Of Floorboards and Saddlebags
Posted in Pix on Apr 10th, 2009
Regular readers (and even the irregular ones, maybe — depends on how much fiber y’all are eating) may recall that I keep bitching about my right floorboard being ground away to nothing. I bought a new pair of “floorboards” awhile back from some yutz on Craigslist who didn’t know a floorboard from shinola and they’re still gathering dust next to me here on the floor of my office; and I’ve been watching them go for gold-rush prices on Ebay; but I’ve been doing without until today.
It finally occurred to me to post an ad on Craigslist saying I was looking for a floorboard, and within about two hours I had three offers in my in-box. One of them turned out to be from the P of a local MC whose members I run into from time to time, so I worked it out with him. He dropped it off at my place this morning and I had it installed about 10 minutes later. Nice. Now I can go back to really scraping through the turns again instead of being frustrated at the silence.
Here’s some before and after shots, just to prove that I wasn’t making it all up.
I also “fixed” my saddlebag today. I discovered when I was washing my bike the other day that one of the saddlebags was missing a little rubber cushion that sits between the bottom of the saddlebag and the support rail beneath it. The saddlebag has been sitting directly on the rail and muffler support bracket, with the bag rubbing the paint off the support rail and the muffler support wearing a hole in the bottom of the saddlebag. Judging by how deep the holes are in the bottom of the saddlebag, it looks like it’s been like this since I got the bike.
I’ve always had this metallic knock that sounded like it was coming from the engine but didn’t sound like an engine-knock kind of sound, if that makes any sense. I’m wondering (hoping, actually) if this is what it was — the saddlebag rattling on the muffler mount. I’m going for a ride with the guys tomorrow, so I guess we’ll find out. (Edit: It wasn’t the saddlebag. Whatever it is that’s knocking is still at it.)
And, again, here’s a few pictures to prove I wasn’t making it up. I’m feeling very defensive today, apparently.
