My Moto Hobo life

SOLD SOLD SOLD!!! Offer on Day 9 and gone in 11 days.
The dreamed about bidding war didn't materialize so I grabbed the bird-in-the-hand by the neck and made it sign a contract.
It was below my expectation but I made out OK. I'll blame it on COVID like everyone else does for everything bad.
Buyers are also looking for 0 work and want $30,000 kitchens and $10,000 bathrooms.
A realtor told me 10 years ago not to do it as I wouldn't get my money back and buyers might not like my style.
Oh well, it was close enough and will finance my big adventure.
Guess I better get serious about fixing the oil tank leak and getting the trailer and brake wires installed.
 
7/20 update
Home inspection resulted in a few minor findings except they wanted $1,800 for 6 new windows because they said the sills were rotting. That was total BS.
One was 'punky' but looked fine and wasn't leaking inside. A few others had some spotty areas that could be fixed as-is without new $300 windows.
They also wanted $200 for Carpenter Bee treatment because there were a couple holes from 5 years ago.
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Worked some more on disassembling the throttle bodies to get the tank off to fix a O-Ring leak. 2 parts are still on back order from BikeBandit.

I reordered them through another place but may need to reuse 1 old O-Ring and tube as I need to get it back together to get the trailer inspected.

I feel your pain. I was deployed while my wife was living in another state and the buyers of our home in Nebraska were going to back out because the realtor forgot to have the lawn moved over a 4 week period. I offered $500 to call it a day (5x what it would cost have it done) and they declined. Due to a week of rainy weather, no one would touch it until the rain stopped (said it would damage their equipment). Fortunately the buyers relented and I had it done 3 days later for about $100. I was out of options; they either took it or not (a bit hard to deal with from Afghanistan). Then there was the paying for a plumber to install a garbage disposal "restrain relief cable"... yes I failed to do that when I put it in... because.... it already had a 3-prong plug installed and was PLUGGED INTO A STANDARD OUTLET!!! :mad: :oops: If it was direct wired I would have understood... more...

BikeBandit gives me mixed emotions. Parts seem to take FOREVER and then often get canceled due to non-availability. I'm still waiting on my current order to be shipped; placed 2-weeks ago. I've gotten R3T parts from Germany faster.

I'm looking forward to following along with your journey... :thumbsup:
-MIG
 
New front auxiliary LEDs were flickering and bike stalled when first started throwing a check engine light. Cut the wires and bike idled OK.
- I had incorrectly wired them into the running lights and they weren't getting enough power ...
- My clue was that when I first tested them by turning on the key switch they were not very bright. ...
- Buying a toggle switch and 30A in-line fuse and wiring them directly to the battery.

I'm having hard time seeing how any possible mis-wire of the LEDs (if using the OEM running/park circuit) could have caused engine running problems and Check Engine Light - incidentally Check Engine Light would be on after a stall regardless - it is always on with ignition on until started; if it remained on after re-start then was genuine error that tripped it, but with just ignition on would be on anyway. So I expect this was just coincidence that cutting them fixed your running problem
If not very bright, it sounds like maybe had them wired in series with the park light? (but again, can't see how that would affect engine running/MIL) - or maybe in series with each other.
Maybe if you can say exactly how you wired them originally it might give some clue but since LED's are quite high impedance devices I don't really see how connecting them to virtually anything on the bike could cause a running problem.
LEDs draw very low current - be lucky if they are 250mA each, maybe 1A if they are 'good' ones - replace that 30A with a 5 or even less :D
But you really shouldn't have any issues connecting them to the OEM Running/Park circuit - that would the yellow wire circuit at either front lamp or the red wire at the tail light
Just connect the LED+ to either of these and the LED - to the black wire - again because of very small load from an LED, this will not tax your OEM circuit at all, not even requiring a fuse change.
 
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Good to hear that you sold the house and getting sorted for you life on the road.

That trip to your folks house seems like a long way. Until I realised that my folks are about a 15 hours away and I need to take a ferry too.

What size oring did you end up using.

All I know is that it took me at least 3 orings at getting it to stop leaking. And then it comes back every 3 month.
So got to wriggle it again and good for a few more months.
 
