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Sunday, January 30, 2005

Something Unexpected

So, I started a blog. What I didn't expect is that owning and posting a blog has turned into a small community of people who love to ride and read about others riding. I like the whole community blog thing. Some have posted my blog link on their pages, so the right thing to do is post some of the interesting places I have seen, here on my blog.

40 Years on 2 Wheels is a very interesting read. You can spend a very long time here. Through Two Wheel Rants I found the extremely helpful Motorcycle Blogbar. The BlogBar continiously looks for new and interesting motorcycle related bolgs. Once added to your web browser, all you need to do when you get bored is click the little down arrow... Up pops a list of hours and hours of reading. I found this one interesting: ride your own

I like meeting new people, no matter what you ride, so don't be shy about posting comments to my posts. I like to know what people think about my reality.

Saturday, January 29, 2005


It's snowing again. So, what do I do when I can't go for a ride? Cruise the various motorcycle forums on the internet. This picture came from The Adventure Rider Forum and shows exactly how I feel about winter. Is it spring yet? Posted by Hello

Saturday, January 22, 2005


GGGRRrrrrrr! Too much snow sticking around much too long. I am suffering from PMS (Parked Motorcycle Syndrome). I was planing on taking the front wheel off and brining it to the shop. I can't even do that as the weather is due to be freezing rain today (01/22/05) and tomorrow. It's certainly going to make work tonight interesting. Is it Spring yet?! Posted by Hello

Monday, January 17, 2005


The "Rider's of Vision" website forum is an absolute must for anyone who owns a Yamaha Vision. Someone on the forum recently posted about replacement mirrors. When I aquired my bike, I needed a mirror and the following is what I have on my bike. Posted by Hello


Here are the pictures I have on my Yamaha Vision. They are "Ken Sean" Mirrors and I believe I had gotten them from either J.C. Whitney or Dennis Kirk. I only needed one as there was already one on the bike. They work well without vibration and allow me to see beyond my shoulders. Sorry, don't remember what I paid for them, but it wasn't an unspeakable amount. Posted by Hello


Here is another picture of the Ken Sean mirror I have on the Vision Fairing. Notice how the mirror mount extends over the area it mounts onto the fairing. This is the only drawback from these mirrors. I have learned to live with it and I don't notice it any more. Posted by Hello

Thursday, January 13, 2005

Small Passenger

Okay, so I had a very small passenger on the bike with me today. You see, the wife wanted new fish in the fish tank, but didn't want to flush the one fish that was currently in the fish tank. So, we decided to donate the fish to the small fish pond at Ferrum College. The pond currently has no fish in it. The little guy got scooped out of his comfy home and placed in a coffee can and then strapped to the back of the bike. The fish actually traveled quite well on the twisty mountain to the college. The fish seemed to be quite happy when he/she swam out of the can into the pond.

Unfortuantely, four hours later when I checked on the little guy, he didn't appear to be moving very much. Well, if it's your time, what better than to have been on a motorcycle sometime prior during that day.

Saturday, January 08, 2005

New Heated Grips

The heated grips are installed. The process uploaded in reverse order so if you're interested in reading about it, you might want to scroll down to the 1st post for January 8th.

The grips work great. I rode to work yesterday, when the temperature was 44 degrees, I was wearing my summer "breathable/air flow" gloves and my palms were hot and the rest of my hands were warm. I rode the bike to get it inspected afterwards and rode for 40 miles with my hands staying nice and warm.

I got the bike inspected at Reed's Garage in Copper Hill. They refused to take any money for the inspection stating something like "I don't charge for bike inspections as it's my way of giving back to the biking community". After the inspection, I rode the 25 miles home with my winter gloves on. My winter gloves are considerably thicker than my summer gloves. I could still feel the heat through the gloves and when I got home, my hands were still nice and toasty warm.

Only drawback is the Clutch side gets slightly warmer than the Throttle side. My only guess is that the Clutch side is adhered to the metal bar and the Throttle to the plastic throttle sleeve. Who knows? In any event, definately a must upgrade for any motorcycle, especially my Vision.


