Obsolete

I have a Buell. Really enjoy this motorcycle. Except - they are dead. HD put the nail in them in 2010. This past week I lost my second exhaust valve servo. The stock muffler has a valve that changes the runner length depending on RPM and throttle position. This drive servo sits on top of the air box but still gets warm. The gear inside is plastic and loaded by a spring. Over time this plastic deforms until it doesn't catch the drive and boom, engine light. This is a common problem. Some folks have just removed it and disabled the light through the ECM. I actually like it. I have the interactive exhaust control activated in the ECM. It adds some torque in the 2000 rpm range.

Problem: the part is now obsolete. Solution: modify an intake runner servo for a Ford. The Dorman 911-912 servo control is the same part without the correct cable pulley and mount. The mount is easy, a piece of angle cut to size with a couple holes and a slot. The pulley is a little harder. You start by grinding the weld off the existing lever. I then took it o the mill and cut the shaft to size, including the notch to match to the old pulley that I removed from the old servo. We have a laser welder at work and a few pulses of that to hold it all in place. I got it put on the motorcycle and cycled the servo. Crap, the servo was shipped in the open position, not the closed (home) position. I attached the pulley in the wrong place.

The shaft is a pain to machine. You have to hold the unit in the mill by the plastic housing. The shaft has some free play. I ground away the laser welds and re-cut the notch.  Not there wasn't a good enough fit for the laser (it really likes a nice tight fit). So I TIG tacked it back on. This is also a pain since the shaft gets hot and goes through a plastic housing. I finished it off with some epoxy to fill in the gaps.

All this too say that it sucks that HD closed Buell. It is a pain that parts are obsolete. However, with some elbow grease and patience, we can keep these things on the road for a long time.

For reference, in the closed position the pulley flat nearest the cable hole will be parallel to the housing nearest the wire connector.

Need more details? Hit me up.

2016 review

I've heard it called a train-wreck. I've heard it called great. Or it could well be it was just another year, like the ones before it. Time doesn't change since the heart of man hasn't changed. And just like the past year(s), many plans were unfulfilled, changed, and corrected while a few were realized. So here is my quick review of the previous year, specifically relating to the subject of this blog.

Stats: nearly 2000 miles, 146 hours, 102k feet of climbing. Not the biggest year, but certainly not the smallest. Though, it does not include the many trips from the office to the Farmacy or Fluff for lunch. And that adds up. It is about 6 miles round trip, slightly more to Fluff. I had been doing that 2-3 times a week when the weather was better. Not that riding to get a slice of pie is training, but it is riding none the less.

Highlights: Another Wolfman Award, first cyclocross race, some new roads, annual trip to Davis, WV. That's about it. No big multi-day rides. No centuries. No records. No new bikes. No new tattoos. No injuries. I didn't even race the two local races (road and mountain at Lake Hope) instead, volunteered at each event. But I would hardly call it a train wreck. Just another year of enjoying riding a bike. Another year of enjoying old friends and making a few new ones. Some cool photos were taken along the way. Some good food and great coffee were consumed.

With that, here is a selection of some of my favorite photos from the year, in no particular order, either because of the photo itself (color, lighting, composition) or because of what the photo captured. Some have appeared on the blog in the past year, some have not.

Rushed

We are a busy people. While we work with international vendors and customers at work, we have to be aware of their summer shutdowns/holiday. The culture is different in Europe where you are almost chastised for not going on vacation, rather than the good ole USA where the opposite could easily be said. Work, youth athletics, family responsibilities, homeowner responsibilities, church expectations, it all piles up. Even when we manage to get away from it, all we often do is force a rush before/during/after.

Anyway, so a friend was planning a two month dual sport ride across the US, up to Canada, and back. I managed to get get two days to escort him out of Ohio. We rode mostly pavement, but avoided as much highway as we could from Athens to Davis WV. We then rode Cannan Loop Road (a 4WD trail around Blakwater State Park) before getting burritos at Hellbenders. As we usually do, we camped along the Blackwater in the CVI area. The next morning we had breakfast at Tip-Top in Thomas before he headed south and I turned home. Wish I had more time. 500 miles on a KTM LC4 Enduro with knobby tires in less than 36 hours wore me out.

I had to come back as I committed to work the Nelsonville Music Festival to help park bikes. Even though by volunteering I was given a weekend pass, I spent very little time at the festival, mostly just worked my 12 hours and headed for home. I would have liked to do more, but family responsibilities...

A pair of KTM LC4's (Ryan on the Adventure, me on the Enduro)

Leaving Ohio (I'll be right back, not so for Ryan).

Best donuts in WV can be found in Buchanan

Wind turbine installation in Tucker Co WV.

The saddest of signs (yellow sign says they are closed for the day).

Over look somewhere along Canaan Loop Road.

Hellbenders!

Since Tip-Top was closed, had to make camp coffee. Luckily for Ryan, I am always prepared to make a french press pot of good coffee.

Sunrise over the Blackwater.

That's better, they are open the following day. I could easily just sit right there and drink coffee for a long while.

Bye Ryan, see you in two months!

Detour to Audra State Park on my ride home.

Grabbing a milkshake for lunch at the Coke and Float.

Hey, Donkey was at the music fest! Two of my favorites, coffee and bikes.

Speaking of bikes, a quick single track ride around Stroud's Run and Sell's Park before work today. 

May Day!

