Not a mile further down the road, of course, the light at Steger Road was red, so the idiot in the Cadillac had to stop and wait for the light to turn green.
...no, I don't understand it.
* * *
OH WHAT THE HELL: I might as well just say it; it's almost physically painful for me not to be able to talk about it.
This photograph is representative of the motorcycle I am buying from Og, assuming that it can be made to run reliably. The only real difference is that the one I'm buying has cast wheels rather than spoked.
Because Og is so very, very busy I volunteered to come over and do the required work myself rather than wait for him to do it. Everything else he has to do takes priority over this, after all: not only does he have his list of winterizing tasks; he has a more-than-full-time job; a wife, a kid, a house, and a dog to take care of; and a screaming buttload of gunsmithing projects besides. And--I'd wager--another crapton of stuff I don't know about.
What do I have on my plate? Job hunting, which takes a few minutes per day, UNFORTUNATELY; therapy, which takes an hour per week; Bible study group, which is another two hours per week; and church service (if I can wake up) which is about an hour per week. Keeping the house clean and neat, which is 2-3 hours at most. End of list.
...it just makes sense for me to do the work on the thing, since I'm going to be doing all the work on it going forward anyway.
This evening, then, I went over there and swapped out the carbs. I got the new pair completely installed before it was time to go home. Now I have to button up the stuff on the right side and reinstall seat and fuel tank.
I'm going to buy a couple gallons of fresh gas to put into the thing, because what was coming out of those carbs was paint thinner at best.
The battery is probably no good. A new one will be about $50 from 1000bulbs.com, where I got the battery for the dirt bike. They go all the way from there up to $YEECH! (Assuming I recall the year correctly, that is. Says here the GS450T uses a YB10L-A2 battery. I'm ordering nothing until I'm sure of what I need.)
I checked out some YouTube videos so I'll know what the thing sounds like when it's running properly.
Anyway, the helmet I mentioned here is part of the deal: if he doesn't have a motorcycle, he doesn't need a helmet, and the helmet fits me fine. (Yes, I made the deal on Saturday afternoon. He said he was thinking of selling his motorcycle; I asked how much...and jumped on it.)
Og believes that the carbs (one or both) had leaky floats, which was keeping him from enjoying the full performance of the motorcycle. The carbs I installed were from his spare engine; he cleaned them completely, put in new floats, and had a friend (who is a big motocross guy) set them up for him. So theoretically all I should have to do is apply fresh gasoline and get the battery going....