Maybe I'll call it Threedom
Posted: Tue Mar 27, 2012 11:43 pm
My dearly beloved 1980 CB900 Custom I'd "triked" in 1998, came to a rough end via a rearender wreck caused by a dr-nk car driver in 2003. ( ME TOO, almost!)
http://www.ngwclub.com/gallery/v/wingmans/gltriker/
Eventually, I wanted to build another one, but my previous trike's co-builder said build something else...... like a GoldWing this time. hmmmm?
Late in 2005, one of my sons told me about an "older" guy he knew, that was selling a 1975 GoldWing. anyway, I went to look at it after my son bugged me enough to finally do it to make him quit pestering me. It looked, "interesting", and I gave him a $100 deposit/ I'll think about it cash. I thought about it for a few days, then went back and talked price. $1000 was the final fee. Supposedly, it ran..... but the smell of sour fuel made me doubt it. My buddy picked it up and we placed it in my building Dec., 2005. Here in central New York state, winter makes some of us stay inside for 4 months, where it's warm......
Circa March or April, 2006, I started to fiddle with it. It would crank over and putt-putt-putt, but no more than that. The headlight was so dim it could hardly be seen. I started stripping off the hind quarters,ie the bags, rear rack, a myriad of bullet lights, the rear wheel and gearcase, and finally, the fuel tank. When I saw what a gooey mess the fuel tank was, I pulled the carburetors off. Flipping them upside down and removing the bowls made me cringe when I saw the crystal-like flakes of old dried up gasoline. Thank the lord for Mr. Washington's advisement to use Yamaha Carburetor Cleaner, back when you mixed it with gasoline. The GOOD stuff!!
I lost the few photos I'd taken back then to a computer hard drive crash. After refurbishing the carbs with Randakk's kit, the project sat untouched for 4 1/2 years. Why? I don't recall, but I betcha tight cash was a large factor in the scheme of things. In retrospect, I now recall when I removed the fairing, I could see a rat's nest of cobbled up wiring and that probably sealed the fate of the project.
September, 2010 came around and I'd looked at that rebuilt carburetor rack so long and the bike patiently sitting on the centerstand and something slowly stirred. I'd never seen the engine run, and wanted to at least do that, if just to satisfy that urge. Plus my lifelong friend since the age of 5 was diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer and wanted to hear it run, too, before he got any weaker. Therefore, I reconnected to the GL with a new vigor to do so in October,2010. From that point I have photos to chronicle the project as it has progressed. I'll leave the metamorphosis for a day or so, then come back with more photos after I develop a semblance of order with how I'll present different aspects of the triking process. (I've taken SOoooo many photos its going to be a project just to organize my thoughts!)
ciao for now
Cliff
http://www.ngwclub.com/gallery/v/wingmans/gltriker/
Eventually, I wanted to build another one, but my previous trike's co-builder said build something else...... like a GoldWing this time. hmmmm?
Late in 2005, one of my sons told me about an "older" guy he knew, that was selling a 1975 GoldWing. anyway, I went to look at it after my son bugged me enough to finally do it to make him quit pestering me. It looked, "interesting", and I gave him a $100 deposit/ I'll think about it cash. I thought about it for a few days, then went back and talked price. $1000 was the final fee. Supposedly, it ran..... but the smell of sour fuel made me doubt it. My buddy picked it up and we placed it in my building Dec., 2005. Here in central New York state, winter makes some of us stay inside for 4 months, where it's warm......
Circa March or April, 2006, I started to fiddle with it. It would crank over and putt-putt-putt, but no more than that. The headlight was so dim it could hardly be seen. I started stripping off the hind quarters,ie the bags, rear rack, a myriad of bullet lights, the rear wheel and gearcase, and finally, the fuel tank. When I saw what a gooey mess the fuel tank was, I pulled the carburetors off. Flipping them upside down and removing the bowls made me cringe when I saw the crystal-like flakes of old dried up gasoline. Thank the lord for Mr. Washington's advisement to use Yamaha Carburetor Cleaner, back when you mixed it with gasoline. The GOOD stuff!!
I lost the few photos I'd taken back then to a computer hard drive crash. After refurbishing the carbs with Randakk's kit, the project sat untouched for 4 1/2 years. Why? I don't recall, but I betcha tight cash was a large factor in the scheme of things. In retrospect, I now recall when I removed the fairing, I could see a rat's nest of cobbled up wiring and that probably sealed the fate of the project.
September, 2010 came around and I'd looked at that rebuilt carburetor rack so long and the bike patiently sitting on the centerstand and something slowly stirred. I'd never seen the engine run, and wanted to at least do that, if just to satisfy that urge. Plus my lifelong friend since the age of 5 was diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer and wanted to hear it run, too, before he got any weaker. Therefore, I reconnected to the GL with a new vigor to do so in October,2010. From that point I have photos to chronicle the project as it has progressed. I'll leave the metamorphosis for a day or so, then come back with more photos after I develop a semblance of order with how I'll present different aspects of the triking process. (I've taken SOoooo many photos its going to be a project just to organize my thoughts!)
ciao for now
Cliff