Twist-Throttle.com

Well it’s finally happened, I finally have my GS750 on the road! It seems to be running pretty decent to. Of course it could use some more “tuning”, but it’s not to bad.

Last night I finished installing my 2 new throttle cables, the night before that I installed the carbs and the airbox. It took me a little bit to get the throttle to work smoothly last night, it kept sticking & it would not return on it’s own. But in the end last night, I got it freed up & adjusted it the best that I could at that time.

So tonight, after getting my Ignition switch back from my co-worker friend… who repaired the broken connector… I installed the gauges, hooked the wires back up & installed the headlight. After adding some 4-stroke lawnmower gas, bam!, the motor fired up pretty quick, it only took a few revolutions. Actually though, it sure fired up… revving around 4,500 RPMs & holding. I shut the motor down & looked into the culprit. In the end, I ended up putting my one good OEM Throttle Cable backs on the bike. The new aftermarket cable that actually pulls & opens the throttle, well I never was able to get it adjusted to were it had enough slack to let the bike idle down. The new aftermarket throttle cable did seem to be a little longer in length then the OEM throttle cable.

So now that the bike will idle at a decent RPM… well let me repeat that… now my bike will idle. That was my whole problem last fall when I tore into the carbs. Back then, my GS would not idle on its own. So after all my messing around & waiting to get my Idle Adjuster fixed, now that the Idle Adjuster is fixed, my GS will idle on it’s own. This is a big step in getting the bike back on the road & to being a decent commuter bike.

The motor seemed to be running a touch rough, I wasn’t 100% sure that it was running on all 4 cylinders… so I pulled all 4 plugs one at a time, & verified if I saw spark… which I did… I also shocked myself 3 out of the 4 times when holding the spark plugs to the cylinder head looking for that spark (doesn’t that indicate either that I don’t have a wire grounded somewhere, or that my spark plug wires/boots need to be replaced?). So now that I verified that it has spark for all 4 cylinders… I accepted that it was running a little rough, the bike has been sitting for so long, plus my jetting is likely to be off a little & my carbs likely needed to be sync’d as well.

Well the next obvious thing to do was to put some more air in the tires & take the old bike out on the road.

“She’s a runner” I thought to myself as I’m cruising around my neighborhood. It seems to be running ok. It has decent enough torque & actually pulls ok from 4,500RPM - 7,500RPM’s (redline is 9,000 I believe). Of course I didn’t “get on it” right away. Boy, does this thing feel totally different then the ‘08 GSXR600 that I’ve been riding for the last 2 weeks! Everything is different about it; seating position, all controls feel very different then the new GSXR, it has an old feeling to it, it shakes & vibrates more, the brakes work… but surely not very well. But I must say, it was fun to ride it & that it for sure has it’s own character. With it being so old, that makes it cooler, I did notice a few guys & girls definitely watching me ride past.

After riding the GS for a while, I did jump back on the GSXR, now that felt different to me, instead of back to “normal”. I can see that jumping back & forth between bikes will likely need time to get re-acclimated with whatever bike I’m riding at that time… to give it a few minutes of riding to let my brain come to grips with that particular bike.

So yea… I did get the bike up to 65MPH, it seemed just fine at that speed, I do suspect that the brakes will improve a little when the new pads bed into the rotors & that I will look into “dialing in” my carbs better in time… plus just putting some miles on the bike might improve how it runs by itself. I still feel that the GS is a very easy bike to ride & that it would make a great beginner bike, plus it’s way more comfortable then a new sportbike. Oh, and to adjust the Idle Adjuster after you’ve been riding the bike… that thing is a bitch to reach in-between the tank, carbs & the airbox. I tried when stopped, not sure if it’s even possible while riding?

Where from here? Well my wife Brandy, a few days ago, she just received her motorcycle license… so we’ll be battling over who rides which bike of the two… we’ll have to alternate of course. For the GS itself, of course I plan to continue improving it, getting it to run better & stronger, plus to continue improving the looks & condition of it… each year it will only be a cooler bike as it gets older & older. So this is far from the end of The GS Project, it is just the beginning of the next chapter.

Well Brandy & I just bought a 2nd bike. But it is not exactly like the ‘77 Suzuki GS750 that I’ve been working on. I’m really excited about the new bike, but for sure, the GS Project is still moving forward & I hope within about 2 weeks to have the GS on the road along side the new bike (Currently, I have some carbs & gauges being shipped that will be used to repair my final known issues with the GS).
Actually, Brandy is taking her motorcycle safety class in one week, so then she will have her cycle license & will be riding by herself, instead of passenger. Let the fighting over the bike begin !!

