Gas Tank Repair, Football, applying for a job

Well, today I took some time off and played with the Silverwing. My granddaughter Boo and I took off the gas tank, took apart the petcock cause, well the damn thing is screwed up from when I had the hole in my gas tank. Is the reason the petcock is screwed up my fault? You bet it is. I am learning a lot about the mechanical side of motorcycle riding. Grin

I also did a lot of research on why it is backfiring so badly. I think that due to the petcock and what ended up happening earlier, that I have a vaccuum leak that is killing my ride. I am not sure where the leak is, though. I did pick up some new hose clamps when Boo and I were out dropping Matt off at football practice.

Because of the way the person knocked my tank off my bike when I was working on it, I now have no paint on huge stretches of my gas tank so while we were playing, discover what is wrong with the petcock, we started sanding. I have some primer to put on it as I clear off more of the damage.

The guys on the chopper charles forums have given me some ideas as to how to repair the crack in my faring that keeps coming unfixed when I hit rough patches of pavement. The problem is that the area I have had to drive on has a massive rough pavement stretch, some of the worst that I have ever had to drive on other than when I was dirt biking. It's a bit of washboarding along with some nasty pavement ending abruptly with no warning. If I don't get the faring fixed, I will end up keeping this goofy bungee cord across my turn signal forever.


So, that is where the bike repairs are at.

I was reading a Harley Advertisement today, that reminded me why I don't go into motorcycle shops unless forced. Within the past three years, I have walked into two different bike shops and been relatively ignored as they decided to wait on and talk to the guys who walked in around the same time I did. Once I had the money to buy a new bike burning a hole in my pocket. So unless i really need parts (and I try to get the lawnmower shop to order me the parts before I try the bike shops) then I don't go there.

Here is my experience with bike shops: They will order you a part that is too big, too small, there are no parts that are just right. They will tell you that they are sure it will fit when it won't. I have more control when I order off the internet. Interestingly enough, it is also why I don't fix my motorcycles up more. I don't want to have to talk to a shop.

But back to the Harley Advertisement, (see Kelly, I read) I was looking at the clothes, most Harley clothes that I know of only fit people who are perfect or next to perfect. Like, there's this bitchin' set of riding boots that I really like (instant drool), but when I talked to the clerk, she didn't act like you could have wide feet, you had to be like; perfect. And Iam a large woman. When I go into the local shop that has Harley motorcycle clothes, I only go to buy things for my grandkids. There are a couple of shops that make things that will fit me, but so far, I haven't found a lot that I am looking for.

For those who don't know, I called on a job this week. I am an awesome trainer and in my field I really enjoy doing trainings. I found a job in North Carolina and decided to try to apply for it. My hours got cut here and there is a course that I could write and use there that has been shut off to me here. And I want to move into that field. So I called people to be references and talked with the lady who is in charge of the agency.

I also check to make sure that I knew what section of the state it was in. I wanted to try to section hike parts of the Appalachian Trail in the next five years and this job would put me in the right area to accomplish the southern sections of the Trail.

My daughter is losing her job at the end of next week due to the factory she worked for going into bankruptcy and them not being able to find a buyer. So GM came and pulled molds. Then Chrysler came and pulled molds. Ford is pulling molds next week. The Ford Focus parts were a hard start-up. The factory is working seven days trying to get a buildup of parts in case the turnover doesn't go smoothly.

I fired up the Vulcan today, but decided not to ride it. The kids don't like the seat on it nearly as well as they like the seat on the Honda and well, I have a cab and a half Dodge Dakota. There were four high school football players, my granddaughter who's fourteen and myself all in that truck. I thought that matt was going to need to work the gas pedal for a bit, but then decided I could handle it. grin

Enjoy life, Ride hard and Stay safe. Marty