There it is - lovingly placed in it's future home. It spent some time up at Irish Rich's getting some chunks taken out of it. I figured it better be done by a pro as opposed to grinding things away with a wood rasp hooked up to an air driven dye grinder. Irish Rich did a bang up job and this thing fit GREAT! It's actually an off the shelf part from Exile Cycles that I bought from the dude who runs a chopper shop in Vail. It needed to be modified to fit that happy 77 FX frame. I had no idea how long the chain needed to be, so I bought an O-ring 530 120 link chain and just clipped that sucker to fit. And fit it does. You can see the circular groove cut out by Rich on the left side, plus a bolt hole below it. I don't know why it's so hard to find these things and why more folks don't make 'em. I mean, it makes the electric starter thing a snap. I was gonna grind away a regular inner primary - but in looking at it it I realized that no matter how hard or how how long I ginded - it was gonna be functional, but not pretty. I scored this thing for about six hundred, at bit pricey, but it saved dozens of hours of work, so it was really worth it. I put a regular chain drive gear on the 5 speed and torqued it down the best I could. I think I'm gonna take it all in to a shop and have them check the torques when I'm done. If you're reading the story on the right you'll know why it's so hard for me to get a good torque by hand. It useta' be no problem - but those days may be gone forever - ya never know. Next>

What Would Warren Build Part 4 Where the hell have I been and what have I been doing? I’ve been a sick dog, friends. I won't lie to you, it's been a little piece of hell and I'm not gonna try to hide it anymore. I've got what they call Degenerate Disk Disease. It means that the disks between the bones that make up my spine are collapsing, going away, fading, whatever. So far, it's all been in my lowest disk, the one that attaches to my hip bone. The disk is getting smaller and smaller, and as it gets smaller all the bundles of nerves around the base of my spine get pinched. No big deal, right? Wrong. Very wrong. Think about those wires that snake along the side of your gas tank, if they get pinched, the casing of the wire rubs off and the bike shorts out. My wires are getting pinched and my nerves think I'm in incredible pain. So, because they think that - I am. I'm not talking a little bit of tingle here and there or a numb spot, I'm talking a Phillips head screwdriver stuck in your hip while some crazy guy pounds it in inch by inch with a brass mallet. Painful? Boy-f**kin' - howdy. Fall over where you stand painful. Grit your teeth until they crack painful. Stand there and silently cry painful. Next>