February 27, 2003 Part 4


BIKERNET NEWS FLASH– SEND THANKS TO MILITARY, JON TOWLE IS SHORT (TOO BAD), ARLEN HAS NEW DIGS, AND GIRL DUMPED FOR SNOWMOBILE

Continued From Page 3

lesbians against Bush

HISTORY OF FRANCE– – Gallic Wars – Lost. In a war whose ending foreshadows the next 2000 years of French history, France is conquered by of all things, an Italian.

– Hundred Years War – Mostly lost, saved at last by female schizophrenic who inadvertently creates The First Rule of French Warfare; “France’s armies are victorious only when not led by a Frenchman.”

– Italian Wars – Lost. France becomes the first and only country to ever lose two wars when fighting Italians.

– Wars of Religion – France goes 0-5-4 against the Huguenots

– Thirty Years War – France is technically not a participant, but manages to get invaded anyway. Claims a tie on the basis that eventually the other participants started ignoring her.

– War of Devolution – Tied. Frenchmen take to wearing red flowerpots as chapeaux.

– The Dutch War – Tied

– War of the Augsburg League/King William’s War/French and Indian War Lost, but claimed as a tie. Three ties in a row induces deluded Frogophiles the world over to label the period as the height of French military power.

– War of the Spanish Succession – Lost. The War also gave the French their first taste of a Marlborough, which they have loved every since.

<- American Revolution - In a move that will become quite familiar to future Americans, France claims a win even though the English colonists saw far more action. This is later known as "de Gaulle Syndrome", and leads to the Second Rule of French Warfare; "France only wins when America does most of the fighting."

– French Revolution – Won, primarily due the fact that the opponent was also French.

– The Napoleonic Wars – Lost. Temporary victories (remember the First Rule!) Due to leadership of a Corsican, who ended up being no match for a British footwear designer.

– The Franco-Prussian War – Lost. Germany first plays the role of drunk Frat boy to France’s ugly girl home alone on a Saturday night.

– World War I – Tied and on the way to losing, France is saved by the United States. Thousands of French women find out what it’s like to not only sleep with a winner, but one who doesn’t call her “Fraulein.” Sadly, widespread use of condoms by American forces forestalls any improvement in the French bloodline.

– World War II – Lost. Conquered French liberated by the United States and Britain just as they finish learning the Horst Wessel Song.

– War in Indochina – Lost. French forces plead sickness, take to bed with the Dien Bien Flu

– Algerian Rebellion – Lost. Loss marks the first defeat of a western army by a Non-Turkic Muslim force since the Crusades, and produces the First Rule of Muslim Warfare; “We can always beat the French.” This rule is identical to the First Rules of the Italians, Russians, Germans, English, Dutch, Spanish, Vietnamese and Esquimaux.

– War on Terrorism – France, keeping in mind its recent history, surrenders to Germans and Muslims just to be safe.

The question for any country silly enough to count on the French should not be “Can we count on the French?”, but rather “How long until France collapses?”

–from Ray R.

angie - crazyhorse

READERS SHOWCASE EDITOR’S REPORT–Well it has finally stopped raining here in the land of Dixie. The monsoonrain coming after the biggest snowstorm in 10 years. With temps in the 50stoday. I expect the Carolina country roads will be filled motorcycles, astheir riders try and get one day of riding in before it rains again.

Ofcourse that ain’t squat compared to what’s going my old homeland of NewEngland. They can’t even get the bikes out of the garages. Unless they spenda few hours shoveling. That last storm dumped 2-ft up there atop of the 3-ftthey already had. Crazy Angie’s boyfriend had to go get a snowmobile twomonths ago, ‘cos he was jonesin’ so bad.

She tells me, “He said I’m going tobuy US a snowmobile for winter fun. What a shock to see a 2003 New PolarisSnowmobile takes only one rider? Well, first of all their isn’t room enoughon the seat for his big ass, never mind mine. I weigh 120lbs. I ‘d have tostarve myself for a year to fit on the back of that small seat .

