Ha ha, thanks guys, I'm lucky that I had any form of self importance kicked out of me during my first few years in the Army by unforgiving Vietnam vets, so I've been relatively humble ever since. I've always loved mechanical things, and pretty much anything with an engine in it in particular. My only major problem is, I can't stop myself from adopting poor unwanted motorcycles, and trying to give them a better life. The more I think about it, the more I realise that I'm like the "Mother Theresa" of Motorcycles.
I imagine that someone will change that to "Mother F.....", but only in jest, we are a friendly bunch. I only wish you lived nearby Bill, I could loan you a bike or two to bring back from the dead and ride until you got sick of it, or me, I have more bikes here than I know what to do with, Spotty's K7 is still on my trailer in my driveway (under 2 bike covers, I'm not a monster!) a year(?) after we swapped projects.
Anyhoo, today was a good day, my new air compressor for the "Sheltered Workshop" arrived (no pics, you've all seen an air compressor) so I had to take an extended lunch break from my "Working at home" regime to do the final assembly and test it, by running the new 50 foot hose up to the carport and pumping up the tyres on the wife's Hyundai, probably for the first time in a couple of years. Surprisingly they were all in the mid 20 psi range, which is fine for a little car that rarely does any long trips, but I inflated them back up to 32 psi, so I don't have to check them again for another couple of years. Korean cars, they don't need no love.......... Now a 50 foot hose is a pain in my little workshop, so I hung it up and found a 6 foot hose with a duster gun in my garage that I'll use for keeping the bugs out of my Kawasaki engines. (and my CB750 engine when I fix the gearbox next)
I tried to find a nice thick sheet of copper for an extra thick base gasket, but no-one would sell me a piece the size I need, and the price for a complete sheet (that I don't need) would buy another couple of air compressors and a new battery for my BMW K100RS, I had a re-think, and decided to go for aluminium. I've seen aluminium head and base gaskets (the head gaskets in the 1100 engine were aluminium) so I rang my local aluminium stockist, and he said he'd sell me half a sheet of milled 3mm thick (1/8") aluminium (80 bucks) and for an extra 16 bucks would cut it into whatever sizes I wanted, so I asked him to cut me as many 8" (200mm) x 18" (440 mm) pieces as he can, and I'll find a use for what I don't use, while having some spares if I fcuk one up. It's a bit of a gamble as 3mm might not be enough, but with Melbourne being locked down again from midnight tomorrow night, I don't really have a choice, plus I think I've got some big pieces of 1mm thick sheet out in my garage somewhere?
The battery for the BMW arrived at the same time, it weighs 22 pounds, and would be around the same size as the one in the Hyundai. Bloody hell, I was really worried I'd bought the wrong one until I googled the Motobatt HD (Black edition, don't ya know?) part number, and apparently it fits all BMW K100's, in fact it fits pretty much every BMW bike from 1970 to 1993, inclusive. It was also the most expensive bike battery I've ever bought, so I hope it lasts me as long as I keep the bike, which I need to keep forever, as I'm a member of the BMW Club, which allows me to get cheap "Club Permits" for all of my bikes over 25 years old. (most of them) Once Spotty puts up my new garage I'll move my 4 bikes (including the BeeEm) in storage back home, so I can attach them to battery tenders to keep them alive as long as possible. That probably won't be until Spring now that Melbourne has been locked down for 6 weeks from midnight tomorrow, but that's OK, they should all last with an occasional metropolitan freeway triangle blast (no country rides allowed) until then.
I've taken tomorrow off. Coincidentally it's the wife's birthday, I haven't told her about me taking the day off yet, but being that it's my last chance to do 100(+) mile ride #14 for the next 6 weeks, I'm gonna surprise her and buy her some McDonalds pancakes for her Birthday breakfast before I break the news to her that I'm off for a sanity ride before lockdown. Hopefully I'll look humble enough that she doesn't stab me in the eye with a syrupy plastic fork..........
