Quick post-upcoming maintenance and first rain ride for 2017

I'm sure my one or two readers are wondering why two almost completely unrelated items make up the title.

Well, tonight the rain came early, so I was caught about 5 miles from home in steadily worsening rain.  Fortunately, we've had a bunch of rain lately, so it wasn't very slick.  Fortunate-because my rear tire is worn down along the center from all the commuting and freeway miles I do.  So this weekend I am pulling the rear wheel and having the rear tire that showed up today (and got rained on, how ironic!) put on.  Last rear tire change for Miss Swail, too.

30-year old Kawasaki emblem "goo" finally met it's match

My everyday ride is a 1986 Kawasaki Concours, one of three I have owned.  One was a parts bike, and one is the 1994 Concours I'm slowly restoring.  Well, both the other Connies have bad gas tanks-the parts bike tank was an internally, faded paint mess, and the 94s has rusted through from sitting too long.  It's been repaired, but also isn't in as good a shape as the 86 tank.

So I'm going to re-use the 86s tank for the restoration but need to repaint it.  I popped the Kawasaki emblems off a few weeks ago, but big black blobs of adhesive were left behind.  Nothing that should have worked got this stuff off.  Even after thirty years no solvent I dared use dented the blobs.

I asked my Father-in-Law if he had a heat gun, but he didn't.  So what did they get me for Christmas among other things?  Yep, a heat gun!  (side note:  You know you're getting old when a heat gun excites you more than possibly getting a Red Rider BB Gun.)  So tonight after dinner I went out to the garage, grabbed a plastic putty knife and fired up the heat gun.  Once softened a little the adhesive "goo" came off.  I slightly melted the putty knife, but no big loss-it was one I found laying around and not sure when we got it.

I've already got another project or two in mind for the heat gun, so it will likely be put to good use.  Time to prep a few more pieces of old bodywork and pick a color for the Connie-bouncing between a dark blue, a deeper red than stock, or white and black. 

First Ride of 2017 and a non-motorcycle post

So far, so good-one day into 2017 and I've ridden.  My best friend and his wife have always hosted a "Greens and Peas New Year's Celebration."  He passed away six months ago, so his widow and some friends put it on again this year.

Since they gave me his Harley, I rode it up there today, had a nice visit with lots of friends, and also ate my fill of greens and black-eyed peas.  Here's to 2017 and my dollars and cents!

And on to the non-motorcycle part of this post.  Yesterday I attended the San Diego International Auto Show for the first time.  I've lived in San Diego off and on for nearly 30 years and have never been.  Used to the International Motorcycle Show (IMS) in Long Beach, and seeing the crowds around the convention center for Comic-Con, I've always stayed away worried it will be super crowded.

Boy, was I wrong!  Yes, we've had what could be considered bad weather for San Diego lately, but I was surprised at how modest the crowd was.  I got to see and sit in most the vehicles I planned on and even got to take more test drives than expected.  I test drove a Ford Fusion (I am considering a hybrid or Energi for my next car), and the new Fiat 124 Spider and Mazda Miata.  Both share some components, as the very knowledgeable Mazda test drive hostess and a product specialist pointed out.  I also didn't know that Mazda is now sourcing their parts internally-their partnership with Ford ends when a few more engines are used up-and they now rent/sell technology to other makes.  That is why the Fiat Spider had similar parts.

I hope to post more frequently in 2017-thanks for sticking with this very infrequent blogger!