Things you can't do when you're married

Wet-sanding a motorcycle gas tank on the kitchen table, while using the 'good towels' and watching Formula One racing on the TV and drinking a beer.

I feel like I could add "in your underwear", but that would have been highly impractical. I have some standards of decorum.

To quote The Princess Bride- "Lemme 'splain."

It was hot out. Really hot out. So hot, that the first can of satin clear I bought failed after about 5 minutes and a couple coats. I just figured it was a lousy can and returned it to the mighty depot, only to the second one do the same thing after about 5 minutes. So I decided maybe the heat and humidity was playing havoc a bit with the paint cans and thought I would let it be for the day.

Though I think I may have enough coats to just call it finished and move on. Which I may in fact, do just that.

However, heat and humidity aside,  considering it was indeed the weekend and my big chance to make some progress, I grabbed 3 or 4 water bottles and headed out the garage with the aforementioned gas tank that was sitting on the kitchen table in it's own cloud of chemical fumes....

Not really. Much, anyway. (maybe I do need a good woman around to tell me when this idea or that one is sort of stupid...)

While that was curing I thought I would tackle the Fury emblems. That part didn't go so well, at first...

Before you pass your judgement upon such a failure, here's my thinking. It needed to be a very slight yet rounded curve vs. just bent in random ways. I didn't want part to be flush and parts to not be, so I invented an easy way to give it a constant curve.

Which actually was working as intended for much of the process. Just a little too much at the end... just when things were looking so up, too!

I did however, learn from doing it wrong the first time- sort of my motto in life I think - and you can indeed, when it's hot enough outside, slowly and methodically and surgically bend a metal emblem to exact specs, using a pair of pliers. Go figure, and easy and gentle way out. Who knew?

Although not as dramatic as previous process for bending metal, It worked and I will probably try and secure the emblem on one side this evening. Really wanting to see how it all looks, but wanted to let the paint cure at least 24 hours before I got this part started.

I'm digging the satin finish a lot and I'm glad I pushed through those last minute moments of doubt that were creeping in at the store. I also feel like I'm seeing the finish line up ahead, or that light at the end of the tunnel.

Just hoping it's not the light from an oncoming train...

The good side

So, the right side. The other side. I finally got to it the other night. Weird thing about it though, and about this bike, and OK, about most motorcycles in my honest opinion... all motorcycles have a good side. There's an angle that they look best. Not always the same angle from one to the next, but there's a side that's the best. For sure. All of them. Since they're not usually symmetrical (yes, some are like the Honda RC51 or others), the exhaust is usually one one side or the chain rings or shaft drive in this case, is on one side and is generally not something that's highlighted as awesome looking.

This bike definitely has it's good angles and not so good ones, and I look forward to some photo taking of them in the coming days when I get some more things sorted. But this right side, me no likey so much. Probably why I usually have the bike turned around the other way in the garage. Always posing, she is...

Anyway, getting the tank painted was good and it's been a few days since so should be cured nicely for some wet sanding and final clear coating. Then done. Of course, I had to position back on the bike as it was drying and of course then proceeded to gouge the front of the tank with the turn signals on the bars when turned full lock.

Thing is, I knew it hit there (actually does on both sides) and I'm still not sure of a plan or a need to rectify this. Usually you're not turning the bars full lock while riding, so it's only the garage maneuvering that this comes into play. Still, if you are riding and you do need to turn that sharp and consequently smash your thumbs in there- that hurts.

Anyway, I'm not going to worry about it too much right now. I was pretty pissed off when it first happened, since now the tank has paint on it vs. primer which I didn't care about. And like I said, the jury is out on whether or not to repair the paint job and move the clip-ons to keep this from happening again. Or just leave it as character marks and just move on already.

I've noticed lately the riders manual from the DMV that my son picked up sitting on the coffee table, so it would seem he hasn't dropped that riding idea he had months ago. Wonder where he got that one from...

Do what I say not what I do!

My point is, if he does learn to ride and wants to ride this bike in particular, I will then need to change up a few things, this being one of them. A new rider shouldn't have anything to deal with except the ride itself, so a fully safe and functioning motorcycle is paramount. And this one, well it's not quite what I would call fully functional just yet. Will probably need some professional help for that.

And it will not be the first time I've needed professional help.

