Undecided Mayhem

With knowledge, comes understanding. And with understanding, comes... I dunno. Sighs. Frustration. Anxiety.

So here's why. The intention- my intention- was to just remove this and paint that and buy a couple things and get a little silly with a gas tank design and then ride. You know- ride. (Which I'm starting to forget that part. That wheels actually turn and throttles actually turn and steering yokes actually turn. You get the gist.) But I wanna ride this thing, too.

So with knowledge, comes now what do I do? Or maybe more focussed a statement might be now what should I do.

About this.

Wires. Relays. They're everywhere. But- they all work. All of them. Everything worked. And even though everyone in all the forums and sites say they fail and they will fail and it's only a matter of time fail and they're already 33 years old and are gonna fail - they are working right now.

There's a solution. And probably a good one. And it's been spelled out in a very detailed manner on some sites and even uses small words so I can understand them. A way to rid the bike of all the relays. And a lot of the wiring harness that isn't needed. It's been done and it's efficient and so much more in the column of 'ya don't want to worry about that failing when you're out on highway one oh one...' And I love not worrying about things. Trust me on that one.

But this will set me back. Timeline, the riding season, photography session, actually maybe riding this thing...

Conclusion?

Knowledge. And with that.... (I feel like I need to swear or something...) now, I think I really need to do this part. It's not something I felt I would, nor wanted to mess with. Remember the don't touch anything that might break part? But - if it's already taken apart, why not put it back together in a better way? Make alterations to it to be more efficient. More stable. More compatible. Like that life improvement thing again...

So maybe this motorcycle continues to teach me a thing or two, as well.

And learning is always good thing.

Under Penalty of Law

Motorcycling.

It's a man's game. Or a woman's game.

But what it isn't - it isn't for the faint of heart.

It isn't for the weak. Or the weak minded. (thanks Obi-Wan) Or for wimps. Or chumps. Rule followers. We have better things to do than to follow rules.

B. A. D. A. S. S.

Yeah- it's for people who can spell. You got a problem with that?

So take heed. There will be no rules followed in this build.

Late nights and big dreams

Subframe arrived yesterday.

A moment... please.

OK, we're back. Yeah, good night it was. It's actually, in my estimation, (and this is my blog, so I guess my estimation is the only estimating that's going one around here), the first real indication of a turn. The change from laid back and laze-ey motorcycle to wake up and look for the next curve motorcycle.

My kind of change.

The stance is really comical now. The back end is becoming all business and the front is still very much stuck in Never Never Land where no one grows up and everyone likes Twinkies. (I made up that last part, and yes, I like Twinkies. Who doesn't like Twinkies??).

But I digress. So the test fit went well for the new subframe and things align and check out.

Lots to do coming up. The seat should be arriving from container ship in LA somewhere today or tomorrow or soon. And now I've got some work to do and things to figure out. Like how to make a jumble of wires and relays 4 1/2 inches longer, and where can I hide all the wires and what sort of taillight from a 1924 Ford pickup can I find. Or something along those lines.

Which all just means one thing. I get to get back to the custom part of it all; making it mine, make it what I want (or what I can manage), and enjoy the trip along the way.

Sleep be damned.

Getting all tied up with the simple

Fun weekend. Nope, the parts I was hoping for didn't magically show up early. Funny how that never ever ever happens with UPS or FedEx. It's almost like they don't personally understand how important getting this package is to someone. So impersonal...

I did have a great time here and there working through some thoughts, getting a handle on next steps, starting a new Home Depot hardware list (yes, that part happens daily for the most part. but I have learned where to park that's closest to that aisle and closest to the best and fastest cashier there. So if that's not what you call learning I don't know what is).

Got the rear mono shock remote mounted finally. Where I wanted it, where it would reach, and getting it straight and true. Well, mostly to that last. Still, another detail gets crossed out.

I did have some enjoyment removing the tank on Saturday. Yeah, I dunno why it's fun to remove a tank... silly even. But it's another step of learning what's underneath, what goes where, how much room I'm gonna have once I remove X and replace with Y and move A over to D... you get the picture. Plus it's never a bad idea to be able to remove years of grime from areas that you don't see and yet know they are there. For me, anyway.

