So I am breaking a promise I made.

I promised that this blog would not be a bitch fest. I am too old to go all emo and shit on people. Whaa.

Well you know, fuck it. If you don't like it, just close the window and don't come back. Bye.

I backed out of the other KZ the other night. $200 was a good deal to be honest. I have put some shit together that looked worse and kept them alive indefinitely. But money is very tight at the moment. Hell they cut my power the other day and it appears that my 'net access is off too. Thankfully my neighbors have no idea how to secure a WAP. Hooray for open AP's that I can hop on.

Last night was a great night. I sat around and drank some beers with old friends that I faded away from years ago. Marriage and life got in the way. But for some odd reason they thought I was OK enough to actually look for. Makes ya feel like an alright person. Once in a while I need that kind of positive reinforcement. "Hey Shroom, you aren't a total fuckhead, so we wanted to say hi."

So after a good night out with good people, I cruised on home in the wee hours with the boys in tow. Off to bed and slept in. Damn can't remember the last time I slept until 8 in the morning without flipping and flopping. Another plus.

As the light came in the apartment to inform me that the day has begun, I rolled over and sparked up a Camel. Only three left, gonna have to get more.

The thoughts of how to finagle my "finances" was ticking through my little brain. Gas bill, car payment, rent, moving fees, etc. I began to think about what the boys need for the first day of school. Well the eldest needs some new shoes. Those skateboarding kids destroy shoes like I destroy my liver. The thought suddenly smacked me.

School starts in a little over a week and I have no fucking clue on how to get the little one to school...

Ummm. Fuck?

School starts at a few minutes before 8 am, which isn't bad, but I am gone from town at 6:30. Grandma watches the boys during the day, but my ex has commandeered her car. And do I actually believe that she is gonna be trustworthy enough to give the car back to her moms so she can run the boys around? Highly unlikely.

OK I would trust their grandmother in my car, but then how the hell do I get to work? Fuck, fuck, fuck.

Maybe buying that damn KZ wasn't quite the stupid move I thought it was. Well too bad I didn't think about this about three days ago...

OK, now I gotta figure out how the hell to get my boys around town during the week and get my fat ass outta town at the same time. I seriously doubt that my work will be to happy if I was missing 2 hrs every day. Sometimes the world just loves to bend you over and stuff you without lube. I should be used to this by now, but can't I at least get dinner and a few drinks or something from this screwing?

Feel sorry for me dammit!

Maybe I do have issues.

No updates on the chop lately. Busy and just a bit frazzled.

So what do I do when I am not tweaking on the project? I go bike shopping!

Maybe I did get dropped on my head when I was a baby. Or it could be one toke too many, or perhaps my liver has begun to poison my bloodstream.

Right now I have a couple of leads on some late 70's early 80's KZ's. Both of them are projects, but not quite the project the chop is. Probably tags, carbs and all the other good things you have to replace on a bike that has sat around for too long.

I should be heading up to check one out tonight, not sure if the deal will pan out. But I will know more tonight. The price is very good, almost too good to pass up. It would get me on two wheels and save me a few bucks on gas. Plus the one tonight is the perfect candidate for a cafe treatment.

Hrmm. How many bikes does one man need? I am not too sure, though I guess I will find out.

Can I get a "Motherfuck!"?

It is true you can't keep a good man down.

But what many people don't know is that you can't keep this fucker down either.

I gotta keep my priorities straight right now. The bike is totally backburnered. Gonna be for an indefinite run from the looks of it. I don't have the extra outlay of green to put in it. Plus it looks like I am gonna need a change of venue.

Yep that's right. Off to see where else I can lay my head down and call home. Gotta find something with an extra room and maybe a little bit of greenery for the shop mutt.

So here is the plan as best as I know it now.

1. Gonna need some new digs. And preferably one that let's me keep animals. A 13 yr old animal, a 5 yr old animal, and a dog. You gotta wonder why people don't ask for deposits on kids...

2. Drag all my shit over to said new digs. Right now I have no idea where the wind is gonna blow. I may stay wherever I go for a while, I may have to roll out in a month's time. Shitty thing living in purgatory.

