Thunder Beach 2010

So I rode to Panama City home of Thunder Beach in both the Spring and Fall. We went to the Autumn gathering in early October.
It was about 100 miles from home to the gathering and we stayed over night.

To the left here is the fair grounds were all the vendors had their booths setup and the mechandise and cool shows were.

They had all kinds of things like parts suppliers, burnout show, light kits, live music and many other really cool things going on. The picture to the left is of just the parking area and that is about a fourth of the bikes we saw riding in on the Panama City Beach strip.

The piture to the right here if of the pier on the strip. Look at the gorgeous water and the view of from the beach...nothing but clear sky and water, very nice.

The strip was really cool with all kinds of touristy attractions and things to do. Too bad my videos didn't come out better while we traveled the strip. I got a new camera which takes video but when I tranfered the video, they didn't work out too well.

In total we were told the rough estimate was about 50-60k motorcycles showed up. We talked with individuals from everywhere; Tenesse, Georgia, Alabama and severa l from around the area of Florida. It was really cool and I would definitely go back next year!

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Colby Butler aka Kingkole02

These are my switches for starters.

I installed them and ran them under the drivers seat to the frame wall.

Oh and mind the thumb ring...I have a very nervous streak and install of tearing my hair out I spin that, works wonders.

So...I have two switches, one is tied to the expansion block and the other my newest toys (see neons again just below this post).

I wired the main switch into what is called a expansion block, bar, add-on, whatever...

In doing this make sure you add a fuse, you know for just in case you touch the positive to the negative by mistake and blow your main fuse box (previous experience will lead to future betterment, trust me).

So I have in the picture to my left the fuse I am referring to. I used a 30 amp fuse with an in-line fuse holder. One side to the battery positive the the other to the switch batter terminal. Then from the switch positive on terminal to the expansion block positive (or what I created to be the positive side)

Here is a picture of the expansion block mounted to the fuse box under the seat. Notice how I loop the rear channels together. Doing this supplies each connection with that type of front connection. In other words I loop the four on each side to either the ground or in positive doing so linear so that each connection is the same for the first four channels. Giving me 3 total hook ups for expansion.

First channel is used for your battery hook ups to positive and negative from each side. The remaining three are for accessories.

In this picture I was not done was it is missing some connections.

The picture to the left show the completed setup once I put everything back together.

Everything fits a little tighter, however I have options to add more accessories.

The cool part about this is that some of you may remember I added some high power running lights to the front.

Well...creating this expansion block gave me the opportunity to hide my expansion block main switch and redirect the power to the lights through the switch so that no one else can play with the lights unless they know where the switch is.




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Colby Butler aka Kingkole02

Neons yet again

So I finally did it, I installed some real neons.

For around 40 dollars I did this whole install in my garage.

I start with (3) green neon strands (like I used for my rear signal) and some wires and switches.

The cool part about this setup is that I can control all my auxiliary lights with the flick of a switch setup to run a expansion block I have setup under my seat. The expasion block allows me to add up to three items at once incoporating the positive and ground in the same exspansion block.

(I will provide some details about the setup later in my blog).

So to top pic is in the garage the day I finished the setup from the right hand side. As you can see, before I remove the air intake box and do my intake mod the air intake plenum hides much of the light.

However the left side (second picture down) has much more light coming from it.

Man this thing is bright!

It will light up my garage at night when I took these pictures.

The lower two photos are from the first ride I took after the install.

Of course we all have to show off what we just finished right? Of course. So the night before I finished everything and then went for a ride the following night.

Once it gets really dark these babies really start to shine.

I decieded to leave my other blue ones installed as the green ones did not get in the way at all.

Install was easy as I zip tied them to the frame in various locations so that I could removed them and play with locations if I choose too. Plus tucked under the tank, you never know they exist in the day time.

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Colby Butler aka Kingkole02

Neons replacement

I originally had these neons around my engine. They were taken off a car modification I did and didn't like on the car. So I re-used them for the engine on the motorcycle for some ambient lighting.

The only problem is how bright they are, not very. So recently I moved them down to the lower frame to light the road under the bike at night. They seem to be pretty bright in the garage (which the camera does not show very well) and so I hope they look good on the road as well.

So in the dark garage they look good.

What I did was the neons came with their own hook ups to the positive terminal on the battery, so I mounted straight to the battery. Then the wire to the switch as an interupt so when the switch is off no power, on power and so fourth. The switch is an easy interupt for this use. I ran the wiring for the switch to the battery, ground and then to the neon positive. Finally placed the wiring under all the stuff under the seat and down on the frame wall, as seen in last photo. Then ran the neon power lines down the other side between the battery and the frame.

At the lowest section nearest the motor I placed some heat covering to protect the wiring before it reached the lower frame. Then I ziptied the neon strand to the frame.

