F., Mephit.

I went to take my bike to work this morning to start putting heat on my new heat shields, and hit the starter button and.  'zzt-konk'.  All the juice died.  The odometer and oil light went blank.  I pushed the button again and got nothing.   At this point I shouldn't be surprised.  And I guess I really wasn't, I just kind of laughed.  I hooked up my horn again after weeks yesterday, so I disconnected it again and tried to crank it.  Nothing doing.  So I just laughed again and got in my truck.  I wonder if the battery died or what.  Maybe my generator is dead too.  I wonder if I can jumpstart my bike with my truck battery.  Opinions on the prudence of that, anyone?

See now, if I had my kickstarter installed already this wouldn't have been a problem.  In fact, if that kicker actually turns out to be reliable, I may disconnect the battery completely and install a capacitor in its place.  I don't think they sell replacement bike batts at O'Reilly's so I may be SOL here.  Aren't American bikes grand..

I took the battery out on my lunch break (stupid battery cables are so short I could only just _lean_ it out) and tested it, the battery's fine. I put it back in, and the juice is back a'flowing. Must be a wire got loose or something. Anyway after work I assembled my new motorcycle jack and tested it out on the bike, and took apart the fender bracket area. It got dark before I could finish and I was being eaten ALIVE by mosquitos (dozens and dozens of them, it felt like that movie Critters), so I put the parts in the truck and gave up. Tomorrow I'll take the rest of the back end apart and maybe Wednesday I can send the parts off. I'll be unable to ride for prolly a month though, damnit.

And then I went inside and ate a grilled cheese sandwich with sooty-ass hands. Mmmm, gritty provolone.