Then itsays right on the windshield one person only NO passengers .. I said ‘Howstupid are you?” He said, ‘Pretty stupid, I never saw that.’ He paid $8,000for a one person play toy and never saw that sign.”He took off on it in a blizzard and she hasn’t seen him since.

She’s notworried tho. Hishot rod dresser and old softail are residing in her garage and he has tocome back for them someday. If not, she’ll just get taller heels and ahandsome young guy to set her on the dresser. She’s already takingapplications. E-mail any advice you all have for Angie tocrazyhorse@bikernet.com.

I’ll be skipping Daytona this year. Instead I’m hog tying my husband anddragging him off to Tahiti for TBear’s Tropical Biker Adventure. I even gota passport. I still can’t believe they gave me one. Wow, I feel almostrespectable. But then TBear has one, and if they gave him one well…….

readers ride photo - crazyhorse

Hey, Reader’s Showcase is getting some of the highest hit counts on oursite here. So if ya gotta bike to show off or tale to tell, send them indammit! Reach millions, well maybe not millions, reach thousands of folks. Show ’em your stuff. Tell ’em how you built it.Check out Dave Lango’s time machine road cruiser in the pic above. You’ve got to check out his trailer.

You cansee more realbikes by going to Reader’s Showcase. Come-on, send me some stuff, give mesomething to do besides paint all these bikes and clean out the catbox. Fourweeks and counting before I leave the country. I hope they let me backin.

–Crazy Horse

love motorcycles

LA CALENDAR SHOW ROCKS WITH NEW BAND–We are definitely excited about having the hottest new recording groupin America, the beautiful Beu Sisters as the featured musical group atour LA Calendar Motorcycle Show. We are promoting them heavily in allour print advertising and throughout our FastDates.com website, as wellas selling their CD online via Amazon.com.

http://www.FastDates.com/BIKESHOW.HTM
http://www.FastDates.com/BIKESHOW.2EventSchedule.HTM
http://www.FastDates.com/Collectors6Music.HTM

You can find out more about The Beu Sisters on their website which youcan reach via the links above. I also recommend using the shopping linkthere to Amazon.com to get their CD. I’ve already given copies of theirCD to some of my friends and they all agree it is awesome and can’t stopplaying it.

ARLEN NESS’S NEW BUILDING FINALLY OPEN–Arlen will have the Grand Opening of his new facility on the weekend of March 29th and 30th. The film crew from the Discovery Channel will be there to finish the filming of the television special!

Lots of riders think Arlen was born with riches. He wasn’t. He was a postman who built bikes in his spare time. He was in a club in the late sixties and rode with the worst of us. In those days he was a home built kinda guy. I think he spent 30 years in the same little shop. He’s spent almost five years preparing to move into a building he built with his son, Cory.

THE REASON JON TOWLE IS SHORT, REVEALED–We recently pressed Jon Towle to help with artwork for the Run For Breathe, charity ride in Charlotte. Here’s what he said, “Oh, by the way, I know all about the “suffering kids”. I had, whattheir kid had, for the first thirteen years of my life. Many trips tothe hospital, being on a breathing machine all the time, many nightsfighting for breath to where your ribs and lungs get so weak, you don’tknow if you can do it anymore–until they give you a huge adrenalin shotto make up for exhausted muscles.

It scares the life outta ya. I wasthere. I was suppose to be at least seven inches taller than I am now,because of it. breaking blood vessels from coughing so hard to catchyour breath, missing three weeks of school at a time. Shall I go on? Iknow the whole story of what they go through. I’m lucky to be alive! They told my folks, I wouldn’t make it past nineteen. But I’m too stubborn to go along with that shit.

Of course I’ll draw the black and white logo for their event. I’ll spend every waking moment when I’m not caring for my own kid (Mr. Mom) or drawing for Bikernet.

–jon-

THE BIKERNET BLONDE DEPARTMENT–A police officer stops a blonde for speeding and asks her very nicely if he could see her license.

She replied in a huff, “I wish you guys would get your act together.Just yesterday you take away my license and then today you expect me toshow it to you!”

