{"id":280,"date":"2007-11-11T21:00:47","date_gmt":"2007-11-12T04:00:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pwoodford.net\/blog\/?p=280"},"modified":"2008-11-28T10:38:48","modified_gmt":"2008-11-28T17:38:48","slug":"i-can-see-clearly-now","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pwoodford.net\/blog\/?p=280","title":{"rendered":"I Can See Clearly Now"},"content":{"rendered":"

I spent the morning in Ed’s garage<\/a>, installing a new windscreen on my Honda Goldwing.<\/p>\n

\"Ed
Ed at work on my bike<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

From the day I bought\u00a0the Goldwing there’s been a problem with the windscreen adjustment mechanism, which is supposed to hold it in the raised position.\u00a0 It never worked right: even on a short ride, the windscreen would slide down to the lowest position.<\/p>\n

I took the bike back to the shop shortly after buying it but they didn’t fix the problem, and I subsequently discovered\u00a0they’d buggered up the adjustment mechanism<\/a>.\u00a0 Over time Ed and I replaced\u00a0the\u00a0parts the shop lost or wrecked, but we never could fix the fundamental problem: the damn thing wouldn’t stay in the raised position.<\/p>\n

Our mission this morning, in addition to installing the new windscreen, was to find out what was wrong with the adjustment mechanism and\u00a0fix it.\u00a0 I’m proud to say I saw the problem a split second before Ed did: a bent link on the right side of the mechanism, most likely another\u00a0result of the shop’s poor work.\u00a0 It’s straight now,\u00a0my spotless new windscreen stays where it’s put, and (unanticipated bennie!) the front end no longer rattles.\u00a0 Six years after swinging my leg over a\u00a0brand new motorcycle, it’s finally working right.\u00a0 Such is the Zen – and the\u00a0deep personal satisfaction –\u00a0of motorcycle maintenance.<\/p>\n

\"My
My new windscreen!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

So . . . first Zen, then karma.\u00a0 Maintenance means greasy fingerprints, so I washed the motorcycle as soon as I got home, then wheeled it into the garage to dry it out of the desert sun.\u00a0 Once in the garage I went to put it up on the centerstand.\u00a0 Wet centerstand, wet shoes, wet floor . . . over\u00a0it went, ever so slowly, me moaning no no no as I tried to pull it back toward me, coming to rest on\u00a0its right side, me now yelling Shit Shit Shit . . .\u00a0but\u00a0now we’re back to Zen because the crash bars worked as designed and there’s not a scratch on the\u00a0bike (though there’s a deep scratch in my pride, this being the first time I’ve dropped it).<\/p>\n

There’s a lesson in all this, but I’m damned if I can discern it.\u00a0 Oh, okay, I’ll try . . . is it to confront mechanical problems with\u00a0persistence and patience?\u00a0 Yes, that must be it.\u00a0 And never try to lever\u00a0an 850-pound motorcycle up onto its centerstand\u00a0while wearing wet shoes.\u00a0 Got it.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, if you’re a\u00a0connoisseur of migraines, click here<\/a> for a parts diagram of the Honda Goldwing windscreen mechanism.\u00a0 The\u00a0link that was bent is\u00a0part # 12, and I’ll let you guess how hard it was to find (let alone get at with a pair of long-nosed pliers).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I spent the morning in Ed’s garage, installing a new windscreen on my Honda Goldwing. From the day I bought\u00a0the Goldwing there’s been a problem with the windscreen adjustment mechanism, which is supposed to hold it in the raised position.\u00a0 It never worked right: even on a short ride, the windscreen would slide down to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18,5,2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-280","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-consumerism","category-motorcycling","category-personal"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pwoodford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/280","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pwoodford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pwoodford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pwoodford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pwoodford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=280"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/pwoodford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/280\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1040,"href":"https:\/\/pwoodford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/280\/revisions\/1040"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pwoodford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=280"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pwoodford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=280"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pwoodford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=280"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}