Wrenching vs. Riding (was Re: Top Rack etc.)

[Matt Knowles <matt@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

>To me, a real motorcyclist is someone who has a passion for riding.
>That may or may not translate to also having a passion for wrenching.
>Some people do, others don't.  Personally, my free time is extremely
>limited, and while I'm perfectly capable of doing a lot of the work
>that needs doing on my bike, I often choose to leave it to pros, so
>that I can spend my free time riding.

20 years ago I did all my own wrenching because:

A. I was poor.

B. I had more time than money (see A. above)

C. Bikes were a lot simpler then.

Now I have a wife, an old house, a garden, a business to run, several other
hobbies to enjoy, and a bit more money, so most of my wrenching is left to
the pros. However, there are a few things that I still take care of, for
example:

This weekend I put in a new battery and got the tire changed. It took most
of Saturday afternoon, and had it not been raining, I'm sure I would have
been more of a motorcyclist had I actually been riding it.  I spent an hour
just finding a Torx 55 and a 24mm socket, neither of which I had. OSH only
carries up to the 50 for the Torx so I went to Post Tool to see if they had
it. They did, but then they didn't have the 24mm, so I had to go back to
OSH to get it. Once I had the tools the tire removal went pretty smoothly.
Got a 205 for the front and had it installed at Road Rider. $96 for the
tire, $15 for the installation. Also picked up the battery for $70 and upon
inspection it seemed like the terminals were backwards from what I
remembered, but that's what the Yuasa catalog showed so I went with it.
Checked it first thing when I got home and sure enough, it was backward. So
back to Road Rider to make the exchange. They had to call Santa Cruz
Triumph to find out what the correct part number really was since Cal BMW
took off early for the weekend.

Just for your info the correct battery for Yuasa is a YTX14-BS. I know now
what the BS stands for. (Eric you might want to add this to the FAQ if it
isn't there already.)

I received the adapter plug from Aerostich earlier in the day, talk about
just in time delivery. So finally about 5:00pm the  bike had a new tire and
a new battery being charged. Today the weather was a lot nicer so I had it
out to start scrubbing the tire in.

I felt like I was much more of a motorcyclist today than yesterday, and it
was reducing my frustration instead of adding to it, which for me is what
motorcycling is all about.

By the way, I forgot who said it, but yes I needed a new battery in less
than a month. It just wouldn't consistently keep a charge. That's the first
time I've ever had a battery be so flaky. Usually when they die, they die
completely. This one would work for several days or even a week and then go
dead, then work again, only to die again.

Matt Knowles - mattknowles@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
http://home.earthlink.net/~mattknowles
Aesthetic Design & Photography - (408) 977-1804
http://www.aestheticdesign.com



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