We had a great weekend in Ocracoke. It is a great place to just get away and relax, especially this time of year since there is really no one else there.
Saturday we rode bikes around the island and took a good walk on the beach.
I didn’t eat too bad, even though Howard’s Pub is a real temptation (Howard’s hush puppies are awesome). We did eat at Howard’s both nights (it’s the only thing open this time of year) but we did not over do it. I had a fish sandwich on Friday night and a couple of crab cakes on Saturday.
We carried some healthy snacks with us to keep us from going to the convience store and buying a bunch of junk. Some 100 calorie oreo cookie packs, a few oranges, bottled water, and diet pepsi. When we don’t have snacks with us we end up at the general store buying bags of chocolate dounuts. I am digging the oranges and I am almost out, need to stop and pick up some more.
Now it’s back to work and back to the routine. Weighed in this morning and I am still holding steady at 229 lbs. I still have a long way to go but I will get there.
If you do a lot of in-town riding you may find yourself using your clutch ALOT. If your bike is like mine “was” at times you get off and feel like your left forearm is getting one hell of a work out. If so the “Easy Boy” Lite Clutch by White Brothers is what you need.
White Brothers claim that this product reduces the manual effort required to pull the clutch in by 40%. I am not sure what the percentage of improvement was, but I do know that it made the clutch on my 1992 Heritage Softtail much easier to pull.
Installation of the product was very easy and only took about 45 minutes to complete. Here is how it went:
First I removed the exhaust system so that I would have easier access to the transmission cover.
I then drained the transmission fluid and removed the transmission cover.
I disconnected the clutch cable from the coupling and removed the clip from the ball/ramp mechanism. (Watch out here, there are three(3) ball bearings behind the ramp mechanism and if you aren’t careful they will go rolling around the garage floor.)
Next I unscrewed the clutch cable from the transmission cover and removed the small O-ring.
Because I am not running the stock clutch cable I had to use a bench grinder to grind down the “Easy Boy” a bit to fit my cable end, if you have to do this be careful not to take off to much.
The “Easy Boy” Lite Clutch then installs right on the ramp piece with just a nut and bolt. Be sure that the bolt is tight. The instructions suggest about 10 - 12 ft lbs.
There is a spacer that comes with the kit that goes on the end of the clutch cable. Once the spacer is on the O-ring is replaced and the clutch cable can be screwed back into the transmission cover.
Then hook the clutch cable back into the coupler and attach the coupler to the “Easy Boy” Lite Clutch piece which is now bolted to the ramp mechanism. Reinstall the 3 ball bearings and the ramp mechanism and replace the clip.
Here is a picture of what it looks like installed:
Replace the transmission cover. Make sure you replace the transmission cover gasket, also. I suggest using a new one.
Then refill the transmission oil to the correct level.
Replace your exhaust system and adjust the clutch as necessary. Mine only needed a slight adjustment.
I purchased the “Easy Boy” Lite Clutch from Hampton Roads HD in Newport News. Total cost including the “Easy Boy” Lite Clutch Kit, Transmission Oil, and Transmission Cover Gasket was about $30.
The difference was well worth the time and money.
If you are looking to purchase the Easy Boy online you can pick it up at JPCycles.com. (Just search for easyboy on their site.)
Found this little jewel over here. Great step by step instructions to get Microsoft’s new Vista OS up and running in just a matter of minutes. 
Hope you (enjoyed it) learned something.
Western Digital WDXMS1200TN
120 GB Passport USB 2.0 Hard Drive
I was looking for something to securely backup data from my laptop. I had been using a USB drive, which was 1 GB, and it worked fine but it was only 1 GB. I found this 120GB Passport USB Drive from Western Digital.
This little USB Harddrive is a great deal for the price and if you are looking for something with a little more storage (or maybe even a little less) there are others available. The 120GB was just what I needed and the price was right.
One of the things I like most about it is that it give me the ability to work on documents on the drive on another computer and then sync them up on my laptop. I don’t have to lug my laptop everywhere (even though I usually do).