And never mind the fact of how much faster a clean motorcycle is than a dirty one.

It's scientifically proven.

I got nothin

So, I'm not sure if it's poor planning (can't be), or the highs and lows of dealing with shipping things across states and continents (probably), or planning things out in advance (haven't done any) is to blame, but as I approach another weekend and another pair of days in a row to do some damage to the to-do list and the build... I'm not gonna have the parts I need.

Was hoping that the new subframe would arrive by Friday, which would give me said entire weekend to willfully punish my knuckles and my brain with a host of new things to worry and loose sleep over and try and solve. Yes- this I do this all on purpose as a willing component to my lifestyle.

Go figure.

Anyway, the subframe will be joyfully accepted into the garage along with the rest of the things looking vaguely motorcycle like - on Monday. Perfect. Same with the new seat, which is coming from much farther away in the world and so therefore I can hardly be upset about it's arrival time. It's more like happy it arrived at all.

So while on one hand, it does indeed leave me with a little bit less I could be doing to the bike build this week. Actually a lot less. But it's OK, and sometimes it's good to slow down a little and think things through and the next steps and yada yada. On the other hand, I can actually have time or maybe find some interest in going grocery shopping or, I dunno, maybe cleaning my place.

Nah. That's no fun.

Take it off. Take it all off.

[yes, thank you Mr. Diamond Dave for that one]

It's been a week or so of details and more details, working on the small things, trying to solve little puzzles of little things that only I will ever really know about. Yes yes, a little comment on life again. Sorry... I hate it when it does that.

[ and thanks Goose for that one ]

So last night I got a little distracted while writing up my seemingly daily shopping list for the hardware aisle of Home Depot, and decided I was gonna remove the front fender. Not because I just decided to- it's always been part of the plan and the look. But I thought it would be fun. And this build is supposed to be that; fun.

And I was amazed how instantly things seemed to change. Better. Mo better. Just dropping some bits onto the floor created a nice reaction. Yes- that one was intentional. The point is, she's becoming closer to what I've been seeing in my head for months now. Just by getting rid of some extra stuff we don't need anymore. And maybe there's a lesson, too. Drop some things weighing you down; suddenly life gets cooler looking and lighter feeling.

Next stop this weekend, hoping to get back to the rear section. With the seat on it's way and the subframe on it's way, those two things are opening back up a big can of worms and things to figure out. And probably should stop getting distracted by other parts and keep with the plan.

And I love it when a plan comes together.

[ respect, Mr. Hannibal Smith ]

Didn't even get to earn it

So, I'm impatient. There, I said it. And couldn't say it fast enough.

Get it?? Yeah... OK, sorry.

So impatience in my blood stream and DNA translates to roughly 2 or 3 speeding tickets a year. IF I weren't such a diligent, know what's going on around me, situational-awareness type. Which has not only kept me out of accidents - knock on wood - but I can usually spot where the law and the man are hanging out trying to catch my impatient-ness and take appropriate defensive maneuvers, i.e. slow down in time. I can't help it. I can't drive 55.

Unfortunately, moving to a new area and learning where the speed and intersection camera are located was a lesson not learned quickly enough, and got slammed with TWO of them in a single weekend. So that happened. Ugh. Which in and of itself isn't the total end of the world. But it did clobber my "let's build a motorcycle 'cause that'll be fun and inexpensive" budget a little bit.

Adding these two up is half what I paid for the bike.

I used to joke that if I'm gonna get a speeding ticket I want to at least earn it. These, getting zapped by some stupid little box at the end of a pole, after I'm clearly in a hurry to save the world or rescue a kitten up a tree and can't be bothered to drive the limit. Not cool. It's like cheating.

I blame Donald Trump. Just that kind of day.

One step forward, two backward

It was a weekend of details. Small steps and changes, so not much looks better or faster or cooler. Not in a big picture kind of way. Still, details are getting worked on and worked up and fixed up, so it's progress. Until...

