September 13, 2022
This past Saturday the Hudson Valley Biker Network (HVBN) held a ride in support of a rider named Sal Carbone who was hit riding his motorcycle by a drunk driver. Eddie Ramirez, head of HVBN, heard about it and went to the Facebook page to announce the ride which started in Hyde Park, a few miles from my house. The ride also found space on the local newspaper's website so even non HVBN members showed up. No less than our State Senator, Sue Serino appeared and made a donation in support of the event. It was nice to be a part of the day for me.
The first place we went after starting the ride was to Sal's house where he sat in his wheelchair as we pulled up. He was touched by the number of people riding in his name. After a brief stop we proceeded further north to the infamous Hollow Road, one of the area's twistiest and best motorcycle roads. I had chosen the big black scooter for this ride and found my self sandwiched between a Harley trike and a Can Am Ryker which also has three wheels. In that spot I was able to keep pace as they aren't the best for roads that curve and my scooter's lack of horsepower didn't impede anyone. To say the ride was adventurous for me would be an understatement as I was putting the scooter through its paces the whole time. It's not exactly a Sport Bike but does pretty well for its size.
The ride then made its was into Poughkeepsie to a local bar named Juan Murphy's. Live music was waiting and everyone relaxed and chatted about far ranging topics typical to motorcyclists. The gathering and food was just icing on the cake to a fine day for a good cause.
Posted by Jim Zeiser.
August 17, 2022
Last week I went down to the garage to do my weekly motorcycle startup which began a new dilemma. The new scooter would only click when I pushed the starter button and the lights would turn off. Perplexed, I removed the battery cover to begin to investigate the problem. With Linda's help I finally felt that somehow the ground wire for the battery had failed somewhere inside the scooter. With that churning in my head I put it away for the night determined to fix it the next morning.
The next ...
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Posted by Jim Zeiser.
July 20, 2022
This passed Sunday there was another local ride. So local in fact that it started and ended eight miles from my house. It was the infamous Suicide Prevention Ride. I call it infamous because the last two times I did it there were moments when I felt the ride had gone awry. I even labeled the first time "Unsatisfactory".
Not this time. I learned over the last two times that horsepower was required as certain V-Twins would push the pace to the strain levels of my 250cc motorcycle and scooter. Th...
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Posted by Jim Zeiser.
July 7, 2022
One task that I have been putting off for a long time is replacing the drive belt on my 250cc scooter. I noticed almost two years ago that it was giving signs that the belt had begun to stretch. Last year I did a visual inspection but it looked good so I didn't replace it then. A couple of weeks ago I resolved to replace the belt and am I glad I did. It showed early signs of cracks in the rubber which means that a breakage will come along when you least expect it. I had a new belt in stock a...
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Posted by Jim Zeiser.
June 27, 2022
Looking back at my last entry I see I've fallen behind on my news to. After the last event I decided to use the big Kawasaki on another ride in my backyard. This one was to benefit children with cancer and started in Poughkeepsie. I've ridden this event twice before, once on the Kawasaki and once on the CF Moto scooter. Each time I enjoyed the ride, music and food served at the end of the ride. This year was no exception. There were about as many bikes as usual, somewhere around eighty, and ...
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Posted by Jim Zeiser.
May 5, 2022
This past Sunday there was a Suicide Prevention Benefit ride in LaGrange and I had to decide which of my steeds was going to carry me. After much consideration I used the Honda Nighthawk 250. I haven't had the big Kawasaki out yet this year and I wanted something manageable in case the crowd threw me a curve.
After filling up the Honda's tank I rode over to PC's Paddock where the event was beginning. Despite its diminutive engine the Honda was running quite well. On the way over I caught up...
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Posted by Jim Zeiser.
April 25, 2022
The weather finally started to cooperate last week and I got to pull out more of the fleet. In one day I even got to take out the two red bikes, my 250 Honda and the 200cc scooter. Both ran well and had me riding around the area viewing the ongoing change of the season as trees and bushes turn from darkly brown to colorful buds. Both bikes are great fun to ride a casual pace on the entertaining roads around here. I even briefly took the new scooter out on the less than pleasant US 9 that ...
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Posted by Jim Zeiser.
April 15, 2022
I haven't done anything of great length in the last couple of weeks but my fleet is not idle. After bringing the Honda home from the shop it returned to the weekly starting and warmup routine. The other day I unleashed it from the garage and took it on a little spin around the area, Hyde Park has a few historic sites and a run past them was in order. Franklin Roosevelt's home is a few miles away and if done properly I can ride past the Park holding Eleanor Roosevelt's post Presidential home,...
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Posted by Jim Zeiser.
April 1, 2022
Ever since I got the 250 Nighthawk the front suspension oil seals have been leaking. It's not the first motorcycle that my seals have leaked on so I didn't pay much attention to it. When the dust seal finally cracked from being dried out on one side I knew it was time to do something. The first thing I did was go to an online dealer I had used before and ordered the parts. Normally this is the easy part as usually the parts come in about two weeks. I ordered the seals in the beginning of ...
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Posted by Jim Zeiser.
January 23, 2022
This is the time of year that I dislike the most. January Winter. This year it's been especially cold with a few single digit temps, snow and black ice. To combat this the local highway department slathers salt on the roads with great gusto and right now you can't tell where the snow starts and the road ends in the gutter. I don't dare take any of the bikes out in this as rust protection is nonexistent on motorcycles and scooters. I go down once a week and start the bikes to keep their fuel ...
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Posted by Jim Zeiser.
If you wish to comment my e-mail address is h1500e@hotmail.com. I'd like to hear anything-good or bad-that anyone would like to say. As they said in college, we're all lifelong learners.
