jester3681

I made some coffee at the hotel the other day. It tasted terrible so I dumped it down the drain. As I did, I rested my hand on the sink - or so I thought. It was actually on the burned of the hotel coffee maker. Think I have a case? Against Maxwell House, since their coffee was terrible?

I'd buy that 900SS, but that's just silly me.

I would think forks would be easy as the CBRs were all fairly interchangable. Neck is tough - if there's that much damage you may want to consider swapping frames. Plastics are available new from AirTech if you can't find them on eBay.

Just saw about 10 minutes of this show... wow. That's all I have to say. Walmart must sponsor it...

I like very much - my only complaint... I think it would be more my taste with just a single round headlight ala Monster.

Well, now that the front end is on, my sights turned back to the rear. I spent some time removing the rest of the stock rear drum brake system - pedal and linkage. Also got the wiring out of the way to clean up the look of the rear end: I'm going to leave the front footpegs on the bike, kind of - the two bolt holes that link the frame to the engine case will stay, I'll cut the peg itself off right at the bolt. Not sure how much integrity they give to the bike, but not willing to risk losing it. I received the XJ1100 rear axle as well and tried it to see if the fitment was any better: Pictures are worth a thousand words, right? The axle is about 1mm thicker than the Virago unit and as a result won't clear the differential. There's a spacer there: In addition to the spacer, I'm not so sure it would even go through the diff on the other side either. Hmm... well, at least I got the wheel spacer I needed for between the wheel and disk brake brackets: Here's a pic of the two axles together. Virago on top, XJ1100 on the bottom: So, I thought I'd try taking the rear brake stuff off, dry fit the wheel and wheel spacer with the stock Virago axle and: Success! I got out the micrometer - the hole in the brake brackets is about 20mm and the fat end of the stock axle is 21.86 - I figure it's designed for a 22mm hole. I think the easiest solution here is to have the axle hole in both brake brackets machined out to 22mm. So, some disassebly later, we have two brackets ready for a trip to the machine shop: That's the next step I think. One thing I also need to keep in mind is that the axle diameter of the Virago is about 19mm and the axle for the XJ1100 is about 20mm, so the wheel bearings will be different. I think (hope?) I can just use Virago bearings in the XJ1100 wheel. More to come!

Any contact info? Not to sound lazy, but this is the closest suggestion to me.

Let me to rephrase - Wheel Medic will not straighten steel. And depeding how his wheel is bent, it may be a lost cause. Any tweek on the rotation axis I wouldn't mess with, but if the lip is just boogerd, then grab a hammer.

Hey guys - I'll have a couple of projects that I'll need the help of a fabrication shop for on the Virago. Anyone you'd recommend in central Ohio? Some are pretty basic, some a little more involved, but milling and lathing are about all I need. Thanks guys!

You can't straighten a steel wheel. Wheel Medic only works on aluminum. Try TireRack. Steel wheel should be $60 or so.

Welcome - had a GS and loved it - outgrew it, but it was a great bike. Very good to commute. Still kick myself for not taking the test when I had it...

Of course my front end has to come today when I'm first out for call at work. Ugh. Maybe I can sneak into the garage for a minute or two when the kids go down for naps... EDIT: The railroad gods smiled on me today - got a few hours in the garage and got the front end mocked up. Here's what FedEx brought me this morning: Stock front end torn down and off: And finally, here it is with the new front end: How many Viragos have you seen with a TL1000R front end on them? I have it just mocked up for now - I'll have to have the neck machined down about 1/4" to fit the front end on permanantly (steering stem is too short). Using this front end lowers the front of the bike about 3", so this ole girl might be a graval dragger... I think it looks pretty good - thoughts?

Much better. I'd almost buy it just because of the changes. Except all of my moto money is tied up in this silly Virago...

I have to agree with those above - I've sold a lot of vehicles on craigslist (used to do it on the side when I worked at Nissan to make extra cas) and the most success I've had was - Year make model for sale. XXX miles. Special stuff: XXX. Email for more information or call XXX XXX XXXX. Save that stuff yo have typed out - make that your response email. Also, I'm sure you've seen it, but spell out one or two of the numbers in your tele- keeps the robots from calling. And you'll get email spam. Don't worry, your penis really isn't so small that people have heard the rumors and are sending you info - you just posted on craigslist. EDIT- Also - lots of good pictures. I know on the flip side, when I'm BUYING I want to see what I'm buying before I waste gas. And take new ones. I love the "Pics from 6 years go when I bought this car new - here's what's changed" ads.

