The economy got me.  I got laid off last week, but it means I have time, if not as much money.  After a while, you learn to see the good part of everything.  Since looking for work eight hours a day, every day, would eventually make my head explode, I have been spending a bit of time on little projects I hadn't got around to.  The first one was adjusting the van's carburetor, a whole adventure of it's own, and one not worth writing about.  It was one of those mechanical comedies of errors which come out well in the end that we have all had.

The next project is the SV650's swingarm.  Removing it required removing the exhaust and taking apart the back brake.  The brakes really should be rebuilt anyway, so it's not a problem.  The exhaust was a bit more of a challenge, and I'm not sure how easily it's going to go back togther.  The swingarm was filthy!  I don't know how long it's been since anybody had it apart, and the swingarm axle's white lithium grease had turned into powder.  The bearings were OK, but the axle was a mess.  After cleaning everything fairly thoroughly, I have been reassembling it all with red synthetic grease and a little polishing.  It has a lot of scuffs and dings, but it looks a whole lot better clean than it did all filthy.

The next project will be rebuilding the brakes.  The brake lines are some indeterminate age, so they should be replaced as well.  I will be doing all that work in the next few weeks, especially if I continue to have time.  Then, before the beginning of the season, I plan to repaint the plastic and make it look a whole lot better than it does now.  I'll be helping with tech inspections, so I had best have a decent looking and especially clean and well prepped bike.  It's difficult to fail people's bikes if your bike doesn't measure up.

Which leads to why I do all these things.  Some people like golf.  I like motorcycles, all aspects of them.  Actually, I like machinery, especially fast, powerful machinery, but bikes are much more satisfying than cars, since they are smaller, and you can accomplish much more with them by yourself.  Their relatively low cost doesn't hurt either.  There's a kind of zen you get into cleaing the caked grease and dirt of ten years racing out of the back of an old racebike.  I am looking forward to getting it put back together so I can start the same process on the old Husqvarna.  A new, unmolested bike wouldn't be as satisfying to maintain and upgrade.  For example, I found the rear brake light switch on the SV.  It was still there after almost ten years, all on the track.  It was probably there because it was on the inside of the frame and nobody had bothered to take it out.  I found it and removed it.  There was no reason for it to be there.  It's a small thing, but it made me happy.  Nuts?  Maybe, but I think golfers are really nuts.

It's good the season is a few months off.  There's a lock nut on the swingarm which requires a special tool to take apart.  It's amazingly expensive from Suzuki, so I bought one on eBay.  They guys at Aurora Suzuki thought it migh not be all that important, and the man in the parts department I spoke to said his bike doesn't have any of the oddball locknuts on it any more, but I am kind of anal about making sure nothing comes apart at speed.  After last season's crashfest, I don't feel like taking a whole lot of chances.  There were not mechanical failures as causes of crashes, but it's still something I don't want to mess with.  The last thing I want is to ride the CYA Crash Bus!

People who don't spend a lot of time on the track have a hard time understanding how much time it takes off the track.  It's a level of committment I wasn't clear about when getting started, but I wouldn't want to miss a moment of it now.  You don't just take the bike to the track and ride it.  You think about jetting, bearings, necessary spares, repairs, refreshing things like seals, and tires all the time.  The bike is going to be ten years old this summer, and it's really old for a race bike.  I don't know for sure how long it's been since the motor was rebuilt, but I have been told it's relatively fresh.  If it lasts the season, I'll be happy.

I had a long conversation with the local engine builder whose sponsored rider took the #1 plate in WMRRA for the season.  Dale Zlock builds Kawasakis and SV650s.  It's an odd combination, but he's one of a couple really top notch SV builders in the area.  He says most of the SV650 motors he builds go to the east coast these days, and he thinks continuing to rebuild really old SV650s is nuts, since a rebuild will cost about the same as what I paid for the bike.  The crank will probably get replaced, along with a whole lot of the rest of the engine's internals.  The gearbox will likely need a whole lot of new parts, too.  That's OK with me, as long as it's reliable for a couple seasons and I can continue to "waste" money rebuilding it indefinitely.  I feel the same about the Husqvarna.  There's something about quirky old machinery which makes it more fun to monkey with than newer, better machinery.

Paul and I headed down to GP Suspension North/ KFG to pick up our forks and shocks.  The freshly polished and rebuilt parts make the rest of my bike look pretty ratty.  Motivation to take the rest of the rear of the bike apart is getting bigger looking at a freshly rebuilt Penske shock.  Cleaning and polishing the swingarm won't make me much faster, if any, but it will make the bike look like somebody cares more about it.  As time goes on, I seem to be getting more interested in having the bike look good.  Someday, it may get to the point I replace my well rashed leathers with a better looking, fresh suit.

The rain and snow have kept me mostly off bikes for the past couple of months, and I don't like it too much.  The Husqvarna's magneto came in finally, and it doesn't fit.  I figure it was 2008's departing shot, since I ordered it in 2008.  It will be a couple weeks before Uptite has the parts I need, so the Husky stays in the garage, disassembled.  The good thing is I found out Krylon plastic furniture paint works well on dirt bike plastic, so there's hope for the Husqvarna's looks.