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macdobhranA very busy weekend wherein not much is accomplished.
Saturday:
I got up bright and early with a full list of projects for the weekend. The first of which was to take Reaver over to Martinsburg to get him inspected. There were four people ahead of me so I had a little time to chill. The garage that I go to for all my vehichle work and inspections is called Tony's Auto Repair. Tony's is an old school, family-run garage where everybody knows you by name. I hung out in their office looking at a Dennis Kirk motorcycle catalog for an hour or so while waiting for my turn. The inspection itself took less than 5 mins but when I tried to put the inspection plate back on the bike I managed to strip the bolt. I lay there in the parking lot struggling with it forever until I had finally had enough and decided to fix it at home. Thus the PissyBitch started to rear his ugly head.
I got home (much later than I had originally planned) and immediately started working on getting the stripped bolt off the bike. I don't know how long it took but by the time I got it off the PB was fully awake. My next task was trying to install The Bling I had purchased earlier in the week for Reaver. I decided to start with the new backrest, figuring that would be the easiest thing to swap out.
Wrong. The backrest is held on by torque screws (star shaped head as opposed to regular screws, hex-bolts or allen screws. Naturally I didn't have any torque drivers so off to the local Auto Zone I go. Purchased the appropriate set of drivers and a new bolt and nut for the inspection plate. Once I had the proper tool, the backrest came off relatively easily. So I open the new backrest package and go to insall that but... it doesn't fit. Even though the catalog said it would, it doesn't. Now the PB has a full head of steam.
Let me just pause here and point out that my wife is the kindest, most understanding woman in the world. Bless her heart, she tried to help, but she's learning that when I'm in that foul of a mood it's best just to give me a wide berth. I'd also like to apologize to![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
bonkoif (who actually was the one to name the PissyBitch, so he knows.) and snarkymarcy for bailing on dinner Saturday night. You really wouldn't have wanted to be anywhere around me then.
Anyway, since the backrest swap failed, I decided to move onto the handlebar/grip swap. I managed to RTFM and got the existing handlebars off the bike without losing any little parts or breaking anything. I put the new left grip on the new bars (17" apes for them that is interested) and proceeded to bolt the bars to the trees. (Trees or Triple Trees is the part at the neck of the motorcycle that holds the front forks and handlebars to the frame.) I got them on there and they looked great. Originally I had 12" buckhorn bars and 4" risers on the bike, so I figured 17" ape hangers with the small 1-1/2" stock risers would be fine. However, like everything on Saturday, it was not to be.
The left-side controls (horn, hi-beams, turn signal) were long enough to reach the new bars but the clutch (left-side), front brake (right-side), and throttle cables (right-side) were not. This discovery was accompanied by much despair and gnashing of the teeth. (Yes, I gnashed my teeth. I am a Tooth Gnasher.)
At this point I was DONE. Nothing had gone right all day long and now my beloved bike was in pieces and unridable. My only high-point for the day was my little April Fools Day post... do you think the rest of the day was karmic payback?? *sigh* Anyway, I spent the rest of the evening scouring the web for solutions and help.
Sunday:
cellymcfae left for church shortly before I got up. I decided that this day needed a better beginning than the previous in the hopes that things might run a little smoother. So the ClanLad and I headed over to a local diner for big plates of sausage gravy and biscuits. Having fortified ourselves against the day, we went home to get some work done.
My beloved Reaver sat in the garage mocking me with it's naked bars. I ignored it and set about some other tasks from my weekend list. In preparation for next weekend's camping jaunt to NCRF, I went down to the basement and dragged out the camping gear, set up the tent in the backyard to air out, tested that the blowup mattress would indeed fit inside said tent, and started a camping pile in the breakfast nook upstairs.
Once that was done and I realized it was only 11:00 AM (and YES, I did remember to set the clocks forward.), I decided to wash Serenity (the truck). *whew!* It's been a long time since I washed a truck but in the end, she twinkled like a star. I parked her in front of the house to dry and socellymcfae could pull into the garage. Then I went inside to rest a bit.
After a little rest and some more internet searching, I went back outside to install some rain/sun shields over the windows of Serenity. They went on as smooth as could be so I decided to take her out for a test drive. Y'know, just to make sure they didn't go flying off at 50 mph. They held and I stopped by Sheetz to treat myself to a root beer. While I was there I ran into a couple from my riding club and talked to them about my handlebar problems. They gave me the name of a shop that might be able to help (unfortunately they are so busy they can't even look at it for at least two weeks). Buoyed by that news, I headed home and immediately started putting the bike back the way it was. That process was uneventful and within an hour Reaver was ridable again. So naturally I rode him.
Soon after that, the ClanLad's mother came to pick him up.cellymcfae and I collapsed on the couch, watched a little t.v., and then went to bed early enough so that we could both hit our respective gyms this morning.
All in all it was a good weekend, though I didn't get nearly enough accomplished. The bike project is on hold for the moment. I did get an email from another member of my riding club who offered to help me with the bars. I'm going to call him this afternoon and see when we can get together to work on it.
And that's all I know.
