They call me ... The Procrastinator

Over the years, I've come to a realization and embraced.  I'm awful at procrastinating.  Or .. did I mean.. good at it? Point being, I've been this way all my life. Now, ultra important things (ie JOB / WORK!), get done.  But many other things, tend to ... fall by the wayside.  Its one of my dark sides that piss me off about myself... but...  hey .. is what it is

For Thanksgiving, we had a few folks over to share the day with.  One of them is a long time buddy

of mine, Glenn Prosek whom drives a beautiful '68 Camaro. Seeing how it was forecasted to be a nice day, he mentioned he'd be driving over his car. Well, the problem is ....  Glenn has never seen my car.  Most people haven't .  Why?  Well, we bought it a few years ago and .. I never take it out.  It's a really nice restored black '67 Camaro, but .....  it's been .. parked too long.  I start it up once in awhile, move it around.. but.. I haven't done it justice.  But now, my ego is at stake I need to get it out of the garage so Glenn can see it at least.  Glenn pulls up beside it and we do the expected conversation on cars .. .. even move his for a great photo shoot of them literally, back to back. .  But, here's the kicker.  When I pulled it out of the garage, I took it for a short spin.  When I got back home, I check the rear tires because it sounded like they were kicking up rocks. Nope... they were shredding.  WTF? They aren't that old, but they do say "Taiwan" on the side, and I've had very lil' luck with tires from that area of the world. I've hardly put any miles on these things and .. the tires are literally falling apart. Now, is this from lack of wear or would it have happened anyways?  Who knows, but I'm at fault either way.   And the next morning, I notice some anti freeze on the ground.  The radiator has a small hairline crack I never noticed before.  Now, the simple thing would be to pull it and have it fixed, but I'm going to take it to the next level and swap in an new aluminum radiator.  Why?  Because they look bad ass!  And.. .. new.   So, next week .. assuming I don't procrastinate  (!!!) .. I'm going to swap out the tires with a better set and larger size to fill up the wheel wells, as well as get a new radiator.  This is the perfect time to drive a muscle car in Texas; cooler weather!  But.. I need to get it .. done!

Well, day after Turkey day, my B' in law and Sis in Law are headed this way from NE.  Tim is a go 100mph guy that has trouble sitting around but he's bringing his bike so we can do a lil riding. Tim isn't here an hour before he starts asking questions... cars.. bikes.. jeep..  Well, the subject becomes the Jeep my daughter is coming down for next month.  I've recently lifted it and put some bigger tires

on it, but I've got a small list of other things that haven't been done.  Well.. that weren't done.  They are now!  Soon, Tim finds the problem with the windshield washer fluid.  He's got the filter out and it's gummed up with God knows what; looks like pure snot. And the reservoir is filled up as well with it all.  Only thing that makes sense is there was a chemical reaction with diff' fluids.  Either way, we soon have it all flushed out and .. working 100%.  Then I pull out the side bars from their box and we're installing them.  And the replacement speakers I've got in a box.  And the tail light assembly..  And... the .. just kidding.. that's it.  Guess I needed a kick in the balls to get moving.  But, she's looking good now!

 After the first project we're in the 'hangar' and Tim is keying on the '47 as many do.  He asks the

questions that most do.. "when was the last time your rode it?"  " when as the last time you started it?" ...  well.. lets just say the questions were a lil' embarrassing for me.  Why?  The answer is .. never.  No shit.  I bet you're shaking your head as you read this.  But it's a fact.  And there are a 1/2 dozen reasons why... but .. none of them are worth repeating because they are BS.  Lets just say ..  .. I procrastinated a lil? Well, I stall a day.. but day 2... we're backing it out of the garage.  Has the obligatory oil stains where it was parked. But at this point, we're more concerned about the fuel situation.  I never drained it nor put any Sta-bil type additives in there.   So, we drain all the fuel out, replace with non-ethanol fuel and some seafoam additive.  Kick it over and .. nada.   Well, I realize that even that it's a kick starter I need a good battery.  A quick trip to town and .. nada.  I do some research when I get home an realize I should have gone to Wal-Mart; really??  Also in the mean time, I've reached out to Mike Tomas at Kiwi Indian and he recommends I drain the oil and fill it back up to keep from pushing a shit load out the top and pipes when it starts.  So, as I write this I've got a battery on a tender waiting to go back in.  Hopefully tomorrow I'll have it in and she kicks over and fires up.  Then.. I'll ...  do some research to figure out how to ride this animal with a suicide shifter , throttle on the left and clutch on the left foot.  You know.. .. one of the procrastinating reasons that got me into the jam to start with?

Well.. we're at a standstill on the '47 Chief and Tim asks me about the Big Dog...   .. "ummmm.. well.. I haven't rode it in awhile....  years "..  Well, I get the look again from him.. so .. we attack it.  I knew it had a dead battery (owned the bike for about 7 years and it's the original).  Hell, that's what started this mess.  I always thought " I'll get to it ".  Well, that battery is a bitch to change out.  Took us longer than any other bike in my life.  But, eventually we've got a new battery in there and we're turning it over. Well, we've soon got fuel pouring out of the carb all over the place.  The fuel float appears to be stuck.  So, we close the petcock and work on the S&S carb a lil .. and .. try again.  Bam!  We've got ignition!   Back it out, air up the tires to the correct pressures and down the road I go.  Its getting dark, and I'm hammering the throttle.  It's got a 117ci S&S and I've had this up to 120mph in the past.  This night, 90 will be all I push it to. No helmet or gloves and it's a chilly evening.  And, I've sort of forgotten how much effort it takes to work this raked hard tail bike with a 330 rear through the turns.  But.. damned.... I missed riding it!   Most of the ride, when I got out of the throttle she was backfiring.  But, since then I've got seafoam additive in there and I believe it's cleared up.  Shame on me, for letting the Ridgeback sit with no love . The crazy part is, this bike is one of the most comfortable I've ever ridden due to the seating position, extended forward controls and pull back bars.   Just need to lean .. hard.. sometimes!  But, .. got her running again.

Well... Tim is on a roll. Now, he's spotted my '06 Bobber over in the middle.  I know this one is a problem.   I was doing some mods on it and got side tracked.  Well, awhile back I'd noticed the fuel line had literally come apart.  I was thinking 'mice?".. but.. it literally disintegrated.  And , I hadn't

had it on a battery tender so I knew the battery was toast.  I pushed back ...  being.....  "The Procrastinator" .. but.. Tim pushed.  So, I aired up the tires, rolled it out and we began inspecting.  It looked like the battery and fuel line were the only problems, but we were worried that disintegrated mush of what was left of the line, was in the carb.  Still, we pressed on and finally got the line installed without a kink in it ( had a 90 deg bend to the carb ).. and .. began to fire it up.   We turned it over a few dozen times, spraying cleaner in the carb and had to redo the fuel line.. but.... after about 2 hours into it..  it came to life!   I'd forgotten how awesome this S&S 97ci motor  with some Samson pipes sounds!   Well, ran it for awhile .. and .. time to put it away.  Now, I just need to modify the seat springs and move them forward 1.5" so the seat is usable.  Then, I've got my bar hopper back in service!

Now my hope is .. I'll keep momentum in the 'hangar' and keep 'em all running.   I've always said .. the bitch with having a few bikes is the maintenance.. just keeping them all running.  Hell, just finding the time to ride 'em.  I know.... nice problem to have.. but..  it can still be a pain in the ass.

I'd like to say my New Years' Resolution will be to no longer Procrastinate.  But, I've tried that one before.   Maybe this year it should just be...  Ride the damned things!