Picking Up The Papers
There is not a lot of time this morning, after fixing my flat tyre and following Sergio to his mechanics it was already past 10am, leaving us with a couple of hours for both paperwork and buying some tyres. This was not a lot of time.
First off we stopped at the Office of Infractions and Fines to get our list of fines to pay. We were told it would be ready today, so we joined the line and waited. It took about half an hour to get to the front where we were presented with a pleasant clerk who took our paper and returned with the required information. Sergio looked at the paper then turned to head out the door saying nothing. I wanted to know what was on it, so I tried looking over his shoulder but could not see enough. When I asked him, he said there was fines of $70 pesos, then broke out in a big smile. There was not one cent owing. Awesome.
Waiting at the police station for our numbers inspection.
Our next stop was the other side of central, and we weaved our way through the traffic and rough roads to arrive. I overshot the turn-off first time around and we had to go around the block, but finally we arrived at the police station. We were here to get the engine and frame numbers verified with the information held on the owner's Title document. Everything went well and we received our document for this after paying yet another processing fee.
Replacing The Broken, Hurt, and Dieing
That was the end of our paperwork for the day, but by now it was moving well on from 11am and I still needed to buy some tyres to replace the worn ones on my bike. Returning once again to the other side of the centre, we locate the same old shop that I had visited on the Saturday. They had tyres but the price of these tyres was a lot higher than the $40 that I had been told about, so the first time I thought I would go elsewhere to get the cheaper tyres. There was no elsewhere, so I came back to get these, which turned out to be cheaper than the few other places that sold them.
While there it seemed wise to ask about some of the other parts that I knew my bike needed. It seemed important to fix the bike up a little so that it would at least be reliable for my intended journeys. So with a list of parts in my head, I started purchasing the important things that the bike had been desperately needing:
- 2 new tyres for the road and 2 new tubes to go in them
- New cables for the front brake, clutch, gear changer (2), and accelerator
- Clutch plates, gasket and seals to install it
- New kickstart and pinion because the other was welded together and had a really sharp edge
- Fuel tap that had a reserve position and that did not leak
The pile of parts.
It was not a huge amount of items to purchase, but by the time I was finished we had a large bag of items to try and drag home with us on the bike. Fortunately I had brought a big bag for just that purpose, and it managed to sit on the platform between my legs for the journey. By the time that we had finished purchasing all of these items the store was already closed up. A big board had been placed over the entry doors and the fan, our only source of cooling during these really hot days was switched off.
It was after 12.30pm and everything was now shut, so we headed back toward home for the siesta. On the way I stopped off to pick up my freshly washed clothes at the laundry service, adding that also to the pile of parts that I was already struggling to hang onto with my legs as we cruised along. When we got back, I dropped off Sergio and set to work on my bike. Now that I had the parts it was time to replace them.
Getting Greasy
The first change I made to my bike on my return was taking that bald front tyre off and heading back to my tyre man to put the new tyre and tube on it. It was a bit of a struggle and he needed some help to get the old tyre off the rims, but I returned with a very cool looking wheel which I then fitted to the front of my bike.
Both tyres on the bike were replaced with these new ones.
Next up was changing the cables. Virtually every cable on the bike was broken, breaking, or bent, and it was amazing that they had all lasted for as long as they did. The cables that I purchased were good, but not great, and each one was much longer than it needed to be, requiring cutting down to the right lengths. Each cable replaced changed the feel of that item completely.
The accelerator suddenly felt a lot more responsive when I removed the extra spring that had been added to counteract the old sticking cable. The gears on their throttle-like spinning handgrip finally started to work in the correct position rather than having the clutch lever pointing up in the air most of the time. The clutch immediately felt a lot lighter even though it did not change its behaviour, and although the front brake never really improved the cable was now doing what it needed to do - it was inside that was causing the problem now.
Feeding a cable up the steering shaft.
Late in the afternoon, Lehman wandered over and asked me how things were going. I told him that he could help out if he wanted to, and before long he was carting the rear and spare wheels off to the tyre man to put the new tyre on. Since the back tyre was still good, I swapped that to the spare wheel, which was totally useless. On his return I had finished a lot of my cable work, so we fitted the wheels and he then put together some of the panels that I had removed in the repair process.
It was my intention to replace the clutch at the same time, but it was already late in the afternoon so I stopped at the cables and other little bits. The one thing that excited me the most was replacing the fuel tap. The new tap now in place has a notch that you can feel at each quarter turn. To turn it on is really easy now, and there is no mistakes possible. Not only that, but there is a reserve position too, which means that there is a little bit left when I run out that I can hopefully use to get to a service station.
Working on the front cables in my "open" workshop.
With everything except the clutch now fitted to my bike, it was time to take it for a test run. But rather than head up and down the street, Lehman and I cleaned up and then climbed aboard and headed into town for dinner. It was a great way to celebrate having the new bits and pieces on my bike. I had finally fixed up all of the broken, hurt and dieing parts.