I would imagine it won't be the last time that a well-laid plan turns to poo and requires some rethinking. But I'm all about rethinking and redoing if necessary. Just look at my life. :) Sorry- said I wouldn't do that anymore...

So, the rear sets don't fit. Well, they fit, but the linkages are too short and too long. And yes, that makes sense and it technically correct. I'll spare the details here. And they don't line up exactly right. Probably would be OK, but it's one of those things to get right and make it right, now, and so I shall.

Thing is, that requires a couple steps backward, since I have to first attempt to return them, and next buy the set that will actually fit and has the correct linkages. Of course they're twice as much, but there's no surprise. Still, getting what you paid for in this case is entirely accurate. And entirely worth it.

So, there's a small step forward and couple back, but the next phase is coming up shortly and will be great to move on. A new seat is on it's way thanks to a kindly gift of Benjamins, and the rear subframe was purchased this morning. So those two things are missing links that allow work on the charging system, the rear lights, the battery wiring, the tank wiring, the relay relocations...

You get the picture. And the picture will start to look like her new self, very soon.

So that just won't do

It's gonna bug me. I know it will.

There are some things I can work around, live without, turn the other cheek. And it would be sooo easy to just mount that 'I don't even know exactly what that is but I think it's a voltage regulator" in that single hole that's already there.

This crazy thing used to be housed in this giant piece of plastic that is ugly and, well, giant. Once I open it up I just found, well this regulator thing and it's wired and connected to other things that look semi-vital to functioning properly (not really sure about that part, but suspicion says yes- leave it alone.)

And so I did, at first. Just bolt it back on using that single mounting point. One that was centered for what came before it, but now it places the regulator too far back and off center to the vertical frame. And it's blocking visually some of that nice gap between the tire and the rest. A gap that wasn't there before.

So yes, it's gonna bug me. And every time I start working on something else in this general area - something I believe most other people call "making progress" - it screams out to me to fix it right.

It may not be something that will affect the overall look once it's all running again. But mood is everything on a motorcycle. And if I wanna be in a good one - and I do - I need to make it right.

God is in the details.

For the Irish

Well, first off Happy Saint Patricks Day. And yes, not St. Paddy's Day (or Patty's Day, which is even worse), which although is popular in America, it is in fact not a good way to say it and is rather insulting to our fine Irish friends, especially this year who are celebrating the 100 year anniversary of their independence from England. I visited this amazing land last year and had the time of my life. Not seeing tourist attractions or wasting time on a tour bus, but meeting people, drinking with people, walking with people. Amazing.

Sorry to get off track. Had to be said. Sláinte!

Apologies as well for recent posts and interjecting some whining and moaning about funds and troubles and all that. On one hand, it is my blog and I can cry if I want to... cry if I want to. But the other hand often needs to intervene, and so we can keep it a little more on the up and up bike talk and wrench and grease and , well you get the idea.

So on with the show.

Well, since it's St. Patrick's Day and we should be celebrating, I'll have to crack open a few beers tonight while scurrying around the garage floor. Tonight's objective is the rear set foot pegs, since yesterday involved removing them again once I discovered the tabs from the stock units interfere with mounting the new ones so a little grinder took care of those. (Sorry neighbors for the noise).

But these are the issues when you decide to change up a bike from it's cruiser configuration to something more aggressive, and getting more weight on that front tire and more balance to the ride in general requires mounting front forward controls to the previously used rear passenger pegs.

Feet, get thee behind me!

Impatience is a virtue

Delayed.

Well, not exactly, since I have been busy and do have a few things I can be working on. And so I shall. But... I've been juggling some funds and making some calls and so on and so on, to free up some moolah for the next phase. 'Cause I'm almost done with the lower rear section.

[Yes, I did and probably will always add 'almost' to most things I do here. It's a safety net everyone should try sometime. I highly recommend it].

So back to impatience.

And back to said "freed up money", which is of course in quotes, because, well, you get it.

But let's not caught up in the whole definition of what's spendable cash - this is a motorcycle build by a single guy in a garage that only has a tool box and a broken motorcycle in it- so we sorta need to throw whats' normal out the window for a bit here.

So... guess what? I've got some money to spend on the next phase of the build!!

