Another nice day for a ride in Iowa

[Iahawk]

RJS - wondered if you'd be out riding today! It was too nice to pass up so I got 25 miles in on my little Ninja. I pulled the baffle from my slip on a few weeks back..I always thought it would be too loud but I'm really starting to enjoy the sound of it (with ear plugs in, of course).

[rjs987]

Snow coming tonight until after lunch tomorrow with rain or drizzle after that in temps around 25F. Up to 5 inches of fluffy white stuff in my neighborhood before the freezing drizzle. Needed a few groceries for the grandkid who will be here tomorrow. So rode the bike to the store 3 miles away. Actually I rode 11 miles to get there and another 8 miles to get home after there. Total of 19 miles. The temp was mostly around 30F before it started dropping at the end. Would have liked to ride farther but can't leave the 12 week old puppy in the crate for too long and he was already playing outside the crate for awhile before I left.

[Neil955i]

Would have liked to ride farther but can't leave the 12 week old puppy in the crate for too long and he was already playing outside the crate for awhile before I left.

C'mon then Bob, share some pics of your pup so we can all go ahhh

[rjs987]

C'mon then Bob, share some pics of your pup so we can all go ahhh

OK. Here are some from this month.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/n3TYDThbqW1E3jbWA
My 12 week old Charley and my son's 15 week old Golden pup which we also watch a few days a week. That Golden is nowhere near full grown... not for another 6 months. Of course, neither is my Cavalier.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/C9fydhXmqkgRpMJj6
My granddaughter who we watch 2 days a week with Charley. Jori is 4 but is very petite for her age.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/AQE2Vprj3RuibGK56
And who doesn't like holding a little puffball of a puppy while it is sleeping.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/pbxCAGk3ohRBiKL77

[Neil955i]

Bob, he's adorable!  What beautiful colouring too.  You got yourself a keeper there.

[rjs987]

Bob, he's adorable!  What beautiful colouring too.  You got yourself a keeper there.

That's what I told my wife... "this dog's a keeper" 

[rjs987]

Since we STILL have 2 cars, a Rav4 and Legacy, we STILL don't drive one enough to keep the battery charged. I keep reminding my wife that we only really need ONE vehicle but she's paranoid about that once every several years time when we both need to drive 4 wheels someplace. Although I could say that's a once every never time now since I retired. I never HAVE to go someplace that I can't wait until she brings one of the cars home first. And if we both HAVE to go someplace it's almost always to the same place so we just take ONE car anyway.

Last week I went out to the Legacy to reset something on the dash and it wouldn't let me get to the option. The dash did light up. But that was the car that had not been used for over a week. I turned the car off then on again and everything went blank. No lights on the dash or anywhere else. I plugged in my 1.25 amp Battery Tender and it showed a depleted battery so I let it sit to recharge. It wasn't until the next day that it finally showed full charge so I then unplugged the BT thinking I would put it back on the lawn tractor. I decided to wait for a time. Later that night I plugged in the BT to the Legacy again and again it showed depleted and took almost 6 hours to recharge. I did this same cycle waiting two hours before plugging in the BT again and again the battery was depleted. That shouldn't happen. So I went to Batteries Plus and replaced the 4+ years old battery. I also left my bigger BT plugged into the Legacy since it would be sitting for another week while my wife was visiting Florida (getting away from cold and snow here). The guy at Batteries Plus as well as many other sources of information said that with most cars on the road today it is not uncommon for the battery to deplete in a week or week and a half. I guess due to all the phantom loads constantly draining the battery. Sounds just like my AK 550 with how the battery is drawn down in a week or so.

Anyway, that was the long story that leads up to this one...
I rode the AK today to go to Lowe's and buy another Battery Tender Jr. The had the 750 mA model for $5 less than Amazon or Walmart. Walmart has the 800 mA model for $1 more than Lowe's. But I also get a military 10% off at Lowe's so I rode my bike there. Then I rode to Arby's to get lunch using a gift card I have for there. All together the trip SHOULD have been 4 miles. I took just over 17 miles to get there and back. I put the new BT on my wife's scooter. I kept the first BT Jr on my AK. I put the 1.25 A BT on the Legacy. And I also have an older AccuMate battery maintainer that is 1.2 A that I put on the Rav4 since I wasn't driving that much. When my wife returns tonight she'll be driving that one almost every day so I'll move the AccuMate maintainer to the lawn tractor.

Oh, and almost all the snow we had 3 days ago has melted. Just a little bit along fence lines in the shade and where the plows piled it up. 6 inches gone in 3 days.

[rjs987]

FINALLY feeling much much better after last week being down with Covid-19 I got out on the bike. My wife handed me a few bags of baby stuff to drop off at the church (all our grand babies are growing up) and also had a dental appointment. Also, it is expected to snow overnight again and then rain right after and then snow all day Thursday so... snow/ice/snow again.

I keep the bike plugged into a Battery Tender Jr any time it is parked in the garage so it is ready at a moment's notice. I also keep one of the cars plugged into a bigger Battery Tender since at least one just sits for several weeks at a time. And also my JD lawn tractor (anyone want to buy a JD X300? Just want to downsize and it's more than I need for 1/3 acre) as well as my wife's Metropolitan scooter.

I started out heading the long way to the church. Then I had at least 30 minutes to kill so took the long way from the church to the dentist office. The church was west of home and dentist is east of home. Stayed mostly out of the city but still on slower country and new development suburb roads (read: no traffic to speak of). Ended up with about 36 miles. Felt good to be out on 2 wheels again even if it wasn't a long distance. Also felt good to hear the dentist tell me nothing needs to be done this time around.

