Bubba

Duc is gonna cost you mo' money, mo' money in the long run, just like a very sexy woman! But then again, how can you argue against sexy?

Oops. Screwed up the order of the post. This is the beginning of Day 2 leaving from Lenoir City, TN. MoFo Road Show: Day 2 Bob apparently lives on his motorcycle, because he carries everything he owns with him, including the kitchen sink."Dammit! I know I left that stainless-steel double-bowl Elgin in here somewhere…" Left Lenoir City and rode to the Dragon via back roads (presumably why Bob's handle is what it is….) Obligatory Calderwood Dam overlook pic: Obligatory stop at DGR:

2015 MoFo Road Show: Day 3 Apparently I suck at photo-documentation, as there are no pics from Day 3, presumably meaning that it really didn't happen. Here's a few screen shots of the route we rode….IF we actually rode it. From Lyman, SC, we rode north on 9 to Lake Lure and then west on 74/Alt 74 past Chimney Rock Sp toward Asheville: We picked up the BRP north to 80, and followed 80 all the way to Bakersville: …and from there across Roan Mountain and on to 421/Shady Valley (Back of the Dragon) to Denton Valley Rd into Abingdon and on to Marion, VA: MoFo Road SHow: Day 4 From Marion, VA, we rode 16 north thru Hungry Mother SP (The Back of the Dragon) to Tazwell and then more back roads to Hamlin, WV. Last pic is my first and only attempt at a selfie, taken at the Moose Lodge in Hamlin, where I split up from Bob and Randall. They continued north to Athens, OH, and I rolled west on 3 and 10 to the AA Hwy and home. Apparently, the Boomer generation is unable to grasp the simple steps to put together a good selfie that the Gen Xers and Gen Y's are so adept at. Notice that there are no duck lips, no ominous sneer, just a scary old guy concentrating on pushing down a little button on a camera…. :lol :lol :lol :bang Rode for 4 days and 1450 miles and didn't experience any rain at all. Great ride with great friends!!!

MoFo Road Show: Day 2 (cont) Took 28 south (Hellbender), with a stop at the Iron Horse Lodge in Stecoah to check out the facilities… ...to Franklin, then across Elijay Rd to 107, then 281/Canada Rd and Charley's Creek and 215 to the BRP, then back down 276 thru Brevard and across the mountain to Caesar's Head SP and on into Lyman, SC, near Spartanburg to meet up with another MoFo, Kyle (Cowboy). View from Caesar's Head SP: Cowboy's ranch in Lyman, SC:

….the Devil's Triangle, the BRP, Roan Mountain, the Snake, and the Back of the Dragon. Wherein two naive boys from the midwest head into the mountains of Tennessee, North Carolina and West Virginia to meet a couple of complete strangers from CraigsList….only to be greeted by the sound of banjos from the shadows of the hollers. DAY 1 Dice and I rolled south Sunday morning toward Lenoir City, TN, outside of Knoxville, to meet up with Bob Summers (BackRoadBob) from somewhere in Arizona and Randall Slone (TexRideStrong) from Dallas, both members of the CraigsList motorcycle forum. They were on a discovery adventure to experience the twisties of the Blue Ridge mountains, as they had heard we easterners had a few curves we were keeping secret from the rest of the riding community. Dice and I slabbed it down 75 to Corbin then jogged west across 90 and 700 to 27 south to Wartburg. Our first stop was at Brushy Mountain State Penitentary (closed in 2009) where the infamous James Earl Ray was incarcerated. We rode the switchbacks of Frozen Head SP and Devil's Triangle (TN116)… I even did a bit of gravel slinging on Walden's Ridge Rd, leaving Dice to fend for himself on 330. …and then on to Lenoir City to meet up with Bob and Randall, reassured that we were staying at the Kings Inn….not the Queens Inn! (Wink, wink, nod, nod) We rode over to a nice upscale boutique bar/bistro called Aubrey's--I rode bitch/squid with Tex--and then sat around on the motel porch later and had a few cold ones to break the ice.

There are MANY categories of what are called "adventure" bikes. The Tiger is a great bike for railing backroads and twisties and would certainly be a hoot on gravel FS roads and maybe some not-very-technical two-track trails, but it's a heavy bastard and there's no way I'd want to wrestle with it on any kind of single track or wet and slippery, or loose and sandy trail surface. As you gain experience, you'll find that the SECOND biggest determinant of what makes for a fun ride off-road--with the FIRST being experience!!!--is tires. Knobbies will give you much better traction in the gummy Midwest clay than a more street oriented tire; they will, however, make lots of noise, feel buzzy at highway speeds, and wear unacceptably quickly on pavement. The kind of stuff you'll want to play on is prolly gonna be in SE Ohio. Tons of FS roads out that way.

