What did you do to your Concours today?

[Rhino]

Poor mousey

Maybe mousey going to mouse heaven. The big cheese in the sky. But the truth is I don't care. If I had a mouse problem anywhere in the vicinity of my bikes, I would eliminate them in the most efficient manner possible!

[Eupher]

I have to use large windscreen with topper, chaps, jacket liner, and heated vest for those temps.  Low 40's is about as low as I can go and get any kind of comfort with the gear I have.  30's sucks   My legs start to freeze.

Indeed they do

Rode again this morning. Temps a couple degrees cooler, but still OK.

I remember riding to work in SLC on my Honda 919 (no windscreen or fairing) at about 35 F and that was, as they say, "somewhat brisk."

[MAN OF BLUES]

I already had my bike 'put up' for the winter when I decided to remove the battery so that I could bring it inside the house.

I'm really glad that I did because that was a HUGE mouse nest behind the battery. The lil bugger had a very good supply of what looked like bird seed and a nice nest made from my garage insulation. No longer. Instead it will find a block of poison where it's nest used to be. Bon Appétit!

WELL... go a little further and do some more examining...
I've never had a nest in the battery cave, but I have had them 3 different times, up on top of the engine, around the throttle position indicator... they love that spot, probably because it is soo much work to get to... and when they chew up the harness to the TPS, its a royal p.i.t.a. to re tape and insulate that wire bundle... buried deep inside, and attached to the sensor, which requires major work to remove it...
also, look under the seat, in the back, behind the relay box.... in that cave back there... they love that spot also... and chew the bejesus out of that harness when they nest there... I had to repair 15 wires in those harness...

Luckily in every event, I had taken the time to pre-examine those areas, prior to spring "startup", after finding the first nest during a winter service years ago... having not done the nest removal could have resulted in a catastrophic fire and meltdown, on a "first ride" scenario, with the nesting material blowing around and landing down inside the fairing on the header area...

all the "mouse prevention lore" is just useless... peppermint oil, mothballs, dryer sheets, etc... are worthless.. simply don't work... I hate Meeces to Pieces....
I poison them with bait traps, and trap them in "drowning buckets"..

[maxtog]

>"I hate Meeces to Pieces...."

LOL! 

[MAN OF BLUES]

>"I hate Meeces to Pieces...."

LOL! 

yeah, I'm old.... I KNOW who Jinks the Cat really is... and it ain't meet the Fockers...

http://youtu.be/pqSw5KQme1g

http://youtu.be/pqSw5KQme1g

ahh yes...

[VirginiaJim]

yeah, I'm old.... I KNOW who Jinks the Cat really is... and it ain't meet the Fockers...

http://youtu.be/pqSw5KQme1g

http://youtu.be/pqSw5KQme1g

ahh yes...

I feel your oldness...

[Conrad]

WELL... go a little further and do some more examining...
I've never had a nest in the battery cave, but I have had them 3 different times, up on top of the engine, around the throttle position indicator... they love that spot, probably because it is soo much work to get to... and when they chew up the harness to the TPS, its a royal p.i.t.a. to re tape and insulate that wire bundle... buried deep inside, and attached to the sensor, which requires major work to remove it...
also, look under the seat, in the back, behind the relay box.... in that cave back there... they love that spot also... and chew the bejesus out of that harness when they nest there... I had to repair 15 wires in those harness...

Luckily in every event, I had taken the time to pre-examine those areas, prior to spring "startup", after finding the first nest during a winter service years ago... having not done the nest removal could have resulted in a catastrophic fire and meltdown, on a "first ride" scenario, with the nesting material blowing around and landing down inside the fairing on the header area...

all the "mouse prevention lore" is just useless... peppermint oil, mothballs, dryer sheets, etc... are worthless.. simply don't work... I hate Meeces to Pieces....
I poison them with bait traps, and trap them in "drowning buckets"..

Thanks Rich. I did a thorough exam of my bike last week and the nest in the battery compartment was the only one. This is the second time since 2009 that I've found a nest in that location but no others. It's a great place really. If you pull the battery you'll see the nice lil area right there. I have no idea how long the nest has been there but I've been riding regularly up until last week. The first time that I found a nest there the only chewing done was to the tray that the battery sits on.

[kzz1king]

I use poison and drowning buckets also. Our home is surrounded by tall grass so mice are a real problem, especially in the fall. I think the key is to never run out of poison. If you lapse for a while you will have a lot more mice to deal with. The drowning traps are pretty handy to. I use RV antifreeze in mine and have also found if you have a layer of sawdust they cannot get out either Use in area I dont want pets exposed to antifreeze.
Wayne.

