Mr.E
Got to keep the loonies on the path...
Well, every great story has to start somewhere, and this one is no different. This story starts here.
as one of the few surviving booths at the mid O swap meet on the morning the gods hurled all the leftover bad weather from the rest of the world on us, I was feeling lucky. I saw a majestic looking bike not far off and decided to look closer. It was this 86 XL600R, and I loved it. I immediately heard Gary Wright performing Dream Weaver in the dismal skies above.
The bike had also attracted a few others trying to buy it a drink or touch it inappropriately, but I seemed to be the only one asking about it. A short while later, I had tracked down the key and was told if i could start the damned thing, to take it for a test ride. Then to the surprise and jealous approval of all standing around (but shocking to myself), I started it flawlessly. I was off on the first date. I was hooked. I had to make this mine. I was short on cash from my sales so far, so I borrowed the balance from a shady character wearing a trash bag, and sealed the deal. As I was paying, another hungry crowd had gathered around it - probably after hearing the siren song from the Supertrapp riding around the swap meet. But it didn't matter, I held both the title and the key, so they were soon standing where a bike used to be after I had shockingly managed to start it flawlessly a second time. I got it back to our booth and immediately made bad choices to pay back the $ I owed the trash bag clad loan shark. So after humiliating myself for $ to some well known bike scrappers who showed interest in what I had, I cried, took a shower, got stitches, and paid my debt off. Sitting hurt for a bit tho. Didn't matter, she was mine.
Next post I'll get serious and chronicle some of the bs I did over the summer with this bike, including looking for the mystery death rattle in the engine, replacing parts that didn't need to be replaced with parts from a different model but I made work, stupid mistakes, and current status of my subtle improvements to the bike to make it even better than perfect.
as one of the few surviving booths at the mid O swap meet on the morning the gods hurled all the leftover bad weather from the rest of the world on us, I was feeling lucky. I saw a majestic looking bike not far off and decided to look closer. It was this 86 XL600R, and I loved it. I immediately heard Gary Wright performing Dream Weaver in the dismal skies above.
The bike had also attracted a few others trying to buy it a drink or touch it inappropriately, but I seemed to be the only one asking about it. A short while later, I had tracked down the key and was told if i could start the damned thing, to take it for a test ride. Then to the surprise and jealous approval of all standing around (but shocking to myself), I started it flawlessly. I was off on the first date. I was hooked. I had to make this mine. I was short on cash from my sales so far, so I borrowed the balance from a shady character wearing a trash bag, and sealed the deal. As I was paying, another hungry crowd had gathered around it - probably after hearing the siren song from the Supertrapp riding around the swap meet. But it didn't matter, I held both the title and the key, so they were soon standing where a bike used to be after I had shockingly managed to start it flawlessly a second time. I got it back to our booth and immediately made bad choices to pay back the $ I owed the trash bag clad loan shark. So after humiliating myself for $ to some well known bike scrappers who showed interest in what I had, I cried, took a shower, got stitches, and paid my debt off. Sitting hurt for a bit tho. Didn't matter, she was mine.
Next post I'll get serious and chronicle some of the bs I did over the summer with this bike, including looking for the mystery death rattle in the engine, replacing parts that didn't need to be replaced with parts from a different model but I made work, stupid mistakes, and current status of my subtle improvements to the bike to make it even better than perfect.