[Kainam]

Wow! Away from home for 3 months? :whoa

 

[JayD]

It's Ironic really

It felt like forever Kainam, I felt it my family felt it but I had business to take care of, out of it I got my Softail...and adressed mt medical issues and its full steam ahead to meet my fate.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


You know I can work on my Shovel with my eyes closed as I know every nut and bolt...I used to be able to go straight to the bolt that was loose after hearing a noise while riding, nothing stopped me really with that bike.

With my Softail on Saturday before I even made the call for help I already tried everything the Harley techs suggested me to do...changed my fob battery to a new one to no avail!...then followed the techs advice doing the blinker switch tango...you all know how that turned out.

A beautiful reliable Harley sidelined by one of the very things that keeps it safe and as I'm new to these alarms had me standing there really not knowing how to sort this drama out, If its possible I think I will have a by pass installed so I can hit a switch and away I go once more.

At home yesterday my Wife cooked me a great dinner and I had a great nights sleep and now we are hooking up the trailer to sort out this problem and ride it home.

Out 1 to 10 I would rate this run home a 9 as my bike purred all the way untill it had its electrical nervous breakdown..but I suppose this is where your memories come from and you strive to make your bike bullet proof cause if its possible It will only stop me for a little while.

Happy to be Home, take care, and ride safe, and dont forget to take your photos cause when your memories fade you will still have your pictures to look at and say remember when?
J

 

[JayD]

The Stress of Making it to the Boat!!!

You would not believe it ! I kid you not!!! I was about to take my bike into Launceston an hour away when I thought to myself I will have one last look at the alrm fob now I'm home in my garage.

Cracks it apart whips out my multimeter and checks the battery, its good showing 3.3 volts...then I looks at the four little legs that come off the fob to the battery and thinks to myself I will gently bend them up a little....right! and bingo the alarm flashes the blinkers at me and I think...your got to be kidding me!.

I didnt get too excited as I still to get it off the trailer, once off the trailer I gave the disarm command from my fob turns the ignition to on, hit the starter button and the bike firs straight up.

What a learning curve, under the pressure of the deadline to make the boat I thought about place some foil between the battery from Phills cigarette packet but glossed over it, Phill even thought about bending up the legs a little but because of the Stress of the moment we didnt ! what a run...learnt heaps once more and it was our error we did not act upon our ideas...stress sucks!:eek
J

 

[Kainam]

I was thinking dead battery in the fob, but the way it sounds, that may not have fixed your issue with the contacts being loose like that!

Good it was an easy fix for ya. :thumb

 

[Ray-zer]

I definitely enjoyed reading about your journey and I'm glad you made it home. The extra drama will just make the trip more memorable and more fun to chat with buddies over a few cold ones!

 

[JayD]

Hopefully this will help others...

If you have been following this thread you are more than aware of my drama that happened to me when I pulled off the Hwy for fuel and to put on my Drizza a Bone riding coat.

I have made this short video in the hope that if the same thing happens to you this might enable you to go straight to the problem if the same senario fits...

i am not by no means a profesional in making how to vids so when I repeat myself please forgive me as this is straight form the hip...no script just an old knuckle draggin biker passing on one of his hard earned lessons, a lesson I did not need and I truly think if I was not crunching time would have sorted it out...but under stress, I glossed over the very thing that would have made this a minor problem and set me on my way in under a minute.
J

 

[JayD]

About to hit the road again...

G'day folks, well i've been home for roughly a week and i'm about to hit the road again ! I will be riding back up to NSW to buy a sidecar for my Harley...

you might ask why in the hell are you putting a sidecar on your bike? well here is my reason, where I live is very scenic...ocean, mountains views and vineyards scattered all in between. So I'm going to start doing Harley tours around Tasmania and the sidecar means I can cater for husband and wife, boyfriend girlfriend tourist. I'm a believer in nothing ventured nothing gained...

J

 

[Chief Illiniwek]

Great video, JayD. Thanks for sharing. 9 outa 10 ain't bad. Glad to see you home, friend.

 

[JayD]

Great video, JayD. Thanks for sharing. 9 outa 10 ain't bad. Glad to see you home, friend.

Thanx Chief...

 

[JayD]

I've been home no more than 40 mins just enough time to have a cuppa and check out my sites from my ride to get my sidecar from Wollongong and have called it Desire (the bitch).

man am I buggered, I just rode up to Wollongong NSW to buy a sidecar.

I rode out Tuesday afternoon to catch the boat to the mainland, we sailed overnight and arrived to terential rain which persisted on and off al the way to Wollongong.

Once I was close to Wollongong I had to cut in from the hwy another 35 mile through drizzle and thick fog then I had to ride down Macquarie Pass sliping and sliding around hairpin turns to the bottom of the pass.

