Rain rain go away

Looks like another day spent cleaning the bike. It's raining and the forecast says expect more. The bike however, ran pretty good when I started it up about a half hour ago. I did have to use some starter fluid, but once it got going, it was fine. I'll have to be sure to always have some of that stuff on hand.

I think I'll tear the brakes down on the opposite side today and get them cleaned up. I am going to have to buy a better tool to remove the bolts on the one side, and look into a torque wrench. I don't want to have to cut off the bolts due to accidental stripping. There is still so much cleaning that I need to do on the bike, not to mention the tank. I am going to drain it and bring it inside to do before winter gets here.

Winter... I am not even looking forward to it. Not being able to ride the bike for 3-5 months while snow clogs everything up is disappointing. The tank will take me less than a week, and if I decide to do the fenders as well, I can add another week or so onto that, but then, it'll just be getting the bike spotless.

Riding in the rain is a little sad. My feet were soaked, as were my calves. I have rain gear in the trunk of my car, but with the saddlebags taken off, I have nowhere to stow it on the bike itself. Guess I am going to be putting the bags back on.

I want to do a top to bottom cleaning on the bike, including removing some of the peripherals, but then I start thinking about riding it again, and put it off so I can take it out for a spin.

Tough decisions. Guess I'll just have to break down and do it soon. You can see in this photo that there is a lot of dirt and crud deep in the engine, back where I can't reach. This cleaning is going to have to wait til I take the tank off. Poor Mikuni carbs. I'll be polishing you soon.