Category Archives: winter

Balance in life, Balance in machines, Custom motorcycles, Motorcycle build, Motorcycles, winter

Balance

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imagesAs in all things, balance is needed. You can insert your own “for…” here. I’m attempting a work-life balance that mostly works, too often not.

One of my struggles is life is organic, constantly changing, so keeping up is the challenge.

Another area for balance is in my engine–not so organic, but heavy metal. Once it’s in balance, it tends to stay that way. Kind of like Newton’s law of motion.

There is a rule of thumb, since pistons reciprocate, crankshafts rotate, and connecting rods connet the two (hence the name connecting rods).

The pistons/pins/rings are weighed and added to half of the connecting rods, multiplied by 75%, and that’s the weight added to each crankshaft journal (where the rod rotates on the crankshaft).

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images-1  The weighted crank is then spun to a closely held speed and sensitive load cells measure the imbalance. Holes are drilled to remove material or plugs are added and the process is repeated until balance is achieved.

All I can say is that a balanced engine is a happy engine.

Me too.

Custom motorcycles, HOUSE RENO, Motorcycle build, river house, Spain, travel, winter

Still the projects wait…

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Unknown     It’s December–the warmest on record for UnknownConnecticut. So what are we doing? Well, we are avoiding winter by going to places like Spain, California, and soon maybe an island. Of course, if this were last winter, that would have been a real respite.   DSCN2013

But, it’s this winter. Did I mention this is the warmest winter on record in Connecticut?Isn’t it just like those “best laid plans” gone awry.

DSCN1968 (1)   Well, we are determined to enjoy them anyway, even though the temps are similar to what we would have had    staying at home.

That brings me to the next subject, of staying at home, where projects in the garage are still,  pretty much, on hold until we finish the first floor reno on our river house.

It is progressing, I am happy to report.   IMG_2775 (1)

The bedroom walls are up, mudded, painted, the walk-in closet ready for flooring, and the bathroom plumbing is almost ready for tile in the shower and flooring.  Lighting is installed and mostly finished, and the bedroom flooring and molding will be finished, we hope, by February.

So by March, we may be able to move downstairs, where we imagine our 200 boxes getting unpacked and their contents finding a place to reside, so that there is room in the garage for…wait for it…projects!!  IMG_2134

Thanks for your patience. We will be sharing very soon.

(submitted by scribe Marjorie for Jay–who is still doing the electric and plumbing)