Nonsensical ravings of a lunatic mind

This is sort of two posts in one to fill in for my lack of content lately. While it's still the dead of winter here it's been pretty mild of late. Mild weather brings out the die hard motorcyclists. It was in the 40's for a few days but it will be getting colder for the weekend. This is reminding me of how my Honda is still not really where I'd like it to be in terms of reliability and, of course, it's dirty and brown. I'm not making a ton of progress on the Sprint so I'd better make a move on the Honda so I actually have something to ride. This will involve tearing the head off, as I've mentioned before. Pulling the head is not really a huge job but it's not the kind you should start knowing the Mommy is going to ask you to some baby-distracting so she can actually make dinner or do laundry without Potato Man clutching her legs. He's a good kid, just at that clingy stage. So when I can alot some time to motorcycle manitenence I need to pull the head, replace the cam chain tensioner, figure out why my carbs won't close all the way, put on new chain + cogs, true up the wheels, and give her a proper bath. The poor thing also needs a proper paintjob. I've got a few ideas, but going back to stock seems to be the most prudent thing to do. It would help the resale value and then, perhaps I could sell it and buy something a little more me. I want to make the 550 a finely tuned commuting tool. A to B with no worries, you see? Despite the Chiefs greatest efforts against it, I may go with electronic ignition. My father is Dr. Ketterings greatest proponent, for whatever that's worth. I may even put some hard bags on her if things go well. Shit, why wouldn't they? Last weekend we went to the big ol' bikeshow in Chicago, and while the show was smaller this year, the quality of the show seemed on par with what I'd expect. I took lots of pictures and while the quality improved over that of the last show the pictures were still pretty rough. I shot two rolls of film and ran out of film just before I got to the HD booth. That's about right anyway. They didn't have anything earth shattering and honestly, most of Harleys models look the same to me anyway. One thing did stand out, however. The Street Glide. I must be getting old. I've never been into baggers or touring syle bikes much. Now that I've done some commuting on the bike I can appreciate having some place to put your shit and I'd imagine on a long ride you'd want some of the creature comforts one of these bohemoths afford the rider. The Street Glide just has nice lines. The abbreviated windscreen has a nice look to it and doesn't make the thing look like a clipper ship, and the hard bags in the back have a nice angle to them. The long pipes end under the bags with a complimentary baloney slice that matches the bags' angle. Christ, I must be getting old if I post a picture of a psychedelic Sportster and give a glowing review of a bagger. That picture is cool though, no? If I was in the market for a touring bike, I'd definitely take the Street Glide for a ride. Then I'd go the BMW dealer and buy one of these. When I win the 350 million in the Powerball, I'll buy the following, in no particular order: 1) Ducati sport 1000 in burnt yellow (just like my Dad's) 2)Yamaha R1 in bumblebee livery. 3)Yamaha R6 in flat black 4)BMW R1200S 5)Aprilia SVX. This, of course is the short list culled exlusively from last weekends show. What I'd do with all that money is a topic for another post. What have we learned here? I like motorcycles and I need to get mine running so I can be a cage free commuter and if I had my 'druthers I'd be doing it on a brand new European two-wheeler. Rock on.