The rebirth of an ADV Gold Wing

To understand this ride, you have to have some history. I'm an older bike kind of guy. I've been riding Honda V4s for years. That means over 25 years for my '84 Sabre. Well, to keep them running I joined a V4 internet list back in '98.

There's about 500 members on the list, and I've become good friends with many of them. These guys have toured Baja with me and much of the states as well.....even Alaska.
They've even nursed me thru engine overhauls and all sorts of other major V4 repairs. They are a crafty crowd when it comes to the workshop.

Getting ready to touch down in Boston
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So anyway, one of them, and his wife, throws a moto-get-together on Labor Day weekend in Maine every year. As I live in SD Calif, it's a struggle to make the party. I had been able to do the party 5 times in the last 7 years, but didn't think that I'd get there in 2010......or maybe never again, since I'm get a little long in the tooth.
Four of the past visits, I managed to get some old POS bike in the east and ride it back to San Diego. One year it was a V4 Magna, then an NX250, and a '81 Silver Wing, as well as a PC800. But I figured that was all over probably.

About a month before the event, I got a call from Jason in Mass about an '83 Gold Wing that was in pretty good shape, and was available at a good price, and why didn't I come back, do the get together, and ride that home to SD.
Well, I didn't know why. Except getting 2 weeks off from my lovely wife, Dee, might be impossible. But I told Jason to sign me up, and that I'd think of someway to get Dee to agree to the trip.
I was even prepared to ask for forgiveness when I got back, if I couldn't get permission up front.
...Long story shorting.....I touched down in Boston, and Jason picked me up at the airport with the Gold Wing, 2 VF500s, and His running NX650 in a trailer behind his pickup. We were on the way to SMNOE (SabMag Event North of Everywhere)

Let me tell you a little about this gathering. Zim and Linda have a place on a small Lake in Maine about 50 miles NW of Bangor Maine. Every year, at least for the past 10, he's invited the V4 list members to come visit for the long LD weekend, from Thursday to Tuesday.
Zim supplies everything, and Linda cooks 3 meals a day for about 40 guest.....that includes beer, and Linda pushes Long Island Ice Tea.
The guests put a donation box up and make contributions. I've no idea how that comes out.
A highlight of the weekend is a steak and Lobster dinner on Saturday night. The other high lights are day rides to Bar Harbor and such, as well as much wrenching in Zim's 2 story large garage.
Rider's save up there projects to bring them to Zim's for this weekend to get their carbs cleaned, Valve adjusted ....or motor's swapped. It's a pretty intense weekend of bike works.
Ok, you get the picture, the 3Bs, Bike work, Bike rides, and Beer....oh, and plenty of lies around the camp fire.

So here are the players.... Photo by Zim
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href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/87yimNuowaIQV9WHx5FGC_YwpAwPhi44CkLobQvcpMs?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_mTTLsxawOmg/TJJI3oJFYWI/AAAAAAAADZs/1OWzSdWKsZY/s800/Zim%20Group.JPG" /></a></td></tr><tr><td style="font-family:arial,sans-serif; font-size:11px; text-align:right">From <a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/Ratfab/DropBox?authkey=Gv1sRgCOSX36iP8eSkNA&feat=embedwebsite">Drop Box</a>

Jason and I were not the First to arrive there at about10:30pm. No one was up so we went straight to bed in the Garage upstairs.
Click pic to enlarge......

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Other's tented
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some motorhomed, and set up across the driveway....
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More drove 4 wheels this year than in the past.....were getting older
This was the morning after Hurricane Earl came thru...2.5 inches of rain, not much wind.
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More serious work and Partying would start tomorrow, Thurs.....and ultimately the ride back to San Diego​

