GWRRA/FLORIDA DISTRICTGWRRA/FLORIDA DISTRICTGWRRA/FLORIDA DISTRICT

DIRECTOR:

Jere & Sherry Goodman

DIRECTOR’S ASSISTANT:

Bob & Nan Shrader

DISTRICT DIRECTORS:

Bill & Cheryl Smith

Assistant District Directors: Rick & Madalena Buck

District Educators:

Dominick & Diane DeSiato

FL1FL1FL1---M OFFICERSM OFFICERSM OFFICERS

Sr. Chapter Directors: Curtis & Kim Palmore

727-742-2042 mrec1@verizon.net

Assistant Chapter Directors: Paul & Wavy Begin

727-536-6156 pbegin@tampabay.rr.com

Assistant Chapter Directors: Jack & Janet Holzer

727-547-4061 theholz2@aol.com

Sr. Treasurer:

Bill Zulas

Chapter Ride Coordinator: Mark Augustine

727-599-6257 m_augustine@

tampabay.rr.com

KICK TIRESKICK TIRESKICK TIRES

111st, 2nd, & 4th Thursdaysst, 2nd, & 4th Thursdaysst, 2nd, & 4th Thursdays

1st 1st 1st ––– Village Inn 2525 GulfVillage Inn 2525 GulfVillage Inn 2525 Gulf---tototo---BayBayBay

222ndndnd ––– Our Place 1101 S. MissouriOur Place 1101 S. MissouriOur Place 1101 S. Missouri

4th 4th 4th --- Rotating Rotating Rotating ——— See Calendar See Calendar See Calendar ***

Eat at 6:00; Meet at 7:00 p.m.Eat at 6:00; Meet at 7:00 p.m.Eat at 6:00; Meet at 7:00 p.m.

*** Visit us online:Visit us online:Visit us online:

www.suncoastwings.comwww.suncoastwings.comwww.suncoastwings.com

Volume XXI; Issue 3

March 2021

TABLE OF CONTENTSTABLE OF CONTENTSTABLE OF CONTENTS

FL1-M Team . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

Sr. Chapter Director’s Message . . . . . . . 3

Rider Education Corner . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Annual Maintenance Musings . . . . . . . . . 5

Chapter Auction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

Valentine’s Day at Early Bird . . . . . . . . . 8

Florida District Rally Flier . . . . . . . . . . 10

District Calendar of Events . . . . . . . . . . 11

March Calendar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

Special Days . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

Advertising . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

GENERAL GATHERING GENERAL GATHERING GENERAL GATHERING April 15, 2021April 15, 2021April 15, 2021

Country SkilletCountry SkilletCountry Skillet

2839 Roosevelt Blvd.

Clearwater, Florida

Eat at 6:00; Meet at 7:00 p.m.

FriendsFriendsFriends for Fun, for Fun, for Fun, Safety & KnowledgeSafety & KnowledgeSafety & Knowledge!!!

Newsletter Editor: Kim Palmore

2

Goodie Sales

Brent & Vicki Oldham

50/50 Sales:

Bob Reynolds

Mike & Carolyn Korbel

Photographers:

Kim Palmore

Glenn Duncan

2020 Couple of the Year

Brent & Vicki Oldham

2020 Person of the Year

Mark Augustine

Chapter FL1-M’s Team

Database Coordinator

Ron Jackson

Webmaster

Paul Begin

Skill Enhancement Advisor

Glenn & Joanne Duncan

Asst. Ride Coord. Team:

Charlie Nolan

Curtis Palmore

Secretary

Wavy Begin

Newsletter Editor

Kim Palmore

Asst. Membership Enhancement Coord.

Cathy Sweeney

Triathlon Coordinator

Glenn Duncan

3

Senior Chapter Directors Message

Remember to wear a mask and social distance per COVID 19 guidelines at all FL1-M events.

Curtis & Kim Palmore

Sr. Chapter Directors FL1-M

Chapter M took advantage of some beautiful riding weather in February to travel far and wide. Highlights of the month included a ride on the 6th to Zolfo Springs for lunch at the Pioneer Restaurant; then it was on to Popi’s Place in Palmetto on the 15th. Next up was the Jacaranda Inn in Avon Park on the 21st and last but not least, we rode to Avon Park on the 28th. A ride to the Navigator was rained out so we’ll try to get that back on the schedule soon.

29 folks celebrated Valentine’s at the Early Bird Dinner Theater ON Valentine’s Day. As always, the food and show were great! Check out photos from the event on pages

8 and 9.

March will be another action-packed month in FL1-M. We are looking forward to some more great rides as well as the District Wing Gathering, March 18-20, at the Hil-ton in Altamonte Springs. See details on the rally, registration, etc. on page 10. We hope that you’ll plan to join us for this FUN event!

