baby’s gonna get new shoes!

Ah, my workshop is lacking. I so miss having a garage… but ya do what ya gotta do.

It’s been years since I dealt with a drum brake bike. It’s not hard, just different.

I forgot some of the idiosyncrasies and details. Luckily, I have dear friends who are but a text message away who can help fill in the cracks. The rear brake adjuster was sneaky. When you try to loosen the nut, it just spins. The trick is to move the booty to expose a hex, which then can be held with a wrench, or as he wrote, “roll it back, like a rubber.” He wondered if I would be able to finish the job after giggling to that.

In order to get the rear wheel off, I needed some kind of stand on which to balance the bike. Since I have yet to get some buckets, and seem to have lost all my milk crates over the years, I improvised.

Luckily, a couplea friends stopped by with a milk crate and got the bike propped up. It was good timing too, because I managed to tweak my lower back again.

We got the front tire off quickly and loaded the wheels into my car.
Tomorrow, I will take them in to get new tires!
YAY!

new family member

I borrowed Steve’s pickup truck, rode with Steve up to the South Rim area of the Grand Canyon park, and bought a bike from Steve. It was a little confusing.

Who goes to the Grand Canyon and don’t go see the Big Hole?
Crazy motorcycle addicts do!
When we got to South Rim to meet Steve, this is the bike he showed us. A 1978 Kawasaki KL250

KL_right

It started, ran, stopped. And was fun to ride!
Sold!

me_KL2

It helps if you bring a ramp when you get a bike, but it was small and there were some guys hanging around, so we recruited them.

KL_up to truck

After getting the bike and requisite box of spare parts loaded up (old bikes always come with tons of spares. some of the stuff might even be useful) and all the hand-shaking over with, Steve and I headed back.

kl_mirror

Now my Hawk has another friend!

me_KL4

Thanks, Steves!