Raleigh area Meet-Eat-Ride

Anyone in the Raleigh NC area interested in a meet-eat-ride sometime soon? I was thinking Saturday April 2nd, meeting for lunch around 11:30 then a ride afterwards. Bring your friends all would be welcome. Maybe some of you who live around Falls or Jordan Lake know some good roads to ride and a place to eat. Spring is close its time to ride. Just throwing the idea out there and looking for input.

 

Would really like to mlew...but, bike is not running so well now and I can't find time to work on it. The idle wants to rise from around 900 when warm to almost 1400 when hot. Don't know when I can find time to work on it.

 

Let me know if you need help with it .

 

I may take you up on that. Stay tuned.

 

Wish I was up to speed and the bike was ready, but neither is true yet unfortunately. Please keep me in mind down the road though, as I'm down near the coast and would love to ride up to Raleigh or whatever on a nice pretty weekend in the future!

Mac

 

Everyone is welcome macros10, we could even meet somewhere in between on I40. Newton Grove to Magnoila looks to be half way.

 

Thanks, will see how things pan out!

 

I'd like to but I can't make it that weekend. Our Scout Troop is having a camping trip that weekend to work on outdoor cooking skills so I will be tied up all weekend. Let me know if you change the date.

 

Just throwing feelers out there, data can always be changed. So far not much interest.

 

How many XJ folks are in nc? I don't know of any in my immediate area, Johnston County. I think it would be great to get to know others nearby who also enjoy these bikes and have developed the knowledge and skills needed to keep them running. I got into this bike by accident, not knowing what I was buying. I had some experience with Yamaha over the years but not nearly enough to face all the difficulties I have encountered with this bike. I'm just thankful to have finally found this forum to help guide me. But it would really be great to have some people close by to actually look at things (not pics on the computer) sometimes.

 

I'm kind of in the same boat JameyP, I just remember thinking that the Maxims and Nighthawks were really cool back in high school, lol, and ended up getting one when I went to get a bigger bike. Had no idea that everything would be so complicated, but I have to say that I'm happy to have found a community like this! Makes it alot easier and alot more fun! Hell, if you guys meet somewhere, I'll drive my car if I have to just to see your bikes and say "hi!" lol Come down to Melvins in E-town and have one of their famous hamburgers! I'm only a few minutes away.

 

Tomorrow is supposed to suck, but Sunday........anyone up for a ride possibly say within 50-100 miles of Raleigh? We could all pick an exit or something to meet at and then go eat/drink whatever.

Mac

 

I'm in, just let me know where to meet. I'm in Princeton, about 30 miles east of Raleigh on US70.

Jamey

 

Looks like Dunn is about halfway for each of us. Let's see if anyone else is interested in this and we can come up with a time to meet and either just find a place to eat or whatever around there and then maybe pick a place to all cruise to. I have a friend who rides a Honda VTX and another on a Kawasaki Concourse that I'll ask also.

 

I'm ready for a ride. anyone know of a good eating place around Dunn? A lunch meeting and ride would be fun.

 

I know there are some places to eat in the Dunn exit right off of 95 but I've never really cared for the traffic and vibe there, you guys want to meet there at one of the gas stations and then shoot up to Smithfield for some food? I know there is some good restaurants there. Either way, I'll be at the Dunn exit off of 95 at around noon if possible. If you guys want to call or email me with something more specific, I'm at 910-874-5910 or gregcollins10@yahoo.com (which will hit my phone). Hopefully we'll get some pretty weather and everything will work out, can't express how excited I am to link up with some other xj riders!

Greg

PS Mark, feel free to ride that bad-ass V-Max, lol!

 

I have the carbs off the V-Max right now so it will stay in the garage. I can meet you at noon, do you have a specific location to meet at? I'll e-mail you in the AM. I have several ready to ride.

 

Nothing specific, will go the to first gas station on the right after I get off the north-bound exit for Dunn, the main exit. But you should have my number if we miss eachother. I'll time it for as close to noon as possible. Look forward to seeing you and whichever bike you ride! Hopefully JamieP can get there as well, should be fun!

Greg

P.S. Make sure you bring a pack or bag mlew so I can hook you up with those coils, I'll bring them with me.

 

Wow@! That was so cool meeting you guys and getting to ride and eat some good barbecue! Very neat seeing everyone's awesome bikes as well! We will definitely have to do it again! JamieP, not sure what happened to you, sorry we missed you. Have to catch up with you next time! Mlew, please tell everyone thanks again and that I really enjoyed meeting everyone!

