Steer Inn Diner 2013

All year I have been trying to get over to the Steer Inn Diner on the east side of Indy for their Vintage Bike Night.  I always like to show off my vintage 75 GL1000 but there have been problems...real and imagined.  There were weather problems, too hot or too cold, too rainy, too much like a tornado on the way.  Then there were problem with logistics such as we were having company or we were out of town.  After all since this event is held every month I could always put off going until next month.  Finally the day came when the Goldilocks Effect was in full force...everything was "just right." 

So MKH and I hopped on my 75 Honda Goldwing and made the trip to the East side.  I think I hit every pothole and manhole cover on Washington Street and believe me there were a lot of them.  My eyes must need to be checked because I would be squinting to try to read the street signs and then I'd hit a pothole.  There were a couple of them that I thought were going to bend the rims on my bike.

It was rewarding to pull into the parking lot and see about 100 bikes with their proud owners filling up all the available space in this little diner which was featured in an episode of Dives, Diners and Drive-Ins.

My wife and I both had the Steer Burger, which was a half a pound of beef on a bun.  MKH had the fries and I had the onion rings.  The onion rings were a little too done but the burger more than made up for it.

We saw a dozen or so from the Taco Tuesday crowd that meets in Brownsburg, IN every Tuesday night.  They had some of the nicest bikes there.  I had a chance to snap these pictures before they all took off in a puff of smoke.  I hope to make it back to the Steer Inn Diner in October.  Besides checking out the bikes I think I'll sample their meatloaf dinner.

naked goldwing final drive

The final drive must be one of the most overlooked parts on my naked goldwing motorcycle. The oil in this poor stepsister part smells putrid. At least the Kawasaki Gear Oil I'd been using stunk pretty bad. The other reason for my blatant neglect is the infrequency of service required. My Haynes Manual says to change the hypoid gear oil every 2 years or 24,000 miles. Woops, it's been 8 years so I best get to it.
I had actually checked the hypoid (don't you love that term, a combination of hyper and paranoid, which describes a few people I've known) gear oil often over the past eight years and the level never budged by one drop that I could tell. Now that I'm reminded about the proper service interval I'll do better.
Also, I'm going to be using a different product this time around.
The Lucas family is well known around the Circle City and since they sponsor the stadium where one of my favorite NFL teams plays I think I'll give their HUB oil a chance. It sure doesn't stink like the Kawasaki product and it is almost a gel so it squeezes right in where it's supposed to go. After waiting for the HUB oil to settle and for the bubbles to disappear I sealed the final drive up again. It is such an easy job. Why did I neglect this little chore before?
I sure do have a lot of product left over. Does anyone want to come over and get their hypoid gear oil changed?