One Last Time

[ConnerVT]

I made smoke for one last time this year. The bike had been sitting parked in the garage for the past month. Too many leaves on the ground, and many cool, wet days of weather, have kept me from firing her up for a ride. Especially when I tend to stay on the county and secondary roads for my ventures.

But the time had come to swap the garage from warm weather stuff (lawn and home care) to winter tools (snow blower). Had the summer tires stacked up in the garage, as the snow tires had been mounted on the cars. Time to clean the garage.

With the sun shining, and the roads dry, I had to go for one more quick ride before I put her up for the winter. Being 40F degrees, I knew I wasn't going to be out long. But bundled up some, kicked her over (2nd kick, after sitting for a month), and rode a few laps around the neighborhood. She sure did sound and run good.

She's asleep now in the garage. Carbs drained, battery tender hooked up, and under her warm blanket. Has a snow blower sitting next to her, standing guard for any rogue snowflakes that will soon arrive. Sweet dreams, for both of us.

[Craig380]

Heh, she'll have a fine hibernation

Here in the UK, we don't get 4 clear seasons as such, it can be cold and pissing miserable pretty much any day of the year so I tend to keep the bike in ready-to-go condition, just in case of a decent dry day.

The problem here is salt on the roads during the winter months, it kills 40-year-old chrome in short order. However, ACF-50 applied on the chromework before the first salt did a great job of protecting it. I used to leave it undisturbed the whole winter, let the crud and salt crust on it, then wash off in the spring. That stuff really works, especially when applied by brush.

[GT750Battleship]

Weather here is not much of a problem..I can pretty much ride all year round,but choose to stay off the road on wet days ! Very hot days are also a problem,not so much for the GT750,but me !! She is now 40 years young & has received lots of birthday presents,new bike cover,spark plugs,air filter cleaned & a gearbox oil change ! Every ride is a treat,I love these big two strokes,they certainly have a certain "something" that modern bikes will never have.
Cheers,
Roger
GT750A

[ConnerVT]

Last year, we had a few months where it fought to get over -17 C for over a week at a time, and over 1M of snow sitting in the front yard. So a 4 month hibernation is basically a requirement. But it was unexpected to get an early December ride in. Had a grin stuck on my face for hours (and not because it was frozen that way!)

[watervlietarsena]

Fred i rode on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day! Not on the T500 tho (holed piston) i hope this year we can go for a vintage bike ride lots of fun on our T500 ride a awhile back. Happy New Year! Ron

[ConnerVT]

Hey Ron! Happy New Year!

You know, you aren't supposed to put extra holes in the pistons. I hear it affects how the bike runs.

I almost went out on Christmas, too. Just didn't want to go through the exercise again of putting the bike up. But I did see a Harley (broken down, with a NYS trooper behind it) at the Clifton Park Mall on New Year's Day.