Saturday:
I got up bright and early with a full list of projects for the weekend. The first of which was to take Reaver over to Martinsburg to get him inspected. There were four people ahead of me so I had a little time to chill. The garage that I go to for all my vehichle work and inspections is called Tony's Auto Repair. Tony's is an old school, family-run garage where everybody knows you by name. I hung out in their office looking at a Dennis Kirk motorcycle catalog for an hour or so while waiting for my turn. The inspection itself took less than 5 mins but when I tried to put the inspection plate back on the bike I managed to strip the bolt. I lay there in the parking lot struggling with it forever until I had finally had enough and decided to fix it at home. Thus the PissyBitch started to rear his ugly head.
I got home (much later than I had originally planned) and immediately started working on getting the stripped bolt off the bike. I don't know how long it took but by the time I got it off the PB was fully awake. My next task was trying to install The Bling I had purchased earlier in the week for Reaver. I decided to start with the new backrest, figuring that would be the easiest thing to swap out.
Wrong. The backrest is held on by torque screws (star shaped head as opposed to regular screws, hex-bolts or allen screws. Naturally I didn't have any torque drivers so off to the local Auto Zone I go. Purchased the appropriate set of drivers and a new bolt and nut for the inspection plate. Once I had the proper tool, the backrest came off relatively easily. So I open the new backrest package and go to insall that but... it doesn't fit. Even though the catalog said it would, it doesn't. Now the PB has a full head of steam.
Let me just pause here and point out that my wife is the kindest, most understanding woman in the world. Bless her heart, she tried to help, but she's learning that when I'm in that foul of a mood it's best just to give me a wide berth. I'd also like to apologize to
bonkoif (who actually was the one to name the PissyBitch, so he knows.) and snarkymarcy for bailing on dinner Saturday night. You really wouldn't have wanted to be anywhere around me then.Anyway, since the backrest swap failed, I decided to move onto the handlebar/grip swap. I managed to RTFM and got the existing handlebars off the bike without losing any little parts or breaking anything. I put the new left grip on the new bars (17" apes for them that is interested) and proceeded to bolt the bars to the trees. (Trees or Triple Trees is the part at the neck of the motorcycle that holds the front forks and handlebars to the frame.) I got them on there and they looked great. Originally I had 12" buckhorn bars and 4" risers on the bike, so I figured 17" ape hangers with the small 1-1/2" stock risers would be fine. However, like everything on Saturday, it was not to be.
The left-side controls (horn, hi-beams, turn signal) were long enough to reach the new bars but the clutch (left-side), front brake (right-side), and throttle cables (right-side) were not. This discovery was accompanied by much despair and gnashing of the teeth. (Yes, I gnashed my teeth. I am a Tooth Gnasher.)
At this point I was DONE. Nothing had gone right all day long and now my beloved bike was in pieces and unridable. My only high-point for the day was my little April Fools Day post... do you think the rest of the day was karmic payback?? *sigh* Anyway, I spent the rest of the evening scouring the web for solutions and help.
Sunday:
cellymcfae left for church shortly before I got up. I decided that this day needed a better beginning than the previous in the hopes that things might run a little smoother. So the ClanLad and I headed over to a local diner for big plates of sausage gravy and biscuits. Having fortified ourselves against the day, we went home to get some work done. My beloved Reaver sat in the garage mocking me with it's naked bars. I ignored it and set about some other tasks from my weekend list. In preparation for next weekend's camping jaunt to NCRF, I went down to the basement and dragged out the camping gear, set up the tent in the backyard to air out, tested that the blowup mattress would indeed fit inside said tent, and started a camping pile in the breakfast nook upstairs.
Once that was done and I realized it was only 11:00 AM (and YES, I did remember to set the clocks forward.), I decided to wash Serenity (the truck). *whew!* It's been a long time since I washed a truck but in the end, she twinkled like a star. I parked her in front of the house to dry and so
cellymcfae could pull into the garage. Then I went inside to rest a bit.After a little rest and some more internet searching, I went back outside to install some rain/sun shields over the windows of Serenity. They went on as smooth as could be so I decided to take her out for a test drive. Y'know, just to make sure they didn't go flying off at 50 mph. They held and I stopped by Sheetz to treat myself to a root beer. While I was there I ran into a couple from my riding club and talked to them about my handlebar problems. They gave me the name of a shop that might be able to help (unfortunately they are so busy they can't even look at it for at least two weeks). Buoyed by that news, I headed home and immediately started putting the bike back the way it was. That process was uneventful and within an hour Reaver was ridable again. So naturally I rode him.
Soon after that, the ClanLad's mother came to pick him up.
cellymcfae and I collapsed on the couch, watched a little t.v., and then went to bed early enough so that we could both hit our respective gyms this morning.All in all it was a good weekend, though I didn't get nearly enough accomplished. The bike project is on hold for the moment. I did get an email from another member of my riding club who offered to help me with the bars. I'm going to call him this afternoon and see when we can get together to work on it.
And that's all I know.
(no subject)
Date: 2006-04-03 03:54 pm (UTC)