Only just about everyone I've been eyeing and wish listing and eBay watching is out of stock with the item I was, er, watching. So Karma, I see your back for me once more. I actually have a few bucks and nowhere to spend it. Well, that's hardly true.

Anyway, there's a big vintage motorcycle show this weekend I just found out about and I will be going. Checkbook in hand, bitches. (sorry- channeling my inner Jesse there for a sec).

So back to impatience. Once again.

Unless there are some purchases this weekend that will get my build back on track and schedule like the good train it is, it's more likely that I'm gonna need to wait on a few shops to build some more of what it is I need to purchase from them. Or I could invest in a multi-thousand dollar welding and tube bender masterpiece... oh never mind.

Which is gonna most likely have me looking ominously at some of the other parts of the build. The tank perhaps... I could start on that beast. The front wheel- if I could finally figure out what the heck I wanna do with that part. It's just about the only thing I've not solved in my head yet. But more on that later.

The point is, I may not have much money, honey. But impatience? I got plenty of that.

So there's that

I stumbled upon a site this morning that is a great writeup of the steps and plans to build a cafe racer. A nice read of the fundamentals and things you should think about and recognize as issues and considerations before you begin.

In fact, here's a link should anyone care to read the whole thing:

http://bikebrewers.com/cafe-racer-building-plan/

Thing is, like most things that are considered 'hobbies' in my world, I usually just sort of skim over or take certain liberties; I consider them recommendations or serving suggestions. And it's not because I think it's not valuable information, but rather I sometimes get more learning by doing it wrong the first time. Or the first couple times.

(Any ladies that know me please stay silent during this part. Thank you).

The point is, I eventually learn what I needed to learn and can move forward.

But I think, in my head, I do actually follow many of these steps. Though I think the concept of 'deciding what you want it to be' is really step 1 for me. I've got that image of previous builds or the way they did this bit was cool or that bit, and so on. Honestly, it's the real reason I'm doing this bike in the first place; seeing someone else's bike and getting stoked about what I can do with my own.

Isn't that the same reason men want a pretty girl? We saw another guy have a pretty girl and decided we want one, too.

Or maybe I'm getting off topic here.

My point is- the why it 'is' - the what it 'is' - the creation of 'it'- that's the coolest part. And then, by my nature anyway, figuring out how to make it 'that', is the funnest part of all. Bumps and bruises and mistakes notwithstanding.

Oh, and this helps, too.

One of these things is not like the other

This weekend's progress, so far. Rear triangle reattached and the rear wheel assembled, i.e. tire mounted, rear brake mounted, differential lubed and assembled, etc. And quite possibly reassembled in an order that [hopefully] closely approximates the disassembly. In other words, I hope it works. But so far, looking good.

I will consider it progress, and when you can start to see improvement, and perhaps even better, when you can tell which end I've been working on, that's a good thing, too.

One's former self

Well, it used to look like a motorcycle. Not one I was particularly proud of necessarily, but still. Now I think it's been a few weeks since I've owned her, and a couple of them have been in this sort of shape. It looks less and less like a motorcycle, and it feels more and more like I don't even own one.

Feeling the hurry up coming on. Especially when the cool parts start rolling in, and the big changes start coming together. But I guess the big changes are happening even without the big parts, it's just harder to see them sometimes.

May be it's a little bit like life sometimes. Not to get too philosophical while hanging out getting greasy in a garage- don't want to risk the man card on account of spending too much time in my own head. But still, maybe sometimes it's just a matter of chipping away and changing up the little things, a little bit at a time.

Then suddenly one day, it's all become, well, a motorcycle again.

With a nod to Mick

"I see a red door and I want it painted black.

No colors anymore I want them to turn black."

Great 'Stones tune. Maybe I should have added that to my playlist. In fact, I think I will.

Hold please.

OK, good to go. Thing is, that's the plan. If I'm gonna celebrate the motor on this bike, then everything else has to take a backseat. So to speak, of course. I'm not adding that carpet covered passenger backrest ever ever ever. So, everything else gets to be black.

