Bubba

Just an FYI. Finally sold the Mo-Tech bags...

Never used this outfit or shipped a bike, but Federal Motorcycle Shippers offers an AMA member discount. http://www.funtransport.com/

Got a riding buddy (here in Cinti) who's got one that I think is (or will be) for sale. Can't remember if it's a '98 or '99, but it's the gear-drive cam pre-VTEC model. Red with a 2 Brothers exhaust. I've ridden it and the sound is sweet!!! Has some minor cosmetic issues, but pretty sure the price would justify the boo-boos. I'll PM you his contact info.

Joe: Pilot Road 2. Not really a soft sport tire. But there weren't many traffic laws in KY/VA/TN/NC that we didn't break.... The big v-twin motor and torque isn't very kind to back tires. Nor is the diamond grit pavement in the area. Oh, and the link shows fine on my computer. Once again, I think it's your device that's funky.

Joe et al: I know you guys are pros, but two words: "NEW TIRES" I put a new shoe on the front of the KTM but the rear only had 1000 miles and I thought it'd be fine....WRONG. Did make it home, though. Lesson learned. Always leave for NC with fresh rubber!!! 'Nuff said.

Think about the swept area, though. Figure you've got twin front rotors that are +/- 320 mm diameter, vs a single rear that's about 245 mm. That's about 3 - 3.5 times the swept area front vs rear, which means lots more mass and surface area to both absorb and shed heat. Given, you prolly use your fronts more, but that difference coupled with your observation about the rear cylinder/exhaust header temps and I'd bet that would account for the difference.

Most rear brake set-ups require some free-play in the brake pedal before it starts to pull on/actuate the master cylinder piston. That'd be one of the first places I'd check. Pretty easy adjustment. Sounds like you've disassembled the caliper and done the proper maintenance and care, but I'd also check that your caliper pins are clean and rust-free to allow easy movement of the the caliper as the pads wear in. The only other explanation I can offer is to make sure your rear brake pedal is positioned so that your foot isn't resting on it and inadvertently activating the brake. To be fair, 135*F is too hot to touch, but nowhere near max operating temp. Brake fluid boils at over 400*F. So, your rotor isn't really that hot.

In CO, hit Pikes Peak around Colorado Springs (busy place, tho), ride up Mt Evans on the highest paved road in NA, do the San Juan Skyway loop around 160/550/145 Durango/Cortez/Delores/Silverton/Ouray/Telluride, Loveland Pass on US6. Check out historic Leadville and then ride over Independence Pass on CO82 to Aspen just to rub shoulders with the cognoscenti. Sounds like you'll be pressed for time, but if you get farther west into UT, you can't go wrong visiting the Arches and Canyonlands NP, or take the ferry across the Glen Canyon Reservoir to Bullfrog. Lastly, if you ever get the chance to see Zion NP, do the Angel's Landing hike. Pretty sure that's where God--or Yaweh, or Mohammed, or Budha--go when they need a vacation. When you head out riding for the day, be prepared for just about anything weather related, especially if you plan on bagging the higher passes. I've been out there in the July/August time frame and run into snow/sleet/freezing temps...and that's after leaving in the morning with temps in the 80s. This time of year, there are frequent late afternoon thunderstorms at the higher elevations from 1 until 5ish, with torrential rain and a lightening show worthy of admission. Do your road tripping early!!! http://www.colorado.com/articles/cruise-worthy-curves-colorado-motorcycle-touring

Attention: Paging @MidgetTodd to the house phone...

Nice, Joe, real nice. When I bring the Dome of Hate to Cincinnati, you will feel the burn!!!

Sweet! Balance is restored to the universe.

This forum has been so wonky lately, I can't wait until winter... Oh wait...it's an election year. Now, everything is becoming clear.

@Tonik Dude, you're slipping. You're supposed to hate EVERYBODY. Is everything ephemeral? Is nothing sacred?

"Going off your avatar, you're an obvious homophobe. You fit the hater mold to a T." This is totally awesome. I have finally achieved the same level of infamy as Tonik among the OR cognoscenti. @Tonik Better watch it or I'll steal that "Dome of Hate" and bring to SW Ohio.

