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NickDG

Winter Bike Project . . .

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Hey Nick,

Based on real world experience...

You could take Nina's tanks to your local automobile raditaor shop, and have them boiled out in the hot tank.

That will remove all traces of rust, or anything else for that matter, from the interior of the tank.

Then the rad shop can seal the interior of the tank with an epoxy that will still be there long after you and I have both crossed over to the other side. (And I'm gonna live another 40 years)

Next project.

HTH

359
"Now I've settled down,
in a quiet little town,
and forgot about everything"

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Ok, here's how I feel about that.

Sealers are almost a must with aftermarket tanks, the ones most likely to have or develop pinhole leaks in or around bad welds. Nina's tanks are real MoCo ones. And I already pressure checked them and they are fine.

I've also read too many horror stories about these sealers peeling and making a bit mess. If anything gets into the carb, I don't want it to be that stuff.

Lastly, I've never run it in any bike I've had in the past, and in general people have been using un-coated tanks for a hundred years, so why all of a sudden do you need a sealer?

Naw, too new newfangled to me . . .

NickD :)

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I put up my hillbilly paint booth up today so primer, sand, and paint in the morning . . .

I also finally found a decent oil tank. I'm running my battery in a box that sits behind the transmission so I needed a round oil tank (not partial to the horseshoe ones) without a battery box built in. And decent ones are hard to find at good prices.

I found an outfit that builds good ones and sells them for $114. They are 4 quart and have the proper standoffs inside. But they had an internet auction and I got one for 69.99! When I got it and saw how well it was built I almost wanted to send them another fifty bucks out of guilt. It's a raw steel tank so I'm thinking polishing it might look all right.

NickD :)

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Great deal on the tank!

I am still waiting to get mine to paint. Last week the guys wife broke her hip on friday and this week we get 4 inches of snow.
They live in the N. Ga mountains.
Just my luck.
LifeshouldNOTbeajourneytothegravewithawellpreservedbody,buttskidinsideways,cigarinone hand,martiniintheother,bodythoroughlyused upandscreaming:"WOO HOO!! What a ride!!!"

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Yeah, I might just wind up painting the oil tank. Polishing might be too much work . . .

I built myself a Hillbilly Wheel Balancer today!

It's just two jack-stands, four small wheel bearings, steel strap and some round stock. It was cheap to make and spins like a dream.

The only issue was getting the bearings. The local hardware store wanted 12 bucks apiece for them (Made in China) and I needed four. I'd bet they don't pay a buck each for them wholesale.

Then I had brainstorm and went down to the local skate shop and got a pack of eight wheel bearings for $15.00! And these, the kid behind the counter assured me, are lubricated with Speed Cream, LOL . . .

NickD :)

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I'd love to know how you balance a tire at home... Every shop I've seen uses some fandangled machine that tells them where and how.

Care to share? :)

Some people refrain from beating a dead horse. Personally, I find a myriad of entertainment value when beating it until it becomes a horse-smoothie.

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It's not too hard . . .

You start with a gentle spin. When it stops mark the six o'clock position on the tire with chalk, and spin it again. When it stops the second time, if your chalk make is in the six o'clock position again that's the heavy side. But spin it one more time to make sure. (If out of balance it will always stop with the heavy side on the bottom.) If the chalk mark winds up in random places over a half dozen spins or so the tire is all ready in balance and you're done.

If it's out of balance you place lead weight at the 12 o'clock position (opposite the heavy side.) You can use either the spoke type weights or the rim type adhesive ones.

This will work on a home made machine only if you get it setup to spin with the least amount of friction possible. Also the wheel must have the brake disc (front tire) or brake disc and chain sprocket (rear tire) installed.

Once the weight is on you spin it again and mark the bottom. Then spin it several more times looking for that random stopping point action.

The only other thing is if it's a new tire it probably has a small red dot on the sidewall (placed there by the factory) and when mounting the tire on the rim that red dot should be lined up with the valve stem as the red dot is the lightest side of the tire.

There is also a product out now that bypasses all this. It's called Dyna Beads and you actually put them inside the tire and it balances it out as the tire rolls. They're here: http://www.innovativebalancing.com/

They are are a bit too "new" school for me and if you get a flat and plug the tire to get home the beads will stick to the glue on the plug and really throw the tire dangerously out of balance. But everyone raves about them . . .

NickD :)

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>>Because all those hard-core RUBs call the tow truck if they get a flat!;)
Definitely a different breed of cat out there today. And most of them are crying the blues about being upside down on their $20,000 store bought Harleys.

One upside though is even as more states pass new noise and emission laws, and even embrace "motorcycle only" checkpoints (sheesh wake up, America) there's so many more bikes on the road it makes it harder for the cops to hassle any one guy. I can remember when riding a Harley made you the target of every cop in town.

But cops today figure that while a badass on a chopper might be a stone cold killer, he's more likely a pleasant dentist from Pasadena. After all, you meet the nicest people on a Harley, LOL!

Here's a couple vids I saw yesterday that are pretty good . . .

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DTfi2cCW2CI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zChsHuiPeyk

NickD :)

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Quote

>>Because all those hard-core RUBs call the tow truck if they get a flat!;)
Definitely a different breed of cat out there today. And most of them are crying the blues about being upside down on their $20,000 store bought Harleys.

One upside though is even as more states pass new noise and emission laws, and even embrace "motorcycle only" checkpoints (sheesh wake up, America) there's so many more bikes on the road it makes it harder for the cops to hassle any one guy. I can remember when riding a Harley made you the target of every cop in town.

But cops today figure that while a badass on a chopper might be a stone cold killer, he's more likely a pleasant dentist from Pasadena. After all, you meet the nicest people on a Harley, LOL!

