All Long Journeys Begin With A Single Step (Or First Steps Are Usually When You Fall)

Stepping up to the bike, I had determined to take my first step in restoration. With tools in hand and having read the first ten pages of my manual, I was confident that I could overcome this first test.

I was going to remove the old license plate.

Now, you’d think this would be a simple task. Two nuts… Two bolts. I have even done it before on my cars. Should be a no brainer, right?

Confidence is dangerous.

With closer inspection I realized the bolts were not the same. The previous owner had obviously used whatever happened to be lying around to bolt on this plate. One bolt had a fairly large slot head on it. No real problem. It was rusted a bit, but some elbow grease took care of that and off came the nut and bolt.

The other side was a bit more of a challenge. You see, he had used a torx headed bolt. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torx) You would recognize it. It’s the kind that looks like a six pointed star. Now, I have seen these in my time. I even knew the name of the head (Something I remembered from a conversation with an old neighbour who happened to be a mechanic… The stuff that sticks in our heads…). But did I have any screwdrivers or bits with that type of head? I didn’t know.
I went through all my tools in the garage and realized that if I kept my garage and tools that messy for this project, I am going to spend a heck of a lot of time looking for tools! So a tidy of my work area is now a priority. Eventually, I found a torx head for my screwdriver, but it was far too small for the bolt that was there. So I went to plan ‘B’ and tried a slot screw driver to get the bolt off.

In my manual, on one of the pages I had actually read, it had plainly stated that you should never use the wrong screwdriver for a job, as you can strip the screw and then you are… Well, screwed. And guess what? The screw driver slipped and I ground off a good section of the torx head.

So I pressed harder at a different angle with the slot screwdriver and started again.

And I stripped it some more.

I kept this up for a few more times, until I was essentially dealing with a bolt that had no discernible type of head. My frustration level was through the roof by now, and I was in full reaction mode.

So out came the vise grips. Now, the bolt he had used was particularly long; much longer than was needed for the job. So, it took a long time. Some cursing here; a lot of grunting there; and all around wasted time, I managed to get the bolt loose enough to turn it by hand.

Here is my bike without a liscence plate. My first accomplishment.

I spent the rest of the time I had doing something simple… Wiping down and cleaning. The bike has been sitting outside most of the winter, so it had some surface rust and a great deal of grime. Cleaning I can do.

What did I learn from this? Easy… Read the manual and actually heed its advice. Ignorance may be bliss, but assuming you know what you are doing will waste a lot of your time. Knowledge and practice lead to actions without force and concentration without thinking.