Well, fellas, it’s time for some new goodies. I kinda blew up the Harley. Actually, I blew a chunk out of the block when I wound out third. 94,378 miles and nearly three quarts of oil down the drain.
So now I have to figure out if it makes more sense to scrap the whole thing and find a new project for the next few months. Really, though, since I know every inch of this bike after all these years, I’m seriously considering building a monster V-twin and massaging that one into my frame.
Come to think of it, my occasional riding buddy does have a 90 Evolution motor sitting in his barn. He laid it down with no insurance with 8900 miles. He made it out with just a little rash, but the bike skidded 125 feet and stopped in a diner wall. In a diner wall!
I guess the good news is that I was only 14 miles from the house when the motor ka-boomed. Yeah, I’ve been tearing through every go-fast website looking at my options and looking at an awful lot of what the old lady calls “bike porn” – no, not Easyrider, get your head out of the gutter – and at the same time, that test ride on the Chieftain last week keeps coming back to me.
Did I taunt the Harley gods, and this is how they smite me? I’ve never dished on H-D – except when I tell the truth, but I really don’t want to rip this bike apart to put a motor in it and I want a bike payment like I want to zip my manhood up in my pants. Either way, it sucks.
So for all you out there stuck in the snow, I now know what it feels like to not be able to hop on my bike whenever the urge strikes. I’m going to get my ass in a seat soon, but what it will be is anybody’d guess. I’m still going to do 15,000 miles this year like I said, but there may be a lot more “shakedown” miles locally than going all over the southern U.S.
And then again, I might find a shovelhead in a barn next week.