Is that an 1858 Remington New Model Army in your avatar? I have an original one that looks almost identical, got for $1 from a neighbor when I was 15, 50 years ago. I used to shoot it a lot, it's now 160 years old but still mechanically sound.

My neighbor was a deputy sheriff and took it off a pile of confiscated firearms about to be dumped in the ocean. A piece of history that could have been lost forever.

https://i.imgur.com/puMKOnwl.jpg?1

John

https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.hdf...e69c751ba2.jpg
It's a Uberti replica of Frank James' 1858, minus his Ivory grip panels. I have a stainless cartridge cylinder for it and shoot cowboy loaded .45 LC out of it.
Dead nuts accurate shooter. My favorite TV fondling gun.
But it's not an antique, it's a fake! Sure is pretty, though.

Yes, it's very beautiful, my gun's little brother.

John

Thanks, John. Your gun looks like new. I'd have it appraised.
The NGKs fixed my bike. After 40 seconds it was ready to ride. The idle DOES sound 'stronger.' I don't understand it myself, but there it is.
I've never used Champions. Knock or no knock, this bike doesn't like em.

Funny little sidetrack subject. Back in February, I won a Henry Silver Eagle in a raffle here in PA. Beautiful piece, but as much as I enjoy target shooting, I'm not particularly comfortable with the ranges in my area. I ended up selling it to a friend that has an old revolver that looks like it should be a set match with the rifle. Very cool.

Regarding bike stuff, the engine is running well after having it serviced, and the front suspension is now excellent, but I still haven't tracked down the oil leak, my handlebars need to be tightened down since they keep rotating on me if there's even modest pressure (the buckhorn shape makes it easier to torque them out of position), the weather has been too stupid hot to get out often, and on my last ride my battery died on me at a gas station. All these little annoyances add up, and I'm just not "feeling it" right now. Hopefully I'll get some modest weather soon so that I can do my maintenance and not feel like dying before getting out to actually ride. Yeesh.

Pack, my mini apes did that til I finally doused the screws with blue loctite and tightened them down a little more than I normally would. For a little gremlin that one is extremely irritating for some reason.
So many batteries just up and die on these things.. makes me wonder. Back in the '90s a couple riding buddies put cheap lead acid riding mower batteries on their bikes and they lasted damn near forever. We pay up the arse for these high tech batteries, and for what?

To make the Chinese weathy.

The handlebar issue may be due to the shop either not using loctite or not torquing down the bolts enough after they did my front spring replacement. Should be easy enough to address, of course. It's just the One More Thing tedium.

As for the battery, I've had a number of electrical issues that have been addressed, from a replaced stator about a year and a half ago to a new regulator the same time my shocks were done a couple of months ago. Prior to that, my phone charger kept cutting out. On my latest ride, the phone stayed charging the whole time, which MIGHT have led to the bike battery not getting enough charge during a 2 hour ride. That seems a bit much, but I guess it's possible. Or the battery is just too old now after 4 years. Either way, I have a jump pack now that I plan to keep in my swingarm bag, and possibly also use as the charging source for my phone. Seems enough of a beast that it should be able to keep my phone charged AND still have enough juice for a jump if needed. We'll see how it goes.

I also don't have a garage, so when it was sitting for about a month due to the stupid heat, it wasn't plugged into my Battery Tender. Shouldn't matter as much in hot weather as it does in cold, but still.

You may be onto something. Lawn mowers deal with plenty of vibration, sit unattended most of the time and spend long cold winters in sheds.
How often do they get a new battery? Less than our bikes, I would say.

I've read that most car batteries fail in the heat of summer. Your stator and regulator going bad probably drained it a few times, something else that can cut its life span.