Nature for the win

Haboob: 1

Finishing tank paint job: 0





Stumbled onto a cool video in the meantime...

https://vimeo.com/174148984

Does a great job illustrating why a motorcycle. Dig it.

Well that just happened

So the morning and day started well enough, with hopes and dreams of getting a solid to-do plan together and start wrapping up this bike. My original garage rental deadline of August 1st may have to pass me by, as I'm not that close and since I'm moving in mid-August it may just keep some of the lunacy at bay and be helpful to keep until the end of that month.

And it's only a hundred dollars. Whats a hundred dollars anyway??

Oh... I remember the days of feeling like that.

Well, in keeping with the trend of spending money I don't have on other things... I went ahead and booked a last minute flight to go see my daughter next week. I've been sort of waffling between shopping for flights and agonizing over the cost of it. But she had this wonderful gift idea for Father's Day of attending this exhibition game in Chicago of a couple of soccer clubs I follow, so it was pulling on the heart strings a bit. Will try and see a buddy while I'm there for lunch that day, too... and maybe that will be something good for me to do so I'm excited about it.

It does however kill that "extra" $400 I was sorta kinda looking at with an evil eye that was gonna go to the bike... which is a bummer consider this is the blog about the bike and not the blog about the daughter. Which I don't have and don't want one- she and I are golden. :)

Anyway, damage to the finances is done and booked and nothing to do about that 'cept write a line or two about it here and move on. Tonight I'm gonna open a bottle of wine and paint the other side of the gas tank. That should be a few days of curing, then I can do some light wet sanding and clear coat that sucker. I wanna move onto the next thing, whatever that may be. I am running out of the things I can take care of that are free or of little consequence to the checkbook, which is a good thing and a bad one. But I'm gonna just consider it a good thing, since that means the to-do list is getting shorter and closer to completion.

This weekend I'm hoping for some quality hours in there. I want to get the front brakes sorted and completed, clean up the engine bay further. Sometimes it's cool just to go hang out in there and tweak this or that, enjoy it and take some time. Maybe a new playlist will help; I've lately had such a tendency to go for the same one, but it's a band I'm digging and their lyrics are fitting for where I find myself in this world right now.

Plus, if I can get off my lazy ass and go hike and grocery shop first thing in the morning, I'm usually more prone to just chill the rest of the day.

I hate it when motivation gets in the way of progress.

From a new angle

No, it's not gonna be another speech and long winded repartee on the state of my life and emotional security... though I'll probably have another rant or two on that other site for that stuff. Thank Gawd, whoever he is. But still, I did want to see exactly how I felt about this tank idea in the flesh.

Or in the metal, as this case may be.

I know I'm moving at a snail's pace with this build, and the last couple weeks have had little progress of note, so I'm sorry for that. Both for you, Dear Reader and for me and my schedule and progress meter, which seems to have been stuck on 'get off your lazy ass and finish it' for a few too many weeks now. Yes, part of it is money, and yes part of it is other stuff going on and life and all that.

Still, I am feeling close and that's cool. Working on the tank was a great next thing to tackle, despite my previous arguments with myself as to why I should leave it for last. So I'm glad I didn't, and getting it this far has given me a lil bit of a reinvigoration if you will.

Not that you can tell from all the progress, since it's still sort of looking the same...

Small tweaks. But it was nice to try and work out that bottom line, painting that rounded curving of the bottom of the tank so that it's a clean straight line, from the rear of the seat all the way forward. One can Photoshop something to death and get a sense of this or that, but there's little that can match seeing it in person, in this light and that light and this angle and that one, too. Proof is in the pudding, and when the pudding taste good, you can feel good about that.

This bike has been done and done and done over some more with other builders, in various degrees of 'cafe' style or 'standard' style or 'custom' style even. I see a lot of tank swapping, which again I may have initially preferred. Regardless, one of the things I hear and read a lot more of, is this "here's another XV750 build that looks just like all the others". And yeah, probably 80% of this is going to seem and look familiar to those who have seen other builds and that' OK with me. I've got one thing that I've not seen from the other ones so I'm down with that fact. Using color and shades to manipulate a shape isn't a new concept certainly, but it's one that, for this build and my XV750, I'll be proud of and hang my hat onto.

