bad wrenching, lady riders and love of the road..

I fired my mechanic yesterday..he has taken care of the old shovelhead for 30 years. Knowing it was the nicest day of the new riding season (for those who have riding seasons) he rushed through repairs to get on the road..Big fucking mistake. You don't rush it if it's in the shop and on the ramp..ten minutes doesn't change the day or the ride..That was all it would have taken to inspect the work and be sure it was all tight and where it needed to be..Instead, I melted an oil line and breather line off the carb..Caught it quick but still dumped half the motor oil in the primary and the bike ran like shit..Got it home and spent three more hours fixing what should of never happened..Then got attacked by a killer bee on the test run..Damn, lol. By the way, I'm my own wrench and still waiting for my severance package..

Lady Riders..Hat's off to the lady's who ride and let me explain..I grew up old school. Having said that; the line of thought was always you girls belong on the back and not at the controls..Having rode in groups with lady riders over the last few years I have learned that you are more focused on your surroundings and on the people you are riding with than most of the boneheads I ride with..But in the last few months I have gotten a real lesson in lady riders..

A little history of the Rat and the Tat and what I have learned..Sunshine I hope you don't mind..We met on another biker site; BON..We traded some emails and found out we knew many of the same people and had traveled the same circles for years..we had probably been in the same room many times..We both share the passion for the road, Harley's, riding to nowhere, and searching for paradise..She has also opened my eyes to lady riders and the fact that their passions for the road, the bike, and the life are no different that those I have lived for my entire adult life..maybe much harder to archive because of the many who view them as lady's and not riders..I'll give you an example of passion for riding and doing the work to make it right..The Tat posted a blog about lean angles and her Deluxe sucks..she's a rider and wants to be able to corner without losing a foot doing it..so The Tat went to work..she measured, researched and put together what was needed to make the bike work for her..Being a rider she understands looks are cool but being able to do what you want to do is foremost on a bike, and she wants her setup for the road-not bike nights..She put together a forward control kit that will improve cornering, lean, and get rid of the pig boards..She walked into her favorite dealer, handed over her parts list and was told it hadn't been done but wholly shit it will work..they are on the way..You rock girl and I'm proud of you..Looking at the other lady bloggers bikes you all have done the same thing..you work hard to personalize your bikes for you...ride on lady's..

It's love of the road friends..

The Rat..