I had a couple of "new" parts at the painter and had been in paint jail since early July but with my annual trip to the Poconos coming up after labor day I really would like to have them, "them" being the front of my Reckless fairing and a king tour pack. The fairing would make some difference but the tour pack would be key, I threw my travel bag of 6 years in the garbage after the last trip, it had served it's purpose well but was getting a little long in the tooth with the waterproof coating starting to flake away.
This last week I pressed the painter a little more and received my parts. WooHoo! And in true fashion, "while I'm there" I may as well replace the sticky throttle cables, but if I'm doing that longer ones aren't that much more expensive.....I have been thinking about going to 16" apes......the hell with it. I ordered new Wild Ones 16" apes along with braided throttle cables.
In for a penny.......
Old 14" bars
New 16" mid install with inner fairing
Front fairing and new bars
With that finished the last project was assembly of the tour pack, one thing I had been dreading because of the blind rivets used. Well the first problem was the Chinese made ebay rack for the top, I'm guessing they don't put these in a form as only two of the bolt holes lined up with the stock Harley lid. That's okay, a little persuasion with a long wrench moves them around to fit and the welds held! After ordering new weatherstripping and new latches I should be set.
But next up was rebuilding the factory hinges, the pivots were shot, I figured I could knock them out and replace them with a bolt of appropriate size and a lock nut. That may have worked "if" I hadn't got heavy handed with what I thought was a stuck pivot pin, nope just an asshole with a hammer and a few beers. One hinge jacked up. Well I had been eyeing the premium hinges at $60.......and they don't require those stupid rivets.
Off to Adam Smith Harley
I have to say I enjoyed the radio but what I enjoyed more than anything else was the calm, cool pocket of air behind the fairing. I bet I could smoke a cigar behind it and not even catch an ash in the eye.
