how do you paint like this?

At the 2012 Indy Motorcycle Expo I saw a few motorcycles and while they were nice, this one stood out. How do you do a paint job like this? Maybe it's easier than I think but I doubt it. Anyway I'm sharing the pictures. Even though this paint job is not my style, I'm still impressed by it.

naked goldwing final drive

The final drive must be one of the most overlooked parts on my naked goldwing motorcycle. The oil in this poor stepsister part smells putrid. At least the Kawasaki Gear Oil I'd been using stunk pretty bad. The other reason for my blatant neglect is the infrequency of service required. My Haynes Manual says to change the hypoid gear oil every 2 years or 24,000 miles. Woops, it's been 8 years so I best get to it.
I had actually checked the hypoid (don't you love that term, a combination of hyper and paranoid, which describes a few people I've known) gear oil often over the past eight years and the level never budged by one drop that I could tell. Now that I'm reminded about the proper service interval I'll do better.
Also, I'm going to be using a different product this time around.
The Lucas family is well known around the Circle City and since they sponsor the stadium where one of my favorite NFL teams plays I think I'll give their HUB oil a chance. It sure doesn't stink like the Kawasaki product and it is almost a gel so it squeezes right in where it's supposed to go. After waiting for the HUB oil to settle and for the bubbles to disappear I sealed the final drive up again. It is such an easy job. Why did I neglect this little chore before?
I sure do have a lot of product left over. Does anyone want to come over and get their hypoid gear oil changed?

shocks for 75 Naked Goldwing

The shocks on my 75 naked Goldwing are leaking. Why shouldn't they? They've done their job for 36 years.

So I checked online and found Progressive Suspension but I read a review on them that the damping may not last for more than a year and a half and that they're kinda stiff.

I liked the idea of the Hagon shocks because they want to talk to their customers and build each shock to the customer's specifications.

I called my local independent shop and they recommended Progressive.

I then called Mother Honda and the parts girl said they had some aftermarket products available, namely Progressive.

One other product that came up in my search with a good recommendation was The Works.

All of these products run about $300 depending on whether you want the more expensive chrome, or the black springs. New springs are recommended on a vintage bike that you'll be riding because as a friend pointed out, the old springs have already bounced down a lot of roads and they're tired and they won't do the job as well as something that is new.

The final piece to add in this story is the link I got from a friend who suggested the NOS (New Old Stock) shocks available at Liquid Chopper. These shocks were made in the seventies so they are going to provide the stock look but they are brand new, never been used. I couldn't resist. I ordered two and then later wondered if I had ordered two shocks or two pairs. I'll find out if I get them, as there is always a danger with NOS that the supply will be depleted. The price on these shocks is...also...right around $300 for (2) (?).

This turned out better than I expected. Liquid Choppers was out of the shock I ordered, and gulp, that was two pairs of shocks I ordered. So back to the drawing board.

Then a friend told me about a guy who was selling some used shocks with only 600 miles on them that were the exact shocks I had ordered originally. So, for $60 I got what I needed, they look great and I saved $240.

Barlo's Pizza

Back in the old days when I was in college I worked in a pizza place. As such I'm always interested in how pizza places make their product including crust, sauce, meats and spices used, and so on.

I was talking to some guys about pizza at the Brownsburg Fire Territory and one of the guys said, "I own two pizza restaurants." So we began to talk about their gourmet pizzas and that they even put their gourmet pizzas on the buffet unlike most pizza joints that only place the bland pizzas on the buffet. Very cool. So I made a mental note to try Barlo's Pizzeria. Later on this same guy handed me a gift certificate to his place and that sealed the deal.

We drove about 30 minutes from the West side to the Barlo's on Southport Road, which isn't bad for a Friday date night with my wife. I had read online that Barlo's is one of the elite pizza shops in Indy and that the pepperoni breadsticks are wonderful so that whet my appetite in a big way. After starting in on our Diet Cokes our friendly waitress brought us the best pepperoni breadsticks I've ever eaten. These breadsticks were so big they could have been a meal by themselves. They were crispy on the outside and chewy on the inside, and the pepperoni was addictively delicious.

There are many enticing menu choices but we went with half Margarita and the other half Meat Market. I always tend toward the massive amounts of meat pizzas and this one had a tastiness that is unequaled. However, and this surprised me, I liked the Margarita (no alcohol), which is meatless, even better.

