No, Grace isn’t done yet. Am I bitter? Only a bit. A tiny bit. The lean holder on her wasn’t wise on my idea of fixing her myself. Yes I got some good farkles out of the deal still. The parts that I am waiting for are of course something I was going to go after market with. The fairings have taken 3 months to get here.

What did I wan’t to do? Buy some after market track fairings from SharkSkins, and have her paint done up by Killer Paint up here in Snohomish. I was thinking about some blue offset shelby stripes, on top of the white with blue pearl like the rest of her. Something slightly retro, slightly modern, and classic through and through. Having aftermarket bodywork would have made working on her a lot easier. Twist half a dozen finger release fasteners and her bodywork falls away. Easy peasy. Instead of a dozen allen screws, plastic doodads, and bolts a-plenty to keep her buttoned up.

What really happened is that the shop ordered OEM replacement plastics, which had to be fetched all the way from the Hinkley factory. Meanwhile, instead of keeping her in a nice dry garage away from UV and moisture, she has been sitting naked in the rain and elements outside for three months. I love that bike. When she was broken in the garage, I cried a little when I walked by her in the garage. I wanted to restore her back to her previous glory, and rebuild her better and stronger then before. I wanted to know that the damage I caused her was taken care of, and no new damage could happen from neglect. More then that, I wanted to get to know her better. It is hard for a gear head to explain it to someone that isn’t one. It is a desire to know that my mechanical organisms are healthy, and have an intimate knowledge of every bolt and gasket on them. If there is a failure in the future, I want to know what it is just by the symptoms. A tick at a certain RPM, from a certain place on her, and I know exactly what it is. I know because I can picture in my head where that noise is coming from, or what the conditions are telling me. I like having this kind of knowledge about things that I place so much trust in.

And now god damn it I don’t have that trust in her. All because I couldn’t save everyone time, money, and effort, by doing the work myself.