| Author | Message | ||
     Pwnzor |
Thanks RD! | ||
| Ourdee |
welcome | ||
| Crusty |
Parts is Parts The other day, I shorted out a bit and ordered the parts to put the full (Proper) rear fender on the 16 The wiring harness for the tail light and turn signals, the circuit board that goes in the tail light, the support that goes under the fender, the standoffs for the rear turn signals, and a few other minor parts. They just came in. It feels like Christmas! Everything looks good, so tomorrow, I’ll start to get the white fender ready to put on the 16. I have one more part to get, and it’s supposed to be delivered tomorrow according to USPS Tracking. I also have to go the the Airhead Dealership and see if they have one connector. When I ordered the parts, I didn’t look too closely at the place that said it takes two and only ordered one. If Cin City H-D doesn’t have one, I can try Queen City up in Fairfield or Powderkeg in Mason. One of them has to have one. I’ll call first and check because wasting time is so 70s. This afternoon, I shorted out again and spent a little more money. I saw a great Christmas present for a friend, so I ordered it. Since I was at Amazon and I was trying to save on shipping, I bought the LED Tail Light I’ve been planning to buy. I think I now have almost everything I need to put the white fender on. That means that I’ll be able to put the hard bags on the 16, as well. The Gentleman’s Express is getting closer to becoming reality! There are still several items to get. I’ll have enough money to buy the paint this coming month. My problem then will be getting the new fender. Knowing me, I’ll use the card and buy it from Ronnie’s and have them ship it to Joe’s house. Then all I have to do is get the front fender, gas tank and the side panels from the bags to Joe and let him work his magic. I still have to get a sissy bar and a Mustang seat and I’m sure there are a sh*tload of little, but necessary things that I’ll have to get to make everything come together, but it feels like I’m coming around turn four and I can see the Finish Line! One more bit of Positive News. When I bought the 4 1/2 Gallon tank two winters ago, I looked inside through the Fuel Pump opening, and I saw rust up around the filler. Joe told me to try some white vinegar in the tank for a couple of days. Yesterday, I bought a big jug of Cleaning Vinegar and when I went to pour it into the tank, there was no rust inside. It looks beautiful. Nice and clean. I don’t know if I was hallucinating or if I just misremembered, but I don’t think the tank needs anything. I don’t know what I’ll do with the vinegar, but it didn’t cost much, so I guess I’ll just let it sit for now. I’m hoping that I won’t be writing a Snippet tomorrow night pissing and moaning about unexpected problems popping up, but if they do, I’ll figure out how to overcome them. Tonight, I’m just Happy! | ||
| Glitch |
 | ||
| Ourdee |
That vinegar cleans faucets and other stuff. | ||
| Crusty |
Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes The rear fender has been changed. That means that (as usual) what I thought would take a couple of hours took a couple of days. I had to use the new wiring harness for several reasons. It was a real bitch getting the old wiring harness off of the fender. The glue the factory used was pure hell to remove. The Turn signals are relocated. Figuring out what changes to make, then finding someone who could change the connectors and the terminals was also time consuming. I don’t have either the tool to take the terminals out of the plastic connectors or the tool to crimp the necessary terminals on the wire. Add in that I forgot the petcock on the 05 was on Reserve and I ran out of gas while running around and it made for an Adventurous job. But it’s done. The turn signals work like they should and the tail light lights and so does the brake light. The white fender definitely detracts from the bike’s appearance, but it’s only for a little while. She’ll be drop dead gorgeous once she’s painted. I didn’t put the saddlebag mounts on yet. Maybe I’ll do that tomorrow. Or maybe I’ll wait until Wednesday. Tuesday’s my birthday and I need to do a bit of running around to prepare for it. I like to celebrate my Birthday and this one is a real Milestone. I’ll be 70 on Tuesday. I’m going to have a BLT for Breakfast, a hot fudge sundae made with Strawberry Ice Cream, Hot Fudge, slices of Banana and hot marshmallow on top. No cherry, no nuts, nothing else. That’s my favorite dessert at the present time and it will go good mid-afternoon. For Dinner, my usual celebratory meal; a 10 oz. Ribeye with mashed Yukon Gold potatoes, beef gravy and biscuits. Well; maybe I should move the hard bags over tomorrow. No. Every time I think a job will go smoothly, something jumps out and bites me in the ass. Wednesday will be here soon enough. There’s a lot of details that I omitted, but the fact is still that I accomplished the part of the transformation that I was most concerned with. That’s a huge weight off my shoulders. And even with a white fender, the Gentleman’s Express is becoming more visible with each change. | ||
