New TX member introduction - chapters 1-47
01-06-2012, 10:08 AM
#1
Old and dangerous
SuperSport
SuperSport
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: DFW Texas
Posts: 604
New TX member introduction - chapters 1-47
Greetings list brethren. Another noob here. Just picked up my new to me '98 SH, red of course. 
Always been a fan of these big twins, but one thing or another kept me from getting one of these. Luckily a coworker is also a fan, with a bit more cheddar, and he has been able to have a couple of them over the years. Sadly, as he approaches retirement, he has decided the SH was too much bike for him anymore. So he made me a deal. The deal was fantastic, so I saved my pennies and made the jump. It wasn't till I got it that I found out it only had 2,250 miles on it.
I was very surprised to say the least. He was the 3rd owner and took very good care of it, using a battery tender and starting it every so often as it sat in his hanger, he's a pilot too. Now he wants another bike and is looking at a 2009 Ninja 500, lol. The weather here has been very nice this winter.
So I've put 325 miles on it this 1st week of the new year, and so far, like it very much. It's got Heli bars on it and a smoked Zero Gravity stock sized screen. Other than that it is outwardly stock. The PO stated that another PO had done some jetting, but I haven't been able to find out how much. It does seem to carburet well, and got 42.5 actual mpg on a 90 mile test I did recently while holding 60-65 mph (GPS verified) on the highway. It gets ~34 mpg on the same test while holding ~80mph over ~90 miles (37.5 at 85-90 indicated over 100 miles indicated). When I get with it, the mileage drops below 30.
More about me; I raced with the CRRC/CMRA for a decade in the 90's before family obligations put a stop to that. Most successfully, I raced an '85 RZ350 that had been built by Gary Stumm of MRA racing in Florida. Great guy. Sad to have lost contact with him. I've owned a wide variety of other race bikes and street bikes over the decades, starting with an '83 Yamaha XT200 dirt/street I bought while stationed at Ft. Benning when I was 18. Bought that bike new off the lot, and it was one of only two I have done that. I had lots of fun riding to and through all the tank trails that we had out there. Next came a '75 RD350B that I bought from the PO for $350. He was selling it because it was an unruly beast and he couldn't handle it, or it scared him. It almost killed me on my first ride after getting it home. Those things had nasty power bands! I loved it. Still at Ft. Benning, the need for something bigger prompted me to bail out a friend and buy his Honda Shadow VT500C. Ah, now we were on to something, I liked this v-twin. During my stay there, I also rode a friend's KZ900 with open TT pipes that terminated at the rear wheel. That thing was a beast of another sort, and my girlfriend could hear me a mile away as I rode into town. I guess it didn't help, or did lol, that I was not trying to be stealthy in the least.
After returning home to the fast roads of DFW, I sold the Shadow and bought a Magna V65. Now that was a fun bike. Heavy and handled pretty weakly, but oh what a motor. I wish I had known more about riding when I had that bike, or any of those prior, as it would have been more fun. As it was, I blamed the Magna's poor steering on the design of the bike, when in fact it was mostly my ignorance of counter steering at the time. I sold that bike and bought new a Honda CB-1. Begin the racing years...
But I digress, sometime later, I bought one of my future ex-wives a Honda NT650GT. I ended up with that bike, and rode the snot out of it for years. I never could kill it, but sadly lost it while hiding it from the ex and it was stolen. After my 1st divorce, I bought a used Ducati 900SS that was great fun, but somewhat expensive to maintain, and didn't last long after I installed a turbo charger kit. It was sold to and is being resurrected by, some friends at the Ducati shop.
I've wanted a SH ever since, and now I have one. I'm trying to absorb the collective knowledge of this group at the moment, and will try to keep my future comments on target and less lengthy than this intro, lol.
Always been a fan of these big twins, but one thing or another kept me from getting one of these. Luckily a coworker is also a fan, with a bit more cheddar, and he has been able to have a couple of them over the years. Sadly, as he approaches retirement, he has decided the SH was too much bike for him anymore. So he made me a deal. The deal was fantastic, so I saved my pennies and made the jump. It wasn't till I got it that I found out it only had 2,250 miles on it.