Mac

 

Hey guys,

Sorry I missed you all today, we just got power back on from the storms around 5:30 this afternoon. We didn't have any damage here but all the power lines were ripped up around the Micro/Kenly area. I live about 6 miles from there and that is the direction our power comes from. The damage there was really bad. I teach at the High School between Micro and Kenly and the storm destroyed a trailer park just around the corner. It also tore through the ball fields and greenhouses at the school but no structural damage. Anyway, I had no way to get back online to find out where you guys were meeting. Plus I was running around trying to find a generator to keep my freezers cold! Maybe next trip.

Jamey

 

Hey! Sorry to hear that, but glad you and yours are ok. We missed you but will definitely try to do it again, was a good time. Can't wait to see your bike and get to meet you! Hopefully mlew will put some pictures of our meet up for you to see the bikes.

Mac

 

Had a great time Sunday
We met a Food Lion in Dunn NC. We arrived a bit early and had time to kill. The storms that passed through NC on Saturday left lots of dammage in the area. When we arrived in the parking lot I noticed debris all over and part of the building missing. We were there only a few minutes and a fleet of State and local Police arrived. Just our luck the Govenor was about to land to tour the area.
After all the excitment Greg arrived and we decided to ride up I95 for some good NC BBQ. We ended up in Benson to eat at the White Swann BBQ house, good food and good company, can't wait to do it again.

 

That's what it's all about! So much fun (except I-95, that sucked, lol) Can't wait to do it again! Anyone else in the area, please holler so we can get to meet you and see your bikes! Maybe we can even put together some kind of vintage bike ride/benefit together for a good ride/cause.

Peace,

Mac

 

OK so now I'm really disappointed that I wasn't able to attend. It looks like you all had a great time. I hope you all decide to get together again real soon.

 

Well, I'm off all next week JamieP, let me know what your schedule looks like and maybe we can hook up and eat a hamburger and check each other's bikes out!

 

Actually I've been sitting here re-reading the instructions for checking valve clearances.....yeah, I know it NEEDS to be done, and soon. I am thinking about getting started since I am still having some weird idle issues. Of course I have the waterhead that has 5 valves/cyl. Fun. I'll let you know if I decide to tackle it. If not I may risk another ride or 2 or ????

 

How many miles are on the clock?

 

28K+.....I just posted some questions about my valve checking experience. I finally did it but it wasn't all that much fun. Somehow I had envisioned days of riding with the wind in my face and the sun on my back, not days and nights of maintenance, over and over and over again. Like I said before, I am still fighting an idle problem that seems to come and go and I've had the carbs off 4 times now. I am going to try this once more and go through the steps to bench sync and sync the carbs. I've never owned anything that needs more attention than this bike!!!!

 

Let me know if you want a second set of hands/eyes to look at it while I'm off this week and I'll jet over there and help you mess with it. I had mine off 4 times exactly, lol, so hope that's some consolation! It still isn't fine-tuned like I know it could be, but I also haven't checked my valves yet either, but the parts are inbound.

Mac

 

If you guys ever feel like heading for some mountains/twisties, let me know.

 

Thanks Mac but I have to go back to work tomorrow. Anyway, today I measured the valves again and decided that even though they are .001 on the tight side, I am going to wait until the fall to change buckets. So I put the valve cover back on and took the carbs back off. As I was following the directions "Old School Method" I figured out how to get the needle seat out and behold!!!!!there was all this gunk clogging the screens. I knew there had to be some dirt somewhere! So now I have everything torn down except the mixture screws (the plugs are still in place and have to be drilled out). We had to leave to go to the scout meeting and I just got home. I'll jump back on it tomorrow after school. Maybe this weekend I'll be up and running and we can get together.

Jamey

 

Cool! Glad to hear you had a break through!

 

I'm supposed to be having my brother-in-law coming down Saturday morning to ride some. If anyone wants to get out and meet up, let me know and we'll see if we can swing something, hopefully the weather holds up!

 

Saw some pics Mlew! So how was the vacation?

 

What a great weekend! My brother-in-law came down on a rented Honda Goldwing, what a sweet bike! Him, my friend Eric (Honda VTX 1800) all rode around the country-side and had a ball! Here are some pics....