jester3681

I'm looking to get away from the modern front end - I just decided to sell off all that stuff. The Virago is a shaft drive, so I'm limited by the rear wheel. I'd like both wheels to match, and I actually kind of like the stock spoke design. I just don't care for the look of the smaller rear, larger front wheel with the cafe racer body lines. I suppose the other option would be to use Virago XV535 wire wheels, which would be just about the height of the cafe look. I could just get matching rim diameters and relace them. Heck, I can go buy new rims and lace them to the hubs... the hubs on the XV535 are 36 spoke, which is pretty common.

At the risk of sounding wishy-washy, I've taken a healthy dose of reality with my motorcycle budget. I simply don't have the money to spend having every part on this bike built as a custom piece. I still want to do a bit of custom work, but the amount of work needed to graft these newer pieces onto this old bike is just too much. I'm headed back to basics here, using parts that were contemporary to the bike. Good news is, most of it is sitting in my garage already, and what I don't have is pretty cheap. So here's my big struggle. I'm still not happy with the wheels. I'd like to somehow have the same diameter front and rear - it looks like 16" will be the way to go, since I already have the 16" rear fitted pretty well. I'd like to do something with the front - stock front is 19" and some guys are using the rear wheels just bolted up with a single front disk. I might play around with that, but the spokes look goofy since they're offset on one side to make room for the shaft drive. Here's my thought - if I took a rear wheel (I have 3 now, but one is in use as the rear wheel) and cut the spokes out of it so I end up wth a rim only, then take the front wheel and carefully cut the spokes down to match up with the rim I've now made, then weld them together, I'd end up with a 16" front wheel, right? Does anyone weld aluminum on here? I'd measure like a million times and cut big and machine down to make sure everything fits together and it's not all wonky. Is this nuts? I mean, if I f-k it up, at the end of the day, $40 later I have another stock front wheel from eBay. *sigh* We'll see, I guess. I still need to get a work bench built. Hopefully next week once my eBay auctions end and I have some more money in the bike fund...

A little bigger than I was looking for, but great price! Anyone want this big guy and have a 36-40" tv at home?

I hate to say it too, but I'm surprised we're not the target of more terrorist activity. In many cases, trains go right through the centers of cities, carry explosive and hazardous chemicals, and like Redkow says, there's thousands of miles of rail with little to no protection. Trains stop fairly frequently and it wouldn't take much to put some sort of device on the train. On a side note, we're not allowed to run through Indianapolis when the Colts play - our track goes right through the Depot downtown, which has Lucas Oil Stadium on one side, maybe 300 yards away, the Pacer's arena on the other with nothing but 100 feet between us, and the Indianapolis Indians ballpark about 400 yards away shortly later. I have a feeling they are concerned that with this concentration of people so close, the temptation for terror would be too great. Trains (especially mixed freight or manifest trains) carry some pretty nasty shit. There's chemicals and waste that we are required by law to carry and no one else can or will. Bombs on the rail is a bad thing.

I have AT&T and travel all over Ohio and Indiana. I can tell you exactly where you'll lose service and where you'll have it. I've had AT&T since 1999 (became Cingular and then became AT&T again). It's gotten better over the years, but so has Verizon. One of the disadvantages to any digital phone system is you either have a signal or not, no weak signal - I have a feeling this is part of the reason why we drop calls. I know when AT&T first went digital, I'd always drop calls on 71 right around 161 - I think this is where the towers change. I get great service anywhere in Columbus as long as I'm not in the bowels of a building. I get great service in the Toledo area, and all the way to Indianapolis. I don't have any signal at all around Willard (south of Sandusky), but this is an admitted dead zone for AT&T - although if I stay on the second floor of the hotel in a room that faces south, I get one or two bars. I've been to Cinci and Cleveland and have gotten good service there too. There was a time when I was looking at Verizon, since a lot of the railroaders have Verizon. I went in and basically said "I'll switch, but you need to buy out my contract." About $100. They wouldn't deal - maybe that left a bad taste in my mouth? AT&T has always taken care of me - we had an issue with a rebate we never got, which I kind of forgot about. Called them last week (we got out phones last December) and they gave me a credit on my account for the amount of the rebate, no questions asked. Just my two cents, hope this helps? For what it's worth, I hate change when it comes to things like this, so I'll put up with some b.s. for a while instead of changing plans.

That's like 3 different prices for the same bike. Ugh...

Looks good so far - how are you doing the Block O? Paint or decal?

Pretty slick. Good find! I watched a special on HD Theater about this collection.

Nortons of that era were just classic. Still look awesome today!

This is anticlimactic...

Isn't California bankrupt?

Keep us posted... can't say I want to participate, but I am very interested in the outcome.

I remember when I worked at NTB way back when we had a contractor lose a box of nail off the back of his truck on the 71S exit ramp, causing numerous flats and tire replacements. We had one car with 7 in one tire, a total of 20+ in the car. They were the kind with little orange plastic washers, so at least they were easy to find. It was a mess...

This and thirtyone... everyone is selling that too.

I always drive straight down Parsons coming home from work instead of taking the free way - it's always entertaining.

Good looking bike! Welcome!

I had to buy a Virago and sell my CB350 just so they'd let me post. It's true!

Does this device make and receive phone calls?

That's a good looking bike!

If you're going to take the timing apart, you're darn close to an upper end rebuild. Might make sense to get some more parts...

This is a moot point. Four Loco tastes like alcholic icee syrup. If you want to choke down a whole can in one sitting, you deserve to be wasted when you're done. Blech.

Today I took a few minutes to take eBay pics and pics to send the wheel shop I hope can build my wheel. Just wanted to share the pics of my plans. Rear wheel, hub will be from this: XJ1100 rear wheel. The spokes and rim will be this: And he needs to fix this bend in the lip: If I have some time tomorrow, I may fit up the rear shock. More to come!

Another chance for the media to over-react... *sigh*

Shit, there's a rule about which hand you hold your pecker with to piss. It's safer with the right.