[Bubba68CS]

So today was the first nice day we've had...temps up close to (if not at) 60 F...dry roads...and its the weekend! :biggrin:

The '14 has a little over 11,400 miles on her...and its been a blast...handling my long commute for about 4 months, and short in-town commute for the past 4...does both admirably. The PR2's I put on at 2000 miles still have plenty of tread depth...really happy with those...still waiting for them to wear enough to put on my new set. These are the first pics with the Zero Gravity Touring windscreen...I think it looks a bit odd, but it works quite well...keeps the wind from cutting through. Saddle bags are off...if you look hard enough, you can see the mounting points for the quick release brackets. I love being able to take them off without ugly brackets left behind.

Doesn't look like it in the pics...but the bike is really filthy. I haven't been able to really wash it in a heck of a long time...the underside is caked in road grime. Kept my chain sparkling though :biggrin:

Anyway...REALLY glad we're getting back into the weather where I can ride daily...so sick of the snow and ice.

 

[MFolks]

How do you handle the Mo registration sticker from year to year? do you scrape off last years or keep applying new ones?

 

[Bubba68CS]

How do you handle the Mo registration sticker from year to year? do you scrape off last years or keep applying new ones?

Typically apply over the old...if they get too tall, then I'll scrape em.

 

[northernman]

Nice pics, and great bike.

Like you I love my ZX14, they do it all pretty well.
I find it amazingly comfy as well, more than I thought I would.

 

[2WheelFun]

Beautiful Bike!

 

[Bubba68CS]

Thanks guys,

Marty, I'd love to have the roads you have up there in BC...with the full size version (not posted) of the first pic, you can clearly see the ridge on the tire where it has squared off (you can definitely feel it when running your hand over the tire)...stupid straight roads :toetap:

 

[northernman]

Thanks guys,

Marty, I'd love to have the roads you have up there in BC...with the full size version (not posted) of the first pic, you can clearly see the ridge on the tire where it has squared off (you can definitely feel it when running your hand over the tire)...stupid straight roads :toetap:

I admit that yes we are spoiled here.
Great roads, and many have very little traffic compared to other areas.

I have many times had to toss out a tire as the sides were worn out, but the center of the tire was still okay.

 

[trikebubble]

Cool pics, gotta love the 14. We went on our first ride of the year Saturday. The weather was fantastic and it was hard to head home. I had almost forgot (yeah, a crime I'm sure) just how much I enjoy riding the 14. She is so perfect for me, cruises effortlessy, tons of low end torque (maybe their is a small V-Twin hidden inside somewhere?), lots of room to move around on and stay comfortable........and of course the shock and awe of the power on tap.

Yeh, she's a keeper.

 

[Bubba68CS]

Seems your off-season wasn't too awful much longer than ours...I really didn't get to ride that much this winter...and even when I did, it was just around town. With that in mind, I think I'd prefer the good roads and great scenery...

Any good engineering jobs up there :biggrin:

That will be a deciding factor as to where I end up when I finish this degree...guarantee that!

 

[trikebubble]

Seems your off-season wasn't too awful much longer than ours...I really didn't get to ride that much this winter...and even when I did, it was just around town. With that in mind, I think I'd prefer the good roads and great scenery...

Any good engineering jobs up there :biggrin:

That will be a deciding factor as to where I end up when I finish this degree...guarantee that!

Not sure about career opportunities in your field up here...but the economy seems to be slowly rolling along and picking up speed. Of course you have to be prepared to pay the so-called "sunshine tax" when moving to BC. It can be a **** expensive place to live, but the country is oh-so worth it up here.

I'm not sure what the deal in the oil patch in northern BC and Alberta is like right now, but with the price of gasoline going upwards again it could be a place to look. One of our neighbours works up in the oil patch and commutes back here every month.

 

[Bubba68CS]

I'm still quite a ways off from graduating...I'll be here for another couple years I imagine (depends on how much work my adviser wants from my dissertation). Wouldn't mind working over seas for a bit...

But I'm a ways off from even looking at this point.

 

[northernman]

Seems your off-season wasn't too awful much longer than ours...I really didn't get to ride that much this winter...and even when I did, it was just around town. With that in mind, I think I'd prefer the good roads and great scenery...

Any good engineering jobs up there :biggrin:

That will be a deciding factor as to where I end up when I finish this degree...guarantee that!

What type of engineering are you taking?

 

[Bubba68CS]

What type of engineering are you taking?

Mechanical. My research is in heat transfer, in particular phase change heat transfer in heat pipes (and even more specifically vapor chambers and oscillating heat pipes). Its a good field to be in, my adviser is pulling in grants left and right.

 

[northernman]

Mechanical. My research is in heat transfer, in particular phase change heat transfer in heat pipes (and even more specifically vapor chambers and oscillating heat pipes). Its a good field to be in, my adviser is pulling in grants left and right.

Thats really cool work from the sounds of it.

So do you just do high tech stuff, or even little things like in floor heating etc.?

 

[Anonymous]

The 14 is where is it at. It offers everything in a single package.
Comfort, power, speed, looks, ergos etc.
Add the hard bags and you have a winner.

I love my 14.

 

[Bubba68CS]

Well, common applications are computer chip cooling and laser die cooling. But we've been exploring other applications. One was the deck of small aircraft carriers (the Osprey and upcoming F35 are applying too much heat directly to the deck, causing buckling...we're looking into a solution to spread the heat a bit better). One is using waste heat (solar energy or other low temperature sources) for water heating or even air conditioning (though thats not technically a heat pipe project...still phase change though).

I know heat pipes have been used in ice cream scoopers (moving heat from your hand to the tip of the scoop)...they're used along the Alaskan oil pipeline...satellites...my adviser tried to put them in gloves once (didn't get it to work though).

There are limitations to the design...but we're always trying to find ways to get them to work in various applications.

 

[cinnamon]

Wow!!
Soooo beautiful!!
Sooooo hot!!!

 

[Bubba68CS]

Wow!!
Soooo beautiful!!
Sooooo hot!!!

Why, thank you

:lol:

 

[Zandrello]

Bro... AWESOME looking ride. Holy Crap that pic in front of that cathedral looks professional! Beautiful man, beautiful

 

[Bubba68CS]

Bro... AWESOME looking ride. Holy Crap that pic in front of that cathedral looks professional! Beautiful man, beautiful

Why thank you.

And that actually is not a cathedral in the background. Its called Memorial Union...I only mention this as it is actually a neat building...it was built to honor those alumni who died in WW1. It has since been expanded to include those alumni who have died in any US war or conflict. When walking under the tower shown in the pic, we take off our hats (if wearing one) and do not speak until we are through to the other side.

Anyway, I just got a Nikon D90 last week...so I'm hoping to spend some time walking around campus playing around with shots (Mizzou's campus really is gorgeous)...and of course more of the bike