Memorial Day

I read a short article in this week's issue of The Epoch Times about Stonewall Jackson. He died of pneumonia after having his arm amputated leaving a wife and little daughter behind. On this Memorial Day, as we remember those who have given their all, that should include the memory of all who have fought and died over the years, including those who fought on the side of the Confederacy. Those responsible for tearing down and defacing monuments this past year seem to have forgotten men like Jackson who gave their lives in what they thought was a just cause, leaving behind wives and daughters. It's just a shame that after all the years the United States has been in existence, we're still at war and young men and women are still giving their lives and still leaving behind grieving families and friends.

Cuzzin Ricky and I are doing the annual Dead Relative tour today, planting flowers and cleaning up graves. We didn't do it last year due to the cooties. Looking back, we should have just gone ahead with it but we made the mistake of listening to "our betters". Here's hoping the time will come when there won't be any more wars - not very damn likely, I know - but one can hope.

 

Heavy Lifting

 

I got the truck unloaded and most of the mess cleaned up yesterday. I've got a rubber stall mat in the back of the truck, so the oil-dri I put down did a pretty good job of soaking up the oil. I scrubbed the oil-dri in real well, swept it up and then took the shop vac to it. I still need to make a run to the car wash or get the power washer out but most of the mess is taken care of.

Even though I already have an engine, buying this one with the tranny is going to save me a bunch of running around looking for things as well as saving me some money. This one came with an electronic ignition as well as the starter, alternator and mounting brackets. I'll get the trans cleaned up and bolted to the block that's already in the jitney and get the cross member figured out as well as locating the engine fore and aft. I think moving it back two inches from where it's sitting right now should do the trick.

I went to the Lokar site to see what they have for a shifter. Looks like they've got just what I need. The case mount with a 12" double bend stick should get the job done. I ordered a rule book from the SCTA just for shits and giggles. If I ever do plan on running at Bonneville, might as well build it to the rules right off the bat.

My buddy Bob came down yesterday and brought a couple of countershaft sprockets for the Rickati project. He's got a couple more weeks of work on a 450 he's doing. When he's done with that I'll turn my motor over to him. So I need to finish up the brakes and shifter sometime in the next couple of weeks. Then it's finish weld, paint, re-assemble and fire it up once he's done with the motor.

The schedule's open today. Maybe go walkies, maybe ride the bike, maybe watch the race, maybe work in the shop a bit, maybe some mowing.  

Tranny

 

Cuzzin Ricky and I took the show on the road yesterday and picked up another Slant Six and a 904 transmission for same. It was a good day to be out on the road. Just by chance we passed a welding supply store so I wheeled in and bought some 3/32" aluminum filler rod on the way to our destination. On the way home, even though the engine was strapped down, it rolled over and spilled oil in the back of the truck. I'll have to get the engine and tranny out of there and then power wash the bed. Not that big a deal, just the kind of thing one runs into when messing about with these projects.

Fork Leg

 

Tools of the Trade

Finished this one yesterday for TVI. He's working on his old Harley Ferguson now that he's retired. He was taking the forks apart so he could get the lowers re-bushed and the inner leg/tube rolled off the bench. It pushed a spot in where it hit the floor and bumped out a bulge on the sides of the dent. Inside the tube about a 1/4" away from the end is a groove for a circlip that I didn't want to mess up while fixing the dent and bulges.

I turned a piece of aluminum to the match the ID of the tube and then machined a three degree taper on it. The piece was a cut-off from another job that already had a few 3/4" threads tapped in the end. That gave me something to tap on and grab onto to pull it back out of the tube. I supported the tube on some vee blocks that I covered with a piece of old inner tube, drove the tapered slug into the tube while tapping the bulges with a lead hammer. I repeated the process about three times, filing off the tapered slug where it had been dug into where the dent was. I put the mike on it and when it measured where I wanted it , I polished up the leg with some emery cloth, greased it up and put it together - success!

He might have to file the end just a bit after he gets the outer leg re-bushed or he can just bring it back and I can take care of it. I'm thinking it'll be good and the circlip groove came out unscathed as well. I love it when a plan comes together.

I caught the racoon that was in the shop. I'm hoping that's the end of them for the year. I did reset the trap, though. They are messy animals. This one made quite a mess under and around the trap so I had to bring all the boards the trap was sitting on down and wash them, as well as washing the trap as usual.

I think I've located a transmission for the jitney - comes with an engine, which I don't really need, but I'll have a torque converter, flex plate and starter which I do need. It's a ways off but still in state. Hopefully the deal goes through and I can get a tranny bolted to my block so I can fab up a crossmember and get everything from the cab forward finished. 

Knockin' Them Out

 

I finished the aluminum jobs yesterday. I'm still having a bit of trouble getting the eyes, the new welder and my hands all in synch when welding aluminum. Even though the machine has high frequency, I have to tap the tungsten to get the arc started as opposed to having the high frequency initiate the arc by jumping the gap. I should probably get some 3/32" filler rods also. I've got 1/16" & 1/8" but like Goldilocks, I need to find the one that's just right. And 3/32" would have been it on this job.

After I finished the aluminum work I made a piece to weld on to the  Rickati swingarm to mount the chain slider. I also checked the tracking on my brake shoes. According to the USPS, they are being sent back to me. The website where I sent them had two addresses and I must have sent them to the wrong one. At least they're not lost and they should be back here soon. I'll try again once I get them back. Before I do I'm going to check with the local guys at the auto machine shop. They closed their auto parts store but are still doing machine work. Old guys who have been around since Pontius was taking flying lessons. They might be able to steer me straight.

I've got another job to start on today. Hopefully I'll finish it today as well. Time to get get back on the jitney - starting to get dusty.

Lawn & Garden

 

It's been kind of a crazy spring, what with all the temperature swings, but it didn't seem to hurt any of the flowers or the lilac bushes. Or the weeds as far as that goes. I spent a couple hours on both Friday and Saturday doing yard work. The old place will never make the cover of House & Garden but it's starting to finally look like what I envisioned when I moved in. Of course that was something like 25 years ago but that's par for the course with me. I did notice lots of little peaches on the tree when I mowed the other day. 

I started on the aluminum job yesterday. I got all the pieces cut and both the left hand and right hand sides welded up. I'll join them together today and then start on the other piece I need to finish the job. I'm planning on getting out on the bike today and doing a bit more yard work as well. Maybe clean out the chicken coop if I get real ambitious.

While I was out in the shop I heard what I'm sure is another raccoon in the wall so I baited the trap and put it back up topside. I'll check it this morning and see if the trash panda likes Nine Lives cat food well enough to go in the trap. 

I started a subscription to The Epoch Times recently. The paper comes out once a week and it's like most of the old Sunday editions of the papers I used to read. It covers the headlines, opinion, lifestyle and health features. The news coverage and the editorials are very conservative but from what I've gathered after reading a few editions, the coverage is pretty far ranging. I'm pleased with what I've seen so far but I'll reserve judgement until I read it a while longer. It is nice to read the "news" like what most papers used to cover. 

Sliders

No not White Castle - chain sliders for the Rickati project. I'm planning on bolting one of these on to prevent the chain from digging into the swingarm. I should be hearing from the guy with the brake shoes real soon. When I get those back I'll take the rear wheel back off, install the brake parts and tack weld whatever I need onto the swingarm to bolt the slider on.

As per a comment after I posted making the kickstand plate for the Himalayan (thanks Bevin), I got a coiled lanyard to attach to it. I just drilled a hole in the plate which will allow the ring on the end of the lanyard to get squashed when put to use so I'm planning on drilling a second hole and making a loop I can stick down in the holes and plug weld in place. Yesterday just wasn't the day.