........a good night's rest brought along with it the new day. Many hugs were enjoyed by friends separated by a few years. I'd even almost died of Cancer since I'd seen these guys in Late '08. I'm cancer free now, BTW.
Linda, bless her heart, provided the first breakfasts of many to come, and soon the move to the Garage took place....ruh, ruh.
ADVer Ziggy Stardust had already arrive with his V45 V4 Sabre. Ziggy was looking for garage space as his bike had destroyed a bearing in the drive shaft line.
I suggested that he get his bike in there while there was still space. He was first in the shop. He's been trying to get the angle drive off the engine for the last several months, and had come to an unmovable object. I'd promised to help him when I got there.
Jason got second spot with his 2 VF500 'ceptors. He had a rusted out frame that needed to be replaced by a good one from the other bike. Both these bikes had been outside under tarps for a few years.....what a job.
The brown Santa, UPS, soon showed up with some new tires that needed changing. So I also got to sharpen my field tire changing skills. There was much help with the tire changing. The inexperienced got a chance to witness the struggles of bead breaking and tire spooning, and even participate if they wanted to.....that always good to know.

Ziggy's Bike wait for new Angle Drive Bearing

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...and here's Ziggy and crew showing off his bad Bearing
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Jason's 'ceptor project...
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Tire changing and carb cleaning project Magna....
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............but it's not all work....Later that night Linda got out of the kitchen long enough for some socializing, ah....that's me chatting her up. I'm trying to get an extra lobster on lobster night.
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this is promising

Friday was more wrenching. The 'ceptor project progressed. More tires were change. A '98 'Cepter got moved into the garage for advanced electrical repairs.
Ziggy's angle drive was out. of course it required special Honda tools to extract the bad bearing. We managed to get it out with a big hammer. We didn't have the parts to get his Sabre back together, but the Ziggman figure that he could put it back together by himself, once he got the parts, at home.

This is Zim, himself, in the garage. He's more of a director type, and runs a tight ship. I think he's asking for another beer in this pic.
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It's really amazing what goes on shop wise up there. One year Jason brought six bikes up to work on. He had his Dodge Diesel on that trip and the alt on the pickup went out.....well, to get back to Mass where he lived he wired in a running ST1100 and ran his Dodge's electrics off the motorcycle.
Yep pretty amazing.

Steak and Lobster tomorrow......​

Proper!

FWIW says....this is promising

[me] I hope to keep it interesting.

So hurricane Earl showed up Friday night, but it cleared on Saturday, and this is what it looked like in years past, from an Old Carl Custer photo. These guys all know that Sat is steak and lobster night.

<table style="width:auto;"><tr><td><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/Gxn5njdsF3RvEk1Bi2J41PYwpAwPhi44CkLobQvcpMs?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_mTTLsxawOmg/TJJo6BAU3kI/AAAAAAAADaM/NQ2kIHEh8UM/s800/typ%20Sun%20SMNOE.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td style="font-family:arial,sans-serif; font-size:11px; text-align:right">From <a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/Ratfab/DropBox?authkey=Gv1sRgCOSX36iP8eSkNA&feat=embedwebsite">Drop Box</a></td></tr></table>
And another...These guys are from all over the states, and every type of bike. most of these guys have V4 heritage, but have moved on to newer bikes.
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The camp fire doing double duty with the lobster pot. Zim's son Jeff is boiling up the girls for dinner. Another Custer photo
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Linda got me tangled up with the Long Island Ice Teas after dinner. I'm going to hold that against her.

Thanks, DS. And any orthers of you readers that want to keep this on the front page for a while....I'd appreciate a comment or 2. TIA

Maybe I can get a couple stars. Heh he

I'm in.

Some of us got up a little Later on Sunday. Bike work was wrapping up, and I had to get the Wing ready for the ride across country. I'd found time to take it on a couple local ride to the tune of 50 miles or so.

