winter planning

I've just come back from what will be the last weekend away on the bike for this riding season.

Not that I really like the idea of a time of year when I should automatically take the bike off the road and lay it up for the winter but this year I want to get on with the plans I have been putting off for a while.

But, first to the weekend. The riders' club had the "end of seasoner" planned since way back in April / May. Fifteen of us booked into a bunkhouse in Newtonmore. The ride up there from Glasgow was cold and wet but the stunning scenery entirely made up for that. I decided to steer clear of the A9 and ride up Loch Lomondside to Glencoe and Fort William then cut off at Spean Bridge and the Lagganside road to Newtonmore.

Reversing the route on Sunday was not quite as wet and was even mild without the wind. These are some of the best biking roads I know.

I managed to get home on the tank of fuel I filled the bike with at Fort William on the way up. Not only was my petrol tank conveniently empty, the road tax ran out at the end of September, the front tyre is also at the stage of needing replacing so the SORN certificate can start just in time for me to take the bike off the road to start all the work I'm planning.

As for that work. The main thing I want to get done is the front end. I've had the forks in the garage for well over a year now. I need to order brake lines and will get the read ones in stainless to match the front while I'm at it, but the big expenditure is going to be the wheels. I very much doubt that I will be able to afford to do both wheels so I'll concentrate on putting the cash together for the front one for now. There are still a couple of options I'm considering, each of which has it's up and downsides. 

I want polished stainless spokes on a black rim.

Performance Machine wheels are expensive but are totally the look I want. Their merc wheel in black ops finish would really complete the black and mean look I want. The negative with buying them is that I will be restricted in the size of the rear wheel I can get. They manufacture wheels for Harleys as model specific so I would need to buy a front one for a fatbob and a rear for the night train. I am considering going down to a sixteen inch for the rear and to go that way I would need to go for another manufacturer like TTS or even buying hubs and getting them built to the specs I want.

I'll do a final bit of research on the internet then go for whichever can give me the combination of looks, sizes and price I'm looking for.

As well as replacing the forks and brakes, I'm thinking of swapping the bars too, just to complete the look. I may remove the "sons of anarchy" fairing and go for some sort of apes. The fairing does give me some protection from the weather but not enough to make it indispensable.

Apart from the front end there are also a few jobs which I didn't complete at the beginning of the year. I've got the speedo to fit which will include removing the rest of the redundant wiring from the carb conversion. I still need to finish the filling on the new tank. Then, cash flow allowing I can think about the paint work.

So, I've got a lot of work in front of me. Fingers crossed I'm going to get through it this time.