So yes, the new bike, kind of a impulse, but also we’ve been talking about this for a few years, I’ve been doing some casual research for a couple of months, she calls up the bank, tells me what time to show up to sign & all of a sudden we own another bike. You gotta dig a wife that is pushing the purchase of toys

Our new bike is a 2008 Suzuki GSX-R 600. Really, the ‘77 GS750 is the foundation of where the GSX-R’s came from, so it does all tie into the same family, I suppose if we had gotten GSX-R 750, that would of have been even cooler next to our GS750… but o’well close enough. The 600 is still possibly more bike then a beginner should even start with. I hope to start Brandy off on the GS for awhile, but I know that isn’t going to last long, she already wants to ride the GSX-R in a parking lot, the parking lot because she doesn’t have her license yet. I also have to add, that I am nervous about her riding alone… not so much because of her, but the other people on the road.

Well enough babble about the GSX-R…

Brandy & I have begun a little side business, called B&B Reflections. B&B Reflections is in the business of creating DVD Video Slideshows, Montages & Video Albums of your Pictures & Images. Quite likely, you have seen at least one of our previous video slideshows. The side business began from the enjoyment that we have had creating the previous movies, plus the numerous suggestions of the business from people who have seen our movies. All ready, Brandy has a couple of jobs lined up for us to work on in the near future.

The name as you can probably guess stands for Brandy & Bill Reflections. The two B’s being our initials, and the Reflections being a play on the reflection of the two B’s, and of course people reflecting on the story of their loved ones through the video slideshow.

So at this point, the business is just on the ground floor and in the process of being built up. But absolutely, we are open for business & ready to take on projects for anybody & any occasion. I have an initial web site up for our business, but it still needs much work at this time. The web site address is www.bbreflections.com

So spread the work & keep an open ear for anybody that might enjoy a slideshow for occasions such as; anniversaries, birth days, graduations, reunions and etc.

Bill

So it’s Friday night & I just finished getting all 3 bikes & 4 sets of riding gear ready for tomorrow. Tomorrow’s plan is that the whole family is going out for our first ride of the year… I need to break in my bike from the fresh rebuild, plus get the boys re-acquainted with riding… I never did get them out once last year…

But, the weather forecast for tomorrow is a 40% chance of rain all day! So that sucks… we’re hoping for no rain of course. I am surprised how pumped the boys are about getting out on their bike.. the XR50. It was funny, tonight Colton kept asking me what time we where going in the morning, so we could beat the rain…. he asked about getting up @ 6:00am or 7:00am. I can’t remember the last time he’s been motivated to get up. Marty also has been showing motivation about riding again… so that’s awesome.

I know that I am not a very fast mechanic… but taking care of 3 bikes is kind of a pain. But granted, what I’m doing right now is more elaborate because I’m getting the bikes out of their winter hibernation & ready for the first ride.

I’m about to go chill on the couch for a bit & watch some TV… we’re hoping for dry weather tomorrow…

Well Brandy & I have still been thinking a little bit about the lady that she helped on Monday morning. So we decided to go to the nursing home that Brandy suspected she had come from… and yes, we did find out a little more info on her. I believe that Brandy knows this little old lady’s first name, but I think it appropriate that I just call her Gladys, instead of her real name.

Gladys did come from that nursing home. That morning, the paramedics actually took her to a Madison Hospital, instead of here in Janesville. She is now being transferred to the hospital in Stoughton… not sure why she isn’t or wasn’t in a Janesville hospital. They said that both her nose & her chin were being taken care of (to which extent I’m not sure… Brandy did say that she the lady had a bloody nose).

Ok, about the whole kidnapping concerns. Gladys had been hallucinating prior to this morning. She had been running into the bedrooms of the other ladies that stayed there… she would either be chasing something or running from something. Unfortunately, it sounds like her mind is going… that’s sad.

So there was an employee watching Gladys that night… but while the employee was in the bathroom, Gladys made a break for it or just had another hallucination… that she actually left the building! So we are led to believe that she was running down the sidewalk, in fear… possibly looking behind her, and she fell onto the ground, hitting her head.

