Loser

I entered Nixon in her first auto show on Friday. They had a car/bike show at work to raise money for the March of Dimes. She isn't all that pretty yet, but she is an antique. Besides, it was a good excuse to ride her into work and donate a little money to charity. The ride in was fairly nice. The sun had just come up so it was still pretty cool and the traffic wasn't as bad as I was expecting. It took about 45 minutes to get to work, including a fuel stop.

There were some nice cars at the show, including a couple Porsches, an NSX, a triumph, old corvette and beetle. The only other bikes there were a couple of gaudy HDs. Nixon didn't win anything, but I had a good time talking to other guys about there cars and my bike. We aren't allowed to take pictures at work, so I don't have anything to show.

The ride home was not as enjoyable as the ride to work. By that time, it had gotten up above 85 and the traffic was terrible. I had my heavy leather jacket on so I got pretty sweatty sitting at all of the red lights with the heat coming up off of the engine. At a few of the longer lights, I shut the bike off to try to keep it from overheating. I'm not sure why yet, but she tends to die if I sit at a red light idling too long. I may just need to get the carbs dialed in.

The Vintage Japanese Motorcycle Club show is coming up in a couple of weeks in Marietta and I expect to see lots of cool bikes there. I also just ordered a new phone with a 3MP camera, so hopefully my pictures will be much better soon.

Back in the Saddle

My Dad was gracious enough to bring Nixon down from SC last weekend so I was able to get the stock CL exhaust put on her. The rust spots on the heat shield notwithstanding, I think it looks pretty good. It sounds pretty good too. Not loud, but when I really wind it out, it is loud enough. I still need to find a removable muffler tip and I need to shorten some of the new screws I bought to attach the heat shield. Last weekend I rode her up the road to Birmingham, GA through some nice farm country, and then back down to my sister/brother-in-law's house. On the way back from there, It started raining on me, but it was pretty light, and it was only for a couple minutes.

Today, I only worked a half day, so I was working on adjusting the position of the exhaust when my wife called. She was at the nail salon with my daughter and she needed me to bring them the nail polish they were going to wear to a wedding next week. So.....I adjusted the exhaust (it was kind of sticking out a little) and tightened it up and cranked her up. The nail salon was only about 6 miles away and it was a nice ride. There were thunderstorms all around me, but it never rained on my. I did notice, however, that the front end was bouncing a bit. I think the spokes on the front wheel need to be adjusted. I think the front wheel is not true, or is out of balance. Otherwise, the only problems I had was some sputtering in the mid RPM band. I still haven't gotten the carburetors fine tuned yet, so I guess that is next.

I think the camera on my phone is starting to go. This picture is super fuzzy.