In-N-Out Burger: Is it really worth all the hype?

So today I'm hard at work and a coworker of mine decides that he wants to go to In and Out Burger for lunch.  I decided that I didn't want to go but he reminded me I owed him a lunch on a lost bet, so I had to.  We get there and the line to get a parking space was INSANE.  Traffic cops, probably about 12 or so and at least a half dozen private security were there to control the crowd and traffic.  So what was it like?  Let's find out...

This is a picture of the drive through.  There were cars waiting in line all the way down the freeway access road.  What you are looking at here is a small portion of the line which is 4 lanes across and I can't even tell you how many cars long.  The drive through option was out...

We get there and would you believe that there was a line outside to wait to get into line on the inside?  Yep, it's 400 degrees outside and this particular "tent" was to provide moderate creature comfort to those who decided to walk to the burger join instead.  Finding a parking spot is akin to taking your life into your own hands, but that's a different story.  These tents were about 30 yards long next to the side of the building.  Thankfully they had employees handing out water from a cooler to keep people from passing out while waiting to get in.

The door girl was handing out free paper hats and bumper stickers for the more enthusiastic customers. 

We finally get in and we are greeted by, you guessed it, another line.  That makes 3 so far, a line to get a parking space, a line to get into the building and a line to order. 

We place our order and then look for a seat.  Do you see one?  Neither did we.  We started hovering around a few tables where it looked like someone was about to leave like buzzards waiting for something to die.  Eventually we got one.  Now where's our food?  They're calling order number 88, I'm order number 6...great.  Only 18 orders before mine.

The end result, the famous In-N-Out hamburger.  What you are looking at is a burger roughly the size of a Big Mac from McDonalds.  It even had a "special sauce" which was a lot like mayo mixed with Thousand Island salad dressing.  The meat was largely flavorless though it's hard to be sure as it was buried under a ton of that special sauce.  But on the bright side the burger was under $3.00 so it's tough to complain.  The french fries on the other hand were terrible, they had a weird almost powdery texture to them kind of like something you would buy frozen from Sams Club and under bake in your oven at home.  No Bueno.  So was it worth it?  In a word...hell no.  But it was a curious experience. 

I should say thanks to all the In-N-Out employees, for the number of people they had to serve they did exceptionally well.  They maintained the crowd well, the food was served hot, we didn't have to wait for the burgers too long and everyone kept an upbeat attitude.  That's rare in the fast food industry...so at least these guys are hiring the right people.  Now if they'd just do something about that burger. 

Removing a Harley Davidson Carburetor: A Step by Step Picture Guide

1.) Remove the air cleaner cover.

2.) Now remove the air cleaner.  Note there will be a gasket behind the air cleaner that fits on between it and the carburetor, you need to either hang onto this or if you can, replace it.

3.) Remove the two screws at the top of the air cleaner and the three breather bolts you see protruding above. 

4.) Now you should be able to see the carburetor and will likely have a hose between the air cleaner backing plate and the bolts attached to the jugs.  You can let the cleaner backing plate dangle while you remove that upper bracket.  I like to keep things as assembled as possible to keep track of parts and ease of reassembly.



5.) Now remove the bracket.  Be careful, there are likely a couple of washers for each bolt and you'll not want to lose these.

6.) Once off, losen the throttle cables before you remove the carburetor.  This step will make your life way easier.  If you're not sure which way to turn them to tighten or loosen them, a good trick is to just look at the where the cables are connected to the carburetor, feel the tension with your finger as you adjust it with your other hand and ask yourself "is this getting looser or tighter?"  No rocket surgery here...

7.) Now pull the carburetor out of the intake.  It's only being held in there by a rubber gasket and some hoses so pull gently but firmly and it should wiggle free.  Now you can disconnect your vacuum hose on the top of the carburetor and your fuel hose (pictured below).  You will also need to walk around to the other side of the bike and remove the choke or enricher cable from the bracket so you can pull it out through the carburetor side of the bike.

8.) You can do step 8 before 7 if you want but the vacuum hose is sometimes tight as is the choke/enricher cable so use your best judgement.  Remove the fuel hose and have a beer bottle or some other kind of container nearby as a little bit of gas may come out (not much but a little).  I know, I know, never put gasoline in a glass container and all that...so use your best judgement, it's probably better than mine anyway.

9.) Some fuel hoses are put on the carburetor with a disposable hose clamp.  Just cut those kind of clamps off and I strongly recommend using the little $1.50 adjustable hose clamps that use a screw tensioner in the future.  They're just easier to work with and God forbid you need to remove a hose on the side of a highway or something in an emergency.  If you have disposable clamps you're screwed. 

10.) Now turn the carburetor over and locate the throttle cables.  You did losen them right?  If not go back to step 6 and do that.  Before you remove these, make your life easier and take a pencil or pen and some masking tape and label them.  This helps you know where to put them back on when the time comes.  Once these suckers are off they will twist around and do their darndest to confuse you, so be smarter than your bike.

11.) If you labeled your cables it should look something like this.  you can't see my righting because I used a pencil and the camera in my phone sucks but you get the idea. 

12.) Now you should see your intake manifold.  You see to the right and the left of it?  If you ever need to replace your intake manifold gaskets because your bike is running weird, that's where they are.  Now, before you walk away, do you see that big hole?  Good, now stick a clean shop towl or rag in there before a bird decides to build a nest in it and ruins your engine the first time you crank up your bike after putting your carburetor back on.  Also, this will have a gasket that fits over the edge of the hole, this gasket will slip over the backside of your carburetor.  If you can replace this gasket when you reinstall the carburetor.

