Riding the TDM850 home tonight. Loved having the sun at my back and riding off for home on it. It’s the perfect combination of sport tourer and adventure bike. If any of the bikelopnik are sleeping on it, keep an eye out in your area for a TDM. You won’t regret it.

Saw this earlier today and now I want a sign like this for my office.

Lots of little things at the last minute added up.

1993 Yamaha TDM 850. Two year only bike, with some odd tech, that failed miserably, and then spawned a whole genre of bikes in it’s failure..... I LOVE IT. Prepare yourselves for TDM spam after the Fiero spam that will happen this weekend. You have been warned.

Cheapest premium in town by a wide margin....that does explain the long line to get to the pump.

In much happier news today, we were able to get the fiero running and running well yesterday! Fuel tank was patched and the brakes were bled. It shifts well and only makes a few creaks and groans. It was a majestic moment and we all took turns driving it through a neighborhood with dirt roads and no cops. It needs a…

Went grocery shopping and came out to this on my front bumper, fresh powdered paint still on the bumper so I know for a fact it happened at the store. I parked way in the back and someone parked next to me as I was walking up to the store. They were gone when I came back. I hope this was pure carelessness but…

4000$ is a lot for a 10 year old VFR that’s done 20k miles, but it *is* the anniversary model in this jaw dropping paint. If I had more burn cash, it’d be at the top of my list but unfortunately, I paid down my car loan and paid off a vacation from earlier this year so I only have 2 grand to burn. But still...my pants…

All the brakes are done! We had to modify a caliper with collars and sleeves from the one my friend broke to get it right, but the fiero has brakes at all 4 corners! Also, we traced the leak to a pinhole on a part covered by the strap. I have a tank patch on the way and the tank is already empty so hopefully a week is…

Fuel tank sprung a leak when my friend put some gas in it. APparently it’s a hole on the bottom. I’ve got some high-strength epoxy, but there are no aftermarket tanks so all I can do is hope it isn’t bad. I’m driving out tomorrow to continue brake work and assess the gas tank.

So......with great regret, I am no longer able to attend the oppo meetup at the dragon this year. I kept hoping I’d be able to bring the Fiero, or the new motorcycle, or the FoST, but the following has happened in the past two weeks and it has gotten to the point that I am genuinely questioning if it was divine…

There is a yamaha TDM850 for sale. Not *too* far from me. For cheap. I can’t contain myself. Looking at this with 2019 eyes you think “Wow, it’s a BMW gs competitor.....woooo.” But look through 1992 eyes and see that this is one of the bikes that invented the “adventure” bike. Also this has a 10-valve crossplane…

Went to look at a 1999 Honda Magna 750 tonight. Looked good at 20 feet but the bike had a lot of little issues that he didn’t mention in the ad including blown fork seals and a kickstand that didn’t work.. He’s a nice guy but I kinda want to politely tell him his bike needs a lot of work. 

One of the motor trend on-demand video series is being released on youtube, it looks like. Wholly recommend anyone who likes seeing top notch motorcycle content give this a watch and a like to encourage MT to do some re-releases of their premium content on youtube. 

1979 Yamaha XS750 triple. 20k miles. Shaft drive. Guy is asking 1900 but there’s a lot lf minor cosmetic imperfections and I don’t know enough about the service history ot give him more than 1500. Anything else I should look for? These things are  abit rare and quirky and this is the sort of bike I was looking for…

Sold it for 100$ less than I paid for it but they paid in cash and followed through within an hour. So the way I see it, I paid 100$ to rent a Grom for a month and a half. I put 200ish miles on it and did most of what I wanted and got my Grom phase out of my sysyem. Good little bike, but not the right little bike for…

Everyone who has been offering to “buy” the grom has been a flake or been a clown. Everyone who has offered something to trade has been cool and has told me stories about their rides. This morning, a yamaha USA higher up wants to trade a 1976 sedan deville for the grom. I am tempted to see him just to hear more…

Just had someone try to tell me I should trade them straight up, my Grom for their early 2000s Honda Shadow 1100 because “it makes a great bobber but I can’t paint so mine is a bit unfinished but you know this’d be just what you want!”. Meanwhile the all-ebay lights and levers tell a very very VERY different story...

Been a few years, but a while ago we had an Oppo on here doing liquor reviews and I picked up a few bottles of Speyburn 10 on their recommendation. I picked up another bottle last week and it is gone as of this evening. This year’s batch is faaaaaaaaantastic. So I doff my hat to the Oppo who got me hooked on the stuff.

Rider insurance agent let me do a 6-month plan for the summer on the Grom for cheap (35$/mo). It’s posted for sale on a few sites, but I love short, <5 mile trips on it and I love riding without a jacket on it. The KLR and Triumph are too fast and large for me to feel safe without armor. The Grom? On 25 mph roads?…