Did A Little Riding After Helping Ian

I did a little riding after helping Ian out. It was a beautiful day and I enjoyed racking up the miles.

Look at that blue sky!

Saw this sweet beast for sale on the side of the road.

Give the guy a call if ya want to buy it.

I had to laugh at the beat up BMW parked outside the single wide.

The Cahaba River.

I love this road.

Got the spark plug wires changed on the Triumph, but it didn't want to start. I'm charging the battery to give it another shot. Hopefully it'll be OK after this.

Helped Ian Get His Brakes Workin'

Larry and Ashley went out of town this weekend so the shop was closed. That didn't stop the chopper fun from happening though. I talked to Ian and found out that he was over at Bama-Billy's house trying to finish up the caliper change on his XL. Bill was out of town and sometimes you need an extra hand so I headed on over there to help out. Ian's caliper was leaking and acting up so they had drilled it out and put an insert in it to make the threads seal. Unfortunately it didn't work that well so a new caliper was sourced from the usual place. Saturday while Ian was putting it all together it was discovered that the threads in the new caliper didn't match with the threads on the stoplight pressure switch that doubled as the banjo bolt as well. I told Ian about the stock brake light switch set up on my softail and it was decided that a similar set up would work better on his bike as well. So off we went to the HD dealer to get a banjo bolt and order the new pressure switch adapter.

Ian trying to make it work.

My favorite parts guy, Jeremy at Heart of Dixie HD. I used to work here and I know Jeremy will take care of me. He's the kind of guy that doesn't know everything, but he actually cares about getting you what you need. If he doesn't know he will tell you and then go try to find someone who does know so that you can get what you need and get back at it. If you need something go see Jeremy and tell him I sent ya.

Got the new banjo bolt and got back to work. It took a while because the rear pad decided to screw with us, but we finally got it to fit back together and got the caliper bled. Once the new parts come in the new line and the pressure switch set up will get worked into the system. In the meantime we know the new caliper works and Ian can ride a little if he needs to.

Pulling it out for the test ride.

Ian's XL in all it's Chopper Glory!

Kick that damn thing to life!

And a successful test ride ensued with Ian knowing he has a better brake now than he had before. There is not many more parts that can need attention after all the work he's done so maybe soon this bike will decide to just go for a while and not want so much attention.

Remember! Ride It Like You Know How To Fix It!!!!

My Favorite Place In Chicago

The Museum of Science and Industry is a great museum with a long history and some great exhibits. They do a great job of preserving history and at the same time keeping things current and fun for the kids. For me it's the older exhibits that keep me coming back. When I was in Chicago before I visited and had a great time, but my camera was not up to the task of getting good photos inside with the weird museum lighting. This time I took my trusty Canon G12 and got some great shots.

My favorite exhibits are the U-boat U-505 in it's own exhibit and the Spitfire and Stuka that are part of the Transportation Gallery. The U-boat is the last surviving example of its type and was captured by the USS Chatelain on June 4, 1944. The story is really interesting and worth reading. You can find most of it on the museum website, just follow the link above. The Navy crews that fought against the U-boat fleet were courageous and persevered until they had neutralized the U-boat threat, and are deserving of an exhibit like this to show what a formidable enemy they were up against. I'm posting a LOT of pictures on this one so take your time and check em out.

The flag that flew on the USS Chatelain the day U-505 was captured.

The first sight you get of the submarine as you walk into the room.

Zoomed in on the conning tower.

Another view.

Part of the display, the painting is the U-boat almost sunk as the U.S. crew fights to keep her afloat so she can be towed back to U.S. territory. The cut outs of the men are the members of the USS Chatelain's crew who boarded the sub and made the capture.

They have a torpedo mounted as it would look as it exits the torpedo tube,

That is one long boat!

The conning tower, you can see the holes made by the .50 cal and other deck guns fired by the USS Chatelain to try to get the u-boat crew to surrender or abandon ship.

Form the lower part of the display.

That's a piston from her engine. It's actually the spare piston that was onboard when she was captured.

The Enigma machines that helped the German U-boat war be so successful. Luckily we finally captured one and broke the codes.

This is the Transportation Gallery from the end of the upstairs balcony. You can see the model train set up downstairs. It's a model of Chicago and some of the country between Chicago and Seattle, WA.

The British Supermarine Spitfire. This is the aircraft that turned the airwar over Britain around and started the defeat of the Third Reich.

Close up o the cockpit and those are the actual kills this aircraft made. This aircraft was donated to the museum right after the war and has not been restored. This is "as donated" condition.

You can see the Spitfire is closing in on the Stuka.

The German Stuka dive bomber. This is one of only two still in existence. It was donated with the Spitfire and is in "as donated" condition including holes in the airframe and wings from where it was attacked on the ground before it was captured.

Zoomed in on the cockpit.

You can see some of teh bullet holes in this shot.

From the floor looking up.

I HAD to take a pic of the white trash trailer park that is part of the train model ;-)

Looking down at the model train set up.

Well there you have a good overview of why I love this museum. I also like the Space section, but it was so over run with kids (spring break) that I didn't even try to get in there and take pics. I still have more to show you so stick around and as I said before I will get back to the bikes, but this is what I've been doing lately so I'm sharing it as well.

Went To Chicago For A Few Days

My Wife was sent to a conference in Chicago last week and I got to tag along with her. I ended up having a lot of fun getting out and playing while she was busy learning stuff for work. I'll go ahead and tell you up front that I did nothing even remotely to do with bikes while I was there. I took one pic of a stock Fatboy just to prove I saw a bike and I think in total I saw about 4 bikes the whole time I was there. The part of town where we were is not a bike friendly area.

I'm not sure how many posts I'll make about this, but I DID take over 400 pictures as usual. Probably just post a few of the cooler ones and next week we'll get back to bikes.

Today it's all about The Art Institute Of Chicago. This place is pretty cool, they have everything from famous paintings we all know, to really weird and obscure stuff, with some beautiful examples of arms and armor thrown in for fun. The museum is on South Michigan Avenue and is also located at the starting place for the final alignment of Route 66 (I'll write about this later). Basically I walked up and down this street about a million times this trip as well as the last time we did this a few years ago. There is lots of history and cool stuff right around here. Check out these pics and I promise to get some cool bike pics soon.

Looking at the front of the museum. I thought this pic did a good job of capturing the feel of this part of Chicago.

Some of the modern art in the museum. I know quite a few people who's house this would fit just fine in.

Another piece of cool modern art.

I don't know why, but I just really dig this painting.

I left Allison to wander around the Impressionist area and went looking for the "guy" part of the museum. It's good that people see the beauty and artistry in a fine suit of armor. It may have been created for protection, but that doesn't mean it can't look bad ass too.

I really liked this display. They chose a great suit of armor to really grab your attention as you walk in to the gallery.

The engraving and detail work on the metal is incredible.

Like a finely crafted chopper, these suits show off the craftsman's ability.

The details on this one are embossed by beating the design from the inside to give a raised 3D feel.

This was a bust on display, check out the necklace he was wearing.

This painting is HUGE and the detail is incredible. It was almost photographic, which is even more impressive considering it was painted in the 1800's before photos could be made so easily and cheaply as they are now. So he had to capture this moment without a camera to stop it fro him to keep referring to as he worked.

American Gothic, a classic painting we've all seen in books or elsewhere. It was really strange to see the REAL paining in person.

Nighthawks - another classic that really captures a feel. I WANT to stop in and eat at this joint!

Close up of the detail.

And just to prove I did see a motorcycle, and to keep this post bike related, here is the only pic I took of one.