I hope this helps.  This picture "how to" was created using a 1998 Harley Davidson Dyna Convertible, your bike may have slight differences but this should still give you an idea of how this works.  It's a pretty simple job to get a carburetor on and off once you've done it so have no fear.  For those of you wondering how to get the carburetor back on, just follow steps 12 through 1 (do this list backwards). 

My Adventures in Rebuilding a 1998 Harley CV Carburetor: Lessons learned

I had just bought this (new to me) 1998 Dyna a few weeks ago and was so happy.  It was Dyna Convertible with all the chrome (though I’m not a chrome guy) and a Wide Glide front end which for me was perfect.  She had been ridden and showed a little road wear but at some point someone took very good care of her, but apparently not the guy I was buying it from.  2Kewl and Junior member Hardkore were with so 2Kewl could give the bike a closer, wiser inspection than I could and gave me the thumbs up.  I slapped the cash over, signed the title and bill of sale and started the bike down the road.  The bike was running rich; I could smell it and also blowing a little black smoke which I initially dismissed as a combination of sitting idle for over a year and the fuel stabilizer the previous owner added before putting her away.  Getting home was an adventure but that’s a story for another day.

The bike was sluggish, seemed to lack any power and the top end seemed irrationally low.  The smell of fuel just permeated the ride and I knew this sucker was running WAY too rich and I later discovered why.  So the first thing I did when I got her home was pull the spark plugs, just as I suspected they were black which is indicative of running too rich.  I also noticed the spark plug cables were the stock cables that came with the bike 13 years ago or so it appeared (not good).  So off to the dealership I went and swapped out the cables and plugs.  I fired the bike up and had a very, very slight improvement but still nowhere near where it needed to be.  The idle on the bike was set pretty high; she was running rich and had no performance.  It looked like the carburetor needed a complete overhaul, likely from sitting around gumming up for over 12 months and likely because it had never been rebuilt in its 13 years and 21K miles.

First things first, I weighed my options.  I could take the bike in to have the carb pulled and rebuilt, buy a new carburetor or just attempt it myself.  Given that I had no experience or “know how” in rebuilding a carburetor I did what any “logical biker” would do, I busted out my wrenches and started in on it myself.  I figured the worst that could happen is I screw up the rebuild and have to pay someone to rebuild it anyway (seemed logical at the time).  Now I had never removed an air cleaner all the way, nor had I disconnected the throttle on a motorcycle or removed a carburetor before.  This was an entirely new experience but I made sure to document the process as I went along so that I could put everything back with no “spare parts” left over when I was done. 

After removing the carburetor I ordered a rebuild kit from www.Harley-Performance.com since not only do they sell a complete kit, they also have the EZ-Just adjustable mixture screw and have several articles related to rejetting and tuning a CV carburetor on a Harley Davidson motorcycle.  Now I don’t know if you’ve ever tried to adjust a Harley’s mixture before on the fly, but let me tell you something, it’s a three handed, upside down operation involving a tiny screwdriver, red hot exhaust pipes, slightly less than red hot cylinder jugs and an itty bitty screw hanging upside down in a tiny little tunnel at an angle that almost makes it seem like some engineer at Harley Davidson gets his kicks in knowing that you are going to burn the poon-doggy out of your knuckles trying to get to it.  The EZ-Just sticks out just far enough that you can get your fingers back there and turn it manually or use a screwdriver that keeps your knuckles a healthy distance away from those jugs.  For the money it was worth it and that’s saying a lot because I’m cheaper than Bill Clinton on a “date night” with Hillary.

The kit came in just a few days and I immediately tore into it.  To my utter dismay there were no instructions on how to rebuild a carburetor…dang it!  So I did what any red blooded American male would do, I did it without the instructions.  I took the carburetor apart, noting where everything came from, matched the gaskets up and sprayed the carburetor with enough carb cleaner that the EPA started checking the local neighborhood water supply for contamination.  To say this thing was filthy would be doing an injustice to the word “filthy”; this thing had potatoes growing in it.  I rejetted the carburetor to one size larger than the jets that were in it since the bike already had a high flow air cleaner.  Time will tell if this was a good move or not but I plan on running Thunder City Monster Baffles in the Screaming Eagle slip on pipes soon so the exhaust will be very free flowing, which works best with big jets but I digress.  I took the new gaskets that most resembled the old gaskets and replaced the old ones, one at a time.  It didn’t take long, maybe a couple of hours because I was being very, very careful and in the process I stripped some of the soft brass screws that were on the carburetor trying to get them off.  A pair of mini-vise grips helped me out there and a quick trip to the dealership replaced those nasty, gnarled up screws with brand new, shiny ones.  The carburetor looked almost new when I went to reinstall it.  I cleaned the K&N high flow filter (which I will provide details about another post) and again, that thing was incredibly nasty.  I mean that thing was so dirty I think I found a Congressman in it (rim shot)...Thank yewwww!  Not funny?  Okay moving on…

I finally reinstalled everything, cleaned up and had it looking good (I was so excited).  I went to start the bike and it wouldn’t kick over but it sounded like it wanted to.  “Whrrrrwhrrrrwhrrrrwhrrrrr!”  What the heck could it be?  Did I forget to put a screw somewhere?  What the heck?  I checked the petcock and sure enough, the fuel wasn’t on.  Okay, chalk that one up to excitement.  I try again “Whrrrwhrrrwhrrrrrwhrrrr!”  Still not starting, it’s 10PM, its 90 degrees in my garage, I have a severe cold (did I mention I had a cold?) so I went to bed. 

