Category Archives: motoring

perfection

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Last week I had a conversation with a friend about the idea of “perfection.”
He told me, “…know that you are perfect just the way you are!”
I replied “I dunno. If I was perfect there would be no room for growth.”
He responded, “Is not a seed perfect? And yet, it sprouts and is perfect, then it grows and is perfect.”
I thought about it for a while, then said, “but what if the seed is damaged and can not grow?”
“Then it is perfect as it is.”

I bristled a bit and wasn’t sure why.
It took me another day of mulling this over to realize that we had different ideas of “perfect.”
The word, to me, is a judgement.
What is this idea of “perfection?”
Merriam-Webster has it as, “the condition, state, or quality of being free or as free as possible from all flaws or defects…something that cannot be improved”
Who is to say what is a flaw or defect?

I suppose the basis of the seed concept is the idea of perfection as a “state of completeness”, wherein any state one is in is perfect at the moment.

But I couldn’t shake the thought that perfection is an end.
The etymology of “perfect” = “finished”.
How can a seed grow if it is already perfect?
What more is there when one has achieved perfection?
Change?
But if one is perfect, why change?
And how can one be perfect if one is in constant pain or despair or can not feed oneself?

A few days later I was sorting through some of my books while still mulling this conversation over in my head.
I came across an old hand-bound journal of my dad’s. Curious as to the date, I opened it up to the last entry.

This is what I found:

“Dawn:
I have absolute faith in her.
Tell Dawn that I love her and no need to be
perfect”

dad_journal_perfect

Shake Down Run #2

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Shake Down Run #2

Finally had time the other day to pull the carbs apart and see what was inside them.
Wish I had a garage. This working-on-gravel-driveway thing might seem glamorous, but it really isn’t all its cracked up to be.

And my dog wasn’t much help

but, got them dissected

and found that the main jets were 130 and the needles were at third clip

Decided to change out the mains and see what happened.

Didn’t have time until yesterday to track down some jets.
Luckily, I found some 120’s in the next town over. (yay small towns?)

After looking closer at the carbs, saw that one of the gaskets was on upside-down, obscuring a port.
That probably contributed to it’s not running so good the other day!

Got the 120’s in and the carbs back together and on the bike.
While I was in there, I bought a new battery too – having lights is nice.

Test ride time!

WHOO HOOOO! POWERBAND! YEAH!

I had so much fun that I shook a rivet right out!

Luckily, that’s an easy fix.

When I finally got home after a run to dinner and then over to show off to some friends 🙂

I found that my low-beam on the headlight isn’t working, and my tail light isn’t working. The brake light is okay, but the running light is no go.

What now?
Need a front fender or fork brace, tach, prolly need a mirror (legal).
There was something else…but I seem to have forgotten.

Did I mention – WHOOHOOOOO! YEAH! SWEEET! YAY!
:rock:

I was thinking this evening about how wonderful it is to ride something you’ve built.
I mean, I had help from friends (yay friends! holy cow my friends are awesome), but I made this happen.
I created this thing that now transports me! Such a fantastic feeling.

Shake Down Run #1

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Spiky Bike Shake Down Run #1

I’m writing this before work instead of taking a shower. I hope my coworkers appreciate it.

You know how it’s a good idea on your first ride out to go around the block a bunch of times so that you aren’t far from home just in case something happens?
Yeah, I know its a good idea, but when I get excited about something, I tend to forget those things called “good ideas” or “rational thinking.”
Instead, I say, “HEY! IT’S A BEAUTIFUL EVENING! I’M GONNA GO FOR A RIIIIIIDE!”

Holy crap is that bike fun.

Until it isn’t.
But at least it’s not heavy.

Spiky Bike did great in true ring-a-ding-ding two-stroke zippy fashion part of the way out-of-town.
I thought I heard something ‘not quite right,’ so I pulled over and listened for a few minutes.
Seemed fine, but then ‘rational thinking’ took over and I decided I should turn around and ride more in town and not so far from home.
Also, Tuesday nights are my regular Howlers Vintage Bike Club get together and I wanted to have the RD there. Gotta show off a bit, doncha know! 😆

I got back to town and got to a stop light. The RD bogged down and died. I tried kicking it over a couplea times to no avail.
So, pushed the bike to a side street and a friend went to get a spark plug puller.
(Another “good idea” is to bring some tools with you on a shake down run.)

A very helpful guy (I put the italics in there to indicate sarcasm) stopped by and gave me a whole bunch of advice about what to do.
He suggested I CHECK THE SPARK PLUGS. And MAYBE ITS FLOODED.
Truth be told, he really was just trying to be helpful. But please, people, before offering your sage advice, determine what your audience already knows first.

Pulled the plugs and they were a tad rich.

That’s what the road surface looks like up close.

We cleaned off the plugs and made a plan to try to avoid stop lights.
I kicked the Spiky Bike over and away I went!

Until I didn’t go anymore. At the first stop light about two blocks away.
Cleaned the plugs again, and away I went!

According to witnesses, there were flames coming out of my left pipe.
Kick ass!
Okay, maybe not so much.

Luckily, the bar wasn’t much further, so I opted to push Spiky Bike the rest of the way.
I was making it to that meetup come hell or high water. (Sorry, Colorado friends 😦 Hope your high waters are receding)

It was downhill all the way to the alley I was planning to use to cut across to the bar, so I got on Spiky Bike and coasted.
Wheeee!
On entrance to the alley, I almost hit a man with a dog who was crossing on the sidewalk. “COMING THROUGH! CAN’T STOP!” 😆

I pushed the RD through the alley and as I emerged to the next street I heard my name wafting down from above.
Some friends of mine were sitting in an outdoor area at an upstairs bar.
One of these friends just happens to be an exceptional RD tuner (he builds RD racebikes!)
We chatted briefly about my situation, then on I went.
Only two more blocks to go!

Made it!

Our group gathered and I told them about the Shake Down Run.
Sure, I’d rather not have had to push it part of the way, but IT RUNS! (and stops too)
Luckily, one of the guys had a pickup truck there so after dinner we loaded it up.
The RD is light enough that three guys just picked it up and put it in the truck. No ramp necessary. Ha!
I didn’t get pics of that though because I was in the truck playing catcher.

Here’s the RD pre-loading up, in the Square (they already have Christmas lights up. WTF?)

I count this as a success. That first stretch was fantastic fun!
I’ll pull the carbs this week and go from there.
YAY!