It's really cheap and simple but gets the job done until I can get some more lights on the motor and other key places.

The switch I got was perfect with a screw on attachment base for use if you would drill a hole in something, but I didn't need all that.

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Just a little touch up

I wanted some additional flair on my motorcycle so for $4, I managed with these to match my rear. Now I can fly a flag everyday I ride.

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Bag Bars

I recently have been working on some projects and just completed my bars for hang the bags better. The stores charge up to 130 for these which I did for under 20.

Wrapped in electrical tape to prevent damage to my bags.

Below here are my crude original designs which didn't work out so well as you can see.

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New headlights and signals

I recently added some new high output driving lights to my motorcycles arsenal of headlights. These are great and really bright. They light up the road directly in front and to the sides. They don't shine as far as the standard beams, but what did I expect from a $25 set?

They help a lot a night and can be used in coordination with the high beam during the day so I can save my passing lights for when I need them.

I got this really great idea one day to add some turn signals to my motorcycle. Previously I had installed some Hayabusa signals from a friend and simply wire tied them to the triple bar. While these worked, I didn't really like the look. So I stumble upon more lights from a company I have ordered from before, http://www.superbrighleds.com/.

While I had some issues with the shipment and wrong color being selected, we managed to work out the details and I installed these LEDS.
They come with positives and negatives.

Once I started this process I realised these aren't the brightest in the world, however they are in a more visible place than the old ones. So now I have a dilemma to add another set of them to a location. However, they draw so little power, that my signals register as if a light is out and flash faster than normal, drawing more attention to the signals. So I figure for what I paid for them, I could order another pair or two and hopefully add more of them.

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Colby Butler aka Kingkole02

New Gloves!

New Gloves are here!

I wore out my old pair after 4000k miles or riding and purchased a new pair from my favorite apparel website http://www.leatherup.com/.

Here is the link to the gloves https://www.leatherup.com/site/product?pid=51538

These gloves are very nice and offer the comfort which my old gloves did but with more protection and looks. Plus they have some cold wind channels which help with the hot summers here in Florida, or at least I hope to find out soon.

It was 81 today and they did a good job of keeping my hands cool today.

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Colby Butler aka Kingkole02

Helmet Locks

My old lock gave out, so I came across a special via the internet and order two of these chrome keyed locks. Very cool indeed! Best places to mount them I have found too. I can now lock two helmets on my motorcycle without having to lift the saddle bag to do so.

I mounted one dead center of the handle bars and the other off the right handle bar. This keeps the helmet from resting on anything hot and provides support from the bars at center. Works well with a half helmet at the center and a three-quarter on the right hand side.

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Colby Butler aka Kingkole02

Added an extra tailight.

Well so I have been riding around alot, mostly to go to work recently and I came across a website superbrightleds.com. I looked over what they offer, pretty neat stuff, than I started thinking "What could I do with all these choices?". So I went ahead and ordered some stuff, with the intentions on expanding my ideas and what not.

So I played around with some idea and ended up with this.It's a nine inch long LED light which I tapped into my brake light wiring so when I brake, I now have a light at the top of my sissy bar. This makes for much better viewing cababilities a night and during the day. Most motorcycles tailight are too low and people can't seem them, or they are not bright enough. There are many after market kits which will change the turnsignals from just signals to running and brake light, with turnsignal abilities out there on the market, except these kits are very exspensive. My solution with under 15.

As you can see that this light is very bright and stands out quite well from a distance too.

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Colby Butler aka Kingkole02

Took a trip to the Springs

This time of the year it is hard to find good riding days for us southerners who aren't used to the cold. Living in south Florida for a number of years I have become used to the hotter weather and typically warm is our coldest setting.

So I decide to take a trip to a local natural spring and see what it was like.

The ride was very nice and lots of colorful trees to view while riding.

The spring was incredibly almost crystal clear almost until the bottom turned to seaweed and underwater plants.

From the observation deck you could see the spring supply bubbles from beneath.

There were also many nice places to go hiking if you choose to and trail which lead out into another natural spring, but not as big as the primary spring. This spring location offers all kinds of enjoy if you choose to stay over night at the hotel, or swim in the springs, or maybe take a glass bottom boat ride to view the spring from under the water.

It was all a lot of fun and such a very nice day to do so.

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Colby Butler aka Kingkole02

It's been a long time once again!

Hi All,
I have taken a long absence with the great changes taking place. However I just realised I didn't post any pictures of MY motorcycle. That's right, MY motorcycle. I purchased a used V-Star 1100 classic cruiser with all the extras I wanted.
Enjoy!!

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Colby Butler aka Kingkole02

Well it's been a while

Well it has been a while since I wrote my last entry here.

As some of you may already know I purchased a used motorcycle which required a pretty good amount of work to get it street ready.

