Gas Tank Paint Design!

Inspired by a post I saw on the JJ I put together this little drawing. I'd like to paint this on my bike's gas tank. I think I may have to try/fail a few times before I get the gas tank to look how I want it but once I do it'll look awesome.

Amp Multilock Connectors Piss Me Off!

Last post I was talking about how Bill over at Biltwell inspired me to work on my Sportster.  I pulled out my service manual and got to work.  A couple of beers into working I'd figured out what I needed to do.  Yeah, yeah, yeah.  I know.  What a rookie!  Well I've never worked on bikes before so I'm learning as I go along.  I wish I would have talked to my dad more about bikes and cars when I had the chance but can't worry about that now.

I got the gas tank off of the bike.  Disconnected the battery and a couple of other electrical sections and was ready to go.  I ditched the mirrors and that really made the bike look better.  I'll probably head over the to the LB Cycleswap next week and pick up a mirror, something small.  I don't think I'll miss the mirrors because everytime I change lanes I look over my shoulder.  I don't trust the mirrors.  The Sportster mirrors seem to have been designed to give the rider an excellent view of his shoulders and arms.  Plus, I only really use the mirrors to watch for police while I'm speeding so I figure that without the mirrors I won't speed too much.  So I'm really making my bike safer by removing the mirrors!  Ha!

Removing the front turn signals was a little trickier.  I wanted to keep them intact in case I every got a fix-it ticket, wanted them back on, or wanted to sell them.  I figured out how to get them off except I couldn't figure out how to disconnect the stupid amp multilock connector from the wires.  That crap was frustrating!  The service manual was a bit vague (at least to me) about what exactly I was supposed to do.  A few internet searches finally showed me what to do.  I stumbled on a little movie that demonstrated what to do.  Wish I would have thought to save it and post it but maybe I'll track it down later.

The rear turn signals were a lot easier to remove than the front signals.  I think the bike looks a lot better without the chrome fender strut covers.  I like chrome but prefer to keep it on the engine.  Too much chrome just looks stupid.  Other guys like it, to each their own.

I talked to my buddy, Haas, about chopping my rear fender and fender struts.  Don't think I'll get to that for a few weeks but then again, I'm not in a rush.  My next cosmetic project, after the fender, is to play around with a dremel and see if I'm any good at etching metal.  I think it'd be pretty cool to etch some cool designs on my bike.

I didn't do a whole lot to my bike for a few reasons.  As a whole, I love my bike and only want to change a few things on it.  A lot of bike guys are snobs and aren't into the Evo Sportsters (because they're new?) and don't have rigid frames.  I love my bike.  Hell, I too think rigid frames are cool but I don't think swingarm frames look bad.  Second, I'm not mechanically savvy.  I'm learning as I go along so I'm proud of the stuff that I'm learning.

In summary, I ended up removing my mirrors, chrome fender strut covers, and my front and rear turn signals.  Baby steps.

In need of a road-trip

Thesis, Romans, Motorcycles!

I went to the 49er Bookstore to pick up books for my two classes this semester. The two classes I'm enrolled in, Latin Literature and Hollywood Does Rome, are going to be really great classes. The books that have been assigned for the classes are good books and I've been wanting to read for a while. Two of the assigned readings are by Augustine and Petronius.  They were  very different men but both important authors whose works should really expand my knowledge of ancient history.

A project that I've really been wanting to tackle for a while is a motorcycle project. I have an '05 Sportster XL1200R. Great bike! My buddies, "the two Nicks", and I have gone on some great trips. I only wish we were able to travel more. One of them has to work a lot and the other isn't riding now. He had an accident on his bike two years ago and still isn't comfortable with the idea of riding. 

Back to my project. A month ago I stumbled across a great forum: http://www.jockeyjournal.com/. The guys on that forum are very intense. They know a lot about bikes but can be a bit opinionated in their posts.

One of the posters on that forum, named Billdozer2, built a bike that really inspired me to work on my Sportster. He had this thread about a '96 Sportster (I believe it was a '96, I may be wrong) that he reworked. In his post he stated that he was inspired by Bratstyle. Holy Hell! His bike turned out great! I've been looking over my service manual and thinking about what I want to do to my bike. I think I'll start slow and just remove the turn signals, horn, and chrome strut covers. After that I'll remove the brakelight and replace it with something a little simpler. I might chop the rear fender to make it shorter but I want to talk to my buddy, Haas, about how best to do that. I really wanted to put some Biltwell handlebars on my bike but they're been recalled. So I'll have to wait a while before I get them. If I could, I'd buy them today. I don't think they're defective. Maybe I'll get lucky and pick up a pair at the Long Beach Cycle Swap in a couple of weeks. I think that by taking this slow I won't make any mistakes that I may regret.

In the future I'd like to buy an old Ironhead and chop the hell out of it to learn all the in's and out's of a motorcycle. I think if I put about $3-$4K into buying an Ironhead I might end up with a pretty decent bike. The best part would be that it would be mine. I think I would need about two years to get it done. Plenty of the posters on the Jockey Journal have stated that it's better to have a bike built correctly rather than quickly.

I have a few days off of work this week to finish up my thesis. I should finish the conclusion and get most of chapter five reworked. I can't wait for this thing to be done. This thesis has taken up a lot of my time and I'm ready to relax.