Winter ’23/24 Projects – Visiting Friends – Machines Never Stop Breaking

I get asked a lot if I work on cars and trucks. The answer is hell no, but there are exceptions.

I know how to work on cars and trucks. I work on my own when they break AND I have the time to do the repairs myself. The head gasket in my Ford Transit let go with 190,000 miles on the chassis, so we’ll assume the engine, too. This in November ’23, so I had time.

It was fewer trips to the machine shop and less headache to give a local salvage yard $400 for a used engine out of a Ford Focus with a start up guarantee than to attempt to replace the gasket in situ. Took me about 3 days start to finish working by myself. No I will not do this or anything like it for you or anyone else. I have lots of skills that are “just for me” LOL!

The engine had “135,000 miles” on it when I bought it. There’s no way to verify this, but there’s also not a good reason for salvage yards to lie about this. I’ve always had good luck fixing old cars and trucks like this. Anyway it has 6,000 miles on it since the replacement. I also put new brakes on all 4 corners, new ball joints on the front, and sent it to the alignment shop. Let’s hope I can get another 50-60k out of it before I have to do anything else major to it.

Honda Rebel 250 Drag Bar Install

These bikes are cool, and, if I had one, I would chop the heck out of it.

Pretty basic drag bar install, but of course changing the bars on bikes tends to throw the cables out of wack, and there are tiny holes to be drilled so the switches line up properly, and brake lines sometimes have to be moved so they can clear… and even then the bars may run into the tank if you don’t swing around bends going fast enough. Regardless it looks pretty cool.

Yamaha TW200 – Strong Contender for CO State Bike

I used to call the Kawasaki KLR650 Colorado’s undisputed state motorcycle, but I’m starting to think the Yamaha TW200 could be a contender, too. Pretty bomb proof bikes. The only thing they don’t do is go down the highway at 70+, but for throwing in the back of a pick up and exploring trails or learning how a motorcycle works in a low stakes environment they can’t really be beat.

Also NOT a “fussy” motorbike. Some bikes are fussy in the sense that you kind of have to know what you’re doing in order to use them or keep them working properly. Not the TW200. It’s the opposite of that. You could probably rack up 10,000 miles without changing the oil and nothing bad would happen to it. Just don’t let the tank rust from the inside out and keep rocks out of the intake manifold, and it should hold together for at least 30 years, which is how long I think Yamaha has been building and selling these. 35 years. Something like that. The internet didn’t even exist when these were gestating at the Yamaha HQ in the 80s.

SCOOOOTERS

Because who, what would I be without scooters to fix?

I like this pic. The blue sky. My van facing one direction, a customer’s scooter facing the other direction; both of them in better shape for having crossed paths. Snow in the gutter. This scooter better still be working. Have I mentioned how much I don’t like the petcocks/fuel valves coming out of China these days? They suck bad even for a $15 part.

If you have a scooter that needs fixed, hit the link in the sidebar to book online or call me at (720) 634-6935 and I’ll set something up! I’ll install as many different new petcocks as it takes!!

Visiting Friends

Life is about more than motorbikes sometimes. Not often though. Not often enough. Everyone is so busy all the time. This is my friend Larry and I looking about 25 years older than when we first met; me on the left.

I also saw my racing homie Jose during the same trip. No pics of that visit, but I did get to show him how some electrical connectors on an old Suzuki come apart.

Wheel Chock + Onboard Air for Scooter Tire Changes

Truth be told I’m writing this post because it’s WINDY AF OUTSIDE RN, and I don’t want to be out there in it doing anything, but I have a burning desire to do something productive. So this is it, my ode to productivity, yet another appeal to Google almighty’s holy algorithm.

Remember a second ago how I was like no I don’t work on cars, then I told you about how I put a new engine in my work van by myself? I also removed its passenger’s seat and built an entire combination wheel chock and onboard air compressor out of an old homemade bike stand I made years ago.

So if a bike needs to go somewhere else, I can do that with this van now, too. And if someone, perhaps even YOU, needs the tire replaced on their scooter, well golly gee whiz I can do that, too!

I used to be forced to take the gigantic green Chevy van whenever someone needed the tire replaced on their scooter. So I kind of shied away from doing it there for a while. NOT ANYMORE!! OPEN SEASON ON TIRE CHANGES FOR SCOOTERS!

Yes I’m still terrible at welding! That’s a whole other thing I do but don’t offer as a service. The really crappy welds were done 10+ years ago with a gasless MIG machine; the nicer ones were done recently with my TIG machine but still aren’t great. Whatever they will hold!

Anyway if you need your scoot fixed, especially if you need a tire replaced, you know what to do. I’d love to come out and show you my van and use my tools to get your bike going again. Book online or call me at (720) 634-6935 to get on my schedule.