3. Save up some cash for the possibility that I will have to move again to another smaller place.

4. Pick up some kinda bike. I think I will see if I can find a shitty bike that is tagged and running. Hopefully road rashed and shot out. That way I can get it for dirt cheap. Slap on a coat of stickers and fill it up and run the wheels off. Anyone in So. Cal know where I can find one under a grand, better yet under 5 bills, let me know. I need a freeway bike though. If I worked closer to home I would get me a shitty little scooter, but 65 miles round trip on the freeway is a bit much to ask of one.

5. Then get back to the chop. I really do want it to live. But until I get life in overdrive figured out, I gotta put it on hold.

6. Try and get my nuts out of the vice grips they are clamped in and get back to living.

Long ride to work

As my last post mentioned, I had gotten to ride the 600RR to work for the tail end of last week. And most of the weekend before I returned the bike.

Yesterday I was down and didn't roll into work. So today was the first time since last Tuesday I have gone to work in a cage.

What a letdown. I mean really a letdown.

I roll out of town behind cars. Stop at the lights. Behind cars. I accelerate. Behind cars. I sat in traffic.

I have intimate knowledge of bumpers and their accompanying stickers. I know the differences between the Hyundai and Honda badges. I know the way sunlight glistens off a set of taillights. Oh fuck. An hour of staring ahead at the ass half of a car.

What a crappy way to get to work. Cars are so passive. Press gas pedal. Press brake pedal. Fuck with the radio and listen to the news.

Masturbation on wheels.

Not exactly on topic...

but it is an update of sorts.

Nope haven't worked on the bike. I am hoping to go this weekend while my boys are camping with the grandparents and maybe do a little work on it. But today is probably gonna be busy.

Ever had a week where you just have to ask yourself, "What the fuck did I do to deserve this?"

I thought so. Family stuff has brought the bike work to a screeching halt. No wait, not screeching. More like slammed face first into a block wall. So I have to get that stuff cleared up before I can even think about doing any real work on the Honda.

So Monday I missed a couple of hours of work because of that stuff. Called the boss and told him what was going on.

Tuesday I am rolling in early trying to win brownie points. When I am driving along the 60 and changing lanes, I hear a loud thud. My steering on the car gets heavy and begins to pull to the right. Yep a blowout. Well the section I am driving though has been under major construction for... well about fucking forever. So they have concrete barriers set up that block off the shoulder of the freeway. No pulling over. You can guess what I had to do. I kept hanging on until I made it past the barriers. Thump-a thump-a. Stop to a cloud of rubber smoke.

Step out of the car to get a look at this...



What you don't see now is the dent in the rim itself. Yep bashed up the rim. No fucking way to get a used tire mounted on the fucker as it was. So tire change was definitely in order. So up the car went on my shitty little scissor jack and off went the tire and rim.



Whatever I hit was tough enough to just slice right into the tread and the sidewall without a second thought. Damn.

The donut went on the car and as I set it down I realized that it was low on air. Very low. So fingers crossed and me praying to any God that might listen to me, I attempted to eased out on the freeway.

My suspicions have been confirmed once again. Your God hates me. Always has, always will. I am pretty sure that I am just around for the universe's sick amusement.

THUMP! Yep the tire lost its bead. Instant flat. Pull back over, get the jack and pull the rim. Luckily the gas station is only a mile or so away. Time to start hoofing it down the freeway. By the time I had returned with the tire and rim and got it back on to get to work, I was late, again.

I started making some calls to try and find a loaner car or someone with a Hyundai rim to get me through the week. No luck. But I got in touch with my ex-wife's uncle, who is a pretty cool guy. And he loans me this...



an '06 600RR. Now onto the review of the Honda 600RR.

I have only ridden 3 sportbikes. Ever. That is counting this one. And until this one, I had only taken a few miles here and there. See, I never cared for the monkey humping a football seating position. I just have always preferred standards and cruisers, shit like that.

But after three days of commuting this thing, I may have to change my opinions on them.

First thing, the seating position still sucks hairy, sweaty, balls. I hate that about it. But it isn't my back that began to ache. But instead my wrists from where I was putting so much weight on them. Once you hit 90, the wind will hold up some of my fat ass, but I still can't seem to bring myself to sleeping on the gas tank. So no fun for me there.

Buuuut. GODDAMN! This fucker is insanely fast. Like "hi I am sexy and I am gonna kill your stupid half-Korean ass and scatter you across the freeway in a massive bloody skid" fast. Since it is just a loaner, I have only taken it to 100mph. 100mph at 8k and a redline of 13.5k.

