NickDG

I could make plain Jane seats all day long and off 'em on E-bay, but people want custom leather with tooled designs in them. You have to be somewhat more artistic than I am for that. I just came back from helping a friend with his bike that wouldn't start. It's a '99 first year Twin Cam but with a carburetor instead of fuel injection. He got it for $6000 and it only has 20G on the odometer. The mixture screw on the CV carb was too far out, so I fixed that, and it started, but it wouldn't idle without dying. If you keep twisting the throttle it would run so I knew the accelerator pump was working and the problem had to be in the one of the other fuel delivery circuits. I brought a CV rebuild kit with me so I pulled the carb and rebuilt it figuring being 11 years old with so little mileage on it all the rubber seals and diaphragms were toasted. I put it back on and it did the same thing. So I was kinda stumped but knew it had to be a fuel delivery problem. I tried taking the fuel caps off to see if it was pressure locking from a bad fuel vent but that wasn't it either. So then I looked at his fuel petcock and noticed it looked a lot different than the one on Nina. So I looked it up on my Droid X phone and sure enough instead of being purely mechanical this was a vacuum operated petcock. And there was a recall on it. I guess Harley started using those in 1999 for some EPA crap. I drained his fatbobs, pulled the petcock, and ran down to the dealer and got another one and installed it. She fires up and runs like a champ now and my friend things I'm a freaking genius, LOL! You have the right idea, Gypsy, stick with the older stuff! NickD

First they get rid of the Camera Flyers, next the Manifest Girls (or Boys) will be replaced by ticket dispensing machines, and then they'll take aim on getting rid of the Instructors . . . NickD

I've had a Droid X for about 4 months now. No issues with it and it does it all, and once I put the new higher capacity battery in it, it gets decent battery life. Plus it has Flash. NickD

Well here goes seat number four. The original one I had wasn't working. The two I purchased off E-Bay were close but not spot on, so I decided to just make my own seat. The problem with the last two was neither seat pan was thick enough to resist bending, and the amount of kick up in the rear wasn't high or deep enough to hold me in place. The glue on the pad is drying right now on the new one and tomorrow I'll make the cover . . . I can't believe all the different skills I needed to build Nina. Mechanical, electrical, design and fabrication, painting, and now upholstery, LOL! Overall the worst part was the run to the craft store this morning for the high density foam I need to make the pad. The woman there gobbling up the Black Friday sales were brutal and taking no prisoners! NickD

And here's the current state of motorcycling (at least in So Cal) . . . http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wEXOVyZnEpM&feature=player_embedded NickD

I find most times (on YouTube anyway) the audio is disabled pretty quick if it's copyrighted music and used without a license. I believe the have an algorithmic bot that scours the vids looking for illegally used music. But, in the case of first time jumpers anyway I don't think they usually add the music themselves, they are just uploading the video they purchased at the DZ. LOL, the sport of skydiving, as a whole, must owe Tom Petty a Bizillion dollars by now . . . There is royalty free music on the web if you look hard enough for it. Here's one site I use: http://incompetech.com/m/c/royalty-free/index.html?genre=Modern NickD

Some Red Bull flunky handed a can of it to me after I landed a jump at Bridge Day. I seriously had to spit it out it was so bad . . . NickD

>>the standard was "Sears"

>>A true Hadcore biker, Gypsylady

"Proof" is here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0wlqDzkIDPU It originally started out as student film at the USC film school. Here's the second part: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YQjb7BwlwDQ&feature=related And the third: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s3NylihMsno I never saw Fandango at the movies, because, I don't know, back then skydivers never went to the movies. Wait, I take that back, between 1975 and about 1998 I did go to one movie, it was called "Perfect Storm" and I fell asleep in the middle of it. I still don't know what happened to those guys in the boat . . . And FreeFlyer2100, I'm ready to accept your apology for what you thought was my oversight, but what was really your undersight, LOL! NickD

Yeah, that's few years old, and a proven fake . . . NickD

Yes, that's the rub, you have to do it safely. I've never had trouble with that because as much as I do it, it stills scares the holy crap out of me. Kind of like B.A.S.E. jumping! NickD

Yeah, but the upside to that is when they pull you over for something bogus, like I get pulled over my vertical plate, which is legal, there goes their probable cause. And if you then get into it with cop with an attitude, as long as you don't consent to a search, and they do it anyway, when they find the Glock and the bag of weed, you're still off the hook in court, LOL . . . NickD

>>How could you be so irresponsible to leave out Fandango???