Then I met up with the bloke who sold me the sidcar and fitted it for me as I was spent from the ride...tar Jeff.

I was off to find my bed my wife arranged for me at her gf place...but not before my new sidecar made me its bitch for the evening...lol...this is the first side car I have rode with.

Well it dragged me off the road just missing the white marker poles...boy did it rattle me ! I pulled into a garage and rang my wife babbling on about how I just nearly got killed! I tried to ring Jeff but he was having a shower and rang me once he realised I called and talked me down and gave me the confidence to jump back on and ride again.

I had a shower and went to bed and woke up early and rode to Port Melbourne only stopping for fuel as I had to catch the boat back again...made it and had 45 mins to spare, My day started of wet and miserable but turned into a beautiful riding day and I started taking off my wet weather gear and leather coat down to my cut off.

I hit Melbourne as peak hour started but cut through the trafic reasonably well and had around 45 minutes to spare before boarding commenced.

Waiting to get on the boat looking through my apes...

Once I reached Devonport I rode home and boy am I buggered.

I nearly forgot to mention my bike purred all the way up and back...:thumbsup

 

[Softail]

Very nice bike, love the rims


Sent from my iPhone using Motorcycle.com Free App

 

[JayD]

Very nice bike, love the rims


Sent from my iPhone using Motorcycle.com Free App

Thanx Softail, It was long hard well spent time to get my Softail, the wheels was a factor in the decision to buy this bike and I was going to sell them to bring the cost of the bike down but like so many other things once they grow on you...there only going round and round now as I love them...:thumbsup

Take care.
J

 

[JayD]

Sidecar alignment...

The learning curve still continues with my new sidecar. I have road it many many miles to get it back to Tasmania, experienced a real rookie mistake while riding with a freshly attached sidecar with my bike feeling as though it fell into the car and litterally turned left nearly plowing me into the the white verge marker poles...I survived to tell the tale.

Some folks never mention their buggar ups and because of this human fact the next man has to near on kill himself to learn what not to do and how to control a new thing...(sidecar) I have 20 to 30 years riding experience give or take some years while I parked my Shovel.

Forget about everything you know when riding with a sidecar attached ! I have found out why this happened to me and being a rookie was a factor but sidecar alignment was also a big factor.

Above is a diagram showing the correct alignment of bike to sidecar, well if you look as dimensions.

C = toe in to be LESS than D by 1/2 to 3/4 of and inch

well when we checked mine it was toed out by 3/4 of an inch

and

E = lean out 1/8 of an inch

again mine was leaning in by 1/4 of an inch

Once you see this on paper you soon realise why in the first 5 miles you near on killed yourself ! but hey I survived and here I am once more passing on one of my hard earned lessons.

Take care brothers but for christ sakes have a ball doing it...I do if you cant half tell cause I would not trade my life experiences for nothing....what will be will be !

 

[RDU1961]

Great post JayD. This was a nice read, thanks bro.

 

[JayD]

Great post JayD. This was a nice read, thanks bro.

No problems...your welcome.:thumbsup

 

[JayD]

This my new bike lift I brought for working on my bike, this makes removing the sidecar a breeze...first time ever we removed the sidecar it took 20 mins including removing the seat to unclip the wiring...this unit cost $290 my front door.

yes I realise this is a little dear but you have to remember it has to be sent across Bass Strait so an extra $100 for postage to my front door is not to bad, it lifts the bike to around your knee height.

 

[Chief Illiniwek]

That bike causes greatness.

 

[JayD]

That bike causes greatness.

Thanx Chief... if only all it took was a a great bike to make you great..:think...as I ride around on my Softail I take many photos as many of you have seen in my threads and posts.

I do this simply because I enjoy taking photographic evidence of my travels...my moments in time and we all know time is a one way trip. This is a link to my facebook page JayD's Island Tours of Tasmania

I am providing this link not to steer traffic from this fantastic Harley forum, just so you all can easily see more photos of my beautiful Island home, Tasmania.

As I travel around exploring taking photos and all it has to offer earning a living while I ride, as these photos might bog down the board. I do hope you enjoy looking through and into my life as a practical biker.

J

 

[JayD]

Outfit...

here is a photo of my bike set up as an outfit, this picture was taken at Eastmans Beach Tasmania...a beautiful part of the world.

 

[JayD]

This photo was taken on my way home with FilthyPhill and my GrandSon out front of the "The Big Ram" at Goulbourn in NSW...my GrandSon rode on the back of me for around a hundred miles before I asked him to get back into the car as my back was starting to ache as I have my bed roll behind me for back support on long hauls...he absolutely loved his time on the bike.