow I will call a radiator repair shop since the hole is small and it appears the radiator can be easily fixed and I really don't think a new radiator for the tune of about five hundred bucks is in the cards, not with a completely serviceable part to work with. I needed to clean out the cooling system anyway since it's probably never been done to begin with and I guess this is the incentive to do it. I'll probably pick up a new thermostat and gasket at Honda and do the complete job during the week. I also, have to replace one of the headlights that went out last week and it's also, time for tires and will get Dunlap Elites again since they wore very well and have great traction in the rain, not that I'm looking for rain storms to ride in, so it's maintenance down time, not bad for two years of trouble free riding. Having the bike apart is also the best time to look for a really small but annoying oil leak that developed this past summer, I think it may be a pan gasket but whatever it is I'll find it and fix it. I might also get new plugs while the Honda dealer is cleaning out my wallet.

It may not sound like it but there is an upside to all of this, I'll have a 1999 Honda motorcycle with a 1520cc engine with only forty one thousand miles and thats just about broken in for the big Honda six's and best of all it still looks reeel goood, the other up side is that it can hold it's own with any cruiser or tourer on the road, the seat finally broke in this past summer so I am not even thinking about replacing it, even though the 09' Ultra is right up there with the best now.

Thanks for reading

Don't forget to check out my other blog http://www.theindependentpost.com/ Just click on the link and it will take you right there.

Remember the elections are close, closer than you think. If you enjoy the freedoms that are accorded all Americans, then vote to preserve our Democratic way of life and the free market system we all benefit from. Democratic way of life by the way has absolutely has nothing to do with the party of the same name. The problems our nation is currently facing will work out over time and the way to ensure it never happens is a periodic house cleaning in Washington and at the local level, sadly the old guard must go as they have broken their trust with their countrymen.

Tomorrow I write you long time. Big maintenance day and lots of bike stuff.

I have a big maintenance day planned tomorrow and will have much to write about. Maybe even a trip to the dealer for parts and if I can manage it, another test ride, this time maybe even a new bike just for kicks, as my wife would turn me into the resident eunuch if I showed up on a new ride.

Thanks for reading. Don't forget to check out my other blog http://www.theindependentpost.com/ Just click on the link and it will take you right there.

A quick ride on a used ST1100

Over the weekend I came on a Black 1991 Honda ST1100 at my local Honda dealer when I was there buying some parts for my big bike. The 1100 had 13.000 original miles and was absolutely spotless. I have been considering a lighter bike for commuting back and forth to work as the Valkyrie Interstate is a pain to horse around in urban traffic every day. A salesman came out and asked if I was interested in a test drive, that's like asking a vampire if he is interested in biting a nice neck. I signed the appropriate paperwork, looked the bike over and in true biker fashion took off. The 1100 is very light in comparison to what I ride now and handles very well. My only complaint is that I am not used to leaning over the bars, which is a literal pain as I have a touch of "Arthur-itis" in my left hand from an old injury I sustained while battling the Communist hoards when I was twenty years old and immortal.

The bike goes like a shot for a sport tourer, and I particularly like the rev-limiter which I found in second gear trying to see what this old machine would do. The bike was quieter than I had expected and handled very well in slow tight turns when I took it into a small narrow parking lot. The pegs were a little higher than I like them and don't think it would make a real good long distance rider for me , but, I have a Valkyrie Interstate for the long rides. This bike would more than likely be a good bet since Honda reliability is almost something you can bet on. I could turn this bike over to my son as it doesn't have the raw acceleration of my V65 and he could get used to this easily and not be ridiculed for riding an old man bike since the styling is still current and racy enough for a young guy to be seen riding in public. The seat was especially comfortable for a Honda, who I don't think spends nearly enough on seat development. And the rear of the seat has plenty of room and seat area for a passenger.

All in all it was a fun 30 minutes and the price was right. I will have to see how things go, if I bought it I would have to get aftermarket risers and bars to move everything up and back a little, other wise it's a fine ride.

Thanks for reading. Don't forget to check out my other blog www.theindependentpost.com Just click on the link and it will take you right there.

Resting comfortably.

