Derbi—The Red Power

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Things are cleaning up nicely. Time to start thinking about how to set up the bike.

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The Silver bike is cleaning up nicely. The Motul E10 really does the job. It helps to clean things off a bit first, and then apply the Motul, but damn it makes things nice.

A midstream couple of photos of where things go.

Cleaning the Clocks

Time for Control

The Shiny

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Got a few more bits installed, and then I ran out of light so I had to wrap it up for today.

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Today was more of the same really--lots of cleaning. I found so much wild life living in this bike. Lots of spiders, rodent action, and even a snail was living in there--it's practically its own ecosystem! I wonder if I'm ever going to get it all cleaned out.

I got them back this evening, but I had my stands over at Ed's place because that's where we've been working on my Track Bike. I wanted to swap the front wheels so I needed to come up with a solution. The jack stands were fine for the rear wheel, but they wouldn't be able to stabilize the bike if I put them under the forks--the road is just too uneven. So it was time for some Moto-Cross action. Yes I did pull off the pipe so that I could employ this method.

It's really starting to clean up nicely.

Today was the SF Dirt Bag Challenge. I've been to it previously. It's a great place to go if you want to inhale rubber. I didn't make it to this years event because I was working on the bikes, but some of my friends did. Afterwards they came by for a visit.

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Found the battery for the Red Bike today. So I got out the Ballistic charger, set it to Pb 2 amp, 12 volts, and started it up. Took about two hours to bring the battery to full charge. Then I installed it in the Silver bike. The light turned on with the key, but no love from the starter button.

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It really broke my heart to get the Red Bike all messed up by those idiots that ran it down. This Silver bike is a really nice place holder until I can resurrect the Red Bike. I'm still fighting Farmers over it. They are rat bastards.

Today was a great in America. I got to ride around on a Derbi again. It's been a lot of work to get the Silver Bike ready to ride. It did pretty well too. Still lots of little things to work out--like that nasty little autoluber action, but that's okay.

Yesterday I filled up the oil take with some tasty Motul 710 (the good stuff for injectors). Then I walked down to the gas station to get some gas. Came back to find this huge oil puddle under the bike. Turns out that the hose connecting the tank to the pump had split. It was a nightmare to get it under control. But eventually I did. Here's the fixed up version.

Then this morning I noticed it was still leaking! What the hell is with these damn autolubers? Turns out this time it was the line to the carb had cracked at the end of the inlet. So as a temp fix I pulled the line, cut it at the split and put it back on the bike. What a mess--it gets all over everything.

While riding today the Silver Bike made it to the Miku mile 39--サンキュ.

I stopped by Treats to grab a few things. While there I got to see a vintage Derbi moped. For those of you that have yet to figure it out Derbi is the Campeona del mundo. Long live the Red Power.

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Forty Nine is such a good San Francisco number.

I can't believe how much fun I'm having. It's like a religious experience on two wheels. Sometimes we forget how lucky we are to get to ride, then it's taken away from us. It messes with your head. Riding is just a fantastic part of life. I didn't get to ride all summer thanks to those stupid fucks that kept running over my bikes. I just have to pretend that this is summer, and get in a whole year's worth of riding now.

Had to go to the DMV today. That lolly pop didn't have a chance. Yes the DMV was closed when the LP was shamed.

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I should have worked on the bikes today. But I didn't. Instead I took my roommate on a ride around SF. I'm all about the gear. We had her wear what gear I had left over from when I use to teach people to ride. These boots are probably about 8 sizes too big.

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Fire up the bike!

Swinging by my buddies' shop 4into1.

Halloween Menagerie

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It is worth noting that it was blind drivers that took out the Red Bike. Now not all of them hit the bike with the front of their four wheel bringer of doom, but plenty of them did so. Nelson Rigg makes a Rossi Colored Hi-Viz bike cover. I ordered one for the Silver Bike. But just recently some asshole stole the Nelson Rigg cover from the Monza. This prompted me to order a lock for the cover as well. Will this stop the idiots? I doubt it, but it's better than doing nothing.

I ordered the medium sized cover as they stated it would cover a 600 sport bike. Well I suppose. It seems a bit small on the GPR. I'd probably should have ordered a Large.