A Student Budget Bike

[Mysuzyq]

Looking good...very nice! Are those slots in the fender stock....or one of your custom touches...unusual!

Tony.

[BentRod]

I seem to be having trouble seeing my own posts

No they are not stock, but at the time I thought they looked cool. I kind of regret putting them in. At cetain speeds they whistle pretty good. I also have a feeling I'm getting a little more water spray to the face than is desired because of them. oh well

I had a CAD of the tank around somewhere too.

[Mysuzyq]

Some bikes (VFR's?) did have slits in the fender, but these were located to the rear of the fork, presumably to enhance airflow to the rad.....others featured a small spoiler at the rear of the fender, for the same purpose.
Tony.

[argonsagas]

The way I see it, if you are not willing to venture everything at least once, then you might as well be dead. Only by tempting fate and dancing with death can you discover and appreciate what it truly means to live.

A sombre /sober response:


I have often heard those words, or others with similar meaning. What the speaker almost invariably means is that he/she likes a great thrill, but those are merely words, no matter how emphatically spoken, and nothing more.



There is always risk in life, and being constant throughout life will not assure smoothness. A mild risk feels rewarding, and it should, because that is how we learn to adjust and grow.

Most of us like thrills, the rush of adrenalin and flood of endorphins that follow a near miss, but you should know that literally "dancing with death" is a very different thing when it happens, and there is no adrenalin, no thrill, and no type of rush at all.

When you come back from death it may be that you appreciate life, but you may find yourself wondering why you were allowed back, and even more often wondering what is the purpose of your life.



Now, sombre moments aside...............on with the chronicle...( a rather enjoyable one, it is).

[p_s]

Nice job. Different but tasteful. When you wrote about it looking like it was sodomized I kept thinking about a HD tank I saw somewhere with a naked lady oriented, well, you can imagine. Be real careful filling it up (or better yet test out some gas on the underside to see if you need to).

[BentRod]

about the tank
Ya the tank needs a couple coats of clear again. I decided it was easy enough to sand a little and reclear coat.

One thing you should know about 'dancing with death' or firting with death, or what ever you want to call it, is that your ability to be strong again in the face of death from that point on depends on how you answer the questions pointed out, such as why were you allowed to live, and what is the purpose of your life. I have my answers, and I believe in them.

My life has a purpose because I choose to give it one, and I am still alive because of a combination of care and good fortune.

I just happen to also believe you should have at least a few kicks while death is still content to dance\\/

I am editing out a good chunk of what was here. it really doesn't go well with this thread and comes from a rather dark side of me. sorry to have killed the mood.

[BentRod]

As far as the painting goes, I really have to say thank you, once again, to everyone on this forum. I was given step by step instructions, lists of what I would definately NEED, and what I might find handy. For anyone who is new to bikes and is reading this thread, you are in the right place here, and in good hands.

All and all i regret not using a 2 part clear. It really stinks to see my hard work get spoiled by petrol. For a while i kept a clean rag with hole in the middle of it and a bit of plastic attached to it in my pocket, so i could fill up and not worry too much, but that blew away.


Anyways. I must get back to work. sometime in the next week or so I will try to get another installment in.

[duaneage]

Use engine clear paint. Let it dry for a few weeks and it will resist gasoline. I have tested it and found it works.

[the_journeyman]

Just a note on buffing clearcoat. Using 00 or 000 steel wool to buff the clearcoat worked fantastic when I painted my GS1150. Just put a haze on the surface, blow debris off with air and you're ready for the next coat ~

JM

[BentRod]

Perks, Pros and The Glory of Riding a Motorcycle

As Promised.. if not a little late... sorry

So, how long does it take a blond to change a light bulb? That what the question I asked my friend when she vulenteered to help me work on the bike, and I asked her to change the now burned out tail light. For the record, I believe the answer was about 25 minutes, and she cracked the tail light cover. Thats the last time I let her near the bike. I'll stick with my cute redhead.

The first ride was...DRUM ROLL PLEASE!!
wait for it...

Wait for it !!--

WAIT---!!

Was


SLOW! and I was scared out of my mind! I took the Canadian equivalent to the MSF course, so I had SOME experience, but one of my friends was kind enough to follow in his truck, so no one would run up behind me. mostly I was afraid of myself. I would love to tell you all that I jumped on that motorcycle, and instantly I was a natural pro, but in all honesty, i think the only think I instantly became was an accident waiting to happen. To give you all some idea of how nutty I get, I was once stopped by police for doing about 80-85km/h in Toronto, on a 50km/h street... on a BICYCLE! Don't ask how. I have also been stopped while riding a shopping cart, but I was in first year of engineering.
Needless to day, I was a little nervous about getting ahead of myself. I constantly double checked everything I did and stayed about 5 below the speed limit. I actually had to head down to the MTO office to change the address on my license.

