Guys,

I had my tires replaced at the dealer today. That experience has been a total disaster, took them 3 tries to get it right (not kidding), kept screwing up the direction of rotation. Apparently a junior apprentice was doing the work. Unfortunately my pristine rims are now quite scratched up. I'll see what the dealer says about this on Monday, but I'm guessing they can't do much without making the scratches worse.

Thanks for letting me vent.

I had them install angled valve stems while they had the tires off. How tight are these supposed to be? Like, are they supposed to be very tight, not movable (twistable) by hand? Because I can turn mine by hand with some, and not a ton, of force. Not necessarily easily, but not hard either.

Thanks.

So one of the more frustrating things that I’ve found so far with the CB 1100 is a lack of good looking grips out there. Most of what I have found wasn’t impressing me style wise. So I decided to give it a shot with a pair of good looking Renegades from Biltwell. Of course we have the bar and weights to deal with and the majority of the grips that are out there are closed end as opposed to our open and grips. But for $20 I figured I’d have a shot at making them work. I’m not a slave to style but I like my bikes to ride AND look a certain way. I have the steps show below with some pics to go along. Very easy project with a couple of tricks. Disclaimer here is that you will be boring a hole in these grips rendering them useless if you mess them up.


1. Take your choice of grips and bore a 3/4 hole in the closed end. I used a 3/4 hole saw and worked great. DONT use a regular drill bit and make sure it’s centered (obviously).


Here is the hole bored through the closed end



Take the bar end weight and push it through the hole you just made to make sure it fits

Take out the weight and install the grip on the bar. Here is the view from the end


The rest is easy just install the weight with the factory screw and seat the grip until it looks right.


The only issue with most grips is that they are a little short on the throttle side and there will be a gap between the grip and the control pod. I painted mine with black auto touch up paint from Autozone. DO THIS BEFORE YOU INSTALL THE GRIPS to avoid getting paint on your grips. It sticks out pretty badly if you leave it unpainted.
.


*****FYI the throttle sleeve extends about 1/4 inch beyond the end of the bar making the grip seem even shorter when installed. I don’t have a pic of this part and I don’t normally condone messing with throttles in any way but I took a dremel and sliced off about an 1/8 inch from the overhang in order to allow the grip to fully cover the throttle sleeve.



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May 17... 82 degrees and sunny. Due to knee issues I haven't ridden in 14 days. Nephew was in town from Nevada and wondered if I was up for a ride. My plan was to try riding tomorrow but what the heck. I could ride his light weight CB500x and he could ride my FJR. (Son took CB 1100 to a work sponsored bike and car show today). Could not for the life of me get my right leg over the seat of my nephews CB500X so I climbed on the FJR. Must say I have never enjoyed the FJR more than the first few miles I rode it today. With the new tires it handled like a dream, it was easy to throttle, easy to brake, trans shifted like butter. It appreciated the delicate inputs I was giving it. Fine motorcycle. That's what I deserve for thinking about selling it lol. Anyhow, nephew and I rode a bunch of country roads out to lunch. By the time lunch was over I figured out how to hop on his CB by hopping on my good leg and lunging my bad leg across the seat, so I rode it for awhile, then, hopped off and we swapped back. Nice little bike that CB 500X. If I were to use 1 word to describe it, it would be "capable". It's a better motorcycle than it's engine displacement suggests. Nephew was quite surprised by the heft, agility and power of the FJR.

By the time I got home I felt like someone had beaten me with a 2x4 lol. Tired, hot, out of sorts. Gait in my right leg isn't right yet, not smooth. Guess that will take some time. At least I'm done with the walker/crutches/cane and ambulatory again, and, importantly for my peace of mind, riding again. 122 miles total for the day.

Tomorrow I think my son is going to meet me for a birthday ride. Don't think I will make it as long as today's ride. Should be fun and a good way to start my 54th ? year of street riding.

video says it all




wtf Honda

Had probably my closest call ever on a bike today and it was my fault.

