Motorcycle Riders?

[KokomoDave]

My 2004 Springer has a headlight with a replaceable halogen bulb, bought new in October of 2003 so I know it has never been changed. Don't do much night riding anymore, at 73 I don't do much of anything after dark. I was coming home through the country and it seemed the headlight wasn't putting out as much light as it should. It was a 50/60 watt bulb and I replaced it with a 55/100 so lots of difference. Had a friend tell me the halogen bulb does not dim with age and if it was dim there was something wrong with my charging system. With the difference in wattage it is not an apples to apples comparison. What is your experience with old bulbs, do they get dim with age or is it my eyes? Jim.

I replaced all my bulbs with LEDs. My Fat Bob has dual front headlights which are now bright LEDs. My turn signals in front have the LED white halo that turns off for the yellow LED blinkers but switches back on when cancelled. I have red LED brake lights that strobes when first activated as well as the LED rear turn signals as I ride in the early morning hours to work. They made a HUGE difference in seeing and being seen. I bought mine at HD Kokomo and it's an easy swap. Just plug and play with the only tool being a phillips type screw-em down driver. No fuss / no muss and they draw less amperage.

 

[Clay Pigeon]

I replaced all my bulbs with LEDs. My Fat Bob has dual front headlights which are now bright LEDs. My turn signals in front have the LED white halo that turns off for the yellow LED blinkers but switches back on when cancelled. I have red LED brake lights that strobes when first activated as well as the LED rear turn signals as I ride in the early morning hours to work. They made a HUGE difference in seeing and being seen. I bought mine at HD Kokomo and it's an easy swap. Just plug and play with the only tool being a phillips type screw-em down driver. No fuss / no muss and they draw less amperage.

I'm looking seriously into changing over to led on my kickers and twin cam. I just ordered the module that will make the rear turn signals into brake lights and turn signals for the FXDC.
Its tough to take when you need to do three scooters, but when I ride next to or pass another bike with led's the difference is HUGE....

Did you go with the halo ring front headlight?

 

[Clay Pigeon]

A what?

I just hold it with my hand; it's really quite light.

[video=youtube;wJOGKCbvMo8]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wJOGKCbvMo8[/video]

In a time long ago....






[video=youtube_share;z0Q-7TAlw8M]https://youtu.be/z0Q-7TAlw8M[/video]

 

[KokomoDave]

I'm looking seriously into changing over to led on my kickers and twin cam. I just ordered the module that will make the rear turn signals into brake lights and turn signals for the FXDC.
Its tough to take when you need to do three scooters, but when I ride next to or pass another bike with led's the difference is HUGE....

Did you go with the halo ring front headlight?

Naw, too much money for the bling as I have the dual front lights. I do like my LEDs.
Wish I was cash tight to have kept my old bike, Superglide Sport with black Thunderheader. It was the base for Jax's bike on SOA.

 

[Clay Pigeon]

Naw, too much money for the bling as I have the dual front lights. I do like my LEDs.
Wish I was cash tight to have kept my old bike, Superglide Sport with black Thunderheader. It was the base for Jax's bike on SOA.

I'm a Super Glide, Low Rider fan since my first big twin. A 78 FXE, sold it and went to a new 1980 80 FXS that I still have...
I keep looking at Night Trains......

 

[KokomoDave]

I'm a hard core Dyna guy (my '12 Fat Bob is still a Dyna). I've never ridden a soft tail so I guess I don't know what I am missing. I am leaning toward a Big Dog type chopper with the big S&S / Revtec engines and Baker 6 speeds right meow as I never leave city limits like I used to. They just appeal to me for some dumb reason.

 

[Clay Pigeon]

I'm a hard core Dyna guy (my '12 Fat Bob is still a Dyna). I've never ridden a soft tail so I guess I don't know what I am missing. I am leaning toward a Big Dog type chopper with the big S&S / Revtec engines and Baker 6 speeds right meow as I never leave city limits like I used to. They just appeal to me for some dumb reason.

