Back to the drawing board

Today my  motorcycle guru came over to help me finish up the carbs and hopefully get her started. Well, that didn't happen. There seems to be a wire rubbing somewhere and the electrical is not cooperating when we close the seat. Luckily he has all of the fun diagnostic gadgets that I lack and will be coming back over on Wednesday to see if it the day that my Frankenstein of a bike will come alive. In the mean time, the brake fluid was changed and I was given more lessons about the mechanics of my bike. I'm never surprised how much I learn about this bike when we get to working on it. I'm so grateful to have a knowledgeable and patient teacher.

Someone asked me how I came up with the name "Bessie", so I figured I would explain. At the time I got her, my ex-boyfriend had several other XS650s in our garage ranging from '77-'81. Of course all of the bikes had been converted over to cafe racers and well here was this big black cow of a bike sitting next to these sleek cafes. I said, "Holy cow, Bessie. You're huge!"

She weighs 450 (unlike the picture above which probably weighs the same as a Fiat) and the rest of the fleet was somewhere between 275-350. She also had a good 4-5 inches on the rest of the bikes. So, Bessie my stubborn cow of a bike it is. If you grew up around  cows you would certainly know how a cow works. They move when they want to and struggle when you want them to. Well, the fight is over and she needs to get on moving. Fingers crossed Bessie will finally find the strength to start running on Wednesday.

Rockabettie