The Black Beast is home.

December 5, 2008 - Friday

I haven't posted since that short announcement that I could finally pick up the Beastie, but not for lack of things happening. I kept opening up a new blog post window every morning, but there was too much to write and I've postponed it until now. To begin on Tuesday, where I left off. I got the call from Päsche around 1500 hours; two hours later Florian stood down in the parking lot with my helmet and jacket, cussing up a storm about how stupid some drivers are. We arrived at the mechanic's to find only Fabio and Päsche there. Päsche gave me the receipts, service booklet, warranty papers and then handed over the keys. I finally had my Beastie back. It was snowing lightly as we drove home; except for three shorts trips on the Tweety Bird and test drive of the '05 XB9 in Wallis I hadn't driven a motorcycle in months. Plus, the Black Beast is brand new and I need to be very gentle the first 1000 km. No explosive take-off for a while. (Florian says they'll have ruined the pistons anyway while they were searching for the reason why it spit while idling, that I mayn't gear down and have the engine brake like I'm used to, and that something in the engine is already sounding funny... Ever critical. But the Beastie is working perfectly for now and for the next 970 km I'll avoid tearing on the gas.) We got home after 1800 hours, and Florian and I spent the next five hours outside in the garage under the glare of a high-power light, replacing original mirros, blinkers, handlebars grips and ends and back assembly. Florian muttered about "Barely home five minutes and already a pile of parts" and cussed at Buell for their strange wiring of the back blinkers, but he actually sounded rather upbeat through it all. After all, this is the only new motorcycle anyone in the immediate family has ever bought. (Note to self - don't ever do that again. Crawling around for 1000 km until the engine is used to work, and paying the full price when you can get a 2000.- markdown for something that's been out of the shop for a couple months isn't necessarily worth the assurance that the bike has been treated properly from Day 1. Not that I'm complaining - God forbid. I just figured that if.... Rather, when I buy another vehicle, it'll be pre-owned.) The next day, Wednesday, I drove it to work and then to Opa's for lunch. Everybody commented on how upbeat and happy I was. I was rather surprised to find they noticed such an obvious difference; I guess I wasn't quite so successful as I'd thought in confining my mopeyness to my blog. Either way, I am definitely happy now. I look forward to every morning when I drive to work, bundled in half a dozen lays and protective gear, and with good reason to make myself a hot tea as soon as I get to the office at six something a.m. Plus, I like watching the kilometers add up on my tachometer. Until I have those 1000 klicks behind me it'll only be about making tracks and racking up miles. On Wednesday evening Florian and I went to go pick up the Bonnie from the office, where I'd left it on Tuesday. We swung by SihlCity to get Mom a string of lights and Florian Grand Theft Auto IV and saw that my mechanic had a Harley display up on the top floor. Achim himself was there, so I chatted with him a bit, confirmed that the bike was running well and that I was really happy with it. They'll be seeing us again in January for the first service. I sincerely hope nothing pops up before then that'll need the attention of the mechanic. And here's the Black Beastie after the first five hours of customizing: