Monday, October 20, 2014

Ain't She a Beaut!







My brother from a different mother came down to the shack on Saturday night to check out the bike. In honor of the occasion I threw the tank on and swept the floor a little. The wiring is still a mess but other wise it looks pretty good. It'll look better when I get the back wheel plumbed up with the backing plate bead blasted and the chrome brake lever and actuating rod. If you look closely at the photos of the engine, you can see the new chrome nuts on the rocker shafts - I like the looks of those. After I get done with the rest of the mechanical stuff I'll touch up the paint on the motor and the bike should look pretty sexy. 

My buddy was both impressed and happy for me. We've known each other for close to 50 years now and he knows that for about 48 of those years I've wanted a Sportster. Not a new one but one like I've now got. A '68 would have been perfect but this one's close enough.  


Of course when you're talking perfect and '68, his Camaro fits the bill. He's been waiting for a couple of months to get some brake parts in. He said they finally showed up the other day, so he'll be cruising again come springtime. 

I start working just two days per week as of today. That'll be the schedule for the next eight weeks and it looks right now that will be the case for the first eight weeks of the Spring semester.That's going to be nice. I should be able to get a bunch of bike work done now. I should have the Sportster all set to go for Spring and be able to make some progress on the 900 and the BSA. I've got some inside work to attend to on the shack but with two days on and five days off, no reason I can't get to most of it - other than the most deadliest of the seven sins, sloth that is. I've never really been one to sit around, just a little lax when it comes to finishing things. Unfortunately, often times the end result might just as well be the same. I'll be turnin' and burnin' this winter though.

That's all I've got for now.

4 comments:

Rich said...

I never thought I'd say this about a Harley, but man, that AMF logo pops. Looking very good.
Those plug wires are turned up pretty loud though. :-)

Shop Teacher Bob said...

Thanks. I wouldn't have painted it that way but since it was already done that way and done well, I'm going to run with it. Likewise, the plug wires are what I pulled out of the box of parts. If I was going to go with any color other than black, I'd go with yellow since that was what the Accel plug wires always were. However, I'll probably spring for some new black ones. I wanted the bike to look as complete as possible when my buddy came down.

Surly said...

Rich is right about the wires. It's the first thing I noticed.
Those wires wont work as well as solid core wires anyhow. I probably have enough wire to make you a set and Joe has the rest of the pieces.
The bike looks fantastic. Well done.

Shop Teacher Bob said...

Maybe some Packard 440 so I can use the shop radio as a tachometer. Actually, I think I've got some plug wires around here that were part of a partial set I couldn't bring myself to throw away. I'll look and see what I've got. If no go, I'll have you cut me a couple of pieces and maybe see about getting a couple of Rajah ends for them.

Thanks for the compliment - should've taken you out to the shop to see it the other day.