Highway 123

I could post up some big long story to go along with the pic. But we all know how this story goes.

Ipod Mini UPGRADE

I've been using the same music set up on my bike for years now and I can't imagine riding distances without my tunes. For those interested, I use the iPod Mini in conjunction with a Griffin Airclick wireless, full-function remote. I mount the remote to my handlebars and never have to go fishing in my coat to turn my music on or off. The remotes are $5 SHIPPED on ebay. Cheap and available. So recently I decided it would be a good idea to buy a backup Ipod Mini for when mine finally dies. I started looking around on ebay and found that people are actually taking these old minis and upgrading them from a spinning hard drive (called a microdrive) to static memory using an ordinary CF (Compact Flash) memory card that many DSLR cameras still use today. The benefits of the upgrade are that the ipod will no longer be prone to hard drive failure if you drop it, the static memory is just more reliable, and the battery life is improved because you're not spooling up a hard drive. But arguably the biggest benefit is that you can expand the memory from the factory 4 or 6GB to as much as 128GB. A 128GB CF card is not cheap, but a more moderate upgrade to 16GB will only set you back $22.91 from Amazon dot com.

I procured 2 working Minis recently for $20 each. One from Craigslist and one from the Want Ads at work. I've also scored 4 more off ebay recently. They were sold in paired lots. Those were cheaper at around $12 each. I figured I would "hop" one of these up for John as well since he has been trying to get a wireless set up as well. By the way, here's what one of these tiny microdrives looks like on the inside. Skip through the video and see how cool this little drive is. About 1.5 inches long and tall and a couple of millimeters thick. Pretty cool.
And here's the workstation. I won't go into the details about HOW to take the ipod apart. Just takes a lot of patience. There are plenty of DIY pictorials on the internet about how to do this task. But the CF card is a straight plug in to where the old microdrive was. It's a 50 pin connector. Simple as can be once you get the dang thing apart. I tried it with a couple of old 2GB CF cards first just to make sure it actually worked. When I had success, I went ahead and ordered a couple of 16GB CF cards off Amazon. I had enough Cashback from Discover to pay for it. Fun Money!!!

While I was at it, I decided to go ahead and upgrade the battery in this one as well. From the factory, these came with a 400mah lithium ion battery. That battery in my old faithful Mini used to last me a full day of riding in Arkansas. I never had my battery go dead on me once. However, I had to charge the battery every single night. The upgrade: I purchased TWO brand new 1300mah batteries off ebay for $7.28 SHIPPED. So, in theory, if I'm understanding MAH ratings correctly, these new batteries should last me over three times as long as factory......IF I were still running the old microdrive. I would expect the battery to last even longer now that I've upgraded to static / flash memory. And the result: My first 16GB capacity Ipod Mini.

Suzuki TU250X

I had a fun test drive on a little bike yesterday afternoon. I have a coworker who has just gotten into motorcycling. He took the MSF course a few weeks ago and during the class, they had him riding around on the new Suzy TU250x. It's a fuel injected 250cc bike. He (my coworker) had looked around for an old UJM to cafe out but he kept coming back to that Suzy because he remembered feeling good on the bike. He's a tall fella - probably 6'02" or more, but slender. Anywho, he found a 2011 with 75 miles on it and he pulled the trigger. Got a good deal. But he didn't feel comfortable riding the bike the 40 miles back to his place as the MSF course didn't actually give him any real riding time on the street. I respect him for knowing his limits. So, I jumped on the opportunity to ride it home for him. After work yesterday, in 105 degree heat, I donned FULL riding gear and rode this little bike back to his house on back roads. I mapped out a really good route and had a lot of fun on the ride. I had it up to about 75mph (indicated) at one point, and the next minute I was rolling past a cop sitting on the side of the road clocking people. Luckily I had already "scrubbed off speed" (HA!!!!), and the cop paid little attention to me, but I kept glancing back in my mirror just to be sure. What a badge of honor it would have been to get a ticket for speeding on a 250cc. We got to his place and I was soaking wet with sweat. But it really was a blast and well worth the oppressive heat.

I love riding new (to me) bikes. And the little SUZY is a great starter bike. A VERY wise decision on his part. It has enough power to keep you going at highway speeds - though I probably wouldn't do much interstate travel on the bike. The fuel injection makes it essentially maintenance free. And to top it all off, I personally think the bike looks great. It has really grown on me.

The very best part was his two boys literally squealing with joy when they saw that motorbike. Even his wife was excited to see the bike. Very cool stuff.

The Front End Gets Light...

