NickDG

>>I'm at the Harley Davidson Technical and Professional Development Center

These days, with all the good causes that go begging she'll need a gun to raise funds for a "skydiving museum." A year or two, and a resume building entry later, she'll be gone. Hello, White Elephant . . . What happened to Mike Horan? I thought he was heading all this up. (Or am I hopelessly behind the curve here)? Anyone remember that 4-way set of manikins USPA paid a bundle for in the early 80s? It was made (in France, I think) in the likenesses of Bill Ottley, Jerry Bird, a Golden Knight and some oldtimer from the barnstorming days. It was really well done and it hung in the Smitty Air & Space museum for a while and then it was removed to make way for something else. Some years later I found it hanging in the San Diego Air & Space museum but it was all wrong in the way it was positioned obviously being done by a non-jumper. All the gear was messed up with ripcords floating out all over the place and straps mis-routed. I mentioned it in the curator's office and then spent a few hours with some volunteers on a ladder fixing it. I haven't been down there in a couple of years, but as far as I know its still there . . . Someone should go down there and rescue it for the new museum. They could title the exhibit, "USPA's Excessive Use of Dues for Egotistical Purposes!" NickD

I'm not kidding, TK, I've seen many of the older budgets, when Jack Bergman was USPA Treasurer they published a line item type budget in the magazine every year, but when I looked at a more recent one everything was buried in broad headings. I was specifically looking for how much the ED was being paid and in the budget I saw it wasn't spelled out. I did some digging (shouldn't have had to) and found it to be a 100 grand a year . . . which I thought was excessive. Nobody else, however, seemed to think so saying D.C. is an expensive place to live and all that, but it still sounds like a lot to my old school ears . . . NickD

I'm not really a "joke" poster but came across this one on another forum . . . >>FOR THOSE WHO RIDE AND HAVE BEEN "STALKED" BY COPS LEAVING A BAR...THIS IS A MUST READ!!! One night, a police officer was stalking out a particularly rowdy biker bar for possible violations of the driving-under-the-influence laws. At closing time, he saw one of the bikers stumble out of the bar, trip on the curb, & try his keys on five different bikes before he found his. Then, sat on the bike fumbling around several minutes, looking as if he might pass out right there. Everyone left the bar and rode off. Finally, he started his engine and began to pull away. The police officer was waiting for him. He stopped the biker, read him his rights and administered the Breathalyzer test. The results showed a reading of 0.0. The puzzled officer demanded to know how that could be. The biker replied, "Tonight, I'm the Designated Decoy."

>>Please note that we have never offered a "Lifetime Subscription" to Skydiving Magazine.

>>The only thing missing in the shot "Handlebars4sm.jpg" is the cartoon bubble above your head with the caption "vrrrrrm vvvrrrrmm".

I guess I've kinda soured on the ol' USPA lately, but I can't help but wonder how much they are paying her? And haven't we been hearing about this "museum" for 30 years now. How much money already went down that rat hole? What will it cost in upkeep and salaries? And who's going to visit it except maybe traveling skydivers? The general public? "Johnny and Susy, quick come look, here's the exciting Wonderhog diorama!" "And oh my, the hall of past USPA Executive Directors!" Will an animatronic Bill Ottley rise from a chair like Disney's Lincoln to give his spiel about early skydiving like he did every year at PIA? Don't get me wrong, I love history, I just don't trust USPA's motives anymore. But hopefully they'll hire a museum curator under Miss Fundraiser who knows a pud from a blast handle . . . NickD

I remember when it was $20 per year and we bitched about it then too . . . But one thing USPA did in those days was publish a full budget that accounted for every dime they took in and spent. The last budget I saw was so general in nature you couldn't figure anything out. It's all a big secret now . . . NickD

An old Marine buddy of mine, Dale Dye, got me an audition with Oliver Stone for his movie Platoon in the mid-80s. I was up for the part of Private Gator Lerner. But I got aced out by some guy I never heard of named Johnny Depp. Too bad too, I would've been good in that pirate movie Depp made later . . . NickD

