Sunday, April 29, 2012

John and Wendie Visit.

Nancy and I had visitors this weekend. My riding buddy John, and his wife Wendie, came up from St. Paul, Mn on Saturday. They arrived around noon stayed until this morning. I gave them the tour of the new place and we spent the next few hours chatting. Around 3:30 in the afternoon John and I went for a ride. He had brought his riding gear with him, so I loaned him my FJR and I rode the Zx-14. We took a nice 70 mile loop north and circled Lake Namakagon. We were back home in about 2 hours. We hung around in the garage talking and checking out the base that John had made up for the tire changer. A few years ago, I went in on "halves" on a complete Cyclehill brand tire changer set up with John. We had it bolted to the floor of my garage in Prescott. When I moved into this house, I told John I was a little hesitant to drill into the concrete of this garage, because of the hot water heat piping in the floor. John had a friend of his weld up a mount for the changer. It's similar to one we saw this winter being sold by Nomar tire changers at the Motorcycle Show. All we have to do is park a car or truck on one end of the stand to hold it in place. I probably wont need to mount tires on the Zx-14 until just before my trip west in July or August. Here's John on my FJR
The Cyclehill changer is bolted to the homemade base and there's a box to set the rim on when it's time to break the bead. There's a hole in the top of the box that is sized to support the rim, but allow the rotor to go through. This will keep any pressure off the rotor and also keep it off the floor.
Last night, the 4 of us went out for dinner at the Sawmill Saloon in Seeley. Afterwards, we went back to our place and spent the rest of the night sitting in front of the fireplace. This morning, we had make-your-own omelets in a bag, with a side of fruit and muffins. Sorry, I forgot to get the required food pictures. John and Wendie were on their way back home by 10:30 so John could hook up with his computer guy. Thanks for coming up!