Fixing Things

Last week I took my motorcycle for a cruise. On the way home, just as I was getting off 169, the throttle cable snapped. I couldn't give my bike any gas an I had to coast to a stop about 3/10ths of a mile from my apartment. I ended up having to push the bike home because I was on a busy street with no parking. It was rather tiring, but at least it didn't happen when I was miles from home.

I ordered a new cable and got it today. I was able to replace it on my own in about an hour. The part was only $18, so overall it was a pretty easy fix. I've had some experience messing with the cable because I had to remove it from the carbs last winter when I took them off, so that helped a lot. I think the most time consuming part was draining the gas so I could raise the tank to access the area I needed.

About a month ago my Ipod died on me. I decided to attempt to fix that myself too. It didn't go quite as well. Based on some research I did, it seemed like I just would need to replace the battery. I ordered a new one for less than $5, but realized that in order to swap it out I would need to desolder the old one and solder the new on in it's place. So I had to buy a soldering iron and desoldering braid which cost $15. In the process of disassembling it, I broke the cable for the click wheel and had to order a new on of those which cost $4.

Once I finally got all the pieces I needed and put everything back together, the click wheel seems to still be broken, and the battery is doing the same thing as before--says it's charged, but doesn't actually hold a charge. I'll probably tinker with it a bit more, but I'm starting to think it's a lost cause. It sucked at first getting used to running without music, but I've gotten pretty used to it now. I think I'd still like to replace the ipod, but I'm not 100% sure yet when I will and what I'll replace it with. I don't really like the new ipod nano style, but don't know if I want to spring for a touch or classic. It sucks that I wasn't able to fix it on my own, but I had fun learning how it works and goes together. And who knows, maybe there is just one small wire loose that I'll find when I mess with it a little more.