Monday, February 6, 2012

new bike day



i hope you guys don't mind short stories. if you do, you can punch me in the gut/throat simultaneously next time you see me.

so basically this video was meant to be a behind the scenes on raising a little cash in order to buy a chopped 1972 yamaha xs 650, but it ended up sort of just being about buying a bike altogether. i first saw the ad for this bike a few weeks back on kijiji and it instantly caught my interest but I kind of crossed it out as a possibility due to having the money for the bike but being a couple hundred short for the rent. i figured i'd try and email the seller and find out if i could possibly throw an embarassingly low-low ball (no shame in my game) to see if they would take it. turns out the couple selling it are going overseas to africa to volunteer for a few years and were selling their house, car and all their possessions in order to be able to afford to do so. the guy selling it was really nice and instantly came down in price, as he was about to just put the bike in storage anyways and figured he could use the money.

at that point i had to put a little plan into action. i sold my drums, took in a titload of bottles and hit the limit to how much they can give you at sarcan (greatest feeling in the world)*sidenote-4 out of 6 bags broke in the parking lot making getting them in there near fuckin impossible-and had to last resort clean out part of my moms house to pull just a bit of extra money together. cleaning mice shit out of a basement always sucks, everytime, always. but i got the money together!

buying a used bike is always such a bizzare experience. i'd say atleast 7/10 times your going to be so dissappointed all you can really do is just laugh about it and maybe cry later. there's always the haggling process which can take time or just completley flat out fail, then there's the getting money together part which is just as easy as it doesn't sound, THEN there's the travel to get the bike, using busted ass directions to find the house, and all sorts of little stupid complications along the way. but things got sorted and everything was looking good.

the morning of getting the bike the uhaul I booked for it turned out to have the wrong wiring for the car i was going to use to pull it, so my dad and i ended up having to drive back out of town to his place and shovel out his utility trailer and blow up the tires and then precede to drive it unlicensed because all the license issuers were closed (making us super late). we actually ended up finding the place alright which was a lot nicer then the extra hour and half of driving we did trying to find the last guys place in saskatoon who sold me the CB 750.

upon pulling up to the place, the bike was sitting in the driveway in front of (excuse my ghetto vernacular)a big ass house, all polished and clean, and for once maybe ever the bike in person looked 10 times better then the photos in the ad. my dad and i looked the bike over and everything looked great, it has a couple little quirks but nothing unfixable, and it runs which is great news. the bike itself is not far off from what i eventually hope to have it looking like, but it still gives me room to do a lot of changes which is awesome.

two weird things happened while at the house. on the way up to saskatoon my dad and i were talking about my upcoming trip to mexico and i was telling him how i'd really like to get a little leather tool bag to strap to my front forks. randomly enough later while talking over the bike with the guy selling it, he said "hey, i got something extra to give you for the bike, i'll go inside the house and grab it." sure enough when he walked out he was holding a vintage leather toolbag, the EXACT one i was picturing in my head, and i asked him if he wanted any money for it and he said "not at all! i have no use for it so you might as well take it." also when i walked inside his house i had to do a double take because looking back at me was exactly the same dog as mine, almost the exact same breed and also the exact same age. bizzare!
here's a photo of the tool bag




















i have also developed a weird superstition where i like to grow a beard everytime i buy a bike. its bizzare but it feels like a lucky charm. heres a photo of the last time i went up with my dad to saskatoon to get a bike:(caution-this beard looks a little or a lot similar to pubes)
















all in all this bike buying experience went over a lot better then what i had expected in my mind. i know this bike will need some TLC but im glad i have a bike that is close to my vision of a dream bike that i can work with and make my own.

if you read this whole post i owe you a giant burrito and a back massage. here's a couple more photos of the bike! shralp life

=501=



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