Today was a day filled with both excitement and turmoil. I got home from work to find that not only did my airbox rubbers come, but so did my brake. The last 2 pieces of the puzzle. I quickly got to work getting the parts installed and front brake bled. This was my first time installing carbs and an airbox with new rubbers and it was so much easier. I dont know why i ever bothered trying to soften old ones in the past. The relatively low price of new ones was totally worth it just for ease of install, let alone the potential performance improvement. So, with the bike now complete, i proceeded to get it down from the lift so i could take it out for a ride. This is the start of the turmoil. First, the jack that raises and lowers the table broke with the lift still too high off the ground. Theres nothing i could do with it with the bike still on it, so i got my ramp so i could get the bike off. It wasnt too high off the ground, maybe 18 inches or so, but too high for me to guide it down while standing on the ground so i climbed on to ride it down. I started slowly down the ramp. Too slowly because i didnt have enough momentum to keep rolling. With the back wheel still on the table and the front on the ramp, my feet over nothing, the bike stopped. I had nothing to put my feet on so we started to topple over. I jumped off the side and tried to hold the bike up, but my foot landed in a bucket of carb cleaner i had on the floor causing a big spill and i slipped. The bike fell to the ground with the headlight/handlebar area landing perfectly between my superhawk and black bomber. None of the bike was not touching the ground thanks to the fall being broken by the gas tank landing on a gas can i had sitting there. I was fortunate that the damage is somewhat minimal. The right side mirror broke, the lower pipe that was already dented is more dented, the upper pipe that was not dented is now dented, and the tank is dented and the stripe scraped. No other bikes were harmed, thankfully. My shoes were ruined by carb cleaner and my pride a little hurt as i had to seek assistance from my neighbor to get the bike back on its wheels with damaging it more. I did go ahead and ride it after everything was cleaned up and it ran great. So at least theres that. I was set to list it for sale tomorrow, but now i have to make some decisions. None of the pipes were perfect before, so i dont think the new damage with affect the overall value much. I do think the damage to the tank will take it down a bit so i have to decide if i want to get it repaired and repainted. Im in a bit of a time crunch as i need this bike sold with inn the next few weeks. I dont know if the tank can even be turned around that quickly. I also have the option to sell it as is, but i need to turn a profit on it, which may be a little tough now. That was a long story and its over now, so here are some pics, both highlights and lowlights.
