To our friends in the Frozen North

[Zoar]

Tom buddy, just an FYI, today I went in and booked an appointment for the 9th to have my snow tires taken off and swapped with my summer tires.........think that the last 3 days of rain are an indication that there is a spring or summer right close by.........

You have snow tires on your Drifter?? Wow!

[CDNRatMan]

   well plans are for next Friday to get Red out of the house and into the shed, and if Raven is finished by then move her out also....few small items left to sort out on her........like these two items......

[Tfrank59]

 awesome, buddy!  It's funny how three days of rain is an indication that things are getting better up there.

[CDNRatMan]

 Tom buddy, just an FYI, today I went in and booked an appointment for the 9th to have my snow tires taken off and swapped with my summer tires.........think that the last 3 days of rain are an indication that there is a spring or summer right close by.........

[CDNRatMan]

Very nice.

[rob f]

Most of the top weight comes from the 6 us gal high up fuel tank and the high perched v4.
The luggage didn't help though.
R

[greenbarn]

nice bikes

[Tfrank59]

well I can certainly see how your Royal Star would be top heavy with the trunk and luggage packed for your long trip.  The one I was eyeing had just saddle bags and a small windshield.  Still, glad I didn't trade my Drifter, though I might get a Royal star someday, maybe when my 20 year old Valk gives up the ghost.

[rob f]

Thanks for the pic shrinking tips GB.
Here a few shrunk shots of previously owned bikes.

[mittico68]

I hope when I'm that age, I'm still good enough to go on a bike ride with my boys, and I can be as big of a pain the ass.

Yeah, and good enough to fasten up the helmet... 

[greenbarn]

I was eyeballing a Valkyrie
R

Hate to steel the thread...  but , what the heck.

The Valkyrie talk reminds me of the Drift-In I went to in Maggie Valley, 2014 I believe.  There was this father-son pair of motorcyclists staying at the hotel where we were all staying for DI;  They were not there for the Drift-In, just were on a Father-Son M/C trip.   But the Father was in his 80s, I think, or at the very least late 70's, and he was on his Valk.  He loved that bike and his 6-gun tail pipes, which I swear were just straight pipes.   Every time the guy got on the bike, he would start it up, and push it backwards out of the parking spot, and just rev the everloving shit out of it.  VROOM...VROOM....VROOOM....VROOOOM...vROOOOOM......    and the son, about 40 maybe, on his Screaming Eagle, would just shake his head and smile.    Old guy wore a beany helmet, but wouldn't fasten it.  First time I noticed it, straps just hanging down to his nipples, I said "Hey, forgot to strap your helmet"  (Had to yell above the VROOM-VROOM-VROOM, LOL).  He just said, "That's OK, I don't need to fasten it.      Son says, "Crazy old man never fastens it, he just rides around with it loose on his head.  I don't know why it doesn't fall off".

I hope when I'm that age, I'm still good enough to go on a bike ride with my boys, and I can be as big of a pain the ass.

[greenbarn]

I guess my pics were to large for the post. Not smart enough to know how to shrink them.
R

If you're using Windows, then to reduce the size, open the picture in Paint, and put a number in the "resize" window, and hit enter.  Then save the file.    I usually use 30% for the forum - from my phone pics, it reduces them to about 500-600kb, which works pretty good

[Tfrank59]

I don't like shrinking pictures so I end up just doing a YouTube and posting a link

[rob f]

I guess my pics were to large for the post. Not smart enough to know how to shrink them.
R

[rob f]

I was eyeballing a Valkyrie before I bought the drifter. There were 2 in the province @ around the $14,000 range. Didn't have the money then so opted out for the drifter. Not sure why I needed the Valkyrie. I guess just because.
For now I will be happy with "abbi" but if I won the lotto I am sure that a Valkyrie would be one of the many bikes sitting in my new shop.
I dug up a pic of the RSV . Kinda miss it, kinda not. Had so many bikes in my life that I don't really get that attached but am going to have a tough time getting rid of my Virago to make room for Abbi.
Hopefully will be taking pics of the drifter soon. Just fabricated some wind deflectors from an old windshield I had laying around. Doesn't look bad if I say so myself. But do they work? Will find out today as the temp will be 24C/75F. Am taking an infrared heat gun with me to get some temps on the engine. Have modified the grill somewhat but not sure how much it will effect the rad temps.
R

