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Join Date: Mar 2004
Location: Higgs Field
Posts: 22,833
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Another Milestone in my Hip Replacement Recovery
I rode the old Sportster today. It's been sitting since October, before my surgery, so I was anticipating some difficulties in getting it started for the first time, even though it's been sitting on a battery tender, I drained the tank and float bowl before I parked it, etc. After all, it is 50 year old technology. 1,000cc twin with 10:1 compression, some pretty wild cams, no compression release nor ignition retard like more modern bikes. Kickstart only. And it senses fear...
Thank God it only took 47 kicks, including priming kicks (yes, I was counting, knowing it might protest being woken up), or I might have given up. Sweatshirt laying in the driveway, tee shirt laying in the driveway, and neighbors bringing their kids inside so they wouldn't learn Mr. Higgins's "starting the Harley words". But, damnit, I rode the Sporty today. And it ran like a champ. What a good day. 
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Jeff '72 911T 3.0 MFI '93 Ducati 900 Super Sport "God invented whiskey so the Irish wouldn't rule the world" |
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02-06-2026, 03:29 PM
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I had a two stroke dirt bike that was only 250cc's but it tried to kill me the first time I started it every year in the same manner of constant kicks.
Had a smile on my face reading your post, glad you got a chance to go for a ride. It is supposed to be 60 here tomorrow, so I am planning on taking my Harley out as well. |
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02-06-2026, 03:44 PM
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Kantry Member
Join Date: Feb 2001
Location: N.S. Can
Posts: 7,097
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Well done, old man! Good we didn't have to find out about your untimely demise.
Bet it felt great after all that effort. Thumbs way up!
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Best Les My train of thought has been replaced by a bumper car. |
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02-07-2026, 09:02 AM
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Location: Dahlonega , Georgia
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Glad you are recovering well .
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2002 Boxster S . Arctic silver + black top/int. Jake Raby 3.6 SS engine " the beast ". GT3 front bumper, GT3 side skirts and GT3 TEK rear diffuser. 1999 996 C4 coupe black/grey with FSI 3.8 engine . Rear diffuser , front spoiler lip with ducktail spoiler . |
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02-07-2026, 10:21 AM
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Quote:
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Keep talking, Im gonna put you in the trunk. |
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02-07-2026, 12:19 PM
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Location: Higgs Field
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I'm lucky in that we have had a run of unusualy nice weather. 60 and sunny yesterday. Alas, back to our regularly scheduled programming today - 40 and raining. I knew this was coming, so I had to seize the opportunity yesterday. Maybe just a wee bit premature, but it was kind of a "now or never" moment, with rain in the forecast for the foreseeable future. Glad I did it. Now I can just sit back and watch the rain.
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02-07-2026, 01:20 PM
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It was 62 here and I was pretty much on the bike from 11-5. Avoided the twisty mountain roads as they are sand covered but out east away from the mountains was great, although a bit windy.
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02-07-2026, 04:59 PM
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Almost Banned Once
Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: Adelaide South Australia
Posts: 39,020
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That's great news Jeff. All the best!
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- Peter |
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02-07-2026, 06:17 PM
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Location: Opelika, Alabama
Posts: 5,433
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That's awesome. Live to Ride, Ride to Live!!!
Onward and Upward!!! Sent from my SM-S916U using Tapatalk
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"A little nonsense now and then is relished by the wisest men." Wonka |
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02-07-2026, 06:49 PM
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Location: Linn County, Oregon
Posts: 48,928
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"Now, to put a water-cooled engine in the rear and to have a radiator in the front, that's not very intelligent." -Ferry Porsche (PANO, Oct. '73) (I, Paul D. have loved this quote since 1973. It will remain as long as I post here.) |
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02-07-2026, 08:04 PM
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I’m amazed at how quickly you’re recovering. Fantastic!
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02-07-2026, 09:02 PM
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Registered
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Location: Higgs Field
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Quote:
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Jeff '72 911T 3.0 MFI '93 Ducati 900 Super Sport "God invented whiskey so the Irish wouldn't rule the world" |
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02-07-2026, 09:05 PM
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This gives me Hope. Had a disk replaced a few months ago and my Norton is fickle.
Good on you!
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Chris ---------------------------------------------- 1996 993 RS Replica 2023 KTM 890 Adventure R 1971 Norton 750 Commando Alcon Brake Kits |
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02-07-2026, 09:28 PM
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Location: Southern California
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Quote:
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99 996 C4 11 Panamera 4S 83 SC Targa converted to a 964 cab (sold) 67 912 (sold) 58 Karmann Ghia choptop (traded for the 912) |
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02-08-2026, 06:12 AM
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Fleabit peanut monkey
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Quote:
Won't be long before you won't be able to tell you had it replaced.
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1981 911SC Targa |
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02-08-2026, 06:14 AM
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Thanks guys. I have enjoyed the great good fortune of both an uneventful surgery and a very quick, relatively pain free recovery. Walking with a walker the very first day, on to a cane in about a week, and riding my stationary bike at six weeks. Riding my other motorcycles by about seven weeks, driving our two pedal cars by then as well. I managed my 911 in time for our annual New Year's Resolution Run. The Sportster was the last one left. It can be, all joking aside, no joke to get that thing started. It has actually injured me in the past, albeit when I was much younger and riding it a lot more. There is a very real malady known as "Sportster knee". I didn't want to be the first kid to show up at the ER with "Sportster hip". My surgeon (and my wife) would have been most unhappy with me. But now I know I can do it. This is huge for me. It pretty much marks the end of my "recovery" and the resumption of my "life".
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02-08-2026, 02:00 PM
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Senior Member
Join Date: Jun 2000
Location: N. Phoenix AZ USA
Posts: 28,984
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Quote:
Jeff, great to see! Am trying to keep from having the hips re-done but getting old is not for sissies!
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2021 Subaru Legacy, 2002 Dodge Ram 2500 Cummins (the workhorse), 1992 Jaguar XJ S-3 V-12 VDP (one of only 100 examples made), 1969 Jaguar XJ (been in the family since new), 1985 911 Targa backdated to 1973 RS specs with a 3.6 shoehorned in the back, 1959 Austin Healey Sprite (former SCCA H-Prod), 1995 BMW R1100RSL, 1971 & '72 BMW R75/5 "Toaster," Ural Tourist w/sidecar, 1949 Aeronca Sedan / QB |
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02-08-2026, 05:15 PM
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Preferred pronoun:Maestro
Join Date: Sep 2012
Location: Group W Bench
Posts: 11,358
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Quote:
It's a big, nasty surgery but with only one moving part, recovery is - or at least can be - fairly rapid. _
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When in doubt, use overwhelming force. |
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Yesterday, 03:46 PM
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Join Date: Jan 2002
Location: Long Beach CA, the sewer by the sea.
Posts: 38,279
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Reading this is assuring. My wife had her hip replaced Saturday. She had broken it in a fall and the surgeon said where the break was made it possible to do arthroplasty. The pins, screws and rods are tough for the elderly.
The problem is she was traveling and is in a hospital 2000 miles away. |
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Yesterday, 07:02 PM
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Join Date: Mar 2004
Location: Higgs Field
Posts: 22,833
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Quote:
I suspect that our situations are different. My surgeon had the luxury of repairing a "clean" joint, with no "crash damage". I bet it is a bit more difficult if things are broken up before they start. That said, as others have mentioned, the hip is a simple joint. It may very well be that they remove the same amount of material and rebuild it in the same manner regardless. |
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Yesterday, 07:12 PM
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Black Betty
1970 Porsche 911 S 
1981 Porsche 911 SC Targa