| Zac4mac |
Happy Birthday to BadWeB’s newest septuagenarian! Enjoy your day John... Z | ||
| 1313 |
Happy Birthday Crusty! I hope it is a truly enjoyable day! | ||
| Pwnzor |
Happy belated birthday! | ||
| Crusty |
Belated? Today is my Birthday! Thank you guys! | ||
| 04buell |
Happy Birthday John Jackson.  | ||
| Pwnzor |
Belated could just mean others beat me to it.... Actually thought it was yesterday for some reason. | ||
| Wolfridgerider |
Happy Birthday Crusty! | ||
| Court |
Happy Birthday to my hero ! | ||
| Daddio |
Happy Birthday, Crusty... Keep on riding, and writing. | ||
| Zane |
Happy Birthday Mr. Jackson! | ||
| Glitch |
Happy Birthday! Yer th best! | ||
| Whisperstealth |
HAPPY BIRTHDAY CRUSTY!! Hope you are having a wonderful and beautiful day! | ||
| Buellish |
Happy birthday John!I hope I'm in as good a shape when I turn 70 in 5 years! | ||
| Oldfartnbuell |
Yes indeed Mr John! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!! | ||
| Crusty |
Thank you all! Court; you need to find better heroes! But thank you for the compliment! | ||
| Ourdee |
I wouldn't call you a hero, but I would not short you either. We all live vicariously through you John. I watch you and see flaws all the while knowing you are doing right in your heart. And that is what counts my 70 year old best friend! | ||
| 86129squids |
Dang, RoadCrust did 70?!?? Oh... Years, not MPH. Twist that throttle, ya old flaky geezer!! Eating a homemade pork burrito in your honor.  I'll see you soon, friend. | ||
| Blake |
Happy Birthday John! | ||
| Oldog |
Belated Happy Birth Day Crusty! | ||
| Crusty |
Chineseum and a Day From Hell It’s all the Crock pot’s fault. The switch my crock pot went south. The last two times I used it to make pulled chicken, it burned the chicken, and I had it set on low. David has three different crock pots and he offered me one, but I was worried that the 3 pound half loin of pork I had in the fridge would go bad, so I decided to try baking the pork at a low temperature. I slathered it with BBQ sauce and stuck it in the oven at 275º. I figured that it should be done by noon (about 5 hours). Then the Migraine started. This one was unusual in that the pain was intense from the moment the aura started. Usually, the aura starts small and grows for a while until I’m nearly blind; then the pain starts to build. I was supposed to take David’s car and go pick up Pizza for lunch for the shop, but I was in no shape to do so. So I called him around 8:30 and left a voice mail so he could make other plans, then tried to get some sleep. I woke up around 1:30 and my head felt like a rotten pumpkin, but I got up and shut the oven off. The pork didn’t look like it was going to be good, but I let it sit and cool for a bit. I had that nervous energy that sometimes accompanies a Migraine. My head still hurt, but I couldn’t sit still so I went down to the garage and played with the Roadster. I had taken the bags and mounts off the 05 and the Chineseum docking kit that I bought on fleaBay had come in Thursday night, so I figured if I took my time, I would have the 16 fitted with the hard bags. So I transferred the various screws,washers, spacers and such and put the new docking kit bits on the bike along with the mounting brackets for the bags. Then I tried the sissy bar. It wouldn’t go on. In spite of my pounding head, I carefully looked at things,then moved and replaced some washers and spacers and finally got everything aligned. Still, the sissy bar wouldn’t go on. So I took one of the new kit parts and put it side by side with one from Harley. The groove that the side plates fit into was narrower on the Chineseum pieces. I eventually got the sissy bar to fit, but I guess I’ll just have to shell out the dough for a Harley Docking kit. Anyhow; I finished up with that and made my way upstairs. I decided to eat an early dinner. I figured that maybe eating would help to dim the pain, as that happens frequently. So I cut off a chunk of the hard leather roast pork and brought it into the living room to eat at my desk. I’m still not sure exactly what happened, but as I was slicing up the pork, something slipped. The plate with all the bite size pieces went flying along with the chunk I was cutting and the steak knife showed me that it would cut my finger a lot faster and easier than it would cut that chunk of pork. I have to take a blood thinner, and while it helps my body to accept the Carbon and Stainless valve in my heart, it doesn’t help when I want my blood to clot. It took me about half an hour to get