I got talked into taking a Dyna for a ride to teach me their are better things than Shovel's in the world. This FXDC is my first 6 speed so its different for sure.
What I like about the rubber Dyna besides the extra hp is it has that Shovel vibration up to 2,200 rpm. And the strange part it the cookie sheet never has any oil on it
Thats funny about the big motors, I was at Church's compound last week and we were talking about superchargers, I am thinking about doing a rebuild on my 80 fxs and putting a blower on it.

 

[KokomoDave]

Cool! Huffer on a shovel!! Mike O'Connor locally has a dresser with a huge supercharger on it. Of course, it is all chromed out and mean as a mad redhead.

 

[JettaKnight]

There was a dresser on it's side on Clinton St. this morning, and into front of it was a semi pointed the wrong way.

No clue, but maybe he saw a semi coming straight at him and laid it down.


The only civie I saw was standing, on a phone; I assume that was the rider.

 

[chezuki]

“Laid it down”... never the answer.

 

[JettaKnight]

“Laid it down”... never the answer.

Yup.

Metal and plastic on asphalt has a poor friction coefficient compared to rubber.

 

[melensdad]

I had previously cut and welded my wife's kickstand to shorten it.

The weld on one side cracked when the bike got dropped ON THE GRASS while I was teaching our foreign exchange student to ride. It looks like I can fix the crack while the kickstand is still attached to the bike. Obviously I didn't do a great job of welding the first time.

I know there is an electrical safety switch on the kickstand to prevent the bike from shifting in to gear while the kickstand is down and am wondering if the welding can screw up the electrical system if I leave the kickstand on the bike while doing the repair? Mig welding runs electricity through the metal. Would disconnecting the bike's battery be enough? Or do I even need to do that? Or do I need to remove the kickstand from the bike?

 

[terrehautian]

Finally great weather temperature wise to ride and all it does is rain. At least the grass is going good again.

 

[frenchiectfd2203]

Finally great weather temperature wise to ride and all it does is rain. At least the grass is going good again.

Mine has been stuck at the shop for the past week. Plus I have to work all weekend. No riding anytime soon.

 

[JCSR]

I had previously cut and welded my wife's kickstand to shorten it.

The weld on one side cracked when the bike got dropped ON THE GRASS while I was teaching our foreign exchange student to ride. It looks like I can fix the crack while the kickstand is still attached to the bike. Obviously I didn't do a great job of welding the first time.

I know there is an electrical safety switch on the kickstand to prevent the bike from shifting in to gear while the kickstand is down and am wondering if the welding can screw up the electrical system if I leave the kickstand on the bike while doing the repair? Mig welding runs electricity through the metal. Would disconnecting the bike's battery be enough? Or do I even need to do that? Or do I need to remove the kickstand from the bike?

I would disconnect the battery to isolate any electronics. Current through the frame won't hurt a mechanical switch but it may generate damaging heat. So the best and probably simplest solution is to remove the kickstand from the bike. That's what I would do. Good luck and lets us know how it goes.

 

[KokomoDave]

Is the kickstand real metal or cast crap? Cast doesn't hold a weld very well unless done with a metal warm up and very slow cool down.

 

[tv1217]

I'm going stir crazy in my apartment lol

 

[darkkevin]

The article says there was damage to the RIGHT SIDE of the truck. Wouldn't it be on the left if he was turning left??

Don

At least I'm not the only one who noticed that.

 

[bwframe]

I got work caught up, so time to ride came just this week.

Going through the prelims, I rolled the bike forward to move the valve stems appropriately.

Of course, I dropped the bike in the garage. Hopefully that gets the bike dropping out of the way for this year anyway. Top heavy bike gets dropped +/- once a year. More often in the gravel driveway.

Couple hundred miles in a couple days. Once I get on the bike, it's hard to get off...

 

[JCSR]

I got work caught up, so time to ride came just this week.

Going through the prelims, I rolled the bike forward to move the valve stems appropriately.

Of course, I dropped the bike in the garage. Hopefully that gets the bike dropping out of the way for this year anyway. Top heavy bike gets dropped +/- once a year. More often in the gravel driveway.

Couple hundred miles in a couple days. Once I get on the bike, it's hard to get off...

That sucks! Any damage? I dropped my RC51 once because I didn't get the kickstand locked down. It pinned me against the garage wall and I almost had to call 911 to get out!