They always say you're likeliest to have an accident close to home or work in a location you're very familiar with. A neighborhood lady I'd grown up with was killed by a train at a grade crossing she'd driven over thousands of times before.

Well, for me it was a busy intersection where I turn left every morning heading in to work and most of the time coming back to the office from lunch. I've probably turned left there at least 8,625 times in the last 23 years.

About 10 years ago in Kentucky, the state highway department started installing so-called [url=https://transportation.ky.gov/TrafficOperations/Pages/Flashing-Yellow-Lights.aspx]"flashing yellow" left turn signals. I think in general they're a good idea and I think in general they shorten delays, save fuel, and are potentially safer.

But today I almost turned left into the path of an oncoming car, while the light was signaling a flashing yellow left turn arrow.

Initially I thought my brain mistook the flashing yellow arrow for a solid green arrow (which may also be part of the causality). But now I think it was because at that intersection, when the yellow left arrow starts flashing, two things occur almost 100% of the time:

[li]When the light turns from red to flashing yellow, the oncoming traffic that was stopped starts moving. It doesn't take long for all of it to clear the intersection, potentially opening the path for a left turn.[/li] [li]But, the road I am turning left onto is a busy road. At least half of the oncoming traffic will turn right onto that road, rather than proceed straight through the intersection. Since they have a green, they have right-of-way to turn right and I have to wait for them to all make the turn. Since there's only a single turn lane, it always takes longer for the right-turning traffic to clear than it takes for the straight-through traffic to clear. Once the last right-turner makes their turn, I'm free to make my left.
[/li]
But today...there was one very late, lone oncoming car in their left lane, closest to me as I was beginning to make my left...and I didn't see it until the last two seconds. They saw me at the same time I saw them. They braked and I swerved right and stopped. I never did actually violate their right-of-way, but I came close. They ended up slowing to where they almost stopped, but I was well out of the way and stopped by then. The young woman driving understandably threw up her hands at me, then gave a honk. I made a mea culpa gesture and sheepishly completed the turn after she proceeded on through. And after I assured myself the way was clear.

Moral of the story is: be wary of habits! They can be very deadly when the situation changes unexpectedly.

More info...this is what actually happens during the red cycle at this particular light (my annotations in red):



Here's a diagram of the intersection with my best attempt at reconstructing the events. The numbers correspond to vehicle positions at progressive increments of time.



Ride safe everyone. Stay alert and keep your guard up.

I ran across this Japanese YouTube channel, which has a really nice HD walkthrough of the 2019 Tokyo Motorcycle Show. It starts in the Honda booth (as it should!) and pretty much covers every manufacturer.

I'm seeing a lot of retro motorcycle concept and production models featured. And of course, speaking of models, the usual female eye candy hired by each booth ... the Harley girls are dressed in grunge, and I'm sure the other girls were envying their more comfortable boots vs. stiletto pumps.





Also this nice video walkthrough of the Honda Collection Hall, featuring many CBs through the ages ... I see the numerals "1100" occasionally ...





These are the kind of videos I like to put on the 50" plasma smart TV and watch with the sound off while I play guitar ...

With sincere apologies to Dubai1100 whose post I managed to delete, here are the photos he posted.





An additional apology is owed to max whose post I also managed to dispose of. He said:
Quote:Thanks Dubai1100, we sometimes take the place where we live for granted and think nothing of it but it is interesting for others around the world to enjoy the world through other members, Alprider is a good example of this and so are many others.
The first picture from you with the long exposure was a nice one too and it gives us an insight we otherwise would have missed, i have scrolled through Dubai with street view and had a look at the burj khalifa and there is a nice video on youtube about skydiving filmed with a "red epic" camera,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zFg_mlBFV2c
slightly unaffordable though, it was nice but your input has a better feel for the place, looking forward to more shots and your "motorized camel".

Well done mate; max
Finally, my comment is what a lovely bike the 2017 Standard is. What a pity they didn't go to many countries at all. In my opinion, the slightly shorter pipes make it a better looking beast than even the DLX.

