Appointment with Nick

I think I finally have an appointment with Nick to see a bike that he told me about a month ago. It's a 1953 Triumph that's torn apart in his friend's basement. I think it might be a 650 Thunderbird like what Marlin Brando rode in "The Wild One". It's missing the tank, but I know where to get one. I just have to figure out how to keep dad from claiming it as his.

Keep writing

and I keep forgetting to save what I write. I have a job, and it sucks. Not the principle of having a job, just this particular one. It's crappy. I'd much rather do just about anything else. I have some requirements, but not many.

Seattle International Film Festival

I have have a two person pass! If anyone wants to see anything with me, let me know! I'm planning on using it as much as possible. I used it last night, and it was pretty cool. I was able to just walk past all the ticket holders who were waiting in line outside the cinema, and right to a line outside the theater. About 20 minutes before the start of the movie, they let all the pass holders in for their choice of seats, then ten minutes later, they let in the ticket holders.

The movie I saw last night was this low budget Japanese movie called Princess Raccoon that was a musical, but just about the strangest thing I've seen. Tonight, mom and I are going to see A Parie Home Companion and hopefully a documentary about the Afghan buddah statues that were destroyed by the Taliabn. I'm trying to make up a schedule of movies for the rest of this week. There are at least 24 movies each day, and I can probably make it to 4 or 5 depending on the location and how sick I am of sitting in a theater.

Aaron the Riding Instructor?

Last week I took my riding class in Bellingham. The wait to sign up for a subsidized class was only three weeks versus the three to four month wait for any of the schools around here. The class was pretty easy. Two half days of class instruction, and two half days of range riding. The first day of riding was a bit boring. It was paced for people who've never touched a bike. Some of the people in the class hadn't even driven a stick car before. So the first day was a bit slow, but the second day was a bit better. Basic components of the riding course were clutch use, braking, maneuvering and cornering.

The riding test was four quick exercises, two of which I thought for sure that I'd been marked down on. But when I got my scores, the instructor said that I'd gotten the best score in the class, and asked if I'd be interested in teaching the class in the future. That was kind of cool, but I'm not interested in doing it. First, I'm planning on leaving the country again soon, and it would take up all my weekends if I weren't leaving the country.

Kelsey's been wanting me to take some pictures for her, but my good camera for that is in Tokyo, so I'm looking for a cheap medium format similar to the one I had. I'm house sitting for Steve this weekend, so maybe I'll be able to use a small about of that money on one. If I can get some shots that she likes, there's potential to make a bit of money doing shots for some of her friends, so it's not hard to justify. Plus I've been wanting a TLR to replace the fungusy one I have in Tokyo anyway, and that's justification enough.

New Bikes

 
Today, dad and I went back to the house I discovered on Tuesday. The old lady was really nice to us, but I could really tell there was a feud going on between Zach and her. She called him some pretty dirty words for an old lady. She complained that he's nosy and tries to get involved in everything. Which is true, but Zach's still a nice guy.

When we got there, the lady told us that she'd had someone from her motorcycle club tell her the values of the bikes. He'd recommended that the DKW's should go for $200 for the 3 of them, which turned out to be 2 DKW's and a basket cast Kawasaki. It was just a frame and part of an engine, so they probably assumed it was the same bike as those on either side of it. So we bought those three bikes. The Kawasaki is going to be stripped of all usable parts to be sold on eBay, but I think we can get two running motocross bikes out of the DKWs.

The BSA 441 Victor was, as I said, not for sale. However, Zach though the lady had given it to him, but there was no way the lady was going to do that. "Excuse my language, but that piece of shit thinks that just because he cleaned it up, I'm going to give it to him." initially she said that it was her son's, but as we were getting the DKWs out to the truck, she asked us if we wanted it, I think just to spite Zach. Zach, was understandably disappointed, but I think he'd rather us have it than her son, and I think she'd rather us have it than Zach, so the two played off each other in out favor. So we got the BSA for $800. I bit more than we'd anticipated, but dad's always wanted one, and and it was probably an okay deal. It looks kind of bad in the picture above, but new paint and a new seat cover, and it'll look great. And why didn't everyone make aluminum tanks? 

