phpaul

Friend took pity on my and volunteered to run down with me to pick it up today versus waiting until Saturday when my daughter was available.

100-ish mile drive back went off without a hitch.  Noticed a couple of little niggles like a shimmy at 56-58MPH and the rear window in the convertible top is pretty cloudy.  Other than that, ran like a watch and the dash reported a hair over 20MPG average which is WAY better than I expected.

I'll have my mechanic check the balance on the tires and I need to put some new wiper blades on it, but other than that it's gas it up (Owwww....I put $70 worth of mid-grade in it...) and drive it!

Got that Vette bought.  Exactly as advertised, 20,435 miles on the clock, immaculate inside and out.  Some very minor paint issues by the driver's side headlight which he mentioned when we were texting back and forth.

Test drive was brief due to lack of gas and rain (he said he was pretty sure that's the first time it had ever been rained on...) but ran good, clutch was good, shifted well and no squeaks or rattles even on a rough dirt road on the way to pavement.

Got insurance and tags taken care of, going back Saturday to pick it up.

Going to look at a 1990 C4 Vette, 350/6 speed tomorrow.  Price is right, car SOUNDS good but the Mark I Eyeball is the final test.

A 'vette is on my shopping list, but access issues place it down the list a ways.  Not to mention my limited budget...

I swung by 3 used car dealers today and gave them my requirements.  Nobody had anything on the lot or in inventory, but they took notes and my cell number and will let me know if anything comes up.

I have seen several likely candidates on Craigslist but they're all half a state away.  Spending a day to go look at something and finding out they lied, OR liking it and then figuring out how to get it home is going to be a lot of work and I'm in no particular hurry so we'll let things simmer for a while and see what floats to the top.

Funny you guys should mention it...

A Miata is a no-go, can't get my fat carcass in/out of it.  I know, I test drove a friend's.  Thought I wanted a Jeep CJ/Wrangler until I drove one.  ZERO plans for non-pavement driving, so the other drawbacks aren't worth the trouble.

Going to go look at some Gen4/5 Mustangs over the next few days.  First step is to see if I can get in/out of THEM.  No ragtops tho, never saw the attraction.  8 cylinders and a clutch are mandatory, everything else is optional.

18 hours ago, jcarlson9 said:

As I get more used to my 2016 FJ 900 I tried experimenting with wheeling. So in the A mode from a near dead stop I pinned it thinking the front was gonna come up real quick. It did not. It did one of those 1 Inch off the ground whillie. Then I realized, traction control  was on. So if I try this with the TCN off will it bring the front wheel up? Thanks

You betcher bippy it will!  Be DARN careful in 1st, and whack second with caution.  When riding with unrestrained exuberance (my preferred mode... ) I've been known to get "bunny hops" in second with the TC on...

5 hours ago, nomikem said:

Oh! like that Garage! Nicely outfitted.

The FJ and the Ninja are mine, the V-star belongs to my grandson and the Beemer belongs to a friend.  The Beemer is for sale, I just spiffed it up a bit and I'll put it out there April 1st and see if we get any bites.

Just turned 72 last Friday.  Been riding since '67 or maybe '68 (Don't remember).

I'm glad to know I'm not the only one what would rather ride solo.  I occasionally rode with my daughter and grandson just for the family time, but other than that I dislike riding with others for reasons others have already addressed.

It's been a long time since I've done more than 200-ish miles for any reason.  Virtually all of my riding is day rides, usually around 100 miles.  Combination of discomfort and no real reason to go further.  Plus, while my wife supports my need to ride, being gone overnight would not set well without a VERY good reason.  I don't have any major issues with back pain, mostly my bony butt lets me know it's time to get off the bike for a while.  One of the reasons I love the FJ is the upright riding position.

I feel like my skills are still more than adequate and I do ride...um..."exuberantly".  In fact I had a little chat with Smokey just the other day...  

Like anybody that's aging, I'm slowing down a little here and there, but I'm watching carefully for any deterioration in balance or reaction times serious enough to affect my ability to ride safely.   Pretty sure I'll know when it's time to hang up the helmet.

51 minutes ago, 2and3cylinders said:

My wife knows how extremely forgetful I am and thus handles our personal and company finances, with my life insurance premium on auto-pay.

When I'm heading out the door for a putt, she'll say "Have a nice ride, and don't worry about not making me a rich widow".

My  wife is...ummmm...more chronologically gifted than I am and is counting on me to be her nursemaid.  Therefore her parting words when I decide to go for a ride are "Come back in one piece and NOT in a body bag!"

Cheerful, that's what she is.

1 hour ago, Heavy said:

My wife says I'm a 15 year old fool in an 80 year old body.  🤪

Your's too?  

Center stand "cowboy mount"  (I like that!) is my preferred method.  Problem is getting off as I have to put it on the side stand, get off and then put it up on the center stand.  Once, while parked on the grass at a motorcycle show, the side stand dug in, I hooked a boot lace on the tail bag and the whole works landed on top of me.  The crowd in the parking area was considerate enough to turn away before they started laughing...