[quote author=MAN OF BLUES

all the "mouse prevention lore" is just useless... peppermint oil, mothballs, dryer sheets, etc... are worthless.. simply don't work... I hate Meeces to Pieces....
I poison them with bait traps, and trap them in "drowning buckets"..
[/quote]

[B.D.F.]

Yeah, me too: I can use traps to kill them but I cannot poison them, drown them or catch them in those sticky traps. So I just use snap- traps, and more of them. Also have lately found pistachio nuts to be excellent bait instead of peanut butter, but the pistachios only work for a few days (the scent must fade).

Brian

I know Max. I really hate using poison, as opposed to traps, but I can't have mice chewing up my vehicles.

[Rhino]

Yeah, me too: I can use traps to kill them but I cannot poison them, drown them or catch them in those sticky traps. So I just use snap- traps, and more of them. Also have lately found pistachio nuts to be excellent bait instead of peanut butter, but the pistachios only work for a few days (the scent must fade).

Brian

If your not using at least 10 original Victor traps, your not really trying.

[B.D.F.]

I am using some new- fangled plastic 'port' type traps. The bait goes into a covered well, and there is a tiny hole in front (so the mouse can see / smell the bait). But in poking into that little hole, the mouse must lift up the cover, and that is the trigger to snap the trap shut.

They work pretty well. They are super- easy to use. And as always, it is a game between the mouse and the trap; every once in a while, I find a pistachio nut that has a band chewed right around the whole diameter without having sprung the trap.   

And besides all of that, I have a far, far bigger problem having the traps 'catch' my wife anyway. Usually she just trips them, claims she 'did not notice' and leaves them snapped. But sometimes she trips them and then steps on them breaking them so that I cannot set them again either. So the score is usually something like Mice caught: 2. Wife tripped trap: 34. Wife destroyed trap: 1.

Reminds me of this:

"....They will need Thy blessings. Their road will be long and hard. For the enemy is strong. ...."
-FDR, 6 June, 1944

I sometimes think of this when the mice and wife tag- team me.

 

Brian

If your not using at least 10 original Victor traps, your not really trying.

[tonedeaf1]

If your not using at least 10 original Victor traps, your not really trying.

"ORIGINAL" is the important word here. I cannot believe how useless the fancy yellow gizmo is. I live on the edge of a national forest and I have caught many mice, but none with the yellow bait flapdoodle.

[Rhino]

"ORIGINAL" is the important word here. I cannot believe how useless the fancy yellow gizmo is. I live on the edge of a national forest and I have caught many mice, but none with the yellow bait flapdoodle.

Exactly! The yellow bait "flapdoodle" (technical term) can only release by being moved in one direction, down. The original (100+ year old design) releases if moved in any direction. No one has improved upon that great design.

[VirginiaJim]

And besides all of that, I have a far, far bigger problem having the traps 'catch' my wife anyway. Usually she just trips them, claims she 'did not notice' and leaves them snapped. But sometimes she trips them and then steps on them breaking them so that I cannot set them again either. So the score is usually something like Mice caught: 2. Wife tripped trap: 34. Wife destroyed trap: 1.

Brian

Have you thought about a bigger trap?

[gPink]

...or a smaller wife?

[B.D.F.]

Nah. We've been married since Pike's Peak was a pimple so if nothing else, we are used to each other. Not the most romantic thing perhaps, and certainly not alluring but..... a known quantity and comfortable. Besides all that, I have gotten to like her. So when she springs the traps, I ask her to be less 'crashy' around things and she responds with some or other choice tidbit and..... we move on. Like I said, comfortable. And the world is FULL of mousetraps.

Besides, when we go to see the kids, we do not have to make so many trips (her kids, my kids, our kids) like many other folks. So it saves on fuel costs. 

Brian

Have you thought about a bigger trap?

...or a smaller wife?

[Conniesaki]

...or a smaller wife?

... or one with smaller boobs.







So she can actually see down to what she's about to step on.

[gPink]

.

[VirginiaJim]

I approve of the above message.

[maxtog]

To Richmond was around 34F.  Coming HOME from Richmond.... 80% between 25F and 32F.... now that is pretty cold.  Was generally OK, but vest/seat/grips maxed out around 28F.    I forgot to wear acrylic socks, so my toes were too cold.