One draw back is the encryption and syncronization software (WD Sync) that comes preinstalled on the drive only works with Windows.
The drive is USB powered so there is no power supply or special power cable to deal with and it comes with a USB cable.
I liked the one that I was using on my laptop so much I bought a second one to hang off my server to just drop things onto for safe keeping.
Western Digital WDXMS1200TN 120 GB Passport USB 2.0 Hard Drive
Click Here to Buy from Amazon.com
From the Western Digital:
“High-performance portable storage for your Mac and PC. Light and rugged, it’s easy to carry and no external power adapter is needed. Comes with sync & encryption and Google software.
Pack up your office files and take them home. Carry thousands of songs or pictures. These drives are simple to use, light and easy to carry, and require no power adapter–they are powered directly through the USB cable.”
If you are looking for a portable and secure alternative to a USB Thumb Drive this gadget is worth a look.
Buy the Western Digital 120 GB Passport USB Hard Drive from Amazon.com
Most of the website design and editing I do, I do by hand using a text editor such as vim or notepad even but occassionally, especially if I am trying to lay out tables, CSS, or image maps (I hardly ever mess with image maps but sometimes) HTML Kit is an excellent tool to help with these tasks.
HTML Kit Screenshot
HTML Kit allows you to preview the output of your code as you edit. It is also very useful in planning site layout. There are a ton of plugins available for HTML Kit to automate just about any coding tasks.
The built in validation tools are also nice. (Probably should use them more often).
From the authors site:
HTML-Kit is a full-featured editor designed to help HTML, XHTML and XML authors to edit, format, lookup help, validate, preview and publish web pages. Despite its name and the light download size, HTML-Kit is a multi-purpose tool that has support for several scripting and programming languages.
Again if you are looking for a great FREE web development tool download HTML Kit and give it a try: http://www.chami.com/html-kit/
Just wanted to post a note about what you can expect to find here. I am a Network/Systems Administrator for a nationwide communicactions company. In my day to day work I come across cool hardware, software, and gadgets all the time.
I am pretty big on opensource software and I use it whenever I can.
After work and on the weekends I run a couple of websites, including an online retail site, there are a lot of things that I come across that help me out alot in the day to day operation of these site so I will be sharing them here.
I am going to try and post here a few times a week, or whenever I come across something new. I have a huge list of things I am going to be posting about so check back in the next day or so to see what is up.
Motorcycle Leather Care
By Bob Dolan
Leather Care
Now is the time of year you need to think about your leather, both bags and clothing. Your bags will be taking a beating from the sun and your clothing will be going into storage. The bags on your bike should be done several times a year depending on how much you ride. If they are looking a little dry treat them.
Whether you have a fancy one-piece racing suit or a combination of jacket, boots, pants and gloves, leather is also expensive and worth taking care of so as to extend its life as long as possible.
Fox Creek Leather - Quality American Made Motorcycle Leathers
What the Experts Say
My research has revealed that many of the products sold for leather care on the market today are not at all ideal. However, their brochures sound convincing, and as uninformed consumers we tend to buy the products without question. Brace yourself to learn some new tricks.
If you look at the typical car care center or furniture dealer that sells leather care products, you are likely to be as mystified at the dizzying array of creams and potions that are sold to clean and care for your leather garments. After interviewing many people in the motorcycle garment business, and often receiving a different opinion from each of them, I decided I needed an unbiased source of information.
So I turned to the Leather Apparel Association (LAA), an industry group that was founded by 40 retailers, tanners, producers and cleaners in 1990. They currently have more than 100 members, and one of their goals is to provide an authoritative source of information related to leather and its use and care.
Leather Care Tips
Leather ages gracefully and can last a lifetime with proper care right from the start.
Always hang leather garments on wide or padded hangers to maintain their shape. Use shoetrees in footwear and stuff empty handbags with tissue to help retain their shape.
Never store leather goods in plastic or other non-breathable covers. This will cause leather to become dry.
Allow wet or damp leather to air-dry naturally away from any heat source. Leather can be treated with a conditioner to restore flexibility while suede can be brushed with a terry towel to restore its look.
