CNYCC#14 - June 12, 2021

Huntchuks is here—-

 

Man, I gotta start planning on making a whole weekend out of this.

 

Skinny Bill is here......

 

Like that t-shirt Dave...........!

 

That’s what it turned out to be for me over the last few years... last night’s ride back to the motel was amazing... temp was perfect... see you all real soon!

 

Yup— the forecast is perfect.


The reality—it’s raining. Hopefully it clears out soon

 

Well- it’s CNYCC#14

rain or shine, time to go get the coffee on.

it looks like a cool front is pushing through from the northwest, and the showers should be done pretty soon.

Fingers crossed.

 

Carbman is here !!

Drizzle has ended

 

Blue sky to the north

 

Tony

 

GREAT to see Ken here!! Two yrs ago, he broke down on the way.... and as a result of that breakdown, unfortunately, BUT FORTUNATELY, found he was at stage 4 pancreatic cancer. He was given “maybe a year... get your ducks in order”. Last year he could not attend as he was JUST coming out of surgery, after a year of chemotherapy——IN THR MIDDLE OF A COVID-19 PANDEMIC. He’s here installing a fork kit in his 1986 XJ700...... and his bike has a twin ‘86 XJ700 here than huntchuks rode in on — same color and stripes!

 

So far—
-Repaired a broken speedometer pickup
-diagnosed a bad battery
-Replaced fork seals
-Installed spin-on oil filter
-currently working on a no-start condition

- and of course, plenty of food.

 

Dave....just sent you an e-mail............

 

Time to ride

 

time to pack up—
(Alicia is taking some flowers to propogate)


NOW Jeff arrives.....after originally planning to arrive around 7am, he got here about 7:30 PM—a blown transmission line does tend to put a damper on your day. After missing the day, the fun, the ride, the food, and spending the day in a repair station—— he at least got to briefly meet some people. After a late supper on the grill, we headed into the shop to look into the carb rack he’s been learning to work on.

 

late supper


So a late supper, then into the shop to diagnose 550r carb issues. Found float height issues, and a big issue with carb 4 Mixture screw. Finished addressing at just after midnight.

so after a day like that, not having a camping plan, he threw down in the camper to try and unwind, and maybe get at least a little sleep.
more captions and details will be added later.
More tomorrow

 

And a great time was had by all! Thanks Dave for hosting and Len for the awesome door prizes. Apologies to all for having the ride a non-XJ (Honda VTR250) to attend but both my XJ's are in states of disassembly. Great to see everyone.
John

 

Sunday AM— up early to grab some coffee and breakfast......


Then install Jeff’s rack onto his 550r and see if his own freshening up works—-


fired up quick, warm up, and ‘tuned. It ran strong. Here’s a happy camper— a much better day than yesterday!!


Time to strap her down for a less-eventful drive home.


CrazyGnat is pulling out


Huntchucks with his new tall backrest

Last man standing—- lol. Dan is loaded up and on his way home.

 

Time for me to start tearing down..... and get ready for next year..

Thank you to all who came for fun, work, help, hang out, etc.... it was a GREAT carb clinic, and we got a good bit done

here’s an updated recap;

CNYCC#14 attendees:
hogfiddles
Nuch
Huntchuks
Skinny Bill
CrazyGnat
JBurch
XHondaHack
Saftie
Ken and Alicia
Fuller56
Jeff from Buffalo

We-
-Repaired a broken speedometer pickup

-diagnosed a bad battery

-Replaced fork seals

-Installed spin-on oil filter

-worked on a no-start condition..... got it to fire up by jumping the solenoid, but a new solenoid did not solve the problem....some other deeper electric issues to find.... but now the owner knows there’s life

-got another bike to fire up to show positive potential

-550r rack
———Diagnosed a low floats issue
——— repaired a bad #4 mixture screw issue
——— got the 550 dialed in and running well

-installed a tall backrest

- and of course, ate plenty of food
BTW—CNYCC#15 is scheduled for Saturday, June 11, 2022

 

Nice to see another '81 550R! You say he's from Rochester?

 

Thanks , Dave, for another fantastic carb clinic! Got a little wet on my way up, but our host was kind enough to order some sun for the day. Got my speedometer working, which was great. If an XJ disrespects posted speed limits in the woods without a speedometer to record it, did it really happen? I'll ask the NY state police next time we have a run in...

 

Also, thanks to Hogfiddles (and wife), Huntchucks, and Nuch for the top notch eats! I believe several of us remarked on how much our mouths wanted more but our stomachs were less enthusiastic about receiving further offerings !

 

Buffalo/Cheektowaga area

 

No, I corrected that..... a bit tired, sorry— lol

 

*snicker*

 

The mentioned caption is above YOUR pic..... the pic you linked is Huntchuks... **snickering more**

 

Most everything is put away now...... the inspector is checking before giving final approval.


CNYCC#14 is done. Looking forward to #15

 

What a great time! Met some awesome people, learned some new skills and saved another XJ! I finally rode this thing for the first time once I got home tonight. Not having thrown my leg over one of these since 1982, I now remember why I've wanted one all these years. Thanks to all who gave support, it was great to meet you all. A special thanks to out hosts. Your generosity and inviting nature was most appreciated - especially following a character building day!

