Friday, March 7, 2014

Snow Deliveries

I guess you can never have enough snow. It seemed really unusual to see a delivery of snow. Not just one load but the dump trucks have been driving through the parking lot all morning. Usually, they are hauling the stuff out of the parking lot. So, my curious nature got me out into the -18°F day to do a little exploring. BTW, the weird shaped building in the background is the University of Alaska Museum of the North. One of the best museums in the state. I would put it just behind the new Anchorage Museum at the Rasmuson Center for the number of displays.

Back to the snow deliveries. The Fairbanks campus has been building a snow park on the hill between the museum and the roundabout. This is the area just to the east of the building I'm in. Maybe they are grooming the hills and ramps for some planned event this weekend or just to let students take advantage of the beautiful sunny days.

And, yes, I did ride in again this morning. Yesterday, George heard me coming into the parking lot by College Coffeehouse after my visit to the clinic and mentioned that the throttle cable on the right carb had too much slack. When I got home, I pulled out the 10mm wrench to loosen the lock screw on the throttle cable and it was loose. I guess I must've forgotten to tighten the lock nut after I had balanced the carbs last year. I turned it out a couple of turns effectively shortening the cable until the engine felt and sounded smooth at partial throttle. The engine felt much smoother at low throttle settings this morning. George has been working on BMW air cooled twins for a long time and this is just an example of his experience. 

12 comments:

  1. Google "hulbert nanook" like on the flag in the second pic.....
    Still -18 up there. We're headed to +40 this weekend!!!

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    1. Our temperatures are all over the place but generally cold (negative teens °F) at night and warm (positive teens °F) by late afternoon.

      I couldn't remember what this snow park was called, thank you.

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    2. Richard:

      I have to smile when someone in WI knows what's happening in Fairbanks when even the locals don't know

      bob
      A weekend photographer or Riding the Wet Coast

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    3. I've known about the terrain park but have never seen anyone using it. Just a bunch of equipment grooming the snow...

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  2. It would be nice to be that mechanical. But I suppose I can look at a plant and tell what's wrong with it most of the time so that's almost as good.

    Let us know what the snow event is all about!

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    1. George is in a class by himself when it comes to older motorcycles.Not just BMW but just about anything.

      Looked on the calendar and there isn't anything listed for the snow park so I think they are just expecting a crowd this weekend.

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  3. If you can't take Mohamed to the mountain ... you bring the mountain to him right! Excellent idea to build a snow mountain just to play on.

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    1. It's free for students to play on. Maybe I'll stop by later today to see if anything is going on. There used to be one on campus that was steeper and had a rope tow but someone ran into one of the rope tow towers and sued the university so they shut it down.

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  4. It is funny to see truckloads of snow. They did that one year at OSU so they could have some X-Games. Funnier to see in snowy Alaska though.

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    1. I think that they wanted "good" snow as opposed to the stuff that's been lying around all Winter. I'm not sure where it was coming from…

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  5. George is definitely one of the gurus in the Airhead world that I've been privileged to meet in my travels....you guys are fortunate to have him live there.

    As to the snow hill being built, unusual.

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    1. It really is nice to have George around here locally. He really tempers all of the stuff you here on the Internet due to his years of experience with mostly air cooled Beemers. His current fascination seems to with Indian...

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