Later that day: I gave OldschoolOrange a call and asked if he wanted to go for a ride, and he offered to show me around the back roads and county lines. "But but but...That involves taking the highway!" I semi-calmly pointed out.. I was told "so get into gear and giver!" The argument was made that on the highway, everyone was going in the same direction, at about the same speed, so I should be just fine.

So it’s about 7pm and I’m all ready. Armoured jacket with all the straps set just right, Kevlar pants, sturdy hiking boots, carbon knuckled gloves, even the visor on my helmet is clean as a whistle.. Chris comes by, we fill up the tanks, and head to the on ramp, Chris leading… here we go!

WAAAHHHOOOO!!!!!!!!!
Oh man, I didn’t know 100kmh could feel so fast! I was scared sh!tless and loving it!! We merge with traffic and I calm down a bit. I can feel every quiver in the frame, every engine vibration, every bump and nook in the road. All I could think was ‘holy cow this is cool!’ we accelerated up to about 110 and made our way over to the Milton area. For the next 2 hours we travel past farmers’ fields and forest, railroad tracks and cliff faces. The air is crisp and has a slight chill in it, and I am glad I leaned out my engine. My little 400 is running pretty warm and is heating my legs rather nicely, got to love mid pegs. We hit the twisties and as Chris powers through them, I slow down a touch and take it easy, having no idea what my bike is going to do at speed. I push right and the bike leans effortlessly into the corner. I power out of it and into the next turn. I’m grinning from ear to ear and catching up. After about 180km, I’m on reserve and we pull into a gas station/Tim Horton’s coffee shop. I go in and politely ask the teenager behind the counter for 2 large coffees and if she could tell me what town I was in. “Eh? You’re in Acton, where did you come from?”. “Hamilton” I reply. The look I got back was entertaining to say the least. I had heard of Acton, but in all honesty had no idea where I was. Got directions back to the highway and sat down to drink my much needed coffee. Looking at my helmet I was somewhat disgusted by the state of my previously squeaky clean visor. The entire front of the helmet was covered in little bugs, as was my jacket. Looking back, I don’t think I have ever put as much effort into cleaning my visor as I did at that coffee shop, and I’m reasonably sure I still have residue from that ride still stuck to my brain bucket. Does anyone else use the squeegees as the gas station? I don’t even take the helmet off, just lean forward a bit.

We take the highway back to Hamilton, and get off at the east side of town. I took it easy getting to the west end, and cruise down the main streets of clubs and bars. I know that in one of them, a group of my friends is blowing paychecks on drinks for pretty girls, and nice dinners, and I feel good about my bike. I cannot afford to go out as much, and I have almost stopped drinking all together, but that is fine, because I have my motorcycle, and that is so much more satisfying. Oh, and I already have the girl!

NOTE to all you new guys reading this, Having a motorcycle IS as good as you thought it would be! Case in point. My new girlfriend loves it, bonus? Her PARENTS love it too. Fast forward about a week and a half from my first ride, and I’m getting ready to go to Bellville, with is about 300km from Hamilton, with a detour home to freak out my parents and tick off that annoying neighbour. A little much I though as far as travel time is concerned, so I broke it up into 100km stages. I know some of you will think that even that is a little much for riding solo on an old motorcycle, with barely a week and a half of riding experience. Well, by that point I had well over 1200km on the bike. So I figured, what the heck, I’ll give it a shot. I stop in Toronto and as predicted, the neighbour is less than thrilled, mom hates it, and Dad is trying to restrain himself from hopping on in front of my mom. I continue on to Bellville, and instead of stopping just do the remaining 200+km in one shot. I get to my girlfriends house and greet her parents, who look out at the black, SMOKING bike in the driveway. hmm,
Now, what would be the BEST words to here from your girlfriends dad? Perhaps, ‘oh what a nice bike’ or ‘that’s really cool’? How about “Hey, that’s just like my old bike!” oh ya baby, turns out the old guy had a 1983gs450L, not too far off of my 1981gs400L.

I probably had about 3 weeks of really good riding before problems started up again, and they were absolutely fantastic.

[Steve]

Does anyone else use the squeegees as the gas station? I don’t even take the helmet off, just lean forward a bit.

If you keep using the gas station squeege, your next move will be to throw the visor away. :shock:

I shudder when I have to use them on my glass windshield on the car. I refuse to even think of using them on plastic. Not on the visor, not on the windshield. Also, do not use paper towels. With continued use, paper towels are about as effective as 600-grit sandpaper. Much better to use your own wet microfiber cloth that you carry in a Zip-Loc sandwich bag. And, as much as possible, only wipe in an up-and-down direction.

It is inevitable to put some small scratches in the plastic, no matter how careful you are. Scratches are like mirrors in that they reflect light and the angle of reflection is equal to the angle of incidence. Most of the lights you see tend to originate above the horizon. If the scratch is horizontal, the light will also be reflected up, usually right into your eyes. If the scratch is vertical, the light will be reflected down, and you are not as likely to notice the scratch.