And splitting lanes? To quote OCC, "like buttuh." I am tootling between cars like I am cutting in line at lunch. I mean no thought at all. Point, aim, twist, bang. I am diving between mirrors bouncing on the bott dots at 45.

So maybe I will have to consider adding one of these after everything gets done on the chop. I like stupid fast. I like psycho ex-wives and girlfriends. And I like murderous motors strapped to a set of wheels.

Heat waves are fun.

It has been hot out here. I mean hot. Maybe not Arizona or Nevada hot, but definitely not exactly the sit in the sun and wrench kind of weather. It has been a consistent 105f+ around here for the last few days, 40c+ for anyone that uses that Metric system thing.

So most of the weekend has been just trying to stay out of direct sunlight and planning. I am currently trying to get my ducks in a row in regards to parts and such. Also the apartment has gotten a bit more crowded and I am not exactly as mobile as I was a couple of weeks ago. My boys and a little chew monster called Lucky have taken residence here. Nice to have the company, but not exactly as if I can just walk out and go do anything I feel like for as long as I wish.

Here is a shot of the new shop dog.


Cute little mutt of who knows what breed. Rarely barks. I heard him go off and bark at someone for the first time last night. A couple of kids were near the balcony last night while I was out back smoking. He watched and stared until they were about 5 feet away and of course 10 feet down from us and started to let them know just how displeased he was with their presence. It wouldn't bother me, if it wasn't for the fact that dogs are not supposed to be here. So I have to keep him quiet until we can move.

But now let's move onto the stuff that matters. Parts!



Look at this thing. Blasted and clean. I mean I will cure that soon enough with a nice layer of grease, oils and road tar. But it makes me feel almost bad for putting such nice parts on this rattle trap. Somehow I'll get over it.



And there are my "new" coils with 4 plug boots. Not sure if they will be better than the ones I currently have. But one thing for certain all the parts are there. So between this and the other set, I should be able to make at least one that will get me by for a while.

Last but definitely not least. My new-ish bars.



Doesn't black make everything look better? Now all I need to do is ditch that ugly looking throttle assembly.



I put the stock control on and figured I would paint it for the time being. But no way. It is too big and bulky and just plain ass ugly . So it is going into the round file. No deposit, no return. I found a MX throttle assembly in black for $15 that I like. Made for a 7/8" bar and with only a single cable. Hopefully it will work with what I have going on.

The next month or so I may be on the slow side with the updates. And probably not as much wrenching as I would like. At least not until I can get my living situation figured out and once settled in, I will hopefully get moving full speed again.

I have been thinking about the final colors on the bike. I had planned on doing the entire thing in black. Since it's readily available and also just because I like black. But with the red and white seat added to the mix, I have thought about using silver for the frame to offset the rest. I have absolutely no idea how it will turn out. But if I don't like it, I can always bomb it in another layer of black Krylon instead.

Another thing that has to wait. At least until I get the pipes cut for it and mounting tabs welded to the frame. Who knows what color will tickle my fancy by then.

July 1st, 2007. Nothing accomplished.

Mostly truth.

My weekend didn't have much to do with bikes. Some personal stuff has cropped up that kept me from spending much of the weekend wrenching.

I did get the oil pan from Paladin333 on hondachopper.com. He mentioned that it came off of a blown motor. So you can guess what I expected to see what would come to me. Well I was absolutely wrong on that one. It was clean and had been bead blasted with all of the hardware in a bag. Talk about a pleasant surprise. It looks too nice to be stuck under the motor.

I also have a set of coils coming to me. I really need the boots more than anything, but I will mix and match it with what I have until I get a good set.

I did get a couple of hours on the bike, but failed to get any progress pics.

What I did get probably wouldn't have made much in the way of pictures anyhow. I have the clutch basket installed and partially tightened up. I need to get it finished the next time I am over.

I also put those bicycle seat springs on the solo seat. They sag a bit, but I believe that they will hold up my hindquarters. At least good enough for now. I may still have to upgrade to longer springs in the near future.

I have to send out some pieces to someone next week to possibly get them recreated for the girder. And I need to set outside and cut off the last of the remnant of the studs on the trees to weld new stuff back on.

Not sure how soon until there is a dose of noticeable progress on this thing. But I have my fingers crossed that it won't be too much longer.