October, 2015 Volume 16, Issue 10 G.W.R.R.A., REGION H, TEXAS DISTRICT, CHAPTER W 2016 Chapter TX-W Directors Vern & Suzanne Neal Wow it is already October. The first weekend has perfect weather. I hope many of you had the opportunity to get out and ride. This past month we had more riders than ever attend the Wing Ding in Huntsville Alabama. It seems everyone had a great time and got back safe and sound. Our first ride of the month is led by Charlie to a local Classic Car Show. I wanted to discuss one other thing. The cooler weather is great for riding but this is the time of year that deer become more active and start to come out. Remember if you see one deer there may be others nearby. You may have to swerve or stop suddenly or you may not be able to avoid hitting the deer. Every situation is different. You may go down, be injured, or have road rash. So stay alert especially dawn or dusk and remember you can lessen any injuries by wearing a helmet, long sleeve shirt (preferably a riding jacket) long pants, gloves and boots. So ride alert. Vern & Suzanne Neal Chapter Directors Our Meeting Place and Time GWRRA Texas Chapter "W" holds its chapter meetings on the first and third Thursdays of the month. The first currently at Rudy s BBQ, 21799 Katy Freeway, Katy, TX 77450 (I-10 just east of Mason Rd.). The second will move month to month so see our calendar. The first is our regular chapter meeting while the second meeting is an informal planning meeting/social gathering. Meetings are held at 7:00 P.M. Everyone is welcome and encouraged to attend. Come early and enjoy dinner with the chapter.
PAGE 2 NORTHWEST HONDA 10102 North Freeway (I-45 @ West Road) Houston, Texas 77037 YOUR ONE STOP TOY SHOP HONDA DUCATI Tuesday thru Friday: 9am to 7 pm Saturday: 9am to 5pm Parts: Service: Sales: Fax: (281) 447-6337 (281) 447-0316 (281) 447-3476 (281) 447-9532 www.lunsfordshonda.com
PAGE 3 Jump Starting Your Motorcycle You can't kill a dead battery By: James R. Davis Assuming that you have, or can get, a set of jumper cables when you find that your motorcycle battery is dead, getting the bike started is no big deal. But you can cause harm if you do it wrong. Connecting batteries in series is what you do when you pop a couple of cells into your flashlight. That is, you put the positive terminal of one battery into contact with the negative terminal of another. The result is that the voltage provided is the sum of the voltages of both batteries. This is NOT THE WAY to connect motorcycle batteries!!! When you connect batteries in parallel, by placing the positive terminal of one into contact with the positive terminal of the other and the same with the negative terminals, then the voltage that results remains the same, but the amount of current that can be produced is raised. You need current to power your starter. >Always be sure that the batteries you will be connecting together are of the same voltage. >Always connect the same polarity terminals together when jumping a battery. >If you connect the opposite polarity terminals together your battery can EXPLODE! >Always wear eye protection when jumping a battery! >Batteries can explode from another cause as well: a charging battery creates hydrogen gas. >Make sure the vent tube on your battery is connected properly. >Make sure you are in a well ventilated environment - preferably outside. Do NOT SMOKE while charging or jumping a battery. Lay out your jumper cable so that the connectors are not touching each other. Then, connect the positive (red) lead of the cable closest to your dead battery to the positive terminal on that battery followed by connecting the negative lead (black) to your negative battery terminal. Be sure that these connections are firm - wiggle them a little in order to let the teeth (if any) on the jumper leads cut into the terminal metal posts. >Always start by making the connections on your dead battery. Why? Because you cannot kill a dead battery! (If the loose ends of the jumper cable were to touch each other.) (It might be better if you connected the negative lead to some part of your bike frame rather than to the negative battery terminal in order to keep any potential sparks away from generated hydrogen gas. However, there cannot be a spark from a dead battery, connecting the leads to the dead battery does not yet create a circuit, and in the next step you will take pains to avoid a spark with the live battery.) Next, connect the positive (red) lead of the other end of the jumper cable to the functional battery's positive terminal. Again, wiggle the connection to encourage a good 'bite' of metal to metal. [If you are unable to gain access to the battery terminals on the donor vehicle, (many are very inconveniently located), you can connect the positive jumper lead to the starter solenoid lead closest to the battery.] Finally, connect the remaining (black) lead to some part of the frame of the donor vehicle. Since the negative terminal of all modern vehicles have their negative battery terminal connected to the frame of the vehicle (called a 'ground'), this is the same as connecting to the negative terminal of the battery. However, since this last connection establishes a live circuit, it is possible for there to be a spark when the connection is made. You want any spark that might occur to be as far away from the battery as is reasonably possible.
