Tank Lift. Yep!

     So ok, I was recently like "hey, I wanna raise my tank and stuff the side wires up under that large tunnel that would present lots of cool streamlining aesthetics."  But also, guess what it'd do, it'd let lots of air flow over the tops of my heads for more air cooling ability, especially in hotter climates.  More air-flow is better.  Also, I  noticed that the wire harness was just zip-tied into the sides of these fancy looking black pannels that hang left and right of the frame bar under my tank, and over my heads.  This means as my bike heats up, that heat rises and gets trapped right directly up and between those black pannels where all my little wires are just zip-tied-exposed to.   So lifting my wires further away from the heat source is also beneficial to the health of my electronics.

       So one day (last week), I decided to unbolt my front tank bolt, and lift that thing up to see what kinda lift I can get out of it.  Whooooaaaa, that's a lot of room.  I was able to fit my whole arm under that gap.   So then I started clipping the zip-ties away from the plastic thingy's and pulled the mounts off the bike to reveal just the frame and the tank gap and lots of loose colorful wires.  I started unplugging the wiring connections and once I got the meat of it all separated, I ran the wires up and over the frame and re-connected the plugs.

      So now the wires were lifted and out of the way of the heads, and my tank had a rake that was high as hell, and I loved it.  I salvaged some zip ties and fed them together to make one long one, that I wrapped around the wires in one main spot to keep them up and tidy.  But ass soon as I could I made a nifty little cushioning brace out of duct-tape and then put some new zip-ties around the top of that so as to reduce any small surface area friction to happen between the zip-tie and my small wires.  And now my bike is rolling cool, and love the rake on my tank.

And here is the clearance that the lift did.  As you can see the wires are now lifted out of the majority of the heat band from the heads.  More airflow and cooling ability to the heads (important on air cooled motors).  I do plan on side-mounting that little black thing over the front head, and putting it on the side of the engine.

duct-tape for everything!  Doubled over non-adhesive on the parts over the wires for easy removal and maintenance.  El Zip Tie holding it there for posterity, although the tape is adhered to the frame and doing some actual work.

Know what that is?  It's stuff for wood and frame construction band stuff.  I had these leftover from a furniture project in my tool box.  Being the resourceful type, I drilled a couple holes on em, and whabam! I had the fancy new tank lift mounts.  Throw a little permanent marker on em, and no one would ever guess that I didn't spend hundreds of dollars on those beautifully manufactured mounts.  

Here have a photo:

My roommates old work boot.

A daily musing from none other than myself.

Life is all about the relationship between you and your motorcycle, 

and the person who wants to go for a ride.

And then it's determined even further by who can hold on.

Whores and Miners are synonymous.

Those are odd looking trees.

Saturday fun ride.

Now that's what I call a rake.

That's one way to look at it...

and this is another.

Shoot'n

it's been in there a long time.  Jerome, AZ.  

The view of the Cottonwood, AZ valley from the roads of Jerome.

Closed 24 hours.

heading into the meat of Jerome.

the dirt off my arm after my ride. (some of it)

A song for Summer and Autumn and Winter and Spring.

Bad ass song and video, by my new favorite artist. Nikki Lane: 


Also: Odyn Vovk made a sweet video to Nikki Lane's song "Lies."

Needs and Wants. Bike lifts.

I don't care how y'all do it, just get this for me.

J&S Jack Big Wheel Moto Lift.

Jack lives in MuthaLuvin Phoenix???

     Four days ago, trailered moto in tow, truck loaded to the brim with every conceivable tool I owned, and at most one or two changes of clothes, I headed off for Phoenix, Arizona.  I'd had about enough of peoples only concern being the heat, and I could have used a little more of their enthusiasm for the school I was heading to attend.  Motorcycle Mechanic Institute.  That's the name.  Now, four months earlier I'd left Los Angeles with an acceptance letter and every intention of attending.  So after about a complete summer tooling around various California, Oregon, Washington, and Nevada towns, riding about on borrowed time, I was finally here.

wyatt wearing em.

the jeans I made

The Journey:

     I made a very brief stop at some places along the way, namely for a burger, some beers, hugs, and to deliver a pair of jeans I'd made as a thank you gift to my tattoo artist/former roommate/and friend.  And then I was off, breaking record slow speeds and heading east down the 10 freeway.  I was expecting the 110+ heat waves that the entire desert bed ahead could have dished me, but instead it laid a lovely blanket of thunderstorms overhead, and I had shade, rain, and an entertaining light show with soundtrack, of lightning and thunder the whole way.  Being as tropical as it was, I kept my windows down through the rains, and hung my left hand out to catch as much as I could.  I was ecstatic about this.  The weather certainly made the trip more bearable and beautiful than I could have ever imagined. Desert storms are the best, (too bad they gave that cool reference to that stupid 1991 middle eastern war.)  Anyway,  I made it to Phoenix in the evening with the temperature still being at about 90 or so degrees.  If you do not like the heat, I suggest you come visit me.

 

First Week:

     I had pulled into town, to the front door of a house I was going to meet with the owner about a room.  He liked me, I liked him, we negotiated some terms, and the rest was history.  I had a room in a house, with a pool.  Who's complaining?   I crashed on the floor for a few days before I could move into "my" room, which was currently being occupied.  During which time, I attended events at the school for newcomers, I made a holster for my revolver (since it's carrying country), swam during the days, and hung out with the roommates and just had fun.  For instance, last night me and my biker roommate Jake (the one who's moving out) rode out to a bar in Cave Creek.  It is one hell of a country bar.  There was a live band, and people were dancing their best country swing moves.  I ordered the best damn fried chicken and mashed potatoes I'd ever had, and ordered the cheapest draft they had.  I got a kick out of the ambiance of the whole place.  And boy, country people sure are fine lookin.


The First Weekend:

     It is now my weekend before classes start on Monday.  So, this being my Saturday with nothing planned, I decided to ride around in the hairdryer (code for Phoenix) checking out motorcycle shops.  At a cool little custom shop across town, I ended up purchasing a new rear rotor, because the disk warpage on mine with that special scraping sound, (that I thought would go away with new brake pads), well, it was all kinda back and in full force.  So? One new rotor installation coming right up.
     By the time I got home, I had been riding into the sun for about 30 minutes, and I had one hell of a cherry red burn on my forehead, thanks to it.   So I parked my bike in the shade, ran inside, and my clothes just had slipped off by the time I got to the pool.  I laid in that pool and played my video game till I was nice and cool.  A few hours and a shower have occurred by this time that I'm typing you a recent tale of the beginning of my new adventure.  And I sincerely apologize for the crappy writing in any of my former stories, that seem to rear their ugly little heads when I'm typing from my iPhone on road trips, and I just spit out little crap here and there.  But I swear I went back over those stories and added all the right kinda touches so that you have something more enjoyable to read.  Something that'll read a little more like I put some time into telling you a story.
      It's my first doggone Saturday night, and right now I'm a little stir crazy, cause I know there's a town out there, and stuff is happenin somewhere, and even though it's hotter than hell outside, I'm still taking the time to sit in this cool house (as unbearable as it is) and bring you these recent events.   So go ye out now and have a wonderful evening, day, weekend, week, wherever you are, and know that I'm thinking of you and wish you were here.

Come'n visit me now, y'hear?

Uniformity

Started drinking the hard stuff.

Been goin for lots of dips lately.