Everyday Wheels

Everyday I wake and walk my dog. I dress, drink and grab a cloth to wipe the bike down. In the evenings, I wipe both Roadkings down. Used to do that twice a day, once when I pull her out of the parking. I ain't no fool. It takes 15 minutes, but in the time I get to run my hand over almost every working part and look at it. Things like the oil stain on the front fork rods reaching the bottom of the road, these signs are there to see everyday.
Intimacy with machines is something that I feel we guys are lucky to have. Women have reached everywhere, but they are still a long way off from wondering about their clutch slipping in company. The union mechanica is still male bastion, belvedere and refuge. I know, in the past few months, my life has gone to pieces, but I am free to clean both bikes regularly. (Don't get me wrong, I have four bikes). And the bikes have responded. Despite jibes from friends that I'm probably just scraping steel, the chrome having worn off long ago. The morning ride to work would set me right. Any preoccupations with the day ahead would be wiped from my mind. The ride is all encompassing. So much that after I park the bike, it takes about five minutes before my heart stops racing, my breathing slows and I am able to do anything else except blankly glow in the thril of the experience. These are old bikes, take a rough stretch and your front forks will ship enough oil for you to notice the bike sets lower on its springs. The brakes are cloyed in feel and I jump for my brakes twice as earlier than any other biker around me. Still, she is capable of 0-60kph in 4 seconds. That in third, pop fourth and you are ready to cruise the next 400 km at an even, minimalistic drone. That's what you get when you shorten the stroke and widen the piston of the standard Yezdi engine, mated to the classic CLII gearbox. Add two-stroke pep and I am faster than any bike currently sold in India.