35 again??!!?!?

Last night we celebrated my 37th birthday at Burgers and Brews, in downtown Chico. I enjoyed a Sierra Nevada Nitro Stout with a luscious bacon cheeseburger. The Mrs. enjoyed a chicken salad and a glass of vintage 2011 ice water. Mmmm, that was a good year.

I scored quite an assortment of loot from my folks and the in-laws, and of course Susan. This pretty much sums it up:

Beer, tools, candy, clothes, new lunch box, book on CD, and a new beard-beanie for those cold nightly walks.

Maui Brewing Mana Wheat

12oz.

5.5% abv

A nice mild wheat with pineapple juice. A surprisingly good combination.

Dogfish Head Festina Peche

12oz.

4.5% abv

A curious malt liquor with peach flavoring. Not terrible, but not fantastic. Sorta a peachy sourness to it. But not like a Kool-Aid, where it is so yummy you could drink glass after glass. I was fine with one glass.

Kawasaki: Tires/Wheels Mounted

Just a quick sneak preview. I was desperate to get the wheels and tires mounted, before we took the tank up to Oregon for Mr. A to work his magic. It will be the last day I have the tank on the bike until Christmas.

I got the wheels built last night, using the new spokes/nipples I got from Thailand. Amazingly, they arrived in 5 days, despite just using Thai parcel post. The wheel rims are new Warp 9 2.15x18, which are both wider and lighter than the original old crusty units. The tires are Shinko 244, in 3.5 and 4.1x18 size.

New headlight, old speedo rebuilt, and huge front meat:

More meat:

This is version 2 of my seat idea, and I like it. Just a nice simple black vinyl seat. I used some little push-pin style dudes that are meant to go on the bottom of furniture, to make it easier to slide them around. I wanted to give it a pleated look, but don't have the ability to sew through thicker vinyl. This may be my final design:

More Kawasaki Assembly

I got bit more assembly work done the past couple days. Tonight was a headlight, speedo,and a mock-up rear seat I'm not real satisfied with. I made another quick seat tonight with a different shape that looks better, but it still needs something to set it off. I'm thinking some upholstery buttons to give it a pleated look.

I threw on an 18" S90 front wheel and a 17" Trail 55 rear wheel just to give it something to roll around on for now. The new meats will be much bigger.

The front needs to be about 1/2" lower, and the rear of the tank needs to be about a 1/4" higher. the little rear fender is off a Yamaha GT80, cut down and re-shaped. I've thrown a little Cub 50 tailight on it for now, and made a simple little license plate bracket:

Mad River Brewing Imperial Red Ale

12oz.

8.6%

A super yummy Imperial Red. Nice nutty body with a good bite of hop bitterness on the back end. Mmmmm.

Nice choice Mimi!

RIP Dan Wheldon

Dan Wheldon died today in a terrible multi-car accident during the Indy season finale at Vegas. Just horrible. Brings back memories of losing Greg Moore years ago.

12oz.

4% abv (Utah)

Despite the low alc content, this was a very tasty brew. Very full body, with good malt flavor and hints of plums and coffee. Not quite a porter, but still very good. A huge surprise!

Bless you Joseph Smith.

Kawasaki Assembly

I got quite a bit of paint work done over the past few days, including the frame, suspension parts, hubs etc. This morning I started the assembly process, as shown below:

I should be getting some new wheel spokes in the next week or two, so I can assemble up the wheels and see if the fat tires actually fit!

Palme Louca

12oz.

no abv given

I nice mild Brazilian lager, but with enough malt flavor to know it is a beer. Nothing great, but at least it has some taste! It was a perfect thirst quencher after a morning of working outside sanding some motorcycle parts.

Miyata Miyapet Intro

Yes, I added another bike to the stable. In this case, a make and model I had never heard of, which was part of the attraction to it. It is a Miyata Miyapet, made by the Miyata Bicycle company sometime in 1962 or 63. It is a bit of a mystery, as they apparently only made motorcycles for a couple years. So far I've only been able to find a few sales brochures for sale on ebay. Not much else with regard to history or technical specs. The brochures say it is 50cc, has a 3-speed with conventional clutch, is 12v, and has a starter.

C'

Feather River Brewing Snake Bite IPA Release

I hit up the Feather River Brewing companies release of their new Double IPA tonight, with neighbor Doug and his wife Kathy. Good beer, good company, and we got to chat a bit with Roland the brewmaster.

Kawasaki Engine: Top End Unfreezing

After just a couple days of soaking the piston/cylinder with ATF, the Kawi engine magically unfroze itself. I gave a gentle turning of the flywheel, and it just decided to turn over. I pulled the cylinder off, then drove out the piston pin and removed the piston. I'm now soaking the main crankcase chamber with ATF.

Exciting photo of a clean piston and a dirty engine case:

C'

Kawasaki Parts Delivery 1 & 2

I placed an order on Sunday with Motorcycle Superstore for some various parts for the Bushmaster. Including new tires, tubes, grips, universal throttle, handlebar, and other items I have since forgotten. Since I spent enough coin to qualify for free shipping, they apparently decided to ship items as they became available. So far I've received two shipments, with a third scheduled for arrival tomorrow, and a fourth scheduled for Friday. It's going to be Christmas all week!

One item I wanted to specifically comment on, where the tires. I wanted some big beasty meats for this Brat style project, and I found the Shinko 244 to be just my cup of tea. I got a 3.50x18 front and a 4.10x18 rear. The funniest part though? The fact that the sidewalls are marked with rather large letters the term "Golden Boy." Those crazy Koreans!

There stands a chance I could get some mockup done this weekend.

C'

Kawasaki Engine: Top End

I pulled the cylinder head off the Kawi engine late yesterday, then mounted it to the work bench. It isn't nearly as bad as the BS-7 engine was, but it is frozen. I think a bit of soaking with ATF will help free it up. In fact, I know it will, as I'm already seeing some ATF leaking past the rings and out the exhaust port.

I was lucky in that the flywheel pulling tool for Honda 50 engines also fit the Kawi perfectly. And talk about grimy! The flywheel was massively encrusted in a pasty sort of acid/rust crust. I will need some sort of puller to get the stator off though, as it sits too far inboard of the engine case to get a screwdriver under.

C'

Possibly Buying a Miata

In this case, it is spelled Miyata. A Miyata Miyapet to be specific. I know hardly anything about this machine, and google isn't being very helpful either. Pics of this 50cc beast are below:

We'll see if I can arrange for pickup from the owner this week.

No Susan, I don't need another motorcycle. Thank you for understanding.

Kawasaki Gas Tank Dimensions

For Mr. A: Gas tank dimensions in inches.

Top View:

Side View:

C'

Kawasaki Mockup

I spent some time this morning mocking up the "new" frame pieces on the Bushmaster. I have most everything just tacked into place, but I like where it is going. I replaced the rear subframe area with new tubes, and triangulated them down to the main engine cradle. I also built new upper shock mounts, that tie into the joint of the seat and triangulation tubes.

Now I need to get serious about new wheels and tires. I'm thinking about the Shinko 244 tires in 3.5 and 4.1 sizes front and rear. The big rear might be a touch tight, so I may settle on 3.5 all around.

C'