A one, and a two, and a five, and a six

Motorcycling is about balance. Results in balance. Made possible by balance. And I guess building one takes that, too.

So, fitting the front wheel. That's actually a rear wheel. Since this bike comes standard with a 16" rear and a 19" front, the look is decidedly cruiser like. So someone who shares similar taste buds to my own (and also happens to be an engineer-type smarty pants) figures out how to take the wider and smaller diameter rear wheel (with a drum brake) and adopt it to the front (with a disc brake). Made it all into a kit and used to sell 'em. Probably like hotcakes, too.

Anyway I stumbled onto someone on that trusty (mostly) eBay who not only bought the used '83 rear wheel but also bought this kit to make it go, and put it all together for me. All I have to do is give him money for it and it's mine.

Funny how that last part is always there.

Anyway, it wasn't part of the plan and agenda and budget and it's created a bit of a crowded queue behind the checkbook for some much needed parts that will just have to wait a while longer (everyone in this line- please be patient, take a number and I will get to you as soon as I can). Still...

matching the two wheel sizes looks really cool...

So here's the balance part.

(I know, I get sidetracked. You should talk to me in person- it's probably worse.)

So, although the wheel is smaller or maybe because the wheel is smaller, the brake disc and caliper are a tight fit. I mean a tight fit. This resulted in requiring the wheel to get into position from directly underneath the forks, which resulted in jacking up the front of the bike to these absurd angles of trepidation. Well I suppose it would have looked really funny until it fell over on top of me, with nothing but a rubber mallet and a grin to protect myself from the forces of stupidity.

So wrestling the wheel into position, noticing the brake pads are pretty worn and making a mental note to replace those right away (which is now causing me to not worry so much about getting the wheel perfectly aligned since I'm gonna now be removing it again in a few days), then of course because the new tire is wider than the previous one that takes some finagling and swear words to get that to work right, while the forks themselves want to twist under the forces and the rest of the bike is sort of just laughing at me a bit... must have hysterical to watch.

But at least I'm keeping the same hue of my true colors and doing things a little backwards, or a little bit incorrectly or awkwardly yet still somehow managing to not get too badly injured or dead. (Ask me sometime about grinding the tabs of the frame with showers of sparks falling atop the full gas tank...) After all being true to yourself is a good thing, even if that self is a little bit self-deprecating and a little prone to disaster from time to time. The self always means well.

This evening was in fact though, what I was hoping to see and was hoping to like. The bike is coming along, this step makes for a much clearer picture of the final product and it feels like progress is being made. If only long enough to take a couple pictures and not look too closely at all that remains yet to do.

I'm eager to ride more than ever now. And that, my friends, was also the feeling I was after.