breaking the silence

mittico68 · May 18, 2017, 01:35:39 AM

Quote from: CDNRatMan on May 18, 2017, 00:59:40 AM
Not sure how many were shipped to Europe.

One in Italy, for sure!!!

CDNRatMan · May 18, 2017, 00:59:40 AM

As far as I know the 99 800 was never imported to the US as they thought it was to small, and if the info I have is correct, there was 900 shipped to Canada, 900 to the UK, and 900 to Australia. Not sure how many were shipped to Europe. I know that there is a pristine 99 Sunbeam Red in BC for sale right now.

Bucko · May 17, 2017, 23:50:47 PM

Quote from: CDNRatMan on May 16, 2017, 20:20:44 PM
My shiny Red machine.....lol....

Love that red! That's a 99 right? According to some website (is it this one?) the 99 800 Drifter was not avaible in the US, but I occasionally see red ones (like yours, not the later red) for sale there. Does that make sense.

Aimee.L · May 17, 2017, 05:17:39 AM

Quote from: CDNRatMan on May 16, 2017, 23:06:07 PM
One thing to consider is a sprocket swap for your bike if you are going to do a lot of highway riding, stock is 17/40 and if you go to 18/38 it makes it feel like you have a sixth gear.
I have ridden my 800 from North Bay to Pikeville for Drift In 15 then did the Dragon's Tail and home along Sky Line Dr. Then lat year I rode down to Sparta WI and out to Billings MT and back to Fargo and north To Winnipeg and then home from there. Sprocket swap can be done in one day during a cold winter day......

Thanks. I'll keep that in mind. Although coming from a 250cc I'm sure it will be a while before it stops feeling like a rocket compared to what I'm used to. Lol. But I know eventually I'll get used to it and when I do that will be a nice little upgrade for it.

CDNRatMan · May 16, 2017, 23:06:07 PM

One thing to consider is a sprocket swap for your bike if you are going to do a lot of highway riding, stock is 17/40 and if you go to 18/38 it makes it feel like you have a sixth gear.
I have ridden my 800 from North Bay to Pikeville for Drift In 15 then did the Dragon's Tail and home along Sky Line Dr. Then lat year I rode down to Sparta WI and out to Billings MT and back to Fargo and north To Winnipeg and then home from there. Sprocket swap can be done in one day during a cold winter day......

Aimee.L · May 16, 2017, 20:51:17 PM

Quote from: CDNRatMan on May 16, 2017, 20:20:44 PM
My shiny Red machine.....lol....

Nice! My husband has an all red with black bags 2014 Indian Chief. I love the look but have been waiting for Indian to come out with a mid sized bike. Something in between the Scout and the bigger bikes. Then he found the drifter and it was exactly what I've been waiting for Indian to do. I couldn't say no

CDNRatMan · May 16, 2017, 20:20:44 PM

My shiny Red machine.....lol....

Aimee.L · May 16, 2017, 20:12:05 PM

Quote from: CDNRatMan on May 16, 2017, 20:07:59 PM
Aimee go out and get stainless steel acorn nuts for your floorboards, these will be super for you when you corner you can scrape them along and they give a really good spark shower and people will back off from following to close....lol........

Bahahahah, thanks for the tip! Lol

CDNRatMan · May 16, 2017, 20:07:59 PM

Aimee go out and get stainless steel acorn nuts for your floorboards, these will be super for you when you corner you can scrape them along and they give a really good spark shower and people will back off from following to close....lol........

Aimee.L · May 16, 2017, 19:45:11 PM

Quote from: 2beers on May 16, 2017, 11:03:45 AM
...shaving that seat will help, Aimee! I've been through lowering 2" front and back, plus a custom seat... Perfect now! 3" lowering was just too much, unable to do parking lot speed bumps, unable to make turns at more than a crawl without dragging points on the frame . )

Back to the original post...Here in GA we've had some beautiful riding weather lately, and a few days that were 'almost' too warm mixed in already.

