Yesterday was the one year anniversary of Hubby’s wreck last year when he broke his ankle and severely bruised his other ankle. He couldn’t walk for weeks, and he still has a limp in his left leg because of it.

He was hoping he would have the bike back together in time so he could ride up to his crash site on the 1 year anniversary of his wreck, but of course he couldn’t. The bike still isn’t complete. Even if it was, it’s been pouring rain for 2 days now, and that would put him right back in the same situation he was in when he wrecked. The good news is all the parts we were waiting on showed up yesterday!

I’ve been trying to find a replacement brake lever and front master cylinder for months. That’s the part that’s been giving me the most trouble because we only need the one little nipple on top of the master cylinder. It’s also the only part that isn’t available by itself. You can only get it in the master cylinder rebuild kit that’s $95 from the dealership. I finally found a guy on Ebay selling the front master cylinder and brake lever. He had exactly what I needed for a great price, so I saved myself $60 by returning the rebuild kit. That part has driven me crazy, and I’m thankful to have it now. Hubby put it on the bike last night, and all we’re waiting on now is the rest of the welding.

We still haven’t welded the blocks to the frame, but that’s because we’ve been short on time. We just haven’t had time to do it. Hubby can’t work today or probably not tomorrow because of the rain, so he’s going to attempt to get that done today.

If we can get the bike in and out of the paint shop by our beach vacation we’re going to take it to the beach with us. I went to some Wilmington NC real estate sites to see which ones offer beach rentals, but we couldn’t find anything in our price range. We settled for taking a trip down state this year instead. I was trying to save a little cash so we could go to Road Atlanta this weekend for the Suzuki Superbike Showdown and still make a trip to the beach, but that just isn’t happening. Road Atlanta is out. Oh well, maybe next year!

I’d love to be able to say I had some news to give you on the bike being finished, but I don’t. We’re yet again waiting are parts that are taking longer to get here than expected. We were able to finally get the correct set of springs for the forks. I guess 3rd try is a charm. The mounting blocks have been machined, and they’re ready to be welded to the frame…we just need that master cylinder rebuild kit to arrive. Now I just need to find a seat lock or figure out someway to securely rig my own. There are still a few minor parts here and there, but for the most part everything is ordered or soon to be ordered. As soon as the blocks are welded to the frame the bike will be back in one piece again.

With everything we’ve had to do I still can’t believe I’m sitting below budget! I might even have enough left over to pick up a few pair of Asgi shoes I’m scoping out right now.

What? Just because I love motorcycles doesn’t mean I’m not still a woman. I love shoes just as much!

So, what do you think about the new layout? I know a few things are still off. The header isn’t anywhere near what I want it, but I’m working on it. You might see a few more things change over the next few days. I just thought it was time for a change. I was really getting tired of the old one, so I decided to work on a new one a little today.

Anyway, we finally got the completed forks back this morning, and I helped Hubby install them this afternoon. I’m glad I ordered that extra lower triple I found for $10 because we needed it. You couldn’t visually tell the lower triple was bent, but it was. We had to switch that out to get the forks to line up correctly. Things are finally coming together. All we need on the front (besides plastics) is the master cylinder reservoir. The little nipple broke off the side, and unfortunately the part the holds the nipple is the only part on the bike that isn’t available individually. I’ve looked everywhere online, but no one has as used on for sale. I can find all the rear ones we could ever need, but not a front. It looks like I’ll be buying the whole rebuild kit for $90 just to get that one little part that probably costs .20 to make.

I’m really starting to think I need to find some motorcycle parts dealer stocks to invest in. I don’t know the difference between a commodity broker and a futures broker, but I do know if other people are needing as many parts as we do, the stocks should be pretty good.

I’m so ill this week over the bike. It seems like every time we get a step closer to getting everything put back together something goes wrong. Our friend from the bike shop has had our new front forks for a couple weeks. He was changing out the springs for us because the stock springs can’t be adjusted enough for Hubby’s weight.

We ordered an after market set of springs per recommendations from the guys on the 600r forums and Wheelers. We dropped the forks off with our friend knowing he wouldn’t get them back to us soon because he’s doing this as a side job. No big deal. He did promise to have them back to us by the end of the week. As soon as he started working on them there was a problem. Parts Unlimited sent the right set for our bike according to the part number, but the springs weren’t the right springs.

The dealership called Parts Unlimited and they sent out a second set saying there was probably a mix up in the factory when the kit was put together. No big deal, but we had to wait a week for the second kit to arrive. When it came in our friend picked it up from the parts department as he was leaving the shop.

We were expecting our friend to put the new springs in today, but he called this morning with more bad news. This time Parts Unlimited sent the completely wrong kit. They sent a kit for an r6, not a 600r. Grrrr…feel my frustration?

Instead of waiting on yet another kit to be sent out I told him to put the old springs in the new forks, and we’ll switch them out once we get the whole kit thing sorted out with Parts Unlimited. He swung by earlier to drop his Sony Vaio off with me to fix, and he picked up the old forks so he can get the old springs.

I’m just so ready to have this thing back together. We’re so close yet so far away at the same time.

Here I am always worrying about the small things when I’m riding. What’s that squirrel going to do? Is it going to run under the bike? At dusk it’s always the deer. We creep slowly down the lake loop knowing deer are everywhere, and luckily we haven’t had one run out in front of us yet. Squirrels, dogs, cats, and all the other small stuff tends to run out all the time. I’m normally sitting on the back of the bike not even thinking about stuff like that. My biggest worry is normally whether or not I’m sweating so much in my helmet it’s going to give me acne on my cheeks again. Hubby’s busy watching out for the animals.

This guy will always be on the lookout for animals now, though, after what happened to him a couple weeks ago.  My friend sent me a link from the 600rr forums that I had to share.  Dude hit a 40-50 lb coyote, and it didn’t take him down.  It did however sever the coyote in half.  Wow.  If you’re squeamish, don’t look at the photos, but if you’re interested you can see the photos and read the guy’s story here.