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Post by oldchopperguy on Dec 4, 2017 0:41:34 GMT -5
I'll be honest, I wasn't sure about who-all has thumbs. As for driving monkey-grip, that's ok for Unca Leo with many decades and miles on two wheels. Probably not so ok for me with 2000-something miles total. Heck, I didn't even drive the car, although that was more from wearing the surgical-bootie. >'Kat
I actually DO understand... You play it safe, and that's always a good idea. Don't do anything you're not comfortable with. Riding "monkey grip" isn't too hard. Sometimes I get arthritis so bad in my hands I still do it... Look for ways to avoid using the brakes... guys half-way in a lane, low curbs, etc. ... LOL!!! Glad I'm not having to squeeze the mousetrap clutch on "Old Blue" these days... Or try stopping from highway speed with Blue's old cable-pull drum front brake... Both levers will develop "Popeye" wrists  Big difference from sixteen to seventy-one. This is the first season I've experienced noticeable problems with balance, and vision... Someday, I'll have to give up 2-wheels, but not quite yet...  As for thumbs... Not too sure. I think most of my kin have thumbs. Not sure about tails though... LOL!
Ride when you can, and, RIDE SAFE!Leo |
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Post by oldchopperguy on Dec 4, 2017 0:21:48 GMT -5
well CHRISSY is still in storage.
hadnt had time to do anything since i been out.
and now that winter is starting , i need to find a warm place (or at least out of the weather)
to start putting her back together, getting new parts etc.
and hopefully she'll be ready come spring.
4 years of just sitting,, But, barring unforeseen internal rust, electrical boo-boos and such, she should get going OK... You might have to replace some basic electric doo-dads, and REALLY clean out the fuel system but you'd have to do that anyway if you got her as a "barn find". A little time and work and she'll be back running!
Ride safe!Leo |
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Post by oldchopperguy on Dec 2, 2017 20:50:36 GMT -5
THIS is the season of "peace on earth" but sometimes I see an image SO powerful and universal that I just can't resist making a graphic to ponder over... The lady in the picture below is a citizen of one of the Arab cities recently decimated by ISIS. Christians, Jews and moderate Muslims were tortured and murdered by the hundreds.
I can almost feel the resolve in her eyes, and the heat off the barrel of her now-silent AK47. Anybody care to try talking to her about gun-control? I thought not...
I couldn't help noticing the plastic mag on that AK... An indication of one of the rare ones chambered in .223/5.56. So she's getting her ammo from the "good guys"... I have one of them myself, and have fired it non-stop until the barrel glowed red and the wood handguard caught fire. And it never misses a beat. Good choice when it's time to quit talking and start shooting...
This news photo shows us this stalwart, very aged lady SIRVIVOR in front of her battle-scarred house... SHE didn't give up. Neither should any good man, woman or child.
Bless my soul, SHE reminds me of my own sweet Wife...
In times past, she might have been seen in front of her log cabin, wearing a beaver hat and holding a Winchester '73... She reminds me so much of the pioneer American spirit that once made our country great... Doesn't matter if you wear a turban, a baseball cap or a military helmet. It doesn't matter what part of the world you reside in. It doesn't matter if you're standing in your place of worship, the workplace, the polling place or the battle field... Stand your ground, and...NEVER GIVE UP!
 Something to think over from The Old Chopper Guy and the missus...
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Post by oldchopperguy on Dec 2, 2017 20:23:03 GMT -5
Thanks Pistonguy... Glad we can agree on something good! Have a Christmas bone on The Old Chopper Guy...  |
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Post by oldchopperguy on Dec 2, 2017 20:15:40 GMT -5
Hey Leo, good to read you're back in the saddle again. And yes, you know I can sympathize. Sadly my thumb is downgrading instead of getting better (supposed to ice-soak it at night now, and warm-soak mornings, that's 20 minutes less sleep and computering sigh) Go enjoy those pretty TX days for me, hon! >'Kat
Take care of that thumb! You do NOT need it to get worse... Cold and warm soakings will help with pain, but I'm not sure about actual healing. We'll be praying for you, and get your church pals on the job too! The Good Lord is the BEST doc of all!
A while back, I hurt my thumb and finally got riding again using a "monkey grip" on the bars... Amazing how much the palm of your hand can "make do" substituting for a thumb... LOL! Look how well monkeys do swinging from tree to tree like Tarzan without using thumbs! I'm trying to remember my old biology... Seems like MONKEYS have TAILS but not opposable thumbs... and APES have thumbs but no tails... or something like that...? I found I could even do panic stops without a thumb-hold. Just be sure to REALLY mash your palm against the back of the grip, or you'll end up kissing the speedometer while grabbing the front fender... LOL! I'll bet you've figured out how to ring those bells "thumbless"... Sorta the same technique!
Stay safe, and have a MERRY CHRISTMAS!Leo (Betty too) |
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Post by oldchopperguy on Dec 1, 2017 23:31:44 GMT -5
Well, boyz n' gurlz... It's THAT time of year again. Time to celebrate, enjoy the season and hang up the old sock...
And THIS year, for the FIRST year in MANY, it is truly MERRY CHRISTMAS... Not "winter holiday" and our blessed nation is free to celebrate without calling it some politically-correct counterfeit of some non-descript "holiday"... Yeah, it's Bing Crosby and "White Christmas" and Santa Claus, reindeer, candy canes, red noses and cheeks... Yule logs, carols, and Joy to the World...
And, oh, yeah... It's the season Christians celebrate Jesus' birthday... THIS year, with the blessing of our great country's leadership. And, if you're not Christian, c'mon and celebrate with us anyway... It's the happiest time of the year!
So, from the Whitehouse, the Federal Government, State and Local Governments, Retail Stores, TV, News Media... America's Bikers...
Churches and Messianic Synagogues from coast to coast...
From Donald Trump, Mike Pence, Santa Claus...
and The Old Chopper Guy and Betty...HAPPY BIRTHDAY, BOSS...and to one and all, MERRY CHRISTMAS... and a BLESSED and PROSPEROUS NEW YEAR!
Ride safe! Be BLESSED and do NOT look straight up at flying reindeer..... 
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Post by oldchopperguy on Dec 1, 2017 22:49:16 GMT -5
"Dad hit the beach on Tarawa in WWII" Wow!. Did he survive it? There were so many casualties from the invasion of Tarawa. -We were scheduled to anchor off the atoll of Tarawa during our Westpac in 1989, but budget cuts (Gramm-Rudman act) got in the way. Alas, we never sailed across the equator into the southern hemisphere.
Wheelbender6,
Thankfully he DID survive... And lived through fighting on Tarawa in Betio, endured many other Pacific island landings throughout the Gilbert Islands. Hitting Guadalcanal he arrived on the beach with his helmet shot off, and seven bullet-holes in his fatigues, AND one heel shot off his boot. God REALLY was watching over him.Then, he came home and had me in 1946... Yup! My Dad was very special. He taught me the absolutes of being honest, truthful and putting others' needs ahead of my own. A good man of honest character, and a good Christian. Sadly, he passed away at 68, due to complications of his entering Hiroshima just days after the atomic bombing. Back then, science just didn't realize the severe dangers of radiation. Clear up to the early 1960's, anything "Atomic" was "all good"... I well-remember a local car-wash with a huge neon sign "ATOMIC CAR WASH"... The logo was a monster sized "mushroom cloud" with cartoon cars being blown into oblivion... Cheesh, WHAT an image for a trademark... LOL!  Almost as bad as an EARLY "Soulman's Barbeque" in Irving, TX. Their logo was a surprisingly well-rendered cartoon PIG wearing a chef's hat, sitting in a fire of BURNING LOGS, and EATING HIS OWN LEG...
Oh well, if you could ignore the sign, the brisket was GREAT!Seriously, my Dad was dubiously "blessed" to be in the Army motor maintenance group who hit the islands with the first batch of MARINES, so his men would be there to service and even assemble the FIRST vehicles to arrive by landing craft, and keep them running/moving and off the beachhead while under murderous enemy fire. A few times he and one or two others were the ONLY survivors to reach the beach out of several hundred men.
Miraculously, he made it through the entire war without ever being wounded! However, the effects of radiation from occupying Hiroshima turned his hair snow-white at 22, and did undiagnosed and untreated damage to his organs. It turned out to be a slow, but fatal wound. He only made it to 68 but had a very good life!At 71, I'm now the longest-living male of my family for many generations. I'm still hangin' in there!
Ride safe, and watch out for that enemy fire! Those flying beer cans can be as deadly as bullets! Leo |
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Post by oldchopperguy on Dec 1, 2017 21:46:36 GMT -5
Hey boyz n' gurlz... Yesterday I rode "Minnie Mouse" to the local inspection station for her annual state inspection. Pretty mundane, BUT it was the FIRST time I uncovered the old mouse and fired her up since mid-August...
Last August, I enjoyed a group ride organized by my B&M dealer. I came home, sunburned and happy, only to trip over my own boots in the night, breaking my left arm... A "not so bad" radial break, not requiring any real medical attention, but I just couldn't even get the old 250 off her center-stand. UNBELIEVEABLE how heavy a lousy 360 pound bike can feel... Heck, I could hardly get my arm into a shirt for 8 weeks... (Kat probably can sympathize... LOL!).I just missed some of THE best riding weather EVER... But now I'm back to "normal" if anything physical is actually "normal" at 71... 
After coaxing my feral-cat friends and few snakes out from under the tarps... Happily, after a few "slow, weak cranks" the old mouse fired up after sitting 3 months like she'd been ridden yesterday... Tires were still fully up, nothing leaked... And after getting inspected I enjoyed an hour of 70-and-sunshine with a WOT romp on the local freeway to blow out the cobwebs. Cheesh, I'd nearly forgotten how to ride. Memory ain't what it used to be...Surely did feel good to get my knuckles in the wind again... OK, the windshield keeps all wind OFF my knuckles, but I like the expression... I really enjoy driving my Honda car, but yesterday reminded me that when weather is PERFECT, two wheels are still a LOT more fun than four... Yup!  The weather forecasters are predicting a record warm winter here. Sure hope they're right! Maybe I'll get to recapture some of the weeks of riding I missed this summer...
Just a "wake up call" for y'all to enjoy riding whenever you can... and a call to myself to be glad these Taiwanese scoots forgive stale gas and months of disuse, AND are made to keep going like the Energizer Bunny!
Ride safe, ride often!Leo (back on the road again) in Texas |
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Post by oldchopperguy on Nov 30, 2017 23:00:17 GMT -5
I was in the USMC when the wall came down in Berlin. I was on a Westpac deployment aboard the USS Tarawa.
That was a major moment in history! I love how military lore comes together... You served on the USS Tarawa, and my Dad hit the beach on Tarawa in WWII... Now, we need to figure out just how to handle North Korea... Cheesh! It never ends...Off subject (but HAPPY!) today I finally got "Minnie Mouse" out of mothballs and rode to get her inspected and licensed. Snuck in 20 miles on the freeway to blow out the cobwebs... Sure felt good to get some wind on my old knuckles! Back in August, same day as a group ride organized by my dealer, I tripped at home over my own boots and broke my left arm... Missed out on some of the best riding weather here in years! PHOOEY!  Ride safe... And remember: "Just ONE nuclear missile can ruin yer' whole day"... |
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Post by oldchopperguy on Nov 30, 2017 22:47:01 GMT -5
Jarlaxle,
I agree with you on those mega-modded drag Hondas. But the ones found around here on the street usually still contain some (not many) factory parts. They don't put out the near 1,000 hp of the all-out drag-cars, but still have 400 hp plus, and can run a quarter in 11 seconds or less, and the idiots who race from city to city get way over 150-mph speeds on their freeway romps. Often on tires I wouldn't drive on to Wally World for groceries. These kids have no performance education save that learned by trial and error and off the Internet, but they are making little motors do INCREDIBLE things... And the cars still last for years, and hundreds of thousands of miles with minor refurbishing.
To me, the cars that best represent the truly super-quick STREET cars are Lutz's "Evil Twin" 57 Chevy, and Larry Larson's 66 Nova. His Nova ran the first 6-second pass at Drag Week...on DOT tires, after 1000+ street miles!