So, although the weather was unusual yesterday- thunderstorms and humidity- and didn't make for the best painting condition, I was undeterred. Wanting to see how this bottom line was going to work and try it in the flesh. And yes, I only did the one side, so if I didn't like I would have to sand off both and redo. So that means now that I like it and still have to do it again. A little bit like convincing yourself that you like those vegetables on the plate mom put in front of you, but now you still have to take another bite before you can leave the table.

So, next up is to repeat for the opposite side, then once that's all cured proper like, I can get some wet sanding done and prepare for some  clear coats. I'm thinking I'd like to go for a more satin finish vs. the super glossy look. One reason is it might look a little more 'period', and secondly it'll hide a few more imperfections this way. Two birds; one can of clear.

Then it's back to figuring out the emblem attachment and curving those metal bits, but that's usually a fun part to do. And then once that's done, the tank's done. And although it'll be removed and reinstalled many times between now and the finish line, having it done makes me wanna get the rest done.

It's time for me to make some noise, people.

Taking shape(s)

So last night was some of that 'shaping with color' thing I've been talking about. In an actual 'this is real life and not Photoshop Land' kind of way. And sometimes that is a really cool thing, when what was in your head on in your Photoshop .psd file turns out to have actually been a good one.

Sometimes it's not, too. But I digress...

This time I'm kinda digging it.

So I started by taping off the center section nearest the seat. And originally I wasn't even looking at this part as something to shape or try and minimize with color. Or hide with black. But, it did always look a little unfinished, this part, and the fact that it sort of doesn't really blend with the seat at this point very well at all... well, something needed to be done.

So, throwing the tank back on the bike for a test fit and a look-see; that technical process of seeing the fit is correct and the look is bitchen. So then I got back to that bottom part... the one I've been thinking I would minimize with color for months now, in my head anyway. And sometimes, well, things in my head don't always come true or happen or are 'real'- yes, that's in quotes for a reason. If Star Wars can be real, then you never know what else is real, too...

Anyway, back to the bottom stripe. I do still think I'm gonna go for it. I do still think it's a good choice, and honestly, I just wanna and I'm gonna. That's about as technical and proficient as I can get with this choice. In the end, it's something different and that may be enough all by itself.

Ultimately progress is being made and I don't want to stand in front of that train. 'Cause it's not a train that's been moving very fast the last few weeks, so I wanna keep it chuggin' along.

Might be simple but probably not

It's Thursday today. Almost my favorite day of the week. 'Cept for Fridays and Saturdays and Sundays.

Maybe Thursday should get the medal for 4th place. The thanks for participating medal, maybe. Hey, thanks for being a day! Here's your medal. Now, beat it.

Anyway... Thursdays do bring their own sense of adventure, and I do find myself driving to work on Thursday talking out loud to myself in the car about what I might try and accomplish for the weekend build. A silly thing I do, but I've sort of discovered that it's best to not question the lunacy and just embrace. And everyone loves a nice embrace, right?

So, along with the Target list and the grocery store list, the bike has it's own list, too and I'm hoping to see some progress this weekend. Likely the tank will be complete and finished; some wet-sanding and clear coating and then try and sort out how best to adhere the Fury emblems. Since I ground off the tabs, it's probably gonna be epoxy time to make that part work. Not to be confused with Hammer Time, which is something else entirely.

With the tank nearing completion, it really does beg for a start up date. The wiring is gonna be a mess and honestly can't do that in any sort of final sense, because of several factors. I can't wire up the brake light because the one I bought doesn't look good / right / won't work. I can't wire up the rear turn signals 'cause I don't have any yet. I'm not sure the rectifier works, the front headlight / signal unit I'm not entirely digging, but I do own it so may make it work just because it's already here. Oh, and I don't have a battery either. The previous one was an old lead-acid type and giant in size, so that won't work and probably is dead now anyway from sitting in a super heated garage for 4 months not being used. I could charge it up but gave my bike charger to the son in law for his bike two weeks before I bought this one... so I need another on of those, too.

And to make matters a little bit 'worse', the battery choices that will fit in the new subframe are both lithium batteries, which are super cool and lightweight and small, and oh yeah, super duper 'spensive.

Oh, the hits just keep on coming...

