Here today, gone tomorrow, nowhere in between

Hole in the sky

Lunar eclipse makes me think about Black Sabbath.  The moon is up there like a little hole, a peach.  Or like a penny, it has eyes, dark eyes.  Is it happy or sad?  The solstice means change, change is happy, but change is sad. The moon is cream and the stars all around it are like even smaller holes.  If my brother was awake he could lay in his bed and see it out his window.  All of the holes. 

A long time ago The Moon and The Earth were in love, they were together every day in harmony for a long time.  After a great catastrophe the Moon was blown away, literally torn apart from the Earth.  Needless to say he was devastated, thrown so far out into the cold.  Neither of them could help it, just victims of circumstance. It sucks though because the Earth became so preoccupied with her own matters, trying to stay healthy, well hydrated- and even just breathing some days was so tough that she rarely acknowledged the moon any more.  He tries and tries to make her see he still loves her.  He pulls on her oceans, illuminates her night, tries so hard to be as bright as he can, he even shows off only his best side all the time.  Nothing really works though and that makes the moon even sadder.  If you look close enough you can see his face, and you can see him wailing away, singing the song of his life and the tragedy of his lost love.  His face is somber and sweet; he is like the BB King of the universe singing about getting his woman back, sometimes soft and gentile, other times rising with intense passion, all the time sad because his love is too far away to hear him - but always hopeful.  Once in a while though, with some luck the Earth does pay attention to him, often on the coldest night in the year, on the longest night in the year, when the Moon is out there singing his sad song the longest, she will turn around with a silent heave and she will guard him from the sun.  For a while the Moon will keep singing his sad sad song but the Earth will remain steady in his presence, still silent, watching with a caring eye.  The Moon will stop singing and he will glow orange with warmth, remembering how safe he felt by the Earth's side.  The Earth will join him in a moment of silent reverence, and all will grow silent.  For a short while the Moon feels better again, safe and warm, his face isn't sad anymore and he hums a happy tune for a while, one that the Earth joins in on and everything is in perfect harmony for one moment until it all passes and time continues its inevitable advance forward as the Earth becomes preoccupied again, and again the Moon realizes his ultimate aloneness - and all he can do is keep singing.

final mockup

couldnt help myself, had to throw the good engine in there and mock up some more parts on it... Im pretty set on this set up if Im going to use parts I already have laying around.  The honda 50 tank will only be temporary until i can afford a wassell.  Im not feeling the old chrome fender anymore, it was too wide and square, this is the plastic front fender off of a CJ360. I have to remake the drag bars a little wider.  Its not entirely what I had in mind for this build but its what the bike wants to be.

More progress

Started tearing the engine down today, I have to say an impact driver is the best tool ever invented.  Some of those screws were a major pain though, had to cut some so they were straight edged. 

This was probably before the fucking thing fell off the table and into an oil drain pan I had on the floor, thank god.  It grazed my arm and something hit me in the face but I got really lucky.  Twas a bitch to get back up on the table myself too!

This is as far down as I got today, had to cut the chain that wraps around the cam (timing chain? I dunno this shit) to get the head off, luckily I dont need it and I managed to spare the gear.

 Holy scum! Yea its as bad as I feared it would be.

Toast!  I was hoping to be able to salvage the pistons but it doesnt look like it.  I think Im done with this engine now too, I figured out how it goes together, I have some good hardware to build the better engine, and I learned how to make it fall off the table like a dumbass, good day!

The engine Im going to use is  actually from a CJ360, and its kickstart only which makes me happy.  This is probably it for engine stuff for a while, at least until i get some cash together.  Im going to start cleaning up the frame next, deciding on a tank, mounting the fender etc.  Stay tuned...

getting started

This is my 74ish Honda cb360, been messing around with mocking up some parts for a while... thought it was finally time to tear it apart and get on with the build.  Im trying to do it right but this is popping my chopper cherry, and I dont have a lot of cash so we will see how that goes.

Found some dirt or ash when i took the exhaust off, cool!  I have an extra engine thats nicer but needs the top end rebuilt and is in pieces, this one is seized and has other issues.

Wrestled the motor out tonight, going to tear that apart soon so i can figure out how to put the good one together!

So thats it, Im in college and building a bike in my basement.  I really wanted a triumph but they are out of my price range right now so this will do.  The plan is to get the good engine together, finish welding up my frame where i lowered the seat bars, strut it until i can afford some lowered shocks. bars arent permanent, neither is anything else, might get a 21 inch front rim if I can afford one.  Cant decide on a tank yet, I really want a wassell but the honda 50 tank has something cool about it for now if i rework it a little.  I love the bikes being built in japan right now, always changing, the perfect amount of character, ridden hard... i really just want this to be a fun little workhorse.