But as I told Brandy, I know this is Brandy’s deal, not mine… but I kind of needed this “closure” to the story. To find out if that’s where she came from, if she’s doing ok… that kind of a thing. Another point that Brandy & I talked about after leaving the nursing home, we wondered if Gladys has any family that comes to visit her. We did see a few elderly ladies in this home… they were just kind of sitting there. Brandy & I both agreed that we felt a little sad for them, that they must not have anybody to really take care of them, that they need to be here… and I hate to say it… but it’s kind of like they are just waiting for… I have always partially feared getting old, because some elderly seem weak & feeble, that they need help. And every passing year, my parents are getting older… they are doing well now, but I fear the day when they become ill and need help.

But this is life, we just live our lives the best that we can… celebrate life & those around us.

Jeez… where did that all come from?

Take care,
Bill

This story still has me at a loss… I find it startling, bizarre, eerie & courageous… As I’m sleeping in bed this morning, Brandy wakes me up to say something like “you’ll never believe what happened to me on my run”…

I have now asked Brandy to write down her experience from this morning so it could be shared with you all… in her own words, here is Brandy’s story… -Bill

“I decided to get up this morning and go for a run/walk with Nina around 5 a.m. Yes!!! 5 a.m.! So Nina and I are going along our usual route, about halfway around our loop we are running down this hill and I happen to catch a glimpse of something in the corner of my eye. So I did a double take and stopped running, to my surprise there was a little old lady collapsed on a driveway by the sidewalk with blood around her head.

Immediately I rushed over to her to help when I notice that I should tie Nina up so she doesn’t scare the poor lady any more than she already was. So here I am my heart pounding and my adrenaline rushing trying to tie Nina to a tree and go help this poor lady. It’s now about 5:15 or 5:20 a.m.

So I go over to the lady and see blood around her head and noticed that she is awake and struggling to keep her head off the ground. I asked her if she was okay and needed help, she replied yes she was hurt, I could see that from all the blood around her head. I then asked if she lived at the place where she was laying and she said no, it was the house that kidnapped her!!! I was like WHAT!!! Oh boy… so I told her I was going to get help. I knocked on the door of the house in which she was in their driveway and another older lady answered the door and I apologized and said that I need her to call 911 because there was a lady collapsed in her driveway, so she immediately called. I then went back to the old lady on the ground and told her help was on its way.

All I could think of was this poor old lady fell and no one was around to help her. I then started to ask her name, where she lived, stuff like that… she was responding but no coherently. I asked if she had any family and at first she replied no, then she said yes she had a daughter and son. She kept trying to tell me to save myself and leave, otherwise I would get in trouble, because of the people who kidnapped her would hurt me. At that point I figured she either had Alzheimer’s or dementia, one of the two. She didn’t have any shoes or socks on and she was wearing her pajamas. I felt so bad for her.

Then the lady in the house came out to check on us with the phone and I told her to go get us a blanket because the old lady was just shaking with chills, I’m not even sure how long she had been there before I got there. So the lady ran in the house and got a blanket and covered the lady on the ground with it. By this time I could hear sirens in the distance, so I reassured the hurt lady that help was coming.

Little did I know that a nursing home was just up the block and that she probably escaped from there. She kept saying she was running away from bad people. The poor dear, I couldn’t help but feel for her.

So then the ambulance arrived and asks me some questions, all this time Nina is just sitting there watching all this. You could tell she was upset and not understanding what was going on.

Finally, they loaded the little old lady in the ambulance I reassured her that she would be taken care of now. She thanked me and said she doesn’t know what would have happened if I didn’t find her. By this time it’s around 5:45 a.m. and I have to leave to go to work at 6 a.m.!!!! So I made sure the cops didn’t need me for anything more and I took off and ran home. WHEW!!! What a way to start the morning!!! My heart was pounding the whole hour I was out this morning, so I’m sure I got my workout and more!”

What a night! Brandy & I drove down to Sycamore, Illinois for the Spectator Racing night at the speedway. The night mainly involves the “Regular Joe’’s” who buy an old beater of a car & race that on the dirt oval… contrary to the more specially built race cars like the Late Models. Brandy’s brother Tim & some other family members (Jen, Dan, Rick & Jason) have been doing this racing for a little while now. So since Brandy wanted to get in on the fun, Tim let Brandy borrow his car & enter a couple races in the womens class… called Powder Puff. Understandably, she was a little nervous with never entering a motorized race before & never driven this car before & or any car on a race track before. Tim’s race car is a full-size station wagon with a 5.0 liter V8 in it.