Yesterday was the day I finished up the job for the side hustle. That'll give me a nice little pay day. Next up is the aluminum job making the boat things. And I've got another aluminum job on tap now as well. The septic tank guy was here the other day and he's got a job for me on the big poop truck. If it was for anyone else I'd have said no, in fact, not only no but hell no. I'm dreading this one a bit, but as they say, and this time it will definitely be true, you knew the job was dangerous when you took it. 

The black eye has reached its full glory now. The eye lid has turned all purple and it extends all the way to the tear duct and slightly below. The bone around the eye is still sore to the touch but everything else is just showing my regular 70 years of wear and tear. I haven't been on the bike all week but it's time to get back to that but it looks like we might be getting rain on and off for about five days. We'll see. 

 

Shiner Time

 

Interesting shiner. I've had my share of them over the years but this is the first time I can remember having my eyelid turn purple. Maybe because I don't get them now like I did when I was younger. The cut is from landing on my safety glasses. Even though they cut me, they may have offered enough cushion to prevent me from getting knocked out. CTE anyone?

Here's a more typical one I got from one of the fundraisers at the gym - Oct 2009. Back in the seventies when I was boxing I was sporting a black eye or a flat lip, or both, almost on a weekly basis. 

The bone over the eye is still sore to the touch and my shoulder and rib cage still have some muscle soreness but another day or two and I'll be back to just having all the usual aches and pains like most other old guys do.

I spent the majority of the day yesterday performing chauffer duties. Cuzzin Ricky had to go back to the eye surgeon after getting his second cataract taken care of. And we stopped for breakfast again - just like a couple of retired guys would normally do. 

I took the Missus for her second Covid shot later in the day. I hope this works out OK for the old girl. I've read enough to have some serious concerns about the shot - especially someone like her with previous medical issues.

How about we finish on a positive note with a beautiful version of Kentucky Rain, even though it's not really all that happy of a song. I heard this on a station from Galway, Scotland. 

Stay safe, and as my old friend Dobak used to say, save your money!

And Down I Went

 

I got up yesterday and it was finally a pretty nice morning - weather like it should be for this time of year. The odometer on the bike was right at 390 miles, so I figured that called for a 10 mile ride to get the mileage up to an even 400. Worked out just about perfectly as you can see. 

I got the remainder of the veggies and flowers planted and put the pump back on the stand pipe. It always takes a little bit of farting around to get it to start pulling water - prime and pump while the leather cup swells enough to seal. It's primarily for the garden and the chickens but I keep a cup in the shop and will get myself a drink once in a while. It's good tasting water and, of course, nice and cool straight out of the ground.

I ground a few more parts and then went to do my walkies. We were just finishing our fourth lap and I kicked it in to race walking mode. Things were going well until I hit a buckled spot on the blacktop and down I went. I thought I could catch myself but when I realized that wasn't going to happen, I tried rolling with it. Wasn't quite quick enough but avoided a total face plant. I landed on my shoulder, arm, hip and the side of my face. I got a nice gash and bump by the corner of my eye, some other scrapes and bruises but no serious damage. I should have a nice shiner in a couple of days. Lousy way to end an otherwise beautiful spring day.

Road Hazards

 

I took the Himalayan to the post office yesterday morning. It was a pretty nice day, especially when compared to what we've been having. When I got about a 1/2 mile from the house I saw something laying in the road. I thought at first it might be a big bull snake like we get around here. Instead, it turned out to be a piece of 2x2 tubing. It must have been on some expanded metal or had a piece on top of it to form the scale pattern from the rust. I stopped the bike and tossed the tube off to the side of the road and then came back later with the truck and picked it up. 

Since it was such a nice day, lots of farm machinery out on the road. I got stuck behind a planter for a bit but the farmer pulled over as soon as he got a chance. Nice thing about the bike is that it doesn't need as much room to get around the machinery. Some of this stuff is damn big for our rural roads. On the return trip I saw a farmer with what looked to be a brand new Case tractor. Most of the stuff around here is all green, so the red Case really stood out. Especially since it had two polished stainless steel tanks on the front of it. It had a 16 row planter behind it. Don't know what that rig cost, but I'm sure it wasn't cheap.

