Hey there! Here’s a quick recap for new readers: last February I purchased a 1982 XL250R, and this is the third installment in my rebuild journal.
Lately, I’ve been having a hard time working regularly on my build. Something always comes up — work or dinner or other projects or general laziness — that keeps me inside at the end of the day.
When I first started on this project, I was great about making time to work in the garage — even on weekdays. I was motivated by a clear goal: strip everything off the bike and figure out what it does.
But after completing the teardown, my goals became a lot murkier.
I knew I needed to put my top end back together, but after cleaning the valves I wasn’t sure what my next step should be. I thought maybe it was time for reassembly, but in order to do that I needed engine assembly lube, which wasn’t available at any of my local auto parts stores. So I ordered that. And then realized I also needed a specific high-temp gasket sealant. Another two weeks gone.
While I was waiting on my supplies, I was advised by my friends at Second Gear to take the cylinder and cylinder head to a machine shop to have it checked, because it’s all apart right now anyway. So, I’m following that thread for a bit.
Hopefully, the engine will be back together within the month. But then… what?
This uncertainty is exactly why it’s been so hard for me to spend my evenings in the garage instead of watching Netflix. After a long day of work, it’s not easy to face the unknown, when the known is so much more comfortable.
Pushing Past the Fear of the Unknown
In his book Mastery (which I heard of from this article and not because I’ve actually read any of his work), Robert Greene talks about this “wall of resistance” when tackling difficult projects. In his words,
The pain is a kind of challenge your mind presents — will you learn how to focus and move past boredom, or like a child will you succumb to the need for immediate pleasure and distraction?
Most days, lately, I’ve been succumbing to the need for distraction. And I need to make a plan to pull myself out of it.
The first part of that plan will be to commit myself to spending at least 15 minutes on my build every day. That might not seem like much, but I’m intentionally setting the bar low to help myself build a habit of working on my build.
There is one more thing I need to do, however, and it’s something I’ve been avoiding since I first came up with the idea of a rebuild project.
I need to decide what I want this bike to look like.
Confronting my Creative Hesitation
I know it sounds weird, but when I started this project, I barely gave a second thought to the aesthetics of the build. I was more focused on tearing into the bike, learning how things worked, and spending time getting dirty in the garage.
When I asked Sofi for advice on getting started, she told me to pick the paint colors, since that always helped her figure out where she wanted to go with the rest of the build. That advice was in such a different dimension from where I was thinking, it barely registered with me.
But now I’ve realized she was right: in order to get this bike back together within the year, I have to commit to an end result.
And, frankly, that scares me a little.
I’ve always considered myself more of a “craftsman” than an “artist.” I’m great at improvising within boundaries, but I’ve always shied away from asserting my own creative ideas.
It’s not that I don’t have them — my high school notebooks, binders, pants, shoes, and backpacks were covered with doodles. But I never joined an art class. I preferred choir — I could focus on vocal technique, and let someone else write the music. In college, I wanted to be an English major with a focus on nonfiction creative writing. Instead, I majored in advertising, and am now a data analyst.
I’m not saying the pursuits I chose weren’t valuable or meaningful, but they reveal a pattern: I’ve only ever been comfortable expressing my creativity in low-stakes, behind-the-scenes ways.
When I started this project, I thought rebuilding a motorcycle would be more like following guidelines — the emphasis would be on the mechanics of the build, and the creative stuff would be the cherry on top.
But now, I’ve learned that there are so many options, if I don’t have an end result in mind, I won’t ever finish this build. In the world of custom motorcycles, the “creative stuff” drives the mechanics.
So, lately, I’ve been trying to settle on my creative goals for this build. I’m trying to keep it simple — no frame mods, no custom swingarm — but I still want it to look like someone put quality time into it.
When the options get too overwhelming, or when I feel too much pressure to make the “right” choices, I have to remind myself: this is my first build. If I want there to be, there could be more. Many more.
Ready to hear what I’m going for?
Like Sofi recommended, I started with the colors. Several years ago, I saw a grey-blue and orange motorcycle, and I thought it was the coolest thing. But I want my build to feel more earthy and natural, so I’m going with stormy blue with copper accents.
If I really want to go all out, I might have the frame powdercoated copper. But also maybe not, since I do want to use this as a trail bike 😉
I want the seat to be shorter (height-wise), but I’m going to keep it vinyl so I don’t have to worry about getting rained on. I’m going to make a custom side-cover for the battery, a custom skid plate, have the engine powdercoated black, and find some vintage-y white plastics, which in this case will be the fenders and headlight.
