Archive for August, 2008

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Island Ho!


2008
08.27

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When starting out on a motorcycle trip you can never know what to expect. However you always hope for the best and see what happens.

So far everything has been going really smooth. We’ve had a couple of days of hot sunny weather, followed by night time showers. Only once have we spent a couple of hours riding threw the rain.

As always you never know what you will see on the trip. Unfortunately just a few hours after we began our ride we came across a fresh motorcycle accident. This usually takes some of the steam off your tires.

However, other then that, everything has been going great. We’ve had no less then five deer cross the road before us, and I may have even killed a bird.. But it flew into ME!

The roads that we’ve been on have been great. Lots of twists and turns and changes to turn your throttle! It’s really nice having the Harley Road Atlas to see what roads are recommended for an area. Not to mention talking to the locals about what’s nice.

We’ve had only two incidents on the negative side.

1) The saddlebag harness bolt on the V-Rod was rubbing against the rear tire shearing off hunks of sidewall during cornering. Obviously this is a little un-nerving so the first evening I ended up turning the bolt around adding more air to the tires and every thing is fine now. Plus, the tire does not need replacing.

2) The chain on the Suzuki 500 has stretched during the rain. It seems to be on it’s last legs, but I was able to tighten it up a reasonable amount, re-oil and we’re hoping it lasts the trip. Otherwise we’ll be stopping at a bike shop for a few hours!

Having Fun, and safe!
Hope you are too!

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Trip Ready


2008
08.23

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Well we are almost ready to hit the road. I’ve finished installing the saddle bags and the windshield on my bike. As well as added the battery harness for an electrical vest to the wife’s ride!

Tomorrow we hit the road for two weeks!

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Quinn Arrives


2008
08.20

Posted in Daily Life, Quinn | No Comments »





Just a few days before we head out on holidays my Sister decided to have a a baby!

At 6:01 pm on August 19, 2008, Quinn was born. I weighed 8 pounds 4 ounces (3.735 kg) and was 19 inches long (51 cm). Quinn has a good strong voice and is ready to roll.

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Losi 8 – Engine Problems


2008
08.12

Posted in Daily Life, Nitro | No Comments »

During the last couple of weeks I’ve been having a major struggle with my Losi 8ight buggy. Keeping it running for more then five minutes with out the engine cutting out was almost not heard of. This is especially maddening because I’ve got a fairly new engine in it that has massive power.

First I tried setting everything back to factory settings to make sure there was enough gas flowing threw the engine. This setting it ran really rich, but also cutout after a few minutes. So I decided to take the whole engine apart to see if there was something wrong inside.

Again, nothing. No crazy abrasions on the piston or sleeve and the bearings looked great. So I sealed it all up and removed that from the equation.

I moved onto the fuel lines.. They appeared good. Lastly the gas tank.

I removed it and inspected it and did not see an issue. However I decided to pressure test it, buy filling the sink full of water and submerging it. Again everything was fine. Then I decided to blow into the tank to see if it could handle the added pressure.. Ta Da.. A little tiny air leak.

After hours of frustration I replaced the tank and now the buggy runs like a dream. Funny how such a little hole can cause a major issue.

Next time I’m starting at the tank and working to the engine for debugging the issue!

On a side note, the engine I’m running is the Go Tech 3 port Sport (standard plug) engine, with a 7.5mm carb restrictor. With my current tune I’m getting just over 10 minutes of runtime per tank! Once I really get this thing broken in I’m sure I’ll be getting more time since it’s still running rich. This engine is by far one of the best ones I’ve ran and would recommend it to anyone.

The only thing that I might do to the engine is change the cooling head to an after-market one. Since it seems a little flimsy and an after-market one would lower the engine temp by 30 – 40 degrees.

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Family Visit


2008
08.11

Posted in Daily Life, The Nest | No Comments »

This past weekend we had family from out of town make a reservation at our place for the evening. Since it was their first time in our new place we were very excited to give them the grand tour! After it was over they gave us the details of their whole Alaska adventure they were just beginning over some Cedar Plank Salmon and drinks.

They thought that our cat was very while behaved since we would sit on the chair at the table and just watch. However there were a few times when he would use his paw to bring some morsel (of fish) over to the edge of the table so he could sit on the chair and eat it.

The following morning we went to visit my sisters and family and enjoyed a great breakfast. Since my Aunt has never been on a motorcycle, and it was on her “bucket list”, I let her ride on the rear of the V-Rod during the trip over.

During the breakfast we got lots of entertainment by my niece talking away. As well, the breakfast was completed with a yummy desert, cheesecake. Yes CHEESECAKE at 9am!

I wish they would visit more often, cuz I love lime cheesecake!

I’ve also discovered that our spare washroom shower may not be as easy to use as I first expected. Since the company could not figure how to make the shower head work they ended up having a bath… This is the second set of company to have this same issue. PULL DOWN ON THE SPOUT! Maybe, I’ll have to add this little tid bit of information to our house tour itinerary.

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CORCS Provincial Final


2008
08.07

Posted in Daily Life, Nitro | No Comments »



The last event I attended I ran only the Monster Truck class, however this time I decided to run two both Monster Truck and Sportsman buggy.

I was very impressed on my driving during qualifying and had only a couple of issues. A blown servo in the Buggy and a broken linkage on the MT. However, I was really getting the hang of the course and was able to lay down my fastest lap ever in MT 29.Something seconds! What I found surprising was that my buggy time was about two seconds slower at 31.Something.

When the main events were posted after racing on Saturday I was surprised to find myself placed in the A-Main event in MT with the 8th starting position! As well, I was starting in the A-Main for buggy in 9th position! These are my best starting positions at such a large event ever!

With my excitement I called a bunch of friends to let them know how I was doing and roughly what time I would be racing on Sunday. Everyone showed up just before my first race, and were excited to see me go. However.. five minutes before the race, the weather turned nasty. Rain and hail came down in sheets and soaked the track and pit area.

While it was raining we all stayed dry under our pit tent and fretted about our luck. The rain was over in about thirty minutes but by then the damage was done to the track. The track directors decided to call a wait for two hours before trying to start racing again.

Unfortunately we did not have the time to wait, nor did I want to run all my electronics through a muddy, watery track and ruin them. So I ended up packing up and calling it quits without racing my first ever A-Main event.

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Love, hate relationship between Me and our Driveway


2008
08.01

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Within the last month, we’ve finally had our front driveway, and walkway poured. With the new addition of cement the house finally looks complete ( well excluding the exterior landscaping we have yet to do). Up until two days ago I was thinking that having a drive way is the greatest thing ever. It easily allows you to pull your vehicles into the garage, and is a nice place to pull the BBQ for some grilling.

However, now I’m undecided… Actually I’m not undecided, I’m mad at it.

Why? I pulled my V-Rod out of the garage onto the driveway and put the kickstand down. I decided to start it while I was off the bike so it could warm up and I could suit up. While the V-Rod was running I was casually standing beside the bike putting on my gloves and other gear. All off a sudden I feel this pressure that started above my knee cap and quickly descended to the foot.

My instant reaction was to look down. To my horror, my V-Rod, was planted on it’s side on the Driveway. Kickstand NOT in the original place I put it rather in it’s stowed away form ready for road action.

At this moment I swore.. A LOT .. and was scared to pickup my bike to see the damage the Driveway caused. However when I finally calmed down I picked up the bike, rolled it off the driveway to the street and put it back on it’s kickstand. Gladly, inspecting the damage did not take long, since it basically fell on me on it’s way down, it was more like setting it down and there is a minor scrape on the left hand clutch and that is all.