The Riding continues…

March 25, 2021

The more I learned about the bike from reading, riding, cleaning (constantly) and doing maintenance the more I fell in love with that beast. It was so much fun to ride. Now keep in mind my preference is to ride alone, that way I make my own decisions, go where I want to go and at the pace that makes me feel comfortable.

Funny thing is I started inventing reasons to ride, making excuses to go to the store or go visit some place around here I had not been in a long time, etc. Most of the time there was absolutely NO destination just go ride make a turn on perhaps a road not familiar and then another and another until I had no idea where I was. See the thing is on a bike you’re never lost just taking the long way home, which was always the case with me.

Now when I said riding alone was my preference didn’t mean that I’m anti-social, well some people say I am so what they heck, maybe that fits. 🙂 Actually riding with one or two other bikes might be fun on occasion but large group rides for me would not be my cup of tea.

As I started racking up the miles on the Yamaha, got the idea I might like to remember some of those rides in the back woods by video recording some rides. Great idea except equipment was needed to do that. Certainly wasn’t going to spend the kind of money that some do with the GoPro cameras etc. In searching found this Cheap Camera on Amazon. Of course it wasn’t the best quality but it came with a box full of different ways to attach it to the bike.

Really wanted to attach it to the handle bars but that was impossible since the front fairing would block it from view. On a few rides I mounted it to the engine crash bar on the right side which was ok except for the noise it picked up from the engine. Tried mounting it on the left side a couple of times and even attached it to the rear of the bike once to get a view of where I’d been. 🙂 Mounted it to the top of my helmet but the sticky mount that was suppose to hold it was weak at best. It flew off once and had to go back and find it.

Even though the camera wasn’t very professional it was under fifty bucks and did the basics of what I needed. It did have settings to change up a few things and took some testing to figure out what was best in this situation. Have to say that for the money it was pretty decent until I mounted it on the front of the fairing for a better view one day and at about 65 or 70 mph, that sucker flew off and I knew it would be impossible to find it since it was so small.

I’ll post one of the segments of a video that I recorded back in Feb of 2020 while riding in South Alabama. This time the camera was mounted on the crash bar so if viewing you might want to turn down or even off the sound. LOL

One thing to remember is I’m not an “Old Biker” by definition, just an old guy that loves the wind therapy of riding a motorcycle. “Old” only in relation to my birth certificate, much younger in my mind. 🙂 🙂

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Starting to Ride the Road Star

March 25, 2021

After learning all I could about the bike I really just wanted to get out and ride forever. Started off with a few short rides maybe fifteen to twenty miles each. That was fun but after a few days I needed more. Increased the riding time little by little each day that weather permitted and even some days that weren’t so nice. 🙂

That bike handled great, was a little heavy feeling at first on curves and turns but getting more accustomed to it’s response was fun and exciting when you found the right sweet spot for every situation. Bike had plenty of torque and power but always felt like it could use another gear higher. Was a five speed and would cruise easily at seventy five to eighty miles per hour but sounded as if it had a higher gear would have been better.

Previous owner had installed an after market Kuryakyn 9421 Pro Hypercharger air filter system. When you twisted the throttle that puppy would sing sweet sounds your way. Since I’m a firm believer in proper maintenance, noticed on the invoice where the previous owner had it worked on, they only showed replacing two of the four spark plugs. Yes, it is a V-Twin engine (only two cylinders) but it has two spark plugs for each cylinder. Well just had to check them out and replace all four at once, don’t believe in side stepping part of the job, lets do it all the right way. 🙂

Immediately searched Amazon and found the correct plugs instantly NGK Spark Plug DPR7EA-9- Set of 4. Installing them on the Road Star was a treat for sure, involved removing the gas tank and then using some mechanical skills to pull the plugs from those deep wells in the cylinder head and replacing them. All in all not a hard job just took a few to figure things out and was sure the next time they needed changing would be much easier.

According to the owners manual and the repair manual it recommended changing the oil every four thousand miles at most. Well usually I go a tad overboard. After about three thousand miles figured I needed to try my hand at changing the oil and filter. After all, I had the repair manual with detailed instructions and honestly I’ve always been mechanically inclined so shouldn’t be much of an issue, right? LOL

Really the toughest things about it was finding the correct drain plugs to drain the oil and then getting the oil filter off in such close quarters was more difficult than expected. As with the spark plugs, first time is the hardest so I learn quickly and instead of the normal oil filter I replaced it with a K&N HP filter. K&N Motorcycle Oil Filter: High Performance, Premium and if you notice it has a built in nut on the end which makes it much easier to get on and off in those tight situations.

I’ll just say it here I really like the K&N products for motorcycles, cars, trucks and other equipment they make products for. On top of that Amazon carries quite a few of their part numbers. Check it out …. Other K&N Filters and Products

The Spark Plug change, oil & filter change both happened within a weeks time when the bike had approximately twenty eight thousand plus miles in mid April of 2020.