I fully agree with that... Forgetting the weird (at least to me... LOL!) Japanese buzz-bombs, these cars like the 6-second Nova running on DOT tires ARE the epitome of this mega-horsepower from small motors phenomenon.
This "new breed" of power is AMAZING to me... That's why I started the thread. I guess I'm just old enough to be amazed at stuff younger guys take for granted... I suppose many members wonder what this old geezer is so impressed with... Everybody knows modern iron puts out 3hp per cid and lasts forever... Duh... Everybody but guys over 70... LOL!
My interest in modern power really began with my surprise over my old 1995 Honda Accord V-Tech 4-cylinder. That teensy 1.4 liter (about 100cid) was actually faster, AND quicker than most of my old V8 Chevies... Good acceleration AND a top speed of around 130... In a 3600 pound car.
Now, it's my '04 Accord V-Tech V6... 3.0 liters (about 180cid) and it is both QUICKER and FASTER than muscle cars of my youth. I'm from the dinosaur generation that was IMPRESSED with a 427 Ford, 409 Chevy, 426 Mopar, etc. that would turn the quarter in stock form at 13 seconds and have a top speed of maybe 125... while burning 3-10 mpg gas mileage...
My puny little Accord would eat those old behemoths for breakfast, slightly bettering their quarter-mile times, and offering up 40 more mph top speed! All while giving 23+mpg.
I suppose members under 40 can't figure out what I'm impressed with... But When you grew up thinking 1hp per cid was INCREDIBLE power in a street engine, this new stuff is ASTRONOMICAL!
Of course, I'm still impressed with touch-tone phones and color TV...
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Post by oldchopperguy on Nov 29, 2017 22:48:57 GMT -5
well
i knew Europe pretty well
and both sides of the wall.
there was a 'wall' back then
Ah, memories again!
"Checkpoint Charlie" was an icon of the cold war... I did not get to the East side but saw enough over the wall to know it was not exactly the "paradise" our Red comrades would have liked us to think it was... Great news when the wall came down. Chalk one up for Reagan...Stirring up memories, seems like more than 40 years ago... HMMMM... It WAS more than 40 years ago... Duh... How time flies! |
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Post by oldchopperguy on Nov 28, 2017 0:03:49 GMT -5
Well, ya' finally got one I can't decide on... Both guys are super-macho and I'm a big fan of both...
I'd like to see them together in one movie, but I don't think they ever did share the screen together. What a pair they'd have made!
One other guy you might want to add to this pair is Jack Palance... He'd fit right in!
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Post by oldchopperguy on Nov 27, 2017 1:36:10 GMT -5
So how many Thanksgiving holidays did you two spend overseas? I spent one in Hongkong and one in Saudi Arabia.
I spent one in Germany... and 1 Christmas. And one each in Fort Bragg... Germans take Jesus seriously, and do up Christmas pretty nicely! Now, at Lent, Fasching season was something else... Sorta "religious" mixed with "Mardi-Gras" party 'til ya' puke atmosphere... Locals stayed pretty much wasted, spending free time fooling around. Lots of bars would "fine" guys for showing up with their own wives... The thing most fellows fasted from was monogamy...
What I remember most about that crazy season was the over-the-top fireworks everybody had. Lots of wicker-wrapped "bombs" that approximated 3 or 4 "cherry-bombs" or "M-80's" at once. Reminiscent of the classic cartoon bowling-ballesque "anarchist's bomb"... You did NOT want to be close to one of those "Hitler's noisemakers" when it detonated...
Probably NOT exactly what the church envisioned for the "time of fasting"... LOL  Christmas IS right around the corner, so be good, and hang up that sock... A BIG one that will hold that new ride you asked Santa for! |
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Post by oldchopperguy on Nov 25, 2017 21:48:21 GMT -5
Ah, I got 3" heels on my BOOTS... But I think I'm missing something here... I was thinking that back in the sixties, gals weren't found in the Special Forces, Rangers and Airborne except in very specialized roles. Are you a little DIFFERENT today, than when you were in the military?
