desertrefugee wrote:I gotta say that I'm impressed with a few things on this build:
1) Your willingness to make something from almost nothing. In fact, I was surprised to see that much rust on a California bike. Must have spent time on the coast.
2) The velocity with which you're moving.
3) Your gift of narrative and photography skills. I particularly enjoyed the first shots in the industrial setting.
All are combining for a most entertaining thread to follow.
I'm not sure exactly what your goal is, but as you know, there are lots of options. And pretty much right now is where there are some forks in the road to be selected - each of which leads to a very different destination.
Subscribed.
Thank you so much for your kind words. I have had a rough week and this means more than I can express.
1) I have always loved taking what many consider useless, worthless, junk, non-salvageable, garbage and getting it functional for near nothing. The learning process is invaluable to me and is truly where I find my joy in life. Also, it keeps me out of trouble haha. I can't get a ticket if i'm at home wrenching. You are also correct in your deduction that the bike lived by the coast. I picked it up about 30 minutes south from Santa Cruz, CA down highway 1. I should take the old battery and see if I can find a date code to get a rough idea of the last time someone attempted to get this thing running, or at least was running.
2) I have ADD which is a blessing and a curse. The blessing is that anything I am interested in I attack with feverish energy, sometimes having 12 hour days without stopping. The curse is that anything I NEED to do which does not interest me is like pulling teeth. If I have no desire or passion for something its nearly impossible for me to make progress with it. I've gone to professionals for my mental health issues and am on medication which helps a lot, but it is still a day to day struggle. Lucky for me I LOVEEEEEEEE my Goldwing, so as long as I keep momentum and finances allow it I should be done in no time
3) Thank you very much! I spent a lot of time with my fathers old 35mm Canon T35 shooting vacations with my girlfriend at the time, my own personal rides and projects, etc. This gave me a real respect for where photography was and where it is now. With the phones we have, it is pretty much unacceptable to take poor / low quality pictures or video. As far as narrating goes, I was in musicals and plays up till 11th grade. After that I joined a punk band for 4-5 years playing guitar and singing backup. I got to tour the country from California as far as Texas and even played warped tour once. Without these experiences I'm not sure I'd be so clear, concise and well spoken as I am haha. I owe a lot to my various teachers / band mates etc for always encouraging me.
As far as a goal goes, I just want a very clean, very reliable, very stock (minus a few functional modifications like the Dyna-S, non sealed beam headlight so I can use H4 bulbs, etc) 1977 GL1000 that I can be proud to show off at local riding spots. I've always been around classic cars / motorcycles from my friends and family and knew one day, something would call out to me as MY classic. I believe this GL is it, but who knows. Life is so fickle and random its very likely I'll probably end up with something else. I'd LOVE a bone stock CX500 to fiddle with.
Thank you again for your kind words! Look for updates this weekend. I'm going to attempt to rebuild the brake calipers without seals / pistons etc just to take it on a low speed test ride up and down my street. If all goes well then it will be time to order a large batch of parts from Randakk / my shop and begin the tear down / beautification process.