There's a danger in going too fast if you're wrenching, and I'm not just talking about making an accidental extra blood sacrifice to the garage gods.
What I'm talking about is breaking your own heart. Getting in your own way. Being both the cause of (and the solution to) all of your problems on a given project.
Things don't always go perfectly when you're DIYing; heck, the problem-solving (and having reasonable faith in your capability to figure out a tough problem) is probably half the fun for some of us. But if you go too fast, that's when the worst stuff happens. Because that's when you make dumb mistakes where you totally knew better, but you did it anyway.
It's totally frustrating when you know you did it to yourself, isn't it? You get overexcited, or overtired, or else you are simply just keen to get on with your project and get it over with. I get it; we all do. Sometimes, for whatever reason, you just need to be done. But that's how you end up with your engine back together and two extra bolts in the bowl and you can't figure out where they were supposed to go.
In the final chapter of the Bearded Mechanic's Harley-Davidson V-Rod build for the bike build off against Paul Sr. from OCC and Sean from Bikes and Beards, he spends a good deal of time trying to figure out why the rear wheel assembly isn't going together like it should. Everything else is seemingly going to plan, including getting the wiring sorted out so there's a nice little USB routed up front so you can keep your tunes cranked as you ride.
At first, it seems like the issue is the size of the rear brake rotor being slightly too large. So it's rubbing, which of course isn't what you want. Craig yanks it off and sends it back to get a slightly smaller rotor installed, but when he gets the new one back and installs it on the rear wheel, the whole thing still doesn't fit together nicely.
He spends way longer than he ever expected trying to figure it out, but finally he stares it down and realizes his mistake. It's a simple one, but an easy one to make if you're in a hurry. You know, like most of them are. It's not that he (or you) don't know what's going on; it's just that you went too fast, and that's when it's easy to get yourself stuck.
You can get yourself unstuck, though! I believe in you. And then take it a little easier next time and make a totally new mistake instead of repeating this one. Happy wrenching!
