Back on the road, finally!

[BigDogRick]

Happy to report that after 14 months on the patio without a touch from me, I finally have the ol’ Girl road ready again. I parked her a week after getting back from Montana and have been a busy care-giver and bread winner since,

 

[BigDogRick]

I have been sitting on all new leather bags, re-built Works Shocks, and new highway lights/running lights, blinkers since.

 

[BigDogRick]

She still needs a bath but I am out of time. Maybe tomorrow.

 

[Rottweiler]

Glad to see you again Rick

 

[BigDogRick]

15 months in the AZ oven without a single crank completely baked my new carburetor. The accelerator pump would not even move. So new carb build and new intake seals and new fuel lines and she runs great.

 

[Snuffy]

Glad you got her back on the road. All this just means you have to ride more. Lesson to us all. Anything mechanical needs to be used and regularly maintained. Safe travels.

 

[Jersey Big Mike]

She still needs a bath but I am out of time. Maybe tomorrow.

Probably still cleaner the either of mine!

 

[Mickeetwo]

Good to hear from you again Rick

 

[SKOGDOG]

Good to hear from you Rick!! Keep it twisted.

 

[BigDogRick]

I arrived from Montana with disintegrating saddlebags held together with bungee straps and a Rube Goldberg automotive dash switch running my headlight from my battery tender dangling on the side of my triple tree and my Kuryakyn highway lights held on with electrical tape. Stuff just falls apart on a 14,000 road trip. My highway light toggle completely fell apart in New Mexico and cut the feed wire short before the nacelle and hard wired it with about 1/4" before it disappeared into the harness sheath. So I dug into it three weeks ago. New highway light kit was easy but my whole light circuit had a gremlin. I got the running lights and blinkers to work and then moved on to energizing the highway lights with a new toggle switch via soldered extension wire. Boom, I lost the whole circuit - even the speedometer. Took the bike to Ramjet Racing to get the carburetor rebuilt since the ignition and starter circuits were fine. Brought it home for Thanksgiving and tore into the lighting circuit. The new highway lights have a double function with halo as well as auxiliary headlights (which I did not buy on purpose). I tried the halo circuit first and it worked great. The actual light circuit would blow my 15 amp fuse. So I settled for halo only for now. Its all about being seen anyway. Then I went for the headlight. Before I took it to Ramjet I had already soldered the power feed back into the 3 prong and could see that, even though the whole light circuit was fine with highway lights (halo) lit, the headlight had no power to low beam or high. After checking everything I could see any of gas tank disassembly I determined to run a brand new fused feed directly from my battery to a new single pole double throw switch on the right side of my nacelle to match the highway lights toggle and ignition toggles on the left. That worked great and I'll leave the disconnected headlight feeder for another day. The ground was faulty too so I cut it short and grounded to my triple tree inside the headlight bucket. I kinda like it. No mystery.

 

[BigDogRick]

Tomorrow I will post some pics of my saddlebag carcasses and, for the sake of the handful'of Vintage guys out there with BD OEM saddlebag mount hardware, show you what I finally did right on my bike's third set of saddlebags Using the original hardware. I am really happy with it. Oh, and sitting on my bike with the re-built Works Shocks is like sitting on a park bench vs a BarcaLounger with those Harley bagger shocks I put on before the trip. No more bottoming out and no more dragging around turns. She feels like a sports bike again.

 

[liferider]

Rick, Sometimes a good project allows your mind to clear and actually relax yourself and your brain. God knows you win husband of the century with your work load and being a fantastic caregiver. But giving yourself a break is a great way to recharge yourself! Congratulations on a great job putting the bike back together! It would be great to pencil in September 2025 on your calendar and y’all come to Arkansas to Dave’s! I think I may have Tapio talked into coming

 

[SKOGDOG]

Yeah—that’s right Jonathan—-Big Dog Rick and Celeste at Dave’s in September!! Tapio too……

 

[BigDogRick]

Here are my

Here are my toasted saddlebgas. They lasted 13 years And looked pretty good even three years ago. They were great but were never truly waterproof. I have found the BD OEM saddlebag frames to be easily adapted to almost any saddlebag so long as they are large enough. The factory method of mounting the frame was inside the bag with the mounting hardware with the patent pending disconnects outside booted through the back of the bag into the frame. This made for a smooth back saddlebag facing the bike and seemed appropriate. When I mounted these new bags, I knew there was an issue with the large axle caps striking the bottom of the sdallebags whenever the rear suspension fully compressed. within a short time, a hole would be beat into the bottom of the saddlebag where the axle trvelled high enough. Here is the hole in these well-worn bags. These holes developed within the first year and made far worse by the soft shocks I just replaced.



I even mounted them with 1/2" chrome spacers to move them out - hoping to get the out of harms way. This time I determined to mount the frames out side the saddlebag gaining another 3/4" of space. I put thre coats of black enamel paint on the frames and mounted them on the back of the new bags. I also used the same 1/2" chrome spacers. This 5ime there is plent6 of room for the axle to travel between the bags without striking them.


when I bought the bike new, the factory mounting height was way up in the air to avoid this interference but they looked like BMW 1250 GS Adventure Bike. Mike at SW V Twin in Grand Rapids, MI agreed with me that 5hey needed to be mounted down at a traditional height. Alas, shortly I learned why BD mounted them so high but I was not sorry 5o have them mounted lower and just 5olerated the hole being beat into the bottom - and I did so for 25 years! No more. These bags are easily the best I have had or ever found and I picked up a matching luggage rack trunk that will work great on the next cross countr6 trip. Like maybe to NW Arkansas next year. Grin.