.

[SDK]

awesome read. hooked from the first to the last. hope she is still treating you nicely. as for the movie Run Lola Run great great movie. you can only watch it in German with English subtitles.

Shane

[BentRod]

Stop! HEY! what's that sound?

Stop. HEY! What’s that sound?

Anyone else a fan of Buffalo Springfield? no? a couple? nice!

Sorry everyone for my absence. I have just completed my first round of Midterm Examinations and managed to land a decent summer job.

so Where was I? ah right.. 3 weeks of blissful riding with a new paint job, great times! right up until just about everything that hadn't been replaced already started to snap, rattle and general fail at the most inconvenient times possible.
My three weeks of bliss came to a rather abrupt conclusion when the replacement throttle cable I had purchased SNAPPED. Well, that is what I get for buying a previously used throttle cable. More genius points for me I’m sure. Who would have thought that being uber cheap would have a down side?

Here is a lesson to new riders, Replace EVERYTHING that isn’t meant to be permanent. I mean every cable, the chain, starter motor brushes, even the FUSE, EVERYTHING. They will all go eventually, some more spectacularly than others.

I was riding home to Toronto from my student home in Hamilton (About 80km or so), and about 30km out the throttle cable goes, leaving me on the side of the road. I turned up the idle to about 4K and rode the shoulder to a gas station and dough nut shop. A quick call our favorite mechanic Chris, and the bike is on the back of his pick up, off to get a new throttle cable. Despite how desperate life seemed, I was to find that I got off easy that time.

Fast forward about a week or so, and I stop at the bank on the way home. I come back out, and wouldn’t ya know, the bike won’t start. I get a jump from a pick-up truck, but it won’t even turn over. CRUD. So I push the bike home and look at the wiring harness. While the battery sits on a charger.. I can’t see anything wrong.. I have no idea what to do and memories of a certain summer day playing with a tv are creeping through my mind. Time to call you know who.. CHRIS! He was pretty good about all these repairs, and I encouraged him to visit by keeping cases of cold beer around.
The wiring harness gets a looking over and we find nothing wrong.. ah. Gremlins! grrr…having just gotten this thing on the road, I was not particularly pleased, and the longer it took, the better that sledge hammer looked. We try starting and the 10amp resistor that is in place is glowing.. Test it and it shows something like 100 000 ohms… we wire the bike to bypass the fuse, and I head off to Canadian Tire and set up a blade type fuse to replace the original fuse system.

Any more trouble? Well I’m not getting stranded ever again, that’s for sure (Boy am I going to eat those words). I’m going to be ready, so I carry a tool kit and extra fuses, wire, tape.. etc..

I would eventually snap my clutch cable, blow lord knows how many light bulbs, and have my battery die on my 3 times while parked at a gas station/fast food joint/friends house.. but that is all pretty routine now..

The really bad stuff was my first accident.. and ya, it happens to just about every new rider… even you

but that is for next time

[madadam]

This story sounds strangely familiar...

Love the story so far... it hits very close to home for me as well.

I was not far away from you, on a co-op placement in Cambridge, Ontario between my third and fourth year of my mech eng degree when I was introduced to the wonderful world of motorcycles. Up to then I had steered clear of them; I knew I would love it but was afraid of them... the news is filled with talk of people dying on them (or not far away from what's left of them). Then a friend at work convinced me to come for a ride on the back of his, and afterwards we both knew I was instantly hooked. I knew I would like it, but didn't expect the sense of freedom and exhileration that comes with it. I was in love.

I bought my '82 GS400T, and, with much help from the above-mentoned friend, got the thing running before too long. It was in decent shape, considering, and it only took a new battery, fork seals, chain, rear tire, all fluids, and a fistful of lightbulbs and fuses to get it back on the road. Within the first month I travelled back to Ottawa for my sister's wedding, which is about a 5-hour drive by highway. I took a scenic route instead, going north of Toronto on the back roads, and it turned into an 11-hour ride through twisty countryside.

That was several years ago and now I'm back home in Ottawa. I've only had a few snags (snapped cables, etc) to deal with. So far I've been able to get by on a student budget (yeah I'm still a student, I must be a sucker for punishment and signed up for grad school). Thankfully I haven't hit any big problems, since I don't have a seasoned vet like Chris or my old friend in Cambridge to call upon when I'm stuck anymore.

Well that turned into a much longer post than the "hear, hear" that I originally intended. My apologies for the rambling . Looking forward to the next installment!

Cheers,
Adam

[Rider2898]

I'm in the middle of working the bugs out of 1981 Gs 750 EX. I'm 20 and this is my first bike. I love it. I had my first laydown about 2 weeks ago. Hope that doesn't happen again. This story is so much like my own it's rather amazing. Great reading. :-D