Looks incredible Terry! Only thing that bothers me is the black front caliper sticks out way too much against the silver/chrome background.
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Took it for a quick test ride after making a quick adjustment to the carbs and came back an hour later with a long story.
It's quite long, and may contain some foul language.
Damn, bad night for a ride or what?
First I remove the screens from my stacks to see if that'll lean up my mixture enough. I get done with that, and turn on the bike. It has a bit of trouble starting up cold, which is a good thing (if it starts up easily it's too rich). I get on there, and as soon as I pull out of my driveway, I feel a little stumble (also normal for a cold take-off), then I feel some strong pull (also good).
I get out of my neighborhood and down to the next block, and the older gent in the car next to me points out my tail (running) light is out. Damnit. >:| I take note and ride my rear brake lever enough to trigger the brake light, but not engage the brakes. Not too bad. I get further up the road and plan on stopping in front of the fire station to check my wires, because their driveway is well-lit.
Sitting at the light one street before the fire station, I feel it starting to stumble. Classic sign of running out of fuel. I reach down to switch to reserve. Oh #$%*. I'm already on reserve. How did that happen? I try to take off and make it up there. No-go. As soon as I let out the clutch, it dies. Since it's a fairly long street and uphill, I sure as hell wasn't going to make it up to the fire station. Pulled a u-turn and stopped on the sidewalk to check out my wiring.
Nothing wrong that I could see. I disconnected all the wires and reconnected them. No luck.
Time to push my #$%* to the gas station about 1/4mi. away. Since I don't have a tail light, I want to turn on my turn signal so people can see me. I decide the right one would be better, because it marks the left side of my bike, and I'm on the right side of the road. Well guess what? Left turn signals are out. Right turn signals work. I immediately realized what was wrong. My blinker solenoid needs the contacts cleaned and jiggled. Since I didn't have the tools for that, I couldn't do it there.
Finally made it to the gas station, all sweaty and out of breath. Some #$%* is sitting at the pump in his car playing #$%*ty music way too loud with too much bass. #$%*ing #$%*. The entire time I'm there, which is about 10 minutes, he's there. I finally get up and ask him to be a bit more polite, and he finally decides to leave. What a #$%*. Time to leave myself.
I get out on the road, and who did I pull out in front of? None other than Johnny Law. Damnit. I'm in front of him for a few blocks, and nothing happened. Thought I was in the clear, because he had his turn signal on. Nope. WOOP WOOP.
I pull into the nearest parking lot, because I'm sure as hell not stopping on the side of the road. He's sitting in his car for a few minutes, doing cop things I assume. Meanwhile I've removed all my gear and am sitting politely on my bike with my hands visible. He strolls up, and lets me know my tail light is out. I tell him I know and that I was trying to keep my brake light active the entire time and that I was on my way back home. At this point I'm #$%*ting bricks because I left my bag at the house, and in there is all my paperwork. No regi, insurance, or safety inspection. That's not even counting the fact I don't have 5 reflectors, a safety inspection sticker, my turn signal doesn't work, it's too loud (especially at night), and it's spewing black smoke (oh I forgot to mention earlier that it's still too rich). At this point, he asks me to get off my bike. Uh oh. Seems he's not interested in me, but instead he's checking out my bike. For sure he's going to see I don't have a safety sticker, and my tire has hit my license plate at some point.
After a minute, he turns to me and asks, "what year is it?" "2012," I respond, thinking he's giving me a sobriety test. Spaghetti's leaking out of my pockets at this point, realizing he meant my bike. We chat for a good 10-15 minutes. He asks where I found it, how long I've had it, did I do the work myself, what have I done and plan to do, etc., the usual. He went on to say that his buddy in the force has a bike like this, a W650. "Anon?" I ask. Anon being the guy with the W650 that I rode with a few weeks ago. "Yeah, Anon. We used to ride then my wife made my sell my bike." We chatted for a few more minutes, then he reminded me to get my safety infractions sorted out or else he's going to have to cite me next time. He went on his merry way and I was there still #$%*ting my pants.
I rode off. About halfway home, I hear SCREEEEEEEEEEECH. Immediately I realized I hadn't been using my brake. I was so scared I burst into treats. I apologized profusely at the next light and explained that it's an old bike and some of the electrics are on their way out. He sympathized with me and volunteered to be my tail light to my neighborhood. I waved as I turned, and HOLY #$%* GRAVEL I FORGOT GOD DAMN I'M GOING TO DIE! I didn't die, but I sure as hell scared the last of the #$%* out of me. I shift up to 3rd gear going down my street as to not bother the neighbors. About 50 feet from my house, I pull the clutch and cut the power and shift down. I get into my driveway and SCHHRUOSFFEWFCHHHHHH my rear tire lucks up and it bucks me around real good because I was in 2nd, not neutral. I also managed to twist my right ankle because I put it down as a reflex. Now I'm putting the bike in the garage, and because I'm mostly on my left ankle, I managed to twist that one because I stepped on a screwdriver.
Moral of the story: always do a quick functions check before you leave the house.