Or something else, but the point will ultimately be to get that motor as clean and shiny and perfectly awesome looking as possible (without actually having the tools, the know-how, the work space or the ability to remove it from the frame, take it apart and clean it and put it back together and still have it run. The first several of those steps I could easily do - but that last may be the most critical.

So we'll do our best and make the most of lump and all it's glory. The best cleaning products and toothbrushes money can buy. And of course Mitchell Moto's famous elbow grease.

But one way or another that motor will be king. Everything else gets to play servant. Me, as the rider? I'll be the jester.

The Mix Tape

As I'm moving  along with this build, I thought it would be most appropriate to get a little more in the mood. Get deep down, get to the heart of the thing. Feel it a little more. And what better way than a good 'ol mix tape, channeling the former and current gods of scat, country, blues, rockabilly, funk, etc.

Seeing as how it's an odd collection of timeframes already - an old 1980's motorcycle who's now trying to look a little bit more like a 1950's motorcycle, it's a big range of music times, I'll admit.

However, thanks to the wonders of modern MP3 and Spotify, I've now got the garage filled with the likes of David Bowie, Eddie Cochran, Duane Eddy, Los Lobos, Brian Setzer, Joe Bonamassa, Kenny Wayne Shephard, The Rolling Stones, The Cure, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Buddy Guy, Johnny Cash... and yes, Mr. Bo Diddly.

Neighbors, I apologize in advance. But a man's got to do...

It's all about the bling

Typically, I'm not a fan of shiny things. I'm not usually distracted by shining objects being waved in front of me. Oh, wait, scratch that last. Anyway, another precious package arrived yesterday evening, so of course I have to bust it open like some small child on Christmas morning (or Christmas Dec 22nd... sorry Mom, I re-taped it up pretty good I think, for a 5 year old.)

Maybe it's another exercise in seeing cool details in something small, like those aforementioned fins and tubes. Maybe it's still finding small things that capture your eye when you look closer. I think I'm always drawn to those things in 'regular' life, too. The way the sunset glimmers through the blinds. Those cool air bubbles that appear when you pour a Guinness. The carbon fiber rear diffuser on a 458 Italia.

So a new package arrives. Another step in the right direction, so that's a good thing. At least for this section of the build, more things are going back on than coming off. Which I usually wouldn't prefer that direction... but in this case, I shall.

Makin' a list and checking it twice

Nothin' quite like it. Coming home, finding a package has arrived. Awesome sauce.

This occurrence is usually pretty cool in normal days and circumstances, but this one marks the first one in [hopefully] a longer line of deliveries that will help turn my disco machine into pure gold. Oh wait, that's not quite right- it probably is pure gold already. Maybe turn it into heavy metal is more appropriate. Better ring to it, that's for sure.

Time to put another dime in the jukebox, baby.

Gungan knows best

So I did a ton of research on this. Watched a few really bad online videos of this. And I mean really bad videos- people, you should care how you make this instructional videos- put some clothes on your kid that running in and out of frame, maybe turn on a light or two.

All this to determine the process and order to certain things I'm doing; take off part A because it's attached to part C, and part B is what we really want to show through and part D is what will be painted black and remounted, but not before part E is removed and cleaned up. That sort of thing.

So the subject of the researching this time around was tires. Specifically removing one and mounting new one. Now I've historically reserved such fun things for a professional shop and one of those slips of paper from the checkbook; i.e.: a check. And that's fine and sometimes that's even preferred, i.e.: usually. This time however, it's part "I wanna do it by myself" sort of tantrum and part "meeesa no moohlah to trade." (OMG- my first JarJar quote. Ugh).

I digress. Back to the tire. So, there's lots of advice and lots of machines to rent or buy or lots of options and theories and zip ties and 2x4s on how to break the bead of an old tire and remove. Lots of theories. But I figure I can do it my own way, and have my own theory, and really everything will work out just fine. My 'what could go wrong' has never let me down. Usually. And this time, right again. Turns out just sorta standing on it once or twice does the trick.

Proof once more that, properly applied force in stupid looking ways can accomplish as much as thinking it through or paying a professional to do it right can. Although that's not really true, but I will take things working out, every time it actually happens to work out, every time.

