Garage Baptism & Being Honest about your Skillz

 Sometimes... you just need to baptize the garage floor. 

This is what being impatient gets you. Plus, these oil pans suck.

Normally, I use a regular old open oil pan, but mine cracked and I can't remember how it happened.  Did I back over it with my car? Did I drop something on it?  Who knows. Any who, I was going to find an old kitchen bowl when I remembered this oil pan under my work bench.  

I was being impatient, the oil was still very very hot, and I thought I could control the flow.  Narrator: "He could not control the flow.".  The plug popped out, the oil burnt my fingies and my garage floor got a healthy coating of VR1 20w50. I am smart enough to not clean up the oil until the whole process is complete. In positive news, the oil plug was free from shavings and the screen displayed no more slivers of aluminum.  

I took the duc out in the lovely hurricane related rain over the past 2 days to test my gear. I purchased a one piece textile suit (not Aerostich) from eBay.  While comfy, within about a half mile, my arms were already soaked and I could feel water leaking in along the outsides of my legs.  I don't want to mess around with waterproofing spray before my trip, so I got out my Gore-Tex gear from my last trip. That gear worked great in 2022, but I wanted to explore a onesie. One day I'll get a Roadcrafter. 

With the KLIM whatever jacket, and my Aerostich Darien pants, I went back out for another hour+ of riding.  This time, I came home dry, except for the ends of my sleeves, which is to be expected.  If my sleeves would reach over my gloves, that wouldn't be a problem. 

One thing I'm strongly reminding myself of is, that regardless of how many bikes I've owned, and how long it's been since I started riding, I am a new rider.  I only state this due to the long stretches of not riding.  So instead of refreshing my skills, I'm learning them again almost as if from the start.  Being a flat-lander, riding into the mountains on a still relatively new to me bike, has me a bit nervous.  But riding smart, riding my own ride, and trusting my tires, are keys to riding safely.  

There are so many great riding skill resources out there.  I'm a big fan of Canyon Chasers and Moto-Jitsu, and many others.  Although, I'd love to see them try and ride a 900SS in the box, or practice tight u-turns; due to the huge turning radius.  It's like turning a garbage truck with very good brakes.

Stay safe out there. 

Mystery Chunk of Magnetic Horror

 At my last oil change, I swapped in a magnetic oil plug.  Today, when I drained the oil to replace the recently replaced shifter seal, my eyes fell upon a horror of horrors. 

It may be tiny, but it's definitely some sort of engine bit.  However, who knows how long it's been in there.  That was the first real oil change since I've owned this bike, so maybe it lived in there previously and the plug just caught it.  There was no other metallic dust, flaking or other signs of metal.  

Like all the other weird things, I guess I'll just keep on keeping on. 

Stay safe out there. 

Project CBR600F: IT'S ALIVE!

 Even with the stock exhaust, it was still running too lean.  So, I ordered an OEM style air filter from Emgo to replace the K&N.  After a bit of delay, the filter arrived, and it was a bit better but still not right. 

 So, I stood there and pondered why in the hell it's still running like crap, even back to fully stock jetting.  Was it not fuel/air related? Is this a failing coil?  Is the bike cursed?  Am I destined to never have a running motorcycle again?  No, wait.... this bike used to have full body fairings, two snorkels with internal pre-filter things.  Key words there are used to. The fairings have been gone for who knows how long, but the snorkel, I removed that to make room for the wiring bundle.  That's it! The air box is breathing too well. For a quick test, I got some cardboard and painters tape. 

It's ugly, but dammit, it worked! The jetting wasn't perfect, it still had some mid range stumble, and feels a bit lean at full throttle. As I rode around, I started thinking about an old set of docs from a race team in 1987/1988.  They recommend a 108 Main, 35 Pilot, 2.5 on the mixture screw, and 1-3 shims on the needle, for the stock air box.  So, I added a shim, changed the mixture screw, then went back out.  Much better!  Still maybe a bit lean in the main, so I ordered a set of 108s. But it was definitely good enough to ride!

Originally, I had planned, under the assumption that the air filter would fix all my woes, to go moto camping in the southern part of the state.  However, with no real shake down run under my belt, I thought it was best to stick close to home.  A quick phone call for permission to camp on some property next to a soy bean field, a few min to grab additional supplies, and off I went. 

By this time of day, after running all over own, I was starting to realize that this bike may not be ideal for me.  Even with the stock exhaust, it's louder than I like (never really liked the rasp of a high reving 4 cylinder), the knee angle hurts, and the seat, dear gods, to say the seat is awful is being polite.  I'd almost rather sit directly on the engine, at least the nerves would burn away and stop hurting. But, it's the bike I have, so let's hit the road. 

Unfortunately, I couldn't park the bike near my camp site, but I can't complain since it's a free spot with access to clean water.  This was my first time hammock camping, it was a fun challenge to get my spot set up properly.  Definitely different from tent camping! I did miss the space that even my single person tent gives me, especially for all my gear.  I was thinking about making some sort of mesh gear hammock to hang under, to hold my stuff off the ground.  

