Winter on the Island

For most of Canada, the start of winter is about putting away your motorcycle, putting on snow tires and possibly readying your shop for a winter project. For those of us in BC on the lower mainland and Vancouver Island, its about putting away your summer motorcycle, and getting out your winter ride. This year I am sad to have only a project.

On Thanksgiving day I was headed downtown and rear ended a white Mercedes SUV that had stopped at a cross walk. My fault. Stupid mistake. Anyway I did a stoppie and dropped the bike on the left side cracking the stator cover. Oil was everywhere. I also smashed the gauges to bits, wrecked the mirrors and scraped paint off the fender.

I walked away relatively unscathed, save the indignation and the Mercedes had the color keyed receiver hitch cover pop off. Nothing serious. I had to JB Weld the cover to get the bike home. Yeah I rode it home. These early bikes may not have the speed and agility of the new repliracers, but they certainly are built tough.

So now my winter will consist of scouring ebay and salvage yards for parts to get the old girl back in shape for the spring. Oh well, there are worse pastimes.