We lost our first too- same type of situation - one week, everyone is fine, then some pain in the side. Went into the doc and found excessive blood pessure - like 200/150. Our son lived in ICU for 3 days - very tough to answer questions about it, even now, four years later. We've since had two healthy, happy kids that I thank God or every day, but it's tough when people ask about kids - how many do you have? Well, we have three, but then I have to tell the story all over again. Just a shit situation. I guess on the bright side, I was probably about 30 minutes away from losing my wife too - her liver was just about to shut down. Really puts life in perspective having something like that happen. Side note - I highly recommend having your wife/self tested for blood clotting disorders (thrombophelia) in the early months of pregnancy or even before hand. It's treatable (using blood thinners) and can be fatal to both child and mother if it goes undetected. Tends to be hereditary but has only been diagnosed in the past 10-15 years - if your mom or grandmother has premature births or had still births or miscarriages, this could have been why. Prayers go out to your friends Redkow - I wouldn't wish this on anyone. Single worst period of my life, although we were blessed with about 60 hours with him. Be there for them, whatever they need. It's what they need most right now.

I like it.

I always liked the Buells, and I may still own one at some time in the future. I'd worry about parts support though - when Harley was still involved, parts were plentiful - now that they've cut ties, I doubt EBR will support the Harley-built bikes. All that aside, they were good looking, good performing bikes that had technology well ahead of their time. And other than some stuff on the early ones, not much in the way of recalls/major issues. I'd just make sure if you decide to get one that you get a lower mileage adult owned example.

I think they look neat - Maryland's flag! Certainly different, that's for sure.

Bump this - how about $75? At this point, looking to recycle the money into the Virago.

Had a minute to work on the bike today, so I decided to mock up the rear wheel and see how that went. I'll be honest, I went into this expecting to be dissatisfied with the XJ/XS1100 brake setup and expected to be trawling eBay tonight for a later model rear brake system. The front end will be late model (coming soon!), so I was concerned with the rear. First, I got LUCKY! I ordered another XJ rear wheel for use on the front, and it came Friday while I was on the train. Glad it did - look at the picture of the inner differential gear on the Virago wheel above. No look at this: Yeah, one extra ear, one extra bolt. Glad the new wheel came with it, because the other one didn't. Oh well, I have two XJ rear wheels, one for the front, one for the rear - guess it doesn't matter which is which. Bolted the rotor on: And this was where I was concerned - rotor is darned near as big as the wheel. But... once it's on the bike, it looks ok: I still need to trawl eBay - if you can see in these pics, the rear axle won't seat all the way up - need to try one from an XJ. The spacer for the gap is molded into the axle, and this one is set up for drum. Overall though, much happier with this than I thought I would be. Oh well, back to eBay to spend some money - luckily some of the takeoffs sold this weekend because I shot my wad on the front end which should be here this week. If I don't get called out tomorrow, I plan to get the front end and tank off.

A lot of small country roads don't have the gates, just crossbucks. I'm not sure how it's regulated, but I'm sure money has a lot to do with it - gates are not cheap. This particular accident happened at a private drive - essentially a house on one side of the tracks with the road on the other. Very dangerous, yes. But you would think if you lived there you would be very aware of it.

Guys, as many of you know, I work for the railroad and one of our crews was involved in a fatal accident at a private road crossing Thursday night. A group of teenagers was joyriding in a pick-up truck and ran the crossing in front of the train - one was killed on impact, another very seriously injured, two more escaped with minor injuries. Without going into details, it was pretty bad - about as bad as you can imagine. First off, thoughts and prayers go out to all of the victims, family and friends, not only of the kids in the truck, but also of the train crew - it's not easy for me to type this, but I can only imagine what those folks have to live with now. Second, I had this piece of wisdom in another thread, but please folks - do not run rail crossings. The train will win. Period. It will end badly - if you escape with minor injuries, as two of the kids did, consider yourself lucky. And once again, without going into too many details, also please do not ride in the bed of a truck. Hate to preach safety like we do at work, but there is no sitation where this is a good idea. And parents of fresh/younger drivers, please reinforce these facts. There's a lot of families now that have a lot on their minds after this accident - I know as a parent I don't want to ever have to deal with this. Alright, public safety announcement over.

Wow, that just sounds awesome - Port Clinton and PIB/SI are about my most favorite places on this planet. That would be an AWESOME ride for this guy. And a Biplane ride? ICING. Now you have me jealous!

+1 on this. They did my back and are doing future work on myself and wife.

Hmm... Chandler vs. Miller. Interesting. There must be some kind of conflicting precident, right? I mean, by this rulng, unless you are deeped to be in a field that is a threat to public safety, drug tests violate your 4th Ammendment rights, correct?