Seemed to work for JarJar anyway.

Mr. Clean

Someone close to me once said that there are cool things to see in a motorcycle engine. Especially a V-Twin. Lots going on, when you look for it. Well, I spent a lot of time looking for it, looking at it, looking around it, and scrubbing it. A lot of it. Scrubbing was the name of the game pretty much most of the weekend.

Gotta try and make those fins as clean can be.

Of course, a lot of builders are able to just disconnect everything and yank the motor out, steam clean and sand blast and repaint and rebuild and, well they actually know what they're doing. Much more so than I, but I do own a set of wrenches and a socket set and a big tool box, so it's sort of the same, right? Well, no, but I can do my best and get it mostly clean and mostly done right and I still have as much fun as they do, so there's that.

So anyway, back to the engine. Gotta be the coolest looking part of these bikes, right? That V shape, the fins, the pipes and curves and mechanical looking stuff that's 100 years old. And this technology 'technically' is 100 years old just about, not that I'm gonna get too self righteous about that, at least not today. So it's my plan to sort of celebrate the engine with this bike. Since it's already set up to be that way with the rear mono shock and top mounted frame, it's already celebrating the engine without knowing it. And, well, without all that disco-esque, 1983-esque, crap-esque stuff attached to it.

So I'm thinking a lot of this bike is going to end up some form of black. Create that shape and that platform and that stage where the V can shine. Take the spotlight. After all, it is a motorcycle, which in my mind is a seat and two wheels mounted to a cool looking motor. And that's what we're gonna do here, people.

So while much of that has been dispatched to the corner pile and yet to be name eBay auction (here's hoping...), I did get to spend some quality time removing a few things that will actually NOT be thrown out, but instead cleaned up and painted up and remounted back up soon. Parts I'm gonna actually use.

And I've got paint under my fingernails instead of grease. So, suddenly, it almost feels like we're getting somewhere...

Alphabet Soup

It was a supreme effort to be diligent and thoughtful and think things through and slow down and don't be careless and all that... oh never mind, that never works for me.

So instead, we have this. The pace and enjoyment was such that cannot be contained. Or at least as far as a Saturday dinner with my son and then the 'two of us' joining forces in the garage to tackle the beast can be. Only to discover that, after dinner the other dragon slayer has actually fallen asleep at 7:pm. Such is youth and all that. So recognizing that if I went to sleep at 7:pm, I'l be up at 1:am instead of my usual 4:am... I head to meet the beast once more.

And then I get a little carefree and "what could possibly go wrong" kind of thoughts, plus the compliments from a few passers by (really?? Thank you, but do you even know what a motorcycle is supposed to look like??) keep me going and going and, well, the rest is history and, well, sitting on the garage floor with wires attached to it and a look that says "hey buddy, you're the one that disconnected me, I dunno where I go..."

So what could possible go wrong with all that??

I knew this would happen

So, it's my thing, I think. It's how I roll, how I do and view and all that. I can't leave well enough alone. I can't not try and find ways to improve this or that, or whatever. Even when I set out to create something with such and such parameters and limitations, I'm always trying to stretch the ideas and the concepts and budgets and reality. That last one is the hardest to tweak though.

I need parts.

I need some parts. I need some things that will make this build cooler and nicer and more dialed in and all that other stuff. I need parts. I thought I would be OK and I thought I would be able to work around this or that, but in the end, this thing is getting torn apart and cleaned up- and really would be sooooo much nicer to just change this part, too, while I'm at it...

And parts cost money. And money is harder to find these days than it used to be, so I gotta take this pile on the ground here and start cleaning and polishing and listing. I'm calling on my deepest spiritual advertising soul, to create the best and most successful eBay ad. Dear Lord I pray, that my ad will be the one that people will respond to. That my ad will be the one that people will argue and fight over to have.

OK, that was a little sacrilegious I will admit. Still, it's what I gotta do. Sell sell sell.

Baby needs a new pair of shoes, after all.

Start at the back.