The overnight low got about 10 degrees cooler than originally forecast.  I brought a light camping blanket, but even wrapped up, the backside of my body was pretty damn cold.  Way colder than I expected.  I got some sleep but it wasn't a great night.  So, I ordered a hammock under quilt, while drinking my morning coffee.  Part of me thinks a rough night of sleep like that, due to discomfort, maybe isn't too bad for you.  Perhaps it can put a goodnights sleep back into perspective? 

After packing up, I headed home, I double checked the grounds, thanked my hosts, and hit the road.  It was already hot, so I stopped for a brief snack at a local park, and enjoyed the shade.  Oh, I finally broke down and bought summer riding gear.  The heat isn't so bad with a kevlar lined riding pants, and a mesh jacket!  I also soak my buff neck wrap in water, to help keep cool.  ( I do this for mowing the yard too.). 

The mains should be here this week, when they arrive, I'll print the proper plug for the airbox.  The process of getting this bike back on the road has been an adventure to say the least.  I've learned a lot, and it feels damn good to be back on two wheels, and to have finally got a project operational instead of giving up.  I do keep thinking about getting a more adventure appropriate bike, but if you make payments on something, it owns you.  I own this bike, both from a financial stand point, as well as dedication, blood, sweat, and tears. 

Stay safe out there. 

Contour ROAM durability test

My friend and future riding buddy (we've been resurrecting his G650GL) loaned me his Contour ROAM back in 2013. I used it on the Ulysses on an almost daily basis and got some great videos. I finally mounted it to the XJ over the weekend and yesterday I used it for the first time.  I was traveling from the north to the south side of Indianapolis to do some training when I hit the I65 exit, I noticed something was missing.  That something was the ROAM.   That meant, I had almost 14 miles of 3 lane highway to retrace and search.

After the training session, I rode back to the start of my trip and started looking.  I had the camera mounted in it's waterproof case to help keep it safe from flying road debris since it was mounted fairly low.  Riding down 465, everything on the side of the road looked like it.  Shiny and clear. "There it is! Oh, nope, another bottle. Wait, is that it? Damn." This happened over and over.  I was worried that I lost it while in a middle lane and it got run over or worse, it bounced and hit someone's windshield.

It's lost somewhere along the blue line.

Finally, I tell myself I'm not going to find it and then, what the hell? There it is laying on the stripe between the breakdown lane and the fast lane!  I quickly scan the breakdown lane, merge over and jam on the brakes! Kill the bike, put the side stand down and start the long walk back to find it.  By the time I stopped, it was probably 150 ft behind me.  Thankfully, I got to it before it got hit.  The waterproof case was ground down in places and the door was broken off.  However, the camera was intact! It survived an impact at roughly 65-70 mph and a slide from the middle lane.  Unfortunately, I don't have video of it hitting the ground and sliding through traffic, it stopped recording when it broke free of the mount*.

Way to go Contour, you make one hell of a product! Now, it's secured via camera lanyard looped around my helmet strap.

* Disclaimer:  I was not using the stock supplied double sided tape.  This failure was not the fault of Contour.  It was purely user error.  

Unk

The 18th marked one year since Unk took the big ride fated for us all. 

 He was truly one of a kind.  

RTW Day 2013

In anticipation of Ride To Work Day this year, I mailed a letter to the Mayor's office requesting to make the 3rd Monday in June official RTW Day!  I submitted the official application this morning.

This could be a great step towards creating a better motorcycle culture for Indianapolis!

Indy to Cumberland Gap

A friend and fellow Ulysses owner purchased some land in eastern TN near Cumberland Gap.  Eager to put some miles on my bike and take ShrewsieQ on a better trip than our Michigan excursion, we agreed to tag along. 

A few days before the trip, my bike started acting up again.  Weird idle, surging, running hot and extremely poor low speed riding.  With some help from KFR, I double checked the static timing and then moved on to TPS zeroing and reset.  On Friday, we loaded up the bike and went out for a test ride.  Unfortunately, the surging and low speed issues were still there.  My stress level was hitting critical mass.  

 Having replaced all the sensors but the TPS and CPS, I dug back into the fuel system and found this: 

This very well could have been the cause of all my issues.  Knowing that there are many cross compatible parts from domestic cars, I found the correct TPS sensor and started searching the local stores.  The Autozone near my work had one in stock.  

During production of the first generation of bikes, Buell switched TPS models.  The Duralast only fits the original style TPS.  My bike was made in Nov, so I wasn't very hopeful that it would match up. However, the motorcycle gods were on my side.  The new sensor worked perfectly! The idle sounds better than it did when I test rode it, the slow speed riding has improved drastically.  So, to Tennessee we went! 

A tale of two Buells at Waffle House.

(Right after lunch, we saw a pimp at a gas station.  He was wearing a matching red suit and hat.)

With daylight running thin and no good flat spots at Rench's land, we stealth camped here. 

The Church was vacant, so we figured no one would mind if we camped out under the shelter.

We saw/heard a truck with no tail lights or license plate run up and down this road all night.  Running shine?  

