Lucinda, Poppin' that cherry Part 2
by: Lost MC Goon
As I eased out the clutch and rode down my driveway I could barely contain the combination of elation, pride, and flat out fear. As I turned down my street I made the move that any proud mad scientist would make: I hammered on the throttle, sink or swim, I would find out how she rode.
Now keep in mind as of this test ride there were a few things that needed to be finished up on the build.. like the front brakes, they were attached, but the pads could be best described as.. Worn. I think they were the original pads for the front end I was using, a 1986 front end. I had not bothered with formalities like license plates or an inspection sticker.
As I neared the end of the road I was satisfied that the front end was at least not going to fall off at the moment. I slowed and turned back for another pass down my street, I can only guess the speed I was approaching since I didn't bother with the luxury of gauges on the bike, but I guess I was up to around fifty on my test passes. I headed out to a friends house a couple blocks away, he happened to be the welder I had used for this project, so protocol dictates that he be one of the first to ride. He took a test ride, and was impressed with the ride. By the time I got back home, my legs were shaking from the adrenalin rush. I had spent a little more than a year on the project, and finally I had something that actually could convey me down the road.
The next couple weeks included a lot of short runs around town to shake down the bike, Titling and registration went a lot smoother that I had anticipated, and within a week I was actually riding around on a legal motorcycle.
I ran into a few issues as I did the shakedown on the bike. I almost set my old lady's ass on fire the first trip down a highway, apparently there was not quite enough clearance for when the tire expanded at speed. And friction at speed can definitely heat up a metal fender. There was also the issue of a couple of loose bolts, which led to the front brake caliper basically falling off going down the road. There was also a rather annoying sporadic short in the side mount license plate bracket. I rewire the entire bike, yet the blasted part I bought ended up giving me the most problem.
I worked through the technical issues, and as October neared I decided to take a trip to Daytona for Biketoberfest. One of my friends lives about 10 miles north of Daytona so I had a free place to stay, I just had to get there, and what better way to test a bike than to put it through a 2000 mile weekend?
I had developed a fork seal leak the week before I was scheduled to leave for Daytona and ordered parts. As luck would have it, they showed up the day before I was supposed to leave for the trip. I normally try to stick to the rule of no major mods to the bike for at least two weeks before a trip, but this one could not wait. I got off work early and headed straight to the garage to replace the fork seal. I got the fork mostly apart and found out I did not have the proper "Suzuki" tool so a quick call to the local dealer ensued in which I basically had to beg them to fix my fork seal in the hour before closing time that day. A quick trip to the dealer and 45 minutes later I had a replaced fork seal. It was difficult to get them to understand that I would be adding the fluid myself and did not need them to do it, but I finally made it home and got the bike back together.. 11 hours before I was scheduled to hit the road. It was a hell of a trip, and next month I will cover it all.
-Lost MC Goon |
Thinking Around the Box
CRAP! The box broke.
By: Shaun "Scrapyard" Kelly
Since I'm suffering from a serious case of writers block this month. I'm going to cop out and ask the ever present question. What's next? How do we continue with the current state of fighterdom and the custom scene as a whole? Do we look to the past and go retro? Do we try and press on with even more over the top innovations? Or do we all sit stagnant and keep feeding off the same ideas for another 10 years until they all look the same?
If this sounds some what sinical, I appologise. It's not ment to disenchant anyone, but there's starting to be a pattern of redondencey. Even with the fighter scene continuing to stay some what underground, there are enough commonalities arising that many bikes are starting to appear similar at first glance. The growth of aftermarket suppliers and manufacturers are aiding to this commonality. But there is, and has been for a while, a symptom of use it till it's dead mentality that revolves around motorcyclists. The Bling phenomenon of custom sportbikes is an example of this. On our side of the fence is the flat black affliction. Yeah, it can look cool, and it's cheap, but soon everyone does it and then it's dead.
So we come to this point were, it's all been done and redone and brought back from the dead so many times, the smell is unbearable. Maybe we've come to a plattoue. We have defined so many genres and styles that the only step forward is to refine them. Clean them up to such a point that somewhere they start to show differences. Or we start cross pollinating.
On the flip side of this coin, technology advances in leaps and bounds daily. Unfortunatly, this does not trickle down to the masses as quickly as we would like. Concepts don't always make it to production, race breed parts hold weight like gold bricks and not everyone has a machine shop in the garage. So I reiderate. Where do we go from here?
Inspiration comes in many forms. But the greatest tool used to innovate is creativity. Stepping away from the trends, Jones' and the rat race. Thinking and dreaming of the most sought after bad ass bike is what really turns to greatness and innovation. Some of the greatest ideas were made after developing a solution to a problem. Now we think, what is the problem? What's next in suspension development? What is the next step in styling? How do we reinvent the wheel this time? And how do we hide all that ugly even better? I give you all a mission. You are the designer, manufacturer and bean counter all in one. Create the bike of your dreams while creating the fighter of the future.
-Shaun "Scrapyard" Kelly
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