Reality

3 tire levers

 


So, I knew the Exciter needed new tires. I sort of dreaded changing them by hand but the only motorcycle shop in town has a 'pro-'merica' manifesto on their front door. You know, "We love them migrants but y'all need to assimilate to fit in. Y'hear? Don't expect no welcome greeting if y'all can't speak 'Merican." Such a load of bullshit. I was dizzy reading this attempt by some grease monkey to write philosophic stuff. It's good to see the average black collar wage slave defending his poisoned culture with a rant but it puts me in a position of deciding how much I want to pay this idiot's dental bills with my patronage. I decided to buy a longer tire lever and do it myself because if this asshole could point out something 'Merican worth assimilating then I might actually believe the immigrants should abandon their own traditions to replace them with ourn. But there is no way a grease knuckle motherfucker in bumfuck Pacific West Potville between Stonertown and Meth Junction is going to come up with something worth keeping. Is it the weekly homicides or the opioid addiction? The faux Mexican food or the faux Italian food? The diabetes junkie dialysis or the Methadone clinics that the immigrant from Somalia should assimilate? Which is it, you toothless wrenchhead?

friction pad fell off

I don't want to delve too deeply into the details. I do the work on my own vehicles because most people are incompetent idiots with high ideals of pre-packaged ethics. Forget I mentioned it.


I took the tires off, pried the rubber off, sanded down the rust of 30 years...and pried the tires back on with new rim liners and new tubes. Not a big deal once I started to use both knees as two extra hands. The longer lever worked with the two shorter levers.


The big surprise was that the brake shoes had plenty of meat on them, but the rear brake shoe had lost the friction pad. the glue wore out. I'm glad I don't use the rear brakes much because the friction pad could get caught under the one that is attached and lock the whole tire up if I'm not careful. Well, everything else looked good. I don't use the brakes much on these hills since I don't drive fast. I'm not disappointed. It's an old bike and I'm glad I had the excuse to order some more parts to keep this thing running right.

slick new tires

Cowboys and Casinos

These are some fine country songs. Norwood and Supernaw were part of a generation of 'hat acts' in the '90s who really worked that accent and some simple chord structures to their advantage. Hear the fiddle and lap steel guitar and you hear the fading echos of Bob Wills. Both Norwood and Supernaw have richer pipes than the Bob Wills singer Tommy Duncan, but it's evidence that the best pipes don't necessarily make the best songs. Bob Wills was not a very good singer but he fit his tone of voice to the song. Norwood could sing the phone book and make it sound good. These are easy songs to listen to and they both fit into my heart broken/denial/ lonesome cowboy songlist. Or maybe you prefer Tommy Duncan and think I don't know what I'm talking about. Ok. I can live with that.

Commuting

some commutes I am willing to tolerate. This ranks high on the list.

Excited

1981 Yamaha Exciter sr185

I should look happier but the timing on the camera took me by surprise. It's been so damn long since I owned a motorcycle and even this semi toy should make me forget some of my sins. I love to tinker with them and I love to ride them and I don't even mind when things break. The only thing I don't like is not having the time to work on it non-stop for a month. I really wanted to import a 125cc single cylinder motorcycle from Mexico but the next best thing is a vintage Japanese bike that has slightly more HP (16). And that is what the exciter sr185j is...a beginner bike for someone 5 inches shorter than me. It gets me around and will eventually be my main ride while the van goes under the wrench.

It's ridiculous how long I've been longing for a small thumper/one lunger/single cylinder bike and finding/buying this one required an epic journey to places I've never been before, which is saying something. Vintage Japanese bikes are not easy to find in good condition and they are rarely cheap but they are more desirable than rideable. I'm going to ride the shit out of this one as soon as I inspect it. I bought it from a young vet who was discharged after 5 identical vaccines in a month caused Guillain-Barré syndrome and paralyzed him temporarily. For that reason I will forgive the fact the hot wire on the battery was not screwed on with a nut but merely laid against it and the battery was installed backwards in the box and the chain was too tight and a nail was used as a cotter pin. The thing has under 2k original miles because, as I said, most people think it's a cool bike and soon realize it's not big enough for anything useful so it sits around for 36 years in a barn and gets rusty. I can't wait to wear my Python boots and get a pair of bright red, skin tight, lamb leather pants made to rock this vintage Thumper into Methville. The world is going to hell and I'm going to go down like a bat out of hell. I guess since I'm working in a national park bat cave I should call it the Batmobile.

New era

It is a delicate balance of vintage japanese bikes and antique American vans that keeps oggy mobile.

who doesn't love sleeping in a van with a motorcycle between your bed and a wood stove?