Just Another Ugly Bike?

A few days back I was puttin’ around town when I spotted some bikes outside a local watering hole. So I stopped and sat for a while. One guy I didn’t know kept staring at my bike. About ten minutes later he says: “Ya know, that thing is about two steps from a rat-bike”. All I could do is say ‘Thanks’. The dude made my day! That guy new a fine piece of Japanese craftsmanship when he saw one.

Now the old girl is 32 this year and she was looking pretty ugly last year when I decided to rearrange her parts. The first thing to consider was the budget, or lack of. After consulting with my finance administrator (wife), a budget was decided upon. It would consist of whatever spare parts I had or whatever I could get for free. So the show bike theme was out. Why not go the opposite way? No paint, no cleaning no nothing. Just use parts never intended to fit. Make it even uglier, but with style. The decision was made. It would be a piece of shit but look like a hundred dollar hooker from a distance, a ‘long’ distance.
The budget quickly went south. The timing advance was worn, as were the clutch basket studs. The threads were somewhat smooth and would sometimes make it hard to shift. So new parts were purchased. The bike now had a value of about $60.00.

The one thing I knew was getting changed was the rear fender. I hated the short skinny one and wanted a much longer one, (don’t we all). An old Yamaha front fender seemed to fit in the space, somewhat. But mounting it with the struts was not to be. New struts were made at a cost of I now owe a favor. The saddlebags, that have been cut up for different bikes, and are now held together with old bootlaces, cover the custom struts just fine. The seat mount is really hoakie but serves the purpose. The rims were found hanging on the wall of a barn. They were put there around 1980. I aired them up and used the rubber that was on them since it was better than what I was running. I don’t think the FL shocks have any fluid in them. But the forks leak anyway. An old re-jetted Sporty carb feeds the thing, sometimes.

Now without making this to long with a lot of boring detail, here’s the question: Is this thing really about two-steps from being a rat-bike? Which I take as a compliment. Or is it just apiece a of crap? In which case I made a mistake by cleaning some of the rust and heavy grime.

Yes? No?

A cigarette afterwards? Yes? No?

Hell, that’s what I’m doing now ;)

CA Smog Check Update

Here’s the latest update on California SB-435. That motorcycle smog check thing. It looks like ‘they’ amended ‘something’ on 1/11/2010. If this thing passes, I can live with it. If I read this right, what is says is that they’ll have the bailiff whack your pee-pee if they catch you tampering with pollution control devices. OK. If I get caught, whack away. Yep, this thing definitely changed. Here’s the way they left it last year. You can read it if you want. It’s long and legal. But some of it’s interesting. Here’s the same thing with the amendments from January. This one you can read in about a minute.

It’s possible that all the hate mail helped. Mostly though, it was all the shops bitchin’ about the cost of ‘mandated’ equipment they would have to buy. Looks like somebody got their head out of their butt and figured that putting shops out of business right now, might not be a smart move. Whatever the reason, it’s better than the original. It may rear it’s ugly head again in a few years, but for right now…

All Is Right With The World Again

Over the last few months, or even the last few years it has seemed that the world is going to hell in a hand basket. Nothing but bad news, worse news and even suckier news. Just been waiting for something good to happen. Something that would uplift the entire world. Then it happened. I heard a news story and had to check it out. I found this video, watched it, and decided that all is right with the world again. Things just can’t get any better. Anyone who wants to make this a better world can sign the petition here.