Clutch Hub Pulling

Tuesday Night:

Clutch Hub Puller arrived, so head straight to the shop after work.

Get bike on the lift, grab the tools I'll need.

Install the puller on the clutch hub.

Tighten center Bolt until there a great amount of tension.

Spray some lubricating/anti seize oil up in there.

Tap head of center bolt lightly with a mallet.

Wait.

Wait.

Wait.

POP.

Pick up hub and puller off the ground.

Look at the enemy tapered shaft.

I win this one.

Wow, sheared the damn key in half.

Realized I ordered the wrong main seal for the transmission.

Need to stop for the night. Nothing more I can do.

Take bike off life, put away tools.

Walk home defeated.  

Search out what parts I need now.  

Turns out my tranny is a 1980 model that uses a rubber seal specific to 2 years.

Order correct seal and a few other small bits. 

Sleep for a few hours.  

Work day starts again. 

Bike is one tiny step further than it was when I woke up yesterday. 

With every step forward, there is a step backward.
With every step backward, there is some learning to be done.
Without this, there could be no forward again.
While it is frustrating at the moment something else goes wrong/different, the lessons learned will last forever.
I'd rather have the knowledge of knowing how to fix things than leave this to someone else.

Pannikin Coffee Run

Took the truck down to Pannikin for a few double lattes and to meet up with Chris and Dustin for some good conversation. Ran into mr. Todd Richards and caught up on life, his morning 'drop the kids off at school' routine, (that's literal, not the figurative dropping the kids off at the pool style joke), and we each started on our first coffee drink of the day. We assured one another that we would run into eachother again throughout the next few weeks.

I think I've got the solution down for the coffee to go when driving this beast. Bag up the coffee cup, tie a knot in said bag, drive the key through the knot and into the ignition and voila! Coffee cup holder.

October Morning Ride

It was a beautiful sunny October morning. The rain had dried up and the air was clear and crisp and around 62 degrees. With the little bit of east coast moisture, 62 feels more like a west coast 55 or so. I put on my jeans and a hoodie and started the bike when I remembered that my brake light hasn't been working properly in some time now.


30 minutes later, I had this mess on my hands.

2 hours later, I was here. Looks the same. BUT at this point I had diagnosed my two major problems. 1) the 1157 LED bulb's contacts where not connecting to the brake light's terminal in the light's housing. THAT WAS IT! so I switched out the bulb for a regular 1157 and.......NOPE. OK, time to take a deep breathe and reason through it. found out I had a broken wire that was feeding power to the hydraulic brake switch's contact. stock sportster harnesses: blue is the power for your head and tail lights. BUT the orange with white stripe provide power to the accessories. swapped out the wire and we were in businesses.

An hour after that last hickup and things were ready to be put back together.

I got all my wires cleaned up a bit, reshrink wrapped, shortened, etc. Now all that's left is for me to remount my seat and rear fender. Word to the wise. THINK about and PLAN how your shit is put on your bike. My fender is a true test of patience with barely enough room to fit a wrench in and quarter turns at a time room to tighten the bolts. that will be fun.

java press decided upon

headed to my local REI with Rufus to explore their options for my quest for the travel french press. They had a good selection of stainless ones, but they were either too big (8 cups) or too small (one travel mug in total size = half a mug of coffee). The nice employee who let me bring Rufus in with me recommended that I check out the GSI Java Press. It is made of plastic (wasn't stoked at first, BUT its durable) and has insulating sleeves, aka koozies...

The unit has 2 cups, one is the larger 20 oz Press container that has the plunger, filter and lid and then a separate 17 oz Mug that has its own sippy lid and koozie as well.

The nicest part is that for packing and traveling everything disassembles quickly and easily and fits inside the mug and the mug goes inside the press container for a nice compact package.







We'll see how the koozies hold up to getting any runoff of coffee spilled on them and then how my favorite coffee tastes in the plastic containers, but I think it will work well. As I encounter any issues, I'll post about them. I'm also looking forward to taking this little unit camping this summer. A good french press and some powdered coffee mate and I'm happy enough.

coffee when travelling...

I'm leaving tomorrow, March 19, on yet another whirlwind development trip to Taiwan. One of the Best things about travelling as much as I do for work is getting to see the world, getting really familiar with places far away so they feel more like a home away from home (minus the things I love like my wife, cats, dog, music instruments, motorcycle projects, house, etc...).

One of the WORST things is the coffee in Taiwan.....ugh, drip coffee is like fucking tar over there. SO, this time around, I'm heading to Frazier Farms to get a pound or two of my favorite Fair Trade Organic Blend all ground up and I'm bringing a French Press with me. All of the hotel rooms have hot pots for making hot water for tea, so that part is easy. The hard part is picking out a 'travel french press'. I already have the Bodum Chambord for home and its a bit too fragile and big to travel with so now I need to explore my options, AND make a decision today. I figure between REI for the full Stainless Steel options and Target for some of the other Bodum options I can do this.

Of course, I'd love to have the Frieling piece shown in one of the pics below, but its overkill for what I need and the abuse it will get in my suitcase checked in on the airplane.


Bodum Brazil - nice bright colors. need to check durability


Planetary Design


Bodum Chambord


simple Camping version


Frieling 35 ounce