A Harley Motorcycle

Remember how I was supposed to get the bike back from Marcelo on Tuesday - just after lunch? Didn’t quite work out that way. Here’s how things go down here sometimes.

I called him just after lunch. Turned out he hadn’t been able to get the parts because the wholesaler wanted cash up front instead of 30 days. So I went over and gave him cash to get the parts. Now the bike was going to be ready Wednesday after lunch. It was pretty well disassembled already so he’d been working on it, but no parts, very little progress.

Wednesday. Called and damned if I could understand what the story was - my Portuguese is still a little flaky depending on who I’m trying to understand and this was his assistant. So I went over to the shop. Around about 2:30 Marcelo showed up with a ton of parts stuffed in his jacket, hanging in bags off the bars and a tire around his middle. Ah, my parts had finally arrived.

I spent the rest of the afternoon breathing gas fumes and watching them work on my bike and do a load of quick little jobs on the bikes of people who stopped by to have this or that adjusted. By 5:30, I had one hell of a headache and had to get to work and the bike was nearly together. But it was leaking gas like crazy. So Marcelo gave me a ride to work, said he’d bring the bike before I was finished - at 8PM.

Around 8:30, Marcelo showed up, said he just hadn’t been able to get it adjusted right, his brain was dead and he’d get right on it in the morning when his head was clear again. Be ready around 11 in the morning.

Next day (it’s now Thursday - yesterday), I call. Almost there, just a bit more to finish off the cleanup. So I go over around 1:30PM. Yes, ready. So, finally, feed the need - I’m outa there and gone for the rest of the day, on the ride, in the air, getting clear. At last, free again and out of the cage.

And the bike? Runs like new. Smooth. Stable. He does good work. It was worth it. And the road was primo. Unreal how long a week with no bike is.

Now here’s the other thing. Here’s what he did: new handle bar; new fork sleeves; new brake pads front and rear -adjusted the brakes; new chain and sprocket; change oil filter and oil and fixed an oil leak; suspension fluid and adjusted the suspension; cleaned the airbox; took apart, cleaned and rebuilt the carb; checked the ignition, regapped the plug; checked the battery and topped it off and recharged it; cleaned and lubricated everything in sight including switches. His helper did get some wax on the front disc, but it’s almost all gone by now. Total bill - parts and labor: less than US $100 — US $70 in parts and US $30 in labor. If I remember right, up north, it’s usually the other way around, parts always less than labor - and both a hell of a lot more than here. So despite the problems you run into down here, you don’t get eaten alive by the labor costs and the parts are cheaper too. And the bike - hey, I’m out of here. The sun is shining, I’ve got my ride and the hell with it, everything I’m supposed to be doing can just hang until I get all of the last week blown out of my head.

Gone riding.

Rick