There's kind of an interesting reason why it's legal here in California and not in almost any other state. It's due to the fact that California Highway Patrol motor officers (the ones who patrol on motorcycles) want to lane split themselves but they know it's safer for them to do so if all motorcyclists are also allowed to do it. That way the people in automobiles are used to seeing it, they tend to expect it, and they don't get all freaked out by it. And yes, for those of us used to it, it's hard not do it in a state where it isn't allowed. NickD

Kind of reminds me of Larry Yohn riding minus the one leg. On another front, I hear there is an outfit buying up all the stock exhausts people take off their store bought stockers in anticipation of more and more states passing the EPA laws concerning modified exhaust and cops beginning to look for the EPA stamp on your pipes. (This just became law in California, but only applies to bikes built in 2013 and later. For now anyway.) So they'll give you $75 dollars for any stock exhaust (which most people just threw into a dumpster) with the idea that down the road they can start selling them back to people at a profit. Pretty smart. But I got a better idea . . . I'm tooling up a clamp device with an engraving die on one side and once you tighten it down over your soon to be illegal pipes it leaves this behind! NickD

I'd think the crooked lines, along with the flashing white lamp posts, indicate and warn drivers of the crossing itself. NickD

My generation of jumpers had the movie "Gypsy Moths" (and maybe to a greater extent, the film "Proof.") The next generation had "Point Break." And the present generation has "Drop Zone" and "Cutaway." Anyone notice that in cinematic terms the decline in skydiving movie quality pretty much mirrors the sport itself, LOL . . . NickD

I don't know why but this web cam fascinates me. It's the cross walk in London made famous on The Beatles' Abby Road album cover. It seems every few minutes you'll see someone posing like the boys did as they walk across and have their photo taken. And the drivers seem very courteous about stopping for people. I keep waiting for a Harley to ride by but so far all I've seen are sport bikes and scooters, but it does seem that lane splitting is legal as I've seen that more than a few times. I guess someone here would know for sure . . . http://www.abbeyroad.com/visit/ NickD

I thought this thread was going to be about this . . . http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dVXHOldtEuY&feature=player_embedded NickD

I'll get some tomorrow, vanilla! But right now Julia looks a bit randy from watching me prance around the kitchen all afternoon in my baking apron. (Gee, my Granny really knew her stuff!) NickD

Man, that was a long four hours to wait, but guess what? It's Delicious !!! Julia's on her third piece . . . NickD

The thing in the middle is a pie bird, look it up, ya heathen! LOL! I actually played J.V. ball in High School (center-field) and I had a pretty good arm and was a decent hitter. The Varsity Team was looking for a catcher so I switched positions. I could call a game okay, but it turned out I was a blinker. Every time a batter swung the bat I would blink my eyes. If my glove was in the right spot I was okay, but if not I got beaned (a lot) or missed the ball entirely. The coaches did everything they could think of to break me of that habit but nothing worked. So one minute I was on my way to the Bigs and the next minute I was out on my ass. It was all a very tragic story. Then I became a skydiver, and well ya know, it was all downhill from there . . . NickD

About thirty years ago I was visiting my Grandparents (before they both passed away) and sitting in their living room watching a football game. It was then my Grandmother suddenly called me into the kitchen. She was born on the other side (Italy) and was very proud when she became a U.S. citizen but her understanding of English was still a bit lacking. "Nicky! (She always called my Nicky.) "To be a good American boy," she told me in Italian, "you have to be baseball and apple pie." (Yes, she was taking that phrase a bit too literally, LOL!) As she already knew I played baseball she spent the next couple of hours schooling me on how to bake an apple pie. I always wanted to try it on my own but sadly I never got around to it before she passed away. So being it's raining today in So Cal and being I have the time here goes! Apple pie from scratch! The photos are before and after baking. Man, the house smells good. I'll have to wait four hours before tasting, so I'll report back at about 8:PM . . . I'm finally a good American Boy! Thanks Grandma! NickD

Weddings, whatever . . . This is real parachuting! The first parachute jumps were made long before airplanes were invented and the last parachute jumps on earth will will be done without airplanes. The following was right after the Space Shuttle blew up on launch back in the 1980s due to faulty O-Rings in the boosters. http://www.youtube.com/user/rgtthlktrhpmothgopm#p/u/22/Q8GXt6im2mM http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xx4d2VP7tew&feature=related http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9p-ZswsalU4&feature=related Get your heads out of your ass, boys . . . NickD