Barn full of bikes

That's what every collector dreams of. A barn full of whatever they're collecting. Well, I found it today. I just got a new front tire put on my CL350, and was out testing it out, when I noticed a guy walking back from the mail box into his yard full of motorcycles. The bike that caught my attention was an old Sears bike that I thought was a Honda 150 Benly. I made a quick u-turn and went back to talk to the guy.

"You know what that is? It's a Sears."

"Oh", I said, slightly dissapointed. I told him that I have a couple hondas that I'm working on resoring. Riding one right now in fact.

"Turn off your engine, I'll show you around."

I got off my bike and he showed me a couple piles of bikes in the yard. I talked to him about the bikes that I have, and he explained to me that the owner of these bikes use to race motocross in the '60s and '70s. He died a couple years ago, and he'd been kind of taking care of the place for the widow since then. I told him what I was looking for. Something a bit older that the mid seventies bikes that were out in the yard, thinking that I'd seen all there was to see.

"Come back here, let me show you something. Now I haven't shown anyone else these bikes." In another shed, further back on the property were a couple other bikes. Three DKWs, one nearly complete, one missing some engine parts, and one missing the engine altogether. I started to lift the cover off the fourth bike in the shed.

"That one's mine." He hesitated for a second, then pulled the cover of to reval a nearly complete BSA. "I've been cleaning this one up a bit. Before you couldn't even tell this tank was yellow. The engine kicks over and everything. Good compression. But this one's not for sale. This is the one bike that I got her to give to me."

We stand in the shed and talk about those bikes for a while, then he brings me into the shop. There is stuff everywhere. Chainsaws, outboard motors, lawmowers, all in various stages of disassembly. Scattered amongst the clutter, one bike catches my eye. There's a '60s road racer towards the back of the shop. Closer inspection reveils that it's a CB92R, from what I know, an extremely rare bike. It's missing the motor, which is probably around the shop somewhere, but it has a nice tank, restorable seat, and road racing fairing. If I can find the engine, it will make a very nice restoration project. Even if I can't, it would be a good thing to pick up. There is also a fairly complete Maico buried in there.

By this time, the old lady has noticed that I've been traipsing around her yard. As I've looking through the piles, I've heard all about her. How she'll ask me where I live, that the Kawasaki on the front porch was purchased by her husband for $500 9 days before he died, even though he only paid $300, and how someday, she's going to have the people from the local motorcycle club come out and put prices on the bikes. Zach introduces me to her, and she tells me about her husband, and that they've been members of the motorcycle club for 45 years, and that her husband purchased the Kawasaki for $500 nine days before he died. I tell her a little about my interests, and ask for her number. Zach coached me as to when to come.

"Come back this weekend. If you wait more than a week, she'll forget who you are. And schedule it at noon on Saturday. If you come during one of her TV programs, she wont even talk to you. You'll be luck if you get her to give you her number though"

So I asked if I could contact her and come back with dad this Saturday.

"Sure that would be fine"

Ha! I ask if I could have her phone number.

"Oh, Okay, where do you live?"

My answer seems acceptable to her, and she writes her name and number, on a notepad that she got for free from some prescription drug company. I guess that's what you get in exchange for the handfuls of pills you'll take when you get old.

Zach says that what I've just accomplished has never been done before. We talk for a while longer as the sky darkens and begins to rain. I learn that he lives in the van parked on the property. He was living at a place not to far from where we are until one day the owner came up to him and asked, "Are you Zach? Gotta move out." Being jobless and now homeless, he was offered a place to stay by the old man. As he got sicker, he sort of became the caretaker, keeping the grass from getting too out of hand, and increasingly, caring for the old man himself. He's still living there, waking at 2 am when he hears his name being called from the house. It becomes clear that the BSA is infact for sale. He needs the money. He'd like to get it running, but just doesn't have the know how to do it. He'd like to even see it run. I think I'll make an offer on it, and ride it over to show him once I get it going again.

