atomsplitter

Living Legend
Joined
Nov 29, 2007
Messages
2,757
Location
Keller, TX
Ride
17 T-120 Black, 20 Bobber Black, 98 Trophy 1200
The dot com folks are aware of this so I thought I should also let this site know I have a book coming out about motorcycle reclamation. "Lessons in Lunacy: Confessions of a Motorcycle Nut," is clearing some hurddles at the publisher (rewrites are really fun, like self inflicted vasectomies). Should be published sometime in November (unless I need another rewrite).

So you have a "taste" of what this book is about, here's a bit of Chapter 1.


Why Me, And The Steep End Of The Learning Curve



Years ago when I started in the nuclear industry as an Operator trainee I learned that there is such a thing as the ‘steep end of the learning curve.’ Academic types talk about a bell curve of knowledge where the student knows nothing (at the bottom) and progresses up the curve. The slope of the curve is determined by the amount of information needed to be digested during the learning activities. The average nuclear training day is about eight hours long and it typically covers a myriad of technically complex topics. In comparison to college classes (I have a BS degree from Kansas State University) nuclear training classes were like drinking from a two and half inch fire hose with a straight bore nozzle to college’s garden hose. Once you have gained some knowledge the curve’s slope flattens out near the top of the bell where supposedly ‘integration’ takes place by the student, but I have found that you can just as easily slide back down the slippery slope of ignorance back to the beginning.
A couple years ago I had offered to change bike tires for anyone needing it done because I have the tire fixture to do it and to be a nice guy (also I’m easily bored). I ended up changing a lot of tires (for friends, coworkers, strangers, strange coworkers, and relatives) that ranged from ‘I can see the wear bar’ to riding on the carcass. Most of these folks would just bring me their wheels needing new hoops so I didn’t have the joy of removing and reinstalling their wheels. So when my own 2005 Triumph Rocket III (daily rider) front tire finally squared off (which is bad) it was time to work on my own ride and enjoy the thrill of tire replacement. I buy replacement tires from a discount tire web site because they ship it to your door and I live in the country (which saves me gas) and I change my own tires to reduce costs (basically because I’m cheap). Now the last time I had replaced my Rocket’s front tire (a first time evolution putting me on the ‘steep end of the learning curve’) I was unhappy with my maintenance methodology (although it worked) for getting the front wheel high enough to clear my bike lift’s wheel clamp and roll it out from under the fender. To raise the front wheel sufficiently to clear the fender and the vice’s jaws was none too confidence inspiring since it put my 800+ pound Rocket at about 45 degrees on the lift’s table and waving like a flag. I had the bike strapped down in the back using ratchet straps and used my floor jack under the engine to jack the front high enough to get the tire/wheel to clear the jaws and the fender. Triumph built this bike with such a big engine it doesn’t use a frame, the engine is the frame. The front wheel was about 3 feet off my lift table and I had wood cribbing under the bike’s engine to support it while jerking and jostling the wheel out. I later used some of that wood to build my wife’s garden shed with enough left over to put an addition on the house.
 
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