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11-02-08 . .

One year has past since the last entry in this blog. A lot has changed over that time, but oddly enough through most of those changes, the bike is back to where it started again. I've tried different pipes only to find that they required richening the fuel mixture, which I decided wasn't worth the extra gas expense just for better sound. And I had a jockey shifter on it for a while, but that broke off and it turns out it wasn't really helpful after I replaced the seat. Those were the things I changed that didn't work.

The changes that DID work include; an old, dried up saddle bag mounted to the left shock so I can carry stuff sometimes, a very nice new seat from BILTWELL, a new set of Cheng Shin "Retro Replacement" tires, and I had the front wheel re-spoked and trued at Bear's Highway Classics. It'll take a while for the front wheel to dirty-up to match the rest of the bike again, but it rides great!

I entered the bike in three shows this year. The first was the Alter Ego Father's Day show, which ultimately got rained out. The second was the Heart of America Motorcycle Enthusiast show at the Kansas Speedway (top left photo) and the last was Greaserama (center photo). I won a total of nothing, but all were great fun and I'll probably do some of them again next year.

The bike has gotten a LOT of use this year, but I still won't ride it far. Once I got the hang of it's "personality" everything has gotten easier to deal with. It's reliable, fun to ride and best of all fun to work on. And it still does need work. The front brake light switch is going out and the triple-tree needs tightening. Pretty minor stuff for a 35-year-old ironhead.

I think I'll keep it.