Aerik

Provided we get everything satisfactory by then, I'm betting he'll be bringing it out on Thursday. We'll see. I mean, it's ridable now (we rode it all over the apartment complex after we finished working on it), I just would like to get it to quit pissing gas everywhere. Damn, Anderson, I bet your clutch is slipping-- This ninja was running right around 7500 on the freeway when I rode it home from Westerville Friday night, and I probably outweigh you by like 80-100 pounds. Oh, and a couple more pics- Here's one showing the aftermath of our attempted petcock rebuild (no kits/ replacements easily available, and it was dribbling). And, the tank sitting on its side while the JB Weld cures. Yes, that's a piece of the broken front fairing we're using as a spacer to hold the screw in the right spot. And, Kermit himself, chillin in the nude: I'm discovering that these fix-em-up projects are a lot more fun when we're not having to spend money on parts. Total repair cost so far: $6 bucks for jets, about 20 cents worth of JB Weld, one ruined screwdriver (hacksawn to be able to reach the idle screws), about 6 packs of cigarettes, and roughly $25 worth of Strongbow and Killians. Not bad, so far.

Quite possibly. The lady he bought it from claimed she was too busy to ride it a whole hell of a lot, so it may just need its legs stretched a bit. Even so, it hauled my tall ass just fine on the freeway, except I kept reaching for my bike's heel-toe shifter.

So far, I think he's like $1406 deep in it (I could be wrong). Given the overall condition of the bike (minor, tedious repairs needed, nothing expensive), I think it'll end up being a pretty good deal for a first bike. Good tires (chicken strips and all) and brakes, strong battery, working electronic stuff. No clutch issues or anything, either. The plastics are kinda fuckered up, but I don't count cosmetic crap as necessary repairs. And anyway, it's looking like we'll be able to fiberglass them before we paint the whole thing.

Well, after putting in the new jets and adjusting the idle air/ fuel mixture and idle screw thingies for a bit, it's now idling smoothly and not hanging in the revs. It's still a little laggy when we crank the throttle, but it's a lot better than before. Hopefully we can take out the rest of that lag with some more fine-tuning on the mixture. The next project is the pinholed gas tank. Apparently one of the previous owners tried to mount the plastics with screws that were too long. The result punctured the tank on both sides. The lady we bought it from had it welded, but there remained a pinhole leak in the right side screw-hole. So today, we cleaned it up and stuffed the hole with JB Weld, and ran a teflon-taped screw in to keep the threads usable. We'll give it a full 48 hours to cure, because the repair is in a spot with very little access to air, and then we'll find out if it still piddles gas on right turns. Fun shit. As always, comments/ advice/ abuse are always welcome. If anyone knows a trick for getting the rest of that throttle lag out, lemme know.

Something smallish with a belly-band works alright with a t-shirt. Ditto for IWB at 6 o'clock if the shirt's long enough, although you'll be hanging out if you bend down for anything. A lightweight button-up with short sleeves might be a better option.

That is win-flavored deep-fried badass with a bowl of awesome sauce for dipping.

My Glocknade 17 conceals well under any kind of jacket/ sweatshirt (I have a belly-band and a cheap IWB holster), but it's a pain in the ass if you're just wearing a t-shirt. Aside from that, though, I love it.

Good stuff, man, that'll be a big help.

Cool cool, sounds like the similar problem we had won't be too hard to solve once we get the new (matching) jets and needles in today. My buddy Mike (who met some people on here at the meet n greet) was able to get the main jets for like 6 bucks, good stuff. They should match the US-spec stock stuff we have. Now we're just waiting for the team to assemble, and we'll be back at it. And yeah, I think it'll be a great little bike for him (he's a short dude and still a new rider), although it terrified me on the ride back because I felt like I was gonna pull an endo every time I used the front brakes.

