Another Repair

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 day I started to plan to connect a wire to another grounding spot on the scooter. Using a test wire with an alligator clamp on the end I pushed down on the battery screw to the ground wire and the lights came on. I reached up and pressed the starter button and the scooter started. Guess what? The screw holding the ground wire to the battery was loose. When I pushed the alligator clamp on the ground wire I, in essence, tightened up the screw. A twist of the screwdriver later and the trouble was solved.
I took it for a ride later and it just hummed. I guess checking the wire every so often is now an additional maintenance task. Another note to self. 

 

Another Poughkeepsie MC Event

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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A Service Flub

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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More Stories, More Events

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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First Event Of The Season

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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Rolling On

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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A Few Rides

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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First Repair of 2021

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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Winter 2022

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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The Last Run Of 2021

December 24, 2021
    The weather here last week was exceptionally warm for this time of year so a ride was in order. I needed a haircut so I would look presentable for the holidays and made an appointment at the local Hair Cutters. To get there I fired up the newest addition to the fleet, my Dongfang 170cc. It is getting looser all the time and even at just over 300 miles it is becoming very tempting to run it harder. I just keep reminding myself that a mistake now will bite me in the butt later on.

    The ri...
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My Ride


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.

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