DPG: Sent you a PM. Got a buyer in Cinti with cash! Hit her up.

I think @ScubaCinci has finally hit on something. This is exactly what needs to happen so @Bad324 can get to ride again! ;o)

Boy howdy, you are really good at twisting words and blowing smoke out yer ass. I don't recall bragging about having "a few million"...s'matter of fact, I live pretty frugally on less money per year in retirement than I made when I was working. If you try really hard, go back and concentrate on reading my posts. Not one of them was written in a partisan tone or espousing either candidate. I was under the impression we were having an economic discussion about the future of America. Based on your emotional and disjointed responses here, you must be one of more opinionated and unintelligent posters in this thread. But you sure got a loud mouth! I'm done.

You're right. I don't believe the future is the bright sparkling jewel we all anticipated it to be. Still not quite ready to embrace the 'zombie apocalypse' vision, though...

Well, if you're talking about paying unskilled union laborers $25/hr plus benefits to package widgets in a cardboard box, you're right. I would hope there's a middle ground somewhere in between. Ultimately, I think it will be a combination of bringing the rest of the world partway up to the American standard of living while simultaneously giving back some of the advances we've made and learning to live with somewhat less. It's foolish to believe the entire earth's population can achieve the same standard of living as we have in the US and still live in an environmentally sustainable world.

We are not so far apart in our thinking, then, although the problem we have is who/where/how long to draw the line at poor/sick/helpless. Subsidizing generations of welfare families is not an acceptable line to draw, IMHO. As for my comments on a livable wage, either I stated my viewpoint poorly or you misunderstood. I'm not advocating that American workers be paid a wage that is comparable to those in China. The only way this would work is to devalue the US economy to a retroactive level of 50-75 years ago, which is obviously neither tenable nor desirable. My point about the unions is that, during the time period in the 70s and 80s that jobs first began to move to the underdeveloped countries, the unions were at their MOST POWERFUL PERIOD OF INFLUENCE, which suggests it's counterintuitive to put the blame solely on the industrial magnates. Thus, it is reasonable to theorize that the unrealistic and unattainable demands made by the strong unions during that time period had a great effect on what happened to the manufacturing industry in the US. I firmly believe that we will see a time in our not too distant future when the issues of over-promised and under-funded Social Security benefits, Medicare/Medicaid benefits, and pensions for public and government retirees will create a huge drag on the economy and taxes will need to be raised dramatically. Again, we have merely passed along the problems created by us over the last 10-20 years to our descendants. I doubt they will thank us kindly for the cluster f--k that we leave them.

@drc32-0 "The same winey ass people" It's 'whiney-ass people'... unless you're talking about the House Wives of Beverly Hills. And you've puked up the same whiney-ass and totally invalid argument about the loss of union jobs being the reason the US is in the fix it's in now. Yeah, lots of jobs were moved out of the US, but it was because of insanely high wages and benefits being paid for what was unskilled labor. Oh, let's not ignore the technology revolution that replaced human hands doing repetitive tasks with robots. The unions were useful organizations back in the early days of the industrial revolution, but have long ago ceased to be of value to the bulk of the American labor force.

Tonik: Not sure if you're just trolling, or if you're really so far west of left you can't drink beer right-handed.... You got it wrong dude, at least where I'm concerned. I'm all for making the rich pay for the easy life the US allows them. I'm also in favor of the general US population making sacrifices for the liabilities we have incurred because of the war efforts our politicians sanctioned. The nation sacrificed during WWII with rationing, war bonds, and tax rates that were set to 94% for the top earners to help make the war a success (and as high as 91% as late as 1963). http://taxfoundation.org/sites/default/files/docs/fed_individual_rate_history_nominal.pdf Other than sending off our own children to fight what seems to be a religious war in the Middle East, our/my generation hasn't been asked or required to make any sacrifices at all. And I'm in favor of a minimum wage that's livable, but by that, I don't mean livable as in high-end cell phones and cable TV and a luxury SUV in the driveway. I'm also in favor of requiring those who are unfortunate enough to need publicly-funded monetary assistance--whether temporary or permanent--to make some level of effort to give back, whether it be volunteerism in the community or some other contribution. Nor am I advocating the abandonment of poor kids. I AM opposed to sanctioning the birthing of illegitimate babies as a means to earning money. What you/we are effectively doing is penalizing our children's and our grandchildren's future security and welfare for the excesses of our lifestyle today, with no thought of what happens when the bills come due.

@Connie14 I think you actually meant "with impunity" Sorry. Occasional grammar Nazi here. Your point about the government spending every dime we give them plus a couple more we haven't yet is well taken. The folks who are on the "free medical" and the "free college education" bandwagon are either the ones who don't pay any income tax or they're so clueless that they don't understand the government doesn't actually HAVE any money other than what the citizens give them in the way of taxes...or that they print out of thin air with no monetary value basis. Check out the National Debt clock and pay particular attention to the far lower right corner, where the current dollar-to-gold value is nearly $8000/oz. Current market value on gold is approximately $1350/oz. http://www.usdebtclock.org/

@Lawrence1 I had to respond to your post, altho I know it's a loser's game to debate shit like this on the internet...but hey, it's icky out and I'm not riding today, so... Almost all of the "rich people ploys" you've listed above are available to average folks as well, and may even benefit them to a larger percentage basis since there are income caps that phase out some of the more well-known tax dodges like IRA/401-K contributions. I'm old and have been retired for 10 years, but I worked for 37 years and used most of the above tools to get where I am today. Now, lest you lump me in with the 1%--which maybe I am based on total net worth--I worked at an average hourly wage my entire career. Started out making $88/week--that's gross, not take home--in 1969 and was making about $60K gross when I retired in 2006. A decent salary, no doubt, but nowhere near the stuff of an investment banker. I started putting money into the stock market in 1971 and have contributed to a retirement account ever since, expanding to both a traditional and a Roth IRA when the opportunity was given by the IRS. I've bought and sold 5 houses over the years, making money on each one and reinvesting the value in the next one. With the exception of incorporating or moving money off-shore, I've done something of the kind in nearly everyone of your numbered list. 1) Doesn't matter whether you sell common or preferred stock, you pay taxes--either ST or LT capital gain--on the difference between cost basis and market value at the time of sale. I happen to live on the dividends from my stock investments and pay both federal and state tax on the amount yearly. 2) Didn't do this, although I have vacationed in the Bahamas once or twice... 3) Never got stock options either, but you can damn well be sure I would have taken advantage of them if offered. 4) The few obscenely rich folks who may take advantage of this unusual and obscure ploy typically get nailed to the wall sooner or later. We're talking Securities and Exchange Commission stuff here. 5) Everyone who has ever sold a house and rolled the gains into their next abode have used this dodge. The gain is eventually taxed when the appreciated property is sold, with the exception of a primary residence. 6) Anyone can do this. Use the equity in your house to purchase stocks and use the dividends to pay the second mortgage. This is actually pretty damn hard to do if you think about it, and risky as hell, but more power to you if you want to walk that line. 7) Ordinary folks do this everyday. Become a landlord and buy rental property. It's a lot of work and headache, but pretty damn profitable over the long haul. 8) I did the exact same thing every year when I redirected a percentage of my earnings to a 401-K or IRA and paid zero tax on the contribution amount. 9) I gift my kids money every year. They're in their 30s and 40s and have their own kids and mortgages and are busting their asses to make it. The money is tax-free to them BECAUSE I'VE ALREADY PAID TAX ON IT. Not sure how this is dodge. When I donate to a charity, I do gift the highly appreciated stock and get a write-off for the full market amount. I bought the stock decades ago and paid far less per share, but money was "more valuable" then. You know, inflation and all that. See how that works? 10) This is available to everyone. You don't have to be rich to get this deduction. I had a crappy old river cruiser that I paid $10K for. It had a galley and a cabin and a potty. It would have qualified for the second home mortgage deduction if I had taken out a loan to buy it. The fact that neither you nor I can afford a yacht or a vacation home in Aspen isn't a sign that those who can afford these things are tax cheats. Your whine sounds a bunch like sour grapes. Get over it--life isn't fair.