Besides all the dirt on the roads from the farmers moving from field to field, there was an old dude who was mowing his lawn and had just thrown a bunch of grass clippings in the road. A little closer to home a guy was mowing the grass on the roadside with an offset rotary mower. Not much he can do to keep clippings out of the road along with bits and pieces of beer cans, whiskey bottles and all the rest of the crap people toss out of their car windows. 

I don't mind any inconvenience caused by the farmers in the spring and again in the fall. They're just earning a living and feeding all the rest of us. As for the rest of the crap that one finds in the road, there's probably not much a motorcyclist can do other than being careful. "There's old riders and bold riders, not many old, bold riders." Be careful out there. 

Barn Door, Brake Shoes, Boxing, and Stock Cars

 

I fastened the guide roller back on the barn - seemed pretty solid. However, the same couldn't be said for the bottom of the door. The square splice plate in the lower corner of the photo was hanging on by only one screw so it wasn't doing any good. I made up the corner brace from some scrap angle and screwed it on. After that, I moved the splice plate to where I could get some screws in some solid wood. When I went to the hardware store for the the screws to fasten the guide roller back on, I picked up a gate latch to secure that end of the door like the other end has - should be good for a while now.

I called the outfit about relining the rear brakes for the Rickati yesterday. The man said no problem, just box the shoes up along with my contact info and he'll call when they are done. There's usually a 2-3 day turn around time. I picked up a small flat rate box from the post office yesterday, cleaned up the shoes and they'll be in the mail today.

I also got in touch with the folks from the Kenny Wallace Dirt Racing Experience. I signed up to drive a late model stock car two years ago and got rained out. I tried again last year but bailed out due to the cooties. Hopefully, the third time is the charm.

Looks like the Golden Gloves has been cancelled again. I was looking forward to going, even if it was a little risky from a health standpoint. Rats!

Living On The Edge(R)

 

I got a phone call from Cuzzin Ricky yesterday morning. He had a ride lined up to take him to the eye surgeon for the next day check-up after his cataract surgery but it was going to be tough for them to work it in to the time frame so I became his back-up man. Not a problem but I wanted to finish the edger job before I had to pick him up. I'm glad I had it almost done Monday evening - only took me about 30 minutes to finish the machine work and bolt everything back together. I like doing these types of jobs - one of a kind, requires some thinking, I can finish them in a short time frame, and then move on to something else. 

We stopped at a place that serves breakfast all day on the way home. Veggie omelet, fried potatoes and toast and a nice bullsh*t session, even though we do plenty of that while driving anyway. Both of us agree one of the worst parts of the cooties has been cancelling out our breakfast get togethers. Our favorite restaurant closed up, so we need to find another local place to go now that things are starting to open up.

I piddled around with a few household chores after I got home and ended the day with the guide roller for one of the barn doors.

The roller pulled loose from the barn the other day when the wind was gusting hard. The bracket has four holes but the wood behind the bottom two holes is rotten so I figured I'll drill and countersink a couple of new holes a little higher up on the bracket. In order to reach the holes with the countersink bit I had to take the roller off of the bracket. I figured that was going to be a bit of a hassle but PB Blaster once again comes to the rescue. I need to make a hardware run today to get some #12 screws to put it back together but it's a pleasant relief from grinding the 50 remaining pieces to finish up the other job I've been working on. I do plan on grinding a few more today.

Just Because You Have A Welder .....

 

doesn't make you a welder. While we all had to start somewhere, maybe see about setting up the machine on a bit of scrap. This is a belt guard off of an edger.

After working a bit of my magic. I rolled up a piece of stock and welded it on after trimming off the junk. This guard has a double layer on it as it might drag across the sidewalk when in use I'm guessing.

This is the blade guard on the edger. This piece was broken completely out. I dressed the edges a bit to get the broken piece to fit properly and then welded the seam inside and out.

