What did you do during our summer recess?

[Stig / Major Tom]

I blame it on drones...
Frankly, I rode less.
I kept up my photography hobby & trips to my fav little destination village.
But - for whatever reason - I used my scooters less; my truck more often.

I continued with a little activity on the Vespa forum - with my Piaggio Liberty as a foot in the door - but, let's just say, I get a different response there. Too many hall monitors? (why do you ride in the rain?, In the dark?, There are more cows and deer than people in your photos?)

  the Liberty has proven to be 100% bullet proof since I had it delivered in the summer of 2017. We Liberty owners on the Vespa forum have little to say. You can only expect Vespa owners to tolerate so many Liberty owners congratulating each other. 
 
 








She knows a lot about MLB!


A fav photo of earlier days





I'll circle the county if I can't find a parking place like this. Never was much good at parallel parking - even more of an adventure now that I've vision only in one eye.


Anyway - big thanks to skadamo for getting this forum up and running again. I have $ subscriptions to several things not half as much fun as this forum!

Stig

[Neil955i]

So glad our soft playroom has reopened Stig thanks to you and Skadamo!

I’ve made the most of a glorious UK summer having almost unbroken sunshine and 6-7 weeks with next to no rain! Now wondering how to clean up a very sweat soaked leather jacket… Recently rode through a monsoon like downpour which at least washed the bug squash off it.

Had one long ride on the Triumph too when I did my annual stint on the charity relay ride which was good fun. When I’m on the laptop I’ll upload the photos. Anyway, it’s good to be back here!

[Iahawk]

maybe it was the forum being down that got to me? I think I rode less this summer than in any summer since I started riding again in the past 10 years. My beloved Nighthawk 650 has been in pieces in my garage since June...cam chain tensioner replacement, then I had a heck of a time getting the timing right. Put it back together and was still off a tooth....oof! Made bad noises and had no power...so off comes the tank, coils, valve cover, cams, sprockets, etc.

Just need to find the time and motivation to get it put back together. I had grand plans of doing some overnights this summer on the bike...heading up through Northern Wisconsin and maybe to the UP of Michigan...Mackinac Island..but life got in the way.

I did come close to buying another old neglected bike, a 1981 Yamaha Seca XJ750. It looks surprisingly similar to my Nighthawk 650...I guess I have a 'type'? Bike was just a little too rough, even for me, so I passed.

I did touch up the motor on my Nighthawk with rustoleum and a foam brush. Looks better. I also finally refinished the aluminum valve cover. That had been on my list since purchase 3 years ago. Also sanded some of the cooling fins down to fresh exposed aluminum so it looks like it is supposed to.

adding pics of my cosmetically refreshed Nighthawk and the Yamah Seca I looked at. Note the styling and mechanical similarities between the 2. I think Honda cheated off the student in the row ahead (Yamaha!)

[Stig / Major Tom]

maybe it was the forum being down that got to me?

adding pics of my cosmetically refreshed Nighthawk and the Yamah Seca I looked at. Note the styling and mechanical similarities between the 2. I think Honda cheated off the student in the row ahead (Yamaha!)

Nice looking Honda, hawk.
Proper color!
Not of fan of square headlights. Piaggio put a slit of an led headlight in the latest Liberty.
Few of us previous owners like  it! Yoda ear mirrors are another mistake IMHO

Keep the photos and build reports coming. Always i teresting!
Stig

[Ruffus]

Great bike summer this year and a lot of touring was done. Wife retired partially too, so we had/have lots of time to scoot around in north of Italy.
Tour on this map were not done at once but in three or four independent daytrips.

To keep up with energy costs, I installed solar panels which reduced electricity bills drastically.

We have plenty of medevial sites here in Friuli, takes time to visit them all. Pretty airy by scooter, beats the heat at any time.

There is an biker restaurant (pls see pic) which has several historical bikes wallmounted. Each of them is fully roadworthy and taken down occassionally. Video proof beneath.
Loos are made from artistic shaped beer barells, girls up on the wall are AI and comment nasty your peeing, 👍.

[Ruffus]

..some more, we were seeking batches of nature to cool down...

[Ruffus]

..some more..
..took me several runs to bring the panels home, but my trusted VOLVO took them all..

[Ruffus]

Last ones...
..my Love enjoys scootering, stays away from our bigger ones..
..regatta of historical fishing boats..

[Iahawk]

I love to start my morning with views of lovely Northern Italy! Thank you, Ruffus! It appears like you had a fantastic summer...I think you made up for the lack of riding by a few of us.

Did you do your own solar panel installation? Are solar panels becoming more popular in your area? They are becoming more popular even here in my little neighborhood close to Iowa City, IA. There are a number of houses in my neighborhood with solar panels on the roof. It's not such a unique sight, anymore.

[Ruffus]

Txs, yes we did a lot of riding/sightseeing.

Photovoltaik is pretty popular here in Italy for reasons of, having nearly 300 sunny days/yr, raising energy costs and falling costs per sqm/kwh, which is around €1000,- for a system without battery backup. Means 5kw = €5000,- material.

Yes I installed it myself and it works great. Amortisation/brake even to be expected within five years.
Since we have a low energy house, we decided against a battery version. So, what is produced is used up during daytime with AC, cooking, fridge, frezzer, illumination, etc. Over capacity goes into the net without compensation.

As said here it's pretty common to have photovoltaik and hydrothermal waterpanels too to cover shower, hot water for dishwasher, etc.