Chapter M’s annual Auction is scheduled for Sunday, March 28, at the Pinellas Park Church of Christ. Many thanks to Glenn and Joanne Duncan for arranging for us to use their Church’s Annex building for our Auction. For those new to FL1-M since

our last Auction, this is your chance to spend those Chapter dollars that you’ve earned during the past year. Chapter dollars are awarded for attendance, for wearing your Chapter shirt, for volunteering and so forth. Be sure to go to page 7 for all the details on the Auction.

Also, be sure to take a look at Mark Augustine’s humorous “tech” article this month on page 5. We think you’ll get a chuckle out of it.

That, that’s all for this month, folks. Be SAFE. We’ll see you out there!

REMEMBER THAT TIME CHANGES ON

SUNDAY, MARCH 14!

SPRING FORWARD

1 HOUR.

4

Rider Education Corner

Ride Safe, Dominick & Diane DeSiato District Ride Educator

Our Rally is Coming!!

Hello to all! We hope everyone is still doing well. We know some of our GWR-RA functions are still being suspended or limited. However, we have started Rider Training for 2021 with success. We had an ARC on Feb. 1st and a TRC on Feb. 8th in Ocala. It was a great time for those in attendance. There is going to be another ARC on Feb. 25th in Ft. Myers. That class is full and we even have riders on standby in case someone doesn’t show up. You can keep your levels status by simply taking the rider course this year (if you are due) as the MFA Class requirement for the Levels Program has been suspended until De-cember 2021. That means there is no penalty to your Levels Program advance-

ment due to not having a current MFA Class. We will continue to provide Rid-ing Classes when you request and fill a class. This is your raffle ticket money hard at work. So, let’s get out there and sell as many raffle tickets as we can. It is a great advantage to be able to take these courses for free. We encourage everyone to participate.

5

Lets address the fork seals today. This year, just for the fun of it and because oil is visibly leak-

ing, I get to attack the fun chore of changing my fork seals. Now here is a job that can go side-

ways in a variety of manners. Probably the most common mishap is the fluid is designed to leak

everywhere but the drain pan. It has been formulated to avoid being contained. They cap off

both ends of the fork tube to seal it in and yet, like in the movie, “The Great Escape” it will work to get out. Next, the fork drain bolts can and do strip. The 6mm allen style bolt is recessed so

far up the fork tube that it can only be seen with a telescope. The metal of the bolt is scientifi-

cally formulated to round out the hex even when just inserting the tool in. By the way, good

luck finding an allen key that is about 6 inches long. ****Tech tip…..DO NOT use one of those al-

len keys with a ball hex at the end, you’ve invited disaster!!!****

Everything attached to the fork has to be removed, and the fun part here is remembering where

all the different length bolts get to go in at the end. OK, you have the fender off, the brake cali-pers are next. Even though you replaced the brake pads 6 weeks ago, they are worn out again.

Now you are off to the parts department at Honda where they are out of stock and you can get

them in a week. Looking at the bright side, this gives you more time to screw up the fork job

and forget where the bolts will go in at the end stages.

The dash and trim should be removed to gain access to the top fork pinch bolts and avoid break-

ing the plastic faces of the instrument cluster, etc. Again, a variety pack of bolts, screws, clips

and probably some fastener only NASA can identify will impede progress. Fortunately, the elec-

trical connectors only go in one way. Unfortunately, part of the procedure is to forget to plug

one in and get to take everything apart again.

Where the brake lines are concerned, a decision square is hit. Disconnect the lines and you’ll

spend a fortnight bleeding out the system. DO NOT remove the anti-dive valve from the fork.

There are seals in there and Honda does not supply replacement parts! It is to be serviced with the fork as an assembly. Expensive mistake. (Don’t ask me how I know.) Let’s just say I saw a

guy in my mirror do it and he spent the best part of an afternoon matching brake fluid friendly o-

rings to undo that mistake. BUT, you can remove the top half of the anti-dive valve off without

peril. A little trick of the trade.

If you’ve safety traversed the project to this stage, you earn the Indiana Jones Adventurer’s

Award!! Most of the pitfalls have been overcome, and now you are to the point to just steal the

idol from the platform and you’re good to go. Let’s steal the idol. The end caps are to come off next. This is easy because there is about 10,000 lbs of spring tension behind them to help you.

Annual Maintenance Musings

Back when I was in Chicago, March tradi-

tionally triggered instincts in bears to end their

hibernation and motorcyclists to get their bikes ready for riding season. (I have no bear whistle so

I am always on the look-out for them.) It is so in-

grained in me that I had parts ordered and shipped

by mid-February. I am planning my annual

maintenance-fest pretty much in the middle of

prime riding season here in Florida. No one has ever accused me of being the brightest bulb in the

box. Fortunately, most operations can be done in

a couple hours after work and in stages. What

mucks up the whole works is when something goes

awry.

When you find metal shavings in your final drive or God forbid, your engine oil, maybe, just maybe,

you let things go a little longer than you should

have. It is time to reassess what you are willing to

do, able to do or should be tackled at all. Thank-

fully, this scenario is not very common.

