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[Midnight Rider]

Destination:  Rod's Performance.  Rod does a lot of work for people in the Birmingham area...pretty good reputation, with fair prices.  He does tunes, and anything from normal servicing to fairly wild motor builds.  He had a beautiful Gray 2001 SERG on the lift replacing a clutch when I was there.

While I was there, I had him put my bike up on the Dyno and check out my TTS map.  He fooled with it a bit, and did what ended up (after some folks here helped me figure out what was happening) making an open loop map.  The bike ran good and was developing typical numbers for a Stage I Fullsac mod.  Since the map was so good already (Steve's canned map), there wasn't much to do.  He only charged me for a basic pull on the Dyno, so no big deal...I just have a richer map now if I ever want to drag race, which will never happen.  After learning a bit more about how the TTS works, by reading and other's here jumping in, I decided I did not want the bike running "old school" open loop, so emailed Steve and got the latest and greatest MT8 map for our bikes, loaded it up and took it for a test run.  Bike runs perfect, and has a bit more power (seat of the pants) than the MT7 file I was running earlier.  I must be lucky, and have one of those bikes that the canned map works just fine in.  I'm not going to mess with it again, as I'm not into chasing 2 more HP or TQ for a $250 tune.

My intention was to ride about 150 additional miles after leaving Rod's...however, it seems when the HD shop replaced my rear brake switch, they snipped one of the wire ties I had holding the Legend Air wiring/tubing running up the right side of the bike frame, allowing the air tube to get a little bit too close to the header collector.  It softened up during the Dyno pull and blew out.  No spare tubing on board, so I got to ride home with the shocks all the way down.  While the shocks still function (tire will not rub on fender), the bike rides like an old hardtail, so the rest of the day's ride was out of the question.  Stopped by the HD dealer on the way home and got a bag of tubing (Legends is the same tubing as stock) about 20' long.  Replaced it after getting home and made sure this would not happen again, by making up a "kit" to keep on the bike so that I can either replace any line that fails, or seperate the shocks from the compressor/bleed off by plugging the line and airing the shocks up with a gas station air chuck via the original shock valve located behind the left rear saddlebag.  I had left everthing plumbed up to that to begin with, but had not made up a plug for one side of the tee.  That won't ever happen again.

[Midnight Rider]

BTW, the 100th Anniversary Blk/Silver bike pictured above belongs to one of the guys that works for Rod.  The guy has done a lot of work to the bike, and it's a nice one.

Better ride reports will follow soon, especially since the days are now longer and the time has changed...

[GregKhougaz]

The bike looks great!     Glad it is running well for you.

[JCZ]

Great report Terry.....thanks for taking us along.  Great narrative also.....something I need to work on with my RRs.

[RidinRuby]

Nice report, thanks for posting

[LovemyCVOgirl]

Enjoyed your photo's with the narrative  I was born in Selma, Alabama back in the 50's.  My father was stationed at Craig Air Force Base. I have been back there a few times since to see relatives and I am shocked how the city has turned for the worse.  Abandoned buildings, broken windows, trash blowing everywhere and places you would not be caught after the sun went down.  The economy has really hit the south.  Thank you again for the photos and BTW, you have a beautiful mc 

[1sharprdkg]

Nice ride Terry, funny how Alabama looks a lot like Tennessee!

[Buy early]

Great report and photos! Thanks for sharing!

[Skillet]

Great photos. A little greener back there. Thanks for posting.

[Midnight Rider]

Enjoyed your photo's with the narrative  I was born in Selma, Alabama back in the 50's.  My father was stationed at Craig Air Force Base. I have been back there a few times since to see relatives and I am shocked how the city has turned for the worse.  Abandoned buildings, broken windows, trash blowing everywhere and places you would not be caught after the sun went down.  The economy has really hit the south.  Thank you again for the photos and BTW, you have a beautiful mc 

Yes, after the air force base closed, things went downhill.  There are a few industries locating there now, but it is still a depressed area, economically.  My wife's daughter lives there via a marriage, so when her (my wife) husband passed away 7 years ago, she moved there because she didn't know where else to go.  She is originally from the Portsmouth, VA area, then lived in San Diego for over 20 years, and she and her then husband moved to Missouri and had a place on Table Rock Lake when he got sick.

