My 1st REAL Ride!!!

Of course I couldn’t sleep. Up at 6AM but trying to stretch it to 7. I give up, get up, shower and shave and head off for the Cape. I checked Pocasset Harley Davidson’s website and they don’t open until 9AM on Monday. So I stop at Dunkin Donuts ¼ mile from the dealer and have a quick bite and refine my trip. I’m at the dealership by 8:45 but at 9:02 nobody has changed the Closed sign. As I’m getting out of my car I notice a sign on a farther window and notice they’ve changed their hours and are CLOSED on Monday’s! !! ! A quick call to Minute Man Harley in Dartmouth, 30+ miles away, tell them where I am and what are the 1st words out of the guy’s mouth? Oh, they’re Closed Mondays! Everybody knows this except me!
So I get to Dartmouth and get my spring, don’t you know it’s much shorter than the one I have. Sweet! Drive back to Paul’s and I’m on the road by 11:00 AM. AND… Every motorcycle shop I stop at is either closed or they don’t do stickers. But, by Noon I am on my way and legal! So where to go. There is a chance, a small chance, that CycleGear in Manchester Connecticut has received the smaller cheek pads for my helmet so… I’m headed West on RT.44. For those of you who don’t know, I have rebuilt the entire upper end on this Harley so I have to break it in. This means the 1st 500 miles have to be no faster than 50 miles an hour and have to be at varying speeds and RPM’s. So, I can’t just jump on the highway. It’s back roads until the trip meter hits 500 miles.
By 1:00PM I’m the other side of Providence Rhode Island. 2:30 and I’m in Connecticut. Of course the Cheek pads are not in but then, I already suspected that. So, I turn around and am headed back. One thing is for sure, I’m ordering the “Easy Shift” as soon as I get back! I call Glenn @ 6:30 to see if he’s up for a celebratory cigar. I don’t think either of us has said “no” to a good cigar. Karen calls from Virginia at 7:00PM to see if I’ve forgotten about her. (Not a Chance) and then I’m off to visit a few friends. Just to clarify, I’m REALLY cold but I want to hit 250 miles and I need 25 more. A stop at Steve’s and then to Peter’s and I’ve hit it. Park the bike and off to Home, food and Warmth!!! What a Great Day!!

Short Jaunt March 7, 2010

Well, everything is put back together and now it's time to take a quick spin to shake down everything. On the way to the gas station I heard a grinding sound... It seems my after-market chrome kickstand spring is too long. And it happens to be Sunday so nobody's open. After messing with it for half an hour I manage to mangle it shorter but on our inaugural shake down run it is still dangling and in danger of catching on a pot hole and launching me on a bad adventure. So, back to Paul’s house and I'll have to wait until a dealer opens to get an OEM kickstand spring.

Sold Enough??

Well, I think I've sold my jewelers bench and shotgun to generate enough cash to complete my bike. The new owner of the bench is supposed to pick it up Saturday so I can pay the "Rancom" on my heads & cylinders on Monday and start the process of putting my bike back together. This should also leave enough cash to title & register it as well as pay for the insurance for the year and allow me to get a decent Brain Bucket. We'll See!!

It Begins JAnuary 9, 2010

OK, After 30 years of waiting I find an 89 Harly FLT with 71,000 miles on craigslist and drive 6 hours to pick it up. It was advertised as "come and drive it home". So, for obvious reason (It was New Jersy in January) I wasn't going to drive it home but was picking it up in my buddy's pickup truck. We get there and it's already running... problem??? The seller said the battery was dead. OK, it starts right up when I shut it off but made a funny popping sound. The seller said the rear exhaust was loose... I can deal with that. We load it up and head for home. When we finally reach my friend's house where we'll be working on it, we offload it and check it out. Of course it won't start, the battery is dead. WHile it's charging I head home to change and am back within an hour. My friend has bas news for me... it's not the rear exhaust, it's a blown head gasket!

OK, I can deal with this. The previous owner said he's planned on replacing the gaskets this winter but hadn't gotten to it. HE even had a full upper gasket set he included with the bike. So we start to strip the bike to take the heads off.

1st Warning! The gas tank bolts had no nuts on them. They were just stuck in the holes and would have fallen out with in 30 miles of riding!!!

2nd Warning! Only 1/2 of the head bolts were tight! So my buddy and I talk about it and we're going to have the heads checked and a valve job done just in case. I don't want to have to rebuild this during the summer when I'd rather be riding. My buddy kow a place that always treated him right. An upper rebuild should only cost between $400 - $500.00. So he drops the heads and cylonders off that week.

January 19, 2010
Just heard from my buddy helping me rebuild my bike. NOT good news. HE told the guy at the shop my whole budget for this rebuild was $500.00. Well, the rebuild is done and it came to $975.00! ! ! WHAT? ! >? No phone call or anyting. Neither of us are very happy to say the least. So now I have to part with a few choice posessions to come up with the cash to pay the ransome on my heads and cylinders. ...to be continued...