–from Rev CarlR

SEND YOUR THANKS TO THE MILITARY MEN AND WOMEN–If you are so inclined, visit the Department of Defense web page belowand sign a brief message thanking the men and women of the U.S. militaryservices for defending our freedom. The compiled list of names will be sentout to our soldiers at the end of the month. So far, there are only3,800,000 names.

Pass the word that we can honor and support the defenders of freedom.

National Military Appreciation Monthhttp://www.defendamerica.mil/nmam.htmltakes 10 seconds…literally (please pass it on to your email friends)

–from Giggie, Compu-Fire

THAT’S ALL FOLKS–Between the massive King 9 tech and the news, I’m hammered. “Somebody get me a Jack.” Thought I’d take a break for dinner, but the two bitches started tearing at each other over stale Chinese food. I went to the cupboard to refill my drink and escape back to the inner sanctum of Bikernet.

Sorry we can’t always have the news up, by the middle of the day, east coast time, on Thursday. There’s numerous factors at play. Sex, whiskey and motorcycles. Do I need anymore excuses?

There’s a new tech on Gates belts out there in cyber space somewhere, and Frank Kaisler sent me a home-built wiring tech, that will hit the site this weekend. What else. We may have a major feature on what Billy Lane is up to next week.

I hope the gloss black powder coating arrives from Custom Powder Coating in Dallas tomorrow. I need to get back on the King for an American Rider deadline. The coater was snowed in for two days this week. It’s a bitch fighting deadline. There’s always something that jumps into the mix. On the other paw, we always make it through. It’s part of the challenge. The King is coming together. Can’t wait to show it off.

Let’s hope the sun shines on Daytona as all the brothers and sisters roll into the town that doesn’t want them.

Ride Forever–Bandit

Continued On Page 4

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Feeling Insecure? Get Loctite!

loctite side view

There’s a seldom talked about, often ignored important ingredient used all over your motorcycle that usually gets under-appreciated until you see or hear a piece of your bike bouncing down the road behind you. Yes, it’s another case of “Arizona Road Jewelry”. Those pieces of your bike that end up on the side of the road because you, or your trusted mechanic, were a little insecure while bolting on some prized stuff to your machine. Hopefully that piece you saw fly off your bike didn’t hit the guy behind you, or wasn’t an integral component you needed to get you home in one piece. There’s a simple magic ingredient called Loctite®, which began its life in the Trinity College basement laboratory of Dr. Vernon Krieble in Hartford, Connecticut, sometime way back half a century ago in 1953.

Back in ’53 Dr. Vern developed a ‘cure inhibition system for a unique liquid bonding resin that hardened in the absence of air “an anaerobic sealant”. It wasn’t long before Vern took advantage of his brilliant daughter-in-law’s sharp linguistic wit by taking her suggestion to call this anaerobic sealant “Loctite” . By 1956 they released their patented basement concoction to the world with the promise of solving the age-old problem of loose nuts and bolts. You see, until this time, most folks came to accept that it was natural for stuff to fall off of machines, no matter how tight you torqued the nuts down, even with good old-fashioned lock washers. Dr. Vern and his family solved a problem that was believed to be unsolvable. So why is stuff still falling off your bike?

First off, there are three standard Loctite grades that most automotive and motorcycle assemblers use. The first grade is coded Blue Removable No.242 which is applied to fasteners that you may want to unscrew with minimal hassle. Most mechanics just call it Blue Loctite, and I’ve had one or two guys who have worked at Surgical Steeds, who will remain nameless, call it “Berry”. The second grade is coded Red High-Strength No.271 which is applied to fasteners that you don’t want to take apart for a long time. When you do want to remove a fastener that has been treated with Red, or “Cherry” Loctite, you may have to use heat from a torch or iron to loosen its grip. Then we get to the third grade, which is dyed Green and is used on fasteners or studs that you don’t want to ever remove, like cylinder studs or exhaust studs. Green is not used commonly on fasteners that the everyday motorcycle technician uses unless they are building motors or transmissions. The average consumer or weekend wrench won’t need a tube of Green Loctite in their toolbox. Even the guys around the shop haven’t found a goofy name for the green stuff.