Here's a couple vids I saw yesterday that are pretty good . . .

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DTfi2cCW2CI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zChsHuiPeyk

NickD :)



Why am I never mistaken for a dentist?[:/]
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v400/onekick/apes/waterfall116.jpg

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I re-did them with Ospho (Phosphoric Acid) and it got what little rust was left in the tanks out, but thanks for the offer.

It that hadn't worked I was going to use the electrolytic reverse plating process method. That's filling the tank with water and a small amount of baking soda. then hanging a sacrificial metal inside the tank and running a small amount of electric current through it. It takes a day or two but works . . .

NickD :)

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Another cold & wet storm heading in this week is preventing me from finishing up on Nina's paint job so the other day I'm puttering around the garage and surfing the web with a few brews. I was reading the "American Iron" (the magazine) web forum when I saw someone ask something which is the best motorcycle magazine? So I fired off the below. But when I hit post I received a message it was being held pending moderation. I'd posted there before without getting that, so thought oh well, this will never see the light of day. But a few days later there it was. I gotta say, since it was critical of their own magazine, I respect an outfit like that . . .

------------------------------------------------------------

Which magazine would I suggest? It depends on where you are in time.

For the most part all the mainstream motorcycle magazines share the same traits and flaws. If new to bikes it's mostly all good, if you've been around a while it's mostly all bad.

These magazines are, first and foremost, adwells. That is they live and die on selling advertising space. So that means no matter what they say - you the reader comes second. When Big Bear Choppers had necks snapping off their frames due to poor welds and a government initiated recall was announced not one of these magazines that took Big Bear advertising said a peep about it at the time. But they all kept running Big Bear’s advertising copy.

Reviews of accessories are tainted too. You get pablum straight from the manufacture, "It's the lightest, it's the strongest, it's the best, and it’s the most innovative!" Or you get a staff writer that can always find something good to say about anything while leaving out the flaws. Just once I'd like to see someone call a product a piece of dung. It’s never going to happen though as there's always a chance that product manufacturer might become future advertising revenue.

Bike reviews from big manufacturers? If they slam a bike too hard, or at all, they never get another one to review. So all you get is happy talk.

One-off bike reviews owned by individuals? Some of the photographs can be interesting idea wise if you're building a machine yourself. But if you're a bolt on accessory type biker with a stocker, it's just so much eye candy. Not to mention that "Hey, I'm a writer" first paragraph of dribble you always have to wade through with those articles. If interested in the bike being featured start with the second paragraph and save an inevitable sigh.

Then there are the front end columnists. Man, where to start? It seems they get a schedule of stories for the year. It's the same “Spring Cleaning your Bike” story followed by the "Brushing up on your Skills” piece every April - year in and year out ad nauseam. Then there's the obligatory "How to Photograph your Bike" and so boilerplate it's obviously written by someone who wouldn't know a f-stop if they tripped over one. And the always perplexing "Where are we Going?" story that purports to map out the future of motorcycling but never gets it right.

Travel and run stories? The former is always about some ball of yarn off Route 22 (or something equally non-enticing) and you can always get better travel info elsewhere. The latter, well, I’ll save you some time. Here’s how they all go. “We took off late, met up with Tiny, hit some weather, got something to eat, went to a party, and came home exhausted and vowing to go again next year.”

And now there's a new wrinkle in many motorcycle magazines. Woman columnists. Probably because some "Where are we Going?" piece mentioned more woman are riding and they realized they can up their readership and thus their advertising rates. As a male reader if I wanted a female point of view I'd sit in the living room with my old lady not out in the garage with a brew and a motorcycle magazine.

The “How To” articles? I think in all the years I’ve been reading these magazines they were featuring what I happened to be doing, well, never. Sure, you’ll cut the articles out for later but you’ll never find them when later comes, trust me. These pieces are also thinly veiled advertisements for independent shops, or accessory manufactures, and a swap of publicity for labor on some project bike the magazine is doing. Throw in the tiny black & white photographs and cryptic captions, never mind it’s not even the model bike you own, and it’s another waste of space. But of course it’s not really. All this filler serves up more pages and more advertising space.

How about the non-mainstream motorcycle magazines? The ones like “The Horse” and “Easy Rider?” I once, many years ago, found Easy Rider to be the best magazine out there. But I grew up and Easy Rider did not. (And why I said up front it depends on where you are in time.) Both of these magazines are stuck in perpetual adolescence with their only saving grace being they show boobs.

So what’s the best magazine out there today? I won’t leave you in suspense, it’s this one “American Iron” flaws and all. And I say that simply on the strength of Donny Peterson’s “Techline” articles. They are worth the cover price on every issue.

Lastly, here’s one final tip. When I look at the piles and piles of motorcycle magazines sitting in my garage I realized (finally) I could actually have that $3500 Baker six speed, and a lot of other cool stuff, these magazines advertise, if I’d just stop buying the damn magazines . . .

NickD :)

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LOL, ya nailed it! I haven't bought a Magazine since my wifes 47 was featured in the 200th issue of Easyrider , (they gave us a lifetime subscription, that ran out in 3 years) [:/] Said it was lost in a computer glitch!

Her Feature:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v400/onekick/apes/our472.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v400/onekick/apes/our47.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v400/onekick/apes/our473.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v400/onekick/covershot.jpg

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I never count PARACHUTIST. If you can't get your mug in there you just ain't trying.

The Hustler "spread" (boy that just works in a context sense ;)) was a double naked tandem with Anne as TM and some female porn star as passenger. And yes, it "was" a fun gear check!

NickD :)

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