Rule #1 of working on your own scoot; never do anything when you’re frustrated!!!

The next morning I jump on a Harley Davidson tech forum and asked for help.  Someone asked if I hooked up the fuel line.  Duh, yes…next question please.  Someone else asked if I checked the petcock.  I didn’t own up to the fact that I did indeed leave it shut off earlier, I just assured them that I did check it.  Lastly someone asked if I hooked up the vacuum line.  I immediately thought “Vacuum line?  There was a vacuum line?” and Googled it.  Sure enough there it was I can’t believe I forgot such a major detail.  I thanked everyone and reassured them that I had things in hand now. 

I went home, plugged up the vacuum line and the bike immediately fired up.  “Victory!” I thought to myself as I triumphantly goosed the throttle over and over again.  Soon I started smelling gas, a lot of gas.  I stuck my hand near the carburetor under the air cleaner while revving the engine and felt a mist hit me.  I looked and saw my hand was damp with gasoline.  I quickly shut the bike off, shut the fuel off and looked to try and pinpoint exactly where the carburetor was leaking.  There was gas everywhere so I quickly removed the air cleaner and carburetor (which I was getting pretty good at by now) and dumped the remaining fuel it had in it in my front yard just outside of my garage.  The EPA was really getting angry by now.  I cursed my luck and noted that it looked like fuel was coming out of the accelerator pump on the bottom of the carburetor.  “Now what?” I thought to myself.  I was pissed and frustrated so I wiped all the gasoline up and went to bed for the night.

The next weekend I was feeling better, optimistic and somewhat resigned to possibly having to have a professional take a look at my carburetor.  I thought it wouldn’t hurt to have just one more look at everything though and I took the carburetor apart again.  I made sure the float in the float bowl moved freely, checked that all the gaskets were aligned and double checked the accelerator pump gaskets.  There is a tiny, itty, bitty little gasket in the accelerator pump that lines up with a pinhole and sits in a recess in the carburetor.  I was 90% sure it was the right gasket but truthfully, when they get that small it’s hard to tell.  I decided to just go up to the dealership and pay the $1.80 it took to buy a new one just to be sure.  I replaced it, tightened the bejeebers out of each and every screw, and carefully rebuilt the carburetor (this time without the influence of cold medicine).  I reinstalled it and went to bed without trying to start the bike; I was tired and didn’t have the emotional capacity to face another failure at that moment.

The next day I come home from work, change clothes and walk out to the garage to start up the bike in full anticipation that I’m about to have to clean up yet another gasoline spill.  I rechecked all my connections on the carburetor (including the vacuum line) and fired it up. The bike backfired and started right up.  I adjusted the mixture screw and idle speed until I could let go of the throttle and it wouldn’t die on me with the enricher still pulled out.  After the bike warmed up it idled without the enricher and I continuously looked for any sign of a leak seeing nothing.  I backed the bike down the driveway halfway expecting it to stutter and die or start blowing gas but it just idled as happily as could be.  I kicked it into gear and raced it up and down my street a few times, no issues.  I decide to go around the block a couple of times (but not further than I could push it), still no issues.  Now I was starting to grin like an idiot on Christmas.  I decided to take her on the freeway, unmercifully gunning the bike in every gear, even redlining it a couple of times to try and find a “dead spot” in the carburetor or experience the dreaded “carb fart” that comes with a misadjusted carburetor.  It performed flawlessly and was running like a new bike.

I came home happy, kissed the wife, hugged the kids and kicked the cat.  I was on top of the world.  I couldn’t believe I rebuilt a carburetor all by my lonesome, plus I learned a lot about my bike (which is the point right?).  I had a new level of confidence and felt the satisfaction that only hard work and trial and error gives.  A few things I learned:

1.) Rule number 1 is always going to be, never work on your bike when you’re frustrated or angry.

2.) Document everything as you remove it and/or take it apart either with pen and pad, digital camera, etc.  Keep your screws in the original order and if at all possible, keep the parts as fully assembled as possible until you are ready to work on them at that moment.  If you’re going to walk away for a while, reassemble as much as practical since it only takes a minute to undo later but a lifetime to find that stupid tiny screw you lost (which is inevitable if you leave them lying around).   

3.) Be prepared for failure and ready to address it if and when it comes.  Don’t jump up and down cursing your luck and asking God why he hates you, if you work on your own scooter not everything will go your way all the time.  Just be ready for it and refer to rule number 1 when it happens.

4.) Those little parts diagrams at the dealership that show every screw and washer to a given part are an excellent reference to make sure you have everything where it belongs when rebuilding a part.  Plus they will give them to you free.

5.) It is better to have a service manual than to not have one, it will save you time and it will save you frustration.  If you have to ask a friend to borrow theirs, if they’re smart they’ll say “no” but maybe loan you the money to buy your own instead.

6.) Know when to stop and ask for help.  Don’t make any permanent changes to your bike or parts without consulting expert or experienced advice.  This involves anything having to do with a drill, angle grinder, saw, etc.  In fact, try to avoid power tools altogether if you can.

7.) Nothing on your bike is as hard to fix as you first suppose it to be.  It’s the stuff you think is “easy” that will hose you up.  In this case it was a tiny $1.80 gasket/o-ring.

8.) Don’t rush the job.  If you don’t have a few days in a row to work on your bike and can afford to let it wait, then let it wait until you have the time.  A good indicator of whether or not you can let it wait is to ask yourself “am I sitting on the side of a freeway right now?”  If the answer is "no", it most likely can wait. 