The reason the blade guard broke was due to the blade not running on center. The blade has a mounting hole that's a bit over 1" and it's held on with a 1/2" bolt. No way you can get it centered, and even if you got lucky and did get it running true, the first time you put a heavy load on it it's going to move off center again. The photo shows the start of a bushing to center it up and hold the blade on properly.

This edger is for the side hustle. The boss said he needed this ASAP, which was good, because it got me off the other job for him. I did get a few more pieces ground down, though. I'll drill and ream the center hole and part off the bushing first thing today so he can have it. Actually, maybe second thing. Depending on the weather, I want to get out on the bike first thing. I got my 6 miles in yesterday. Hoping to get out just about every day it's not raining.

TVI swung by yesterday morning with the fork leg for his HD. Doesn't look like too difficult of a fix. We had a nice chat while he was here. I've missed talking shop with him and a couple others over this past year. Nice to see him finally getting his bike together - should be a nice rig when he gets it finished.

Free The People & Buy More Parts

 

Free The People - that's a tune we'll all be singing one of these days, I would imagine. One of the nice things about the internet is the availability of really good music regardless of your taste. 

I took the day off yesterday. The weather was terrible - cold, rainy and windy most of the day. We must have gotten about three inches of rain judging by the standing water in the field out front. I made a couple of loaves of rhubarb bread but that was about the extent of anything remotely physical in nature. I need to make a couple more loaves to throw in the freezer - rhubarb bread in the spring, persimmon bread in the fall.

Surly and his group stopped by to wish the Missus a happy Mother's Day. I think it was the first time all of them have been in the house at the same time in over a year. The Missus is scheduled to get her second shot soon. Hopefully that will eliminate some of the worry of getting together with the family. I might be going to the Golden Gloves one night this year to cover for Jimmy. He's got an end of the year school function so I'll go down to wrap hands and help work a corner. I don't know what the protocol will be there but I'm willing to risk a night out at this point.

I got a new Speedway catalog in the mail the other day. I'm thinking I need to start ordering a few of the high dollar parts for the jitney project before the price goes up and I get hit with a big bill all at once.  

Rocket Racing Igniter wheels and Firestone ribbed tires for the front in 16 inch. Dirt Diamond rears in either 16 or18 inch size. I'll have to see how things look as I get the front end underneath it and then I can set the stance. Tires, wheels and the rear end are going to be the big money items, especially if I go with a quick change rear. 

At the present time, however, I've got to finish grinding all the pieces for the side hustle, tackle the aluminum job for a boat grill and a canopy bracket and TVI is coming by to show me a job for his Harley he's working on now that he's retired. Also it's mowing and gardening busy season and I need to stick to my bicycle training. It's just a good thing I'm not wasting a lot of time traveling to the races like I used to do or I'd never have time for all this stuff!

Gotta Keep On Grinding

 

The hardware order came yesterday from Bolt Depot. Another outfit that gives good value and service. Which is why, unless it's just one or two of something, it's my first choice when I need fasteners. I also bought some small drill bits from them on this order. If they work well I'll order  a few more on my next order. The photo is of the 1/4 -28 Grade 8 bolts and nuts for the Rickati sprocket, by the way. 

Pile of parts for the side hustle - 110 of them in fact. I'm in the process of grinding a relief in the sides below the mounting hole. This is a real pain in the ass. I've been doing the grinding with a carbide burr in my die grinder and it gets the job done but with the grinding and de-burring it takes almost 5 minutes for each piece. 5 x 110/ 60 = 8 hours minimum on top of the cutting and drilling I've already done. The one blessing is that I shouldn't have to make any more of these in the future. 

It's supposed to be a cold, rainy, miserable type of day today, so I'll spend a few more hours grinding parts and maybe bake a couple of loaves of rhubarb bread. The weekly walkies group will probably be a washout, so might as well spend a little time in the kitchen baking. I did have a good week on the bicycle - made it out 5 times with a 9 mile ride yesterday. My legs and my wind are both starting to come back around. Still a long way from where I want to be but that's what happens when you don't stay with it. I read last night something about a cyber attack on the big gasoline pipeline on the east coast. I'm sure gas prices will be going up even more now than they already have this year. Might be plenty of incentive to ride the bicycle for most of my errands now.