[Tfrank59]

  Wow thanks for that explanation. I guess since this is a Drifter forum we are supposed to tout our bikes as the best :-). The weight of the Royal Star doesn't bother me because my other bike is a valkyrie which is about 800 pounds on its own, but it is not top heavy at all -- very low center of gravity so it handles like a dream even at very low speeds. I've had it almost 4 years and I haven't dropped it yet -- touchwood. Anyways like I said I didn't trade my Drifter for the Royal Star in part because the guy sort of hedged on the deal and also because well I do love my Drifter, which by the way I was able to ride yesterday about a hundred and forty miles because the mercury here in western Washington exceeded 80 degrees Fahrenheit -- awesome!

[rob f]

The  2001 Royal Star Venture was a beautiful bike but trust me on this...... you better have a long ,strong set of legs on you because the bike is a Behemoth @ 1000lbs with rider and luggage.
I bought this bike because I was going on this ride: "The MPNMR is the world's longest annual motorcycle relay, travelling more than 10 000 kilometres from coast to coast with stops at Canadian Armed Forces establishments and points of interest along the way"
The bike handled the open road just fine and could easily keep up with the 1800 goldwings. Only difference was that the goldwings had a reverse assist. The RSV was a very top heavy bike with no reverse. Parking lots were always a challenge. Never felt completely safe a low speeds so after the ride I sold her off.
That 1300 cc V4 was a smooth, lots of torque ,bulletproof engine.
For comfort and ease of ride this 800 Drifter suits me fine. As for long distance riding, well ,we shall see.
R

[Tfrank59]

Yes well even though we've had San Diego type weather for the last few days the rain shall return in Seattle for the weekend. That's life next to the ocean in the Pacific Northwest. Happy to report that so far today I've already put over a hundred miles on my girl got to take whatever you can get around here

[CDNRatMan]

  Tom we have a 40% chance of snow falling tonight and up to 70% of snow in the next 2 days.......

[Tfrank59]

Thanks for the verbal kick in the arse T59....Anyways just to make T59 happy I will try to take it out more this week.
Rob

Yes Rob you have to keep me happy.   Seriously I'm glad you had a good first ride on your bike, and like you it's hard for me to tell the difference whether I'm in fourth or fifth gear --they are very close.  Also how did you like that Royal Star? I'm fascinated by the thought of a V4, in fact I almost traded my Drifter for one last year   Ride safe!
Tom

[CDNRatMan]

   rob f glad you got a ride in on the bike and really happy that you found it so nice. I have been running the 18/38 set up on Red now for almost 4 years and have no clutch issues. I also have a digital tach on Red, fuel gauge is that little counter on the tach when it hits like 150 time to start looking, 175 stop at the next one, 200 oh pray to find one soon, 220 your walking....lol....
as for the fan I seldom hear mine come on and have never had it come on when I shut Red down. So the rad guard might be the issue.......

[Zoar]