9.) Some things in life are worth the extra $10.00 to $20.00.  The EZ-Just screw is one of them.

10.) Last but not least the best trainer in the world is experience.  You learn by doing.

Coming soon...how to remove your Harley Davidson carburetor (a picture tutorial).

The Rossi .357 Magnum: Lot's of BANG for the buck...

Yes that’s right, this is a blog post about a gun and even though it doesn’t have anything to do with motorcycles there are three very good reasons why this review belongs here.  First, this blog is “mostly” about motorcycles but can be about pretty much anything else too.  Second because everyone should be able to protect themselves out there and these sure as heck beat chucking rocks at an armed bad guy.  Third because let’s face it, shooting targets is a hoot.  So hang in there, onward and upward people...

When a true gun aficionado hears the name “Rossi” a few words pop up almost immediately, “cheap”, “Saturday night special”, “inferior”, “knockoff”, you get the drift.  Rossi is not a brand that most shooters would crave.  It’s unlikely you’ll see one of these firearms gracing the cover of a Guns and Ammo magazine sitting next to a pile of shiny, artistically placed rounds and a high dollar tactical folder under soft mood lighting.  Part of this is due to the history of Rossi being a budget line gun manufacturer and partially because Rossi is reputedly functional but not necessarily polished in the fit and finish department.  But is this reputation deserved and applicable to today’s Rossi or is this bias currently unjustified?

A few months ago I was the proud owner of a Glock 26, 9mm subcompact.  I carried the gun with me almost everywhere.  It was reasonably light, accurate, easily concealable and dead reliable.  Unfortunately one evening I accidentally left the gun in the glove box of my pickup truck on the same night some scumbag just happened to break into it (Murphy’s Law hard at work).  Needless to say there is probably some crack head running around Dallas, Fort Worth with a well kept Glock 26 in his pocket courtesy of yours truly.  Aside from feeling angry and embarrassed I also knew I needed a replacement.  I’ll be danged if I put another $500+ gun in my glove box again but I also know that my concealed carry permit will not “permit” me to carry my handgun into just any old place forcing me to occasionally leave my gun in my truck (stupid law if you ask me).  So the hunt was on.

My criteria was clear, the gun had to be absolutely reliable, had to be in a “fight stopping” caliber (9mm, .40 S&W, .45 Colt ACP, .38 Special, .357 Magnum, etc.).  I searched high and low finding some interesting offerings, the Kel Tec PF9, a Taurus .38 snub nose and a couple of others but I don’t mind telling you that in the sub $300 category the pickin’s are mighty slim and if reliability is your #1 priority you’re likely going to be looking at wheel guns.  Well it turned out my friend had a stainless Rossi .357 Magnum that he was looking to relieve himself of.  At first I thought “Rossi?” and all of those key words you see above popped up into my head.  Being something of a gun snob (though only a slightly) I almost passed on the deal but the price was just too good and I took it.

First impressions are lasting impressions they say and I honestly looked for something on this gun that would justify my bias against it.  I searched every inch of it looking for that “gotcha” but never found it.  The gun had a slightly heavy trigger that wasn’t as smooth as say my 10 year old Ruger, but that’s to be expected since it’s a brand new gun and the trigger hasn’t worn in.  It was easily on par with my Smith and Wesson snub nosed .38, so I couldn’t hate on the trigger.  The stainless finish was mirror smooth; it looked almost like the chrome you’d see on a cherry Harley Davidson (back when chrome was still cool).  I couldn’t knock on the gun’s finish.  The barrel had a full length barrel shroud (which protects the ejector rod) and overall the gun was designed to be just absolutely indestructible.  Testament to this is the fact that every inch of the gun is steel, no space age alloys or lightweight polymer mumbo jumbo to be found here.  I cocked the hammer looking for cylinder slop (indicative of cheap revolvers) and found nothing, that cylinder locked up tighter than Barney Frank’s wallet at a Republican Party fund raiser.  Even the dang grips were good, causing my pinkie finger to align just so that the gun had a natural point of aim (something very rare in snub nosed revolvers).  I was almost disappointed by this last fact because one of the joys of buying a revolver is changing the grips out to something “cool” or “stylish” if not absolutely functional.  The “problem” is that not even a good set of Hogue grips would be better than what come stock on the gun as is.  Cosmetically and functionally I couldn’t find anything wrong with the gun but the proof is in the shooting.

I went to the range halfway expecting the worst and halfway expecting to be pleasantly surprised.  I took 158 grain .357 Magnum loads and stoked up six rounds as opposed to 5 rounds in most snubbies (a quick note here, shooting 158 grain .357 Magnum is NOT advisable in a snub nosed revolver, just sayin’).   I cocked the gun (unnecessary in a double action but we all do it) took careful aim and BANG, the gun shot exactly where I was aiming.  I did six, slow, carefully aimed shots at 21 feet and did pretty well.  Now I’m the first to admit, I am not a revolver kind of guy.  I am not nearly as good of a shot with a revolver as I am an automatic.  This is because between myself and the government I have had thousands of dollars and hundreds of hours of training using automatic handguns.  Revolvers are just somewhat alien to me but the mechanics work roughly the same for what that’s worth.  Either way when doing slow, aimed fire I shot quite well hitting 5 out of 6 bulls eyes on a 3 inch Shoot –N-See stick on target.  Now it was time to get serious, I load up 6 more rounds (125 grain this time) and rapidly fired 6 rounds.  The first round hit the Shoot-N-See, the others I “pulled” but still hit well within the silhouette (not uncommon for me when using a double action revolver).  I did this over and over for 50 rounds and my group began to gradually tighten.  By the end of the box I was hitting within a six inch area under repeated, steady fire with about half of those rounds in or on the edge of the Shoot-N-See.  Now by my standards this would be unacceptable with a 4 or 5 inch barreled automatic but for a 2 inch barreled snub nosed whose purpose is for intimately close social work, this was more than adequate.  Needless to say the gun is capable of more accuracy than I can muster out of it. 