"I Think You're Wrong About That Sam"

 

Bobby Unser passed away last Sunday - a racer's racer. Midgets, sprints, champ cars, he drove them all and won with a bunch of them. Nice write-up by Robin Miller here. He mentions in the write up his "color commentary" at the 500 with Sam Posey. I remember a few of those - made for an even more interesting race.

I worked a few hours on the parts for the side hustle yesterday, about an hour of which was getting things set up. I normally have my band saw set in the vertical position so I had to remove the table, convert it back to horizontal and set up a stand to support the piece. I made a stop to clamp to my drill press vise so I wouldn't have to lay all the parts out individually when drilling the holes. I got about 80 pieces cut and 30 drilled, so I made a big dent in the job once I got rolling. I'll finish cutting the remainder of the pieces today and drill a bunch more holes. There's two more steps after that to finish the job. I'll have it wrapped up so I can drop them off Monday morning and get to work on the next customer job and back on my stuff.

I ordered some hardware for the sprocket on the Rickati as well as to replenish my supplies. I wanted to bolt the sprocket on with grade 8 bolts. Grade 5 probably would work but from the place I buy the bolts there's not much difference in price. I wanted to get some acorn nuts for the shock studs but they didn't have any in the pitch I needed. I'll keep my eyes open - might stumble across them some time.  

66 Teeth

 

In my quest to clean up and/or tie up some loose ends, I dug out some parts I made for the small Ducatis when I had access to a CNC mill many years ago. These are going to get passed along to my buddy who's going to rebuild the motor on the Rickati. 

The two round pieces at the top of the photo are for taking the side play out of the swingarm. Those I made on my old South Bend lathe. The steering dampener knobs below them have the old Ducati logo inscribed in the top and are pocket milled on the bottom side. I made those after gaining some experience on a few simpler jobs.

When the school got the mill it was right before the machine tool program got shut down. The instructor was going to retire at the end of the year, so the boss let me sit in on the training session. I tried writing some programs but figuring out the points where arcs intersect to four decimal points using old school math didn't work real well so I signed up for a night school CAD course. A bit of a learning curve on the CAD but it made drawing the parts and locating all the X,Y and Z coordinates much easier. 

The long, narrow pieces are frame connectors for the wide case singles. Easy-peazy on the CNC, not so much on my Bridgeport.

The motor mount plates were made by Surly. I wrote the program and made the fixture and he cut them out and did the engine turning. I wish I still had access to a CNC mill. It would make engine turning the dash for the jitney project pretty simple. It's real easy to work a repeat function into a program so you get identical offsets on all of the swirl patterns. I made a dash for a little midget car years ago and it was a pain in the ass stepping over all those moves by hand.

The rear sprocket for the Rickati showed up yesterday and it's a thing of beauty. I measured the hub before ordering and it was .010" larger than the listed size. I told the lady on phone the dimensions and she told me to hold on. She came back on the line a few minutes later after consulting with someone in the shop and told me they'd add .005" to my dimension on the hub diameter and that they'd cut the bore that afternoon or first thing in the morning. I wasn't expecting all the lightening holes or the reduced thickness around the bore. 

The sprocket fits like a glove and looks totally bitchin', as they used to say. It took less than a week from when I called to when the UPS guy dropped it off. Fast, friendly service and a quality product. Real happy with Rebel Gears.

Busy day on tap - dog to the vet, cut some grass, bicycle ride, start cutting pieces for the side hustle job, and since it's Cinco de Mayo, get the Missus and I a couple of big fat burritos. 

Tired of Hearing About Covid And Vaccines

 

3.3 ounces in case you were wondering.

