Its been so long since I have been updating you all on whats been going on in my day to day life! Well this is an old story, but I think is a good one.
Awhile ago, around the same time of the Harley Davidson Flat head reunion, I was riding my BMW and as I was on Lincoln Memorial Drive I noticed the steel cable connected to my clutch lever went from 5 steel strands to 3 steel strands. Oh no! I came to the light right by bradford beach and pulled in the clutch as I slowly came to a halt. Two more strands pulled free, only leaving one steel strand connecting the clutch! At this point I knew that I wasn't going to be able to make it home so I quickly pulled into the parking lot to access the situation. I asked some fellow bikers nearby if they happened to have a toolkit for me to "re-crimp" the steel cable to the clutch lever, but found out very soon that this was not going to be practical.
Each time I tried, the cable quickly pulled free over and over again.
Realizing that this wouldn't work, I decided to bid these bikers farewell and walk all the way back to my apartment to get the new cable that I had for this bike and my BMW toolkit.
So I started walking.
It took me about 30-45 minutes to walk home and back on the hottest day of the year (I was so sunburned after it was crazy) but when I returned to my bike I started working. It didn't take long to route the new cable down the bike and onto the clutch lever, but when I tried to pull in the clutch the cable pulled free again!
WHAT. THE. HECK.
And this was the culprit. There is a piece of brass that goes into the clutch lever that captures the cable and it was wallowed out over time. So now I am frustrated, realizing that there is probably no way for me to get this bike home today. Sure I bought a brand new cable but this piece, it will be weeks before I see a new--But wait! Frankie's Studio is only a short distance away, maybe I can ask him to help me make a new piece quick.
So I call Frankie Flood, and sure enough he is in the studio working on other projects and I remember him say, "Sure bring the piece up, I'm sure we can make something."
Immediately when I got to the studio Frankie puts his own project on hold, throws some brass on the lathe and turns the above piece in minutes. He parts the piece off the lathe, puts the appropriate sized drill bit in the drill press and machines the through hole.
All I can say is that it is a great feeling to know that I have friends like Frankie that would be willing to put their own projects on hold to help someone in need. I don't know if I ever formally thanked him because that day was a blur, but a special thank you goes out to Frankie Flood for all the help!
After we were done at the studio, Frankie offered to give me a lift back down to Bradford Beach in his Ural sidecar. We quickly swapped out the pieces(which were a perfect fit) and I was on the road again.
Stay tuned for more adventures!
Comments
Post a Comment