Recent content by dakotamiles

Nice color on your bike! I have the opposite question - what about painting the black plastic? Things inside the box get cooked in the sun in the summer - has anyone painted the plastic part a lighter color? How does one paint that kind of plastic?

Checked the washed-out highway bridge in Lusk, Wyoming. Yup, it's still out. Fixing it's going to be a big project.

I think those scratches are badges of honor. They show that your bike occupies the real world, and has been out in it! True story: A guy who was poor as a young man finally made enough money to buy a brand new pickup truck, so he went to the dealer and picked one out. After closing the deal...

Plus, of course, the problem with electronic ignition.

Thanks for this excellent post, and detailed solution! And thanks to Therapy for alerting me to this post. I too had this problem - once. Not understanding the electronics (except suspecting that a relay had not shut off) I had a much simpler theory - my battery went dead after I turned the...

No, it was not wearing fast yet, at least not "stretching". I'm now wondering how soon I'll have to adjust the tension with this new chain. It seems like it will take a few miles before it "wears in" - if it even does that.

I appreciate the various threads here about chain maintenance. Particularly since I was doing it wrong with my original chain! It was starting to develop tight links after 8k miles due to solvent abuse - I had been cleaning it with gasoline because I didn't think enough about what I should...

This is only my second time replacing a chain and sprockets and the first time I used a clip-type master link on a motorcycle. I wanted to make sure I had everything right. I read through this thread to find the torques for the sprocket bolt (40 ft lb) and the rear sprocket nuts (80 ft lb)...

Progress report: I have had no more battery problems since my first report here. I used the trickle charger for most of the winter when I wasn't riding (sorry, OCR, I wanted to stay off the ice) and it's been parked and ridden alternately since the summer began, no trickle charger used since...

I ordered chain and sprockets from Sprocket Center about 10 days ago and they just arrived. They were a little slow on emailing me a shipment notification, but the parts did come! So far I have no complaints.

Had a lovely ride from Laramie Wy to Fort Collins, Co. That area is beautiful, especially this time of year!

I hope Honda notices. They should be trying to protect their reputation.

Previous ride: Yamaha Virago 250 Pros: It was cheap to buy, ran well, got 60 mpg Cons: You can guess. I got really tired after 200 miles and had trouble keeping up on the interstate anytime I had a headwind (about half the time). I am tall and it was really a small bike! NC: Pros: Better...

I have the Barkbusters and the heated grips. I expect they will work for me down to about 40F if I wear my winter gloves. The barkbusters didn't quite clear the tall Honda windscreen so I had to grind a tiny bit of it off. Also, when I turn on the heated grips my MPGs go way down.

Basically, I won't turn the key unless I'm going for a ride soon.