The bike was running great, better than it ever did during my ownership. I decided to have some more maintenance done before I came home in August of 1997 before deploying to Kuwait. I was lucky enough to find a used Fox Twin-clicker rear shock when I was home in March 1997.

My Fox Twin Clicker. Manufactured 2/87.
Rebuilt in 2002 by Curtis Pell of
California Suspension Works

I had the shock rebuilt by Rick Sage of Sage Racing in Denver Colorado before having it installed by Gran-Prix Motorsports. I also had new steering head bearings put in, an oil change and carb clean done. Granted, I normally did all of the maintenance and work on my bike, but I was tired of spending half my leave getting the bike ready to ride. I finally decided to fork over the dough to get it done, so I could just pick up the bike and RIDE.

Riding that summer was great. The roads were in excellent shape in and around Evergreen and Morrison. Some really nice and scenic riding there if you get the chance to check it out. I did some real hard riding with the folks from Gran Prix again, and really saw how this bike would run. I was frustrating one of the salesmen who pulled a brand spanking new 1997 ZX-7R off the showroom floor. My ten-year-old "vintage" bike hung with it mile for mile. If fact, my built motor out muscled it, especially in the higher altitudes (I jetted and adjusted the carbs just for this, heh, heh, heh). I felt pretty good about that. He didn't.

For all of the fun I had, when the vacation started winding down, the motor started losing power AGAIN. I figured that was it. I winterized the bike, and put her into DEEP storage. All fluids were drained, tank was coated internally with oil, tires were blocked and a cover was put over her. I was sick and tired of spending money on the "thing." I loved this bike, but frustration and the continuous cash flow finally got the best of me.