Tuesday, September 06, 2016

September Look Back

School has started up again, so it's time to obey the speed limit signs in the school zones. Summer is done.   Sort of.
 Here's a before photo of the Laverda along with a customer's Harley from back in the days of customers, and the scooter I failed to ride much because my knee felt too unstable.  Going was fun, right turns were OK, but stopping was not fun.  Alas.  Stupid knee.
 And here's the Laverda after, because it's so pretty.

Things have been getting in the way of the camping trip.  He took one failure of a trip on the 250 Ninja, but was miserable the whole time due to heavy rain.  I'm pretty sure that was the last heavy rain of the summer.  Anyway, he gave up and put a sneaky electronic ignition on the B-31.  It doesn't show, so it's sneaky.  He tried so hard and spent lots of money trying to get the original magneto and whatnot to behave reliably, but gave up.  Armature was one of the words he kept using.  I couldn't keep track.  Anyway, as soon as he's gotten a root canal (that's a tooth thing) and a club ride and the wedding of friends, he'll be ready to take the B-31 on a camping trip to Mt. Lassen.

Meanwhile, I get to see a very odd classical music production involving a local composer,  poetry,  small groups, singing, ballerinas, and the daughter playing viola.
We went for a lovely drive in the '57 Chevy for Labor Day.  He likes to tease me that I'll have to drive it.  I have, and I can, but I prefer not.  A road was closed so we followed a gravel detour that meandered between a hillside and a stream with logging on the left and farming on the right.
As you can see the sky was beautiful.  We guessed all sorts of things for the orchard, but couldn't really come up with anything.  Nut?  Fruit? Maybe one of those.
 Here's another old photo when he was still working on other people's bikes.  This is a ground up restoration of an old BMW.  It was almost as pretty as the Laverda when he was through.  I think the shirt came from Chicago, and this is the only time he wore it. 
 
This pretty sky photo has a stunt plane doing loops and other scary stunt plane tricks at the local airport.  The pilots went up one at a time and did a rehearsed routine.  They were all very nice and happy to answer any questions.  The weather was perfect for plane watching and since it was more of a competition than a spectator event, there was no admission and no crowds. 

We enjoy our quiet and calm valley.  Football season will come and things will get wilder. 

2 comments:

Avus said...

Thanks for all those lovely piccies of bikes, Vita. That Laverda looks real purty and I see that the BMW that H restored is one of the "proper" ones, designed by engineers not accountants, when they were still making such superb bikes that they nearly bankrupted themselves!

Sorry about the knee/scooter. I have an old female friend (old as a friend and old as me in age). She is a shorty but still rides a Suzuki GN250 from which she can reach the ground. She has a similar knee. Sometimes she puts that leg down and the knee clicks out. She has to click it back in before she can get off the bike - which can be a pain, literally!

'57 Chevrolet, eh? Dolly Parton springs to mind.

Vita said...

R27 sold as a 1967 in USA, but built in 1966. Last year.

I am such a chicken! I greatly admire you old friend. Bet she's fun! GN250 sounds like a perfect bike. I sure liked all the Suzukis we had. I guess it was only 2, and one was before we were wed. He tells everyone how I complain that he sold the GS 500 and bought a 1978 Triumph Tiger (ugh!), which he sold for a 1979 HD Fat Bob, which was fun while it lasted, but it wasn't well made. That's when he bought a 1980 Suzuki GS 1100L. A blast! But it ate tires. Then he bought the 1982 Gold Wing and though it wasn't the jack rabbit the Suzuki was, it went over 300 thousand miles, mostly with me on the back, and he also had his old Laverda, which he bought new in 1972 in Italy. How I go on! Incomplete, but enough is enough.