PhilD'oh!

We'll keep him and his family in our prayers. Get well soon Ricer1.

Just a little more character for the old Connie, my bike has lots. Glad you weren't hurt, Tim.

Never tried a tinted shield or tinted pin lock. On all my helmets, they are always clear and always installed. I don't find the clear pin lock to be a problem in the dark, even though they don't recommend it. I don't like stopping to change that stuff, or carrying unnecessary crap. I found some 3m tinted safety glasses that fit me really well (for petite faces...shut up) that are very comfortable in my helmet and cheap. I have a whole case of them and carry at least one spare in my tank bag. If I lose, drop, scratch them, they get thrown away and I open another pair. Way cheaper than buying another pin lock. When it gets dark, I pull them off and shove them in the tank bag. No stopping.

Curious where you rode abroad. Depending on the country, it was probably more challenging than anything you'll find over here.

Fucking fractals.

Gone

I wonder if the final drive will fail on that one too. That'll make it even more realistic.

Not in my opinion. Self evaluation is a crucial part of becoming better at anything, even if you're already at a high level of competence like IP. Just don't forget to tell yourself "great job" for avoiding the crash.

Stella says "Happy Independence Day!"

Picked up some boards to fix up the kid's fort.

Put the aux tank back on for the journey home tomorrow...through SEO.

Ok, forgive my ignorance again, but if you need a polish to "flatten" the paint, aren't you removing the clear coat? That seems like a bad thing.

Ok, since we're on the subject...what's all the clay bar crap that seems to get hyped every now and then. My understanding was that it did a really good job of cleaning all the accumulated crap off your paint. Is that true? Are there better ways? Not that I'd ever use any of this stuff on my bike, I barely wash it...

Not a clear enough picture. Queensnake?

Booked a cottage. Hopefully the Mrs. will come with me.

I was about to type a long-winded dissertation of the merits of a properly set up FJR, but then I realized that I also purchased a Ural...so wtf do I know about anything.

I'd mount them for you if you were closer.

Hey, my bike/s are my primary means of transportation all year long here in northern Ohio. However, I'm no rookie. Also, I have so much invested in bikes, maintenance/upkeep, gear, etc, that it would have been much better financially to just buy a civic.

Yep

Putting this on my calendar, really going to try to make it.

I would definitely want to read the oil temp at its maximum. Coming out of the cooler will give you trend information, maybe, but won't be as useful.

PM sent.

Yep. The FJR guys started calling them spiders because that's what they look like. It's a metal plate with 6 legs that connect all the terminals together. Edit...I know, spiders have 8 legs, but that's what hey started calling them.

I have some time this weekend to help you troubleshoot and I'm only a couple hours north. I could swing on by and we can figure it out. I'm pretty good at disassembling and reassembling a Gen II FJR.

Those big connectors in your pics are not the ground connectors. The "spiders", as referred to on the FJR forums are the blocks with a bunch of wires going into them and a black cap. You can see one next to the chrome fork in your bottom picture. Take the black cap off, use needle nose pliers to pull off the "spider" (metal plate that connects all the terminals together) and clean up any corrosion. Dielectric grease and reassemble. i haven't researched this in a long time, so I couldn't tell you which of the numerous grounding "spiders" is your problem, but I'd bet a paycheck it's one of them. Very well documented on the FJRforum.com.