Judi (my wife) survived in Selma due to some kind people befriending her, and she worked for the Chamber of Commerce for a while before retiring for good.  When we met (on E-Harmony), I was hesitant to even meet somebody who lived in Selma (don't mean to sound like a snob, but the place is kind of the armpit of the universe), but after learning she was a former Southern California girl, I figured we'd have some things in common, and the rest is history.  There is NOTHING to do in Selma, unless you belong to the Country Club, and that is not my kind of thing.  You can't even find a decent place to eat, unless you like take out Fried Chicken.  It's a shame, because the place has some wonderful history, but local politics and the attitude of the majority living there is awful.  She still owns a home there, and with the market, can't afford to sell right now...but we're making two house payments, and hers is much cheaper than mine, so the next few months will determine if we are forced to move there for a year or so.  I'd probably go nuts...the closest area that has anything to do is Prattville, and that's 45 minutes away.  Birmingham is 1.5 hours on mostly backroads.  Yep, I'd go nuts, unless I spent all my time fishing or riding.

[LovemyCVOgirl]

Yes, after the air force base closed, things went downhill.  There are a few industries locating there now, but it is still a depressed area, economically.  My wife's daughter lives there via a marriage, so when her (my wife) husband passed away 7 years ago, she moved there because she didn't know where else to go.  She is originally from the Portsmouth, VA area, then lived in San Diego for over 20 years, and she and her then husband moved to Missouri and had a place on Table Rock Lake when he got sick.

Judi (my wife) survived in Selma due to some kind people befriending her, and she worked for the Chamber of Commerce for a while before retiring for good.  When we met (on E-Harmony), I was hesitant to even meet somebody who lived in Selma (don't mean to sound like a snob, but the place is kind of the armpit of the universe), but after learning she was a former Southern California girl, I figured we'd have some things in common, and the rest is history.  There is NOTHING to do in Selma, unless you belong to the Country Club, and that is not my kind of thing.  You can't even find a decent place to eat, unless you like take out Fried Chicken.  It's a shame, because the place has some wonderful history, but local politics and the attitude of the majority living there is awful.  She still owns a home there, and with the market, can't afford to sell right now...but we're making two house payments, and hers is much cheaper than mine, so the next few months will determine if we are forced to move there for a year or so.  I'd probably go nuts...the closest area that has anything to do is Prattville, and that's 45 minutes away.  Birmingham is 1.5 hours on mostly backroads.  Yep, I'd go nuts, unless I spent all my time fishing or riding.

I wouldn't wish moving back to Selma on anyone so I feel your pain.  That city is so devided among the races.  I noticed that a lot of Vietnamese people were living there the last time I drove through the city.  My relatives said that because the population was declining so badly that the political side recruited these people and practically gave them free housing and no property taxes.  That added to the racial tensions and the rest is history.  My grandma lived there until she passed away at the age of 98.  She fished everyday of her life and smoked no filter camels until she took her last breath and that day came when she had a stroke sitting on the Alabama river bank fishing.  She died doing what she loved and when found her sons had to pry her cane pole from her hands as she laid there dead on the bank. Everyone in Selma new her and loved her.  When they had her funeral, half the town shut down to attend.  She was an amazing woman.

I wish you the best (you and your wife) and hope that your decision will be easy and temporary.  Thank you again for the update on my birth place.

[jiml53]

Great report...    I've got those same XM stations programmed as well.


   Jim   

[MadCVORG]

Definitely appreciate the road pics. Best I can do in Afghanistan is a Polaris 2-seater, 15 mph speed limit, mostly on gravel.  Itching to get home and travel the back roads.  Didn't know Rod's was so close, that may be a good stop along with Riders HD.