the blood flow from my finger under control (it was a deep cut). Then it took me another 15 minutes or so to clean up all the blood in the bathroom and to pick up all the pieces of pork and vacuum the carpet and wash the blood out of the kitchen towel before it set and permanently stained it. Once I got everything accomplished, I cut off another chunk of pork, cut it into little pieces and slathered it with sauce and had a nice, tasteless and chewy dinner. I was damned if I was going to let a minor disaster beat me. I think I’m going to dump the rest of that pork, though. I’m cheap and I hate to waste food, but baking that half loin was a mistake. Oh; it took almost a half hour to clean all the carbonized BBQ sauce/fat from the pan after I let it soak with hot water and dish detergent for a couple of hours. Anyhow, my head still hurts a little bit, this morning and so does my finger, but instead of a big wad of gauze and some heavy duty tape, I’ve just got a band aid over the cut. Things are getting better. | ||
| 86129squids |
Dang! I hate wasting food too. My $.02- Take the rest of the pork, shred it (you could cut into small chunks and coarse chop in a food processor), then examine for any tenderness. If still leathery, throw in your slow cooker with just enough water and just a bit of reduced salt soy sauce, on low until it tenderizes properly. Go for <just> moist, easy on the water, let it all steam to lose the water. Routinely sample, add seasoning/sauce very gradually over time... suddenly, pulled pork for sandwiches! Portion, then freeze. For the wound- liquid skin/crazy glue/gorilla glue. Hurts like a b*&tch, but you probably know this by now. My work now turns the skin on my fingers to dried jerky- had to put liquid skin on 8 splits a while ago. Ow. Don't be dismayed... this time next week, you'll have Jim's 'cue down your gullet! | ||
| Ourdee |
Corn Huskers Lotion is what I used for winter on the wrecker truck.  | ||
| Crusty |
Excuses I’m getting soft. No, wait; I’m already soft. I’m getting softer. I turned the heat on this morning. The house was at 65º and it’s not supposed to get any warmer than that today, so I flipped the switch on the thermostat to heat and set it for 70º. I’ll lower it to 68º later. But it’s supposed to be fairly cool this weekend. The projected high temps for Suches on Friday and Saturday are only supposed to be 60, with lows dipping into the 30s. Since we can’t use the main room of the lodge, it’s going to be a lot less comfortable having to be outside all day and all night. I’ve got a warm sleeping bag, but I can’t stay in it the whole time. The idea of being cold for the next five days really doesn’t appeal to me. To be honest, I’m seriously thinking about calling the trip off. But I’ve really been looking forward to this trip for a while. It was going to be my End of Season Ride; the one that I look back at during the winter that makes me dream and plan future rides. I guess I’m down to balancing the discomfort vs. the reward. In the past, I would have my doubts, but push through them and the rewards were worth it. Now; I’m asking myself if there are enough positives to outweigh the negatives. Oh, screw it. If I list all the positives and negatives, I’ll talk myself out of going. I’ll put the liner in my jacket and I’ll be fine. The Tramp is calling me a pussy. And besides, God hates a coward. ********** I rerouted the rear turn signal wires on the 16 last night. I was thinking that I was going to have to shorten them, but I discovered that with the use of a small Adel clamp, not only did I not have to cut the wires, the routing is much neater and looks a lot more professional. The one thing I really want is for the Gentleman’s Express to be the best looking and professionally built bike that I can have. I have several different people helping me with the build, so I can’t say the best bike I can build. But I can say, it’s the best bike I can want to build. Like most things in life, if I put the effort in, I’ll get what I deserve. I refuse to settle for half measures. It will be the bike that H-D should build (and would, if they had motorcyclists at the helm, instead of money grubbing shoe salesmen). Back in the early 70s, I saw a custom painted Vincent in a magazine that was magnificent. Fifteen or 20 years later, I saw that same bike at a British bike meet. The paint was chipped and dulled by years of riding. It didn’t look nearly as pretty as it did when it was first built. But it had that patina of a well used motorcycle and not a piece of static art. That’s what I want the gentleman’s Express to be like. Beautiful, but showing its age with dignity. It will never be a trailer queen. But it will be built right. | ||
| Froggy |
If I find out you are not coming, I'll ride right up to Cinci right now and hog tie you to the back of my Goldwing! |