In winter, promptly remove salt deposits from garments and footwear by sponging with clear water, then follow with the above treatment for wet or damp leather.
When storing avoid very humid and dry environments as well as direct sunlight.
Do not use waxes, silicone products or other leather preparations that impair a garment’s ability to breathe.
Wrinkles should hang out. If ironing is desired, set iron on rayon setting, use heavy brown wrapping paper as a pressing cloth on right side of the garment and a quick hand to prevent overheating and shine.
Avoid spraying perfumes or hair sprays while wearing your garment and do not apply pins, adhesive badges or tape. Wearing a scarf at the neckline will help keep hair and body oil away from the collar.
Hems may be fixed with a tiny amount of rubber cement. For best results see a leather care professional.
All products designed to be used at home should be tested on an inconspicuous part of the garment.
Always hang leather garments on wide or padded hangers to maintain their shape. Use shoetrees in footwear and stuff empty handbags with tissue to help retain their shape. Never store leather goods in plastic or other non-breathable covers. This will cause leather to become dry.
All products designed to be used at home should be tested on an inconspicuous part of the garment.
How Often Do I Condition Leather?
This is very dependent on the frequency of use as well as the conditions of exposure. For example, a person that rides a few thousand miles a year in good weather may only have to clean and condition once or twice a year, while a rider constantly exposing leather garments to harsh conditions may have to clean and condition after every few rides. In fact, riders may even need to clean after every ride if the leather is exposed to lots of perspiration or road salts. Also properly conditioned leather tends to clean easier.
Without regular cleaning and conditioning, perspiration will draw the moisture right out of the leather, turn it hard, and eventually make it tear like paper. Once that occurs, no product will bring the leather back.
I have leather that is 40 years old and still in good condition.
A few tips to start the cold season:
Carefully go over your leather to see if any repairs are needed, broken zippers, seams giving out. Better to find out now than when you need it. Oil the zippers with sewing mach oil.
Water Proof - A spray water repellent will not hurt your leather. A water repellent will help any unfinished brushed or naked leather. However, if you get caught in a downpour, don’t expect any water repellent to keep your leathers completely dry! Water will eventually soak into the leather.
I have never found a way to get that salt stain out of my boots once its there so using a good treatment like Obenauf’s Lp. will help prevent this problem. Incidentally, it’s not the water that spots leather, it’s the minerals in the water that stay behind once the water evaporates
Many people swear by mink oil to condition and waterproof their motorcycle leather. There are really two fundamentally different approaches to motorcycle leather care: The way I describe mink oil vs. a oil-type leather conditioner, it’s like putting Vaseline on your hands vs. Jergens lotion. Mink oil will clog the pores of your leather, just as Vaseline creates a barrier between your skin and the environment. That’s why it will make your leather motorcycle accessories waterproof. It will also eventually dry out your leather because the pores are clogged. You will also notice your leather accessories may have a whitish haze to it. That’s what happens when mink oil solidifies in cold weather. To answer the question, it makes more sense to put mink oil on your boots, if you so desire, and use a conditioner specifically designed for leather care and the conditioning of quality Deer, Elk, Buffalo , and Cow hide.
Tips for how to keep motorcycle leather from fading:
If left untreated, all leather is subject to fading from the sun’s ultraviolet (UV) rays. There is really only one leather care product that effectively prevents your leather from doing the slow-fade dance: 303 Aerospace Protectant. With regular use, this leather conditioning product prevents fading up to 100%. In addition, it conditions your motorcycle leather so that it is highly soil, oil, and water-resistant without clogging the pores of the leather or making them slick or sticky. An effective sunscreen for your leather will help ensure that your leather accessories will look better and last longer
Bob is an online retailer of leather and textile motorcycle apparel selling wholesale to the rider. For more information you can visit his website at http://www.motorcycleleather.biz
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Bob_Dolan
http://EzineArticles.com/?Motorcycle-Leather-Care&id=436536
An eight-year-old kid swaggered into the lounge and demanded of the barmaid, “Give me a double Scotch on the rocks.”