I have started to type out a blog post multiple times in the past month only to stop, delete, give up, or some other verb. It just hasn't happened. May has that affect at my house.  May feels like we are sinking, just hoping to make it to June before we are full under. May is Shelly's busiest time of the year only made worse by the simple fact of under funded schools and over worked special education groups.  The school is technically out of compliance with respect to work load for Speech Pathology (she has nearly 90 kids!). And at the end of the year, each kid needs tested, reported, plans and goals written, and then meet with each parent to review it all. She has been at work until 11pm multiple times, gone in a couple hours early multiple times, and fallen asleep after dinner exhausted multiple times. By the time May gets here, all our weekends are already planned (crammed?). We manage to get in mother's day (for my mom, her mom, and Shelly too), Brock's and Michael's birthday, Ohio State Championships road (bike) race p/b Team Athens, and Memorial day weekend. Oh, and we managed to have a successful first run of a new cryo-cooler design that I have been working on at work for the last 9 months.  With that...

I used to love to sketch, so much so that I almost considered art as a career while I was in high school. Last year Shelly and the boys bought me a sketch book. So, I did a quick pencil drawing of the old mill at Stockport for mom for Mother's day.  Hopefully this kick me back into gear to draw more, though time will tell.

Two wheel of the motor variety:  I picked up a pannier rack from a friend for the KTM. I had been considering a rackless bag setup (like the Mosko Moto Reckless 80) but with a rack set, I decided to fabricate a system that would allow me to transfer my Pelican cases from the Buell to the KTM and back easily.  I decided on using 1/2" thick HDPE with mitered edges that created a slide on setup. A thumb screw through the case from the inside prevents it from being lifted off (unless I want to). Actually works well and I can move the cases in about two minutes.  I had to park the Buell a while ago due to a leaking fork seal.  A simple repair and since HD still has the updated springs (progressive springs from 2007) available, I decided to upgrade while I had the forks apart.  I placed the order through my local HD dealer for two seals and two springs.  Two weeks later I had two seals, no springs. A quick phone call to HD and the nice lady says the springs are in stock and she does not know why the order wasn't filled. She had my dealer cancel the open order and re-order. Another two weeks and no springs. (Does anyone else see the larger failure of the system here?). I had to cancel the order through my local dealer and order online through a different dealer. A week and half later, I had new springs.  A couple hour job to change out the parts and I was back up and running and happy I waited for springs, the difference was significant.

Pannier rack mounting system

Pannier Rack Clamps

Racks and panniers installed.

Fork seal repair and spring upgrade on the Buell.

Timing cover repaired on the 640.

We celebrated birthdays for the oldest and youngest. Thanks to Fluff Bakery (http://www.fluffbakery.com/) for a special sugar cookie for Brock.

The next weekend I worked as a corner marshal for the previously mentioned bike race. I have raced this in the past, but 1) road racing isn't my strong area and 2) it turns our riding my singlespeed to Fluff for lunch on Fridays to get pie hasn't been the best training plan. Anyway, this year I was the first time I wasn't driving SAG, rather "just" working a corner.  Though it turns out the particular corner I was working has a history with a local 70+ year old farmer. Said farmer ran a barricade and flagger a couple years ago and acted as if he was going to run over the sheriff who had to actually draw his side arm.  This year was slightly less dramatic, though he made several drive by's that included the middle finger and telling the sheriff to f*** off. The story gets better. While telling this story at work, one of the machinists who is a sport pilot told a story of this same guy greeting a group of sport pilots at the Vinton Co. airport with his shotgun in hand because they had disturbed the airspace above his farm. Certifiable nut job.

At some point this month we even went fishing which was interrupted by at least a couple of passing thundershowers. But we did manage to catch a few fish and nearly get our trucks stuck in the mud created by the showers.

Not a lot of patience in this boy.

Waiting out a passing storm.

Finally a fish.

That pretty well catches things up. Not a lot of riding (though I did get almost 40 miles in on my singlespeed on memorial day). Speaking of, we have been reading The Magic Tree House series to Brock. The last two books have been about the Civil Ware and the Revolutionary War. I appreciate that war is presented in a way to shows to Brock that it isn't a game and that people are greatly affected. Too often we have to become a monster to fight a monster. It is sad to recall all the lives lost in just the history of this country as we have fought for what we believe was (is) right. I pray that Brock does not have to learn about war through personal experience.

Here is to a Happy Summer.

Soft

The birthday thing just happened. I decided to take a couple days off work and try to enjoy what was left of fall. The foliage was nearing peak and temperatures were in the 60's. With very little planning, over two days we managed some dual sport motorcycling, mountain biking, and a long ride on my Buell.

A pair of KTM 640's on some back "roads" of Vinton Co.

Stockport Mill and Dam as the sun was just starting to lift the fog off a cool start to the day.

Just out of Stockport along the Muskingum River. Site of  the Big Bottom Massacre of 1790. Lenape and Wyandot Indians surprised a European American settlement at the edge of the flood plain, or "bottom" land of the Muskingum River; they stormed the blockhouse and killed eleven men, one woman, and two children. Three settlers were captured while four others escaped into the woods. 

Big Muskie drag bucket. Big Muskie was a coal mining Bucyrus-Erie model 4250-W dragline (the only one ever built) owned by the Central Ohio Coal Company (formerly a division of American Electric Power), weighing nearly 13,000 metric tons (13,000 long tons; 14,000 short tons) and standing nearly 22 stories tall. With a 220-cubic-yard (170 m3) bucket, it was the largest single-bucket digging machine ever created and one of the world's largest mobile earth-moving machines.  It operated in the U.S. state of Ohio from 1969 to 1991. I can still member driving past it sometime around 1990 while it was operating at night. A sight to see.

Amish corn harvesting in Morgan county.

I made it 40 years, but after trying to keep up with Ryan (on his Cannondale F29 carbon) and feeling the beating I decided it was time to rebuild and install the White Bros Magic 80mm fork on my single speed.

View from Carpenter Hill on a road bike ride.

Fall in South East Ohio.

Soft fork meant riding over them there rocks.

And with that, it started to rain as the remnants of hurricane Patricia went through. Thanks for checking in.