I was sort of thinking the rear seats would be the last large expense, but I think if I stop and start adding things up it gets real big all over again. So, in my usual tactic of late of just 'don't look it in the eye and it won't see you'... I'm just doing what I can with what I can, and Bob's your uncle.

Getting the tank sorted this weekend is a priority and won't cost money, so that's first on the list. Getting the front brakes sorted should be relatively easy and cheap, too. That leaves the wiring...

Now the wiring part can be tricky, but in my usual way of 'why do it the right way, do it this way'... er, way, I've got a mental plan for that part.

See, instead of taking the old wiring harness and trimming the fat and blah blah, it may be indeed easier - again, since I don't have any lights, brake lights, turn signals, etc... to just buy some new 10 gauge wire and run some to each place, wrap them up, start 'er up and instant grin appears. All I probably need to wire up would be the ignition, the coils, the regulator, and the battery.  No, it's not exactly 'legal' or 'safe', but a running motorcycle is a happy motorcycle owner, and the other things can then be added one at a time, and checked for good working order, then the next and so on.

Yes, it takes longer and all that, but I'm no mechanical genius and at least this way even I'll be able to tell what's wrong or right. And it's always good to tell wrong from right.

Does it help with my August 1st deadline? Yes, but not by very much. That deadline is, ironically, being held up by the lack of funds for a few things, which in turn causes me to spend funds to keep a garage for a bike that doesn't run, because of a lack of funds.

I love life sometimes...

And now for something completely different.

Progress. A little at a time, but funny thing is, this part of the project actually requires and comes out better when you do a little bit of work and some waiting in between.

So maybe I've missed my calling and should be a half-assed motorcycle painter for a living.

Doubtful that would go too well. And considering how my career has fallen off quite dramatically since moving to AZ, I'm probably better off not upsetting the apple cart too much.

And I do like apples.

A was a little disappointed when I actually got down to it and started taping off the center stripe. Since the gas cap is off center, I really wanted to center the stripe on the cap. You know, off center asymmetrical like. Guess I could have just said that. Strange how there are already words that have been invented that mean exactly what you mean...

Thing is, it would have been a weird section near the front of the tank, since the stripe would have had to wrap around the front on the right side too much, so from the side you'd see it too much... you get the picture, but I was a little bummed about that fact, since I've been seeing this asymmetrical stripe on the tank in my head for months.

I won't mention the voices in my head. That's another blog...

So, taped off the stripe after some fiddling and got it sprayed last night, then went back indoors to a milder temperature. After an aborted hiking plan for this morning I hiked (yeah yeah, I know) over to the garage and pulled the tape off and did another test fit on the bike. Just to sit back and see.

'Cause that's what I do. So yeah, I can dig it. And more importantly it's getting done, if not entirely perfectly at least done just the same.

[editors note: I did just come up with a new idea that I may try, which will result and require sort of well, starting all this over with...]

Having said all that, who knows where we go from here. Sort of another life story sticking it's head up again, but so much of that is these days, so I'm learning to just go along for the ride a little...

So now, if you'll excuse me for a moment, I've got a completely new idea to Photoshop...

The Ride

The distant skyline ahead
Dreams
Unfound, and waiting
...on the road again

The hot desert heat
Dances softly on my face
My eyes slightly shut
It begins

Mile after mile
The dial ticks
I’m getting closer
To forgetting yesterday

Freedom stronger
With every pulse
The call of the wild
Echoes my time

The wind rushes by
Whispers of stories that lay ahead
Cold beer
A dusty bar on the road side

No turning back,
Once the ride begins
Into infinity
And the death of conscious

A surge to live
Free and beyond
A longed escape
...just to be



Rabih El-Khoury




That's a good one, there.

John 2:1-11

Ok. Wow. Seriously. It was brutally hot yesterday. This past weekend. I mean, hot. Ridiculously no reason to be out there hot. And so odd that my silly floor fan had a tough time trying to cool it off in there...

So, getting back from The Home Depot around 8 am in the morning- thanks to a botched golfing day and missing clubs (I'll just leave that one there instead of getting all riled up about that once more. Kids...), and my car's thermostat is screaming a nice 121 degrees at me.

At 8:am.

So, whether or not it was actually this temp or not, it was certainly close. And I really wanted to get some progress this weekend, so I had to work through it. So this time, the beer was appropriately substituted for water. Lots of water.

