Instead of our usual Wednesday night videogames, my buddy and I tinkered with the two-wheeler, and got a few things straightened out.

The weather outside was friendly, so we tinkered about in the garage. I was showing my buddy the troubles on the Yamaha, and while poking around, not really doing anything, the headlamp popped on.

"What'd you do?" I asked, excitedly.

"Nothing," he replied, "I was just poking at this wire on the battery."

It seems inconceivable that the wire from the battery would do anything to just the headlamp, so we surmised that the movement of the wire probably moved something else, which was responsible for the triggering of the headlamp. The instrument lights worked; the high-beam worked; it seemed like everything worked. I turned the bike off and back on, and the lamp returned. Just previous to this I had checked the previously popepd fuse, and it was indeed popped again, but replacing that didn't have the desired effect; it seemed the magic movement of the battery wire may have done the trick.

Feeling suddenly manly and mechanical, we set about looking at the other minor complaints. We reviewed the cosmetic flaws, and some of the lesser mechanical ones. We adjusted the back springs to give me a little more cushion. Easy with one guy (me) lifting the back of the bike while the other (he) twisted the spring tension mechanism on the shocks.

Then we set about changing the instrument panel. A lifetome ago the tachometer had busted apart in place. The cardboard backing had worked loose and spun about, eventually knocking the needle off, rendering it useless. I had removed the tach, taken it apart, found all of the parts still inside, and put it back together. In the tussle, the needle had broken, so it's just a very short pointer now. Last year the mechanic had found me a replacement instrument panel, with full parts. The backing on the new set was black, and I felt added a little more style. So my buddy talked me into swapping the instruments.

Now, had this been software or computer hardware, I probably would have done a bit more investigation first, but I was kind of following. I'm no mechanical dunce, but as a dear friend pointed out, you get mighty dirty doing it, and I try to avoid that. Wimpy, I know, but clean is better than dirty. So, since we were starting to get dirty, we pressed on.

We took apart the two instrument assemblies enough to swap 'em. Then we realized the mounting posts welded onto the new one weren't the same size as the old one, and the new chrome housings were banged up, while the old ones weren't. So we decided to swap the instrumets themselves. Once we got them both apart, and realized the wiring was a little different, well after dark, mind you, my buddy stuck a screwdriver in the new speedometer, and found that it would not spin. We decided to reassemble the old instrument panel, and replaced it.

As part of the poking and prodding I had also broken another wire on my tail light. Previously only one lamp (there are two) in the brake assembly would light with the brakes, while both worked when just "on." I was poking at the broken wire, while discussing options for repairing it, and the other brake lamp wire broke as well. Now I had to do something, so I pulled that off while my buddy was pulling the instrument cluster apart. I would bring this into the house later and try to repair the wires and plug.

After about two hours into what was pledged to be a fifteen minute swap, we had the bike back and running. In total, the spring had been adjusted, a fuse replaced, and the headlamp miraculously turned back on. Additionally, we replaced the foam wraps on the instrument cluster, and solidified a bunch of stuff that was already nearly solid to begin with. Oh, and I broke my brake lights.

After everything but the brake lights were repaired and replaced, we cleaned the garage, and returned the tools to their places. We got in a game or two before he had to bolt to the airport to get his wife.

I sat in the livingroom and tinkered with the brake assembly, stripping and squeezing wires into the places to get 'em to work. I took my handiwork out to the garage and remounted the tail lights. All was good--both lights were on when idling, and both lights were bright when braking!

Tomorrow we'll see if it still runs!