And that's just the first two grits . I used ebony compound, then red. Next is mother's aluminum polish. That should make it shine just shy of a chrome luster. I like it.

Don't get it to the point you don't want to drive it for fear of getting it dirty. ;)

Nah. Not in my nature. This bike is currently out of my tolerance zone, though. How do you let a Harley that you bought new get this bad?

Answer : by being stupid enough to take $1500 for it in trade when you buy a new Nissan Rogue.

People do the same with cars, which I'm sure you've seen plenty of. It's just a tool with no emotional involvement, just use it, run it through the car wash occasionally, and discard(trade) it for another tool.
The Harley thing drew a lot of non-riders who bought the whole if you only had a Harley, women would want you and men would want to be you, shtick. But when they found out women wanted you to stay the fuck away from their babies, and men wanted to run you(and everyone) off the road, the dream faded. There's no potholes or traffic jams in Harley ads.
There's a shitload of Harleys gathering dust in garages across the country that rarely get ridden, but give legitimacy to wearing tons of Harley gear, and having a Harley sticker on their pickup or Cadillac.

Looking good! How are your joints?

I use a bong

Badoom tcha

:)

actually, I used a cloth polishing bit and a dewalt hand drill to do most of the buffing. A Black and Decker rotary tool (dremel) for tight spots.

Huge difference. It looks really good.

Tomorrow is forecast to be a nice day to ride. I'm off, as it happens.

First order of business will be to install the gremlin bells I received from one secret zippy santa, and Amanda hugandkiss on the respective motorcycles. My kids mocked me for being superstitious.... But I'll tell you.... The bell I had on the Yamaha fell off sometime early in our big trip last year, and I had some problems with the wiring for the speakers and the USB charger died during that trip.

http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/2016...0fb5f3e109.jpg
This one ZippyT sent in my secret santa package. It's gonna go under the VStar.

http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/2016...b4896a29c6.jpg
Amanda got me this one for the Electra Glide.

The legend...

http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/2016...baa2bc7a19.jpg

evil road spirits? Maybe you'll be the next Ghost Rider Jim!

I would totally watch that movie.

http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/2016...0f5ba62ade.jpg

The transmission case 1/3 done with the ebony compound

http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/2016...132b6d515e.jpg

After the rouge and polish

http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/2016...6b6f45197e.jpg

Shiny.

I also replaced the tour pack mounts and bushings

http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/2016...c519facde7.jpg
Before

http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/2016...f3068051f5.jpg
After