D.C. to Houston

[sbrogden]

I bought a 1980 XS850 Special on eBay for a good price. Only problem: I live in Houston and the bike was outside D.C. Solution: fly out & ride it home via Skyline Drive, the Dragon and other great roads. Read the complete report, with pix, here: http://tinyurl.com/2fwz8r

[STEPPENWOLF]

What a great ride!!!Sounds like you got a good bike and saw some great roads on the way home.Tail Of The Dragon is on my list but I would imagine most of the roads down that way are like that and the Trace,did it once,wanna hit it again.Nice pics and trip report.

[Wayne]

Nice report Stuart.
I live near Houston and have often tought about doing that trip as I have friends in the DC area. One of these days perhaps.

Cheers,

[TONIO]

good to see you here sbrogden

I saw you picked up an xs sounds like you had a nice trip.

Tonio

[sbrogden]

Thanks for your comments, guys. The triple 850 is smooth ride. I put Progressive suspension on both ends, new tires (balanced) and it's a great ride.

Might have need of a ring job, as it consumes a bit of oil (no smoke, no leaks, and the center cylinder is low on compression without some oil dumped into it). Since we have such a limited winter in Houston, I'll have to put this off until mid January.

In the mean time, I will be taking this bike to this family friendly rally next month - http://harvestclassic.org/

[Brent]

Great report & photos

Thanks for link to ride report. Nice!

Come back to area south of deals gap for vintage Jap bike rally At TWO two wheels only in the fall - see Southeast rallies.

Happy Motoring,
Brent in GA

[sbrogden]

Thanks for the note about he Vintage Rally next Sept - I'll keep that in mind.

On another note - I put a wee bit of Marvel Mystery oil in my middle cylinder, let it soak overnight. Ran the bike a bit, checked compression - all 3 between 154 and 158 PSI, within spec.

Oil consumption has dropped to virtually nothing, as well.

I put a Saddlemen's seat kit on it and am still breaking it in. Starts out hard as wood. Getting better.

[Brent]

more ride ideas

Good stuff, that marvel mystery oil.

Check out the meeting of the minds in Hurst TX. those TeXSives there are motorheads and do a "wrench & ride " format.

Nice folks. I had a good time, ate well, learned some more mechanical stuff and was impressed.

More good luck wrenching & happy motoring,
Brent in Ga

PS how is the knee?

[sbrogden]

I lived in north Texas for 13 years, just south of Denton. Moved to the swamp known as Houston in late 1998.

http://www.twtex.com/ has tech days in various spots around the big state from time to time as well.

My knee is ALMOST healed up :-) Went to the doctor after I returned home. Was told to clean it daily with hydrogen peroxide and nothing else - raw flesh was good as new flesh was growing and filling in the hole.

Took more than 3 months to have a scab start, as the raw flesh hole shrank from about 1.5 inch diameter and 3/8th deep to about the size of a dime and 1/16th deep.

I now have a scab about 1/4 inch diameter and bruise about an inch in diameter.

Middle age injuries take a long time to heal - that's one thing about being a teenager that I miss.