I have a lifetime subscription! NickD

Now that I have a seat I can start thinking of handlebars and risers. Since I'm running fatbobs that will be mounted at a high angle the handlebars need to clear the tanks. But I'm not sure if I need 8 or 10 inch risers. Since they are kinda expensive to buy I welded together a mock up set of handlebars and risers to check the fitment. I still need to fab up some mounts for the tanks (probably should have done that first) but here's the bars I made. All I had in my scrap metal pile was green coated 1 inch water pipe which is too heavy for real handlebars, but they worked for this mock up. But it took me a friggin hour to sand and grind off the green rubber coating . . . I'm mounting the fatbob gas tanks at a high angle for two reasons. I rode a Bros bike some years ago with that set up and its amazing how much of the wind it blocks, it sends the wind up and around you. Also if I ever get someone turning left in front of me and I T-bone them the fatbobs will launch me up and over the whole mess. To that end I'll mount my small mirrors downward and keep the bars as clean as possible. I'd much rather take my chances flying through the air, LOL. But, I hope I never have to test that theory out though . . . I've never understood guys who run spikes on their risers and other sharp and pointy stuff all over their rides. All that stuff will rip you up in an accident. Heck, I'd run Nerf parts if I could get away with it. NickD

I had them on my first '69 Shovelhead, for me, it's the only way to go . . . and it handled just fine. I bought the below FLH used on the day I mustered out of the Marine Corps in 1975. I paid $1100 out the door for it and thought that was all the money in the world! I took off the swingarm and shocks and welded on a hardtail. Then I cut the neck gusset, heated up the neck, and stuck a long iron bar into it and bent it out to rake it. I didn't know anything about rake or trail in those days, and I didn't even measure the degree of rake. I just friggen eyeballed it. Then I stuck 12 over tubes on it, a jockey shift, foot clutch and it was good to go. It could go straight all day without touching the handlebars. But it was a bit tougher around town, but not that bad . . . In the upper right is me in the phone booth (it's a metal enclosure with a hard wired phone in it.) NickD

I meant sad for us in the way he underperformed. Bush, and the rest of the neocon jerk offs, can now take their rightful place on the ash heap of history . . . NickD

I think like most former military folks I got the "mission accomplished" thing. It pertained to the ship, the carrier Lincoln, which had just returned from the middle east after successfully completing her mission. The banner had nothing to do with Bush or the war in Iraq overall. What sucked was the bullshit about Bush needing to fly out in an Intruder and trap on the Lincoln's deck because the ship was out of helicopter range. I was on North Island (Coronado) that very day. And I could actually see the Lincoln sitting just offshore. So they filmed the whole thing with the background toward the seaward side, but if they had flipped it around you would have seen the California coast just a few miles away . . . In any case in a funny - but mostly sad way - I'm gonna miss him . . . http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aP4d4oFKv78&eurl=http://www.clubchopper.com/forums/showthread.php?t=73487&feature=player_embedded NickD

Don't worry. I had apes on my Schwinn Stingray bicycle in 1963, that was enough of that . . . I'll be using drag bars, as straight as I can, on 8 inch risers. NickD

After I get done banging them tomorrow morning, there won't be a an undented cooking pot in my house . . . And the thought of Bush packing his bags tonight and getting out of our house is making me warm and fuzzy too! NickD