PAGE 4 Though MOST vehicles today use a negative ground, you must check to be sure that is the case before you connect the jumper cables to the donor battery. You can still use it even if that vehicle uses a positive ground, but you must remember to connect positive to positive and negative to negative. Generally speaking, it does not matter if the vehicle engine is running or not when you do this, but you should avoid doing so as cooked motorcycle stators are expensive repair jobs. The battery will be producing the proper voltage and current to do the job, and usually, but not always, not so much that you might do harm. However, >If your battery is dead because it has developed an internal short, you can easily kill the donor battery when connecting it if the donor vehicle is not running at the time, but >If it is running and your battery is shorted you can damage the donor vehicle's voltage regulator system when you connect the jumper cables. If the donor vehicle is not running when you connect the jumper cables, DO NOT START THE DONOR VEHICLE while it is connected to your motorcycle battery. While the starting current drain is not going to be a problem, the subsequent charging current to replenish the battery could be more than your motorcycle battery can handle. You do not have to be in a hurry while the jumper cables are connected. Indeed, so long as those cables are connected the donor battery is charging your motorcycle battery. After a couple of minutes the charge might be sufficient for you to be able to start your bike using just your own battery. In any event, it is now time to start your motorcycle. It is usually best to simply leave the jumper cable in place when you start the motorcycle. Let your motorcycle run about 15 seconds while the jumper cable remains in place. Then, remove the negative (black) lead from the donor vehicle's frame (assuming it was a normal negative-ground system). Again, this step could cause a spark, but because the connection is away from the battery, it poses no danger. Now disconnect the positive (red) lead from the donor battery terminal. You must be very careful not to let the jumper cable leads touch each other at this time. To do so WILL KILL YOUR MOTORCYCLE BAT- TERY, possibly permanently! Disconnect the jumper leads from your motorcycle battery (in any order - there cannot be a spark from doing so.) Let the motorcycle idle (high - over 1,000 RPM) for a few minutes before you attempt to ride off into the sunset to give its charging system a chance to restore your battery. Thank the person who donated the use of their battery to get you going again. (You could have killed *HIS* battery if you had done it wrong, so he took some risk for you as well as provided his courtesy.) Copyright 1992-2015 by The Master Strategy Group, all rights reserved. http://www.msgroup.org
PAGE 5 November, 2015 Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Upcoming Events for November 5th Chapter Meeting 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 19th Planning Meeting 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 Check our web site calendar for last minute events. www.gwrra-txw.org 29 30 3 If you re a rider in Texas, motorcycle insurance from Suzanne Sansom Insurance Services Inc. can protect both you and your bike. At Suzanne Sansom Insurance Services Inc., we believe that good insurance is no accident and our dedicated agents will take the time to find you insurance products that are reliable and affordable. We are an independent agency and we will shop for the top carriers in the country to satisfy all of your personal insurance needs. www.sansominsurance.com/personal-insurance/motorcycle-insurance/ 3522 S. Mason Rd., Suite 260 Katy, TX 77450 Phone: 832-437-4180 Fax: 832-772-4325 Email: suzanne@sansominsurance.com Motorcycle ~ Life ~ Auto ~ Home ~ Commercial www.sansominsurance.com