The intent of the gun is for conceal and carry and though somewhat big and a bit heavier than I would like, it does fit in my jeans front pocket.  It works even better in a jacket or vest pocket though and is no problem to carry in my cut.  Of course I wish it were lighter but it is somewhat reassuring to feel that familiar weight when traversing into unknown or somewhat daunting areas of town.  I do not feel under gunned with this firearm as the .357 Magnum is arguably the king-daddy of all fight stopping calibers. 

Recently however in this 100+ degree heat this gun isn’t my first choice to carry since at 26 ounces empty it is more comfortable to carry on the hip in a high and tight holster than my jeans pocket, covered in sweat, but wearing only a T-shirt prohibits this.  Honestly this is exactly the same weight as a stoked Glock 26 and I had the same issue with carrying it (the Glock).  Sometimes it’s just too hot to carry anything other than a mouse gun so maybe I’ll be getting that KelTec after all but for or anyone looking for a compact handgun with absolute reliability, good accuracy, and decent trigger in a full house caliber at or around $300 giver or take (used ones are much cheaper), there is nothing on the market today that could beat this Rossi at this price point. 

Given this gun’s price, transferable lifetime warranty, decent fit and finish, shoot-ability out of the box combined with old school Smith and Wesson architecture, I give it 5 stars out of 5 stars in value. The fit and finish, reliability and accuracy for half the money of a Smith and Wesson make this gun a solid no brainer.

Rusted Bolt or Stud? How to get that bastard out!!!

Owning an older bike can be a uniquely satisfying experience.  An older ride is generally going to be something more customized to the rider, something you can’t find on a showroom floor, it means you likely have a unique bond with your bike that can only come with thousands of miles spent together.  Older rides are authentic “old school” and timeless unlike much of the shtick “new old school” style Harley and others are marketing so heavily today.  Owning an older ride says something about the rider too, like maybe you’re the kind of person who doesn’t mind getting their hands dirty and who knows a thing or two about fixing and maintaining a bike.  But with owning an older bike come the complications to an otherwise routine fixes that are as unique as your bike and that’s not a good thing in most cases.

Picture this, it’s about 9pm at night on a weeknight, I’m sitting in my garage sweating my butt off in the 90 degree Texas evening, removing an exhaust pipe from my 2002 Harley Davidson Softail.  The mission…to install a simple set of torque cones and Screaming Eagle exhaust gaskets.  To a skilled mechanic, this is a 15 to 20 minute job tops, and that’s if you stop periodically to take a swig of beer.  I remove the front pipe, no trouble.  The nuts holding the exhaust gaskets on the rear cylinder are a bit different, they are slightly rusted.  No worries, I throw in a little muscle and one nut rolls off smooth as you please.  I start to remove the second nut and notice as it comes off it’s taking the dang post/bolt thread with it.  It would seem the previous owner cross thread that sucker on there.  Great, now I’m going to have to grab the trust old vice grips and try and pull that bolt the old fashioned (i.e. stupid and slow) way. 

(The cursed bolt)

A half our later I’m covered in sweat, cursing out loud, kicking my wrenches and speaking in tongues.  I’m pissed, hot, frustrated and worried.  The bolt is thoroughly mangled and what’s more, it’s rusted solidly in place.  I decide to call it a night, grab a shower and go to bed.  I have nightmares involving tearing my engine apart, machine shops, drills, heli-coils and all manner of nastiness.  I wake up and say a prayer requesting mercy and guidance (prayer never hurts a stuck bolt, trust me).  I look into all types of stud pullers, Snap-on sold a kit for $160 give or take, there was a Northern Tool kit that looked suspect, there were a couple of Craftsman options with one involving a hammer and a prayer and the other that looked like it was supposed to have a wheel that tightened on the bolt as you rotated counter clockwise.  The problem with the Craftsman wheel type was that the indents designed to “bite” into the bolt were shallower than Paris Hilton’s last relationship.  I ran across an interesting “universal stud puller” made by Titan Tools which is available at Northern Tool.  Now I’ll admit that anytime I see the word “universal” on any kind of tool I generally understand it to mean that it will “universally” not fit anything well.  But it was $30 and I was desperate so I bought it anyway.

(PB Blaster, no garage should be without this)

Now pulling a stuck/rusted bolt/stud is not about a tool, it’s about a process but having the right tool is essential.  There is all kinds of advice and voodoo available online from blow torches to impact wrenches and some of the advice is good whereas some…well, not so much.  I decided the slowest, least invasive and least permanent solution would be best.  Anything you have to drill into or use to cut into the bolt is a commitment you’re stuck with for better or worse, I wanted options.  I grabbed a $5.00 can of PB Blaster and soaked the sucker down, I mean soaked it like my name was Bernie Madoff.  I gave it a couple of good, centered whacks with a hammer and went to bed.  I recommend hitting the bolt with the hammer like you would in starting a nail into a board (meaning “lightly” tap for those readers who might be from Oklahoma).  The next morning I soaked the silly thing again and again a couple of solid (but remember not hard) whacks with a hammer.  The next day I repeated the process and I did so until the can was almost empty.  Finally I busted out my Titan and with baited breath use a pipe wrench and combo wrench to tighten the tool onto the bolt.  I was surprised that the tool came with no instructions but truth be told, it was so easy even a traffic cop could figure it out.