[NorWeWa]

Looks like are temperatures are about the same,  mid to high 40's F.  I got out for a couple rides, 30 to 50 miles, but it was to cold to say the rides were more that "mental health" exercise. 

Art 

[rjs987]

Looks like are temperatures are about the same,  mid to high 40's F.  I got out for a couple rides, 30 to 50 miles, but it was to cold to say the rides were more that "mental health" exercise. 

Art

With handlebar muffs and warm riding gear I was more than comfortable even though temps were in the mid 40sF. But temps are expected to be in the mid 30sF down to the mid 20sF in just a day or two. Of course I don't ride with frozen stuff falling out of the sky.
I really didn't feel cold yet this year except maybe a little cooler than usual when I rode at -2F in January. That's when the muffs WITH heated grips came in handy.

[NorWeWa]

Had a BMW K100LT with 2 electrical plugs, plus heated grips. Ran heated vest, and behind the fairing stayed comfortable. It was a traveling machine. We put 50,000 miles on it in 2 years.  Cross country rides. 
These days, I just wait out the weather, and settle for short rides in the winter.

Art 

[Neil955i]

 
These days, I just wait out the weather, and settle for short rides in the winter.

Art

Me too Art, my days of 365 per year riding are long behind me!

[rjs987]

The first day of spring and the weather was wonderful. Went for a little bit longer ride this time. 104+ miles. Almost got a picture of an eagle sitting on a tree branch hanging over the river running along side one road but by the time I stopped and pulled out the phone the eagle flew off so missed that one. Started with a full tank and stopped for gas at the end of the ride and calculated 52+ mpg. Rode a mix of roads from a few 20 mph small town streets to the 70+ mph Interstate (only 1.5 miles of that). Otherwise almost all 55 mph roads with a little bit of 65 mph road. Was good to get out after 2 weeks of the bike being parked. I did remove the handlebar muffs for this ride since temps started out at 53F and ended up around 56F.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/8eWHK7ZsVUU5Pze96

[rjs987]

The rest of this week is getting full. Dr appointment tomorrow. Daycare for our granddaughter Thursday and Friday. Rain and maybe a trace of snow those days and Saturday. Maybe that last forecast is just an April Fools joke. Hope so.

Last week my wife told me to go for a ride... so I did.
This week my wife told me she was hungry for some Dutch Letters from Jaarsma Bakery in Pella, IA. So I rode my bike there today. Took the back roads and rode 168+ miles today. There were several sections of tighter S curves and even some with an additional 3rd curve right after but I was having too much fun running through those to stop for any photos. But I did take a few at my Danish bakery stop. I took several new to me roads both going and coming.

The gas gauge started flashing the red bar at 141 miles on the tank. I went until 170.1 miles on the tank but never saw the red "E" start to flash yet. Last year I figured out that I most likely have another 40 miles on the last red bar flashing and then another 13-15 miles with the red "E" flashing before the tank is dry. As it was, at 170.1 miles on the tank, I added 3.18 gal to full. I estimate the tank is actually a 3.8+ gallon tank at least so I had a ways to go yet. Calculated the mileage at 53.4+ mpg this time. Temps started out at around 38F and ended up around 53F with clear sunny sky the entire way. MPG is always lower with low temps. Still I feel good about how my AK is running.

I did notice the "SERVICE" light came on during this trip. Only 8950 miles when that happened. Only thing I can think of is that the service light is programmed for the old service intervals for oil change at every 3000 miles. My Owner Manual shows the service interval at 6000 miles so I still have 3000 miles to go before the next oil change and first belt change. I'll just leave it until that happens at 12,000 miles. My odometer currently shows 9075 miles.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/PMEHWy2P27HKm29u9
https://photos.app.goo.gl/2iGw4TcVdkQHMd729

[rjs987]

Dang, I STILL don't have my AK fixed! I rode the AK today to pickup something at the pet store which is a 7 mile round trip. Ended up going 26 miles! Just like my Burgman did my AK just keeps taking roads that triple or quadruple the miles to get anywhere locally.

I did make an adjustment on the AK final drive. I did not expect that to fix the above "issue" but I was hoping it would center the belt on the rear drive sprocket. When I brought my AK home from the dealer the factory had it adjusted so it was just 1 mm from the outer rim of the rear sprocket. That's the minimum tolerance. There is a limit rim that keeps it from sliding off if it works its way too far out as well as another on the inside. I had it adjusted after replacing the rear tire a little too far inside so it was actually rubbing on the inner rim of the sprocket. Then I adjusted it back right away but it still wanted to be close to the outer rim, at about 1-2 mm. Yesterday I made one more adjustment to only one adjuster on the right end of the axle by just moving it a quarter turn of the adjuster bolt. Today when I looked at it when I stopped at the pet store and it was about 3 mm on the outer side and 4 mm on the inner side. Just enough to see that it wasn't perfectly centered. Then I stopped at another place on the way back home and it was 4 mm on the outer and 3 mm on the inner sides. I have always known that it is normal for the belt on any belt drive will drift from one side to the other as long as it doesn't stay in contact with the limit rim. When I arrived back home it was right at 2 mm on the outer and 5 mm on the inner sides so still good. Seems to depend on how fast I am riding and if I lean one way or the other just before I stop to look at it.