Friday March 8 2013 Marion-126-90-etc

[Bob]

Today was a first--or maybe a second--we had 6 riders all with B2B radios. And things just seem to go quite smoothly with everyone in the communications loop! Except when I left Ed in Collettsville. Anyway, Ed, Broz, Twisty, Yarbi, Scott, and I made a nice loop from Halfway Hdwre to Golden Valley Rd., then an assortment of new roads which connected into Painters Gap and finally Sugar Hill Rd. into Marion for lunch at (you guessed it) Countryside BBQ . After lunch we rode the northern 126 loop around Lake James, but deviated on Fish Hatchery Rd to connect with Brown Mtn Beach & Hwy 90. We stopped in Collettsville for a pit stop and none other than Bill Wilson came riding up from out of nowhere--on his new Ninja 650. After BS'ing, Bill followed us back down to Piedmont Rd. and a pit stop at the Gate. Then one last blast down Old 18 and we all split up and headed for home. It was a chilly day to start but warmed into the lower 60's. Carolina Blue Skies all day.

Here's a few pics--anybody else got some?



THE CREW

1.JPG (132.42 KiB) Viewed 21180 times

PIT STOP

BS'ING WITH BILL WILSON

BILL'S NEW NINJA

TWISTY HEARD THAT A BUSLOAD OF CHICKS HAD JUST PULLED IN ACROSS FROM THE HALFWAY HDWRE. AND RAN OVER TO ENTERTAIN THEM

[Ed]

Except when I left Ed in Collettsville.

lol T'weren't nothing... next time I'll just park directly behind you.

Maybe next time you'll believe me about the rabbit, too

[Brick]

Glad Ya'll had a great day... it turned out that the battery in the Super T went belly UP four months after the end of the warranty. That is !! I purchased another one installed it and did get out for a short ride around the area. I will bitch to the Yamaha dealer about the battery but I'm sure they will tell me

Hmmm the battery sits in there sideways and did have a build up of wet dirt/sand and dead bugs... I can't imagine that did anything to kill the battery. Heck it only had 5.4 Volts on it when I tested it = dead!! With the new one I did put it in with some dielectric grease and I made some covers for the terminals out of old rubber inner tube. Couldn't hurt!

Heck Ya'll rode within 2 miles of my house and didn't stop by... you suck... well we knew that but anyway I was probably riding anyway!

Did Bill actually ride with you all?... I can't believe it!!

[Yarbi]

Bummer about your battery. I was told many years ago to always plug my motorcycle battery into a battery tender after every ride and my battery would last much longer. Every since I have done this I haven't had a battery go bad in my bike or boats even after five years. I have only changed an old battery before a long trip just for insurance. Not sure if I have been lucky or if this really works?? Might try this. Pretty cheap insurance. Don

[Bob]

Bummer about your battery. I was told many years ago to always plug my motorcycle battery into a battery tender after every ride and my battery would last much longer. Every since I have done this I haven't had a battery go bad in my bike or boats even after five years. I have only changed an old battery before a long trip just for insurance. Not sure if I have been lucky or if this really works?? Might try this. Pretty cheap insurance. Don

I agree re. the trickle charger, even if you ride it once a week in the winter months. Batteries can get sulfated plates between rides and I think cold weather is worse for this. I bought a 1.2 amp trickle charger with an anti-sulfating mode ( http://www.walmart.com/ip/Schumacher-Au ... r/13005742 ) that I put on the bikes between rides--not continuously but off and on to kind of simulate being ridden & charged. And this charger actually brought one battery back from the dead on my old F650GS. The battery would not even take a charge from my larger 2/10 amp charger, max volts it would show was 11.5 . It spent 2 days on the trickle charger in anti-sulfating mode before the green charge light came on and suddenly it showed 13 volts and worked fine after that.

That being said, if one of the plate connectors fails, its dead for good--sounds like Brick's battery.

[Bob]

Heck Ya'll rode within 2 miles of my house and didn't stop by... you suck...

Be careful or you'll get what you wish for in the future. Next time you hear the roar (or putt putt of the Beemers) in your driveway....

...I expect a big welcome.

[Ed]

...I expect a big welcome.

...and warm up some chicks for Twisty

[Bob]

Maybe next time you'll believe me about the rabbit, too

I did--hell I slowed down and started scanning the road ahead, on full alert, ready to swerve around the hazardous hare. The crushed cottontail. The languishing lapin. The bashed bunny. The thrashed thumper. The wetched w....well you know.

[Ed]

lol ...you left out the 'lacerated Leporidae'

BTW wanted to let brother Broz know I feel his pain ~

[Bob]

Looks like you were maybe a tenth of a MM from the cord.....you and Broz are just a couple of heinous hooligans.

[Brick]

I have a separate battery tender for each bike and the Tenere' has been on one always since I got it. About 5 days ago I was doing some stuff in the basement and took the Tenere' off the battery tender so it was only off for 5 days in the 16 months I have owned the bike. Bike was NEW when I bought it. Not sure I could do MUCH better than that.

My pick up truck at 2002 Dodge Dakota V6 still has the original battery in it and it has NEVER been on a battery tender but does also live inside just like all my bikes.

I just got a bike with a bad battery!

YMMV

Bummer about your battery. I was told many years ago to always plug my motorcycle battery into a battery tender after every ride and my battery would last much longer. Every since I have done this I haven't had a battery go bad in my bike or boats even after five years. I have only changed an old battery before a long trip just for insurance. Not sure if I have been lucky or if this really works?? Might try this. Pretty cheap insurance. Don