(The Titan Universal Stud Puller)

Now came the moment of truth, I applied a long handled 3/8 ratchet onto the Titan and took a hammer and tapped the ratchet.  The tapping wasn’t intended to get the bolt to move but instead to allow the PB Blaster to penetrate by shocking the bond between the rust on the bolt and the rust on the cylinder loose. Trust me, short quick bursts counter clockwise is much better than slow and steady.  Slow and steady equals broken stud which means crying, howling and cursing so don’t do it like that.  After tapping on it for a bit I started to kind of jerk on the ratchet slightly in kind of a bouncing motion.  At first the bolt didn’t budge but I could see the Titan tool clamping down harder as I turned.  That sucker was going to snap the bolt off before it would slip (which is a good thing since slippage means it won’t work) so I was careful.  Suddenly there was a loud satisfying crack and a squeak.  I knew that I had broken that rust bond and the stud came out pretty as you please. 

I did a victory dance, ran inside and high fived my confused wife, kissed the kids and said a brief prayer of thanks.  So if you find yourself in a similar situation do the following. 

--Take a break after you discover the problem, you’ll only make it worse if you try working on it when you’re pissed and frustrated. 

-- Research your options, my fix isn’t the only one out there though my opinion, it’s one of the less invasive/committal options if your bolt is stripped.  If it isn’t stripped a 2 nut method might work just as well if not better.

-- Learn from the mistakes of others.  If your first plan of action involves power tools you need to step away from the bike and go sit and have a “think”. 

-- Be aware that there is no one tool for every situation but every situation has a right tool for the job.  You should spend at least 10 minutes of planning and research for every one minute of actual work performed.

-- Screwing up is expensive…so don’t.  Take your time.

-- Remember it’s not about the tools, it’s the process.  Don’t rush it, use good penetrating oil like PB Blaster or Kroil and don’t be stingy. 

-- If at all possible avoid options that use an EZ Out.  If one of those things breaks off in the stud you’re likely going to have to disassemble the bike and take the jug into a machine shop, like I said earlier, start with the least invasive/permanent option first.

Texas Baseball: The classiest teams in professional sports

Major League Baseball’s two Texas teams are probably the classiest organizations in professional sports.  Admittedly I am a die hard, old school New York Yankees fan (insert booing and hissing here) and I’ve always had a soft spot for the Los Angeles Dodgers.  I’ve loved both teams since I was 7 years old, but as an adult I have started liking the Texas Rangers and Houston Astros more and more.  Here’s one more reason to love Rangers and Astros, a humanitarian reason.  The Houston Astros drafted Buddy Lamonthe despite his being paralyzed in a swimming accident prior to the draft.  In fact it is readily apparent the Buddy will likely never play professional baseball as a pitcher again.  The Astros organization are finding a spot for him on their roster and believe that he has more than just an arm to bring to the organization.  The Texas Rangers have a similar story; Johnathan Taylor was injured in an on field collision with another player that broke his neck and left him paralyzed.  The Texas Rangers had already stated their intentions of drafting him this season and decided to draft him anyway despite this injury. 

Both of these players promise rehabilitation and to get back out onto the field and I’m sure everyone wishes them nothing but the best, but in the high stakes, extremely competitive world of professional sports it is refreshing, inspiring even, to see a team put individual people as their first priority.  I don’t know how or if this gesture will ever lead towards either team raising another pennant or putting on a World Series ring but I do know that as far as the game of life is concerned, both of these teams just hit a home run in the eyes of their fans and I wouldn’t be surprised if God doesn’t throw a favorable breeze or two their way either.  Either way I know I’m buying a hat from each franchise to show my support of the kind of commitment to the people and game of baseball that these two teams have shown. 

See more at: http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=6678124

A Harley Davidson Dyna for Touring? I think it would work…

A couple of months ago I was looking for a new bike that I could both commute on and take on long distance rides.  The bike had to get good gas mileage, have a good reputation for reliability, solid aftermarket support, a nice suspension, decent power and of course it had to look good.  At first I had an idea of what I wanted and the bikes that made the short list were a Honda Valkyrie, a Kawasaki Drifter 1500, a Harley Davidson Fatboy and finally a Harley Davidson Dyna.  After some initial research I eliminated the following bikes:

Kawasaki Drifter 1500, though a nice bike by any measure aftermarket support was lacking and when it comes to working on metric engines (all bikes need work especially when ridden hard) I thought that it might not be the best investment for me.  After all in 10 years who knows if it will be worth anything.

Second up was the Harley Davidson Fatboy.  This bike had style and comfort but there were two things working against it.  First was the Softail suspension.  Despite the “Softail” moniker this type of internal suspension is not nearly as forgiving as the external dual shock configuration of the Sportster, Dyna and Touring models (depending upon the shocks and setup of course).  A note, almost all stock Harley shocks suck but Harleys have excellent aftermarket options.  The second factor working against the Fatboy was the frame mounted engine.  Granted a big twin that is counterbalanced does not exactly vibrate like a Dyna would when at a stop, but once on the road that vibration could easily translate into the handlebars and ultimately the grips.  This leads to numb hands down the road and the greater the speed, the more intense the vibration.  Some people may disagree or not notice this phenomenon but after owning a softail already, I can tell you there’s more truth to it than not.  The Fatboy was out.