I still have a ways to go before I’m even ready for paint, but this will at least help keep me moving forward. And, hopefully, the confidence I’ll gain from pushing past my hesitations to pursue my creative goals will bleed over into other areas of my life.
I started this build to challenge myself. So far, I’d say that’s been a success 😉
Thanks, as always, for reading. Your enthusiasm for this build and my journal helps keep me going <3
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Define Irony: Someone who regularly paints masterpieces (or in your case, writes them) and claims she’s more craftsman than artist.
Speaking for myself, I’m not a repeat-reader because your sentence-structure is strong – though that helps. I keep coming back because you’re (artistically) taking us all along a journey with you. You paint such a vivid picture I need to fight the urge to clean grit from my fingernails. You’re definitely an artist, LT. Your canvas is just of a different material. Besides, I’ve never met a craftsman who isn’t an artist in his or her own right.
Taking the liberty to speak for some (or many) of your readers, the experiences you share are hitting home because they resonate with us … also an effect of how well you “paint.”
We’ve all had to be reminded to “eat the elephant in small chunks” when faced with an assigned or self-imposed task of great magnitude.
Additionally, if any of your readers has ever tried to take on such a task, he or she has definitely had the experience of “pushing past the fear of the unknown.”
Fear is mental; and in Robert Greene’s words, which so appropriately drive that point home, he alludes to, or directly references, disciplining your mind to push through the distractions … push through the deceitful and insidious comfort of the “known” – especially if it’s something new.
Retired Navy SEAL Jocko Willink (in uniquely SEAL fashion) said something similar to Mr. Greene: “The temptation to take the easy road is always there. It is as easy as staying in bed in the morning and sleeping in, but discipline is paramount to ultimate success and victory for any leader and any team. The moment the alarm goes off is the first test; it sets the tone for the rest of the day. The test is not a complex one: when the alarm goes off, do you get up out of bed, or do you lie there in comfort and fall back to sleep? If you have the discipline to get out of bed, you win — you pass the test. If you are mentally weak for that moment and you let that weakness keep you in bed, you fail. Though it seems small, that weakness translates to more significant decisions. But if you exercise discipline, that too translates to more substantial elements of your life.”
Now a rebuild isn’t the same as engaging enemy forces on the battlefield; but Willink and Greene are on the same path. Disciplining your mind and not being consumed (too much) by distractions are integral to reaching your goals. And you will reach them step by step.
Regarding your goals, I must confess that I leapt over your description of the end-product. I want to be surprised. Life doesn’t have many of them, so when I see an opportunity to take one, I jump on it like a hobo on a ham sandwich.
I’m excited to see where you’ll be in a year’s time – with the rebuild and your writing. The art is in you like a modern-day Georgia O’Keefe; and I can’t wait to see your next painting. Pretty sure we all can’t.
Ride on and Write on, because you’re Right on!
Oops, I’m just now seeing this — for some reason I didn’t get notified about your comment!
Ohene, you keep finding new ways to make me blush 🙂 I guess the line between an artist and a craftsman is pretty blurred, and I’m nowhere near capable of giving an adequate definition of the distinction. But for me, being a craftsman has always been more about doing a useful or utilitarian task well, whereas being an artist has been about expressing ideas or emotions. Of course, the entire industry of custom motorcycles is proof that functional objects can also express emotion.
As far as discipline… I may or may not have slept in after my alarm this morning 😉 But I agree with the sentiment — the capacity to have discipline is always there, it all comes down to the moment where you do or don’t do what needs to be done. But more and more, I’m becoming a huge proponent of using your mental energy in productive ways, and letting the less important things slide. Like the productivity tip about not checking your emails until noon, so you don’t waste your most awake hours on a menial, distracting task. I think, also, we can burn up a lot of mental energy being anxious or fearful about a task, which makes it even harder to take action when the time comes. Ignoring the “easy” tasks and learning to control that fear is a type of discipline all on its own, I suppose.
As far as keeping my ideas a surprise, I guess I’ll have to put spoiler alerts in my articles for you before I share any more of my ideas! 😉
Thanks, as always, for your encouragement and support, Ohene. Have a great week!
Spoiler Alert: You’re a great writer!