Wed, Aug 12th, '26...

[ST1100Y]

Coffee isn't a sometime thing...
its an all the time thing...



some chilling 14°C zis mornin'... and I forgot to put my muff on...
anyhoo... glaring haze, not a cloud in sight and 28°C today...
seem like perfect conditions for awing at the partial solar eclipse tonight...

Nespresso at ze GF's...

Something weird happened:
she got up right away, got showered, dressed and came downstairs while I was still peacefully sipping on my mug...
that's new... that ain't normal... far from it... something's up, reality is changing, pixel errors in the sky...

commute flowing, wearing mesh gloves I briefly mulled over turning the grip heaters on, but dismissed it...

office Nescafé... <slurp>

today's motto (after last night's incident ...), and surely liked by @Sadlsor:

have a nice hump-day

 

[Chris09]

Thanks for the start Martin
Been some good weather here on the not so wet coast last couple of weeks not enough rain and some of the haze has kept temperatures down so it seems
Managed to get my insurance switched over to the Blackbird in time to ride it to the dentist and yes, I can finally say, it really is fun going to the dentist
Couple strange things on the bike front; had my first glitch with the ST. On call, phone ringing in my pocket [heck, darn - maybe not those words exactly] pull over
shut off the bike blah blah blah, okay good, don't have to go anywhere.
Restart and pull out riding along and everytime I ease off the throttle rpm drops, at one point stalls [or at least I think it did] drop a gear slip the clutch a bit restart
get the rpm up and play around with it to keep it running to make it back home It's definitely a different 700 lb plus creature when it's not working right
Went out and restarted it a couple days later, warmed up, up and down the sloped driveway
a bit - everything normal. I'm wondering if I inadvertently set the throttle lock or the way I shut it down and restarted it certainly distracted
If it's anything will cross that bridge so to speak when I switch back
On a brighter note, made major progress with my VStar 1100. I think from now on I'll call it "The Twins"
A problem I've played around with now for far too long - it's a hobby... right? No heat / combustion in the front cylinder. None, nothing, no matter what; it's like a thumper dragging along
a counterbalance shaft installed backwards and upside down; it runs smoothly until you give it some load and, well, don't do that.
It's a what you don't know world and what I learned about Twins is - don't have them. One can get really grumpy with the other and break stuff fortunately this is one time I
learned a bit from the mistakes of others. But like a lot of lessons, I had to tempt fate instead of doing things right.
After a lot of messing around I warmed it up on the rear cylinder and gradually got the rpm up to where I think it had to be drawing on the main jet; abruptly the front pocket must have fired and
rpm snapped up, must have been close to 4,000 shut it off, reduced the idle [drastically] and restarted it and finally after carbs in and out three or four times, fires on both cylinders.
Certainly had a substantially restricted idle jet initially that I managed to clear but as far as the rest goes... who knows... theories abound mine leans towards possibly a slide valve that failed
to modulate and finally the higher velocity popped it up.
In any event, if it works, it will remain a mystery that may haunt me the rest of my days...
Did I ever tell you about the time I broke two 318 crank shafts between 6 and 7 on two consecutive engines? Drove the first one home 30 km, sounded like a gravel crushed and looked like a bad femure - hip joint...
Should have kept that 7/8 end for a conversation piece
Wish everyone a good one and safe riding

 

[ST1100Y]

... phone ringing in my pocket [heck, darn - maybe not those words exactly] pull over shut off the bike blah blah blah, okay good, don't have to go anywhere.
Restart and pull out riding along and everytime I ease off the throttle rpm drops, at one point stalls [or at least I think it did]...

Sounds like a vapor lock...
while stationary, hence fuel pump off, the heat from the engine caused the gas in the carb bowls to boil, once you took off again the engine briefly starved of fuel, hence "gulped"...

I noticed similar already on my '92 after idling at a red light on hot summer days, light turns green, you take off, after 15~30ft a sudden loss of power... (nice when you've some kiddo in a car on your tail...)
Cured that by installing the 2nd air-duct from the pre '92 models, perfect ever since...

 

[Obo]

Morning all, from sunny WoodSToc.

15 and sunny, headed to 30. Going to be another warm one.

Kickstands up in about an hour so I need to get my bike (and rear) in gear.

Wish you were here.

OBO.

 

[steve3b3]

Good morning, and thanks for the coffee, Martin.

It's sunny and 68 here in MA this morning, and it feels nice through the screened slider.
It'll climb to 80, later, with a few clouds and a chance of a shower or T-Storm, much like yesterday's forecast.
Except we got no showers or T-Storms.

We had some cat drama this morning when the alarm on my watch went off at 6:30.
Brenda had shut the bedroom door so she/we could sleep past 5:45, and we had a very concerned Laguna waiting for me, along with her sister Kailua.
Breakfast must be had, along with coffee for me. Done and Done, an after some zoomies, it's quiet time, again.

Yesterday was a combo Club day and race school day. The road race school added some cars where the Club day guys were lacking.
After everything finished at around 4:30, Brenda and I got some sandwiches from the pizza joint down the street, before she went bowling.

Today, I'll head out to the gym in a bit, and the neighbor's pup could use some exercise as well.
The Wing could also use some exercise. Missed the ride to Woodstock, but as I told @catcher, I've been mostly off the bike since the Achilles injury. Have fun, up there.

Enjoy the day
Steve