Brandy’s night started out with test driving the car around the pits to get a feel for the car. Then her & Tim went out on the track to do a couple of laps during what they call “packing the track”, to get rid a little of the mud on the track. Then next up was “time trials” where Brandy had her first time on the track at speed. She was given one lap to put in her best lap time to qualify for grid position at the start of her Heat race. With no experience for her to gauge on corner speed or technique… her time didn’t seem to be real fast. But when they posted everybody’s starting position, she was the 3rd fastest one in her Heat, putting her on the inside of the 2nd row of two cars! So when the time for her first race to come up, the butterflies where setting in pretty good for Brandy. OK… for the race, the cars get started with a rolling start & Brandy sort of starts to drop back a little from 3rd to almost 5th during the first lap. The 4th place car is putting some pressure on her now & 1st & 2nd are slightly pulling away… I don’t know if she was more nervous or I was watching her. But over the next couple of laps, that 4th place car actually started to fall back as Brandy slowly pulled away from her & was actually pulling in the battle between 1st & 2nd. I was impressed with how smooth Brandy looked. I know so much more about bikes then cars… so I’m not going to try & talk like I know what’s up. But with Brandy not having any experience for her to gauge against, I had expected her to be sliding the ass-end around more & particularly pushing the front-end in the corners… all the while running more in the back of the pack. So as the last couple of laps go down, Brandy is running smooth & close (like about 8 - 10 feet) on the rear end of the two battleing for 1st, with 4th back like 5 car lengths. coming into the final corner, in my mind I’m thinking holy crap, she’s going to get 3rd in her first race!!. Again coming into the last corner of the race, the 2nd place car pushes up inside of the leader trying for the win, they are bumping… and all of a sudden they take each other out!!! So in my mind again as I’m watching Brandy, as this all is happening… it plays out like this. They’re spinning, they’re tasking each other out…Brandy, get around them… will she make it past them… I think she’s going to hit them, it’s tight… they’re close. She’s getting around them… she’s getting around them. She got by them! Holy shit! She just won the race… she just won the race!!. I almost couldn’t believe it, she won her first time out ever in a race! Of course I’m totally excited for her. So then I run back to the pits to congratulate her & hoping to catch a few photo’s of her getting out of the car & all the excitement. But little did I know, with be being a newbie to this as well, she was actually being guided into the middle of the track so she can get out of her car, receive her huge trophy, wave the flag & jump up & down in front of the whole grandstand. What a moment for Brandy… I think especially because her personality is the type that normally doesn’t stand out in the crowd, doesn’t draw attention to herself & always puts everybody else before herself. This was her moment to shine, Brandy’s time for recognition.

OK, it was only the first Heat race… she was now qualified for the Powder Puff Feature race. This likely will have tougher competition. Brandy said that she was actually more nervous at the start of her 2nd race… now she sort of had some pressure to perform after her Heat race win. From her Heat 1 race win, she was on the front row, but on the outside this time. Again, she’s under some pressure from the other ladies around her. Halfway around the first lap, I believe she’s running 2nd with 3rd place getting underneath her rear quarter panel (do station wagons have quarter panels?)… and 3rd place gives her a nudge, causing her back-end to swing out & Brandy starts to spin. So unfortunately she goes from 2nd to last place just like that with all of the cars still bunched up from it being the first lap. I was recording some video of the race, so I couldn’t see it real great… but I know I was worried that she was going to get slammed by one of the cars that were all on the gas behind her. Fortunately, they all missed her & she got herself going again… but a straightaway behind the last place car. I didn’t know if she was all flustered, but I fond out later she was pretty much just pissed! That makes me laugh now. OK, so back to the race… she’s on the gas & looking smooth again. Slowly she’s gaining on the other ladies. Pretty soon she’s picked off a few of them… next thing I know, she’s mid pack & putting pressure on the car ahead of her. Oh yea… there were about 10 cars in the race & I believe it was a 10 lap race. Well in the end, she got herself all the way back up to 4th place, from being spun out & in last! It seems she was still pretty proud of herself & her performance. Of course she feels another win would of been sweet, but she’s not greedy & totally is pumped for her Heat race win, her overall speed out there & that she didn’t back down & went for it! I too am very proud of her & pumped for her excitement that she had at the races.
Brandy’’s family members did not have as strong of a night as she did. Unfortunately they all had some car problems in various ways that held them back. But needless to say, I think we all had a fun night & Brandy definitely gained a new chapter in her life.

I hope to have images up shortly & a video or two from the races in a couple of days. So check back on Monday or Tuesday for the video…