Now that I have established the story behind the Night Train I can now talk a little more about the bike. As a follow up I should mention that Trina was a little less than thrilled with the idea of me having a bike but she has slowly warmed up to it. There was a minor setback when I took her on her first ride. We decided to go visit my brother to show him the bike (he is a bigger motorcycle guy than I am and for the record a much better rider). I slightly underestimated the length of the ride when I mentioned it to Trina. I thought it was maybe 4-5 miles. It ended up being over 100 miles round trip as we went to his work, his wife Darlene's work and ultimately their house in North Phoenix (Trina swears it was south Flagstaff). This might not have been totally bad except the Night Train Badlander seat is really designed for 1 since the rear seat is approximately 7 inches wide and maybe 1.5 inches thick. It was days before Trina could comfortably sit again. The good news is that the next year for my birthday she bought me a new and much more comfortable seat. She still has not gotten back on the bike to see whether it is more comfortable for her and that was 2 years ago.
Lately though she has gotten more comfortable with me and the bike. In fact for Christmas I received several accessories for the bike. This year I have committed to accessorizing my Night Train to finally make it more personal. I would have done this sooner but two shoulder surgeries and extended therapy minimized my time on the bike. Now though my shoulder is feeling much better and I plan to ride the Night Train a lot 
more. Among the accessories I received for Christmas were a set of leather Boss Bags. I bought the 42C which will allow me to carry my briefcase and my laptop to work. The craftsmanship on the bags is superb and I highly recommend them. I also added a combination speedometer/tachometer and a set of Vance&Hines staggered Big Shots exhaust system. I really like the exhaust. It has a throaty sound that is louder than the stock pipes but not loud enough that it is annoying. I know there is a constant argument of the value or detriment of loud pipes but I can safely say it has saved my life. With the stock pipes I had people pull in front of me all the time. People just don't look for a biker. Since I have changed pipes I have seen people prepare to change lanes or cut me off but then hear me rev the engine a little and they stay in their lane until it is safe. To me that makes a big difference.
So basically I am in the process of tricking out the Night Train. I want to leave as much black as possible on the bike mostly because I like the look of the blacked out parts. Things that aren't black I am moving to chrome. My goal is to put enough chrome on the bike to make the black pop which in turn will make the chrome stand out. It is a balancing act. This week I am focusing on zinc fasteners, the bane of all bikes. Zinc is cheap, zinc is strong, and zinc makes Harley riders crazy. I have a theory that Harley-Davidson uses zinc bolts and nuts because they have a dull look to them which will cause bikers to go into the dealership and pay $5 for a chrome bolt just so they don't have to look at the drab zinc fastener. Well, it worked on me anyway. I have spent the better part of 2 days stripping off zinc bolts, nuts, and screws and replacing them with a chrome equivalent. Trina of course thinks I am insane. "No one cares about whether a bolt is bright chrome or dull silver." That's not necessarily true, I care and since I am the one riding the bike I don't want to look down at zinc. I've had to calm down a little though. You can get crazy if you replace every bolt. First it is stinking expensive and secondly it is a pain to get to some of these bolts. Oh and that part about my shoulder being fine? Yeah not so much. It hurts like a mother bear and the twisting that accompanies twisting a wrench is about the worst motion I can do. So every time I replace a fastener it is a new adventure in pain. I keep telling myself it is going to be worth it and my shoulder keeps telling me not so much. Rocker box, transmission cover, derby cover, timing cover, and rear struts are about as far as my shoulder is going to let me go. I'm going to have to just deal with some zinc no matter how painful that may be.
more. Among the accessories I received for Christmas were a set of leather Boss Bags. I bought the 42C which will allow me to carry my briefcase and my laptop to work. The craftsmanship on the bags is superb and I highly recommend them. I also added a combination speedometer/tachometer and a set of Vance&Hines staggered Big Shots exhaust system. I really like the exhaust. It has a throaty sound that is louder than the stock pipes but not loud enough that it is annoying. I know there is a constant argument of the value or detriment of loud pipes but I can safely say it has saved my life. With the stock pipes I had people pull in front of me all the time. People just don't look for a biker. Since I have changed pipes I have seen people prepare to change lanes or cut me off but then hear me rev the engine a little and they stay in their lane until it is safe. To me that makes a big difference.
So basically I am in the process of tricking out the Night Train. I want to leave as much black as possible on the bike mostly because I like the look of the blacked out parts. Things that aren't black I am moving to chrome. My goal is to put enough chrome on the bike to make the black pop which in turn will make the chrome stand out. It is a balancing act. This week I am focusing on zinc fasteners, the bane of all bikes. Zinc is cheap, zinc is strong, and zinc makes Harley riders crazy. I have a theory that Harley-Davidson uses zinc bolts and nuts because they have a dull look to them which will cause bikers to go into the dealership and pay $5 for a chrome bolt just so they don't have to look at the drab zinc fastener. Well, it worked on me anyway. I have spent the better part of 2 days stripping off zinc bolts, nuts, and screws and replacing them with a chrome equivalent. Trina of course thinks I am insane. "No one cares about whether a bolt is bright chrome or dull silver." That's not necessarily true, I care and since I am the one riding the bike I don't want to look down at zinc. I've had to calm down a little though. You can get crazy if you replace every bolt. First it is stinking expensive and secondly it is a pain to get to some of these bolts. Oh and that part about my shoulder being fine? Yeah not so much. It hurts like a mother bear and the twisting that accompanies twisting a wrench is about the worst motion I can do. So every time I replace a fastener it is a new adventure in pain. I keep telling myself it is going to be worth it and my shoulder keeps telling me not so much. Rocker box, transmission cover, derby cover, timing cover, and rear struts are about as far as my shoulder is going to let me go. I'm going to have to just deal with some zinc no matter how painful that may be.
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