Licence to licence

I got the bike but there is a small formality to be considered. I have EU (Finnish) drivers license that allows me to drive regular cars and motorcycles - but I'll need a California licence as well.

I took the written test earlier for licence to drive car but I still have to take a handling test with bike. I'm not sure how smart of an idea it is to go to the test with about 650lb (325kg) bike. So being a little uncertain if I actually can handle the circle, we took a ride to local DMV when it's not open a gave it a try.

In the pic, you can see at least part of the test. To my understanding I'm deeded to do slalom around the markings on the center line and then do a turn and same back. Then I'm also expected to drive very slowly between the two narrow path between parallel lines and again do some circles. I was able to prove myself that my bike turns in theory in the required space, but the margin is unnerving. I maybe could borrow a very agile street bike from a colleague but I have to first try with own bike - just for the heck of it. I'll let you know how it goes when the time comes (it's DMV, waiting times are measured in months). 

From solo to duo

One problem the bike had was that it really can't support a passenger. Of course we knew this while pondering whether this is the bike to buy or not. But even with this it was a good purchase - it looks nice, it's well taken care and the price was right. But the issue needs to be tended. So here is the progression in four pics.

First - this is how it looked when we got it. Then, there is a new parts, struts and fender that can support a passenger. But as you can see it doesn't look that pretty, and as everyone knows these projects always cost more than double that you thought in the beginning. So new shocks were purchased and installed. It wasn't a bad investment since the old shocks were really worn out and it rides now much smoother than it did. But still got the new ones mainly for looks. Note that also the blinker lights were moved back so that passenger can have her legs somewhere nicely. In the final pic the height adjusted and it has the correct paint. Looks nice and is ready for a date night.

Oh and I didn't do the work myself. All of it was done by a shop close by called California Choppers.

Getting a new ride

It's been a while since the last post. There was a change of scenery and a lot of practical hoops and loops to jump through. 

But life is almost normal again and it's time to continue. But to continue - the first things is to get something to talk about. After extensive browsing of craigslist I managed to find a posting that looked somewhat genuine. There was plenty that looked like they were either suspicious or clear scams.

So, after few emails we took a trip to San Ramon via bank. Even in bank they warned that meeting a stranger with a pile of cash is kind of risky thing. I'm sure it is - felt pretty nervous taking BART to Walnut Creek and Uber from there to San Ramon. The person, let's call him Brian, who was selling the bike lived in a gated community which I took as a sign of a respectable member of a society who has better things to do than run bike selling scams on internet. 

Mister B. was very nice, very easy to deal with and had himself spent quite some time building the bike. I promised a good new home for very blue -96 Fatboy and we parted both parties happy.

Did you notice I said "we" headed to San Ramon earlier? Do you notice that bike is solo rider? Yeah, there is a problem there - we didn't drive the bike home. I called Big Mannie who arrived with a bike trailer and a big ass truck. What would be more convenient than let a pro to take care of things and just watch, relax and grab a beer.