Dream Bike Build

So I've been compiling photos of my dream motorcycle for a while now. Put these in a blender and you'll get it...

I put the same bike on there three times cause it's killer...

Gimme $15,000 and it's done.

Silver Bullet

Hoka Hey

This shit is sick

Hoka Hey Challenge 

Badass Bagger in the GSU Bike Bunker

Saw this thing parked in the motorcycle parking bunker on campus today:




I like it. The windshield says "Vietnam Legacy Vet MC". I would not wanna fuck with those guys.

Wait...

So, I went to cyclefish.com and found out that your handlebars can't be more than 15 inches your seat. I'm no mathmatician, but I'm pretty sure that there is more than 3 inches between my seat and the top of my risers. Add 12 to that...

Citizen Arrest!

Hopefully I don't come in contact with some dick cops that actually read those laws.

Also, seeing bikes like these make me salivated like pavlov's dog...

Look Everybody...

I found a picture of Bear Bones:

The mystery is solved...

Check Check It

The ride home from War-town:

 

 

 

Blue bomber

I saw this on my back from class. I was on my one stallion powered ride (my bicycle) and saw this in front of Roadhouse, unfortunately there was no Patrick Swayze outside. Got off my bike, set it against a wall and then took some pictures. I looked inside and asked whose bike it was and one dude just tipped a beer at me...

I didn't really think about what I was gonna say after that, so I just kinda nodded and backout of the bar slowly. Shoulda just said I was drunk.

12 Inch Thunder...

Gay(?) +

12 Inchers =

Fag Porn

I'd like to make a disclaimer that in no way is this is saying anything about homosexuality. It has to do with a southpark. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I7hQN4Amaeg) I am however saying that Katie Holmes is a beard...

Road Trip!

I'm going to Hilton Head for a wedding so I shined my bike up all pretty




But we're driving...so it looks like this:





Weak. Like seven days weak.

Philosophy

Etymologically derived from latin, philosophy means "the love of wisdom"

Apparently the UGA philosophy department is seeing other people...

Beamer Bummer

Walking to class today and saw this black beauty...

Boom Bitches

Every time I see one of these I get a little bit envious, mainly due to the fact that if I rode one of these it would look like a panda on a mini-horse.

Exibit A: Grizzly bear on bike.

Exibit B: Tool on a minihorse

Although the first exibit doesn't help my cause, due to the fact that bears riding anything motorized is pretty bad ass, I believe in conjunction that I have proved my case to the jury i.e. I would look silly on a cafe racer/standard style motorcycle...

Side note. Although the bear's stature dwarfs that of his motorcycle, his legs can't reach the ground, thus rendering that picture immediately adorable.

Keep That Dyson Covered

So I rode from Atlanta to Warner Robins today.  The ride was a little strange for a few reasons.

Oddity One
Before I left, I replaced the caps on both vacuum ports on my carburetors.  The news caps were all blue and awesome. They looked like this:

Whoops, I added a picture of my metal-winged adult toy instead

30 or 40 miles into the ride, I pulled off the highway to get gas.  I filled up my tank, poured the water out of my backpack (more on this later), and got back on the road.  On the way back to the highway, my bike stalled and kept backfiring in the carbs, which is weird and shouldn't happen.  Then, once I got back on the highway, I noticed that my bike was backfiring over and over again so loudly I could hear it with my helmet on and my head facing forwards going 85 mph.  It sounded like this:

This is also odd and worrying. So, I pulled back off the highway into a deserted Johnny Rockets parking lot (the Johnny Rockets was deserted, not the parking lot, which was also deserted [Ha! work through that one (Look ma, these parentheses and brackets are nested (Ha! Formal logic joke!)]).  After fiddling around a little, I discovered that the vacuum port on my rear cylinder looked like this:

There's pollen on everything. I hate all living things. 