Due to many factors such as funds and timing and, well, really just the way I do things sometimes, I've decided to take a one-section-at-a-time approach to this build. This [hopefully] will allow for maximizing things that are being fixed and/or altered while corresponding to the aforementioned budget constraints. And all this gets [sorta] sorted out to fall on a certain weekend or two.

That should be easy to arrange. Sure...

Plus, it also [hopefully] will fall in line with my master plan to only change one thing at a time and make sure everything else is all still working.

Last night was the time of such enlightenment, so I grabbed a second Guinness and headed back to the garage to come up with said plan, and what do you know, I found one. This resulted in compiling a short list of things needed to do, like remove subframe and battery box and rear lighting and clean up, and things to buy, like rear tire and rear sets. All things that will allow for the rear end work to begin. One section at a time.

Plus it'll be nice to start to see some real change and transformation from one bike to the next. My vision to rule the world, and all that kind of stuff.

The pile is growing and will for sure get bigger. Gonna be a fun weekend of scrubbing and unbolting. Gotta go order some parts now. And some more beer.

Vanity

So it seemed weird at the time, but I think it's gonna work OK. It was bugging me a little bit that it was parked in line with the garage orientation. Which is, of course logical and all that. Which also may be why I didn't want to do it that way. But, it probably has more to do with looks.

Since there's a pretty major transformation happening with this bike, it's harder to both capture it on the trusty iPhone 5s camera (yeah yeah, I know), and also to visualize things for my own darn self. Can't get far enough away to see things clearly. Maybe it's a forest for the trees thing, maybe it's just me being weird. I dunno which, but regardless, she fits in there sideways and so she's gonna be for a while.

This is also probably the last 'normal as stock' appearance shot of her, too. The pile of removables is growing, and she's losing weight fast. If only it were that easy...

She looks faster already

It's funny. I obviously did a little bit of research and a far amount of dreaming the past couple years on owning a motorcycle again. I've owned several (and several different types) and some were more successful than others, but I really figured this 'cafe racer' thing- which by the way I'm starting to not like that term much- would be perfect for me. I've got an eye for something unique, a desire to be so, I like casual riding and I have no money. All that for a combination that seems to suit this cafe thing perfectly. I can buy an old cheap bike, strip off a bunch of stuff, paint things and change lines and all that, and viola! Success.

It's become a little eye opening for me which of these things are more important. I bought the bike two weeks ago. It runs fine and goes fine and stops fine. And now that I have title and plates and legalese on my side, I could be riding every day. Every weekend. I could put off this build for weeks or months. And yet, she's already getting torn into and the build has begun. Even with waiting weeks or more on some custom parts and items to arrive from places like The Netherlands and Thailand, it's still more fun (right now anyway) to begin the transformation and not ride.

I suspect maybe it has a lot to do with the fact that an 80's harley-clone motorcycle isn't really my thing and I feel somewhat out of place on her. I'm shallow.

So, the strip down began last night. Just a little bit, and as I've mentioned, that slow process of 'one-thing at a time and make sure it still works'. Still, it's funny how just a few things added to the growing pile in the corner, makes her start to look faster every day.

And I also suspect this weekend that pile in the corner will get even bigger.

The waiting is the hardest part.

Made it across town at lunch(ish) time today for the inspection. Felt a little bit nervous. Not like expectant dad nervous, but a little bit. They wouldn't even let me watch....

Many hours later [cue the clock ticking sound in my head], L806 was called and all was good to go, A-OK and mission accomplished. And now, with title in hand, let the silliness commence. 'Cause we're off to see the wizard.

Hannibal Smith

I love it when a plan comes together.

Of course, so far, all I've got is plans. All in my head, too. 'Cause nothing ever went wrong in there...

But as I mentioned, being mechanically inclined and being a mechanic are two different things, and so my plans for this build are centered very much around not upsetting the things that currently work too much. Or certainly 'only change one thing at a time and make sure everything else still works' is another plan of attack, as well.

Probably will go with that one, for sure.

So, research and more research and mental lists and written ones of things to do and wants to have. All in good time, but patience has never been one of my virtues...

Anyway, hope to visit the DMV for that title this week and crossing fingers. And once that's done I'm free to fly.