6

Start turning the end caps until the threads release and off comes that cap at 120 MPH!! Also shot from the tube is the spring, spacer, and washer. All can be retrieved from the wall that they

embedded themselves into since being released from the cannon Honda labeled as a “Fork Tube”.

The seal is mostly straightforward at this time. Dust boot, retainer clip, another washer and seal.

DONE! (Oh, better refill with fluid and bleed the fork…might help in the end. HUGE tech tip there)

Basically, Hanukkah is a shorter holiday than the time it takes to replace fork seals. Do it right and

you will have a nice responsive suspension. Do it wrong and you will be riding the mechanical bull

from Urban Cowboy. This is not my first rodeo, however. I have assembled all the parts, tools and se-

ries of expletives to accomplish this job. See you in April, possibly.

Ride Coordinator—Continued

RIDE SAFE!

Mark Augustine

Chapter M Ride Coordinator

7

Come join us for a FUN afternoon complete with great

FOOD, FELLOWSHIP and BARGAINS at Chapter M’s Annual Auction!! The festivities kick off at 1:00 p.m. with a deli-

cious pot luck lunch. Everyone brings their favorite dish to share. The Chapter supplies soft drinks, water, condi-

ments, plates, napkins and cutlery.

After socializing over lunch, we’ll start the Auction. Jack Holzer will be the man with the gavel as this year’s Auc-

tioneer extraordinaire! Bidding is fast and furious for

favorite items, and it’s always exciting to see who ends up with what!

Plan now to attend so you

don’t miss out!

8

Valentine’s Day at the Early Bird!

FL1-M celebrated Valentine’s Day at the Early Bird Dinner Theater. We feasted on a delicious buffet and enjoyed a terrific show.

9

FL1-M Celebrated Valentine’s Day!

10

Florida District Rally is March 18-20, 2021!

The theme for this year’s District Rally is “Luck of the Irish”. The March 2020 Rally was cancelled due to COVID so that theme has been carried over to 2021.

Many of you generously allowed the Florida District to roll your Rally registration from March 2020 to March 2021. If so, you should receive an email from Geno

Jette, Florida Asst. Dir. in charge of Rally Registration, soon. Don’t forget, though, that you still need to reserve your hotel room for the Rally. Call 407/830-1985 and use Group Code GWRM21 or you can reserve your room and

register online at http://www.gwrraflorida.com/rally.html

11

2021

Mar. 18-20 District Gathering of the Wings Altamonte Springs

June 29-July 3 Wing Ding 42 Springfield, MO

To view fliers with more details on these events, click below

http://www.gwrraflorida.com/events.html

FLORIDA DISTRICT NEWSLETTER: TO ACCESS THE CURRENT DISTRICT NEWSLETTER CLICK ON THIS LINK:

http://www.gwrraflorida.com/newsletter.html

FLORIDA DISTRICT EVENTS

12

CHAPTER FL1CHAPTER FL1CHAPTER FL1---M’S MM’S MM’S M ARCH 2021 CALENDARARCH 2021 CALENDARARCH 2021 CALENDAR

Hope to see YOU at some of these FUN activities!

Visit us at:

suncoastwings.com

All Riders Meetings (RM) will be at the WaWa’s

at US 19 and Roosevelt Blvd. unless otherwise noted.

BE SURE TO FILL GAS TANK BEFORE RIDERS MEETING.

13

Birthdays

03/03 Jennie Cox

03/06 John Griffith

03/06 Buzz Probus

03/16 Earl Rummel

03/18 Candi Vetal

03/19 Lee Vetal

03/28 J.R. Garrison

MarchMarchMarch

Birthdays 4/02 Ken Redding

4/04 Carolyn Korbel

4/07 Marley Genusa

4/13 Winnie McGill

4/13 Patty Traylor

4/20 Mary Ann Claypool

4/20 Roger Rubeck

4/23 Maryann Todd

4/28 Debra Augustine

AprilAprilApril

Anniversaries

03/01 Ron & Kathy Jackson

03/13 Brent & Vicki Oldham

Anniversaries

04/04 Mark & Debra Augustine

04/05 Bill & Winnie McGill

04/13 David & Zee Morgan

04/20 Buzz & Betty Probus

14

15

Barney's Motorcycle Sales

10411 Gandy Blvd.

St. Petersburg FL 33702

Phone: (727) 576-1148 Fax: (727) 578-2105

Toll Free Phone:

Boot-A-Pest Pest Control

(727) 726-7033

727-524-3746

www.mrecinc.com

mrec1@verizon.net

Advertise your business in Chapter FL1-M’s

monthly newsletter.

Our reasonable annual rates are:

Business Card $25.00

1/4 Page $50.00

1/2 Page $75.00

Full Page $100.00

Your ad will also appear on our website at www.suncoastwings.com