Hope you stick around for more posts upcoming. Just hit the follow button as we will have more events to tell you about and maybe even some product reviews, some good and some not so good. 🙂

OH, almost forgot, below find some photos of this much talked about bike the Yamaha Road Star XV1700.

  • At Lake Jackson in Florala, Alabama

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The Yamaha

March 24, 2021

So as I stated in the last post my long awaited adventure on a bike started with the purchase of a 2005 Yamaha Road Star XV1700 touring bike. Shouldn’t say that’s where my adventure started actually since it really started a few years earlier when I had the thoughts in my head and then it got really intense when actually beginning the process of searching for the motorcycle.

Then of course after making the purchase and bringing that beauty home it was time to learn all I could about the bike, take it out to the back pasture, do some shifting, turning, just getting the feel. Honestly I was a little apprehensive as it was a big bike, weighed in somewhere around eight hundred fifty pounds, and to top it off I hadn’t ridden any motorcycle in the last ten to twelve years. Wanted to get the feel to basically see if I could handle that monster before I took it out on the road and totally embarrassed myself. 🙂

The previous owner had just had the bike worked over before he put it up for sale. Had a new gas tank, new tires, front forks had new seals installed just to name a few things. Also had a new belt, yes it had belt drive instead of a chain. He actually provided the receipt where all the work had been done. Bill total was somewhere around $3800, so I knew the bike had been really gone over and everything possible had been either replaced or repaired. That bad boy had hardly a blemish anywhere. Chrome was shiny no scratches, same with paint job. Beautiful for sure, even though it had like 25,000 miles on the odometer and was a 2005 model, it did not show it’s age.

My next task was find an owners manual and a repair manual online so I could learn more about the mechanics of it. Was able to download an owners manual for that year which helped with some of the questions in my head and next step was to order a repair manual for that specific bike. Pretty sure I purchased it from Amazon which might surprise you about them. Amazon has tons of stuff for motorcycles, I’m proof positive. Here is the link to their Clymer Motorcycle Manuals…. https://amzn.to/2QuMatn

Couldn’t stop myself from cleaning and shining it every single time I walked passed it parked on my carport. Found a great product for waterless cleaning and polishing. It was called Original Bike Spirits also found on Amazon, sorry I don’t have the photo or link for it but just put in Bike Spirits and I’m sure it will pop up. Two cans for about $15 if my memory is correct. Oh and you can use it on anything, chrome, plastic, glass, leather, etc. just about anything but cloth and it does a fantastic job.

Yes I wanted to learn more and more about that bike but I also wanted to get that honey out on the road and feel what I hadn’t felt in a long time. Some call it “wind therapy” and I certainly have to agree. Post is getting long so tell you more about this bike and my experiences in the next few posts upcoming. Stay tuned.

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How It Started

March 18, 2021

Now I’m not going to go back to when I first started riding motorcycles, just gonna talk about these latest experiences with motorcycle riding. This latest rage started in 2019 after my two grandsons had graduated from high school and were out doing their own thing. I was seventy one years of age at the time. 🙂

Had been searching online for a bike for months and the more I searched the more the desire was taking over to get back on a bike. Since I’m not a wealthy person, of course price was important. Really wanted a touring style bike but had never ridden one that large or heavy but was thinking of doing some long distance riding.

After a whole lot of searching and looking at different bikes finally saw one at Rucker’s Auto & Motorcycle Sales in Enterprise, Al. that really appealed to my taste. Was a 2005 Yamaha Roadstar XV1700, loaded with bat wing wind jammer, radio, stereo system, with blue tooth capabilities. Pretty much all the bells and whistles a person could ask for including a phone charger holder and hookup to charge it. Photo below is the day (Oct 21, 2019) I trailered it home since I was unsure I could actually ride it home safely.

That bike with all the accessories weighed in at about 800+ pounds of bone shaking fury. Had Vanes & Hines exhaust which on that 1670cc engine was, let’s just say LOUD! 🙂 Loved it, had awesome torque and horsepower.

Ok, so tell you more about my experiences with that bike in the next post!

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Why I Ride

March 11, 2021

Valid question that I’m asked many times, Why do you and what do you get out of riding? Especially after my accident back in June of 2020 (more on that later), plus the fact that I’m an old fart. People just do not understand the desire to ride a motorcycle.

I’ve ridden in the past, on two wheels (motorcycle) for a while and then off again but basically been doing some riding since I was probably eighteen or nineteen years old. Never really took a formal training class but more on that in later posts.

Why I ride is simple. Totally enjoy the feeling of freedom and excitement. Now I could stop talking there because that is ninety percent of why!

What I get out of it is peace and relaxation. Riding focuses the brain to only think about your riding and the dangers lurking around every corner, over each hill, and through intersections and any side roads coming your way. Removes any other thoughts from your mind therefore even relieving tensions from an exceptionally bad day. 🙂

There’s a thrill from the sound of a V-Twin rumbling beneath you, a feeling of freedom from the wind blowing in your face. Just a feeling not easy to describe, but rather one that has to be experienced!

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