I purchased a 2002 V-Star 1100. This machine had been neglected by it's previous owner.
After I got it back home I spent about the next three weeks working it over and getting it fixed up. Previous owner had run this machine without an air cleaner filter so the carb was very gummed up with stuff and the air box was even worse. I had to do an oil change, rear drive fluid exchange, balance the carburetor, and adjust the values. Spent another few days cleaning it up around the outside and the normal TLC to get her shinny again.

As some my know these machines require you to take down the right side floor board, and remove the front exhaust to be able to access the oil filter. So 500 miles after I put fresh oil in the machine I had to do the whole thing again getting that filter out of there. The filter almost looked original it was so black and filled with old oil. Additionally the previous owner probably never changed out the exhaust grommets and those were severally burnt. I had to wait a week to get the parts in to finish my second oil change with filter.

About a week later, I had to replace the carburetor after taking a long trip about 120 miles. I noticed the motorcycle was running a little different coming back and I decided to check into it and sure enough needed to be balanced.
All the secondary maintenance help was provided by my GF who worked over the machine with me.

So all in all I got a great deal on a used machine that seems to run in almost perfect order now after I almost completely re-worked the stock motor.
Some of the photos in the slide show represent small trips around the local area I took after doing much of the maintenance items.

I have since joined ABATE of FLORIDA and really enjoy meeting new motorcyclists.
Hope to write more later.

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Colby Butler aka Kingkole02

The Motorcyclist in all of us

Memorial weekend was a fun filled weekend packed with lots of motorcycle related shows and events such motorcyclist can only truly enjoy. The weather was great for most of the weekend and the atmosphere played a very good role in everything which was going on.

I managed to get myself over the our local Harley Davidson Dealership for a special event the dealer was hosting which involved a live band, some interesting dancing contest and a stunt show using Harley and Buell motorcycles.

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Colby Butler aka Kingkole02

The Pursuit of Happiness

I believe after learning to ride motorcycles that if everyone would go out and buy one, we would be happier both at work and driving on the roads around the cities.
There is absolutely no stress when you ride for pleasure, unless some person in a car in a hurry decides to cut you off.
If everyone rode motorcycle, like many do in Europe, the crash ratings would go down by a huge margin.

So my pursuit starts now, I am trying to find a way to raise the funds I need to be able to get a motorcycle. Thinking about selling my car, however the problem with this is that during rainy season you need a car to drive. Also any trip longer then a few hundred miles is better in a 4 wheeled vehicle.
Giving my options and experience that I now have, I have decided that I may re-think what I was looking to invest in. A touring motorcycle may be best for me as I sometimes have to carry books and go some shopping where the bags would come in handy.

Each person needs to really give a thought to the usage concerns and reason for buying a motorcycle before they invest some cash into something they may find they no longer can use in a few months. The whole idea of investing in a motorcycle is to save on gas and cost associated with motor vehicles. Insurance is nearly half to a third of what a car costs, gas in about a fifth of the cost, and general maintenance is cheaper by a small percentage as well.

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Colby Butler aka Kingkole02

Arcadia Florida, an Old Florida Town

Our first stop along the way was Fort Ogden and little town just south of Arcadia and Nocatee. We made a short stop at this old country store which had been closed down. I was told that this place was a landmark at one time so it made for a perfect photo.

The old train rail system was still usage across from the general store from the looks of the picture however as you can see the rail cars had been sitting there for some time based on the tagging on the side of on of them.

Next we found our way north to Arcadia where my riding mentor lived before he went off to the military back when he was 18. Nestled in a little town called Arcadia we found ourselves on the main downtown street by the "Old Tree of Knowledge" a 100 year old tree which has rumours that old men used to sit around this tree play checkers and often talk to each other. It is a known landmark to many in Arcadia and it sits across from the Arcadia old posting train house (which shows the build date at the top) which was actually younger then the old oak tree.

After leaving this area we went up the street to a small family owned diner called the "Wheeler's Cafe" (believe the names was didn't catch a photo of it), as we talked to several other motorcyclists on many touring Euro motorcycles, American Cruisers and Euro cruisers outside the diner, we decided this was the place to eat. Upon leaving this restaurant we noticed a sign near where we had parked that read "Car show 1-4 PM, Downtown street to be closed" how cool is that we ended up coming up to Arcadia at the right time as we were just finishing lunch at 12:30.

So to stay in the area, James took me to some old area parks which had some military memorabilia located within them (see the jet pictured below). We also walked on the original state road 17 while across the street from this park below. The old single lane bridge had been decommissioned at it was found un-structurally sound for a motor vehicles to cross over it, however people can still walk on it and I believe bicyclist can ride over it as well.


