You get what you deserve.

So I am going to veer off the course of my usual posts here and throw in a curveball. This post is a little personal much like my posts about my accident from a few years ago but I have found that I am in a comfort zone and able to jot a few things down.
Back in 1995 I met this girl who at the time was 19. We hit it off and somehow, someway, I fell in love and quit working in Alaska to spend more time with this person. About 5 years went by and I married her and what do you know but about 7 years later I had enough of many issues and went my own way.
I am now with a woman whom after all this yammering is the subject of my post. She started out as a friend whom I eventually started dating and turns out we are quite the couple. I was in a relationship that was not healthy and now that I am in a good trusting and most of all respectfull relationship I have no idea how I managed so long before.
This woman I am with is named Lisa and she has turned out to be one of the best friends I have ever had. I am comfortable telling her anything and knowing that she is not judgemental or in the least bit condecending about what I choose to do. Makes things a lot easier as far as being myself. For those of you that are in a healthy relationship you will understand. For the unfortunate few that are not I am sorry. All I can say is your time will come. I have never met a more accepting person and this is not to say I am difficult just that no matter how you look at things there will be a difference in how things are looked at simply because we are different sexes. Being different is not a bad things as long as you respect each others views. I have found that is one of the keys to a good relationship. Respect each other and it will take you a long ways. Advice from a guy who has been there and done that more than he cares to admit.
As a closing to this little personal post I just want to say. If you found something that works for you.....then run with it and make the best of what you have. You just never know.

-Charlie-

P.S.
The silly woman at the bottom of my blog is the one who has made me so happy for the last year. Thanks babe for the pose.

What the heck is a Doohickey?

So this past Saturday a local KLR rider hosted a tech day. My friend Earl Thomas was there with his camera as usual. Check it out here; http://thevampireduck.blogspot.com/2009/05/tech-day.html

I ride a 2002 KLR 650 and for the most part it is one of the most reliable motorcycles available and has pretty much been the same bike from 1987 until 2007. Says a lot for the design and capability of the machine. I read an old Cycle World article recently from I believe 1991 that said the KLR was good at everything but not great at one particular thing. Basically an all around good bike. I really can't disagree as I have challenged myself on the thing and it still leaves me grinning from ear to ear.

The one downfall that the Kawi has is the cam chain tension adjuster. AKA the Doohickey. For some reason Kawasaki used two pieces welded together to make this adjuster and a really weak spring to retain tension. For some reason the doohickey "also referred to as the Doo" tends to break and can cause severe damage to the cam chain and other parts. When this tech day came about I figured it would be a good day to get this done and make sure everything was ok on the bike. Needless to say when I open up the left side of the stator housing and got to the Doo it was broken.

If you look at the picture and see the cam shaped adjuster at the bottom of the case you can see where it is supposed to be a whole piece that goes around the shaft. Not good in my book. We used a magnet and searched and dug all over the case looking for the broken piece but was not able to locate it. The spring for the tensioner had descent tension still but I replaced it and the Doo with a very high quality part from Eagle Mike. (Thanks Mike) Got the bike back together and fired it up to immediately notice a little less noise from the cam chain. Good day all in all and even got a little over a hundred miles logged by days end. Thanks to all who helped!

My broken Doohickey

-Charlie-