Teardown - My Way

Everything I read about taking apart a motorcycle (or car, or old tractor, or old anything, it seems), step one is always to LABEL EVERYTHING. Go to the hardware store, bet a bunch of zip lock bags and when a part comes off the bike, bag it and label it. Use a new sharpie because it will be easiest to read with a nice sharp felt-tip. Take pictures from at least 3 different angles, both with and without the flash (shadows can sometimes cause confusion) and write a detailed description of what the parts is, where on the motorcycle it came off, any tricks or particular order ti had to be taken off with relation to parts near by. Be sure to re-write these shop notes at the end of the day while it is still fresh in your mind. That way you can catch any confusing words and fix them. Blah Blah Blah. I've tried to do it the anal-retentive way and I just can't. I'm out in the garage working with my tools and I don't want to keep records (as you may notice in this blog. I'll try to take lots of pictures, but no promises). My day job entails keeping copious records, being subject to audits from insurance companies with 2 days notice, and working at a very stressful pace where mistakes are absolutely cannot be made, as my mistakes have the potential to kill. I am a pharmacist, andmy job means I have to be perfect, all the time, without exception. Piece of cake, except for the fact that I happen to be a human being. So I've got stress from that whole deal. Anyway, when I'm at home in my garage I don't want to have to do it any way except for my way. Taking things apart is FUN! Figuring out how to put them back together again is FUN! Writing stuff down and marking up zip-lock bags is not fun. taking pictures is fun, but sometimes I forget for a few days as you'll notice on this blog. I have to get better at the whole photographic record thing.

These pictures are about 20 hours removed from the "before" pictures. I've removed everything except the engine and forks. I bought a bolt-on hard tail and have it installed. I found a 7 inch flat trailer fender at Tractor Supply and decided it was an inch or two too wide, so I took a slice out of it and welded it back up. I'm having a tough time at this point trying to figure out how to mount the fender while keeping everthing nice and clean, easy to take off and put on, and all the while making sure it hugs the tire.