It's been a few days since I last fired up the bike.

In those days the weather took a turn for the cold again, and it even snowed enough to stick for a couple days. Today it was over 40, but icky. Still, all of the snow that was added is now gone, and more of what was there before went with it.

As I pulled into the garage, I noticed the television was on, so the wife was already home. Knowing that I wouldn't have to make a trip to get her from her office or even the bus stop, I decided to take a couple minutes to see if the old thing would fire up.

It groaned a little, but wouldn't fire with the electric starter. I was disappointed, but decided to give the kickstart a try. She fired up on the first stomp. It seems the battery or oil may not be letting the electric starter do the job, but my big old foot can get it done.

Unfortunately, the headlamp still didn't come on. Sometimes if the starter doesn't work the lamp doesn't come on. I killed it, turned everything off, and tried again. It fired right up, but still no headlamp.

I let it idle for a bit, closing the choke as the motor started revving up, until it was peacefully idling with no choke at all.

For kicks I even tried the horn. At the end of last season, the horn was enough to kill the bike, but it just gave a muffled whine and the bike didn't even seem to notice.

Testing the turn signals gave the typical dim to the tail lamp, but they clicked on and off at regular intervals and didn't seem to slow down. Of course, the bike had only been running a few minutes, so there was probably still plenty of charge in the battery.

I turned everything off, happy that it still worked, but miffed that the lamp is out.

I haven't renewed the tabs yet, so I can't ride it anyway. The wife said she's renewed the insurance, but we haven't received the proof yet.

I went into the house and pulled out the tab renewal form I was mailed last fall. Tabs are $10 and with the other fees, the $14.50 isn't prohibitive enough to keep me from renewing even if the bike never does get repaired or ridden.

I pledge that tomorrow I'll call my neighbor to try to get in touch with his kid, who repairs old bikes like mine for a living and a hobby. I'm hoping to get a reasonable estimate and time line, and maybe I can deliver the bike to him next week and he can get it back to me in the week or two following. That should be long enough for weather to be nice enough to start riding.

If he does the job right, the bike can last until I get my ducks in a row (OK, gather enough dollars) to get something newer and more my size...