staying busy

[Lucasind]

...The Yamaha is all done , been out riding it a few times now ....its alot of fun to ride, but it just aint no Voyager ! I added LED lights to it ....as I have done to ALL my bikes now ........I really see people that were ABOUT to pull out in front of me .....hit the brakes, most people that pull out in front of us , and cause a crash , all say the same thing "" I didn't see him""

[triton28]

Absolutely beautiful! Bravo Zulu.

[cushman eagle]

Great looking bike,Tony.
Ready to ride up to the UP,and take a tour around it with us ?
My brother,Wayne had an XS 650 for a while, then bought his '74 Z1,which had a bit more power,and a little less vibration.
I did love the sound of that 360 degree twin though!

[Lucasind]

So , Yeah guys....I got the Yamaha 650 done , and rode it along the river 80 miles, ran great ,looked great....and then a guy offered me a good price on it .....so it has a new ass on the seat now it has been gone for a couple weeks ,and the guy texted me , telling me how much he loves riding it every evening, bringing back his old BSA memories from 40 years ago ........so I was without a new project for a few days before I went up north in the Benz and bought this "time capsule" 97' Voyager. The story goes that it was the owner of a Kawasaki dealership personal bike , it sat on the climate controlled showroom floor..."not for sale" ....till the guy I got it from made a offer he couldn't refuse ! , well this guy had it for 7 years in his attached ,heated 2 car garage , and did not ride it much.....in fact , it has not been started in over 6 years ! , Not often can a guy get a 25 year old XII, in near showroom condition ....with 11,000 miles on it for a grand ! this bike has kept me very busy .....solving many issues, mostly caused by improper storage, the list of needed repairs is way more than I would have EVER expected considering the history of this bike ! but I love a good challenge as always ....and knocking my checklist off ...one by one .....

[Lucasind]

Yeah ....this XII has no "pitting" on the rims ...or fork lowers ....no where !....check out "no fade to silver" that the 96 and 97 model years were famous for !My gosh , I have NEVER bought a used XII, which has a exhaust system , that has the original chrome from the cylinder head,all the way bak to the 4 down tips in perfect shape ! ...even the undersides have no rust ! I got my" brother from a different mother " Gene Kap , making me a set of his lovely under the passenger floorboard covers ,,,,as I have on all my XII's ...just because they look so great ! here are some pics of the new (to me) XII !

[Lucasind]

more pics......clean bike !

[triton28]

You sure have the luck. All I have up here are clapped out late 80s and early 90s for the price you paid even if i add the 30% exchange on to your price.
I just started a new project as well; it is a 1993 which is getting a complete nut and bolt restoration. The chassis is coming along and I will be doing the engine this winter using that head I ported and polished a while ago. Don't get much time to work on it as I am rebuilding the front wall of a house next door, it rotted out due to open exposure driving the rain UP the wall and it finds any tiny crack to get in and rot the wall behind.
They sure don't seem to want one to rebuild the engines as the parts are so overpriced. $60.00 per piston for a ring set, $70.00 for a head gasket and those are USD prices.
But, when it is done it will be good for another 28 years so if one averages out the cost it is not as harsh to the wallet.
Gotta keep busy or I will seize up,
Dave

[Lucasind]

Right on Dave ! I try to keep my eyes and ears open everyday , scanning the web , gotta stay on it , and ready to GO as soon as a opportunity presents itself . WHY ? not really sure , that sickness us bike guys have , I suppose , I go from working on forklifts , to endloaders, to backhoes, etc...every morning out on the road in my service truck ....then come back and work on Kaws, Honda, Yamaha , Suzuki....etc .... sometimes I think Im about to lose my mind ....gee ..I need to stop and clean my workshop , and put my tools away so mine looks like your

[triton28]

You don't see what is behind me in the photo, I moved all the mess there so it didn't show.
Dave

[Lucasind]

So , as it often happens ....."all that glitters,is not gold" ! ........I ended up having to remove the carbs from the new 97 Voyager(again) as the previous owner left the bike sit for 6 + years ,with only 1-2 gallons of untreated fuel in the tank, inside of the tank has a good amount of rust in it .....and some of it plugged off a pilot jet , and it quit idling perfectly, so did my best at flushing the tank again ...and am now running a dual fuel filter,.....after 250 more miles of test riding , it seems to be perfect........so I have decided to sell my 87 Voyager , as I am running out of storage space to keep them all ! my son has been riding the 87 , anytime we go somewhere of great distance ....as he still enjoys his sport bikes .....

[cushman eagle]

Hey,Tony,That exhaust system sure looks good I will trade you mine
Do you have any interest in meeting up for fish up your way?

[Lucasind]

I love to go get that fish !..... but I dont know when I can go ! my weekends are going to be crazy for the next month at least, Im taking down 2 80 foot trees starting tomarrow, then after that , I have roof and window issues to get completed before we return to another long cold winter, I have to get these jobs done while the weather is in my favor......hoping to see you at the fall ride in , maybe we can find a place there to get fish .....other than Mcdonalds.

