The Return of The Dragon

[ddragon63]

Hey All,

Its been a while! Life has been busy for me these last 6 months or so. figured I drop in here and say hi to everyone and see whats new.

I traded off the V-Star 1100 over the holidays and stepped into a 1700 Road Star Midnight Silverado. Sold my Boat and bought the 4 of us some quads. Other than that it has been work work work.

Like to hear from you all and catch up on what you've been up to.

[natemoen]

I was wondering what happened to you. Glad things are going well! How did the trip this summer on the xs go?

[DGXSER]

Welcome back, good to hear from you! What have I been up to....5'10", have not figure out how to stack it any taller than that yet.

Otherwise, work work work work, and of course, a winter project..see my project begins again thread.

[CRXSi90]

Back when you traded your sport bike for the V-Star, you inspired me on the trading/bartering thing. I've been able to do that in a few instances so far, and am now trying with some automotive/motorcycle related things. Glad to hear things are going well for you.

[ddragon63]

I was wondering what happened to you. Glad things are going well! How did the trip this summer on the xs go?

Trip went good Nate. I posted pics up back in July somewhere on here. Sould be titles Central Oregon trip. Only problems I had was the carbs fell out of sync about 500 miles into the trip. one of the springs on the sync screws is really weak and I think the screw backed off from vibration. And I think I blew one of the rear air shocks as it didn't want to hold its weight too well on the trip back home. I haven't investigated the shock yet. I'll get too it after I figured out how much I'm willing to spend on new rear shocks. I may end up putting some adjustable progressive spring overs in the back. When the time comes I'm sure I'll throw my ideas up on a forum for ridicule

Welcome back, good to hear from you! What have I been up to....5'10", have not figure out how to stack it any taller than that yet.

Otherwise, work work work work, and of course, a winter project..see my project begins again thread.

Don, I understand work, work, work... We had a record year last year for sales, profit, and production. And this winter has shown no signs of slowing down. Makes the boss very happy...LOL! Keeps me employed and to make those statements in this economy makes me very happy to be doing what I'm doing.

I've finally kind of found a groove to deal with all of it and don't feel overwhelmed. Which gives me time to get back to stuff I need/want to do. I'm figuring out this last couple months if I don't take some me time to unwind I'm gonna blow a gasket. So getting in here and conversating with you guys, just might keep me sane!!!

I'll check out your winter project and give my insight and sarcastic praise as best as possible

[ddragon63]

Back when you traded your sport bike for the V-Star, you inspired me on the trading/bartering thing. I've been able to do that in a few instances so far, and am now trying with some automotive/motorcycle related things. Glad to hear things are going well for you.

CRX... I LOVE to barter stuff. my boat was my latested and probably one of my best swings. He got the boat and trailer. I got his 2006 Raptor's (350 and 700) a 2007 WR450f dirt bike and a tandem axle 16 foot flat bed trailer and a undisclosed, somewhat large pile of cash... The quads came already piped and tuned (jetted on the 350 power programmer on the 700) both came with sand paddles and dirt tires. Trailer is like brand new. I sold the WR450 to a friend and took the cash from that and my V-star and went and picked up my 2007 1700 Midnight Star that'd id been drooling over at one of the Yammie Dealerships. And I took some money and bought my kid's each a Honda 250ex quad.

Angles my friend... work all the angles! as long as you are not putting out your own money it is a very fun thing to do. Our goal was to keep the 2 raptors and trailer and sell the WR450 and go buy a bigger boat. I wanted a large cabin cruiser. But over thanksgiving I was down at the dealership looking at the midnight star and decided to go another direction. My figuring is if the quads wear out their fun too soon I'll just flip them and the trailer for a boat. Start all over again.

Over the summer I traded my honda XR400 for a super nice Honda CR250R which I flipped in 48 hours for a 1993 Ford Explorer for my daughter for her 16th birthday present. The guy with the explorer wanted a 2-stroke ripper... so I made it all happen in 1 weekend. LOL

[CRXSi90]

That's awesome! I'm trying to barter my truck for another motorcycle, but not getting a lot of bites. So far, all I've seen are thrashed sport bikes, a few snowmobiles, and a Raptor 660. Unfortunately, a sport ATV isn't much use to me, and I don't have anywhere to keep it. Maybe I'm too focused on getting the right thing, and should just bite on something. For you, it seems like you go for things that you're interested in, but not necessarily exactly what you're looking for. Maybe I should take a cue from that.

[ddragon63]

If I can't get things specifically I want out of a trade I look at what is being offered I can get the most out of. Keep your end goal always in mind. If it takes you 2 or 3 trades to get to where you want to go thats ok sometimes.

I never intended on getting into v-twin cruisers. I just couldn't pass up that v-star as they go like hotcakes around here. I was looking for a sport touring bike. Then I spent a summer running the v-star around and thought. Man I'd like to tour this bike out and take it on some trips. Keep the hard miles off Old Man. this thing is comfy, and lets face it the rumble of a v-twin while burning down the back highway is very awesome. So I looked into what I would need to buy to trick out the V-star. It was more cost effective to just off it and get a bigger bike with lower miles. So thats what I did.

Funny story... The wife and I are down at the dealership to take this midnight Star out for a test ride. Sitting next to it is a very clean, well toured out FJR1300... the bike I originally was after last summer. I sat on it, looked at the wife... she shook her head and pointed at the Midnight and said "No silly boy! we are here for this one!"

[TopCatGr58]

Hey there Don,

Welcome back, glad to hear your job is prospering. Well, I ventured on a little project for a local Xsive, making some header pipes to replace his old rusted out MAC ones, here's the link to the thread if you want to review it...involves some fun Tig Welding....thankyou for your previous input!

http://www.xs11.com/forum/showthread...ht=exhaust+mod

And this is the continuing thread by the same member, and I also helped repair the exhaust on his SG as well. The following link should start you out on page 6 of the thread.

http://www.xs11.com/forum/showthread.php?t=35894&page=6

Hope to see more of you on the forum, enjoy, chill and such!

T.C.

[ddragon63]

Hi ya TC,

I'll read up on your progress. I remember you were going at some headers the last time we talked. Good to hear your still plugging away at it.

[Cuda 69]

Welcome back Don,I just been work,work,work,and then the same on interior of my house.Not fun,but a nessesity if I want to keep the peace with the wife.

[ddragon63]

Interior work sucks John. But sounds like a necessary evil eh buddy? Lol!