Bike Stuff

 

I don't think I've ever posted an Emmylou Harris song on here before. I did see her in concert once, years ago. I was listening to tunes on my phone while in the shop yesterday and this one came up. If you pick a song, You Tube will make a "mix tape" of songs that are similar. Since I like most any type of music, I'm usually happy with whatever comes up, especially songs like this one that I haven't heard in a long time. The only problem with that is they throw in a commercial usually after every two songs. Which means I have to grab the phone and hit skip when the commercials come on. Small price to pay I suppose.

I finished the muffler brackets for the Sportster yesterday - everything but paint that is. I'll take care of that today and then get everything back together. The long bracket in the photo is the stock support bracket I believe. It didn't line up with the drag pipe on the front cylinder when I got the bike. I made a 1" bushing that got the pipe lined up where it should be and made a tab to hold the muffler stud in place. The brackets for both mufflers have slots so I can slip them on the shortened drag pipes. I bent a little return bend on the end of the slot to prevent the mufflers from falling off if the nuts come loose. 

By the time I finished out in the shop it was dark and I still hadn't gotten the mail. I have an aluminum bracket I made on the bike handlebar for mounting a flashlight. The original flashlight I made it for was a Dorcy brand that used AA batteries. It got broke somehow, so I ordered a replacement, but they sent me a different style. This one uses D cell batteries and the beam is a bright circle of about 12" in diameter when shining out in front of the bike at a distance of about 8'. The old one had a nice wide circle of light that is much better for bike riding. I'm going to park this bike for the winter and get out the old mountain bike. It's set up for riding in the dark with a pair of lights one near and one far. 

I took the Allis over to the neighbor's shop yesterday. I don't know how much he's going to want me to help him with the actual mechanic work, but I'll take care of all the leg work of getting parts and fluids. The radiator is leaking, so I'll see about repairing that. I've fixed quite a few radiators over the years but it's been a while since I've done one. I've got a kit to pressurize them in order to find a leak and to check the repair before putting it back in the vehicle - just need to find it.

In addition to getting the snow blower ready to go, I'm going to get the David Bradley going as well. It has a blade on the front of it. The tractor hasn't been run in years, but the last time it was running well - might come in handy while waiting for the Allis to come home and I've been thinking about selling it and the attachments anyway. Might as well get it ready to take to the auction house.