“What do you want to do, get me in trouble?” the barmaid asked.
“Maybe later,” the kid said. “Right now, I just want the Scotch.”
—-
Hope you had a great weekend!
Take Care - Ride FREE
Biker Helmet Stickers @ ChopperStickers.com
Had a pretty good week I think. Did not lose a lot of weight as you will see in a minute but I did start getting into the routine of working out in the afternoons.
Friday 2/23/07 Weigh In: 229lbs.
OK so that is only 1lb down this week. I am a little disappointed because I did work pretty hard this week and I have really tried to stay on track with eating better, but I think getting into the routine is just as important as losing the weight. I will keep working at it and eventually I will get into a routine and get a handle on my diet, then I should see better results.
Sandy (my wonderful wife) and I are headed out of town for the weekend. It has been a really stressful week at work for the both of us and we just need a break. We are headed down to Ocracoke Island, NC - one of our favorite places to go. We are packing some healthy snacks and I will try to control myself at Howard’s Pub (the food there is AWESOME). Will do a lot of walking and bike riding around the island so it should be a good weekend.
Have a good weekend. Be back on Monday.
Motorcycle Maintenance - A Basic Guide
By James Hunaban
Here we have a few things you should check on your motorcycle on a regular basis. I assume you have a handbook with the specs for your bike, if not, go get one. You may be able to find some data for your particular motorcycle on the net. You can also pick up workshop manuals for various models on eBay in PDF or CD form for little money.
Motorcycle Repair, Maintenance, and Service Manuals
Whereas with a four wheeled vehicle you may get away with being lax with things like tire pressures etc, this is not the case with a motorcycle. You should not risk compromising the safety and stability of your motorcycle, for the sake of a bit of routine maintenance.
Pre-ride checks
- Tires – check condition and for foreign objects in the tread.
- Tire pressures – it is vitally important to keep your motorcycles tire pressures either on spec or very close to it.
- Oil level – always check with the bike on level ground.
- Coolant level – only if your bike’s liquid cooled, obviously.
- Chain – check the tension and make sure it’s well lubed.
- Brakes – check they work and that they feel good.
- Lights – check all your lights, especially the brake light, you don’t want to get rear ended, do you?
- Visual inspection – self explanatory.
- All ok – hit the road.
Periodical checks
Check battery – see that the connections are tight; I dropped a bike once because of a loose battery connection, strange but true. Also check the electrolyte level on some batteries, a lot of newer batteries are gel filled, sealed for life types, so no need with these.- Carb balance – if your bike is multi carbed get yourself a Morgan carbtune or similar. It can be a little tricky the first time you balance them, but when you’ve done it once, the second time will be easy.
- Ignition timing – only necessary on some bikes, most newer models have electronic ignition which does not need touching, normally.
- Valve clearances – unless you’re a good home mechanic, take it to a dealer.
- Wheel bearings – grab each wheel with it off the ground and see if there is any sideways play. There should be none or maybe a trace at most.
- Steering head bearings – with the front end off the ground, grab the forks and push and pull. There should be no play.
- Swinging arm bearings – with the back wheel off the ground, check for any sideways movement in the swingarm, there should be none.
- Brakes – check fluid levels, brake hoses for deterioration, and pads/shoes for thickness.
- Cables and levers – should operate smoothly. Get some grease on lever/pedal pivot points, and get some lube down the cables, if you can. A cable oiler is a handy tool.
- Nut and bolts – go all round the motorcycle with your spanners and check that all nuts/ bolts/screws are nice and tight.
Well, that’s about it for some basic maintenance, obviously, unless you’re a good home mechanic, any bigger jobs will have to go to a dealer. The problem can be finding a good one with skilled mechanics you can trust. I manage to keep my Yamaha Fazer 1000 running sweet just using the steps listed above. It does help that this model only needs the valve clearances checking every 26,000 miles.
James Hunaban is the owner of http://www.motorcycling-news.com a site full of Motorcycle information.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=James_Hunaban
http://EzineArticles.com/?Motorcycle-Maintenance-
–A-Basic-Guide&id=379393