I'd prefer not to have to pull the oil tank anytime soon so I hope replacing all the parts fixes it for a few years.

Here is my parts list for the oil tank leak, front & rear brake replacements and sump checkup/cleaning:

Triumph OEM Part - O-RING, ID14.3SD2.4 OEM T3600134 Quantity: 3 Price: $2.74ea

Triumph OEM Part - OIL PIPE OEM T1206478 $33.21 USD

Triumph OEM Part - PIPE, BREATHER, OIL TANK OEM T1210024 $10.82

For the throttle bodies:
Triumph OEM Part - CAP, VACUUM CONNECTION OEM T1245009 Quantity: 3 Price: $3.29ea

Replaced rear brakes as it was cheaper/easier/faster than rebuilding them:
WOW!!! US$25 for the entire Rear Brake assembly including shipping from Pinwall plus a chrome Triumph logo glue on cover. It all looks new ($490 list)

Another score - USED 2005-2010 Triumph Rocket III Classic Roadster REAR BRAKE LINE HOSE HARD FLEX Item# 382625407286 $17.24 USD - 5 pieces!! ($150 list but EOL'd).

new RESERVOIR SEAL,M/CYL,REAR 1 13.60 Part Number: 1389887, T2022117
new REAR BRAKE MASTER CYLINDER INSERT,M/CYL,REAR 1 4.34 Part Number: 1389889, T2022119

Replaced front brakes as it was cheaper/easier/faster than rebuilding them:
WOW again!! An even BIGGER Score. They look new and came with all the cables attached and have good brake pads. Free shipping as well! ($1,200 list)
2008 08 Triumph Rocket III Classic OEM Front Brake Calipers Right & Left Caliper Item# 114281849096 $112.10 USD plus tax


2005 RIII specific gasket:
Triumph OEM Part - GASKET, SUMP
Item# OEM767478
$15.49 USD​



New rear LED blinkers Ouch! I thought they were $100 a pair... Brake + Running + Turn Signal though and very bright.
Kuryakyn by Kellermann Bullet 1000 Collection, LED Turn Signals (Rear - Red/Amber, Chrome) KU: 2554 Qty 2 $98.98 each.

New Triumph Windshield - $80 shipping plus Rivco Rear passenger Floorboards traded to Sir Ishrub.

Parts bought in Florida earlier this year = new battery, new MAP hoses, used kickstand sensor cable, a few other used parts I didn't install.

Total in repair parts this year is around $700. Hitch, fuse block, 5-Flat wiring harness and other bits were $500.
Total expenses so far to prepare the bike for this journey is $1,200. Labour would have been at least $1,500 and probably closer to $3,000.

I haven't added up the trailer side of things yet but it's not definitely not cheap to equip a rig for a long journey if you want some basic
creature comforts...

I joined the Minimalist Motorcycle Vagabonds (MMV) Facebook group and it's amazing how LITTLE some of them travel with and some are living full time
with just a tarp to hang off the bike, a small pad, a sleeping bag, and a small stove.
I think they will kick me out of the group if they see my setup as they would consider it excessive and overkill. LOL

You’re MY hero!
 
You’re MY hero!
Woot!

As an FYI, I ordered some of it from Bike Bandit but they had a 5 week delay and I had a hard time cancelling the order.

" We are currently experiencing an unexpected surge of orders and an extremely high email, live-chat & call volume. We apologize for any delayed response times and want to let you know that we are working towards fulfilling all of your requests and shipping out your orders ASAP. On behalf of the entire BikeBandit team, we thank you for your continued support through these tough times."

Funny how Adept Motorsports got the same parts at my doorstep in 3 days with regular shipping...

PS If I do have to pull an oil tank on a Rocket I'm not taking the gas tank off.
Unless you have to take the plenum crap out it doesn't buy you much. Not required for Ramair or K&N or Pod modded bikes unless you are also changing plugs or doing other surgery under there.
 
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Omg I have just released that you are the same person that I was going to send a set of brake caliper chrome covers to.


And guess what I have brought them and was going to ship next week as a surprise. Oh well you might have to give me an address of one of the guys you will be visiting in about 3 months time should have arrived by then
15967815845568666035739213148488.jpg
 
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