Outside of being kind of big, it seemed to run pretty well. The seat had some rips in it so I got the duck tape out and patched it up. One of the guys gave me an unused GPS mount that I installed.
A couple of the electro boys tried to get the Wings radio system going, but they said that the amp (whatever that is) seemed to be blown.....so no tunes. Of course, that would have been a first for me. I'm pretty content with my one thoughts anyway so no big loss.
Amazingly the old girl was in good operating condition. It was full of oil and even the air pump for the suspension worked as it should. All the boxes had locks and keys. It looked like the ride home would get a big thumbs up.
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Sunday was spent making up lost time with friends, young and old alike. No telling if I'll ever see these guys again. That T Blum, from Past Cack/ ADV St1100 fame on the left, and Wall Street George on the right.
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That's Art in the front and Ed Shea in the right Foreground. And of note is Bob Amadon, rhymes with Mastodon) in the girly pink tee shirt. Bob was our ace in the hole in Labor Days Harmony town fair 'Hammer throw' contest.
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Speaking of the Hammer and Skillet throw at Harmony, Maine's Fair, Last year the Zim folks invaded the contest and took several place ribbons. The sabmag boys stormed back this year to take top honors with a 79' toss, and maybe six ribbons in all. It was a lot of fun.
Top honors Bob...
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And the rest of the ribbon holders....not all our guys. Good clean fun.
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Here's a picture of Jason's NX650 faking a hookup with the towns tractor pulling sled.
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They had an antique Flywheel engine exhibit.... I still don't know how some of them work.
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Some old tractors.........
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And some antique chain saws. Some of those were bery interesting.
Click on pic for larger image...a couple times.
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Tomorrow, Tueday the 7th, the fun would come to an end, and I would ride.

I'm looking forward to the ride home report....Al

Keep it comin' Pete!

L D

I am not sure it is safe to cross the ADV and SABMAG streams... you do remember what happened in 'Ghostbusters', right? cities fell, societies crumbled and the earth shifted on its axis when the streams were crossed.

There are some interesting groups here; the cat herders and the BWDR (bull winkle death riders, if I got it right) to name a few. Maybe a slow assimilation won't be too painful. I suppose that SABMAG- Team Cayce Jones (NEVER on time; ALWAYS with a story!) might fit the mold.


I am sorry Pete, your thread. Do continue.

Subscribed Pete!

I'm disappointed that I couldn't make it this year!


Kevin

Harvey, this is a story that deserves to be heard/seen by everyone who's into Motorcycles.
It a story of rider's that cross the generation gap, not to mention moto's that cross that same gap. It's also about world class hosting.
It's also about moto Mechanics and riding far from home on all kinds of bikes.
This story is about the love of motocycles.....
It's all about moto camaraderie of the finest kind.....and I'm sure there's room at ADV for a little bit of SABMAG.

Not to mention a good amount of the Sabmag guys/gals are also here :)

I had talked to Ziggy (Dave) before the event about buying the bearings before hand to leave Maine with a running bike. He would have no part of it.

I had figured I would be there to give him crap the whole weekend, but alas we know my dog problems.

SiNGMa

Ratman says"It a story of rider's that cross the generation gap,"

Hey!! who you calling old???

I'm subscribed!!

Good stuff.

I miss my old Magna sometimes.



Chris

Certainly not you, Tom. You're getting younger every year.

[me] Dave's young, Grafty, and he wanted to put it all back together himself. Ha

[me] I'm sure those new bikes in your stable go along way toward displacing your hurt, Chris

[Carl]: Just wanted to point out that Jason and I were the only ones who earned the prestigious "Gold" ribbons.
That's me in the black Sturgis Tee.
2010 70 years -- that's Blum, Springer and me.

