Stewy

LOL! . Love it! Yes, mom 😁 😉 (kidding - I feel I can since we have, albeit a small as of now, rapport IRL 🙂) Lets see, as of this morning - more detailing (I'm feeling like a broken record 🙃). However, there was an "incident" and I now need to rebuild the seat on my mechanic creeper / seat. Rebuild the cheap seat into something much more improved...

Thanks! 😀. I love your seat (as strange as that my sound). Friend of mine has a similar bike and, again without sounding too weird, I really like how comfortable my butt is in it. Guy I know who works on bikes out of his garage one day showed me a GS750 (next step up from my bike) that was a six cylinder - made me laugh how far on each side of the frame the engine hung over. If you banked too far on that bike, you were likely to scrape the crank cover, forget scraping the frame / exhaust! 😄. It's therapeutic, especially in the evenings (at least for me), to get out and just ride. Going no where in particular - just out burning gas 😊

She's pretty! 😍 I'll dig up some pictures of my 550 and get them up soon (actually, just this morning, I started the fall detail on the bike getting it prepped for winter storage). The 550 has been an awesome bike - love riding it around town and even take it for relatively short (< 1 hr.) trips on the expressway (passing semis is fine... so long as I'm prepared for it 😉). I was planning on, beginning this past spring, starting to look for a second bike but... well, this whole year has been, for met at least, (nearly) complete "reactive" mode so getting a second bike has taken a far back burner for the time being. I've been riding the 550 for the past eight or so years so I'm ready for an upgrade (not replacing the 550, just adding to the fleet). I would like to get certain amenities - like a windshield, cruise, bags, back rest for driver & passenger, an engine that's water cooled, around double the engine displacement and a few other miscellaneous things (make the ride, for my wife and I, much for inviting when taking the bike on a weekend trip). I'm actually really looking forward to when my daughter is old enough to start riding - she's only two but has already expressed a huge interest in riding it #ProudDad 😁 Ok, got to the pictures a little quicker than I thought (don't mind how the front wheel looks like a polygon, the sun / heat was messing w/ the camera) -

Suzuski, actually. 1980 GS550E. You ride?

Finished the fall detail on B.T. 🙂. Snapped a couple pictures - the camera actually caught a decent amount of the gloss (turning on all the overhead lights helped).

BEAUTIFUL! 😍

Just curious but was wondering if someone could help me understand (a "quick-and-dirty" explanation would be totally fine) the differences between the "American Hot Road Association" (AHRA) and the "National Hod Road Association" (NHRA). Generally speaking, my understanding is that the NHRA sets the rules and guidelines (e.g. 5 pt. harness, flame-resistant driver suit, etc.) that everyone on / at the strip must adhere to while the AHRA somehow represents the individuals who use the track - like a union almost... ? Again, my understanding of, especially, the AHRA is pretty weak (although Wikipedia says the AHRA disbanded and the, fairly recently, has resurfaced) - just looking for some insight. Thanks!

I LOL'd at this because it's true (for me)... it really is... keep a stash of them in the console of every vehicle (and even under the seat in the motorcycle!). They also work great for checking vehicle fluids when on the road.

I'm, apparently, easily entertained at this hour of the morning as this image made me chuckle - as if it's peeking around the corner 😄

When I started at the former GLTC building, post bankruptcy, there was still signage sitting against the wall on the floor from when GM occupied the building including the above (not the Pontiac one but a Chevrolet one) along with the "GM" square. Would have LOVED to take one (or both) home!

🤦‍♂️Calm down, geeze. I was never calling you out - only relating my experience. My conversations with those who have installed them. My visual inspections of installations. My readings of technical documents relating to them. Guess I can't do that? I do not think less of you for installing one. As I noted previously, I'm happy you have one and that it's working out for you and wish you nothing but continued success. Also as noted, I have no idea what brand you have, how it's specifically installed and so on. For all I know you know the secrete to picking a reputable unit and installing it such that it's issue-free. Only to an extent such that I just (~ a month ago) replaced two OEM trans coolant line fittings because they were weeping. Even the factory connections / lines / etc. will weep (or worse) over time. I see... so first hand inspections of units with issues doesn't count... ?

😂

Trust me when I say, I have done more research into the topic than you may, or may not, realize. To each their own. Your car. My car. We each have our desired setup. What works for you may, or may not, work for me and vice versa.

That's pretty interesting 🙂 (well, not necessarily the lackadaisical portion but otherwise interesting!). The lab I send engine, trans and differential fluids to for analysis - Blackstone Labs out of Fort Wayne - it would be a blast to be a fly-on-the-wall to visit their facility and watch as they do their various tests (especially the flash-point tests *pulls box of matches from pocket* 😁). For close to 19 years (since my 6th generation GP) I have occasionally been thinking about putting an external trans cooler in. I know there are many brands of external coolers - Desert Fox is one that jumps immediately to mind - however I continually come back to the many "pain-in-the-butt" (or the occasional horror) stories of the aftermarket external coolers (regarding leaking and, if left unchecked long enough, trans fluid starvation). Now I have zero idea what make / model of external cooler you run and it very well may be the Rolls Royce of coolers and has / will serve you very well - I'm speaking from my experience only. That said, I am in full agreement that when they are working they provide additional (potentially considerable) air volume movement as well as more efficient cooling of the fluid. On a side note, I would love to get cooling differential covers for both of my truck axles... but for the amount I drive the truck, coupled with how hard I drive it, I would have a very hard time justifying a $400+ investment cost to my wife (who is not a big car / truck person) 😉. Oh yeah, I'm well versed with Intense and not only their offering of the three shift-kit stages but also other aftermarket companies offering the different stages. For a while I was very much considering putting in a stage 2 or 3 in my 6th generation but, and I don't recall why now, decided against it. While I have also considered installing it in my 7th generation, I really don't know how firm the shifts would be with a shift kit AND reprogramming the PCM's BIN file (even if a stage 1 or 2 were to be installed versus a 3). Installation of the kits isn't bad - taking your time, maybe 30 mins (including lifting the front up) providing no issues were encountered. For sure. Heat, total double edge sword. Keeps you comfy in the winter but wreaks havoc on your powertrain. Makes me cringe when I see and auto manufacturers (especially GM, it seems, but I know Ford does it also - maybe not so much FCA... ?) dumping four cylinders in most of their vehicles and then making up for the loss of displacement by tossing on a turbo. Very compact engine space. Very hot turbo. IMO, poor engine bay cooling WITH the turbo. Hrmm... what could go wrong? 🤔

👋🙂