Now for the technical. I love Barlo's approach to sauce. They are appropriately stingy with

the sauce. Too many shops use so much sauce the pizza takes on a spaghetti sauce flavor and hat is not good. Sauce should not be noticeable, it should just mix in and add to the overall taste. The crust was beautiful to the eye and a crispy, chewy star all by itself. Some shops have crust that is a handy vehicle for delivering the "pie" portion of the pizza to your mouth but isn't tasy enough to relish on it's own. Barlo's crust is primo.

Yes, this pizza gets a big REV on my varooom meter.:-)

the best thing about my naked Goldwing...

The best thing about my naked Goldwing is not the bike. It's the friends I have made along the way.

I often read and hear about people who have done beautiful restorations, built imaginative bikes or meticulously maintain their motorcycles and they do it all by themselves. Some folks even make that a badge of honor and take great pride that they have done everything themselves. I'm happy for them.

When I think about my naked Goldwing I think of the friends who helped me, encouraged me, advised me, and volunteered to do some of the mechanical work. My two year project would have lasted ten years if I would have done everything myself. I'm not even sure I would have finished it.

I started out with almost no tools, no mechanical background, and no experience with motorcycles.

I had never heard of a "naked Goldwing." I had never owned a motorcycle before. I didn't know that 75 was the first year that Goldwings were offered. I didn't even like the looks of Goldwings, and still don't like the stock look. I didn't know what year my Goldwing was for sure and I didn't know that my Goldwing was probably made on the first day of production. I wanted to learn about motorcycles by working on one and the unexpected blessing was that there were other guys who became interested in my project. By the time I was done I had some friends that I now consider among my closest.

Yes, I like my Goldwing. I've never seen another one just like it. When you work on your own motorcycle you really get to know it. When you work with other people on something of mutual interest you feel a great sense of shared vision and accomplishment.

Since the time that the bike was completed I have spent a lot of time in my garage by myself working on improving and maintaining my bike. It's fun to figure something out and bring a repair to completion. I like what I have learned and the riding time I've enjoyed but the friendships matter the most to me. The friendships will be there long after the bike is gone.

putting the bikes away for the winter

The Harley and the Naked Goldwing are not quite tucked away yet because it has been such a mild winter so far. Christmas Day was so nice I had to take the naked Goldwing out and then the Harley Street Bob as well. On Monday my youngest son and his wife came for a late Christmas so he and I took the bikes out for a ride. AMH rode the 2012 Harley and I rode my naked 75 Goldwing.

But now it's time to get serious about putting them away.

Gasoline. I already filled the tanks up and put in the Stabill.

Oil. I took my Harley in for the famous 1,000 mile checkup just a few miles back so it has fresh oil in it. So now I need to change the oil in my Goldwing even though I have only put about 1500 miles on it this year. No need to let old dirty oil sit there all winter long.

Wax. I try not to let my bikes get dirty so I never really wash them, only use something like Wizards Mist and Shine about a thousand times throughout the riding season. The guys who painted my bike gave me that bit of advice.

Carburators. I ran my naked wing up into the garage and turned off the petcock to let it run out of gas. I don't like the noises it makes as it is dying but I suppose it's okay. I will probably run it a few times during the winter so I suppose I don't really need to do all that.

Battery. My battery in the Goldwing is somewhat suspect so I'm not too optimistic about how good it will be next year. I will trade the battery tender back and forth between the naked wing and the Street Bob all winter long. My brother brings his battery into the house for the winter but I'm sure if I did that I would spill battery acid on the carpeting.

Covers. I know a guy who shrink wraps his hobby vehicle during the winter but all I do is throw a bedspread or sheet over the bikes. That seems sufficient.

But then if it's nice on New Year's Day I might take them out for a spin after church.

My December Greeting

I am aware that many have switched over to Happy Holidays in December out of a desire to be politically correct or sensitive to others.

However, I got to thinking...

I doubt if Christians have a problem with Christ, that accounts for 2.1 billion people

worldwide.

• I doubt if Muslims have a problem with Christ since they consider him to be virgin born and sinless; add another 1.5 billion.

I doubt if Hindus have a problem with Christ since Ghandi thought a lot of Jesus and Hindus believe that we are all gods anyway. Some Hindus pray to Jesus along with other gods; so that accounts for another billion people.


• Buddhists don't have much to say about Jesus but the Buddhist I used to live by decorated his house for Christmas and Buddhists are supposed to eliminate all desire from their life so I don't think they would have a preference one way or the other about Jesus. That's another 400 million people.


• The numbers are stacking up here.


• There are people in animistic and folk religions in remote parts of the earth but they probably don't have the internet yet.


• So I'm going to go out on a limb and say what I love to say in December;

Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.