Need help to stop farkle mania :)

Okay long winter is here, keep thinking about riding, then realize cant do it. And its twice as painful when you recently moved to a new ride, just had few hundred miles on it and had to store it. Then keep watching youtube videos of guys riding and having fun with FJR. That sort of aggravates the strong desire to ride instead of alleviating the pain. Then ..... the choice comes down to the next best thing to do... work on bike. Okay lets do that.. after 2-3 weeks all main maintenance and even detailing is done with. What do we do now. Its only December. Ooohhh i know,, lets BUY more stuff for the bike and start with the dayum FARKLING ...... noooooo I already spend close to 20% of the used bike price on buying more stuff to add to the bike, and i have a feeling i am gonna end up doing more if the winter aint gonna end soon. ..... ebay...amazon...forums...craiglist.... sooo many options

how do you guys curb your enthusiasm to farkle or get rid of the itch to do that. i know .. like say NO like a mature adult... but still wonder if anybody had a good justification to keep adding stuff. A secret theory to get rid of the guilt. Like thinking it can all be sold off later? How do you basically survive the winter. Just wax and polish every other week or so ?

It's gonna be a long winter in Ohio for you isn't it?

I have no easy answer for you. One of the things I like to do is start looking at next year's calendar and begin to plan trips for the future. Dates are already out for EOM so combining with my available vacation time where else can I go? Playing around in Basecamp to decide if I want to head to Barber Motorsports Park in Alabama, visit a good friend in San Antonio, TX or ? I already signed up for Tour of Honor again so once those locations come out I'll factor them into my plans.

You could always buy a basket case vintage bike and start on a restoration project.....

Wax, polish, detail? There's a bike in my garage, that could use a little of that...and after Christmas, I'll have an Admore light kit to install in my V47. Let me know when you'd like to come over and help.

"How do you basically survive the winter?."

I drink......

It's gonna be a long winter in Ohio for you isn't it?<br /><br />

I have no easy answer for you. One of the things I like to do is start looking at next year's calendar and begin to plan trips for the future. Dates are already out for EOM so combining with my available vacation time where else can I go? Playing around in Basecamp to decide if I want to head to Barber Motorsports Park in Alabama, visit a good friend in San Antonio, TX or ? I already signed up for Tour of Honor again so once those locations come out I'll factor them into my plans.<br />

<br />

You could always buy a basket case vintage bike and start on a restoration project.....</p>

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Always wanted to do a restore work, but my skill set is so poor

Doc,

Forget the farkles, they are a big waist of time and money (IMHO). Concentrate on the best safety gear that you can afford. First thing is the best helmet that you can afford. Start at "Iron pony" they have thousands of helmets on the floor, try them all on to see which fits you best.

Then go to their boot dept. and do the same thing. Next is gloves, then jacket and then pants. (In no particular order)

Do not go to "Walmarts" and buy work gloves,work boots, work jacket, and work pants just to save a few bucks.

Remember, it not if you are going to crash. It's when you crash, you will be glad that you made the investment in good safety gear.

See you at the SEOR

<blockquote class='ipsBlockquote'><p>Wax, polish, detail? There's a bike in my garage, that could use a little of that...and after Christmas, I'll have an Admore light kit to install in my V47. Let me know when you'd like to come over and help.</p></p></blockquote>

See you bought admore light we keep finding someway to throw more money at the bike and keep coming up with an excuse on why it's necessary. Wish I could come and just watch and learn on how you install it. But timing is tuff, most time when I am working on the bike it's like at 1:00am sacrificing the sleep. (Don't start the bike) Thank god neighbours haven't called cops thinking it's a burgler they for sure gonna call the looney toons before end of winter.

I am suffering from the same syndrome. Yeh, it sucks.

Dave

Ray, I am good on gear. Been riding for some time, just new to fjr. Over the years accumulated gears for full coverage

Can't wait to meet rest of you frequent seo flyers

You should buy more motorcycles, ATVs, lawn tractors and assorted other piston powered stuff. The number of motorcycles one owns should be based at least in part on the length of the winter to be endured. Also, volunteer to service your friends' bikes.