I took the dog to the groomer yesterday. The groomer lady was hit with the cooties a while back. She said she's still having some after affects. I talked to a guy yesterday whose mother and sister had it as well. The sister was hospitalized, mom just like a normal flu - not that that's ever good. I'm tired of all of this. It's been over a year now and our betters keep moving the finish line. Now they're saying the only way to get to herd immunity is to vaccinate the young-uns. Of course they'll have to keep getting them because the shots are not a true vaccine and no-one knows what the long term results will be on their health. I think I'd have less trouble dealing with this if they would have been honest with us from the very beginning and just told us they had no idea what this virus was capable of and to just follow the normal protocol of hand washing, etc. until they got a handle on things. 

I also heard a little bit of a radio conversation about the mortgage and rental forbearance. Apparently the banks will now be able to start foreclosure proceedings at the end of June. The finance guy was saying with the red hot housing market right now it might be best to sell the house. The only thing is, then what do you do? If you can't make your house payment, you won't be able to buy another one. The rent forbearance runs to the end of the year they were saying. There's no way that's going to end well either. Lots of trouble on the horizon.

Closer to home, the material I ordered for the side hustle came yesterday. I'm planning on getting started on that job today. I'll also be heading over there to finish a job I started a year or so ago. And I've got a job for a former student. All aluminum work with new material. He brought some nice shiny angle to use. A little bit of engineering work and TIG welding. The new sprocket for the Rickati project should arrive today. When I get that bolted on, I'll be able to have a better idea of what I need for making the brake pedal and shifter set-up. Should be enough to keep me busy for a few days.

The new washer and dryer was delivered yesterday. One of the few nice things about getting old is the fact there are certain things that you probably will never have to do again - buying a washer and dryer should be one of those things.   

Pegs

 

I got the pegs welded to the mounting studs yesterday and did some preliminary thinking on making a brake pedal. I've got a couple of options - use a cable from the left side to the right or run a crossover shaft. I did that on my Sprint racer and the original Rickman Zundapp had a similar set-up.

It's a little tough to see in the photo but this is an original Rickman Zundapp with the shifter and the chain on the left, the brake pedal on the right. Right now everything on my bike is exactly opposite. I could easily move the brake to the right side and the shifter to the left as standardized in the US in 73 or 74. I'm leaning towards doing that since I've got a tube running across from side to side behind the footpegs that would facilitate that. I could get the "one down the rest up" shift pattern that way as well. This is going to require a bit more think time. 

Another Day In Paradise

Pretty typical day yesterday. Had a blood test in the morning, came home and stripped the flannel sheets off the bed. The Missus had bought some new sheets so I was going to toss them in with the flannel ones and then put the new ones on the bed. Normally the washer is on the middle heat setting for the water temperature but I flipped it to hot water only to find out there wasn't any hot water filling the drum. I figured the hose might be plugged, so I swapped out the hoses with another pair that I had hanging up in the basement. Still no hot water in the washer but I did find out that the "new" cold water hose leaked by the fitting - after the washer finished the cycle, of course. I mopped up the mess, swapped out the hoses and threw another load of clothes in to make sure there were no more leaks. Since we've been talking about getting a new washer anyway, the Missus went up town and bought a new washer and dryer. They'll be here next week - new hoses, installation and carting off the old appliances included. Since I'm operating on the ten year plan, we should now be good on laundry equipment for as long as we're going to be here.

I machined the stubs for the footpeg mounts. I'll get them tacked together and tack welded to the bike today. I would have done that yesterday but I did some gardening and mowed the front yard instead. By the time I finished mowing the temperature was back down in the forties, so I put the flannel sheets back on the bed. Of course it's supposed to hit the eighties over the weekend now, but cool again next week. I wish the weather would make up it's mind - I've got a lot of outside work that needs to be done and it's time to make some rhubarb bread, a brake pedal and the rear sprocket should be here on Tuesday.

Edit: I forgot today was May Day - probably has more significance for those of us in the proletariat than in past years. It's also Derby Day, Amtrak's 50th birthday, my older brother's birthday, and the ninth anniversary of my younger brother's passing. Happy birthday Dave!