A picture

Turns out this is a good place to post pics to link to in a forum.  I'm going to ask if this full overflow hose is normal at 1000 kms.

Custom plate

Removing the smog control left an exhaust port open.  I covered it with a coin I found on EBay.  Thought it fit the wolf motif well.

Control

A couple weeks and 200 KMs after I brought the Wolf home, I went for my road test.  And I failed.  Not quite the right lane position, a misunderstanding about school zones, a stall, insufficient use of merge lanes missed a shoulder check blah blah blah.  I was dejected to say the least.  $125 and a miserable ride in the rain for nothing.

I had been distracted by the Wolf's rough idling.  It was backfiring a bit and tending to stall.  I figured the carb was a gummy from sitting in the showroom for three years.  Okay then - I would take control by healing the beast.  If I didn't have a license, I would at least have a motorcycle that ran like a well oiled watch.

I decided to start by removing the smog control paraphernalia.  I'm actually not completely enthusiastic about doing this - I don't want to pollute. It is not a no brainer good idea.  But the bike took forever to warm up, and it sprayed a mist of oily gasoline it the tailpipe while doing so.  That wasn't so green.

The engine area looks nicer with various hoses and canisters removed

The final touch was adjusting the idle.  It definitely runs better now.  I still haven't cleaned the carb which was first on my list of things to do!

My second? third? midlife crisis

The year I turned 50 involved some changes.  Things were stable in my career and finances, but something was missing.  I was in a rut.  Totally domesticated.

I began to act out.  Started smoking cigarettes again.  Sat in bars by myself.  Flirted with danger.  And with no real justification or plan in mind, I found myself at the Old Motorcycle Shop in Calgary, buying a little Taiwanese motorcycle.  A Sym Wolf Classic 150.  Three years old (a 2013) with 17 kilometres on the odometer.  I strapped it into the back of my truck ( the first lesson in my newest education) and drove it home.