The story so far: After he sat on Mr. Anderson's Ninja at BWR, my buddy Lloyd (Raincheck) decided he had to have one. So, last night, we go up to Westerville to meet Kermit, a 2001 Ninja 250 in OHGODDAMNITMYEYES!!!! Kawasaki Green. Kermit's owner was quite cool, and totally up-front with us about the bike: She had purchased Kermit from some asshole who thought he was Mr. Ubertuner, and who had consequently fuckered up just about everything he touched-- The carbs were all out of sorts. He'd apparently mixed Japanese-model spec parts with American-model parts. It looked like he'd installed a partial jet kit, which worked about as well as you'd imagine. The bike wouldn't idle right-- when you sit at a stop, it tends to stall, and if you give it a little gas it would just rev right up to 5000 or 6000. The tabs and bolts on the plastics are all messed up. Apparently, the idiot had also put the wrong bolts into the fairing (sp) mounts on the tank. They were too long, so it actually punctured. Kermit's owner had taken the tank to be welded, but there remains a little pinhole leak on the right side. That said, we decided we can fix this thing. Fuck it, man, let's do this. So, I rode it back to my place (Lloyd's rockin the newbie permit and it was after dark). Given that I'm 6'2'' and used to my Shadow, I felt like a circus bear on a tricycle, but the bike performed fine the whole way back (despit the weird idling). Thus began the intensive restoration of Kermit to his former (gawdawful green!) glory. Between 9 PM and 6AM, we removed and inspected the carbs, swapped out the needles and jets (previous owner gave us a ton of extra parts) in all kinds of different combinations, checked out everything that could be checked out, and diddled the air-fuel mixture and idle settings eight ways to Sunday. By about 6, we had it much more stable (it won't stall, but will idle straight up at idle). We've decided that the next step is to acquire some actual jet kits (so the parts all match). The fun will continue. Here are some pics (all taken around 5am-- it didn't occur to me to document this till after a few drinks). I'll try to be more diligent during today's session. I know, this isn't the most interesting thread, but fuggit-- it's interesting to me, so deal with it. And yes, we test-ran it after every adjustment. I bet my neighbors love me. Comments, advice, abuse, etc are of course welcome. Any Ninja experts with sage wisdom to dispense, feel free.

moped

You know, if they come in with guns, it should be totally legal to handle all of them, no matter where they go. Shooting a man in the back isn't cowardly if they were facing you at the start of the fight.

Damn, I just saw the future. Of course, I already have a spam folder full of recommendations from Amazon.com based on a couple of books I bought several years ago. Ugh.

snipe

A good time as usual; special thanks to Mr. Anderson and JulieJulieJulie for letting my wife and friend go Ninja-shopping.

I'm gonna nitpick on this a little bit: No manufactured or agricultural goods move in this country without roads. Even if it goes by rail, it needs a road to/ from the railyard. No workers commute without roads. Construction materials are moved on roads. Blah, blah, blah, roads are most definitely tied to our economy. And I could probably make the argument that the stability we gain from having a military does help the economy. Who would build a factory in a company that gets invaded every two years? And anyway, given that we spend more on the military than every other country in the world (up to half of our yearly federal discretionary budget), you better believe that has an effect on the economy. Everything government does has some connection to the economy-- That's inherent in the system. Government maintains the framework in which our economy operates. It's the same reason why the 'free market' is a myth. Police and fire departments protect businesses, our court system allows businesses to form and be party to contracts (and enforces those contracts as well). Taking all this into account, the debate isn't about whether government should be involved in the economy in some way (because it already is), but rather to what extent and in what areas? There are areas that lend themselves pretty readily to direct government intervention (such as police/fire), and others that function best when government stands back and just maintains some regulatory framework (like the health inspectors with restaurants). Identifying and working toward the ideal balance between government and private industry has been an ongoing part of the American narrative since the country's founding-- sometimes we get it right, other times we get it wrong. Either way, it's a constantly-changing world, and that balance needs constant re-evaluation and debate. Some of us think that having the government more widely involved in handling the payment for healthcare would provide a net benefit to this country, others do not. Reasonable, civil debate is important and a necessary part of the process, either way.

It's not far away for me, I'd be down, depending on what time of day it starts. I normally stay up all night Friday, so I don't get up much before 1PM on Sat.

I would be much less comfortable carrying something single-action, where a mechanical safety is holding the hammer back. It's one of the reasons I chose this Glock-- DAO, no external hammer, the safety is the trigger. 17 + 1, ready to go, no problem. And yes, I understand plenty of people tote 1911's all day with no problem, but I've always been antsy about that little safety lever. At home, the only gun I don't keep loaded and ready is my Nagant-- I live in an apartment, there's no immediate home defense scenario where I'd need a big rifle and wouldn't have time to grab a stripper clip outta the bag next to it.

I'll be there, most likely around 7 or so.