My Wife sternly tells me NOT to notice if ANYBODY but her looks good in heels and dresses no matter what sex they might be... ESPECIALLY if they resemble "Jessica Rabbit"... HeHeHe, Woo-HOO!...
She just now reminded me that SHE is NOT quite drawn that way, and IS currently a female, with a rolling pin in-hand... Cheesh, I'd rather face "Charlie" with a shiny new AK... LOL! We might not quite agree on some things, but I doubt we'd have any problems we couldn't solve by mutually toasting riding 2-wheels, and roasting guys like North Korea's "Kimchi Yuk"... I am glad we're pals on the site, and that you're outta that place you were "vacationing" in... Besides that, we both like cats...
Ride safe, and look good in whatever you like to wear!Leo PS: My Army career was a "perfect storm" of weirdness you just have to get a chuckle from... In basic, I was pretty hot with the M14, and was encouraged to try for sniper school! Then, they found out I was a skilled artist with advertising background... So I got the MOS 83E20 (Combat Illustrator) shoved on me, "by virtue of civilian-acquired-skills" and then ended up in the 7th with a few others because the MOS was needed in PSYWAR... I could have opted out, but I'm glad I didn't... Kicked my butt outa the Huey and that stupid, old school round "umbrella" 'chute barely blossomed in 800 feet, as I hit the parade ground at, like 40-mph... Cheesh, almost got a purple heart! Duh... Probably shoulda gone to sniper school... LOL!
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Post by oldchopperguy on Nov 25, 2017 0:16:40 GMT -5
Leo
i have a terrible memory
when did u play S.F.?
what unit?
i was in 1st BN 10TH SFG (Airborne) Bad Tolz, Germany
'75--'86
Tour from 1967 to 1970.
My original unit was the 15th PSYOP Battalion, Fort Bragg, assigned to the JFK Special Warfare Center. At the time, under the command of both the 7th SF and 82 Airborne jointly. Some of us got transferred to Karlsruhe, Germany, forming a psychological warfare battalion to coordinate the psychological element of various campaigns in Viet Nam. And "other places" that shall remain nameless.That unit was christened USAMISSAEUR (United States Army Mission Support Systems Agency Europe). Whew, one of the longest anacronyms in the entire Army...
Soon after some very successful campaign coordination with the Special Forces in-country, we were officially merged into the 7th. Underwent some NASTY fast training to get up to speed, (including "jump qualification" from a Huey at 800-feet altitude! Ouch!) and received our green berets and uniforms with a maze of cords and badging, jump boots, etc. and remained part of the 7th until my ETS in 1970. We wore the flaming sword/rainbow shoulder patch of the WWII occupation Army, along with the De Oppresso Liber SF badge on our berets and shoulder epaulettes.
 In addition to the psychological warfare aspect of our unit, once officially part of the 7th we were heavily involved in potential nuclear targeting... Stuff I can't talk about even 47 years later. I was very proud to qualify for the rare COSMIC/Krypto security clearance. (Krypto because our work involved geographical targeting). My COSMIC clearance being The HIGHEST clearance there is, above TOP SECRET served me well later in civilian life.
Instant credibility (except HERE of course...).
I believe at that time, there were fewer than 30 individuals in the entire nation to carry that level of security. It was mandatory because of the nuclear targeting aspect of what we did. I was stationed at Gerzewski Barracks, Karlsruhe, Germany, which back then, was a clandestine repository for warheads. We were right at the Chech border... We were occasionally "blessed" with visits from commanding Generals, and even the President. Talk about having to keep a "strack" situation... The rocks got spit-shined... LOL! Gerzewski still exists today... You can see it on the Net. I do get a chuckle when someone on this site trashes me, calling me a liar, etc. when they don't even know me or my background. Wish I could have had them under my command back then... LOL! Billeting, work and discipline REALLY changed with that transition... Our unit was part of a very few who were actually "inducted" into the Special Forces without volunteering... But I wouldn't trade that esprit de corps, or the comradery for anything today... Many, many years ago, but I remember those days better than yesterday...
So, that's how the Old Chopper Guy ended up in the Special Forces, and I'm glad I did!Stay safe,Leo |
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