Hobo Jungle

[Mitch]

Really, Pete? The Huffington Post? I'm afraid there's just no hope at all for you, Buddy!

Hevman, next time he's down for a visit, smack 'im in the back of the head!

[hev52]

..................yea I'll slap him up along side the head alright plus drop kick his a$$ down S Groffdale........... .
I don't know what the hell there smokin' up there in Orangeville.....................

[The Dirt]

LOL!

I know a redhead that's tougher than the two of you put together!
I'm more afraid of your wives!

[britbloke]

Got my gorgeous old Vulcan Classic 1500 running again.

She's been sitting outside, uncovered, atop the septic tank as a lawn ornament for the last two years. Why? Because it had already been standing hard by the shore for two years prior to that so I reckoned it was a goner.

Last time I tried, had a new battery in her, fully charged, got a strange series of clicks from the starter motor and thanks to her weighing a quarter of a ton or more I couldn't bump it and there's no kickstarter! Motorcycles shouldnt come without kick starters.

Smelled the gas, it smelled like varnish, took the plugs - all 4! - out of her, tried to get the crankshaft to rotate and finally it did using a booster cable from a car but if a new battery wouldn't work then maybe the starter motor was buggered? So I put the plugs back in, hooked up a fresh gas line from an auxiliary tank (milk bottle) and tried again. Nada apart from one cough and some rattling noises from the valves. (Hydraulic tappets)

Well for various reasons of desperation had another go at her yesterday as a guy offered me cash for her and I reckoned even a badly running bike would get more than an unknown dud.

Put another new battery in, drained out three gallons of fossilized fuel even Stabil couldnt save for that long, got the dreaded ticking sound from the starter solenoid, was about to call it a day when I noticed that someone had shut off the fuel tap! I NEVER touch that, its almost hidden and vacuum operated so why bother? So maybe there never was a problem?

Well to cut a long story short, after some patience she started, first only on one and only at idle anything else would kill the motor but after a half hours nursing the other cylinder came back and I did ONE tentative circuit of our block.

Well boys, it made me feel so much better, almost youthful, lifted - however temporarily - all the load off my shoulders of recent days. Wonderful bike, superb motor, Kawasaki makes the best engines out there.

Using enormous restraint I parked her out front and decided to not take any unnecessary risks without a thorough checking over first, it was getting towards dusk anyway. Wake up this morning all bright and eager and ready to go and its bloody raining!

[rogruth]

So Mike,are you selling or keeping her?

The motorcycle that is.

[britbloke]

Roger I'm going to have to sell her fairly soon to keep the home fires burning. Still and all, not until either someone offers me such a good deal (in cash) that I cannot refuse it or until there's no other option. A new one costs over ten grand nowadays, I'm not letting her go for less than a grand.

Just took my son on a second maiden run *** shakedown ride since he needs to go to work, very miffed I won't let him ride it but frankly he lacks the necessary experience and a cool head both necessary especially until she settles down back into the groove.

It develops so much torque that a hiccup can really cause you problems, the back tyre can step out despite the slipper clutch, you can suddenly find yourself wrestling something big and heavy that doesnt want to stop. If the throttle cables had stuck he'd have gone down for sure, he's too over confident, too rash, tends to ride faster than he can cope with. Having treed a Honda 600 and even dropped my 50cc scooter from a back wheel slide, I'm not giving him a chance to ride it...he isn't happy about this but tough luck.

Beautiful ride, even so I didnt push my luck till I was sure all the systems were working properly, kept it down to 35, waved others to pass me, two or three hiccups were enough to show the main jets werent clear yet and even at idle she'll pull in all five gears. Its not that the acceleration is so blinding, its the way that it lunges on each power stroke, you cannot take chances when a cylinders playing silly buggers and cutting in and out like that.

Big twins cover ground a lot faster than you think - my speedo cable needs replacing - they sound lazy, the ride is soft and comfy, you can easily imagine you're hardly loafing along when in fact you're going damn fast. I had a Vincent 1000 that caught me out like that when I was young. Thought I was doing about 50 was doing 90 lulled into a false sense of security by the engine note. Couldn't get around the bend, smashed through a wooden fence, slid down an embankment and landed in the river fortunately just in the shallows. Useless brakes and girder forks, a modern bike would have made that bend.

Ten miles later she was almost back to normal, I'd given her a triple shot of magic juice to clean out the carb with, smells suspiciously like plain kerosene but seems to do the job. Only when I was on the home stretch, our own lane which is two straights and a dogleg, did I open her up and the rush was worth waiting for. I waited till then because if something had gone wrong I have empty fields on either side to ditch onto or at least I would be able to walk home. The last thing I needed was to break down in the middle of nowhere, you cannot push the thing more than 100yds tops.

I could cheerfully go out and ride all day but its about to rain again, I got lucky and had a window of opportunity between showers.

[rogruth]

Mike,

I understand.

Your description of riding is a much more eloquent version of what my son says about riding .
He has had a string of Harleys.Is still mad at me about not buying him one when he was in high school.
He is 57 and can get what he wants now.

[hev52]

Snow on the Buggy Wheel here in Lancaster Co Pa...................
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[rogruth]

I love to see snowy pictures,especially landscapes,but I am still very happy to be here where it seldom snows and when it does it doesn't last long.

[sarge]

So it is once again that time for tree photos, as we wait patiently for Tramp and Daisy to post their annual tour-de-forest.

Here at Dungfield Manor, we have:



Of course there must be trains and whimsey, so the Heir Apparent chose these for this year's themes, Thomas, Polar Express, and a monorail set we got at Disney World:



Meanwhile, the Lord of the Manor found five sets of these classics at a local jumble sale. I miss bubble-lights, and now we have added them to the Christmas repertoire.



So, now we lay in the cider, ale, log, and all that goes with it.

Happy Christmas to all from Dungfield Manor.

[hev52]

Looks hevy there Sarge.............. I 'm thinking of putting up a floor layout under the tree to, but I'm a bit worried about settin' up on the carpet. I have some Lionel Fasttrack. I guess it's high enough that the carpet fibers won't git in the gearing.

[Mitch]

Well, what ya do, Hevman, is take one of Patty's nice white sheets and put that down first. Then set up on that. Or, you'll just have to git some Fastrack if ya can find it cheap. Hell, I know they have it over at the Strasburg Museum store. I think it was MSRP + 25%!

WTF!! Fa$track.

It's amazin' that Fa$track can be used, but not with an S. How the hell does an 8 letter word become a 3 asterisk word?

[hev52]

Yea Fast track......................just for the Christmas layout. I wouldn't use it for my real layout. $hit is to damn noisey. Just my opinion.........................

Mitch ya have to use it in 2 parts I guess.........................

Fastrack...................

[rogruth]

Fastrack.

[rogruth]

Makes no sense at all.