What happened to Phil B?

[bombsquad83]

I'm starting to miss our mechanically disinclined engineer.  I hope he didn't crash again...

[Phil B]

lol.. timing is everything, i just peeked in

I'm okay, thanks. havent ridden much due to ... not so much weather, as just winter darkness mismatching with my commute schedule.
Bike still runs(Thanks, Adidas!).. I get on her at least once a month to keep stuff flowing. I'm trying once a week for traffic reasons.
Used to be for gas money reasons, but since I was  kinda forced to get a new car, there's less of a reason there now. My new box gets about 30mpg instead of 20 now 

I happened to stop at some random dealer thing recently, they did a 15point check... and informed me that my rear tire was at 20psi.


Wow. I lost the cap for that thing a while back.. I guess those things really make a difference!!

I havent gone on any twisties since my prior incident... I'm still a bit nervous about the handling in extreme conditions given the slight frame tweak of the front fork holder
(the .. umm... thing that holds the triple-clamp onto the frame.. was rolled a bit over. so while the forks are at the same angle, they are probably half an inch bumped over to the right)
Bit sad given that I have nice pirelli tires on it though.

My main hankering (other than just wanting to blow my tax refund on a new, "pretty" bike is that I want to find a nice quarterfairing/cowl, to make full freeway speeds comfortable again.
40-50mph is WONDERFULLY quiet with the naked E-style. but I need to handle 70+ as well.

The two things now standing in my are are:
1. I need an "easy" install. No frame cutting/drilling
2. .... I'm picky I havent found one that I *really* like the looks of yet.

Hmm.. although i do kinda like the targa one maybe. But that site's ordering seems a bit odd, and I want to see more piccies....

[yamahonkawazuki]

velkommen  hell i get 30mpg on the goped. ( 4.2hp @18k) still fun tho. the tweaked forks you try measuringand figuring out where theyre tweaked @?

[Phil B]

nono,you misunderstand.
The forks themselves are perfectly straight
(now that i replaced one o them :-/ )

Picture the forks.  Then the triple clampy thing that holds them on.

Now mentally remove the forks, and the triple clamp.  picture the part of the frame that it holds on to.

It's like the little cardboard center of a roll of toilet paper? Stuck to the front of the frame?


Now imagine that that little cardboard tube, has been rolled a little to the side, rather than dead-center-front of the frame.

that's what's happened to my frame

(huh. wierd. In looking at pictures, it seems like the holder tube (yoke?) was more an integral part of the frame in older modules. But in my 2006 it seems more like a welded-on afterthought.

[Big Rich]

You mean the neck of the frame where the VIN is stamped? If so.....bad news. Your frame is scrap.

[Phil B]

yeah, the "neck", I guess.

[bombsquad83]

Glad you are doing well.  Sounds like you should part out the GS and find a new bike.  Would be a lot easier than swapping your frame.  I'm not sure how confident I would be riding a bike with a twisted frame.

[Phil B]

yeah.. I am certainly looking around for a new bike.

Thing is, it's not exactly "twisted", per se. In that when you stand the bike up, when the rear wheel is perfectly perpendicular to the ground... the front wheel is too, seems like.

So it rides on the street quite nicely. No wobble, rides real smooth. Doesnt pull to one side at all, doesnt try to lean. If I didnt KNOW the neck was pushed over half an inch (or quarter inch?), it would be difficult to tell at all.

[bombsquad83]

Stick around and let us know what you end up getting.

[Phil B]

If i get my tax refund soon, I'm considering buying a 2004 SV650 for $3000.
$27,000 miles on it, by a guy who's on the svrider forum a lot

http://monroe.craigslist.org/mcy/3729189840.html

http://www.svrider.com/forum/showthread.php?t=185585

[Phil B]

I also might consider a honda cbr500R.

For the additional safety of ABS.

Yeah, that's why