--The Bride

Yes I'm hoping to only have to do the seat. I'm used to riding a bike with a ton of corner clearance so if really like to avoid lowering it if I can. I've never scraped so I'm still terrified too. lol

CDNRatMan · May 16, 2017, 19:04:34 PM

Well up north here the snow has melted and seems that our spring is not going to happen anytime soon we will go right into Summer. I have gotten out a few times and the bike is running really well, geewago, my Drifter is the coldest hearted bike I have ever owned, but once it is warmed up man does it run well. I am so looking forward to some decent weather, and then in July hosting Rendezvous:
http://drift-in.org/on2017.html
then in Aug I am heading to PEI (Prince Edward Island) and the Cabot Trail, once again and visiting with Mike and Lorraine....oh mikeakafred and Driftingal............

Tfrank59 · May 16, 2017, 18:25:58 PM

Nice to hear of an Indian owner who's also a Drifter guy! I also have another bike--Honda 1500 Valkyrie--that I consider my main girl, but the Drifter (I call her Skinny) is my run-around-town bike, so much fun, handles like a dream, gets tons of compliments. Last season some guy (who I'm pretty sure thought it's an Indian) asked at a red light, "Hey, beautiful bike! How much are those things?" I held up three digits, which (based on his frown) he took to mean 30k, but I clarified was closer to 3k

geewago · May 16, 2017, 16:16:19 PM

Here in Texas (Waco) we can ride most of the year. But I try to avoid rain. Don't like that stuff on a bike. My Drifter has around 26,000 on it now. Probably need to tune my carb up a bit as it is somewhat cold natured. But after 30 miles or so it runs like a scared turkey. I just ride it every once in a while as I spend most of my time on the seat of my Indian Chieftain. It's my Cadillac. My drifter is my Chevy.

Tfrank59 · May 16, 2017, 12:17:10 PM

Quote from: Aimee.L on May 16, 2017, 08:28:20 AM
I'm new to the group. I just got a 2005 Drifter 800. Thankfully we have some nice weather coming this week in NH. Hopefully my Drifter will be ready in time. I am getting the seat shaved so that I can touch the ground a bit better. Lol short leg problems!

Great looking bike--Love the driver backrest!

2beers · May 16, 2017, 11:03:45 AM

...shaving that seat will help, Aimee! I've been through lowering 2" front and back, plus a custom seat... Perfect now! 3" lowering was just too much, unable to do parking lot speed bumps, unable to make turns at more than a crawl without dragging points on the frame . )

Back to the original post...Here in GA we've had some beautiful riding weather lately, and a few days that were 'almost' too warm mixed in already.

--The Bride

Aimee.L · May 16, 2017, 08:28:20 AM

I'm new to the group. I just got a 2005 Drifter 800. Thankfully we have some nice weather coming this week in NH. Hopefully my Drifter will be ready in time. I am getting the seat shaved so that I can touch the ground a bit better. Lol short leg problems!

mittico68 · May 16, 2017, 01:53:35 AM

Here in my county actually the weather is really fine: 20 C° (68 F°) already at 8 AM.
But it's been a long and really cold winter... it's been snowing even in my town (BTW: I live in Italy, in a seaside town)...
During those many cold w.ends I've been busy makin' some mods to ma-deuce.
If you like to see the results, go to my gallery over this forum and look at the links.
Keep on ridin'!

Tfrank59 · May 16, 2017, 00:44:27 AM

Just making conversation. where you guys been? what's new with your drifter? I've barely been able to ride mine. Our Pacific Northwest weather has really been uncooperative so far in 2017. I added a small rack to my rear fender because well I had nowhere to put stuff and at least need to be able to bungee down my lunch or if it gets hot eventually in the afternoons here I'll probably put my jacket and chaps on there. Anyway I hope to get some good riding in the next week or so as we're supposed to dry out eventually maybe hopefully. Ride safe.

Here's the fender rack...