Here comes Rockerbox

So, I’ve talked through the leg design with Michael, and I think I’ve got something doable. I’ll update the sketch as soon as I get some free time. Right now, I’m trying to get my bike put back together for Rockerbox!

This is the first year I’ll be in town for this event and I am excited! In preparation, and because  I had a growing list of things that needed to be done, I have done some work on my bike. I started with taking off these side covers:

The actual work was an adjustment of the cam chain, which only required removal of the left cover, but I decided to take them both off and see if I could clean them up a bit. I sanded and sanded and sanded, and polished, and painted and:

Not perfect, but not bad. That picture is about 10 minutes after i smudged the black on the outside, and dirtied up the YICS part in the center. Both of these ended up getting some additional attention before putting them back on the bike. Getting these off was a challenge. The screws that hold these panels on are regular old phillips screws, which means that everyone who has owned this 30-year-old bike has tried to take them out and they are more than a little stripped.

So, How did I get them out? Poor man’s impact driver.With the screwdriver seated nicely, and reasonable pressure on the screw driver, I gave the screwdriver a few taps with my trusty hammer. Really, it took more than a few, as I was being pretty gentle. It was an extremely satisfying moment when that first screw finally came loose.

I painted the tank as well… made a bit of a mess, actually… but I haven’t taken any pictures of that yet. I’m learning a lot as I go, though.. for example, good masking is REALLY important, and color matte finishes are really difficult to maintain. Also, it’s really hard to photograph shiny objects (That second picture above is mirror-like (sorta)).