Beast slayer

I've been terribly itchy lately. One cause is the recent explosion of the wood tick population and another is the complete lack of engagement both from my brain and my hands. The four motorcycles which I consider under my charge are all working. Granted there's one last tire that need changing, a kickstand that needs lowering, and a carb that could use some tuning, but everything will start and drive.

I made myself a silent promise last month that I wouldn't buy another bike, especially if it is a project until I get moved back across the state. The temptation has been pretty unbearable though.

It has been my experience that when looking at old motorcycles to buy, the owner is generally a bit cold and tries to sort of butter things up with the intent of making you feel obligated to pay what he or she is asking. Yesterday, the experience was quite different. I drove to the owner's house and met him in front of the garage. He was having a beer with a friend of his and upon me asking, they recalled as best they could the history of a particular poor bike I was interested in. The last nine years had not treated this bike well and in it's current non-running condition, it seemed fraught with disappointment. Over our discussions about the bike, I shared a few of my motorcycle ventures and this pair proceeded to talk at length about their bikes, their projects, their fool friends, and their fool mistakes. After touring the garage and its piles of parts I soon had a beer in my hand and many whimsical projects in my head. There was a XJ900 which was hard-tailed and mostly complete across from two piles which I was assured would one day become a CB900. Tucked between them has a cute CB350 which was tentatively sold and oddly enough one of his "good" bikes for sale refused to start while I was present.

As it turned out I left empty handed with nothing but the money I came with, through some divine miracle. I thought that I had truly conquered the beast of temptation, my borderline low-ball had been rejected. Little did I realize that this fellow still had my phone number and within 15 minutes I was told $300 could net me a new old bike. What a difficult beast it will be to slay.