The curbside of the forks was together days ago. The road side refused to go. I broke down and ordered the pro tool which required waiting a week for it to arrive. When it did it was the wrong "drive" so I had to hunt up an adapter for it...
Then I went to assemble the fork tube... and the PRO tool wouldn't hold! ARRRRRRGGGGGHHHHHH!!!!
I had help to hold the holder and no matter what I/we did... nada... it wouldn't go together. Frustrated and angry I called it quits at dark. Went over and sat under the shredded awning and sipped a beer... stewing in my own juice.
Shortly after dawn I walked back over to give it one last solo try... and failed again. That damned tube just kept turning. No Joy.
So there I am... bike sitting on a jack. One tube that isn't and won't go together and stumped and frustrated and fresh out of any ideas....
Absent mindedly I picked up a wrench... and just went to turn that bolt again, and turn the damper rod, while trying to come up with another "idea"... and with NO HOLDER in the tube... the damper rod wouldn't turn? Locked up solid... WTF???!
I picked up the torque wrench and put it on... and CLICK! with NO DAMPER ROD HOLDER IN PLACE...not one damn thing to hold it... and it didn't/wouldn't turn...
So now, I'm kinda freaked; Did I screw something up and have the forks all jammed up?
No... it works like it's supposed to, both sides... Weirdness... checking the other tube it wouldn't turn either???... IDK. I've no freaking idea what or why or when or how...
I only know... the forks weren't together... and then they WERE... and I didn't do a damned thing... but... I'll take it! I hurried and got the oil in and leveled, the wheel and fender and brakes on... got her back together... and then gingerly rode a hundred miles... testing to see all was "Right"...
The brakes work. The forks work. No leaks. No Squeaks. No heat... just... doing what it's supposed to do...
Then yesterday I climbed on and went on a nice wide circle.
Ran up Hwy 287 through Laramie. Rolled out Hwy 130 through Centennial and climbed up into the Snowies...
You're just over 10,000 feet up in Snowy Range pass on top... Far Country that soothes the soul of a grumpy old puss gut like me!
Coming down off the west side of the Snowies I caught Hwy 230 just a little below Saratoga and turned south for Walden in the North Park country of Colorado.
Grab some fuel there and came back east on Hwy 14 over Cameron Pass, another 10,000+ footer... and down the Poudre Canyon back to Fort Collins.
That's a nice run down the canyon... until you get to the lower end...and then all the cagers who can't go around a 35 mile an hour bend at 25 without hitting their brakes kinda mess with the day... :)
Buuuut... bottom line... a few hundred miles on my unknown-how-I-did-it repair... and all is good. Awesome!
Grab Your Handles and Ride
Brian
4 comments:
One of life's mysteries. At least she is back together and in the wind.
Have you gone from Yosemite Sam to Smiling Jack?
All is well that ends well! Sometimes life is like that, with unexplained answers.
There are mysteries we will never understand out there in wrenching land. Glad it's all together and working just fine!
Glad she's back together and so glad you had such a beautiful ride! There's nothing like it, huh? Sucking in that wind, following that line, breathing in the clean air.
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