I was very surprised to say the least. He was the 3rd owner and took very good care of it, using a battery tender and starting it every so often as it sat in his hanger, he's a pilot too. Now he wants another bike and is looking at a 2009 Ninja 500, lol. The weather here has been very nice this winter.
So I've put 325 miles on it this 1st week of the new year, and so far, like it very much. It's got Heli bars on it and a smoked Zero Gravity stock sized screen. Other than that it is outwardly stock. The PO stated that another PO had done some jetting, but I haven't been able to find out how much. It does seem to carburet well, and got 42.5 actual mpg on a 90 mile test I did recently while holding 60-65 mph (GPS verified) on the highway. It gets ~34 mpg on the same test while holding ~80mph over ~90 miles (37.5 at 85-90 indicated over 100 miles indicated). When I get with it, the mileage drops below 30.
More about me; I raced with the CRRC/CMRA for a decade in the 90's before family obligations put a stop to that. Most successfully, I raced an '85 RZ350 that had been built by Gary Stumm of MRA racing in Florida. Great guy. Sad to have lost contact with him. I've owned a wide variety of other race bikes and street bikes over the decades, starting with an '83 Yamaha XT200 dirt/street I bought while stationed at Ft. Benning when I was 18. Bought that bike new off the lot, and it was one of only two I have done that.
I had lots of fun riding to and through all the tank trails that we had out there. Next came a '75 RD350B that I bought from the PO for $350. He was selling it because it was an unruly beast and he couldn't handle it, or it scared him. It almost killed me on my first ride after getting it home. Those things had nasty power bands! I loved it. Still at Ft. Benning, the need for something bigger prompted me to bail out a friend and buy his Honda Shadow VT500C. Ah, now we were on to something, I liked this v-twin. During my stay there, I also rode a friend's KZ900 with open TT pipes that terminated at the rear wheel. That thing was a beast of another sort, and my girlfriend could hear me a mile away as I rode into town. I guess it didn't help, or did lol, that I was not trying to be stealthy in the least.After returning home to the fast roads of DFW, I sold the Shadow and bought a Magna V65.
Now that was a fun bike. Heavy and handled pretty weakly, but oh what a motor. I wish I had known more about riding when I had that bike, or any of those prior, as it would have been more fun. As it was, I blamed the Magna's poor steering on the design of the bike, when in fact it was mostly my ignorance of counter steering at the time. I sold that bike and bought new a Honda CB-1. Begin the racing years...But I digress, sometime later, I bought one of my future ex-wives a Honda NT650GT. I ended up with that bike, and rode the snot out of it for years. I never could kill it, but sadly lost it while hiding it from the ex and it was stolen. After my 1st divorce, I bought a used Ducati 900SS that was great fun, but somewhat expensive to maintain, and didn't last long after I installed a turbo charger kit. It was sold to and is being resurrected by, some friends at the Ducati shop.
I've wanted a SH ever since, and now I have one. I'm trying to absorb the collective knowledge of this group at the moment, and will try to keep my future comments on target and less lengthy than this intro, lol.
01-06-2012, 12:07 PM
#3
Administrator
MotoGP
Join Date: Apr 2006
Location: Kempner, TX
Posts: 4,402
Welcome.. Fellow TX dude,,, and from the tales above, other then the Ex's.. We followed a close trail. bikes, duty stations, track bikes of choice.
Im in CENTEX (well sometimes, currently on vacation in Afghanistan)
Im in CENTEX (well sometimes, currently on vacation in Afghanistan)
01-06-2012, 09:28 PM
#5
Senior Member
MotoGP
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: Austin, Tx
Posts: 4,138
Great Texas riding weather lately! 71F this afternoon but had to work - boo! Even the cooler days have been great. 67 no cloud in sight. I even wore an old Frank Thomas jacket that I haven't worn for years. It just seemed like that kind of day. It was perfect. Ventilation of leather jackets is an imperfect science. I have one jacket that has no venting at all. It's stiff as a brick but good down to 40F.
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