Wisconsin Made

After 2 ill-sized orders of Thorogoods, it was time to find some locally (lesson learned). I went to Dixie in downtown Long Beach, and found the exact black boots I had ordered, found the right size and happily paid the 100$ less than I'd pay for some chinese Redwings.

It was also cool to see some of the flat trackers wearing these in On Any Sunday. So finally, after much searching, ordering, returning and fitting - I have my American-made boots. Can't wait to ride into work tomorrow morning and start breaking these in!

Huntington Beach

This afternoon we rode down to Huntington Beach for the monthly vintage motorcycle meet. There were some pretty incredible bikes - a few of my favorites are here, a '54 Royal Enfield, a '69 BSA, and some sort of custom Harley Davidson. You can also see the Hornet there among the oldies. It's great to see so many people who appreciate the styling and spirit of older bikes. I'll definitely be back.

Ain't Had No Gas Since '79

Today, Seth, Adam and I rode up thru Trabuco Canyon, then down thru Laguna Canyon and back up the coast to Long Beach. It was a great ride thru the hills and downright awesome when we plopped out of Laguna Canyon and the ocean air hit us, and cooled us off the rest of the ride. I love California.

Thwompa-womp-womp-blaaaat-a-thomp

The short mufflers finally came in today. Here's a before and after (after is the top photo). I love the look of the bike without the long, upswept stock mufflers. It just seems so much cleaner and simple. And the sound is unbelievable. It thumps and womps and drums and pows and thwops with a deep, but crisp note ...I couldn't be happier.

I thought it would be a quick switch out, but man, everything that could be difficult, WAS. The clamps that kept the old mufflers on the headers were near impossible to remove. Old, rusted, stripped bolts would not give. It took a lot of sweat and about every tool I own to finally work them loose. Then my drill bits were too dull to make the holes in the new muffler mounts. So that took a long time. Then the bolts that hold the muffler on (that also go thru the rear foot pegs) were too long without the foot pegs, so I rigged up a skateboard truck bushing to both absorb some shock and space the gap, and it worked perfectly. All in all it was a sweaty, greasy time, but it ended very well. I also received the new throttle sleeve and white grips - ran out of time tonite, but they'll be in going on in the near future.

Garage Saturday

I spent a couple hours in the garage today, taking off the speedometer and tachometer in an effort to simplify the front end of the hornet. Not sure if I'll leave them off or not - I'll give it a week or so, and see what I think. I also painted the scuffed up headlight bucket. I like the look (from certain angles). I kept part of the warning lights, just a strip with 3 light bulbs on it, so I can still tell when I'm in neutral with a quick glance. I'd like a very simple, stripped down look in the end, and I'm very slowly getting there - but I'm still hesitant to do anything that can't be undone - so if need be, I can get back to a very stock cb360. I'm not trying to "cafe" it, or anything like that - I just want a nice, clean, classic motorcycle. And I'm starting to get there.

Roar of the Lion

This morning I finally fixed the throttle adjust problem. It wasn't that its a complicated problem, just a pain to access. I had to pull the carbs to get to where the other end of the throttle adjust screw butts up against the throttle - once I got in there, I discovered the whole thing had come out of it's little tunnel. A few precise turns and it was comfortably sitting back where it belongs. Once I got the whole carb assembly, air boxes and gas tank back together the bike fired right up and the idle was once again adjustable. So for now, no more holding the throttle open manually at stop lights just to keep the bike running.

On a side note, I took one of the mufflers off, just out of curiosity (in the pic) and it looked amazing. I'm definitely going to get some short, straight mufflers for the hornet. With one of them off, I started it up (probably not the best idea) to see how it sounded, and it was pretty incredible. The whole garage was rumbling and thumping. Somewhere deep inside the dark, fiery heart of this little bastard is a primal, bone-shaking roar that's been bridled by these ugly mufflers - I'm going to set this lion free.

Pray for Combustion

During a lull tonight, I got out the 1shot and did some more sloppy painting on my helmet. It's not the prettiest thing, but neither am I, and neither is my beloved hornet, so this ugly little bastard is in good company.