PAGE 6 By Allen Smith GWRRA #28759 Lexington, Tennessee Next page for written description
PAGE 7 Tie Down GL1800-continued For several years, GWRRA s Gold Book has included a description of How To Tie Down Your Gold Wing. For the most part, the description was good for all Wings up until the 2001 GL1800. This is the way we tie our Tulsa Enterprises Gold Wing into the trailer and have been doing it this way for years; it is the most secure method we ve found. In our view, this is actually a superior method of tie-down, even for the GL1500. Materials Needed Three sets of Ancra soft ties. Three sets of Ancra adjustable tie-downs. A flat-bed trailer with places to attach tie-down hooks. Push or ride your Gold Wing to the center of the flat-bed trailer. Park it on its sidestand. Put the transmission in gear to prevent forward or backward creep. Loop one end of one soft tie around the left front fork and over the top of the lower triple tree. Slip one loop of the soft tie through the other, then snug it tight so the free loop is accessible. Slip the hook of one adjustable tie-down through the free end of the soft tie. Connect the other end of the tiedown to the left front floor of the trailer at an angle to avoid contact with the motorcycle s bodywork. (See photo A.) The tie-down should attach to the trailer bed about 24 inches out from the bike s front wheel. Tighten the adjustable tie-down to slightly compress the left front fork. Repeat steps 2-4 on the right front fork side of the bike. Bike should now be supported vertically by the tie-downs. Raise the bike s sidestand. HERE IS WHERE THE PROCEDURE FOR THE GL1800 DIFFERS! The passenger handles on the GL1800 have rubber collars in the seat and are not designed to have tie-downs attached to secure the motorcycle there! Doing this could damage the bolt and/or the threaded area of the frame. 7. Remove the Wing s side covers, attach a soft tie around the frame, hook the tie-down to the soft tie and pull slightly forward and out from the motorcycle. Repeat for the other side. (Photos B. and C.) 8. Attach another soft tie around the rear bag guard and SUB FRAME. (Photo D.) Then hook a tie-down to this soft tie and pull to the rear and outward. This will help to stabilize the motorcycle. IT IS IMPORTANT THAT THIS TIE IS ATTACHED TO BOTH THE BAG GUARD AND SUB FRAME! If not using some sort of front wheel chock, it is important to secure the front wheel so it cannot turn. We caution you NOT to tie down a Gold Wing GL1800 using the handlebars or the engine guards or bag guards. (Even though Honda ties them in the crate with the engine and bag guards, they are not subjected to the same stress as the bouncing on a trailer.) They will break! That is the reason we use the SUB FRAME and bag guard. October Birthdays Roger Caron 8th Vern Neal 27th Suzanne Neal, 31st Anniversaries Rick&JoAnn Bartle, 11th
PAGE 8 FLEXING OUR WINGS A LITTLE TEXAS HISTORY BY: JIM VARDAMAN
PAGE 9 Katy home of the 2015 Goldwing and the Can-Am Spyder RT 22515 KATY FWY Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat Sun Mon HOURS Closed Closed KATY, TX 77450 Phone: 281-392-8850 Fax: 281-392-6162 www.wildwestmotoplex.com About Us Located in Katy, Texas since 1983. Wild West Honda is an authorized dealer for Honda, Kawasaki, BMW, YAMAHA, KTM, Sea-Doo, & Can-Am. Click, Call, or Come on by! Chapter W Officers Position Name Phone Number Chapter Directors Vern & Suzanne Neal (713) 295-9150 Assistant Chapter Director Ed & Kerrie Johnson (832) 341-8802 Treasurer Cindy Harris (386) 846-8521 Membership Enhancement OPEN Newsletter Editor Steve Wilkening (713) 899-6855 Chapter Educator Open Chapter Historian Jim Vardaman (281) 495-2748 Ride Coordinator Roger Caron (832) 868-8976 Webmaster Steve Wilkening (713) 899-6855