The roar...

WARNING: Long boring post about motorcycles...
Bike Night holds different meanings in my life. "Bike night" at the skatepark is when bikes are allowed. Bike Night in Kalamazoo means hanging out, tinkering with motorcycles and getting sage advice from dudes that seem to understand every idiosyncrasy of vintage machines. I posted last week about my carb rebuild. You know how a lot of projects in life, once you get into them, you realize they aren't as a big a deal as you anticipated? Those carbs were not like that. They were crazy. Even the wise men of bike night were like "holy shit" when they saw them apart.
Last night I installed them. Putting them back on is no big deal, I've done it a few times before. I started getting into the wiring issues with a couple dudes and realized I had juice to the ignition. I climbed up a ladder to retrieve the gas tank, attached the hoses and went for it. Kick-starting an old motorcycle is unlike any other action I can relate to. The first few kicks, nothing happens. In the case of a big rebuild like this, you really don't know if anything is going to happen at all. John, one of my carb mentors, wanted to try to start it. I definitely had a process I went through to start it before, basically nursing it into co-operating and finally it would start. All of that is out the window now, because, theoretically, the carburetors should be performing properly. John went at it with rapid kicks, talking to my bike like a stubborn horse. It sputtered. It was getting gas and electric or it wouldn't fire at all....three kicks later and it roared to life. High fives all around and it seemed like those guys were more surprised than anything that it actually fired up. In all honesty, I was confident that it was going to start. I've had that bike for so long and since my dad and I first got it going 15 years ago, I've always been able to get it started--it just takes awhile sometimes.
One of the cool things about Bike Night, besides the eclectic cast of characters, is the likewise eclectic cast of bikes. There is a token Harley, but everything else is a mix of Truimphs, Nortons, BSAs, Ducatis and really obscure brands of days gone by. There are also a lot of Japanese bikes, like this gem of a Yamahopper.
I officially started digging today, even if it was only one frozen chunk of dirt...

I can't wait for the thaw....