Time for some color.

It was definitely not the right temperature for painting anything, but seriously, this is not rocket science here or even toy rocket here, so I figured my rattle can color special would be OK. Yes, I want it to come out as good as possible and will strive to make that so, but at this point really want some progress, and I've been not-so-diligent in that category of late.

Plus, I needed to see this 'retro' color in the flesh and get over the "I dunno if this is gonna work" part, since I'm been waffling on that for a few weeks. I just really wanted to spray some on a board or a piece of paper or something and just see what I would look like. But I guess, I just thought I would spray some, you know, on the gas tank, since I was here and all...

Funny how that part worked out.

And also funny how it ended up looking exactly like the previous Photoshop experiments of old. Which was telling and also pretty funny, considering the conversations in the paint aisle about this project and the colors and choices. I'm pretty sure that poor woman who works there would probably have preferred to not have asked me if I needed help. When you see a man staring at the paint selection for several hours without blinking, it's best to leave him be.

Yeah, its how I shop. Should see me in Guitar Center.

So, I grabbed two cans of this 'antique turquoise' color and one can of a nice subtle cream color for the center stripe. I'm gonna take some time and try and make this part look as good as possible, but I'm pretty happy with the direction and I think once the Fury emblems get attached (gotta figure that part out still) it will look pretty good.

Which all of this makes for me wanting this bike to go again pretty badly, and that's a good result too. I figure at this point, I need to go ahead and add new fluids and change the oil and driveshaft lube. After that it's just a matter of that pesky wiring harness and some fresh gas and turn the key. Right?? Oh wait, I gotta figure out where/how to mount the ignition, the turn signals, brake lights...

Though really, knowing me and, well, me... I just want it to run again. Once I get it running, that will get me pumped to get it ridable again. And that will mean the rear sets will need to be purchased. My last big expense... Not sure when or how that one will be solved, but getting her purring again will be motivation to figure that last expense out.

Maybe I can make some spare cash with this turning beer in water thing. Nah, that miracle been done before (sort of) and it's probably the opposite direction most would prefer anyway...

Performance anxiety

OK, I know I've been a little lax in my getting this bike build done. Life, well, it sometimes gets in the way, and honestly, sometimes I need a little distraction from it all. And yes, I know that this bike was supposed to be that distraction, and it still is, trust me. But I guess when I look at it and start to only see what's gonna cost me money to change/alter/fix, I get a little discouraged and just stop. And stare.

But last night was one of those times, and a little bit like this morning was, too. I made myself get out of bed at 5:am and go for a nice hike before work. And before it gets to ridiculous degree around here, too. So- good for the bod and good for the mind. So last night I'm doing a little mental butt kicking of my own dang self and getting that buzz to work on her some more.

Of course, I've got a paddle boarding day I've been wanting to do for weeks and I'm trying to not put that off any longer, and that's Saturday. And I'm supposed to do a golf outing with the managers here at work on Sunday, which although will be in the morning hours and I should be home early afternoon and have some time to do some things that evening on the bike.

That's the good 'ol plan anyway.

Still, it's funny how the picture changes in the mind about the bike. At the beginning, it was soooo dramatic, all these changes. Even just taking this big cruiser looking thing and stripping off parts and piling them on the floor makes for some good drama. The transformation... it was inspiring to continue on and make more, and so on.  The trouble is that for a couple months the visual transformation hasn't happened. At all. She's looked like this for a while now, so any progress is semi invisible, and being the visual guy that I am, it's less of a drive to work on her.

Yeah, I know I should hardly be admitting these intimate details of my psyche on national inter-webs like this...

And yeah, I do have the tank to get on with, geesh. I seriously need to get off my ass for that one. I've even got the plan for that, and that part took weeks!

So yes, admittedly I've been slow and I need to get back in gear already. Shiny objects have been closer than they appear. Maybe that's it.

And there's also been a little bit of emotional push and pull again lately, and that always seems to either bring me back to a normal frame of mind, or thrust me backwards, which then takes time to dig out of that hole again.

Maybe a weekend filled with actual normal, man made activities of fun will help spawn some emotions to work on the bike again. I know just being on a hike this morning made all the difference, so that's a good thing. Gotta get back on the bike, and gotta get get on with the ride.

All metaphors included in that one, folks.