Tuesday morning, The day after Labor Day, was upon us. There were still a dozen straglers that had refused to leave the festivities. Most didn't want to get involved with the holiday traffic of the day before.
It soon became evident that Zim and Linda weren't going to adopt any of us, so plans to actually leave were made. Final goodbyes were said.
Special thanks goes out to Jason for getting me involved one more time. Jason has been a good friend to me ever since I met him. Thanks Jason.
And I can't say enough about Zim & Linda or Anna, the granddaughter.
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I finished loading the Wing for travel, and hit the road at 9:30 am. There were rain clouds and damp pavement, but the day only improved from those conditions.
I had spent lots of time looking for out of the way roads in order to get to Burlington VT. But in the end, I took the most direct route, HWY 2. It was only a 300 mile ride to a rider friend's house there. Bob Hooper wasn't able to make the Zim ranch this year, so I figured to make a visit to him instead.
The bike was just zipping along, and the sun shined brightly. It was a great day. Along about noon I was getting hungary.
Now I'm a frugal guy when it come to a traveling budget, so I stopped at a small town's market, and bought a cantaloupe and a package of carrots. I found a shady spot in the back parking lot, and had a pleasant feast.
I boiled up some coffee with my Alcohol stove, and sat back and enjoyed the moment.
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So back on the road. I continued on thru the lush New England countryside. I love the older building of the east. We don't have many areas in Calif with buildings older then 75 years. It refreshing back there.
.....but I do complain about not being able to see the lakes or rivers because the trees are in the way.
My GPS took me right To Hooper's front door. This is my first trip with a GPS. I love my maps, but I can see that these GPSs are going to make a lazy man out of me.
Soon Bob and Kathleen got home from work. It was good to see them again. Bob took me to Fatty's BBQ in college town Burlington. We caught up on old times, and I recounted all the reasons that he should retire soon. I think that he listened. Every day that you work is one day less for your own life......of course, I realize that some work is necessary. UGH.
Here's Bob & Kathleen's new home. It's a beauty.
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The Hoopers had to work the next day so I wanted to be up early to continue my trip when they left for work. To that end I walked out the front door as it was getting light.....and met Kathleen coming back from her morning run. I swear that girl is going to live for ever. It just make me want to throw rocks at my own life style. Ha.
San Diego is 3500 miles from Maine, and I had a minor surgery appointment scheduled which left me 7 day to complete the trip.....or 500 miles a day. I was already 200 miles behind schedule......
The next stops was to see family in Columbus Oh. I didn't figure I could get there tonight, but I could get most of the way....if there were no surprises.
I motored on toward Columbus. The sky was troubled, but none the less beautiful
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Somewhere along the way I finished my Cantaloupe and carrots.
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Along about 7pm I pulled into a campground in Emlenton Pa. John, the Manager, was happy to put me up at a campsite for $20. Wow, I like national campgrounds or gorilla camping. $20 bucks for a campsite is high brow for me, but free camping in the East is a lot more difficult to find than out west.
I coughed up the big money and took advantage of the Wifi with my net book and caught up on some mail.
It turns out that Emlenton is about 30 miles from a good rider friend in Pittsburgh....but following a GPS I find that, while you may be on route, you don't really know where you are relative to the rest of the world. Damn, I could have scrounged a free night with Dave Ryder...no really, that's his real name.

My camp setup .........I call it 'sleeping bag under drop cloth'.
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John had told me to take a run thru town in the morning before I got underway. Small towns USA are alway charming when you take time to see them.
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There's my freeway going over the Allegheny River
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So today I was to meet my riding nephew, Mike, in Killbuck Oh. We had selected Killbuck as it was a couple hour ride from Columbus. I had found a picture of an IGA market on Google Maps, and we set the meeting place. The meetup was to take place at 11AM. I was five minutes late.
Killbuck IGA store....Looks just like the Google pic
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That's Mike and his '09 EX500
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I spent a wonderful evening with Mike and Rani. These guys are techies to the max. It gave me a glimpse of the future families. They are hooked at the waist to their I-phones.....in a good way. They are completely in touch, at all times, with the world thru those things.
They're trying to adopt European babies as well. What a great life they are leading. We had dinner at Olive Garden with my 2 beautiful sister cousins, Jean and Terri.
After dinner Mike and Rani took me to a sewing shop to get me some raw materials to make a seat improvement for the Gold Wing. Did I tell you that my motorcycle seat was killing me?
So I whipped up a couple rudementory Sweet Cheeks kind of seat supplements that worked pretty good. As far a moto seats go, it doesn't matter what you try, but the sin is, if you do nothing about the monkey butt.
Here's my try....
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Three days and only 1200 miles......that wasn't going to get me to my doctors appointment.....I'd have to pick the pace up a bit.