Sunday, July 31, 2005

And to the Lake we Go

Years ago, I would get on my motorbike, and escape the real world by heading mid week to Lake Simcoe, around Sutton there is a beach called Willow Beach which during the beach was always empty during the day. A perfect place to escape and chill out. Well, life goes on, and years pass and you often forget these things ... we are all so busy running the rat race we often forget that we need to breathe and live a little.
We Saturday I had just had it. I sat at work thinking, I have to get out of here. I thought, since I got that new carb, I should seriously take it for a test drive! Well, having thought of Lake Simcoe, I decided I would try it. What's the worst that could happen? A flat? The motor dies? It's not THAT far away, so hey, why not?
Thinking it was pretty far a drive, and I didn't want to hunt for a gas station in the middle of nowhere, i bungeed on my 5 Liter gas tank (no i am still not done making my real second gas tank .. no time!).
Km:1589
The Journey starts, and first things first, I head for the gas station, which turns out to be a disaster, as i over filled the gas tank on the back lol got gas everywhere!

Km: 1592
All filled up, we are cruising along steadily and really soaking in the sun for once.

I headed northward and soon, the townhouses stacked side by side with not a mm to spare, were replaced by massive green trees with branches reaching out to wave to passers by, they danced slowly in the slight breeze. Once you get passed a certain point, the road starts rolling with the hills. This is where the fun begins on moped, as some of these hills are just massive. But if you’re patient, and chose a path where this isn’t a huge issue, you’ll be humming along as I did, comfortably cruising between 25-30mph … The scenery was indeed gorgeous. When I got to the top of this hill at Ravenshoe Road, I couldn’t help but think this looks endless ….


I actually rolled down that hill with the motor off, and hit over 35mph lol so gravity is still pulling me down!
I soon after Rode past a town called Egypt, which was great … Welcome to Egypt! Lol. OH NO! I rode too far! As I passed Sibbald Point Park the highway-esque road turned into the most sexy winding along the lake road ever. With a speed limit of 40km/h you don’t have to worry about cars, and besides, everyone up there is relaxing anyway, so no stressy drivers. Just a great ride along the lake.



I passed Willow Beach which was packed full of peoples, and kept going for a while until I found the dock for the ferry to Snake Island. I parked myself there and sat on the dock and enjoyed the traffic jam of boats out there in the Lake.



What a great ride that was. I headed home after a while thinking it would have been cool if I had a riding partner for the trip, but then I remember I already did have one … my shadow! The bastard had been following me all day!



The ride back was also cool. Driving by the endless fields, the forests etc…





What lasted for hours (well I did stop to see some people on the way …) turned out to only be 93 miles … or around 150 km … The funny part is that my real 2 liter gas tank on the Honda, which I was worried was going to run out, actually still has gas in it. So taking that 5 liter tank with me was totally unnecessary. I always seem to forget the best part about mopeds … fuel economy. I got a chance to get outside, and rode around all afternoon, saw things I haven’t ever looked at, and all this for less than 2 liters of gas? Ie. Less than $2? Lol I really have to do this more often! hmmmmm ... Mondays' a holiday!

Its all about the Carbs ....

About two weeks ago a carb for a 2004 crf 50 came up for auction on eBay, having been removed right away to be replaced by some 20mm racing carb as many of these mini-moto guys do. Since I got the PC50 I have been having issues with the existing carb, though I have cleaned it several time, it was still not reacting on the adjustments etc. Well, long story short, I won the auction for little money, it arrived on Tuesday and on Friday, thinking I would have to make a bunch of adaptors and other parts to get it to fit, I realized to my surprise … it’s the same carb! Yup, 30 some years later, and Keihin is still running the same carb! Great news for me, undo the old one, fit the new one … done! Only one slight difference of a hose out of the side, but that was irrelevant.
Once installed, she started in a quarter turn, and for once …idled! That was new. I played around with the settings, kept checking the plugs for mixture etc, but all in all, I have it running now to the point where the idle is so low, I keep thinking its going to stall, which is good, because the lower the chance of the clutch slightly engaging, thus heating the thing up due to a dragging clutch.
So, lets recap this boring story, 1972 PC50 carb can be directly replaced by a 2004 CRF50 carb. You can get jets for these things, oring sets, and since they are MUCH newer, are more tunable. Ie. No more backfiring upon throttle release due to a slightly worn throttle slide etc ….


Here's a pic of the new one on there ...

Sunday, July 24, 2005

And the weather gods smiled on us ...

Well, for once the weather gods really didn't screw me over. We finally managed to all meet up for a moped ride starting off down at Cherry Beach ... I was a bit worried, as the trusty internet weather site showed thunder showers all afternoon into the night for the GTA ... just my luck too as yesterday was a brilliant perfectly sunny day … but I couldn’t make it … I was thinking … great now I’ve screwed up everyone’s ride, perfect when I can’t go, and when I can, the heavens open up and soak everything … well, we took a gamble and it paid off! (For once since the rest of my life is a write off 90% of the time). I met for the first time 5 fellow moped riders, and we all went out for a great ride to the Bluffs in Scarberia. I miss riding with people, there is something about riding something with two wheels in groups that just makes it more fun … it’s just awesome, helps when they are great people too! Which fortunately they are! A great bunch, a great ride and all in all a great day. Now we just have to figure out how to do this more frequently! Thinking it would rain, I stupidly left the camera at work, so no pics to share, but Linday took some at the Bluffs, so check out the RCMP site! Thanks again to all of you that came out today! It was indeed a blast!
If you don’t have a moped and are reading this … get one. Yes that’s an order. If you don’t, we will slash your car tires … you will be assimilated ….

