Today's work involved scrubbing, for the most part. Cub had been kept in a barn of some sort, from what I can gather, and therefore was covered in the usual layer of barn grime. The rear wheel rim was also spotted with surface rust, and some of the bolts were similarly in need of some polishing. So, with the help of my friend Henri, I did just that. The wheels are in better shape now, and the bike is generally brighter for being cleaner, which is always nice.
In other news, I finally found a locksmith with a storefront today, and dropped off my ignition switch so that they could work on making me a key for it. With some luck, I should have some news on Monday or Tuesday about how easy it'll be. I also picked up some classy fuel line today, though about two inches too little, unfortunately... a double male adapter and two inches of extra line should do the job, so it's not the end of the world necessarily. I also used today as an excuse to put the seat and the foot pegs back on and inflate the tires, so I could do the motorcycle equivalent of a high-speed taxi test. Riding it around on the driveway like a toddler on one of those pedal-less trikes, I can say that at least the brakes work well enough to stop me, though how well they work at higher speeds will be a test for another day. On a side note, one of the odd quirks about leading-link front suspension is that the bike tends to pitch up pretty dramatically when you apply the front brake, which is sort of odd. It'll take some getting used to, I suppose.
And, of course, a photographic update of my progress. Yes, that's oil in the plate below it. The right crankcase gasket is a bit leaky, and I wouldn't be terribly surprised if I wound up having to replace all of them at some point. I'll get to that when I've moved out of "make it run" and into "make it run better."
-The Proprietor
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