Himalayan

 

So if you've got a Royal Enfield Himalayan and you're not a welder, you can prevent your bike from falling over on three different occasions by buying an adjustable side stand from Hitchcocks. They've got it priced at 75 pound sterling which works out to about  $103.00 US, plus shipping. It's got a larger foot and it will go down up to 20mm (0.8") shorter than stock. I shortened mine up about 3/4" so I'd say I'm in the ballpark.

And speaking of Himalayans, I installed the new battery in mine yesterday. It's a bit crowded in there and the new battery has a different type of set up to connect the cables. The posts are set down lower than the top of the battery but it came with risers. Those worked well but the bike's cables have flat plates on the ends with a couple of tabs to keep them from turning. With the new battery the plates now interfered with gussets on the outside of the battery box/ air box. Since the gussets are plastic I trimmed them down just a bit with my pocket knife and a piece of a hacksaw blade I cut down. It took a while but I was sitting on a comfortable stool, listening to some music and enjoying the day. The bike fired right up after I got it buttoned up. I did have to go in the house to get the manual so I could figure out how to reset the clock. 

Since I've got things around the shop pretty well organized, I want to make a couple of things to help me with my sheet metal work, namely a pair of tipping rolls for my bead roller and another lower roll/anvil for my English wheel. I think I can make the tipping wheel without much fuss but the roll for the English wheel is going to take some doing. What I need is a narrower roll with a smaller radius than what I've got. I've needed one like this in the past but it will be very helpful making the fender for the SR500. It would have saved me a bunch of work when I made the sidecar fender and will probably come in handy for the boat tail on the jitney.

Happy Easter everyone!