I should mention that after I installed the new grips, I connected the wiring to the switch and the switch to the power source, before I installed the fairing and put the rest of the bike back together. I had an analog voltmeter attached to the dash (you can see it in a few pictures). I no longer use this voltmeter, since installing the digital voltmeter. I simply used the power lead to the analog voltmeter as it is on a switched circuit. Make sure you install the heated grips to a "switched circuit", otherwise if you forget and leave them on, you will come back to a dead battery. Posted by Hello


After I let the heated inserts sit for a while, I removed the electrical tape, squirted a little grip glue on the inserts near the outer end of the bar and slid the new grips on. A little twisting, tugging and pulling and they were on. The instructions said to let the glue sit, undistrurbed fro 8-10 hours. No problem. I reinstalled the fairing, ran the wires for the digital voltmeter and put the rest of the bike back together and waited over night. Posted by Hello


Next was to instal the Hi, Low, Off button on the dash. It was as simple as drilling the appropiate size hole and popping the button in. It was truly that simple. Posted by Hello


After the ridges were sanded off, I cleaned the area where the heated inserts will be stuck to the bars with rubbing alcohol. Once clean, peel the backing off the inserts and stick them to the bars. I then put some electrical tape on the inserts, temporarily, with the sticky side out (so it would not stick to the inserts), until the bonding agent set. Posted by Hello


I started by disconnecting the battery and then removing the fairing to get at the wiring behind the "dash" inside the fairing. I then removed the old grips with a phillips head screw driver and some windex. Worked great to remove the old grips without destroying them. I then had to sand down the ridges on the plastic throttle sleeve to create a flat bonding surface. Posted by Hello


The heated grip inserts are from Symtec and the new grips are from ProGrip. The inserts, I received for Christmas, and I think they run about $29.95. The grips from ProGrip, I ordered from California Sport Touring (http://www.casporttouring.com/) and were $9.95. The grip kit came with everything you need. I also ordered some grip glue from CA Sport Touring, it was a couple of bucks. Posted by Hello


I did it. My new heated grip inserts and new grips are installed on my Yamaha Vision. The process was quite easy. I think the hardest part was removing and reinstalling the Fairing and sanding down the ridges on the throttle insert. This picture is what I started with. Posted by Hello

Wednesday, January 05, 2005

The Weather Continues

Well, the weather is the best I have seen it since graduating from the Police Academy... And it's January!

Tuesday, Heather and I rode to Rocky Mount (2 up) for lunch. I think the bike handles better with 2 people on it. It was forecast to a better and better chance of rain as the day got later and later. I decided not to ride the bike to work. That was a mistake. The weather was great.

I did ride the bike to work last night and guess what... It rained. Not a lot of rain, but enough to make the ride home on wet roads. The wet roads really dirtied up the bike. Today, I am going to remove the fairing to attempt to install my new grips and heated grip inserts. So, I will clean a lot ot the dirt up during the process.

Monday, January 03, 2005

Year End Mileage

Mileage on the bike on December 31, 2004: 16574

Saturday, January 01, 2005

That wonderful winter weather

Today was incredible. 70 Degrees on New Years Day!

Met the TVR at Famous Anthony's in Roanoke. Had a good breakfast with some great conversation. Bill Lewis showed up with his BMW FrankenBike - Things a Monster. Most of the group gathered plans for a group ride somewhere. Bill advised he and his wife were going to go shopping in Lynchburg and were taking the bike. He invited me to tag along.

We left Roanoke on the Blue Ridge Parkway and then onto Rt. 24 East. We followed Rt. 24 until the New London area where we hopped up over to Rt. 460 to Lynchburg. I talked to Bill for a while at the Mall (the mention of inspection stickers came up) and then said my good-bye to head home.

Heading home I went back through New London and back onto Rt. 24. At the intersection of Rt. 122, I went South on Rt. 122. Outstanding day with lots and lots of bikes out enjoying this 70+ Degree day. From Rt. 122, I made a Right onto Rt. 116. A few miles on Rt. 116 and I came up on a Sheriff's Department Check Point. I offered my Driver's License which was looked over, some small talk about it being a nice day for a motorcycle ride, a look over the bike by the Deputy found that my inspection sticker was missing. Could that be? But Deputy, it should be right [me pointing to the left fork] there... Huh, it's not there.... What happened to it? Deputy advised that it looks like someone scrapped it off. I was dumbfounded, who would do such a thing and why? The Deputy gave me back my license and said to enjoy this beautiful day. Off I went.

Followed Rt. 116 to Boones Mill Road. Normally this is a great motorcycle road. That is if you don't get stuck behind a "cager" doing 15 mph under the speed limit. There is NO place to pass on Boones Mill Road. It was a long ride to Boones Mill. Once in Boones Mill, Bethleham Road to Callaway Road and then home. What a great day!

2 Day 2 Work

The weather the past two days has been pretty decent. Rode to work on Thursday and Friday, both great days. Thursday on the way home the Black Ice Alarm was going off like crazy. Not a big deal except that from the weather being so warm, at 3:00 AM, Ferrum Mountain Road had a lot of condensation on it. Was it ice? I didn't find any and made it home safely.

On Friday, on the way home from work, I nearly hit a Skunk with the bike. That truly would have sucked!

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