Winter arrived for me today....

BaltimoreGS · December 05, 2009, 10:30:46 AM

After an unusually mild November winter is finally starting to set in here in Baltimore. Normally I store my bikes away at Thanksgiving, guess I waited too long this year

I am thoroughly jealous of you warm weather state guys and gals. Now to look forward to spring

-Jessie

ver4 · December 05, 2009, 10:43:39 AM

Me too.

Good thing my bike is in my friend's garage.

dohabee · December 05, 2009, 11:00:22 AM

I am jealous of places with snow and mountains.

There were snow flurries here for 30 minutes on Friday and the news has been talking about it for 2 days.

cyberdork · December 05, 2009, 12:28:46 PM

This weather sucks

mister · December 05, 2009, 01:32:08 PM

Quote from: BaltimoreGS on December 05, 2009, 10:30:46 AM
After an unusually mild November winter is finally starting to set in here in Baltimore. Normally I store my bikes away at Thanksgiving, guess I waited too long this year I am thoroughly jealous of you warm weather state guys and gals. Now to look forward to spring

-Jessie

Curious...

Non standard rotor on the Zook? Doesn't appear to be a front part of the frame either... optical illusion?

What Honda is that? The 250 Nighthawk with front drum brakes?

What happened to the candy apple red?

BTW... nice pic

Oh... and be sure to put on snow chains and give Plenty of coke to warm the bike before you ride HA!

Michael

BaltimoreGS · December 05, 2009, 02:04:28 PM

Thanks Michael,

The Suzuki isn't a GS, it's a stock '06 SV650. My GS got relegated to second string when I picked up the SV and now resides in Bedford, PA. You are right on the Honda though, it's a '93 Nighthawk 250. It started life as an MSF training bike and is now my commuter bike. Even with my fat ass on it that little bike still gets over 70 MPG! This is by far the best motorcycle forum I've come across and everybody here is pretty cool about other makes/models of bikes

Are you referring to the tank and plastics that we painted last month? If so, those are for my girlfriend's GS. It is undergoing a rebuild this winter. I'll stick to 4 wheelers in the snow

-Jessie

meri · December 05, 2009, 02:40:50 PM

I didn't think we would actually get snow. It's pretty rare to get anything that sticks before january. Oh well.

DoD#i · December 05, 2009, 02:48:00 PM

Yup - drove mine up to the shop last night, don't expect I'll get out again before April. Now if I could just get the power connected to the shop, that would help. Then I could start worrying about getting heat in there...

mister · December 05, 2009, 03:16:57 PM

SV650... Duh! Shoulda looked beyond the rotors eh? Yeah, I see the raised pillion seat, the higher riding bottom part of the frame, etc. Pretty obvious Now

I think it takes a certain someone to ride a GS. Someone NOT concerned with what others Might think of them based on Types/BRANDS of bikes. And that reflects back... doesn't matter what you ride, as long as you do

I've always had a soft-spot for the Ginnie. Only two for sale in the entire country!

Yeah... the tank and plastics from last month. Nice to see the rebuild

Michael

redhawkdancing · December 05, 2009, 03:27:33 PM

Snow is a good thing for me! The faster it comes, the faster it goes away. Looking to get a GS in the spring!

BaltimoreGS · December 05, 2009, 03:46:49 PM

dohabee- The news is the same way here, wall to wall coverage of every snow flake. Do you get Dik Loser reporting all day from some street corner showing you the exact same inch of snow that you could look out your own window and see?? I enjoy snow as long as I don't have anywhere to be.

meri- I hadn't noticed you were local, you should join us on a ride sometime when the weather warms back up

DoD#i- Nothing beats a nice shop. You expect to have it electrified this winter?

mister- In the wind is in the wind to me, doesn't matter what you are on

That is a nice bike! I love small displacement motorcycles. There's a clean looking GS400 on our local craigslist that would be fun to have: http://baltimore.craigslist.org/mcy/1493097714.html

I'm not one to modify bikes much. I usually keep it stock, do the maintenance and replace/upgrade as things where out and break. I've gotten inspired by some of the other builds on this forum so when Kay said she wanted to modify her bike I figured we'd give it a shot. So far we've stripped an old CBR F1 of it's front and and some other parts and picked up a few odds and ends. I got an R6 rear shock off ebay but I'm not sure if I got the right one, haven't tried fitting it yet. The next step is to strip down Kay's bike to the bare frame and send it and the wheels off for powder coating. I doubt we'll bother trying to fit up the CBR rear wheel unless it is really simple. I picked up a cheap GS this week that we'll be using to mock up the parts for our build. Once the real build starts I'll put up some pictures.

redhawkdancing- Welcome redhawk. Where are you located?

