That does look like a "big old comfy couch".....and shiny too.

A "Dragon Trip" might result in the first time the bike has seen rain....or a dirt road!

It did do something strange all right -- it asked me to clean the burned in place plastic off its pipes and take some starting actions to get the stickers off the tank.

I didn't wash or polish it although it asked for it, instead I took off the side covers and the seats and rigged a cheater wire to the positive battery terminal for ease of charging (until the male and female adapters arrive and I can wire it up properly).    

I cannot take off the buddy pad, it has the bike's CPU hidden under it.   I find that if I kiss the windshield and toss my leg up from there my toe can sweep in short of the buddy pad and it all works out just fine.

I did find the Dr's current reported trouble which put the bike in Craigslist, a trouble which felt like a strong  intermittent stumble and "popping sounds".    He says it has happened before and costs about $350 to fix (and a week at the stealership while they clean the tank and teardown clean and re-balance the carbs).

Yeah, to me it sounded just like what you get when you need to switch over to reserve ......

Yup, Bike had no gas in it and the fuel pump was sucking air .....

The bike needed:

..... a tank full of fresh gas

..... an overnight slow charge on the battery

..... being taken out on the beltway and exercised some


It came home a contented very happy little bike.    It has been talking to my Savage and it likes having a Daddy that can fix it whenever it needs it.   It's old daddy was nice, but he was a klutz mechanically.

Yes, my Savage is a guy and my Intruder is a girl, so obviously they get along together well and my Savage has even lent her his license plate so his girl can go out and play some today.    



..... of course she thinks they're formally engaged now, but I don't think that's what he meant .... he thought he was just being nice.

Ahhhh, I get it. Good idea, not overstressing the spokes. Hadn't thought of that, since last spoked bike I had was the '73 CB350.

Lancer can tell you -- straps can put forth a good bit of tension, enough to bend the bed of a pick up truck.  All that force is pushed through the wheel (and the spokes).

I have knocked a front wheel out of true before, so I avoid that action any more.   My straps are fighting other straps through a solid connection point, with a down force residual that does not exceed what your weight puts on the wheels and spokes.

All the 15 year old yellowed hardened WARNING and RECOMMENDED tank stickers are off now and the tank is polished again.

Used the grease trick, applied thickly overnight then left out in the sun to get warm -- worked like a charm as a fresh razor blade could cut through the softened adhesive layer under the sticker like it was thick butter.

Gasoline cleaned up the left over clear adhesive, then I polished it twice (rubbing hard using normal paste wax) to get rid of anything left behind by the removal process.

So , OldFeller

How long are those shocks ?  

If ya end up with shorter shocks , there may be a market for the longer ones ???  

Is the extra petrol-bags for this bike or your old one ?