Third up was the Honda Valkyrie.  I got to ride a couple of different specimens and let me tell you, they had power to spare.  They were smooth, surprisingly nimble, incredibly powerful and notoriously reliable.  They have decent aftermarket support when compared to say a Kawasaki Drifter, hold their value well just like the Harley Davidsons and given that they have not been made in several years and have a loyal cult following.  I suspect that well cared for Valkyries will still draw top dollar in the used market later down the road.  The things that worked against the Valkyrie were the total cost of ownership and gas mileage.  One of the contributing factors to the legendary power on a Valkyrie are 6 individual carburetors, one for each cylinder.  That means 6 carburetors to service, keep clean and synch every 10,000 miles.  This synching can be $300-$400+ per interval.  Add to this the Valkyrie eats rear tires and gets downright horrid gas mileage and it’s a no brainer, keep looking. The Valkyrie would make an incredible hotrod, but they are not the best touring bikes despite their Goldwing origins. 

Lastly was the Harley Dyna.  I’m kind of a stickler about Harley Dynas.  I love the Street Bob and most of the Dyna series with a full rear fender or even the new style "bobber" chopped fender. What I don’t like are the narrow glide or mid glide front ends.  So I looked at the Wide Glides and love the front end and 21 inch front wheel, but that fat bob "bobbed" fender (not to be confused with a chopped bobber fender) on the rear looked…well, it’s just not my style.  After some consideration I figured I could change a rear fender easier than a front end and decided to look for a suitable Wide Glide. 

Another thing that was important to me was to find a 1998 Dyna because I wanted the Evo motor.  Why?  Well…first the Evo is the longest running Harley Davidson motor made, second is a fanatical and healthy aftermarket and third is that the Evo is the only engine designed with reliability being the #1 priority, it was the engine that saved the reputation of Harley Davidson after the infamous AMF years.  I know what some of you might be thinking right now, Dynas shake like crazy when started.  This is true, it’s an unbalanced big twin but it’s rubber mounted to the frame and surprisingly the engine really smoothes out under acceleration.  Add the rubber mounted engine to a dual external shock system and you’ve got a pretty smooth bike at cruising speed.  Lastly the Harley will hold its value after a given point of depreciation and who knows, maybe one day increase in value. 

So I began my search for a 1998 Dyna Wide Glide.  I found one in perfect show room condition with only 8,000 miles on it.  Now for those of you good at math it was readily apparent that this bike did not get ridden much which is not necessarily a good thing.  Leave a bike sitting long enough and the gaskets and whatnots (a technical term) start going bad and before long it’s leaking.  Add to that gummed up carburetor and…well you get the idea.  Either way I checked it over thoroughly and made the guy an offer.  Long story short the guy hemmed and hawed and played games until I just walked on the deal.  I kept looking and found something unique, a 1998 Dyna Convertible with a Wide Glide conversion.  That means the bike is lowered to the ground, had every piece of chrome Harley Davidson offers, a Wide Glide front end and the classic full fender.  The bike was gorgeous even though I’m not really big into chrome.  The bike wasn’t perfect though; the previous owner added some Stabil fuel additive and let the thing sit for a year.  He replaced the battery after the old one died but the carburetor was gummed up even though the bike had 21K miles on it.  Everything else looked good though so I bought it.  After some adventures in carburetor rebuilding I now have a smooth running Dyna.  Given that I paid $5,800 for the Dyna and about $50 in rebuilding it I’d say I did okay.  More about the carburetor rebuild in a later post…

The Kawasaki Ninja EX500R: Quite possibly the most perfect beginner's bike ever made

It was about 1989, I was 11 years old and living in the tranquil state of Louisiana.  A friend of the family named Jeff had just bought this “super bike” that looked like mix between a rocket ship and a motorcycle to my young eyes.  When he pulled up into the gravel driveway of my grandmother’s house in rural Jackson, Louisiana it sounded like a race car.  It was black with red graphics and he called it a “Ninja”, which to any young boy only made it about 200% cooler than it already was.  My dad and Jeff were friends and he brought the bike over to show it off.  Of course everyone wanted a ride and Jeff obliged us one at a time, shooting down the 2 lane highway that ran through the middle of the woods, in the dark at speeds well over 100mph.  Responsible?  Not a bit, but this was a different time when “child safety” meant your toddler used a “spork” and you kept the loaded handguns in the top drawer “out of reach”. 

My turn came around and I hopped on the back of the bike.  Jeff gunned it a couple of times and I had a vision of being in a jet fighter in my head.  The bike took off like a shot, pretty soon the white dotted lines on the highway became a single white blur, shortly after it looked like we were out running our headlight and finally Jeff let off the throttle and the bike seemingly roared in protest.  I sat up and looked over his shoulder at the speedometer; we were idling down and still pegged at over 130mph by the speedometer on his bike.  To this day that is the fastest I have ever traveled on any type of ground conveyance. 

When it came time for me to pick out my first motorcycle there was not a doubt in my mind that it would be a Kawasaki Ninja.  The bike’s image and power had been irrevocably burned into my brain and I couldn’t imagine myself on anything else.  I shopped for about  a week when I ran across an ad for a Kawasaki Ninja EX500R with 3,000 miles on it, like new for about $3,000.  I went to see the bike in person and when the owner started it up I felt my heart start to pound in my chest.  At the time I didn’t have a motorcycle license, didn’t own any gear and didn’t even know how to ride.  So like any logical thinking mid twenty year old, I bought it on the spot.  Fortunately the bike was light enough and small enough to fit into the bed of my pickup truck and soon I had it home sitting in the driveway in all its glory.  I enrolled in the first Motorcycle Safety Foundations course I could, got my license and bought all the requisite gear (including some I really didn’t need). 

