Test ride...

[motoman]

Tomorrow, if the weather holds(storm front coming from the west) I'm giving the 81H tourer a run from here in Grand Junction, Colo. south about 200 miles to Cortez, Colo. Just dress warm and do have the great Hippo Hands on bike(there the best thing since sliced bread!) and there better than the grip warmers on my Honda ST! Hopefully it will be uneventful. Got new rubber front and rear(Metzler ME33 front, ME550 rear) Let you all know how it goes flipside, if it's not looking like white stuff that direction in the morning.....wanna keep the shiny side up!

[Geezer]

Keep the shinny side up and the gritty side down.

I'm getting ready to store the Mongrel for the winter. I don't intentionally ride in the rain. It only rains 2 twice in Oregon, once for 3 months and again for 4 months.

Geezer

[motoman]

Yea......understand how that can be that way where your at. Don't have to shut it down here.....if you can brave the cold. Least there's no humidity to go with it. Winter just around the corner, but warms to the 50's daytime......somedays, anyway. Can go 30 min. in any direction and be at 10,000ft. So you could ski in the morning and ride in the afternoon, as have occassionaly done before on mot-cross bikes..........just dress warm under your gear, long-johns and the such. Let you know if this works out tomorrow or not. If it does, I'll be back Friday, unless mother nature keeps me at my folks in Cortez for a couple days. Hey Geez, I,m only 53 and don't like being defeated, as you've heard here from my moto-cross antics, which I still do too.

[Geezer]

I've thought about moving to dryer southern Oregon if I ever turn OMP into a real job. Then I could go up into the mountains when I want snow and stay down in the valley when I want to be warmer. The hunting would be better too. ;o)

I'm 48 but I took the title of Geezer from the dazed looks that I got from parts counter people when I tried to buy odd stuff for older bikes. I remember when I was a young buck on the other side of the counter and I'd think (what a geezer...) Now I'm that geezer.

I got pelted in a bike crash 23 odd years ago. I was nailed by a drunk, I took a hell of a beating and now a days I don't take as many risks as I used to and being comfortable on my machine is a whole lot more important.

Geezer

[don07tncav]

200 miles?? Is that all?? That's about a regular commute for some of us here.

Enjoy the ride and be safe!
Don

[prometheus578]

(what a geezer...) Now I'm that geezer.

It's hell when we realize that we've turned into what we used to make fun of.
"Hey everybody! Look at the old guy with the gray hair and the '70's pornstar moustache, ridin' a cobbled-together motorcycle thinkin' he's all tough and sh*t!"

"YOU KIDS GET OUT OF MY YARD!"

As Dr. Smith would say... "Oh the pain... the pain..."
Ahh...hahahaha

[Geezer]

Hey, I resemble that remark.

Geezer

[motoman]

test ride

Hey Don....it must of been far enough. At one point when I stopped to replace ball cap with helmet cause it was really windy(30+headwind and crosswind on interstate 70 and south on 191 in Utah) I took off and made a bad shift from 1st to third since second only holds part of time, anyway, it rattled pretty good and clicked it up again to third then fouth then 5th. all was fine crusin' at 70-75. When I was almost here(75 miles out) made a right turn and down shifted to 4th, then to third....no third, must of bent tab back and pin fell out. So anyway, am here, with 4th & 5th. No way to fix till I get home. Fourtanately, it makes enough torque to start in 4th, slipping the clutch. Only will have to do that 3-4 times til I reach my front door going back. When it did that a week ago, dropped pin and could'nt go to 5th. When I pulled side cover, the pin stayed in outside case, as there is a slight lip in casting at bottom of oil passage, and retrieve it, putting it back in place, realizing that bending tab back again weakens them and will have to replace that cover with tabs. Hopefully, that pin will stay in the same place, least it hasn't picked up in gear cluster yet, and if it does, as small as it is, thinkin maybe cluster would just pulverize it,......trying to be positive here......Anyway, planning on going back tomorrow, and the rest of bike and motor didn't 'hick-up' once, and love the sweet sound of the stock 81 exhaust system at 70-75mph and 47-5,000rpm range. The ole girl is more stable in that kinda wind than my Honda ST 1100 is, cept when close or coming up beside an 18wheeler, then buffeting is way more radical since the Vetter fairing does'nt provide for any negative air flow up inside of windshield, and the areodynamics of Honda set-up is more modern, top-side and bottom-side. Thinkin that maybe the XS is somwhat heavier than the ST for general wind-bucking and overall fairing design out in open air anyway may be some of that effect. So, with 4th and 5th, and see if maybe with less wind to fight going home, the mileage will come up from the 31mpg it got coming here.....(tell that Murphy to hold onto that pin till I get home)...Oh, and the total miles this afternoon was 310 and ten gallons of fuel.

[don07tncav]

Hate to hear about the gear problems. That explanation make sence about the buffeting, I hate to get behind an 18 wheeler on the interstate or 2 lanes on the H because of the buffeting. On my MS with a National wind screen it isn't nearly so bad.

Be safe going back home.

[motoman]

Thanks Don.....think it'll be okay, just havin fourth and fifth, only have to start from a stop 4 times goin home, so won't be to bad,just kinda an incovenience.

[motoman]

test ride

Well, made it home fine this afternoon. Rode a total of 535 miles, averaged 34.2mpg overall, going down, had some hellasish headwinds and cross-winds. Coming home, windy going north, when I hit I-70 east, wasn't too windy, was a great ride. Rode 70-75 both directions, which was at 4,700-5,000rpm. With just fourth and fifth, was kinda like riding the old Honda-matics, cept for the one upshift to 5th. Got home, dropped the oil and pulled left side cover hoping to find pin that I knew got knocked out from the bad shift from 1st to 3rd eariler yesterday. Wasn't still in side case like it had been previously. It's either in the pan, or got picked up and the tranny gears pulverized it, which would'nt surprise me as hard as those gears are. When it came out, also broke metal tab off that I had re-bent across the pin the last time it came out. Temperarily I could rob plate and pin from original motor I pulled, or pull exhaust, clutch housing, pan and all that, and fix second gear and also give first a touch-up even though it hasn't given a problem what so ever.....I think the latter would be the better choice, maybe even find pin in the pan. Since Jerry is les than an hour away in Rifle, I may e-mail him if he doesn't get a chance to read this an see he may have some free time to give me guidence more than anything so I properly fix the problem right, so as not having to repeat process later on....Other than that problem, bike ran and handled perfectly.