Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Q&A

Well for some reason I can't seem to respond to comments made on my blog.

So.....

Yes I fixed the generator. I just cleaned it up REAL good.

The motorcycle that you gave me the link to was one of three that were there. The only one not on a truck.

Yeah "Big Ticket" is a 77. If 35 years makes it antique then I can also be an "antique on an antique" LOL. 38 in December.

So Wooley, since we are doing Q&A, what is the confirmed head count on the ride now?

Monday, May 23, 2011

Some pics for the ones that missed it. (The Antique Motorcycles)

I didn't take many but here are the ones I did take. Don't ask 'cause I have no idea what they are now.


Here's a mid 60's Triumph you could ride home for $2500. (If you were completely clueless)





An old shovelhead with LOTS of moulding on the frame and tins. Kind of dated but still not a bad looking bike over all.


Sweet little BSA




U.S. Army Harleys


...and my favorite...


And "Big Ticket" just before I left and the rain started. Not quite an antique just yet but old enough.

What's in a name?

Shakespeare posed this question and though it has been repeated many time, how often do we really consider it?

What really is in a name? When I named my kids I had specific reasons for each of them. All of them different and all of them fitting, even now. I guess it could be luck that my children have somehow grown into the names they were given but it could be that my wife and I chose those names by some unspoken communication with our kids personalities, even before they were born. It depends on who you talk to I guess. Either way the names they have, now fit them the way they are. I couldn't imagine them being called anything else.

Anyway all that garbage was written to lead into this. I think I have finally decided on a name for my 77 Sportster. "Big Ticket". I chose that name because this thing is always costing me money or time, not that I mind it much but I have less money than time and here lately all she wants is money. So that's it, "Big Ticket" it is.

The powers that be.

Well the rapture didn't come this past weekend as predicted but there was some unexplained favors done. What really happened was the nut in Oakland is exactly that and I tore my generator apart AGAIN, and this time I took some 1500 grit sandpaper to the commutator to clean it up and then cleaned out the grooves real good so none of the copper dust or paper grit was stuck between them. Then I sprayed it all off with electrical contact cleaner and put it back together. Viola, it started working. Now if we can just keep things together at least until I get back from the BBR. 4 weeks, 3 days to go.

Oh and just for the record, the Rev. Camping says the rapture has now been rescheduled for Oct. 21st 2011.

Friday, May 20, 2011

Piece of crap

Well the short, and I do mean short, trip down the interstate last weekend on my way to Kernersville my generator light came on. I then went ahead and rode out my ride plan for the day and the bike did great. When I got home I tried to start it back up after shutting it down and it did start but was hesitant to turn over. The battery was almost dead. So I figured it was the regulator since it was not a true motorcycle part. I ordered a new solid state regulator and once it got here I put it on, rewired the entire charging system and fired up the bike. Nothing. The damn light is still on. So now what? I checked out the generator as best I could (I'm not very good at electrical crap) and it seems to be the generator gone bad. Just in time for my trip too. 5 weeks to go and I'm broke down, and flat busted at the bank. No money for repairs and less for riding around on. The bills and kids come first. Well I guess all is not lost, I DO have 5 weeks to get things right. Cross your fingers for me, mine will be covered in grease.

Saturday, May 14, 2011

Antique Motorcycles

So today I got up at 6 after going to bed at 1. I was making a new points cover. Anyway, I got ready and left the house headed to Kernersville to meet some folks for breakfast and a ride to a motorcycle show/swap meet in Denton. As I left the house I realized I wouldn't need my chaps on the ride up cause the road was dry even though it had rained last night. I stopped and took them off. I rode 25 miles to where we were to meet only to find out that no one else showed up. Oh well, I ride alone a lot anyhow. Off to Denton. The weather was great for riding, I made it to the Denton Farm Park and went in the gates. WOW what a show. Old bikes of every type and lots and lots of parts. It's amazing how much money some of these people want for their JUNK. And I do mean junk, some of it rusted and rotted so bad you can't even tell what it is. All in all a great time and a fairly nice ride. Just as I was putting on my lid to leave the rain came. It only rained about 10 minuets though so not too bad.  I did a little over a 100 miles today, warming up the backside for the ride in June.

Tuesday, May 3, 2011

Yay!!! New Parts!!

Well as soon as the US mail gets the lead out I will have wrenching to do. I won a complete set of forks for my Ironhead on eBay this week. Not perfect but much better than the leaky POS that is on my bike now. I also bought a set of used 14.5" shocks for the rear since mine have broken springs. They look like they belong to a 1978 Suzuki GS1000E but what the hell, if they fit I'm running them. They have full chrome covers but they are not weird looking like the Harley big twin covered shocks. All total including shipping? How about an astounding $125.95. I can't wait to get them and get'em mounted. Maybe I can get this thing ready for my trip, before my trip LOL.
 Maybe I can pick up a few odds and ends at the antique motorcycle show in Denton next weekend, maybe not. We'll see. There are a few things I would like to pick up but money is tight and what is available is being squirreled away for Tonya's trip to the beach and my road trip so it's mainly the necessities.
 Anyway, I guess I will be going over my bike between now and June 24 fixing what HAS to be fixed and trying to make it comfy. Man I can't wait!

Monday, May 2, 2011

Osama Bin Laden

Well we finally got the bastard. Thank you Navy SEALs for a job well done. And my favorite part? The coward used an unarmed woman as a human shield when the SEALs came knocking on the door. May your body rot at the bottom of the ocean you chicken shit little worm.

Sunday, May 1, 2011

PeeWee

One of my very best friends, no scratch that, my brother Peewee came by the house Saturday so I could do a little fabricating on his Rebel. He had another guy weld a couple of trumpet mufflers off of a 450 Rebel onto his head pipes and he needed to have some mounts fabricated and installed to keep them from just hanging out and bouncing causing the welds to break. So that's what we did. Nothing fancy but with a little MAPP gas, the drill press, grinder, and the vise we had him fixed up in about an hour. Not bad for a couple of old ditch diggers huh?
 Peewee has been my closest friend since somewhere around 1990. We've been through everything together. 3 Marriages, 1 divorce, 5 kids, the deaths of friends and family, cancer, everything. We don't hang out like we used too, life getting in the way I guess, but the friendship is still there and as strong as ever.  A lot of times friends are taken for granted and we only remember to thank them when tragedy occurs. Luckily, those kinds of friends don't have to hear it to know how you feel.
 This post started out to be nothing more than a recap of the motorcycle related stuff I did this weekend but I guess there was something that needed to be said. Something to relate to you, the reader. Something important. Thank your friends. Thank them for just being there, for holding your head out of the toilet when you drink too much. Thank them for loosing sleep to be at your house working on your crap at 2 a.m. Not the beer fridge, or the riding mower, the crap that doesn't benefit him. The crap they help you fix just because you called them and they would rather be there helping you than at home resting up for work tomorrow. Thank your friends for accepting you when you're an ass. Accepting you because you're an ass, not in spite of it. In this world that we live in today, with all the shallow people with their "me first " attitudes, the true "friend" is becoming harder and harder to come by. I guess that's why my very best friend has been holding that position for the last 21+ years.
 Friends, all my friends, cherish the ones you hold dear. They are taken from us all too quickly and replacements are impossible to find. :^)




P.S. 7 weeks, 5 days till the ride.