When I came home from the store the other day, I saw two motorcycles stopped at the end of the alley: one Yamaha and one Vstar. Both of the riders were off the bikes and looking at the Vstar. The side panels were on the grass, and the tool roll was emptied out. Not a good sign.
I walked over and asked if they needed help. The Vstar stalled and wouldn’t restart. I went inside and grabbed the jumper box out of the Ural and a voltmeter. The battery was only measuring 6.1volts when it should be above 12. The owner confessed to not using a tender over the winter, and this was her first ride of the year. She only made it to the end of the block. I’m surprised it even started in the first place.
With the jumper in place, we were able to get it started. Each time we tried to remove the jumper, it would stall again. We left it on for several minutes to try to get enough charge in the bike, so she could ride it back up the block to her house. While we waited, we talked about bikes.
She was able to ride the Vstar home, and then they were going to leave on the Yamaha to get a new battery for it. The key was left in the on position on the Yamaha while troubleshooting, and it wouldn’t start either. A short push up the hill, and he was able to bump start it. We all had a good laugh about it. It was nice to help a neighbor.
I saw this sidecar at the farmer’s market this weekend. I wonder if the dog is a standard accessory? Dog and sidecars just seem to go together like peanut butter and jelly.
The weather finally took a break from near constant rain. If I didn’t know better, I’d thought Minneapolis had been transported to the pacific northwest. It’s rained more days that not, but I’m not complaining too loudly since it isn’t snow. Yup, I’m looking at you May. You let us down with that late snowfall; April showers bring May snows?! Bah.
I took the Ural since I wanted to run a few errands after the walk. The the special skills of my Russian Lawn Tractor aka Ural were required. The Tom’s (Geezer with a Grudge)WR250X is hiding under the nice Aerostich cover. I’m kinda jealous of the cover. It would work nicely on my SV650.
It was a very nice day for a couple laps of Lake Como.
The Russian Lawn Tractor is very capable of hauling home a pile of plants. I went to get some straw, but ended up with plants. They were out of straw. Next time I guess. Now to get these guys in the garden.
This weekend, I had the pleasure of teaching a BRC with Tom Day (Geezer with a Grudge). We had a fun time teaching together. We were lucky to have such a good batch of students with varying ages and skill levels. A few were a bit rough around the edges in the beginning, but with a bit of patience they came around. It rained quite hard the second day, but cleared up in time for the skills test. All of them passed. I’m proud of them.
One student wrote this note on the feedback form. It has TOTALLY made my week!!
Thanks to the students (and Tom) for a fun weekend of teaching!
I really like my Slime Power Sport Tire Inflator. When a spammer attempted to comment on the post this morning, I realized it had been a couple years since I updated the review. The photos have been enlarged and the text freshened up.
You can read the full review here: Slime Power Sport Tire Inflator Review
Pros:
Cons:
Overall, I am happy with my purchase of the Slime Power Sport Tire Inflator. Its small size will make it easy to carry on the bike to keep my tires inflated to their correct spec. I would buy it again.
UPDATE: October 20, 2010: I’ve used my slime inflator many times this year and it is still running strong. I carry it almost every time I ride. It has been very handy and saved me from being stuck with a flat. I also updated the post with an extra con #3. I would still buy it again.
UPDATE: June 8, 2013: I am still using my slime inflator. It works great, and I would buy it again. I’ve been thinking of buying another one, so I don’t have to keep moving it between bikes. I carry it on nearly every ride. It has been very handy.