I agree, flatheads, and also Knuckles, are anemic even if re-worked . . . As for my project, one step forward and two steps back. The machine shop did a tits job on my axel. And they charged me less than quoted so I left them a sixer of Coronas and told them to take the rest of the afternoon off. I'm pretty sure I'll need their services again. And it fit into the sliders perfectly, but with the the thigh bone being connected to the shin bone now my front hub is too big. It was made for wide glides and going narrower ain't gonna work. Duh! I can't believe I didn't think that one all the way through . . . So my new mid-glide HHI triple trees (which I developed a beautiful relationship with) are going back in exchange for wide glide ones. And I'm getting black anodized ones this time. They are bit more spendy but money is worthless unless you fork it over. I'm also going with black (powder coated) sliders. Nina will be basically black with just a smidgen of chrome to set her off. I received my seat a few days ago. It's a LePera "Bare Bones" made for Rigids. It's a Gel filled ass buster, but it looks cool enough. If you see me pulling up sometime in the near future break out the beer and morphine . . . The trailer fender for the rear is out. I didn't take into consideration the newer low profile tires so it looks like ass. A rounder tire needs a rounder fender. So unless I buy an English Wheel and pound one out, I'll have to sink a couple bills into another one. I kinda like the Jesse James ones that WCC makes. I'm not a JJ fanboy, but okay, maybe I just like the name more. It's called "The One Ton Ho" and you can't beat that . . . But the trailer fender (all of 20 bucks) didn't go to waste. I turned it upside down and welded it to an old car scissor jack I had. Now I can put my rear tire into it and raise it up and down to remove and install the rear tire and axel, which I've done like fifty times already, while making the metal spacers I needed. Holding it up with my feet while feeding the axel through blew chunks . . . I also had another motor change of heart. Ultima just came out with a 96" Shovelhead and the word is Jireh (yeah, I know, Jerih) is going to sell them for $3200! It comes with an ignition and you just add a manifold and a carb. It would be violating the two year rule like buying a first year rig that may be somewhat buggy, but man, there's so many choices now. It's like the woman menu up at the old Mustang Ranch. This new Shovel is a bit of a stroker so longevity might be an issue, but for the money I might buy two of them so I'll have a main and reserve Shovelhead. . . And now I have a new sense of urgency. I just heard LisaH went for her first motorcycle ride. And being she's totally biker chick material I'd like to take her for a long ride (a very long ride) before she falls in with those crotch rocket guys . . . . . NickD

LOL, I always wondered what Robbie was off doing when he was needed! Now I know . . . http://www.dailywav.com/0100/oiljob.wav NickD

Gee, another part of my childhood is gone . . . Bob May, the actor who played the robot in the "Lost In Space" TV series, past away today in a Lancaster hospital. He was 69. And believe it or not there is a community of Robbie the Robot Builders: http://www.b9robotbuildersclub.com/index.html Man, as soon as I finish the motorcycle . . . NickD

F#%KING A !!!! Congrats . . . !!! NickD

C-ya, Howard . . . NickD

Yes, I've seen those on some other forums and in the bike mags. I love the engineering aspects of them but they are a bit too nontraditional for me. I've also seen some show bikes with no front downtubes and only one fork leg . . . NickD

I'll be damned . . . NickD

I put smooth wounds on my bass, and they are baby ass smooth - not sure if they have those for regular g-tars. BTW, I can back ya and lay it down on Smoke on the Water . . . Music theory kicked my ass until I realized there was no "H" in music and A-B-C-D-G just kept repeating . . . NickD

Some new developments, and the usual problems . . . I mocked up the new HHI triple trees and they went on like butter. But they are a bit narrower than the original Ultima trees I had. At first I was going to return them for a wide glide size (these are mid-glide) but after looking at the them with the tubes in place, I like them alright. And it should be stiffer, and stiffer is always good. But now my front axel is too long. If it was just a matter of cutting and re-threading I could do it, but it needs one end turned down on a lathe and that's about the only shop tool I don't have. I looked on the net and found a machine shop right around the corner from me. I must have went by it a thousand times and never noticed it. I walked through the door with the axel in my hand and there's two bearded guys sitting at the desks. "Hi, is this a machine shop?" I asked. They were looking at my hands like they were expecting a gun or something. "Yes, it is," one of then said cautiously. Somebody is after these guys, I thought. Cool, my kind of people. I explained what I needed and gave them the week they asked for. We'll see how it goes . . . I'll also have to monkey with the front fender now too, but hey, it's only a few more beers in terms of time. Here's Nina with her new triple trees ("Nina" cause she's nina feet long) . . . NickD