Posted by Witch Doctor on August 13, 2000 at 04:41:20:
Bike turned ten thousand miles on the way to the dealership Thursday afternoon. We were going to look at a couple of bikes for Lisa, since the Rebel had found a new home (went away this morning, Saturday). We found one, but won't spill the beans on it until after the Little Sturgis run, since we won't know until then whether or not it will be a keeper. All I'll say about it is it fits perfect and is not a Savage (oh well, can't please everyone, right?).
To date, the bike has survived nearly intact, the only destroyed bits being a mirror and the stock headlight shell, neither of which I would consider a great loss. I've junked the rear signals, p-pad and related trash that the factory stuck on it. What a handling difference, you wouldn't think they would affect it as much as they did. Those bits are still availble, if you need them, e-mail soon or they'll hit the trash can. I'm not saving parts I consider useless any longer, if I don't need them, one way or another, I'm getting rid of them.
About useless bike parts, the rear tire is finally succumbing to the abuse it regularly receives. I'll have to get a new one soon, and will have to order it, since the local shop only stocks low-end tires in 15 inch sizes. As fast as they sell the cruisers that use them, you'd figure they'd keep at least one in stock. Nope.
Anyway, the bike is still alive. It isn't as happy as it used to be, but if I ever get a chance to go through the service again, I'm sure I'll get many more miles out of it. Someone needs to design a self-adjusting valve train for it, I'm too impatient to fiddle with the settings, and the dealer mechanics here are more "ick" than mechanic. One of them this week couldn't even read the belt tension on another bike parked outside the shop.
If a loud, modified solo comes screaming your way, wave, I'll wave back.
-WD