[ekap1200]

Where do you find the time ? I just can't keep up. I have had a honda magna here for over a month waiting on parts. And now with that done a 91 kaw, 550 Zephyr barn find up on the lift with same issue's NO PARTS ON TIME..... Or they cancel the order. I had your cover's water-jetted out weeks ago but can't seem to find the time to do the finish work.
The two back to back vacations put a hurtin on me. Came home to find the shops AC unit shot... That shut me right down for working in there as the day job's an oven with an average of 95 in the building.
On the brighter side I did find a supplier for the 90mm x 3mm o-rings that were needed for the Zephyr oil pan , so I bought quite a few as they are also the correct 3mm thick for our voyagers. Price's are insane dang near 80 dollars in parts alone just for the oil pan repair. Good thing I had a metric 14 x 1.25 tap for the stripped drain. Also made up 16 of those oil filter washers I always find missing . The water - jet is a nice machine for knocking them out of a scrap piece of .035
Tony I am sorry I dropped the ball on these floor board covers, your not the only one I am late on placing orders.
Well time to go off to the shop, seized caliper day on the 550, the only parts that came in on time, aftermarket kits with all the trimmings. AC is now replaced and work ready at 74 deg.
See ya's at the fall ride in.
Gene Kap.

[Lucasind]

Up at 5am this Saturday, get the coffee going , then me and my bud "Lemmy" head out in the Benz for a nice 300 mile round trip to pick up a 91 Voyager XII , she had been sitting since 2006 , and the PO said he had tried to get it running right, several times , but gave up and put it up for sale. It has 15 years of dirt and dust and cobwebs on it , but will be shining like a new penny , after I get the mechanical end of things brought back up to spec.Here are some pics of the day, always enjoy traveling about , meeting like minded guys , and chewing the fat about bikes a bit. Might I also say that this year's recent "Fall Ride In" was a great time, Marrietta Ohio was a great choice, riding on both the Ohio side, and West Virginia sides of the Ohio River . twisty /curvy roads galore, and caught 4 days of perfect riding weather, I thought I would post this here , and just keep this thread going,as guys at the ride in said they always enjoy reading my motorcycle activities !

[Lucasind]

Has some nice old "Markland" goodies on her, how about the handlebar "coin holder" ....gee , ya never know what you might find,as Ive never seen one of these on a bike before !

[VoyKimmer]

I had one of those coin holders on my 90 Vulcan years ago. That was before IPASS and Ezpass
Had the transponders and you had to pay either exact change at the coin collectors or pay at toll booth. I rode that motorcycle every day to work all year long. Don’t know what I did with it.

Good to see you and Pam at the Fall ride in Tony. Always a good time the weather was great.

I will change the oil in my 96 start treating the gas with seafoam then park it and start taking the plastic off for its winter cleaning and maintenance. Will keep the 02 going until the snow flys.

[Lucasind]

Yes , thanks Kim , We really liked the Marrietta Oh. area, and will likely return there in the future,for no particular reason ,other than it is closer than riding all the way to places like N.C. , As far as the bike I just bought yesterday......I found /fixed all the problems with it, and she now fires right up with a touch of the button ! This was going to be my winter project, so I guess I will make her purdy....and look for another one to go get .

[forplay]

Hello from NJ. rainy damp day , but a good day to STAY BUSY in the shop. The last parts bike had this piece of bling on the trunk and after a few months outside in the rain , it cleaned up well. I am not one to like to drill holes in my bike but this was too good to pass.
With no dry roads , the radio cover ( window ) was finally done. I have had the clear poly for years. just never had the time. the inside is milled to fit the clear.

As Marie always tell me a , busy man is a happy man "
Gene K.

Do I know You?????????

[Lucasind]

So after just one week ....the 91' is fixed and all ready to go ,gave her a good cleaning , and looking good ! , took her out for a ride, and at 78,000 miles ,she runs just fine , never thought I would own a purple motorcycle , but after the clean and shine ....it kinda grows on ya !

[Lucasind]

Well, here we are at the end of another riding season here in northern Ohio, I have a total of combined riding miles ( of all 4 of my Voyagers) just over 6000. Just all local riding, no long trips again this year. My usual riding is 50-100 miles every evening that is not raining, after work. I thought I would share a issue that this latest 91' Voyager presented......after completing my work , the engine would fire right up , idle perfect, rev up nicely while up on the air lift ......but once out on the road , the engine would not pull smooth and strong between 1-3000 RPM's , When I first got the bike , I pulled the carbs , and went thru them ,finding the usual stuff, pulled the spark plugs and found the #1 plug burning sooty black, I installed 4 new plugs and caps, trimmed 1/4 inch off each plug wire to get into some fresh wire, reassembled and test road the bike only to find the same thing, and #1 plug sooty black again . I missed something when I went thru the carbs, and thinking back to my conversation with the previous owner ,him telling me that he could not get the bike running right since 2006 when he, or some shop ""got the bike ready" for a long trip ! As it turned out , who ever had the carbs apart way back then , had the #1 carb " needle jet" that is lightly pressed into the carb body , above the brass emulsion tube, FALL OUT and must have hit the floor and gone , not seeing this , they put the carbs back on the bike , and this condition was created , and remained this way till now. I called Carl and he said he had one to send me, along with the Kawasaki "clean air system" vacuum valve , that was causing a vacuum leak (never seen this before either)......In the mean time , waiting for the carb part from Carl , I made a needle jet out of a old Kaw G-5 oil induction "banjo bolt " and reassembled for testing .....the problem went away ! , so now I took the home made part out ,and installed the parts from Carl , and while I had her back up on the airlift , I replaced the clutch, and now the 91' Voyager is a trusted bike to go anywhere, and I have enjoyed riding it over 300 miles now