The Ninja EX500R might be the most perfect starter bike ever made.  It’s light, nimble, powerful yet forgiving and very easy to maintain.  Add to that mix that it’s also one of the least expensive bikes on the market and it’s a true no brainer.  When I first started riding my Ninja I made all of the dumb rookie mistakes you expect a new motorcyclist to make.  I stalled it, gunned it, dropped it, and neglected to check the fluids in it.  I almost wrecked it several times and each time something about the bike and the training I took at the MSF class saved my bacon.  The three biggest incidents were…

…first coming over a hill on the freeway there was a car at a full stop, sitting in the middle of the freeway in my lane on the far right.  I couldn’t see him until I was right on top of him going 70mph.  I slammed on the brakes as hard as I could, the front forks dived under my weight and fortunately the bikes brakes and engineering were enough that the wheel didn’t turn causing a high side.  Thank God for the bastard that designed that front brake and suspension.

…second, I was at a stop light when two motorcycle cops (yes the police) were begging me to do a wheelie for them at a stoplight.  At first I thought “this is a trap” but they kept insisting.  I had no idea how to do a wheelie but I tried anyway.  I hit a patch of sand in the middle of the intersection and lost traction in my rear wheel which then slid out from under me.  The bike was light enough that I kicked my left foot down reflexively and righted the bike.  If it had been any heavier I would have eaten the pavement.  The cops?  Yeah they just rode past me laughing…(serve and protect , right?)

…third and perhaps the most dangerous, I was waiting to make a left turn out of a center lane into a the parking lot of a store.  I gunned the bike to turn into the driveway but being a newbie, overshot the turn and headed right towards a high curb (guaranteed high side).  I leaned the bike as hard as I could to the left WAY over, cut the sharpest corner probably ever attempted on a 500R and made it by an inch. 

“Forgiving” is the word that comes to mind when I think of a Ninja 500R.  Once I began getting better and more confident as a rider I started to commute on the bike to work daily.  The bike got about 50 miles to the gallon (something we can all appreciate) but still had plenty of power.  I never got bored riding it and even topped it out once at 120mph (according to its speedometer which was pegged).  I am ashamed to admit that I put 7,000 miles on the bike and never once changed the oil, but the bike never leaked or burned oil, never had a hiccup.

The styling of a Ninja EX500R is like stepping back into time to the mid 1980s, my childhood and buying a brand new piece of motorcycle history.  I’ll always have an emotional attachment to this particular machine.  If anyone is looking for the perfect starter bike I can’t think of a better one than this model of Ninja.  Sure Harley has the Sportster (which isn’t a bad option) but as forgiving as a Sportster is, it has neither the brakes, light weight nor cornering abilities of a Ninja 500R.

Specs:

498cc engine

6 speed tranny

Liquid cooled four stroke inline

Chain driven

Dry weight of 373

0-60mph in 3.76 seconds

Average miles per gallon 48

You guessed it, this is my first post...

Welcome to my blog, as you might have surmised this is my first ever post.  I thought I would take this opportunity to tell you why I decided to start a blog and how you may benefit from it.  First I thought it might be nice if there were a blog out there for people passionate about motorcycles enough so to actually be in a motorcycle club.  I also thought it might be nice if this blog then had advice on buying motorcycles, working on motorcycles, tools, riding experiences, beer and who knows, maybe even delve into the nasty world of politics every once in a while.  Of course I’ll share my experiences and opinions on being in a motorcycle club, within limitations.  I say “within limitations” not because I (or we) have something to hide but only because this is one of those subcultures that you really have to be a part of to understand.  Talking or writing about it just doesn’t convey “the life” well enough.    

I have been riding motorcycles since 2004 or maybe 2005.  My first bike was a Kawasaki Ninja 500R which I adored as much as life itself but eventually outgrew.  Later I was talked into buying a 2005 Harley Davidson Sportster XL883C which changed my attitude towards Harley Davidson motorcycles and my life forever.  I now own 2 motorcycles (it’s a sickness) one of which is a 2002 highly customized Harley Davidson Softail and a 1998 Dyna Convertible with a Wide Glide conversion.  As of this writing my Dyna is being worked on and not running but I’ll get more into that later.

I work a typical day job, am married and have a son and daughter.  I am reasonably well educated even if I don’t act like it.  I have a MBA from Ashford University (class of ’08) and a BS in Criminal Justice from Southwestern College, Kansas (class of ’06).  I am currently in graduate school (yes, again) for a Master of Science in Management Information Systems at Bellevue University (class of ??).  I feel like I have an abundantly blessed life and am happy in general (despite our current President).  I’m one of those “clinging to their God and guns” kind of guys according to Obama I guess.  I was born in Brazil (it's this whole other country), am Irish by blood, raised in and around Baton Rouge, Louisiana and have lived in Fort Worth Texas for my entire adult life.  I am hugely sarcastic and have a dry if off beat sense of humor, so be careful reading my posts if you are overly sensitive.  To get things started here are a few things I like OTHER than motorcycles:

Beer

Guns

Shooting guns

Looking at guns

Beer

Searching for the perfect nacho

Road trips of any kind (as long as they do NOT involve a plane)

Music (especially Red Dirt Country, to hell with Tennessee ya’ll)

Playing guitar and/or bass (I love Fenders and Gibsons)

Reading

That’s about it for now.  Any longer and I’ll lose my readers with ADD.  Anyhow I look forward to writing more in the future, please come back as I fully intend to post regularly.