Once we returned back near Wheeler's Cafe, we found that more cars had show up, all 7 to 8 of them. While this may not have been a good turn out to me, I think the city was happy to see some business to the local establishments on a Sunday afternoon.
While we were walking around the cars I found a building which read "Arcadia Opera House Museum" and about 35 stairs going straight up. I couldn't help but wonder what all the stairs lead to so I journeyed up them. To our surprise we found the old 1906 Opera and stage house in Arcadia which was upstairs above all the local businesses ranging the whole 2 blocks, in other words the place was huge!
The Opera house museum was very interesting with the costumes and stage props used back when the plays and operas took place. Many of the items pre-date the 1900's and many of them were still usable! To bad I didn't think to take pictures as I was in owe of everything. The building and the items inside are older then everyone I know in my family and that is impressive to me.

So much walking today my back actually hurt and that is uncommon for me.
Today marked the ending of my learning period with James and I am now considered a riding buddy/partner and no longer a student of his. Although I like that feeling, I know there are many things which I still need to learn which will come with experience. I also know that there will be times when we venture to areas which I do not know so I will have to follow his lead once again. I have come to enjoy Jame's company as a rider and as a friend.

Ultimately this all comes down to wanting to purchase the motorcycle which I am riding of theirs. I have come accustom to riding this motorcycle and I like the way it feels to me. I know in the future I will probably be riding something larger as I have ambitions to make riding a part of my life now and look forward to longer trips and weekends. This is something that I can do on the weekends to enjoy my life again and get to see much of the unappreciated areas of Florida. In my short 7 weeks of riding I have seen so much of Florida already and I have lived here for 21 years.

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Colby Butler aka Kingkole02

Cape Coral Bike Night April 09

These events are great. They bring out people, motorcycles, fun, live music, foods, and lots of excitement. Best of all the bike nights are FREE! This was the second Cape Coral Bike Night of this season with an even better turnout then the first one this year. It had to be the weather outside, it was gorgeous.

Not only some awesome bikes but some pretty nice looking ladies also were on site for photos. The bikini girls from a local bikini store where out in full attire ready to take donations for their charity for exchange of a nice looking lady by your side for a photo.

The whole event lasted up until around 10:30 PM on Saturday.

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Colby Butler aka Kingkole02

Easter Bunny Run

I got a chance this year to participate in a local charity toy run for our local Children's hospital this year. If you have ever participated in a group ride, then this is one of the largest one's in our area. With a turn out of over 700 bikes (according to the HOG chapter registration results) we made our ride memorial for the children.

A 21 mile police escorted event took us to our location. Imagine that, all the cagers must have been pissed we tied up traffic for up to 30 minutes. Get a motorcycle and figure it out for yourself.

For those who have never ridden a motorcycle, they just can not understand the concept of how much we all enjoy riding. Riding is not just about going places and seeing the country or the fresh air and seasonal smells, it is much more then than that. This event made the children at the Children's hospital so happy that I brought many riders feel the joy of happiness.

We filled the toy bucket to the brim and overflowed it onto the floor with gifts for the childern. Next year I plan to ride this trip again with many more gifts. I had no idea what to except from it all during this trip.

Just look at how happy this child is to have gifts and visitors to come see them. Something like this is pricelist to them and to us to have shared some of our day with them.

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Colby Butler aka Kingkole02

Sebring and Avon Park Ride

It is Sunday 4/12/09 and we have a trip planned to Lake Placid Florida.
I was debuting my summer gear for this trip to see just how I would feel traveling at 55 mph to 60 mph in what I decided to by.

My summer gear consists of:
Kevlar mesh (dragginjeans.com) shirt
Cordura Mesh w/ CE approved padded vest
Half Helmet
Face bandanna to protect from bugs
Baggy Red Route (cyclegear.com) riding jeans w/ Kevlar and armour
Gloves and Boots

As we head out on the open highways we cross many beautiful open fields and cow pastures. There is nothing like the smell of spring on a motorcycle as the flowers are blooming. The air was rather cool in the mourning and I actually found myself cold as some points when the breeze kicked up. That Kevlar shirt is very cool and comfortable what a difference over my heavier jacket.

As we get to Lake Placid we find the restaurant which we would like to have lunch at is not open on Sundays. So we decided to make our way north to find something along the way. We come across the Sebring Diner.

This little place was nice. What resembled a Mels Classic Diner was the Sebring Diner. Very good choice of food and menu items and great prices for our lunch.

After heading out of there we decide to head on north into Avon Park, a place I have heard about but never been. It is a small city compared to the area I come from. I know a few people who live there but I don't know exact locations.


On the ride back we ended up stopping at the Sebring mall and played some games at the arcade to kill some time and have some fun.


To our surprise after we left there a piano, yes a piano was in the back of a truck and the top rip off as we were going 55 mph about 3 cars in front of us. Luckly we saw what was coming and avoided a problem. (see piano below for the top piece)


Total our trip took us about 190 miles to and from. It was a great ride!


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Colby Butler aka Kingkole02