In Bellingham

Last Friday, right after chemo, I headed up to Bellingham to take pictures of Kelsey for acting jobs. Unfortunatly, I haven't really been able to take any pictures because I had a whole roll of fast slidefilm in my camera, and I needed to use some slow B&W. I managed to finish that roll last night, but the weather's been crappy today, so I don't know if it's going to happen. Hopefully, it will be nicer tomorrow when she isn't working.

What I have been doing is hanging out with friends. On Saturday I had dinner with Risa and her boyfriend, who is looking for a job in Tokyo starting around July. We sat in Boundary Bay having a beer and talking about teaching and my quest to not teach. The anwser? Beer. (It may just be the answer to everything) Later than night, I met up with Louise and Michael, who's house I'm staying at, and went to the Chicken House for more beer, a big fire, and music. On Sunday, I went to Eyone and Jessie's where we had a BBQ. On Monday, I spend the day scanning negatives on campus, and wondering if someone wanted to come play. Just on time, Jenn called, and we agreed to meet up at her place, where I made some pizza for her and Dave from scratch. Scratch scratch. She was scared of that, but I assured her that it was easy (it really is). We had happy full stomachs. Today, I weent out for lunch with Susan and Rick from my old job at Western. I think there's something going tonight, but I don't know what yet. I'll be taking the train home Thursday morning.

Bellingham is great.

Here's Frankenbike

Here's my bike. The orange and white on the head light look out of place, but it's actually everything else that's out of place. The tan tank and side covers are from the other CL, and are on this bike until we strip everything and repaint.

Thanks to some helpful posts on USENET, I tore apart the carbs again last night to squirt some cleaner into some of the smaller holes, and realized that there was something not lined up right. This is what was causing it not to run right. So this morning I fired it up, and dad fiddled with the mixture a bit, and took off on a ride. He got it up to 80 going up the 410 hill, so it's running pretty good.

So today I've been riding around, getting the hang of it on some back roads. I'm not going to take it anywhere too far or fast until I get some new tires on it.

Bike

"Bicycle bicycle bicycle
I want to ride my bicycle bicycle bicycle
I want to ride my bicycle
I want to ride my bike
I want to ride my bicycle
I want to ride it where I like"
-Queen

I've been fiddling with the bike for a while, and it's running pretty good at slow engine speeds, but I've been having trouble getting it to rev as high as it should. I've posted in USENET and gotten some good tips though, and I think my problems can be mostly fixed with some carb adjustments. It kind of looks like franken-bike right now because it has parts off of two different CLs, and it hasn't been cleaned up at all. Probably I'll trip it all down again once the weather gets nicer so that he frame can be blasted and powdercoated and the tank and headlight housing repainted. I'll post a picture of franken-bike once I find where the digital camera has wandered off to.

On friday, dad and I went to the DOL and got the bike licensed, then stopped at the DMV and picked up a motorcycle endorsement hand book. By 3:30 I had read the whole book, and was ready to take the test, so I went down the the DMV again and passed the written test to get a 90 day permit. I think that mom and I are going to take the rider corse together to get out endorsements. It costs $100, and includes one full day of classroom instruction, and a day and a half of riding. After passing the class, you receive a certificate that will get you an endorsement without having to take the riding test at the DMV.

On Thursday I went to meet Kay Jones, my highschool Japanese teacher, at Starbucks. We had a nice chat about everything, and she invited me to join the Japanese classes that she goes to once a week. Her class is taught by a UPS Japanese professor, and the students include some other area Japanese teachers. Kay and I are actually at about the same level of Japanese now, so her class should be a good fit. I will start at the end of March after she gets back from her trip to Osaka.

Car Crash Bonsai

I haven't done anything with bonsai since mom killed mine a few years ago, but this is inspiring. Who thinks of these things?


In the chemo realm, I've got only two more (again). Everything is going fine with that, and I still expect to be done with everything and free to leave the country again in July.


Two weeks ago I started tearing about the carbs on one of the CL350s. I cleaned them all out in Simple Green (so much less toxic than carb cleaner, and seemed to work just a well), and put them back on the bike, got a battery, cleaned out and put new gas in the tank, and fired it up. There was a mysterious electrical problem for a while, but I've got that solved, so now all I have to do is get it and me licenced. I think I'll sign up for a motorcycle class pretty soon.