Thanks for the verbal kick in the arse T59. I did take mine out yesterday (23rd) for an hour.
My wife and I had just returned  April 22 from a  14 day South American cruise at temps of 85+. The day before we left our home here in Alberta ( 1.5 hr north of Calgary) I was snow machining on 30" of snow.  Coming back on the 22nd we still had snow in the fields but road were bare.
After buying my bike back in Dec and tinkering for 4 months i couldn't wait any longer and took it out for it's inaugural ride. This is my report:
First of all.....She is definitely a "keeper"
Very smooth ride and am impressed with that 800 cc engine. I have had a few V-twins in my day... Harley 1500, Royal star 1300, Buell 1200,Virago 1100 and V-strom 650. This little Kawi is in a class all its own. Wouldn't win any 1/4 mile times but very impressive low end balls. I did the sprocket conversion and first gear is a bit to tall for my liking. Was expecting the bike to stall or chug out when I first took off but surprised the hell outta me and just took that tall first. i hadn't rode this bike with the original sprockets so  I can't compare. I may switch back to a 17t . Maybe just have to get used to it but have a feeling that this setup may shorten up the clutch life .
What else can I say.......... I like the sound of the oem muffler. Handles great on gravel roads. Easy maneuvering , good seat height and looks cool. Only negative thing  can think of is too much wind coming in past the windshield in the signal light area. Will have to build some extensions on windshield or install lowers on the forks. Also trying to get used to the clunky shifting from 1st to 2nd. Must have something to do with the auto neutral system. Seems that if I do a little double shift from 1 to N and then from N to 2 it is not so bad. Other than that the gear spacings are very well engineered. Really like that 4th gear. 4 to 5 is just a little blip and can't really tell if I am in. A high gear indicator light would be handy. So would a tach,a fuel gauge and a temp gauge. The previous owner had installed a fancy chrome rad guard and I think that it is blocking the rad too much and making the fan run more than it should. Yesterday was only +14c and shouldn't of needed that fan to come on at all. Surprised me after I shut the bike off , walked away and then the fan kicked on all on its own. Sat there running for quite a while. More than I think it should have. I noticed that that big old pipe stays hot for quite a while. Had to wait for 20 min before I could install the storage cover.
Anyways just to make T59 happy I will try to take it out more this week.
Rob

I have the BELT conversion on mine and the gearing is terrific!

[rob f]

Thanks for the verbal kick in the arse T59. I did take mine out yesterday (23rd) for an hour.
My wife and I had just returned  April 22 from a  14 day South American cruise at temps of 85+. The day before we left our home here in Alberta ( 1.5 hr north of Calgary) I was snow machining on 30" of snow.  Coming back on the 22nd we still had snow in the fields but road were bare.
After buying my bike back in Dec and tinkering for 4 months i couldn't wait any longer and took it out for it's inaugural ride. This is my report:
First of all.....She is definitely a "keeper"
Very smooth ride and am impressed with that 800 cc engine. I have had a few V-twins in my day... Harley 1500, Royal star 1300, Buell 1200,Virago 1100 and V-strom 650. This little Kawi is in a class all its own. Wouldn't win any 1/4 mile times but very impressive low end balls. I did the sprocket conversion and first gear is a bit to tall for my liking. Was expecting the bike to stall or chug out when I first took off but surprised the hell outta me and just took that tall first. i hadn't rode this bike with the original sprockets so  I can't compare. I may switch back to a 17t . Maybe just have to get used to it but have a feeling that this setup may shorten up the clutch life .
What else can I say.......... I like the sound of the oem muffler. Handles great on gravel roads. Easy maneuvering , good seat height and looks cool. Only negative thing  can think of is too much wind coming in past the windshield in the signal light area. Will have to build some extensions on windshield or install lowers on the forks. Also trying to get used to the clunky shifting from 1st to 2nd. Must have something to do with the auto neutral system. Seems that if I do a little double shift from 1 to N and then from N to 2 it is not so bad. Other than that the gear spacings are very well engineered. Really like that 4th gear. 4 to 5 is just a little blip and can't really tell if I am in. A high gear indicator light would be handy. So would a tach,a fuel gauge and a temp gauge. The previous owner had installed a fancy chrome rad guard and I think that it is blocking the rad too much and making the fan run more than it should. Yesterday was only +14c and shouldn't of needed that fan to come on at all. Surprised me after I shut the bike off , walked away and then the fan kicked on all on its own. Sat there running for quite a while. More than I think it should have. I noticed that that big old pipe stays hot for quite a while. Had to wait for 20 min before I could install the storage cover.
Anyways just to make T59 happy I will try to take it out more this week.
Rob

[mittico68]

Nice neighbors... 

[CDNRatMan]

  Here is some pictures from one of my trips to Alert....or was it Churchill Manitoba......the coyote was taken here in North Bay a few years back.....