HD Parts Fab, Etc.

 

I went to see TVI yesterday. We had a nice bull session before we got down to motorcycle business. The two blocks in the photo are for mounting the coil on the HD frame. The bike is a collection of parts, not all of them from the same year or model. These get welded onto the seat tube. I machined up the relief to the same radius as the tube. I still need to drill and tap them - I'll get to that later today or tomorrow. 

He also needs a little piece made for the steering damper. His frame never had one and he's planning on running a sidecar, so a steering damper is a good idea.

In addition, he's looking for a custom oil tank. He's putting an electric starter on the bike that mounts above the tranny. Because of that, there's no longer enough clearance for the stock tank. He showed me a cardboard mockup of what he's looking for and he gave me the chance to bail out if I didn't have the time to make it, but it's a pretty straightforward job. He's going to collect up the bungs and the sheet metal and then I'll take over.

The weather was beautiful yesterday until about 3:30. I had the big doors open out in the shop and it was about 58 degrees with the sun shining. Then in a matter of about 15 minutes the wind started blowing and the temperature dropped 20 degrees. It's cold again today with a high right around the freezing mark.

I went to the gym in the evening and worked with a few guys holding mitts and throwing punches for about 45 minutes - I got a good workout but no chest soreness this morning. Since things seem to be working well, I'm going to start a workout routine, no pushups though. I was in a photo of the group of us at the fights the other night and my stomach seemed to be pushing the front of my sweater outward. I haven't gotten on the scale recently, but pictures don't lie. I want to find a couple of medium distance cycle rides to train for - something on the order of 50 to 62 miles. 62 miles is a metric century and are fairly common.

Been taking practice exams for the ham radio test and I finally got a decent result this morning - 30 out of 36, and I need 26 correct to pass. I'll keep studying until I can get a passing score every time and start working on my taxes in between my study sessions. It'll be really nice if the Prez can convince Congress not to tax my Social Security, since that's where a big chunk of my tax obligation comes from. Be nice to have my own money returned to me without having to watch it go all over the world for war or just plain craziness.