Jim's 1980 SG Miss September

My Mama always told me; Son, always wear clean under ware, don't pick your nose or ass in public, and what ever you do, do not take a pix of anything that has your reflection in it! :laughing:
 
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I see your plates are as cheaply made as our N.Y. plates are now, just flat sheet metal with no stampings or extrusions to stiffen them up like they used to have. You might do well to add a backer plate for support. I use 1/8" aluminum plate along with a layer of sheet rubber between the two. This also allows me to 4 bolt it all together .....

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Ya the ol xs split the bolt holes on a few plates. The current plate with shot mounting holes I used zip ties to keep it on. Next one I'll do the backing plate, looks neater.
 
Congrats Jim. I got my motorcycle Missouri endorsement back in 1981. Lucky for me when I moved to Arkansas for a job they honored it and after coming back to Missouri it showed up again. I'm too old to be taking tests again. :)
 
Congrats Jim. I got my motorcycle Missouri endorsement back in 1981. Lucky for me when I moved to Arkansas for a job they honored it and after coming back to Missouri it showed up again. I'm too old to be taking tests again. :)

You know, that's for sure. I had to go thru the riding school, with all the young lads, but I got it now! So I don't have to worry about getting stopped unless I do something like, What Officer? You got to hair-ass old people? I didn't put my foot down at the stop light or was it the 40 foot patch of rubber in front of the donut shop? Where as before, I had to just hang my head for not having a license as he grabbed me by the ear hollering "We gona make an example outa you, Grandpaw!" "Nice bike though!" Good going Jim!
 
Way back when I got my endorsement the tester stood on the porch of the DMV while you rode down to the nearest stop sign, turned into the nearest parking lot and did a figure eight any which way that you wanted to. Just before they changed the testing my friends all used my bike to do their test. The horn wasn't working so we put a $2 bulb type tricycle horn on it to pass the bikes safety test.
 
Way back when I got my endorsement the tester stood on the porch of the DMV while you rode down to the nearest stop sign, turned into the nearest parking lot and did a figure eight any which way that you wanted to.
When I got my endorsement in New Mexico back in the 70's, the tester told me to go down to the end of the parking lot and turn around facing him. Did that and he waved me back. Got back and he handed me my paperwork and told me to take that to the DMV and they'd give me my endorsement. Coulda' done it stoned.... no wait... :er:
 
When I got my endorsement in New Mexico back in the 70's, the tester told me to go down to the end of the parking lot and turn around facing him. Did that and he waved me back. Got back and he handed me my paperwork and told me to take that to the DMV and they'd give me my endorsement. Coulda' done it stoned.... no wait... :er:

hahahaha...
 
Legal... Smeagle... Meh.
So... Missouri requires a motorcycle endorsement. In the 20+ yrs I've lived here I never bothered to get the endorsement. I had a bike for a time after I first moved here. Guess I got lucky and never got stopped. A few weeks ago I went and took the written then got busy on the sun room upgrade. The cold is on it's way... so it was now or never. This morning it was 39 and sunny... brrrrrr. By noon it was up to 50. Close enough.... zipped over to the Hwy Patrol and did the deed. I'm officially legal. :D
Back in June I ordered a specialty plate, so while I was at the DMV gettin' the endorsement added, I asked about the plate. Yeah, it was there. Been there for awhile. You'd think they'd notify a fella wouldn't you? So I'm legal and the SG is sportin' a new look. She sez she likes it. :)
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Hi Jim,
that a reflection of a plate installation gnome? There's posh, I had to DIY mine.
Although it'd be better if he'd put rubber washers where the plate bolts on lest all that will remain after a while will be 2 little fatigue-edged corners.
I know this from personal experience. The first week I had my XS650 the local RCMP officer asked me, "Hey Fred, where's your plate?"
"On the back of the bike?"
"Look again."
"OK then, except for these two corners, it's somewhere on Highway 44."
 
The washers I use on the plate side under the bolt heads are stainless with rubber bonded to the bottom side. Unused, the metal portion is domed slightly. You tighten the fastener down until the dome flattens out some and the rubber starts bulging out all around the edge of the washer. I think this kind of acts like a lock washer too .....

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Back in the 70's The examiner stood on the corner as you proceeded to go around a city block
He could see you at 2 out of 3 corners easy peasy BUT he made you use hand signals not the blinkers LOL :umm:
A little hand clutch coordination was involved
 
Back in the 70's The examiner stood on the corner as you proceeded to go around a city block
He could see you at 2 out of 3 corners easy peasy BUT he made you use hand signals not the blinkers LOL :umm:
A little hand clutch coordination was involved

Hi Grey,
same thing in the 1950s UK except bikes didn't have blinkers back then
(and the Highway Code booklet still had illustrations of a horse-cart driver's whip signals)
In 1970s Manitoba the test was a written plus a practical.
I didn't get 100% (pass was 96%) on the written because their book said you should know how to balance a bike before you knew how to work the brakes.
My argument that the first thing one should know about ANY machine is how to stop it fell on deaf ears.
The practical test (different venue & tester) involved riding round town with the tester driving behind and turning when he signalled.
Tester said "You are the smoothest rider I've ever tested" I did NOT say "20 years riding in UK traffic will do that" Just said thanks.
 
Hi Grey,
same thing in the 1950s UK except bikes didn't have blinkers back then
(and the Highway Code booklet still had illustrations of a horse-cart driver's whip signals)
In 1970s Manitoba the test was a written plus a practical.
I didn't get 100% (pass was 96%) on the written because their book said you should know how to balance a bike before you knew how to work the brakes.
My argument that the first thing one should know about ANY machine is how to stop it fell on deaf ears.
The practical test (different venue & tester) involved riding round town with the tester driving behind and turning when he signalled.
Tester said "You are the smoothest rider I've ever tested" I did NOT say "20 years riding in UK traffic will do that" Just said thanks.
When I first read this I thought you said he was riding on the back of your bike during the test :umm:
It must have been a pain just trying to see which way he wanted you to go with him driving behind you
I guess keeping your endorsement no matter if your riding or not makes sense
I kept mine current for over 20 years just so I didn't have to re test when I started riding again
Couple of bucks every 4 years was worth it You never know when you'll get another bike!
 
All good ideas on the plates Fred, Marty, 5T... on my original plate, I had rubber washers sandwiched on either side and I could see cracks starting at about the hundred mile mark. Knowing I was gonna get a new one, I just left it as is and checked it after every ride. By the time I took it in and swapped it for the new plate, one crack was already to the edge and the other was about 1/4" away. Here's the new setup....

A sheet of .063" 2024T3 cut to size...

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Troweled on some blue RTV.......

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... and used a pair of rotors as weights to bond the two together.

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I'll let it set up overnight, then drill the holes. Here's the fastener stack-up I'm gonna use. I'll use some blue loctite and just snug the nuts up enough to get a little squeeze on the rubbers.

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- - - Here's the fastener stack-up I'm gonna use. I'll use some blue loctite and just snug the nuts up enough to get a little squeeze on the rubbers.
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Hi Jim,
looks good.
Use Nyloks instead of dome nuts and put a 3rd rubber washer between the reinforced plate and the plate mount and it'll be perfect
 
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