Visitors the Day Before Departure

Bob and Ron were in the neighborhood so they stopped by for a bit of harrassment. Bob is at the wheel. By the time we were done I had a handful of Bob Sez to work with.
So, Bob Sez:

The spark plugs look great, nice & clean for that bike, so leave them, and don't dink with the carb at higher elevations. Just go..

Missed two grease fittings at the rear brake lever cross-over, and the brake lever pivot. Done.

Ron & Bob pointed out my horn mount is not correct, there should be a lower bracket going to the fender. I only have an upper mount, on the headlight bracket, and I need both. Another fiddly-bit to find. Yay!

When adjusting valves, do the exhaust when the intake valve is closing and about half-way down. Adjust the intake valve just as the exhaust valve is beginning to open.

Ron was poking around the bike & saw my clutch pedal friction plate nut was loose. Those things are not easy to find, impossible on the road, so he saved me some aggravation there. The upper nuts on my springer are also incorrect, he said. I'll save that for later.

Photo at left is The Wizard last year, in Lakeview Oregon, about half-way to Dixon.

I feel sad that they can't go this year, it would have been a great way to say goodbye to Bob. He's become a good friend in a short time, and I'll miss him even though I wasn't exactly a regular at his shop - except when I was working on something. For example, when I blew the Flattie motor last year, he gave me a corner of his shop to tear the engine out and re-install it after his rebuild was done. Very generous. The whole thing took a bit over a month. That saved me a PILE of money and let me get my hands dirty. I like that.

Ron is still around although he's not exactly in my neighborhood. We have a great relationship as well, we were bunkies on the Dixon run last year. Ron is a trucker, has his own rig and hires out. He's been around machines for a long, long time.