Approaching 48k miles on the ZRX, I decided it was time to go through the carbs and see how they looked. I also thought it would be a decent swing at the intermittent starting problem I’ve been having. So I rode the bike out to John’s place on Saturday morning. I hadn’t seen his new place since he moved out to the boonies a couple of years ago. It was nice to see his new home in the country. He has spent the last two years transforming it from a junkyard into a habitable and comfortable home place. He reports removing a dozen junk cars, some 25 full-size old-school satellite dishes, and upwards of 10 thousand pounds of other various scrap metal.

As for the carbs, the short answer is they looked pretty good for almost a decade of hard riding and sometimes sitting while I waited out the cold Kansas winters. There was a little bit of varnish buildup, but really nothing worthy of a photo op. John adjusted the float height on the second and third carb, but they weren’t that far off to begin with. Same goes for the carb sync; they were pretty well synced when we started. In lieu of an actual manometer, he used a homemade vacuum gauge device to sync the carbs (see pics). John used the standard clear tube trick to measure fuel levels in the float bowls. I had only heard about the process for measuring fuel level with clear tubes, and I didn’t have a clue about the logic or the physics behind it. So that was an entertaining bit of education for me.

I also changed the spark plugs while we had the gas tank off. I had done this previously, but I remember using long ratchet extensions and it being a little more difficult. This time, John started off by asking me if I had my own plug wrench in my tool kit. Sure enough, I did. John explained that the factory tool kit often contains the best plug wrench for the job. And of course it was. I wound up not really needing any assistance for that part of the job, but it’s always more fun wrenching with a buddy around.

We started at around 9am. We worked right out in the sun on an old rusty workbench in a fair bit of shade. I wound up getting sunburned on the back of my neck. (I’m a bona fide redneck now.) We skipped lunch of course and had the bike buttoned back up around 4:30pm. I test rode the bike first and was pleased. The throttle at idle seems a bit more responsive now. Not sure if that’s in my head, but that’s the only difference I noticed.

I’m not sure why, but John had never ridden my bike. So I suggested he take it out for a spin. Sure enough, the bike wouldn’t start for him. So clearly my intermittent starting problem persists. That’s a story for another day. When the bike finally fired up for John, he carefully crept down to the end of his long gravel driveway. Then – out of my sight but still very much within earshot – John evidently became possessed by the spirit of the great Eddie Lawson himself as he tore south on Missouri Highway Double “H”. A few moments went by and I thought the storm had passed when I heard him (still farther away) wind it through the gears for a second time. When he returned, he was clear that there is nothing wrong with how the bike is performing, other than the front end reportedly “getting real light” in first and second gear. I told him that’s why the imprint of my nose is permanently smudged on the gas gauge.

We decided to head into the nearest town for some Mexican food, so he pulled the SV650 out of the living room and fired her up. We had a good dinner and parted ways at around 7pm. I rode over to a friend’s house and we watched Kansas come back yet again and beat Ohio State to make it into the NCAA basketball Championship game. I flipped my dark shield up and rode home at around 11pm. The air was still warm after a daytime high somewhere in the eighties. It was 25 miles of super slab back to my place, but it was one of the more peaceful rides I’ve had in recent memory. Weary of deer, I kept my speed down and there seemed to be absolutely no wind at all. The round headlight mod really does make a difference. It was just a quiet, calm ride. 99 miles of riding for the day.

The Steamboat Arabia

If you're ever in Kansas City, do yourself a favor and go see the Steamboat Arabia. In downtown, next to the quaint Farmer's Market and a stone's throw from the mighty Missouri River, there sits this awesome museum you've probably never heard of. The story goes this way. In 1853, the Steamboat Arabia left out of Kansas City heading north on the Missouri River. It was fully loaded with goods for homesteaders up the river. But within six miles of departure, the boat snagged a tree and sank. There were no casualties surprisingly, but all those goods went down with the boat and the mud of the Mighty MO sucked it up like quick sand. There the Arabia lay for well over a hundred years. In the 1980's, some average fellas from Kansas City decided to try and find the Arabia. The river had shifted over the years and the boat was found out in the middle of a corn field. The only catch was that it was 45 feet under ground and under an aquifer. If you take the tour, you get the full story and it's a great one. But the bottom line is that the Arabia was found with most all of the original goods still intact. And so the Arabia museum is full of literally TONS of goods, the thousands and thousands of items that were resting 45 feet below the surface in that Kansas corn field. It's like going back in time. Here are a few pics.

That's my boy!

I will not preface this with much. Just watch the video. This is my step son. He taught me the joy of Halo (among other things). We have had a lot of great times and good laughs together. He has a great sense of humor. And now for our feature presentation....