And now it's freaking freezing...

No snow yet. However, I just don't have all the gear for these kinds of temps. OK in the pants and helmet department, jacket I can do something about, but no winter boots or gloves.

The XS has been Sta-Biled and put away a few weeks ago. Much as I like that bike, in it's current configuration it is too small for me and the Mrs. isn't moto-obsessed like me.

The FJ is in the garage with a full tank. Might take it out if the temps come up a bit.

The XJ... Sigh...

Loos like it will be another year before the 550 sees road. Still no spark. I'm going to upgrade the transistors in the TCI I got from eBay and give that a try again. It doesn't have the damaged traces on the board like my original does, and I now know how to safely take it apart, plus I have the spare transistors already.

 

winter... The perfect time for projects like that I've picked up a cheap self-cancelling unit & going to open it up to see what makes them work...

As for winter gear, I find my normal boots fine with thermal calf length socks & normal gloves are OK too if you put cheap latex ones over the top to keep damp & windchill out of the equation

 

12 degrees 4 inches of snow, 30mph winds today. brrr.

Supposed to stay cold all week---this is the first cold Thanksgiving in so long, that the weathermen are saying it's well below normal. Funny, I grew up with below-freezing and often snowy Thanksgivings and have always thought that all the warmer ones were above normal. I AM glad I won't have to be marching on a football field on Thanksgiving morning this year, though!

They're calling for temps of 5 degrees (f) this coming Friday night...........

dave

 

Replacing transistors oughta take no more than an hour.

Yeah, but it's English winter. You guys have all that sea around you...

 

lol It's wishful thinking, I want winter to last just long enough for me to strip a cancelling unit & see how it works, no longer

You'd be surprised how little difference all the sea makes if you're referring to ambient temperatures... Last winter wasn't quite as bad but the one before we had -30c... :?

 

We have little snow, but lots of cold now. I'll be pulling some stuff off Max to work on over the winter while the frame, etc, stays in cold storage.Time to work on that copper trim.

 

Yeah, that's life north of the 45th. On this continent anyway.

A co-worker and fellow wrencher offered today to hook me up in his heated garage with a lift (he has two). I might have to finish up some work on someone else's Honda XL500 to free up the lift but it should be worth it.

 

......and my furnace went out tonight----won't be fixed til sometime tomorrow morning. the power exhaust vent fan motor cooked.

If I didn't have to go to work early tomorrow morning, I'd be tempted to sleep out in the shop. It's warm out there. All the bike's body heat keeps it warm. Just the herd of cattle in a barn. LOL

dave

 

Wind chill of around 22F, snow, wind...don't know what you're talking about, putting her up, I put 34 miles on today.

I think by Monday the roads around here will be slippery though, so it's time to get the 4 wheel drive out.

 

Hmm never good :? Always seem to be the most unreliable part, the powered flue/exhaust motor. I think the heat & airflow dries the bearings out & they sieze. Whenever the fan starts to get noisy on mine (only usually every 2 years) I add a drop of gun oil to the bearings, only thing that's ever put my boiler out for more than a quick reset is when I was away last Christmas & the heat exchanger froze 8O

 

my xj has been winterized for a couple weeks now. i'd have to drive it through my yard full of snow if i even wanted to think about getting it on the road now.

 

Sorry to hear about the furnace Dave. I recently had my entire unit replaced (it was 37 years old ~ time to replace it was before the end of the year anyways because of all the utility rebates and gov't. tax credits ending this year) but yeah that put a HUGE dent in my wallet, being I just purchased the house back in March.

I've been back into the XJ spirit now that my 550 is cranking over (thanks again to those sticking with me on that!) but this cold weather is making it cumbersome to ride. I'll have to pull out my motorcycle suit after I change the oil to 10w40 sometime soon. Thursday is already thanksgiving... time sure is flying by

 

10W30 for cold weather...

 

Took out the FJ last night.

Gear shifting was a little stiff for the first couple of miles...

 

i took one last ride saturday when it was like, idk almost 50. wanted to empty my tank a little more. was pretty darn cold but not the worst. was the first time since oct for me and i really wanted warm the oil for an oil/filter change before tearing it apart again over the winter. garage is so cold though, considering bringing in anything i can work on that doesnt make my house smell like gas/oil/etc....havent told the wife my plans yet. she will find out soon enough i suspect as i aint working in that daggone garage all winter. freezing!

 

I have one of these to heat my garage, wall-mounted and running off a propane tank just outside the door.

It really doesn't give off much of a smell, and it's "indoor safe" (oxygen depletion sensor.) It gets my little 1 1/2 car garage nice'n toasty, and it wasn't very expensive at all.

Plus since I rent, it's not a permanent installation so I can take it with me.



(This is the "Big Buddy" the regular "Buddy" only has a single elment.)

 

I use the same heater as Fitz. It's great in the garage. I've used it to temporaaly heat most of the house when our furnace failed a couple of winters ago. We had highs in the low teens, but it was nice and warm inside (and the CO2 alarm I had near the heater never tripped). It took a week to get a new control board for the furnace, and we only needed to use three(3) 25lb tanks of propane.

 

I have the standard one and relly like it. I also use it camping. It makes a great little heater to point at you when you are working at the bench or sitting in one spot. It's not large enough to heat my garage but my garage is 24x26 with no ceiling. To heat the garage I use a propane turbin heater. With it I can warm the place up quickly and turn it off and use the little on to maintain.