I’ve been thrashing the Bonnie for a week now, back and to to work, and the seal has stayed bone dry. The bolt seems to be secure and holding. Yay! That’s a big weight off my mind. We were out of money, the Bonnie is my work wheels, and the next steps to repair it were looking expensive and time consuming. With the bike off the road. That’s a huge relief.
Work have been beasting me. I think it’s mostly psychological. It’s 10, 11, up to 12.5 hour shifts. That isn’t that long for a lorry driver. The thing is, it’s in two runs. You do the first one, you’re out 6 hours, you come back to the yard, have your break, swap vehicles, and start again. The other day I was given a bunch of jobs straight away. I was out all day, but because I didn’t have to go back to the yard it felt loads quicker and easier. I’m just going to have to adjust. At least the driving isn’t freaking me out as much. Or rather, I’ve reached a plateau of freaked outness and I just get on with it. It’s all tough and stressful, but that’s what it is. On the bright side, I got 4 shifts last week, and even with a surprise short shift (yay!) I should be taking home about £630. If I can get that every week it won’t take us long to have a a safety buffer in the bank again. And it saves me from having to get another job.
Another thing is the Harley. It’s been weighing on me. It’s been sat in the garden in mute reproach. I decided I didn’t like it and I didn’t want it. This morning (day off) I was woken by a headache and I was lay in bed wording the advert to sell it. I was squirming with remorse because I’ve seen some much better condition Sportsters for sale for what I paid for that 20 year dead rustbucket. I bought it on impulse after seeing what were frankly very flattering pictures of it. Since then I’ve spent thousands on the project. The list of new parts is vast. I’ve got it riding and running right, but as I was wording the advert in my head I couldn’t get away from the fact it’s still old and scruffy. People (who aren’t impulsive idiots) buy Harleys to pose on. Mine is actually a pretty sorted bike (it only had 10,000 miles on it, I’ve replaced all the consumables, and upgraded the engine and loads of the electrical components) but it still looks rough. I was thinking of asking what I paid for it. It would have filled me with shame at wasting all that money, but I couldn’t see another option.
I took it out for a final judgement. I was out of over an hour and I really enjoyed it. When I was wheeling it around the front I noticed something. The clutch lever is a huge stretch for my grip, and really tough to pull. I had thought it was a design flaw of the lever, kicking out so far from the grip, but as I’m writing this I’ve just looked at my other bike pics and they are all the same. So maybe it’s a matter of clutch adjustment. There is a thing you can fit to the clutch to make it lighter. And longer levers for more leverage. And cable lubricant you can use. I’ll try all of the above. If I could sort the bars (for a natural position) and clutch lever stiffness, I would really get on with the Sporty. Another huge relief. Now I don’t need to sell it for a monumental loss be forced to admit I made a huge mistake and have to live with the shame. Now it can be my ongoing project. One day it will be my posing machine. Fat back wheel, skinny front, new tank, fork tubes of whatever length will then be appropriate, maybe adapt and fit the 2-into-1 exhaust, headlight upgrade, respray…, endless fun.
I was grabbing so I’ve said I’m available tomorrow and Wednesday, but if I’m getting regular 4 shifts I’ll stick to my 4 on 3 off, that’s enough money, I can commit to train, and have downtime where I’m not stressed about receiving a text to say I’m in.
Laters potatoes.