Derek: Pm sent.

I'll put in a plug for the AFJ Race Shop: http://www.afjraceshop.com 3926 Eastern Ave Cincinnati, Ohio 45226 (513) 321-2087 Brandon and Eric are good guys and know their stuff. I will say that if you can figure out what is wrong before you take it in, you'll be doing yourself a favor as far as money goes. It always costs more to drop it off at a shop with the instructions "It's broke and I don't know what's wrong….fix it!" From your description, it's kind'a difficult to diagnose anything, but if it's something binding in the rear suspension, I'd start with rear shock/linkage/bushings and go from there. Can't imagine why you think a rear rotor issue would cause suspension binding, but it certainly wouldn't hurt to take off the rear wheel to start looking for problems.

I've been to CO many times during all seasons, and I'm conflicted as to where I'd want to settle: eastern slope or western slope? Eastern slope: Good = greener, more scenic….bad = more crowded, mo' money Western slope: Good = fewer people, cheaper….bad = resembles UT to a great extent, i.e., giant sand box/gravel pit. The area in/around the San Juan NF is pretty, but I know less about the SW part of the state. Anyone spent some time there or lived in that area?

So the exhaust gaskets…presume since there's 4 that they're the donuts for the cylinder head/header junction. If they're actually for the exhaust pipe junction at the can, I might be interested.

Bad: Can't be right….they let me in.

Chad: Congratulations on your success in your career and the relocation. You are at Ground Zero for recreational opportunities in the continental US!!! I've made many trips to the central western region--skiing, MTBing, hiking and camping, MCing--and every time I get out there, I swear to myself I'm gonna live there…."some day"…. I could spend days perusing the roads on GoogleMap planning out an epic route. My last trip was headquartered in the Silverton area where a bud and I rode all the high pass routes--Mosquito, Engineer, Cinnamon, Ophir, Black Bear, Imogene, Cottonwood, Hurricane, Corkscrew. When you get settled, start looking for a DS bike or even better, a true dirty bike (that's road legal) and start exploring and having fun. Keep us po' OR folks back in Ohio in the loop with pics. Oh, BTW, your dogs are gonna be in 7th heaven, too.

A few more:

Dunno. This year's was the 38th Annual gathering. Always some spectacular machines on display. I didn't even include the pics of the typical classes like the 50s-60s-70s American Performance or the modern Supercar class. There was a privately owned Porsche 918 at the show. Could easily have spent another day just drooling...

A few inexpensive ones of the 4-wheel variety.

Mostly cars. A few bikes.

I believe that's the "Home Wrecker Special" you're referring to. attachment.php

Sounds like you're pretty disappointed you missed out on the bike, and that's understandable. However, I'm with the seller on this one, too. Unless you're a personal acquaintance/friend, I'm not holding something for a buyer any longer than overnight unless I've got cash in hand or a signed/dated Contract of Sale. And I would NEVER…EVER…have a title notarized into the name of the buyer without cash in hand, no matter what conversations had gone down previously.

Ooops. My bad. I see you said FZ….not FJ. Nevermind.

Welcome! You'll find a few OR folks in the C-bus area that like to get dirty. In case you're not familiar with ADVRider, you'll find lots of folks who are gettin' dirty... ...here: http://advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=28732 ...and here: http://advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=758808 There's also some pretty decent riding over in Hoosier NF, but that's a pretty good distance from C-bus. You'll find even better riding in eastern KY and western WV.

Might have been Jeff (Sherpadude) from LocalRiders. He's got an FJ-09 and was riding out east yesterday at Jim-Bo's. http://www.localriders.com/forums/showthread.php?p=167358#post167358

….National Bubba Day!!! So, which one'a you'se worthless bastids is gonna take me out fer a beer or three? http://nationaldaycalendar.com/days-2/national-bubba-day-june-2/

BTW, Eastern Beaver offers relay kits for the headlight circuit that eliminates the amp surge thru the starter button circuit. Not that expensive and comes with the added benefit of making your headlights brighter (more amperage going to the headlights).

This ^^^ and the frame/engine grounds, for tightness and corrosion.

You could be right about the starter--if the motor is weak or the brushes/armature are shorted, it could be drawing so many amps that it jiggers the electronics. However, if it was my bike, I'd check the start button in the bar housing first. The way many "modern" bikes are built, the headlight circuit is routed thru the start button so that when you hit the button, it temporarily shuts down the headlight, saving amp draw during starting. What this eventually does, tho, is cook the contacts in the button due to the amp surge from the headlight. I'd take the housing apart and at the least, check and clean the starter button contacts. Easy and cheap!!! If that isn't the problem, then look elsewhere.