Zen and the Art of Directional Setbacks

I installed the directional setback kit for the rear turn signals and the saddle bag guards on my 2002 Custom 1200 sportie yesterday. Started working around the crack of noon in the garage, with the service manual, new parts, and kit directions spread around me on the floor. The first challenge was to remove the multilock amp connector for the turn signals. It's in the rear taillight, which in my case gets condensation in it now and again, so I pondered that problem for awhile but still don't know why it's happening. The directions say to use a special Snap-on pick tool to remove the terminal wires, but after a half hour of practice and fumbling, I can remove terminals with a sewing needle like a pro. Taking the wiring off the inside fender was tricky the first time, since I couldn't see the clips that well (a small mechanics mirror would have helped), but it's not hard once you figure it out. Anyway, I was taking the the turn signals off and damn, I don't have a deep well socket head. Trip number one to the hardware store. I was a little apprehensive taking off the rear shock mount, but since it was on the side away from the kick stand, I got it back on with a little muscle. As I was tightening up the last Torx bolt on the first side, the bit broke and I cut my hand up pretty good. Pissed and bloody, I went back to the hardware store and buy a new Torx bit. Another thing to watch far is making sure the wiring gets pulled through the assembly into the fender well as far as it will go, since there is almost no leftover slack to work with. The directions say pull gently, but I had to pull with both hands and images of me shooting across the garage when the wiring broke to get it all through. At this point, side number one is complete, taking a mere 5 hours of sweat, blood, and tears. The second side, on the the same side as the kick stand, takes about thirty minutes now that I know what I'm doing. The only problem is, I can't get the rear shock back because it has expanded too far. I don't have bike stand so I call it a day. Next morning, I go to Sears and buy the Craftsman motorcyle lift (debated building one as described here, but the thought of another project at this stage dampened my enthusiasm). The combination of the exhaust and kick stand make lifting the bike correctly a royal pain in the ass, but I managed to do without crushing any of the delicates. It's funny that the service manual doesn't indicate how to the lift the bike properly. By the way, I like the lift, but am still not sure about the best way to position it under the bike. With the bike up, the shock goes on easy. The bags go on and look pretty good. Total time for the job was about six hours and three unexpected trips costing about $130 dollars (deep well sockets, torx bit, and motorcycle lift) not to mention the acutal H-D parts. Hope my little story helps someone else trying this. It's really not that hard to do, I just went slow to avoid busting something. I could probably do the whole thing in under an hour now, and the result is great. I took a long ride afterwards.

I suck at blogging...

Not really, but I've had a lack of free time since I changed jobs. No longer do I debate starting work for hours (or days). Now I'm worried that I don't know enough, and have too much to do, and have to employ "time management". Perhaps this means I like my job more. Anyway, I just finished looking at Enjelani's blog where there is an entry on needing approval from others, and then I noticed that my blog was no longer on her list of frequent readings. Kapow! It's amazing how people come together and drift apart. I seen it happen so many times. Perhaps I'm a lackadaisical friend, or maybe that's just the way things are. In any case, I'll overcompensate with excessive blogging for the time being. In other news, I've become obsessed with motorcycles, particularly my own. I want to go to a biker rally, like the one at Sturgis, but am afraid (only slightly) that I'll look like the yuppie poseur that I am. I need to do at least a few years of hard time before I'll have some real cred.