Right on about getting old, Gunny. Just had a lens replacement done, eye beginning to clear up, so I rolled the 1255 out onto the driveway to go riding, turned my back, and it promptly fell over! Damn! Lucky a neighbor went by and gave me a hand raising it back on the 'tars'. Nothing broke but the left front turn signal housing and clutch lever. Left engine cover nicely scraped also. Who makes crash bars that fit the 1255?
Any idea where I ought to look to get these parts online? I hate my local 'stealer'. He ripped me off something fierce on a carb cleaning job. Knew I should have done it myself. I know there's an IPB online (Ron Ayers?) that's good for parts numbers, but does he sell and is he reasonable for OEM parts?
At least the old 1200 now runs well after being upgraded with a set of stage one jets and an air box mod. MPG is off, though. It used to give me up to 45 mpg. Now it's down to 38. I think the carbs are in need of more tuning.
Now for the IMPORTANT QUESTION: Where is everybody?
No need to go all political trying to figure it out, tho - We were warned by the PTB's years ago that we'd better become more co-operative or the BIG BOYS would march off stage left after stealing everything in sight, including our savings, retirement funds, homes and country. They seem to be succeeding.
Notice how many more homeless Vets there are now? You'd think the VA would re-open a closed base in each state to at least give them a place to sleep and eat. The TBI cases (Traumatic Brain Injured) could use a lot of help too. Local VA hospitals are trying, but not succeeding. They are sticking to the old saw that requires the Vet to prove what injured him/her, but they aren't even trying to do diagnostics on those who make a claim for treatment.
Yup, America is going out of business.
I still drive by the old Banit Alley ghost town once in a while just to see if any of the avatars have had the dust disturbed on them. Since my avatar is the same on all my BBS sites I consider myself alive and well but at-large LOL. I think the whole moto-boomer love affair is starting to finally subside as we die off, get crippled or too soft to keep up the speed-racer-easy-rider mantra. I wonder why I keep my bikes as I haven't ridden them seriously in a year. I have been riding street and dirt bikes since I was 13 and now that my joints are staring to get temperamental at age 53 and my last bike injury 3 years ago still leaves me with a fat ankle I ponder the balance between the thrill of victoriously riding with the wind in my hair or the agony of a looming crash and burn defeat finally make the decision for me. Do I keep my late model bikes that I now ride about as often as I mail holiday greening cards, letting them devalue to the point of a few hundred bucks just to say to myself "you still own them so you must be cool" or do I face facts that "the thrill is finally gone" and get some value out of them before its too late? that is the question.
I found this music video that kind of sums up how I feel after logging well over 80,000 miles on street motorcycles and 40,000 miles on dirt without a major crash.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PDp4kyHqbcQ