No blue vacuum cap = vacuum leak = bad.  Luckily, no blue vacuum cap = easy to fix = I was back on my way in no time.  From there on out, my bike sounded like this:

 Oddity Two

My parents gave me some flowers to take Meri's mom and sister but my terrible brakes and the awesome weather left me determined to ride and not drive. So, I put these flowers:

They're the ones in the vase

 In my backpack:

This isn't actually my backpack, it's a dramatic re-enactment. It looks a lot like mine, though

Good idea, huh?  "Surely", you'll ask, "you drained the water out of the vase first?"  And I'll reply, "of course I did.  What am I, some kind of idiot?!"  And I'll be lying.  Because I am an idiot.  So when I stopped to get gas, I noticed that there was water all over my seat and rear fender, and jacket, and laptop.  Super sweet.

Good ride, though.

What's Better than Riding MARTA?

Most stuff...

That's MARTA headquarters in the background, in case this post wasn't making much sense.  In the foreground, you can see some doucher's old-man motorcycle.

Busted Springs and Dirt Burn-Outs on an On Ramp

I picked my bike up from the mechanic and immediately noticed that smoke was coming out of the rear cylinder exhaust manifold.  After talking with a tech, we decided it was some oil residue from the service burning off under the heat shield. Whew.

After the service, the performance is better but some tweaking is needed for sure.

I rode home and immediately got a text from Meri, who gave me a ride to the shop, saying she hit a huge piece of metal on 75-S.  I called her and she informed me that the metal shard hit another car and both she and the other driver were on the side of the road waiting for the cops.  She also told me she forgot her purse...which meant she didn't have her license or proof of insurance.  Luckily, her purse was safely locked in her apartment. So, I walked over to her windows and checked the locks.  Being the urban expert she is, she had left her bedroom window unlocked. From there, I decided it would be a good idea to pull the screen off, open the window, and dive through...in a black jacket, black gloves, and sunglasses.  No one called the cops.  To be honest, that worries me.  Anyway, I got her stuff and booked it back up 75 to meet her.  She was pulled over on the grass between 75-S and the on-ramp from 285-W.  I got there just in time to find out the cop didn't care that she didn't have her license and everyone was leaving. Super sweet. At least it was a nice night.

I didn't like the idea of pulling into the fast lane so I rode up the grass hill to pull out onto the on-ramp from 285 instead.  I saw a break in the traffic and opened the throttle, only to discover that my rear tire was still in the grass.  I won't lie, peeling out onto the highway and having my back tire slide back and forth for a few feet was pretty awesome (terrifying).

Once we got home, Meri said her car was handling a little funny so I took a peek underneath.

Everything looks fine to me. Plenty of tread on that tire.

Oops.

Carb(uretor) Surg(ery)!

So I thought I'd take my very limited mechanical knowledge and combine it with my most prized possession to gain a horse-power or two. Sooo, I ordered a Maxair Predator Pro air intake kit for my V Star 1100.


Step One: Roll that bitch into my workshop (apartment)

The boxes are there for break dancing

Matthew Allen Towery Jr. AKA "The help"

I ran her with the fuel off until she died to drain the fuel line.  Then I rolled her in the night before the install.  The temp in the apartment immediately went up 30 degrees, so that was a good call.

Step Two: Strip off all the crap in the way of the carbs

Tank off

Gretsch Drums

 

Front carb intake

Some useless crap I sold on Craiglist to some sucker for $25

Stock air box, air filter, and air filter housing removed

Step Three: Open up the carbs, switch out the jets, adjust the floats to 14mm, adjust the pilot mixture screws, exchange and shim the needle

What's that on the table? Instructions. Badly needed instructions.

I managed to lose a washer off the needle that I wasn't supposed to.  Pretty awesome, huh?  I replaced it with another washer that was almost exactly the same size. Oh well. I also noticed that one of my carb heaters is broken.  Oh well again.

Step 4: Put it all back together.

Step 5: Roll it outside and start her up.  Or, try to start her up and realize she just isn't working right.

Step 6: Go back inside and weep with despair at the thought of taking it all apart again.

Step 7: Keep trying to start her up until you raise the idle up to where it should be, at which time she'll cough into life.

So far, performance isn't great.  Tomorrow I'm getting the valves adjusted and carbs synced so hopefully that will work. We'll see.