Using the "put your foot on the tang, grab the luggage rail and lift while pushing down with your foot" method makes it easy to get on the center stand, and I can still rock it off the stand after mounting without tipping over.

No odd noises that I can't attribute to knees... 

1 hour ago, roadrash83 said:

phpaul, I don't see any XS650's in your pic's? I hope you haven't gone all modern on us🙂

Yeah, pretty much.  The XS was fun 40 years and as many pounds ago.  Not so much now...  I relived that for several years around 2010 or so, but the FJ, modern suspension, fuel injection and ABS pretty much took the shine off the Nostalgia Bike thing...   And Sweet Mother of Pearl, that CP3 engine...  I've been riding that bike for 7 seasons now and I still giggle like an 8 year old girl at a pajama party when I grab a handful of that thing!

Yeah, I wouldn't want to ride the Ninja all day, or even for more than a couple of hours, but it's pretty fun in the twisties.

Daughter sold it partly for health reasons, and if she gets to a point where she wants to ride again, it'll be right here.

To let you know I'm still breathing.  

Pretty good Summer, didn't do a lot of riding this year, probably less than 1000 miles.     Generally busy, plus family stuff.

I bought my daughter's 2022 Ninja 400 from her (because reasons...) and am rediscovering the fun of a little bike.  Kinda half-way looking for a set of used bags for the FJ as I'm starting to have problems swinging my leg up and over the tail bag, but I need the storage as I use the FJ a lot for quick trips to the grocery store.

Between my two, the grandson and a neighbor, I've got a garage bay full of bikes for the Winter.  Even ran a new circuit to support all the battery tenders!

I went for a nice long ride yesterday.  Perfect weather, lots of motorcycles out.

Normally, ANYBODY on two or three wheels waves or waves back, regardless of respective brands/styles.

I noticed yesterday that about 80% of the Harley riders were ignoring me. 

When I stopped to gas up, there was a line behind me so I pushed the bike out of the way as soon as I was full and did my bookkeeping and gear replacement out in the parking area.  There were 3 Harleys and riders right there, never looked at me or acknowledged me in any way.

Years ago, that used to be the norm - Harley riders only acknowledged other Harley riders.  Hadn't seen that in the last 4-5 years tho.

I suspect my '16 FJ, as modified, will last me until I'm done riding.  I'm 70 and still ride aggressively when circumstances permit, but touring or multi-day rides are a thing of the past.

I bought mine sans bags and pretty quickly ditched the windscreen, hand guards and that hemorrhoid they called a tail light mount.  I've added a flash, stiffer springs and a re-valve in the forks for my 210 pound behind, a ZX shock on the rear, a full Higdonian cage and skid plate, radiator guard, handlebar risers, bar end weights, a Corbin seat and the Bolt clutch arm with a new clutch cable.

Those mods, a tank bag and a tail bag make a very satisfying bike for me.

And yeah, that motor...

2 minutes ago, Wintersdark said:

Why do they do this?  

If I was gonna guess, I'd say they know that straight pipes require re-jetting, but haven't a clue how to do it so they just throw in a couple of sizes larger and call it good.

@Wintersdark - Yup, one of those was plenty for me as well, and for all the same reasons.  Plus most of those Harley's were running REAL rich for some reason and the fumes gave me a headache that lasted for a couple of days.

I don't play well with others on the best days, that was just a freakin' nightmare.

Just got back from having a fresh set of Michelin Road 4's installed.  This is the third set of sneakers for my '16 FJ with 18,500 miles on it.  The OEM Dunlops were trashed at 6K miles IIRC, the first set of Michelins lasted 12K and were a MUCH better choice in every respect.  Looking at the new rear vs. the old one, I might have pushed things a bit, mileage wise.

We looked over the chain and rear sprocket (which are the originals) and while they look good visually  with no excessive wear, saw-toothing or play in the side plates of the chain, I'm of the opinion that 18K miles is quite a lot and they don't owe me a thing.  Replacing on mileage vs. observed wear just seems prudent.

Having said that, who do we like (brand and source) for new chain and front and rear sprockets?  I'm perfectly happy with the existing ratio, not looking to change that.

When it takes you 3 hours to go get a loaf of bread at a store 20 minutes away.

As the FJ is my first injected bike, I guess I'm too inexperienced to see the problem.

On rough roads (and we have a lot of them around here...) where a twitchy throttle is a pain, I just put it in B mode.  As soon as I hit the main road, it's right back in A mode.

That RIGHT NOW power is the thing I love most about the FJ.  If yer gonna turn the wick, you'd best be hanging on!

If I wanted a smoooooooooooooooooooooooooth, boring Road Sofa, I'd get a 'wang.

I'm pretty sure that if you read the fine print at the bottom of the sales contract, it's REQUIRED to spin the speedo up to 3 digits at least once on every ride.

Or maybe not, but I'm not taking any chances and mileage be damned!