Chris' Ramblings

Posted By cablebandit on March 10, 2010

Well the weather Sunday was supposed to hit the mid forties to maybe low fifties.  A perfect day for a Sunday ride.  But where to go?  The STN tag had been picked up on Saturday but not yet dropped at a new location.  I figured since one of the regulars from the Philly / Reading area would drop it off somewhere close to where it was.  After all they only move the thing less than 30 miles as the crow flies each time. With that in mind I decided to head in a easterly direction and scout out a location for the local State College tag game.  I found a decent spot to put that tag and headed over to Lewisberry for some lunch.  While noshing on my cheap lunch I grabbed some free wi-fi and saw that the the STN tag had been dropped about 70 miles south of where I was.  It seemed like a no brainer to take a run at it.

I headed down 11/15 and there was a BMW R1150 RT in front of me.  Could I be getting “bruced”?  I guess we’ll see.  I followed this guy to within 6 miles of the tag location before I turned off.  On the road that led to the tag I must have seen over a dozen bikes coming the other way.  Surely one of these guys must have grabbed it by now.

I got to the tag location and snapped my pic. There was also a strong open wi-fi connection right there so I whipped out the laptop und check the website.  It was mine.  I’d successfully snatched the tag from under the noses of the SE PA guys.

Now where shall I put it?  Well it needs to head west and I might as well take it as far north as possible while I’m at it.  Behold the new tag.

Yup…the Zippo museum in Bradford PA.  I wonder how long it will sit here? 

If you’re ever in Bradford be sure to stop by the McDonald’s downtown.  Not for the food but to see the oldest working oil well in Bradford.  It sits in the drive-thru of the McDonald’s.

So by now I had moved the STN tag.  I may a well move the State College tag as well since people were complaining about not being able to get the tag due to their lack of a smart phone to post the picture.  Well I had just rode 270 miles BEFORE grabbing the tag below and then rode home to upload the pic. How hard was that?

I moved the tag to the lake below.  I predict it will sit for a while because

• it’s more than a 15 minute ride to get there.
• there appears to be some gravel to negotiate
• it’s not yet 75° and sunny

Walker Lake

All together a great two days of riding.

Category: Motorcycles | No Comments »
Tags: Motorcycles, Tag

Posted By cablebandit on February 26, 2010

Well we finally got a good cold snap so it’s time to strip down the bike and take a look inside.  I’m going to check the valve clearances and adjust them if needed, as well as take care of anything else that needs attention while I have the bike stripped down to the frame.

I’ll be taping the process and will get the videos up over the next few days.

Category: How To, Motorcycles | No Comments »
Tags: How To

Posted By cablebandit on February 12, 2010

Well after digging out for the umpteenth time I’ve decided to take the bull by the horns and make myself a homemade plow for the front of my garden tractor.  I had all the scrap lumber in the garage so with a vision and a circular saw I got to work.

The blade is two pieces of plywood with a piece of hardboard on the front.  I attached a piece of angle aluminum to the bottom of the blade so it would glide along the driveway and not tear up the bottom of the wood. 

The plow is attached to the tractor with two 2×4’s that are attached to the frame with a threaded rod.  When the plow is lowered the 2×4’s face straight out into the back of the blade so the load is transferred to the tractor frame for maximum strength.  The 2×4’s are also reinforced at the plow blade with four steel angle brackets.

There is also a manual tilt feature consisting of a 2×4 and a string.  No expense was spared in this operation I assure you.  Below is the finished product.

Now the big question….will it work?  Of course it will.  As you can see above I sprang for two cans of yellow spray paint to set this thing off as an official John Deere accessory.  I expect orders for this thing to come flooding in any minute.

As you can see in the video below the thing worked fine and turned out to be really sturdy.  After plowing the entire driveway I did a quick inspection and found nothing broken or fatigued.

Homemade Snow Plow from Chris Clark on Vimeo.

Epic Win!!

Category: General, How To | 1 Comment »
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