No bike to ride... One with a broken head bolt, and the other with... I don't know... problems.
Losing my patience. Then I think of pressure to finish my college degree, honeybees that are probably making a mess of their hive, dread of searching the Internet over for the best deal on parts.

That Honda Shadow has been the most aggravating of the two bikes in our garage. Almost an athletic event just getting the gas tank back on. Went through such trouble putting oily rags on the air filter (which may not even fit it) to try to seal it in its airbox. Then I find out the snorkle isn't in its proper groove, thereby letting in an air leak past the filter. I wonder if I should use rubber cement on the airbox or just toss it and put on clamp-ons. I wanted to get the inspection sticker on it and ride, but it was too late in the day. Pretty much lost my marbles with frustration when I had trouble getting the tank set in. That sorry thing has two tanks with two fuel lines going between them. To make it worse, they're two different sizes. I had to use 5/8 inch PCV vapor hose on one of them. Dual Keihin carbs. Now, I was happy with some of Keihin's designs. Quite frankly, I wish Mikuni's were that easy to disassemble/reassemble. Mikuni should learn from them. Then again, the bike is hard to crank. Maybe it's the carbs; maybe its the weak battery that we keep running dead trying to crank the stubborn thing. At least it runs decently now, provided you can actually get it started.

The hydraulically actuated clutch drags, making it nearly impossible to find neutral. I fixed this problem to a manageable point by replacing a missing bolt in the slave cylinder which was causing the cylinder to move outward during its stroke. I also flushed the system extensively. Maybe it needs more bleeding? The clutch fluid system was pretty dirty when we bought the bike. When the PO first demonstrated it, he had a difficult time getting the clutch to work. He had to pump the lever many times to get it to work. The lever still has a bit of play in it, a bit more than the brakes do. Is this common, or is this a sign that the master cylinder is not performing at its best and needs rebuilding? It's as if Honda designed this sorry thing so that it would just barely work, that the slightest problem would cause the clutch to drag. Makes me want to bore out the master cylinder and oversize it or something. Any ideas? Do master cylinders come in different sizes? Can clutch cylinders be exchanged with brake cylinders?

I want to have something to Dad and I to ride while the weather is still good. Pressure, pressure, pressure. Getting impatient. You know what else is a problem? Even at work I am being pressured to go faster. My boss wants me to make pizzas between 2x and 4x faster than is typical for me.   Everything I do in that restaurant is too slow. I pay so much attention to detail.

I haven't taken classes at my college in so long that I'll probably have to reapply just to finish my degree. And guess what? I didn't even plan on taking any more classes. I just have to study for a CLEP and take it to graduate, but I'm even hung up on that.

How can I just go out and enjoy my work and life without all of it turning around and enslaving or full-on attacking me? I quit on education because I was fed up with the pressure and having to pay for it.

How do I live a decent life relaxed and not some stressed out discipline nazi working like a nut beating my fists against a brick wall?

I've seen this before on other forums as avatars or little personal memes or something. Seems fitting.
Ever feel like you're punching a brick wall in life, or maybe something like this?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJ9wNT21c_s



Don't like the pressure, Don't like the pain. Not good at what I do. Not happy.

Just one of those days I get reminded of how personally unsuccessful I am. Frustrating.

Hey Goofball, When I feel that way, life's problems piling up, seems like there are way to many things that need to get done, most of which I don't want to do. We all get that way at some point, that's the highs & lows of the life cycle. It's so simple to muddle thru it all by doing it,
"ONE THING AT A TIME"
Concentrate on that,make a checklist if needed,just finish things one at a time and soon it's all behind you.
How is your father doing ?

When you put a hand to something, slow down,get it right, do it once. Less time wasted, less frustrating, and repairing dunderheaded blunders is expensive and time consuming.
Looks like the drill was pretty much On,  and, if you hadn't pounded a rock in it, you would have been able to tap it and be running again. You don't HAVE to use a Particular size bolt,so you don't Have to use athread kit. You Could just drill and tap..
Maybe,, can't really see,

Man, that's just the way it is sometimes. Tried to get to the beach yesterday, started to rain as I was parking but there were no rain clouds when I started. My wife is slowly going nuts staying inside and trying to get away from the heat.
 Finally got my boat out and running then the heat index hit 105, even too hot for an old bastard like me.
 Too much to do just means you still have dreams, don't give up just figure out what is really important for you.
 Good luck with the bees, just pulled 12 gallons of honey off my hives. It was the first time in them in about 4 months and they were just fine.

Ed L. wrote on 07/20/16 at 07:02:23:



The difference with my bees is that I've got a top bar hive and it's a new colony. If I don't watch them, they could make the awfulest mess out of their combs as they have no wax foundation. That kind of situation has to be supervised. I planned on making some bars with bamboo skewers to salvage broken combs and disorderly combs that I need to break off. I actually transplanted them out of some 8 frame mediums, and they built some disorderly comb there, and I ended up laying those combs or old frames in the bottom. I'd like to get those combs hanging like they're supposed to be or get rid of them. Here's how I did the transplant: Having made the top of the tbh a compatible 19 inches wide, I took the medium frames, which had most of the comb built on them, but they hadn't attached much to the sides or bottom. This way, it was easier. I simply pried apart the frames, leaving me with a top bar and attached comb. I bent over the nails and hung the frames in the tbh nicely. Since the frames were too narrow, I alternated them with 1.5 inch furring strips. This gave a 1.25 inch frame spacing, which is acceptable for brood. I had to take scissors to trim the edges of the comb to fit the shape/dimensiions of the new hive. Some frames were tough to pry apart, but I got 'em I haven't touched them since I blew out my knee while running from them a few weeks ago.

I have one of these guys that lives in my shop. Steals stuff all the time and brings it back several days later.  Pisses me off....

By the way, has anyone here heard of using a larger bore on a clutch master cylinder. Some talk on the net about brakes, but not much about the clutch. I could use a longer throw on the slave so I can get rid of drag.

The guys on the honda forum are suggesting rebuilding the cylinders or replacing the lines.

I flushed the system extensively. I would run it dry by accident and have to start over. It's possible that I might still have a little air in it from the last time it got air in it. I just gave up spilling brake fluid in the floor. The fluid is several years old, but it was sealed. It has some color, but not too bad.