Thursday, July 21, 2005

Another sad day ...

When is this all going to stop? I feel for the people and families of the Brits who were involved in today’s "attacks" again in London ... I hate violence (don't ask me why I'm addicted to UT then ... that’s not important right now!), right so I hate violence, and the concept of terrorism ... well that’s just wrong sure ... BUT, for the second time in two weeks, people are mourning the dead in the UK ... which I have nothing against ... But can I ask you this ... Why is it that no one stops the show when a suicide bomber heads to the streets of Iraq, or anywhere else for that matter? Is it because the west really sees them as being different? As soon as the bombs go off, the radio at work freaks and explains the horrible event ... but what about every day where bombs are going off, people are being shot and tortured? What about those people? Why don't we care about them? I am sure we do, but not as much? Is that it? I hate that. I have friends in the Middle East. And other troubled places around the world. To me, there is no difference. Violence is violence. Be it in the UK, or the USA (which you just got to wonder if this is all leading right back to the US ... ) or elsewhere on the planet. We are all brothers and sisters.. No I'm not a fuckin hippie, but seriously ... can't we all just get along?
I seriously need to get back home to Galgamek, no one kills each other there! Beam me up! Now damn it!

Wednesday, July 20, 2005

Smurfs?


Ok, we all know that hollywood ran out of ideas in 1993 ... but smurfs? Yup ... the smurfs as 3D CGI! lol/ Good to see that the fine folks making movie decisions are still managing to find hard drugs ... Can't they come up with something NEW? Sure I watched the smurfs on TV ... but that was in the early 80s! Hell even Peyo's been dead for 13 years!

Da Smurfs?

See you in line at the theatres in 2008!

Ch Ch Ch Cherry! (Beach)

Went for a ride on the Honda last night after work, and I have to say ... I needed that!
Its so nice to do a longer-ish trip again (I put on around a 100Km). The weather right now in Toronto is gorgeous, and we all need to take advantage of it and head outdoors! We are slowly all becoming creatures of air-conditioned builds who's only time outside is walking from the house into the car. What happened? We are slowly all hiding indoors, reminds me of time machine with those albino freaks living underground ... Either way, as the captain of this ship ... I order ALL of you to GET OUTSIDE! Sit by the beach go for a walk ... better yet ... come for a moped ride!
That is all ... carry on ...

Sunday, July 17, 2005

Awesom-O is your friend!



Check this out .. theres a video on this link which shows some clips of the RoboCup ... seeing robots play soccer is so much more fun than real people ... who are over paid and don't really do much other than create drama on the field ... one day the machines will be our athletes ... Transformers! More than meets the eye!
http://www.akihabaranews.com/en/news_9864.html

Rain Rain Go Away!

There goes another nice weekend ... I was really hoping to get out there and do some riding this weekend, but NO ... it has been raining on and off since yesterday. Weeks of nice weather, and finally some time and ... rain! Go global warming! Thanks all you SUV drivers out there! Keep on pumping out more and more pollution! Then when we live in a Sahara type climate up here, maybe then ... some of them will figure it out. This weather is seriously getting more bizarre by the year. Hurricanes here, there, and everywhere. I feel sorry for the people I know in the Gulf and on the islands, spending their year dealing with some pretty exciting weather. Where is it all going? What will happen next?
Stay tuned!
On the up side, I did manage to spend a couple hours this weekend working on the Honda … didn’t get that much done, but hey … it’s the weekend!

Saturday, July 16, 2005

Britain Britain Britain ....

Finished watching season 1 of "Little Britain" yesterday! On to season 2!
If you don't know what Little Britain is ... turn on your TV dammit! Even Canadians will now be able to watch via Showcase ...
In case you really haven't heard of this ... check out some clips of the show:
http://lbvg.mysite.wanadoo-members.co.uk/video.htm
You have to watch: Andy has Something to help Him do toilet second from the bottom!
Love Lou and Andy ... YA .... I know!

Oompa Loompa ! ! !

Went last night to watch Charlie and the Chocolate factory. All in all, not bad. Having recently watched the original "Willi Wonka and the Chocolate factory" I was really getting my hopes up for this one. After all you have a Tim Burton movie here kids! With Johnny Depp in it ... it just has to be good! Was it? Well, I have to say, I definitely wasn't bad. But I think I was expecting more. Some of the scenes were fabulous. The ideas for example the machines in the factory were crazy. Over all the only scene I was disappointed in was the "totally eatable room" ... I was really hoping for something completely over the top, instead it seemed a good recreation of what I remember from the book. The 1971 movie seemed almost to have a more elaborate room.
Cast of characters were good. Veruca Salt was a an UBER bitch! Awesome, though she could have laid it on a bit thicker. Charlie was good, not great. Oh the fat german kid Augustus! OMG, fat little bastard he was! Greatest thing about that was he was from: Dusseldorf! Yup where I was born, and they showed a pic of it too! and I was in tears laughing, they showed a traditional bavarian town covered in snow lol. Bit of a stretch considering its the wrong side of the country!
Anyway, all in all, great movie worth a watch. I laughed when I saw the moped swarm! When Wonka announces the contest, out come hundreds of motor assisted red bicycles ... no idea what they were but they came streaming out of the factory like an army of bats! Great stuff, would have loved to have swarmed with them!
Oh, also saw a long trailer for The Corpse Bride ... looks fun! Only a few more months!