I got home from work today, it was pouring rain. I opened the garage door and looked in on my stable of bikes and decided to give them all a rest. I went inside and did twenty minutes on the Nordic Track machine since I was still tired from my drive to Columbus, Ohio yesterday in the most uncomfortable (Pontiac Bonneville) rental car I have ever driven. I would rather have ridden all the way there on my Honda Elite 80cc Scooter in the rain, naked, maybe.

Ohio is an OK state, I know some people from there, my friends wife Amy is from Akron so I can say truthfully that I know someone nice from Ohio. I also, flew helicopters in the Army with a guy from Galion, Ohio and we have been friends for forty years, he's also a nice person but not as nice as Chuck and Amy. All in all I would rather be in Colorado just the same.

Thanks for reading. Don't forget to check out my other blog http://www.theindependentpost.com/ Just click on the link and it will take you right there.

Finally, back on the teardown trail.

Saturday I took a couple of hours to get going on the tear down of my 1984 V65 Magna. I started two years ago, got sick and between coughing my guts out and feeling generally like s*#t I didn't have the motivation to pull my baby apart. This bike is somewhat special to me since it's the bike I bought to get back into biking after a lengthy period of time where I was pursuing more "mature" interests. OK, my wife and I discussed it when she was pregnant with number one and we both agreed it was the sensible mature thing to do. I was over thirty five at the time, we were starting a new business, her riding days with me were over for a while and within a week after I sold the bike I felt like an idiot and regretted it for the ensuing years.

That's not to say I didn't do other things. I owned a string of light airplanes that I used for business starting with a Cessna 172, then a Cessna 182 which was bigger and faster and then finally a Cessna 210 six place retractable and even quicker. But the point is, for all the flight time I have amassed in my life from military through civilian flying I was never enamored with flying and I always have been, with Motorcycles, don't ask why it's just the way things are, I guess I'm just an inveterate biker at heart.

So one day I wake up and say to my wife, "Honey, I can't take it anymore we gotta get another bike, I can't stand living like this, if there was a cliff in this the flattest of flat states, Illinois, I 'd consider jumping, maybe". To which she says, "does it look like I'm holding you back (from buying a bike that is, not jumping, because I asked)", I was on EBay five minutes later and bought the V65 a couple of months later. I would not necessarily advise someone either starting out or getting back into riding after some years to get a V65 or anything like it, that includes old KZ's, Vmax's or anything in that muscle bike class. Even though they are older bikes they are definitely not starter bikes, not by a long shot. With a six speed, 116hp, about 90lbs of torque to the rear wheel a V65 can still hold it's own on the street and scare the uninitiated, beginner and just coming back rider out of their wits. I got used to it and loved every minute of it until my wife said she wanted to ride with me again. We moved up into a Valkyrie Interstate shortly after that request and I decided to do the V65 over as a project. It had been ridden hard by previous owners and was in need of a redo and about that time I decided it was the perfect bike to juice up a little and take to Bonneville for a 61st birthday present. Then I got sick and here I am today back at it full force, I'm 60 next week and on a mission.

Before I got sick I managed to strip the bike to pretty much a rolling frame with the engine still mounted. Saturday, I rolled the bike into my work area and went to work removing the rear wheel, swing arm, drive shaft, shocks and a trailing link. I will get down to serious business this weekend and remove the engine, forks and start going through all of the parts since everything is going to be stripped. In subsequent blogs, I will go into what exactly I'm planning to do and how I go about doing each step.

Thanks for reading. Don't forget to check out my other blog http://www.theindependentpost.com/ Just click on the link and it will take you there.

Elections are coming soon, make a difference.

Remember, the only way to end the corruption in American Politics and push our great country away from becoming a Socialist State is to vote every incumbent out of office and elect people who are not beholden to any special interest group. Elect people who will serve as public servants and not slaves to special interests. Elect people who will put the interests of America first. Elect people who are not afraid to confront those who would like to see our country fail. Wed have a system that has worked for over two hundred years and will continue to do so if we go back to basics and exercise common sense. This is not the time for weakness and compromise.

The Independent Times: A Sunday Afternoon Motorcycle Trip From Arlington Heights, Illinois to Cambridge, Wisconsin. Everything Was Great Except The Flies On My Hamburger.

The Independent Times: A Sunday Afternoon Motorcycle Trip From Arlington Heights, Illinois to Cambridge, Wisconsin. Everything Was Great Except The Flies On My Hamburger.