I am going stir crazy!!!

[bscrive]

It's been 2 months since I last rode my bike and the itch to get out is getting to me!!!

Looking at Robert's ride report made it even worst for me, because I know that I have at least another 2 months before I can get out.

To top it off, we are not able to go down south this year because my wife started a new job and she doesn't have any vacation time.  Top that off with the puppy we got last fall makes for no time for the sun

To keep myself busy, I have been doing some stuff to my bike.  Not nearly as involved as Mitch and Bill, but it is keeping me busy.  I decided to go ahead with the blackout theme for my bike, so I painted my pipes and heat shield with satin black high heat paint.  High heat powder coating was insanely expensive and the product was pretty rough to the touch.  I think the guys around here didn't want to do it, so they gave me a price of $500+tax.  they are crazy, I can buy new black Rush pipes for that amount. 

I sandblasted the pipes, heat shield and exhaust tips and then painted them.  They came out really nice and once they are baked it will be hard a rock.  I will post pics later.  I also painted the latches on my saddlebags and my rear pegs. 

My next thing is to use this product called Shadow Chrome on my chromed Kuryakyn highway boards.  You can apparently apply the stuff right over chrome without sanding the chrome.  I am not sure how long it will last, but if it doesn't last long, then I will sandblast it and repaint the hardware.

I just hope that time passes quickly.....I hate winter.

[Kidd]

Thinking about doing a black  ceramic on my pipes ,  cost is  $120 for both
This place here  http://azceramiccoating.com/

[Bill Havins]

Could be worse....you could be grounded because your touring buddy has a broken hip. 

Hang in there!

[bscrive]

Thinking about doing a black  ceramic on my pipes ,  cost is  $120 for both
This place here  http://azceramiccoating.com/

The only problem is the shipping there and back would probably come to the same price. 

Unfortunately, there are not a lot of places where I live that do powder coating and none of them do the black ceramic coating.  Although, you would think that with a city of almost a million people that there would be more choices, but, I think that there is only two places and the other place I tried last year lost a couple of pieces.  They did find them a few days later, but I was not impressed with their job.

[Kidd]

You must hang out with really old people 

Could be worse....you could be grounded because your touring buddy has a broken hip. 

Hang in there!

[Robert]

Looking at Robert's ride report made it even worst for me, because I know that I have at least ck

I just hope that time passes quickly.....I hate winter.

Sorry I didn't want to make it worse. 

Going to drive to Talahasse to visit my daughter and grand kids this weekend so should have some pics of that also I can post maybe it will make things better if I keep on posting. 

[Adirondack Bill]

bscrive, I  share your pain. I am in upstate New York- about 2 hours from the Canadian  border. I am guessing you have somewhere warm to work on your bike. My is covered up in the garage- not heated. At least you can work on yours!

[bscrive]

Bill,

I am fortunate that I have a 1200 sq ft heated garage attached to my house.  I keep it @ 15C (60F) and bump it up if I am painting.  I built the larger portion (26x30) of the garage myself back in 2009 to have a place to do stuff.  Mainly, it was to do woodworking like building kitchen cabinets in my spare time.  I have built many sets of cabinets for family and friends in there.  This winter I don't have any to do, because I built them all already. 

This winter I decided that I would just work on my bike, since no-one needed anything done.  I enjoy building kitchen cabinets because it was a good way to kill 6-8 weeks.  They would pay for the material and I would give my time to build them.  I never charge family, or friends.  I find that when money changes hands between family and friends that there can be hard feelings of being charged too much.  All I ask is that if I need help and if they are available, that they help me.  It has worked well so far.

[bscrive]

I got the exhaust all painted. 

Now, I just have to put it back on and idle the bike for 10 minutes.  I have to do this twice, letting the exhaust cool completely each time to harden the paint.

[AdrianR]

Dude,  I HEAR YOU LOUD AND CLEAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I Fing hate Winter man here in northern Illinois..there is NO WAY IN HELL I could live where you do...  I just don't know how you guys manage.  Winter lasts very long here....I just couldn't take much more of it...

[bscrive]

Well Adrian, people say that eventually you get used to it, but they are a bunch of lying @#$%^@#.

I have lived here all my life and the older I get, the more I hate winter.  It's not really the cold, but the constant up and down in temperature.  I used to have a snowmobile and I loved riding it, but some winters are so bad that we don't even get enough snow for them.  Or, we get a dumping of snow and a few days later it gets warm, rains and melts the snow considerably.  Then we get a deep freeze and everything turns to ice.  Like it did this week. 

This weekend it is supposed to get up to 6C (@43F) and then get cold again next week.  We had close to a month where it was @ -25C (-13F) with high winds that made it feel like -40C (-40F).

Although, there is light at the end of the tunnel.  After we retire, in just over 5 years, we are really considering moving to Spain's Costa del Sol region.  They have good healthcare that is free, 320 days of sun each year and a nice temperate climate.  It also gives us a perfect launching spot to wander around Europe.

[Kidd]

Spain , good idea , I've clients that moved there and love it  , takes a while to get proper visa to live there.
I've been there a couple of times , love it as well and luckily I speak some Spanish  .

We are thinking of moving to Crimea  ,

[northernvalk]

You guys need snowmobiles......

[bscrive]

Northernvalk,

We used to have some, but with the wonky winters we have now, cost to maintain them, expensive trail passes, trailering, hotels, wife hates the cold now and some winters we didn't even get them out because of lack of snow.  We sold them a few years back.

This year would have been no exception.  Right now, everything is solid ice.  We got a major meltdown last weekend and then a deep freeze.  This weekend it will be the same.  It is going up to 6C.  Trails are closed.

[bscrive]

I finally got my bike back together.  I did a few things to it, but some are not really noticeable.


Here is the overall look with painted exhaust.  The exhaust came out really nice.




Here is the highway boards hardware that I used the black chrome paint on.  I could have gotten it darker, but I like the look and the contrast.




Here is the black chrome on the exhaust covers in the front.




Here are the rear latches.  I sandblasted the chrome, primed and painted them.  I like how they blend in with the bags.




Now, I need to find something else to do for the rest of the winter. 

[Bill Havins]

I like the pipes!  Seems to make them look better proportioned to the bike and they blend nicely with the rest of what you've done.  Very nice! 

Bill

[bscrive]

Well, yesterday, I got the bike outside and started it up to get the paint on the pipes cured.  I sure was tempted to take it for a ride, but the road has a good dusting of salt on it.




Today when I woke up I looked outside and freezing rain was falling.  Man...I hate this crap.  We are definitely moving some place warm when we retire. 

[Bill Havins]

That looks COLD!  Ugh!

Hang in there!

Bill

[Jess from VA]

Mr. Scrive, that bike looks fantastic.  

I'd get one, but it would have to be yours (only).

I can tell just from looking that the bars, seat, boards and highways would fit me to a T.  And you did a great job with the bags and blackout.

 

[woofred1832]

             Northern Illinois weather report. 50 by mid day so I will be out and about today. Got to get a ride in before I start a new job tomorrow,  maybe 56, so I might take the bike to work. Gear up and go for it, can't wait.

[bscrive]

Mr. Scrive, that bike looks fantastic.  

I'd get one, but it would have to be yours (only).

I can tell just from looking that the bars, seat, boards and highways would fit me to a T.  And you did a great job with the bags and blackout.

 

Thank you very much for the compliment Jess.