The Rider Pegs Stay

It's been a while since I checked in with Cliff, the fella I was planning to work on the tank with, and admittedly, it's all my fault.  However, when you leave a high paying job for one with the city, you get gain a lot of satisfaction, but not as much extra cash.  Add that to a pricey divorce, and you're left with a tight budget and no furniture.

So, as I'm waiting to hear how much I owe on taxes, living from paycheck to paycheck at the moment, hoping to afford the new carburettor next week, the one thing I can do is research.  Weirdly, the more I look into the new cafe bikes, the more I see the brat bike making a huge push.

Originally, I intended to make the BSA a single-seat cafe racer, but now that I've been dropped back into the dating pool, I'm going to have to say that I want this bike to be able to carry a cute girl on the back.  That means a 2-seater butt cushion and rider pegs.

What does that mean for the overall design?  Well, I'm going to have to figure out a new solution for the battery box, since it's not going to be hidden in the tail hump anymore.  The old version is a piece of shit that used to hang on the outside of the frame, under the ugly side cover.  Bad design.

I love the original oil tank - very sexy.  However, I'll need another consult with Cliff, because it seems that it might now be necessary to build a custom oil/battery combo unit to keep the bike clean and sexy.  It's a labor of love, and it's going to take as long as necessary.  (I have to keep telling myself that.)

Greasy Ol' Gearheads

 
Mark and I got moving on the motor this week, and it seems that when the weather gets nice, his buddies like to come over to the garage, hang out with their bikes and drink beer.  Then we work on motors for a while, have another beer, tell dirty jokes.  If, in 15 years, I'm having half the fun that these fellas are, than I know I doing something right.

As for the motor, we took it apart and put it back together about 4 or 5 times, getting it set up perfectly.

The rods are in, the pistons are in the bath, and Mark says it should be done by the end of the week, if we work hard and stay on task.  In my opinion, I don't care if it takes another 6 months, if I get to have this much fun, hanging out in a garage, working on bikes with a bunch of grizzly bastards, eating pork rinds and drinking cheap beer.

2/1000ths

So, after all that nonsense with the crank, we figured that it was so out of whack that I was just going to have to break down and get a new one.  The couple hundred bucks that I'd spent on machining this one was just a cost I'd have to eat.  Oh well, shit happens.  Hello, eBay.

Then, on Thursday evening, as I'm enjoying a steak dinner, I get a call from Mark, telling me that his machinist buddy was with him at the shop, having a couple beers and he took a look at my crank, just to show him how boogered up it was.  They decided to mess with it, and sure enough, after 6 months of delays and feet dragging with the damn thing, they had it together with perfect tolerances in no time.  Turns out, it was just shitty machine work from Quinlan.

Awesome.  Best way to round up a great birthday week (and an half).