Before I left, found a place to stash a spare quart of oil.  Thinking I was clever, I zip tied it 

the bottom of the top case rack.  At some point after we left the church, Rench said he could smell burning oil.  As he checked his bike, I decided to check my oil level.  Glad I did because that's when I noticed this: 

Guess it wasn't a good idea after all. During the ride to get breakfast, my zip tied mess broke free and the quart of oil was rubbing against the rear tire.  It might have been the unavoidable pot holes on the gravel road or it could have been the massive vibrations from the engine finally shaking free the dino-juice.

I made a few laps down a gravel alley to help wear it off before hitting the interstate in search of breakfast. Every right hand curve caused some serious pucker until the 20w50 glaze had worn off. 

Squeezing into one narrow space at our second Waffle House of the trip. 

After lunch, we split up for the remainder of the trip.  Rench had to get home and we were headed to our friends' place in southern IN.  

Much better than sleeping under a church shelter.  

The Buell resting among Ryno's bikes. 

Petey!

Kennedy the Kat

You're handsome author and his lovely wife ShrewsieQ, who handled all the issues of the trip like a champ!

Amazing gluten free pizza.

Random Duc. 

This space reserved for videos as soon as I can edit them.  

The trip was great and the Uly ran perfect! We did about 5 miles of gravel roads (now I really want some TKC80s) while going back and forth to Rench's land.  After hitting a grocery store for supplies and getting some seriously weird looks from people, ShrewsieQ said "Even the cows look at us funny here.".  We can mark three states off now, KY, TN and VA.  Total miles: ____________

living with a crazy and fun but high maintenance motorbike

I went out for a ride down into the curvy section of Indiana last Saturday with Funky and Wheels. The Buell ran great, my confidence and skills need to grow to match it. I think a track day would do me well. So, the Buell eats up the curves like mad, it almost glides from turn to turn (as long as I do my part and stay smooth). I'm fairly sure there are either suction cups or magnets in the wheels, that's how well it stays planted. I did have to tinker with the front fork to cut out some fork dive. Currently, it's set for a guy about 50lbs heavier than myself according to what the book says, so it's probably time to change the fork oil.

After some spirited riding, we stopped at Rino's place to admire his renovated garage. Once we were rested and hydrated, it was time to follow Rino the Rocket through the twisty roads of southern Indiana. Admittedly, I wasn't "riding my own ride" on Saturday and found myself being a bit liberal with the throttle at times. This caused a close call on my part. Wheels, almost got a Ulysses enema due to a very sudden right hand turn onto a side street by Rino. Oops. Everyone stayed on two wheels and there was no contact, so it's a learning opportunity.

Wheels and I split off from Rino and Funky, hopped onto 46 and rocketed towards I65. After a pit stop at Scrubway to fill our bellies with crap food, we headed north towards home. The sun was setting and I would finally get a real chance to see how the Ulysses headlight works. Turns out, it's pretty damn good. We burned dinos all the way into downtown Indy and battled much traffic. Occasionally, I felt a stumble or hesitation, perhaps a surge from the 1203 Thunderstorm. "Eh, it's just your brain playing tricks, or maybe time to do the TPS reset.", I thought and carried on avoiding texters, pot-holes and street zombies.

Then, it happened, another stumble. There it is again. The idle drops below 1k and climbs back up to normal. At the next stop light, it gets worse. Now, I have to tickle the throttle to keep it from stalling. Oh shit, here comes the price for our day of fun. We hope on to Fall Creek, and now, I'm keeping the pig alive, just barely.

I turn into my 'hood and BAM, she dies. I thumb the starter and she howls back to life and runs all the way to my garage and stays alive long enough to pull inside, then kaput. After a few days rest and much Googling, I swap the plugs out and fire her up. She awakens with a throaty roar, like a motorcycle version of Tom Waits. I don't bother w/the airbox cover but I gear up and take off. She's running a bit rough but I think it's just from all the air dumping in. Then, it happens again. The stumble, then the idle craps out...time to turn back. I don't want to push the beast home.

So now she waits until I can do the TPS/AFV reset but the consensus on BadWeb is that my ECM has gone t*ts up. Thankfully, a BW member is going to ship me his to try out. Now that's freaking awesome. That way, I don't have to drop $300 on an EBR model and learn it's something else.

You'd think I'd be full of violence and murder since my new bike is in the garage all torn apart but I'm not. She's so damn fun to ride it is worth the wrenching and I knew Buell's are finicky when I bought it.

**Update:  The issued turned out to be a failing TPS Sensor!**

shakin' things up!

It's the weirdest thing.


This was in my garage when I woke up this morning.

Sometimes you're set on one path and life steers you towards another.

I was set on a KLR when my riding buddy Rino sent me a craigslist ad for the Uly. For $3k w/full hardbags and the comfort kit, I couldn't pass it up, even if it has 67k miles.
Runs great, rides smooth, shakes like mad at idle and has ridiculous amounts of torque. It will run better after an oil change and I flush out the shitty 87 octane the dealership filled it with before I left.

What's weird is 1 year, 4 months and 10 days ago, I made this post: http://7plus8.blogspot.com/2011/06/dreaming-of-future.html