It is late March. A couple of months ago I scheduled three days off to work on my build. I figured the last few days of March would be fine for riding to the garage where a friend was going to help me with the metal work and fabrication. I planned on riding there. March weather isn't always roses here in Northeast Ohio, so I thought I might get rained on. That was a reasonable assumption. However, this was the view outside this morning...
Needless to say, I didn't venture out in 28 degree snowy weather on a mid-build cafe/brat bike.
Next I attempted to fire up ye ole minivan to load the bike in the back (minivan = suburban truck w/built in topper). Why else would anyone own a minivan if not to haul things? Anyway, I digress. When I went out to heat up the van, the battery was dead. I tried to jump it. Nothing. I used a trickle charger. Nothing. At this point, I went in and ate breakfast and got a cup of coffee. It wasn't worth getting upset. At least not as upset as I was thinking about getting. So, once my "hangry" phase was temporarily concluded, I decided that I would fork out the cash to rent a UHaul to get my bike to my friend's garage. It worked out really well.
I had hoped to start work right at 9am. We arrived at the garage shortly after 1pm. Thankfully, we were able to cut the frame, bend a one of a kind tall loop by hand (hence it being unique), and get some things set up to pick back up related tomorrow morning. All in all it was a good day despite the rough start. It is great to see the bike finally coming together.
Something that has only existed in my mind for three years is now starting to take shape. It was great using a grinder for the first time today and being able to use a torch to bend my tail loop was a blast. I'm looking forward to trying my hand at welding tomorrow or Friday. The build is really picking up steam. I'm really stoked about the final logo design and color scheme.
Only thing that will have to wait until next year is upgrading the engine, suspension, and various other minor changes. I would hate to "fix" something, like my engine, which has been running error free since I first got it going 4 years ago.
Tomorrow, I'm going to work to mount my new iPhone case so that I can use my phone as my speedometer. Then I will cut the seat pan and begin fashioning the cushion for upholstery.
Just a couple more days and the skeleton of a cafe racer will be there.
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk