So, what's new? Not much. Mike still has my bike. And although it's been about a month now and I'm really not in a hurry to get it back, the weather is improving and there have already been a few days that I could have been doing something with it if I'd had it. Instead, I've found other things to do.

I've decided I like the look of drag bars, so I bought a set on eBay that were all scratched up. I couldn't care less about scratches in chrome . . I'm going to paint them black anyway. The bars went CHEAP ($.99)! With shipping they were more like $18, but that's still cheap. Not so cheap that when they arrived bent (as in wrecked or dropped bike BENT) I complained. Scuffed up is one thing, bent is a real problem. Well, the seller refunded all my costs and didn't want the bars back, so I have a free set of bent handlebars. I'll see if I can straighten them. Maybe I can make them work.

Spent some time working on the trailer, too. I painted the plywood deck and made brackets to hold it in place. Then I built a wheel stop for the front wheel so the bike doesn't wiggle on me while strapped to the trailer. Total cost of this project was under $3! If only I could finish this bike on a budget like that!

I'm also thinking about rigid-izing the rear suspension and lowering the bike, but without the bike that's been hard to visualize. PhotoShop to the rescue! With this model I can change the angle of the swingarm, the length of the rear struts and calculate the drop in seat height. It isn't perfect. I can't say for sure how long my struts will need to be, but it gives me an idea of how this will work.