So far I've got one bike and one tractor done. Six bikes, one ATV and one tractor to go. It's also a good idea to keep a bottle of fine Irish spirits in the shop as a pace moderation aide.

Farklemania is a pandemic here.

I had it really bad on my '05. At one point I made a list of all the stuff I had bought and put on the bike. Much of it I later decided I did not like, removed it and re-sold it on the forum classifieds, but in each case I lost $ for the privilege of trying it. But I also learned which things were worthy of having, and which ones were not.

When I got the new red beauty in 2014 I had a much better game plan of the things I needed, the things I wanted, and the things that were just a waste of time and money. Yeah, I still bought a lot of stuff, but I did not waste much money on things that subsequently came back off. And I did get to transfer some (though unfortunately not all) of the expensive goodies over from the 05 like zumo GPS, Radar Detector, Stacom1 intercom, powered Bags Connection tank bag, etc., etc.

It is encouraging to realize that we are just 2 weeks away from the winter solstice, and after that the days will be getting longer already! Best advice given so far for beating those winter blues may be to stock up on some good, cheap hooch, or else visit one of the new Green States [1].

[1] states that have legalized recreational use

Stop farklemania? You're asking the wrong crowd.

As for winter, that's when the riding season gets really good for some of us. ~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Farklemania" There is no known cure. Give generously.

sigh must be hard to live somewhere that this stuff you call snow stops you riding... winter in Queensland just means its nicer out riding and you dont sweat for a change when your stopped at a set of lights.

as for the Farklemania I would look at it as 1) Testing to see what mods work and what dont for you, 2) gathering a set of mods that you will be able to transfer to your next Bike as well. 3) Tell the missus that its better for you to be in the Garage working on the bike than at the pub.

I'm in the Chicago area so I feel your pain. Last winter was the first winter with my new bike - although I had the entire summer to enjoy it.

I did go a little crazy with farkling last winter but I have the bike where I want it now. A popular and needed mod is a seat if you haven't done it already. Now is the best time to consider a custom seat since the demand is a bit lower - and you can be without it for weeks and it's not a problem.

Look out for group buys for this too. I got in on a group buy for a Seat Concepts setup for 30% off.

With the cold weather here, I now have changed gears to my other hobby - racing RC cars. Fun to build and mod - and while not cheap, definitely cheaper than a project car which I don't have room for or can afford.

I don't know how you guys up north do it. I definitely sympathize

I can ride year round, and I've only ever been able to scratch the itch.....I've yet to alleviate it with ANY bike.....regardless of age or degree of farkledness.

The resto project sounds like a great plan for someone with so much downtime. Forget skillset....just go out and buy you the cheapest little vintage enduro bike you can find, and start taking things off, putting things on, cleaning things up, breaking things, taping things, googling things, and drinking plenty of beer and/or coffee. Any project gone right OR wrong will teach you something, so there's really no downside to it. Hell.... who knows....by the time Spring rolls around you might have you a nice little secondary toy to putt around on.

Whatever the case, good luck!!! And see you when the snow melts!

I've lived in Alabama and Georgia. Riding in the summer heat and humidity is no treat.

Pterodactyl said:

I've lived in Alabama and Georgia. Riding in the summer heat and humidity is no treat.

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I second that.....especially on a sportbike. When I had my CBR600RR, stopping at a red-light during the summer was about the most miserable I've ever been on a bike.

Side note: I see your Airborne Ranger status down there. When were you in? I was 1ID from '02-'05 and 4ID from '05-'07.

Easiest way I know to stop spending is to just get-it-over-with and finish the bike!

I've had four...yes, four chances to get it right so have a pretty good idea what [for me] works or doesn't. As others have mentioned, best part of a new scoot is stripping the old one, transferring goodies and flipping what doesn't work! Besides - flipping funds new goodies, a win-win in my book.

We're all in good company here...we all suffer from the same "disease".

--G