Red Echo

December 6, 2008

Brady and Serena came back from their trip to east Asia today. Ava and I spent a few hours this morning cleaning, then I took off to run some errands while she waited to give them back the keys.

My first errand was a trip to REI, where I picked up my new skis and boots. I’m excited. None of the local resorts are open yet, but the season ought to kick off pretty soon now.

Back at home, I spent a couple of hours working on my motorcycles. The FJ600 came with a cut-down front fender that looks sassy but kicks up a lot of spray when riding on wet pavement. The water splashes back against the fairing and then spills out along my legs. Even wearing leather pants, this is a bit much. I found a new fender on eBay a couple of weeks ago, so today I installed it. Turns out you’re supposed to take off the front wheel before replacing the fender. I neglected to do this, but after a lot of twisting and heaving, and after deflating the tire, I did eventually manage to get the new fender installed.

I also put a new left-hand control unit on the Maxim, to replace the one I broke when attempting to replace its choke cable. The new control cluster came with a choke cable, but it turned out to be as worn-out as the one I was replacing, so I’ll have to keep looking.

The evening is winding along. There are a couple of events on tonight, but I think I’ll stay in, catch up on laundry, and work on Radian.