We went up to my in-laws’ place for the weekend and Maria went shopping so
I finally have the time to do the annual maintenance. My informal list consists of:
* oil change
* inspect tires and pressue
* lube cables
* inspect hoses
* pull and inspect sparkplug.
* check brake fluid, hoses and brakes
* clean chain, check for stretch and relube
* inspect sprockets for wear
* check suspension
* check miscellaneous bushings
and detail the whole machine.
I like to do the oil change after the engine has warmed up but I didn’t
have time to pull the battery this fall so after one exhausted click, it died.
Not even the lights came on after that. Okay, I think, I have a charger with a
jump start feature.
Except somehow in one of the moves some of the contents of my carton must
have been mixed up with either my father’s or my friend Charlie’s and instead
of my 12 volt quick charger there is a 24 volt charger. Damn. I give a call
to my Dad, who never had any 24 volt equipment, so it must be in Charlie’s
stuff. Damn. I can go to Sears and buy one but Maria has the car.
That left me plenty of time to do the rest of the work. After eleven years the
bike is still in good shape. The front brake hose (only one, it’s drum rear)
looks good but I should replace it with braided stainless.
The rear shocks are okay but I might upgrade them with better parts too.
Not today, though.
Tomorrow, after I charge the battery, I’ll get in a ride. That should warm the
engine up enough to let me do a thorough oil change.
After annoying Bill a half-dozen times I have my site up. Even the blog is back. Whee. Comments are broken (and disabled) while I fix the captcha mechanism.
This vanity domain is moving temporarily while I break down the
equipment here for my upcoming move to a new apartment. Thanks to Bill Bradford for giving me a place to park the domain while I physically relocate.
I switched the DNS last night and it should propagate fully by tomorrow.
I have too much to do with work and home (and did I mention I have guests coming for a few days in all this!) to fret over it. Email will work.
This blog might not. Oh, well.
We painted the new apartment. In twelve hours the two of us taped,
draped, primed, painted and cleaned up most of the walls of the
1200 square foot space (we skipped the kitchen and bathroom and the
ceilings were recently painted). Note to self, get a taller step ladder and
do a better job adjusting paint quantities for window, door and closet areas-
we over bought a bit.
We didn’t want to rope any of our friends or family into it like we have
in the past. Some of our friends have helped us paint or move more
than once and I think we’re running a deficit on the favors.
We’re tired. Really tired. The kind of tired that reminds me that I’m
glad I have an office job. The hour at the gym two or three times a week
is nothing compared to standing, climbing ladders and crouching all day.
Nearly six months of house hunting gave way this weekend to looking for
an apartment, the admission that the real estate market had won.
We found a three bedroom apartment, the second floor of a Victorian,
for lease by the owner- no realtor fee- in the neighborhood where
we wanted to buy a house. The owners couldn’t be nicer and they’ll
let me keep the motorcycle in their garage. We should sign a lease
this week. Now we can wait out the market and get to know the
neighborhood. What a relief.