Since this is a pretty open place, I've decided it's time to share an image of how forum moderators see life. It never ceases to amaze me how wrong others' perceptions can be.

[url=https://postimages.org/]

I’ve been working on getting a set of horns on my bike for awhile now and think this might work. The biggest challenge is finding a place to mount them so they don’t stick out. I’m mounting off of one of the frame mounts for the motor next to the oil filter. These are Fiamm Freeway Blasters that I made some covers for the backside. [url=https://postimg.cc/hhC3xMkf]
[url=https://postimg.cc/WDRyz3Q8]
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[url=https://postimg.cc/vD8NcCSJ][url=https://banks-nearme.com/centennial-bank-near-me]centennial bank locations in arkansas These are far from finished but they are coming together.

It's been a long "off" season.

Sure, I was able to continue my run of consecutive months that included motorcycling, but -24f in January, 4" of snow on the last day of April, and various and sundry other weather phenomenon, disproportionately striking on weekends, restricted my riding days to a mere handful since last Christmas. Then the text from Cheryl on May 3rd, "What are your riding plans for Sunday? I'd like to get out and ride". Her short note not only told me that the she wanted to ride, always good news, but implied that the forecast was for morning temps on that Sunday be at or above her magic number of 50. Yeah, yeah. I know. "She's missing out on so much riding".... "I thought she was tougher than that" ... "In Canada, we call that 'summer'". Thing is, that she'll ride when it's colder if she has to, but she wants to be comfortable. I don't want to ride with anyone who isn't comfortable.

We now had a riding date in need of a destination. I knew she didn't want to venture too far afield this being her first ride in 5 or 6 months.

"I know a restaurant, Sammy's on the Square, in Walworth that's not too far"
"Isn't Walworth where we stop for ice cream on rides?"
"Yes, Meggy Moo's, but a. they probably aren't open for the season and b. I was thinking breakfast"
"No, Sammy's is fine. It's supposed to be 50 by 8:00."
"Done"

I plotted out a non-highway route, made sure both bikes were ready to go; air, oil, fuel, cranking power. They're Hondas so yes, everything was just fine.

She started out with her heated gear. I opted for a fleece and a wind layer under my spanking new Olympia Dallas mesh jacket (review coming). Off we headed into the bright Illinois sky.



My lanyard camera did not work for most of the day. Still not sure why, but I was able to take some pictures from the bike after breakfast. I will have to keep an eye on that. Could be something wrong with the flash card -- it may have taken a trip through the washing machine a few weeks ago (ssshhh). The late snowfall and the copious amounts of rain following it turned fields into ponds and ponds into lakes. Readers will have to use their imaginations, though.

Made it to Sammy's by about 10:00. The restaurant is on the town square (thus the name). Wisconsin towns more often than not, have town squares. County seats usually have their courthouse in the middle of the square, but most squares are a lawn with benches and the occasional statue, monument, or gazebo. Many towns in many states and countries have town squares, but there seems to be a wonderful concentration of them in Wisconsin, hanging on through traffic changes and other development, to remind us of days gone by.









I had the breakfast special consisting of 2 eggs, Swedish pancakes and sausage. Cheryl had the 2x2x2. Delicious. We're both now on guilt-fueled diets.



After breakfast, we jettisoned our insulation layers. It was nearly 70 and wound up hitting 75 or so by the time we got home. Just the prefect day for riding.

We took a roundabout route home, but stopped at Moraine Hills State Park, a place we have passed many times, but never visited. That was our loss as this is a beautiful and expansive park located just barely on the Illinois side of the state line. We walked a little to shed a few breakfast calories and sat on a small dock and just admired the beauty of this Sunday in May.













We returned home early enough to get a few things done in the yard. Translation: I smoked a cigar and had a cocktail and Cheryl picked some weeds from the garden. Then we watched our Cubs beat the Cardinals 13-5.

From the departure temperature to the game's final score and the 170 miles in between added up to a marvelous first real ride of 2019. Well worth the wait.