Sunday, November 14, 2010

A Ride to the Park

Here is a motorcycle video I did of Clarence and I day taking a ride into Big Knife Park on the Battle River. Since the onslaught of cold weather and winter this may be the closest thing we can do to riding.


Monday, November 08, 2010

Project Bike is Running

The project bike is finally on the road.
I finally bit the bullet mooched a ride and haul from a Friend and took the bike into Red Deer to Ivan's Cycle and in the blink of a bikers eye he had the wing up and running smoothly. Ivan skillfully did in four and half hours what I couldn't accomplish in four months.
Ivan removed the carbs replaced some faulty O-rings, cleaned the carbs and synched it into the smooth running machine that it is now. He told me some one had been into the carbs before and used some wrong O-rings which resulted in the leaky condition. These were the carbs that I bought off of E-bay as the original ones that came with the bike were extraordinarily filthy and gunked up from dirt and debris. After about six attempts myself at trying to make them serviceable and grunting and groaning them on and off the bike, I just gave up on them.
Took the bike up to him on Thursday and he phoned me Friday night to tell me it was finished and ready to go.
My good friend Garry and his faithful Dodge pickup helped bring the bike back to Castor on Saturday.
The weather was cool on Sunday but the forecast was for colder temps moving into the region, so it was now or spring to go for a ride.
I didn't want to go too far or too fast as the bike had been sitting for a few years and I am still not sure what condition all of the other components are in like the brakes, wheels, transmission or tires. The bike purred like a kitten and ran flawlessly
Managed to put on about 100 km hitting the highlights of Fleet, Coronation and Halkirk. The project bike will be a warm weather bike as the rider is wide open to the wind not like the full dresser wing back in the shop.
Most of the things I do with motorcycles I can not accomplish without the help of friends and I am truly blessed to have some good ones. And I can't say enough of about Ivan and his repair shop in Red Deer, great mechanic, great guy and if you were to ask me, I would recommend him highly for motorcycle work.
The project bike is a work in progress and I have some ideas but not sure where I am heading next, but now that I now it runs and runs well I can work on it and ride it at the same time.