American motorcycles are notorious for rattling apart, and there really is no excuse for a bike coming to pieces if the correct anaerobic sealant is used on the appropriate fasteners. Loctite is available at most hardware stores and good bike shops, and is a safety necessity when you are working on your motorcycle.If you have a bike that keeps disassembling itself on the highway, and you are certain that you have been using Loctite properly, you might have other issues with your bike like excessive vibrations.

The most common problem resulting in excessive vibration is loose or worn motor mounts. Your standard V-twin rigid mount motor is mounted in three locations and if any are loose, this causes your whole bike to shake, rattle and roll to the max. Often loose motor mounts are symptomatic of balancing problems with the internal moving components of your engine (pistons, rods and flywheels), or they can be as simple to remedy as a visual inspection and tightening loose motor fasteners.

If your bike has the jitters, first check the top motor mount, which is under your fuel tank between the cylinders on the top left side of the motor. Even if the bolts seem tight, look carefully for cracked mounts or mounting brackets. We see quite a few broken top motor mounts especially on custom-built bikes. For some reason a few bikes with lower quality frames have issues with the motor-mounting locations not being level and square with the transmission mounting surfaces. So if the motor mounting locations on the chassis are not “shimmed” or spaced properly to make-up for the inaccuracies of the chassis mounting bosses, and just forced and bolted in, the mounting brackets may stress fatigue and break. So the message is: if you have broken mounts, take the time to discover why your motor mounts are breaking, or take your bike to a qualified mechanic who understands what needs to be checked to correct the issues. Tight motor mounts will make your bike feel like a new machine and reduce road jewelry. No amount of Loctite will make up for a poorly balanced engine or a loose or improperly shimmed drive train.

anti seize

Another item that goes along with this topic is ‘Anti-Seize’ compound. Just like Loctite, anti-seize compounds comes in several variations, but the use for anti-seize is almost the opposite of a thread-locking compound like Loctite. Anti-Seize is a nickel or copper and graphite-based paste that prevents galling or binding of a nut onto a bolt, or assists with press fitting bearing races into components. If you’ve ever assembled a chrome threaded bolt with a chromed nylock nut and all of a sudden you have magically welded the nut to the bolt you know what I’m referring to. Or how about stripping the threads out of your spark plug sockets? That’s not the way that you want to spend your afternoon. A seized bolt can wreck your day when you have to cut bolts off of a motorcycle. Anti-seize can save the day. If a bolt, or your spark plug, feels like it is about to bind on you, don’t force it, because it will bind on you. Back the bolt out and chase the threads with a tap or thread chaser and clean the bolt with the appropriate die to remove burrs or other contaminates that interfere with getting that gizmo assembled. If you are about to strip out your spark plug threads, STOP, and take your bike to a veteran motorcycle technician before you dig yourself into a deep pocket repair. This may seem like a hassle at the time, but it is far less expensive to have a pro chase your sparkplug holes, than have to pay the big bucks to repair wrecked plug bores, or trashed cylinders from metal debris getting in the pistons. Pulling broken and seized bolts separates the men from the boys, and that’s a whole ‘nuther tech tip article too.

It takes years of experience to understand when and how to apply Loctite and anti-seize appropriately, and that’s why you should do your homework before you grab that wrench. If you are uncertain about what kind of Loctite or anti-seize compound to use, take your machine to a qualified mechanic to service and repair your bike. There are many nuances that dictate the correct application of thread-locking materials. If you are really interested in knowing more about Loctite and Anti-seize and all the different varieties and their uses, check out their web-site www.loctite.com . There is a ton of information at their site for those who are in search of it.

When you only have two wheels, one set of handlebars and pegs between you and the road, it’s important to have the confidence that your bike won’t rattle apart and leave you stranded or even worse, injured, because of improper installation of components. There’s a lot of science holding your bike together, and the guys at Loctite have done a bunch since 1953 to make your ride safer and more reliable when applied with a little knowledge and common sense.

Remember, keep the rubber side down.
John at Steeds
www.surgicalsteeds.com

Back to the Surgical Steeds

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