Thanks again.

 

As usual, I’m last to post… due to some unfortunate circumstances (to say the least) I’ve been a bit preoccupied and additionally engaged in other initiatives. The good news is that I wrote all that you’re about to read BEFORE my current situation so I’m just now getting a chance to copy/paste/post pics… I’m glad I put “pen to paper” when things were clear…

Here are my thoughts from Mid June…

Hello all. I was hoping that this year would be a good “copy” of last year’s trip (minus the cold temps of course) and indeed it did not disappoint. I set out on Friday morning around 9am for my slow tow north. It was a bit overcast, but the rain held out and at @Saftie’s suggestion I stopped at “Dairy Land” on Rte 20 as I closed in on my last 60-ish miles from the Carb Clinic Grounds.






A nice walk-up eatery with good food. You’ll know you’ve found it when you see the neon tongued child licking the giant ice cream cone on the roof! Safe to say, you really can’t miss this place.



I had the philly cheese steak sub with a side of fries that was waaaay too large for 1 person.

 

As posted above, I was the first one to Dave… even before Dave! As I was taking my gear out of the back of the truck it occurred to me how tranquil it was there. No shushing of cars, no horn honking or other chatter. Just the sound of insects and birds. Amazing. By no means do I live in the city, but I truly appreciated that experience and how different it really is from where I hail from. After putting up my work tent, and pulling “Red” down off the trailer, Dave arrived and we continued to work on the set up… Icing soft drinks, putting tables and chairs out as well as other odds and ends. Had the chance to marvel at some of Dave’s collection of bikes as well...





The beautiful field, foot bridge and stream next to the Carb Clinic Grounds...



I packed a small subset of my stuff and headed off (about 23 miles south) to the Super 8 in Norwich, NY for the night.

When I woke up, it was raining. Though Red was under a cover, I was not looking forward to the ride in the rain to get back to Dave’s… especially without rain gear! I decided to hold out another half hour. Dave texted me saying that Blue Skies are coming from the north… so I headed out.


Sure enough, when I arrived, there was the blue rolling in!!!

 

Under my tent I went and got right to work… Though the pictures might not show it, the property is not exactly flat… in fact just the opposite!


Leveling things was not easy, though necessary if you want to make sure your fluid levels are correct.


I let the oil drop for a while and then installed one of Len’s spin on oil filter kits...Sweet!
While I was all leveled, I also dropped and replaced the final drive oil as well!




Around 11:30 or so, Ken arrived. We made quick work of getting his bike under the tent and front forks removed. Half way through the fork seal replacement we stopped for lunch...mmmm

 

A great line up!


An even better line up!

After the group ride, I said my goodbyes and headed back out to Norwich for the night.

 

The next day and trip to Lake George brought more beautiful weather. I can not stress enough how much I appreciate this trip. The landscape is so brilliant and imbued with color… Long stretches of farmland filled with crops, still short enough to see the earth between the rows. Where left to grow naturally, it’s peppered with wild flowers. There were swaths of purples and whites along much of the roadsides.


Anyone know the name of this?


This leg of the journey took me along Rte 88 along Howe Caverns and on through Cooperstown. When I was there last year it was quite depressing. A ghost town of sorts in fact. No kids… No baseball… Not ANYTHING really… This year, around one bend in the road I came across the Cooperstown All Star Village. This baseball training camp for kids was closed and dark last year…


Now it was alive with activity… One crack of the bat after another! I stopped to grab this picture. Good to see the kids back on the field.

 

In Lake George, the weather was just as good. I took three separate rides in different directions. Stopping for Lunch on one trip, then dinner on another.


Lonely XJ in the MC parking lot!



Something special about this place.


The morning brought quite the downpour… But it was time to leave so I guess it was ok…

There were times on RTE 87 heading south that I considered pulling over because the wipers just could not keep the windshield clear with the amount of rain coming down.


Home now. A little soggy but we made it. A big thanks once again to Dave for hosting and to all the great memories that everyone in attendance contributed to.

 

Once again, thanks for the corn on the cob (and steak).

 

“Ooooh oooooohh- I know!! I know!!!!!! Pick me! Pick me!! ME!!!! PICK ME!!!!!!!” Says the kid in the back row jumping up and down, waving his hand in the air frantically.......

it is called “Dame’s Rocket”. It grows rampantly up here, and can be white, pink, lavender, purple, and almost always blended together for absolutely gorgeous coloring across wide areas.

dfox

 

Nuch,
Thanks for the story-line (and pictures) of you adventure.
Also, our "helmets" are off to you for the great food we all enjoyed.

Glad I made the trip again once again to gather with all of the other XJbikes enthusiasts, and I look forward to getting to as many clinics that I can attend in the future.

Tony

 

So for planning——
CNYCC#15 is scheduled for June 11, 2022

I’ll make a new forum for it

dfox

 

Looking forward to it brother. I`ll be there come hell or high water, i`ll see you there!