-Jessie

-Jessie

DoD#i · December 05, 2009, 04:08:37 PM

Yeah, the wires from the shop to the pole are finally buried (what did I spend six hours on thanksgiving day doing - picking & shovelling!) and it's now down to the spin-cycle of the power company guy saying the electrician didn't update him to the fact that the service is to be 400 amps, not 200 amps - which I thought the electrician had told him 5-6 months ago when the electrician talked me into it. Power company guy doesn't seem to be upset, but it delays things because the transformer isn't the right one. Meanwhile the weather is going downhill.

I'm doing the vast majority of the construction myself, and I am horribly ready to have the construction over with and the using the shop phase starting; but we are not there yet.

RedHawkDancing - NOW is the time to buy. They cost more in spring.

tt_four · December 05, 2009, 04:34:46 PM

Quote from: redhawkdancing on December 05, 2009, 03:27:33 PM
Snow is a good thing for me! The faster it comes, the faster it goes away. Looking to get a GS in the spring!

I had a miserably boring summer, so I've also been looking forward to winter just to get it out of the way and get a fresh start in spring so I'll actually go outside and do stuff. I also planned on picking up a new bike in spring, but I'm gonna see how the money's going and what kind of deals come a long, I'm not opposed to waiting until half way through summer or fall to get a good deal on another bike. I spent this summer getting the GS running again after sitting for years, but now that winter is here I'm gonna go work on some more details and clean it up well, and I think I'm actually going to ride it in spring instead of just selling it for money to put towards another bike.

On the down side, my friend picked today to move her stuff out of storage and into her apartment. Luckily she doesn't have a ton of stuff so we got it all in one trip, but still, it would have been more enjoyable with some sun and a t shirt.

redhawkdancing · December 05, 2009, 05:59:19 PM

Jessie, I'm in Reisterstown!

DoD#i, There are some nice ones out there right now. I was waiting to coordinate the purchase with an MSF class in the spring, since I'm not licensed yet. I wasn't too sure about purchasing a used bike without test riding it.

dohabee · December 05, 2009, 06:27:07 PM

Quote from: BaltimoreGS on December 05, 2009, 03:46:49 PM
dohabee- The news is the same way here, wall to wall coverage of every snow flake. Do you get Dik Loser reporting all day from some street corner showing you the exact same inch of snow that you could look out your own window and see?? I enjoy snow as long as I don't have anywhere to be.

I wish.

We didn't even get 1mm of snow coverage, the news was showing the same 5 snowflakes falling through the air

cyberdork · December 05, 2009, 06:48:49 PM

Hey redhawk, I'm in Westminster. Maybe I'll see you around in the spring.

redhawkdancing · December 06, 2009, 09:20:12 AM

Hey Cyber...no doubt. We are practically neighbors!

DoD#i · December 06, 2009, 09:50:08 AM

Quote from: redhawkdancing on December 05, 2009, 05:59:19 PM
DoD#i, There are some nice ones out there right now. I was waiting to coordinate the purchase with an MSF class in the spring, since I'm not licensed yet. I wasn't too sure about purchasing a used bike without test riding it.

If you either have friends who ride, or board members nearby who might become friends that can do the test ride (and if the white stuff actually melts off the roads down there) there's no particular need to do the test ride yourself. Indeed, a more experienced rider might have a better handle on the test aspect of the ride than you will as a new rider - but either way works. It's just that there is an inevitable law of used motorcycle price fluctuation which peaks in spring (anyplace there is winter, at least).

redhawkdancing · December 06, 2009, 12:41:27 PM

Most people I know are of the 'those things are dangerous' crowd. The more people I talk to, especially former military, the more I'm getting to know the 'let's ride' crowd. Maybe I'll go knock on the door of the clubhouse down the street, and ask one of the Harley guys to go with me. That could prove interesting.

meri · December 06, 2009, 01:51:34 PM

Quote from: BaltimoreGS on December 05, 2009, 03:46:49 PM
meri- I hadn't noticed you were local, you should join us on a ride sometime when the weather warms back up

I'd love to. I'm brand new to the board, and for that matter, riding. I bought a members GS recently and he pointed me to the board. Just have to get through this winter, now..

News:

Winter arrived for me today....