Frankenfoot

Last night was the quietest night in months in my neighborhood. I'm at the northern limits of the city, nowhere near where the protests were. I've never understood the desire for wanton violence and destruction. I just don't get it. I mean, I get it, we're all pretty pissed about what happened to that poor man, but why set things on fire? Why destroy? What does looting have to do with social justice? I don't understand that.

Not much actually accomplished on Geraldine today. Changed the final drive oil. Was going to change it on Gertrude too, but the final drive fill plug is a huge honking hex bolt, and didn't bring my big channel locks down with me. Project for tomorrow. The mirrors and levers, including front brake master cylinder, have arrived and are ready to be installed. The front tire is here. I'm still waiting for kronking FedEx to show up with the rear tire. Four days in a row "delivery exception". Bastards. I hate FedEx. Every time something is shipped to me via FedEx I have to wait three or four days before it finally actually shows up. How the fuck do they stay in business? I signed up for their delivery management service, and had to wait ten days for an authorization code to show up in the mail. Then when I went to use it, I had to sign up again, and wait another ten days for another authorization code. Then when I went to use it, they said "delivery management is n...

Not much to report today. Removed the air filter, it's presently soaking in a bucket of degreaser. Tomorrow will rinse and dry, day or so after will oil and install. Total cost: zero . Mostly waiting on parts now. Tires on order - should be here in a few days Mirrors on order Front brake master cylinder, clutch lever on order Spark plugs on order Tach cable on order Oil and filter on order I do have the new tach to install. Maybe tomorrow, but probably not. Tomorrow I want to get Gertrude inspected and get some miles on her. In case of confusion: Geraldine, the heroine of this story, is a 1984 Honda VT500C Shadow. (The little black one) Gertrude The Elephant is my main ride, a 2000 Kawasaki ZG1200 Voyager XII. (The big gray one)

Well, looks like I am going to be able to take a looooong motorcycle trip down to Florida in a couple of weeks. Here's the tentative agenda: 6/11 - Home to DC, board Auto Train 180 miles riding 6/12 - Auto Train to Sanford, FL, ride to hotel in Melbourne, FL 855 miles train, 88.5 miles riding 6/12 - 6/15 Melbourne / Palm Bay / Orlando 6/15 - Ride Melbourne to roughly Anderson, SC 525 miles 6/16 - Anderson, SC to Knoxville, TN via The Dragon's Tail 190 miles 6/17 - Knoxville to Henderson, NC 382 miles 6/18 - Henderson to Home via the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel 427 miles Total 1,885 miles riding, 855 train, total 2,740 miles (plus whatever wandering I do in my three days in Florida). So far the longest one-day ride has been 235 miles, in mountains, without the air hawk seat cover. I'm aiming for 400-ish tomorrow.

I learned a couple of things today: I have to remember to shut the fuel petcock off. I posted a note on the fuse box (handlebars) to remind me. The engine stop switch only cuts the ignition, not anything else. So, I can be sitting there cranking away like an idiot wondering why she won't fire. Yep, it happened. Twice. After going a little buggy trying to dig the spark plug out, I realized that Marco (the previous owner of both Geraldine and Gertrude) had left a couple of magnets on the tank. Clipped the smaller one into my test light lead, and bingo, plug came right out. Used Gertrude's spark plug socket (same size, better rubber inside) to reinstall the plug. Geraldine then started right up and idled beautifully. Took her for a little lap around the parking lot. The back tire is fucked, split, flat-spotted, and definitely not road-ready. I'd already ordered the new tires last night (and they are on the way). As for the broken fuse box cover, well,...

Counted my pennies and ordered everything for Geraldine: Front and rear tires Oil and filter Cover Tach cable So once that stuff is in and installed, only thing left is the bodywork and paint. She may be ready for sale by end of June. About the only things I can think of that I haven't described but need to be done are replacing the tach (on hand) and making sure the charging system is working correctly. Parts for this order: $161.03 Total expenditure is now $306.62  bringing the total including the cost of the bike itself to $506.62 . Figure another hundred? for paint. Should make a nice little profit on the wee beastie.

Yesterday 5/19 - tried to replace the brake master cylinder sight glass. Cleaned out the remains of the old one, then discovered the new one is too large. Weird. The master cylinder looks much newer than the rest of the bike; I have no idea what the original used, but this is the size spec'd. Jump started her again just for shits and giggles. Started up pretty quickly, idled pretty nicely. Cost of sight glass (bought two, that's how they came) roughly eight bucks. Total expenditure so far (not including the price of the bike) $135.59 Today 5/20 - New battery arrived. Installed, discovered that, yes, it's the same size, group 12, but it's 90 degrees out. In other words, it's as tall as the old one is wide, and vice-versa. So, I've got to make some insulation and mount the battery sideways. With the new battery, she started right up, idled *beautifully*. All lights nice and bright, although the taillight warning light is still on. Maybe that's bec...

Thursday May 14: Purchased 1984 Honda VT500C Shadow for $200.00. Pumped up the tires (rear was flat).  Cost $28 to have AAA cart it home. Insurance: $12.00 through 11/1.  Doesn't run, no electrical power.  Rear tire shot.  Front tire dry-rotted.  Tank needs dents banged out & paint.  Told tach very noisy.  Came with a bunch of spare parts including instrument cluster. Total expenditure so far including bike purchase: $240 Friday, May 15: Began troubleshooting the electrical system. One reason why I got it so cheap was because the electrical system was dead.  Saturday May 16: Cleaned up the battery ground, and apparently the battery is no good. Got her started with a jump. I can jump-start it, and she'll idle with the jump disconnected. Topped off oil.  Adjusted clutch and throttle cables. Lubed all cables except speedo (replacement came with bike).  Ordered battery.  Sight glass broken on front...