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Dealing w/ Burnout - not the bike, the builder

2186 Views 13 Replies 8 Participants Last post by  mvrk10256
What do folks here do when they get so sick of working on a project that they can't even bring themselves to look in the garage, let alone work on the thing? I'm just now getting to the point where things should start getting interesting, but for various reasons am just really fed up and would love to toss the whole thing...

Mostly I've resorted to heavy drinking (just made a margarita that's more of a lime flavored quad tequilla) and browsing craigslist (which absolutely does NOT help me to feel better about my fiscal situation).
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God dammit. My wife deleted my entire paragraph. Fucker. Won't leave me alone........

Anyway. My problem is I have no daily rider. So I'm stuck working on mine until its fixed. Which of course money issues arise blah blah blah. So I haven't gotten solid seat time really since last summer. So I am selling everything to buy a running ready to go bike. Then I'll buy a project later to tinker on. As long as I have a daily rider, I don't care how long it takes to finish, and I don't care how much work I have to put into it as long as I'm riding as well.

But when I was steadily doing work on my Gsxr, I had to take a step back for a couple months. It got hard boring and just frustrating. Taking a step back to enjoy the life and people around you is the easiest thing to do to get through this moto depression you're in. Then one day you'll walk in there and look at it and think, "this could be a badass bike" then you'll think of new ideas and things that are cooler and even better than before and you'll want to DW again. You'll get over it. Sooner or later.
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My problem is I have no daily rider.
Yeah, that's the challenge here too. I think I'll get out and ride one of my bicycles this weekend, because part of what's got me down is the summer slipping by and me doing nothing but the same shit I did all winter. Can't afford to buy a runner, but I have some lovely pedal bikes I've been neglecting. Worth remebering what made me love motorcycles to begin with...
I'm somewhat at that point too. I have a bunch of other things I need to focus on since it is sunny out. So the bike just sits and I dread jumping back into it. Taking a break helps a lot.
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/...533.1073741826.1539754918&type=1&l=f490449f41

i have a huuuuge file base of pictures that inspire me. These are some recent ones.

I have steam punk, rat, cafe, flat track, vintage racer, vintage motox, and countless other photos that can re-spark that flame under my sometimes lazy un-motivated ass
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UF has a really good idea there. If it were me dude, just take a break from building for a little while. Get into some other hobbies or whatever. Enjoy the weather without the bike as best you can. Maybe go to some bike meets or whatever and maybe youll get the motivation to work on your bike out of jealousy lol. We've all hit a wall with wrenching before man. I find most of the time I dont wanna work on my bikes and then once in a while Ill get a wild hair up my ass and Ill hit the shop hard. The important thing to remember is when you feel inspired to work or create something for your bike, that you get off your ass ASAP and DW before the inspiration passes. I learned that from a musicians clinic online once and it's one of the best bits of advice I've ever received. It translates well with bikes too.

But of course if none of that suits you, you can always just give ME your projects. Hell, I'll even come to you to pick em up. What a guy, right?
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Pictures won't help. That's like looking at (even more) porn when what you really need to do is bang your wife so she'll know yah love her, but can't cause your depressed. Just makes you feel worse.

Took the kid for a two hour bicycle ride today, him in the trailer, me pulling on my 34/18 singlespeed. Damn near killed myself on the hills, but I feel much better now. Probably will take a week or two off.

The problem with inspiration is bringing it to life takes cash and time, neither of which I have much to spare. Seriously, if I could just drop the thing off at a shop after painting it, then come and pick it up when it was running, I'd be a happy man. But I bet every home builder facing their self-inflected basket case thinks that. There's almost certainly some shops in town that would do that, but not for a price I can pay!
Yeah once you're so far in it's never worth 9it taking to a shop to finish the job. I had the same dilemma when I build the SV. I really thought I was in over my head for a while. But I just kept my head down and made sufe it didnt matter what I was doing as long as something was getting done to move the build along. Sometimes it would be silly shit like little bits of wiring or cleaning something up or checking the tolerance on my clutch springs but the important thing was it got me that much closer to finishing the bike. It paid off well in the end and gave me a lot more confidence and experience for next time.
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give it time, it will pass.
Its already passing, somewhat. I actually had an itch to do some work today, but played it cool instead, because I knew I'g give in to frustration easily if not strongly motivated. Also spent some time talking shop and just shit with the neighbor, which I need to do a LOT more of, as I have literally zero personal friends. Was walking by, he called me to come up to the garage and gave me a beer, showed me some aluminum off-cuts he had laying about (he's a machinist, is helping me find materials), good times. I should push him harder to get his old Harley back together- its a sweet looking mid '70s sportster (he's got a new 883 as well, but the old one looks a lot cooler, and he's the original owner).

Also considering buying this little scoot to ride until the project is done. I think its about as cheep as I'm likely to find a running, titled bike (offered $535). I figure I can take my license test on it and stand a good chance to pass, so save money on a MSF course. Plus I'll save money on gas over the next 3 months- looks fine for my commute. Cleaned up a bit, it should be easy to flip for at least what I paid next summer. Or I can keep it and have some fun with another project... wringing 100mph out of that bike would be a fun challenge!

I guess that's one answer to burn out- more projects!
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Lol - looks like I might be buying this instead; told the wife about it and she was OK!



Its not perfect (a bit of carb trouble, no turn signals) but the price sure is right ($800), and I love those first gen Goldwings- complete with wire wheels and kickstart! Not a fighter, obviously, but hey, guy's gotta have a touring bike, right? And would be the perfect excuse to build a sidecar...
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I have buddy that runs a motorcycle repair shop. He's been talking about building a Goldwing with a sidecar type rig on it. Except the sidecar would just be a low to the ground rail to haul a bike on. Way better than a truck and a ramp. :) Goodwings aren't necessarily cool, but they can be!
Sent from my SCH-R720 using Motorcycle.com Free App
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I like to do things in bursts. Buy a bunch of parts, spend the weekend working on the bike, and then take a step back and see where i am.
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