Change of Seasons

Surprise Surprise! If you are reading this I must have remembered how to make a new entry into this blog. It has been a long while for sure!

 

It has turned Autumn here in New England. The mornings are met with a bit of frost on the ground, those lovely colorful leaves are filling my yard, and the “brisk” cool air of late summer has been replaced with downright cold temps! 

 

We had a great summer overall. Plenty of sunshine and warm temperatures, generally good health, and only a poor economy and daily attacks on our values to keep us from fully enjoying life. Hopefully, changes in the social and economic front will also come with the changes in the season.

 

I have stayed more than busy this summer “tinkering.” Tinkering is what I call it when I am trying to make vintage motorcycles look and operate like new again. Apparently it is a disease that is hard to cure. When I resumed tinkering last spring my goal was to finish my remaining project (1973 Yamaha RD350), sell last years project (1965 Honda 305 Superhawk), and then step back from any more restorations. Although I still enjoy “saving” these pieces of history and icons of my youth – my vintage body complains with increasing regularity.

 

I was somewhat successful with meeting my goals. The RD350 is essentially “done” but I am still working on tuning the engine to get it closer to “perfect.” I never reach perfection on these restorations, but I continue until I’m satisfied. “Satisfied” is an ever changing and elusive goal! I ended up selling the Superhawk to a fellow antique motorcycle aficionado  (AKA Bike Nut) who has a collection of over 60 bikes in various stages of “restored”. Some are gorgeous museum pieces and some are in need of some serious time and money! Unfortunately for me, he not only came up with enough cash to make the sale worthwhile … he also offered to include another project bike in the deal … a 1972 Kawasaki 500cc Triple Cylinder Mach III. 

Most of you will not know or care to know … but in the early 70s the Kawasaki 500cc triple was arguably the baddest bike on the planet! Also known as the “Widowmaker” it was the fastest (when driven in a straight line) production motorcycle made! It did have a reputation for punishing novice riders in high speed turns … hence its nickname!

 

Although I really wanted to step back from any more restoration projects … this was a unique opportunity that I just couldn’t pass up!

 

I brought the Triple home in early August and gave it a close looking over. It hadn’t been registered since 2006 and had been sitting in somebody’s basement for many years before my fellow Bike Nut friend purchased it a few years ago. The gas tank contained a foul smelling mixture of old gas that was in the process of turning to varnish and lots of rust, a few control cables were broken and/or missing but other than that … it was a normal “barn find” … filthy and looking for some TLC.

 

Now that Autumn has arrived I have been busy working on my motorized fleet. Winterizing Winne, changing oil and filters in the Equinox and Colorado, and getting the Chevelle,

Yamaha Big Bear, and the RD350 into storage. With those projects out of the way I’ll focus on picking up leaves on the dry days and disassembling the Kawasaki on the rainy days. Winter is coming don’t ya know!

 

Since winter is on the way it is also time to think about where we might go to escape the cold and snow. As is usual – I want to leave the day after Christmas and not come back till the end of May. Also as is usual Peggy is not buying that plan. We also want to head out to the left coast this year as we haven’t seen that family in several years … and that takes several weeks just to get there and get back — at our travel pace! And we also would like to travel home on a more northerly route but that gets real iffy in the winter/early spring months! So we have reached a compromise where we will probably experience the worst of all scenarios!

 

Assuming the good lord is willing and the creek don’t rise (or the price of diesel fuel) … we will try and escape the icy grip of winter in New England in early February. That way we can enjoy  the bitter cold and snow of January while preparing Winne for travel!

 

As is usual for travel that time of year we will scurry south as quickly as reasonable down to Lower Alabama for a short respite before heading west along I-10 to Arizona for several weeks and then on to sunny California for some visiting … followed by a trip over the Sierra’s to Nevada for more visiting, and then on to Northern California for even more visiting! Of course travel in these northern latitudes can be pretty risky in the early Spring so we will have to keep a sharp eye on the weather!

 

Assuming the weather cooperates, diesel fuel is still available in America, and we haven’t yet completely drained the travel budget … we hope to return home generally along I-80 and back to Maine in mid May.

 

Who knows how it will really work out … but it’s good to have a plan!