Mikelly

The trip that never was to be… Or, don’t plan a trip for Friday the 13th


I have two good friends (one is my business partner) who I have planned and gone on motorcycle trips with over the last few years. Every time we leave in the summer time and head out for 3-4 days riding motorcycles on incredibly twisty roads thru Virginia, North Carolina, and West Virginia. We’ve had the occasional flat, and a corded tire, but we’ve never been “broke down” and unable to continue… That changed this weekend.

It started two weeks ago. Eric was torquing down his steer bearings when the forks turned, putting tension on a cable that hit the top cap on a fork tube and snapped it off. His Kawasaki Concours was rendered a lame duck… I laughed and made fun of him… Bad mistake… Two days later, while changing my oil, the oil drain bolt kinda “stuck” on threading it in, then I felt a “click” and all seemed well. Until I filled the pan with oil… Then the problem showed itself in the form of a cracked oil pan.

So the spouses were starting to get nervous and our friends were saying “you realize it’s Friday the 13th on the day you leave, right?” We knew that, but seriously, how bad could it be? So Thursday I picked up the bike and rode it home from the independent shop I used to weld up the pan. No concerns and the bike rode well… no oil leaks and no issues. I packed the bike up that night and was ready to roll on Friday.

Friday we got off a bit late, as rain was slowing everyone from meeting at my place. We were able to shove off by 1130 and everything was going well as we travelled back roads from my home in Wilderness, Va down thru Orange Va, and over to Crozet Va. where we jumped onto Rt.250 and headed for the entrance to the Blue Ridge Parkway(BRP). We stopped at the top of the parkway to swap out of rain gear and into mesh gear. No signs of issues again. Bikes were running well, and the weather was “looking up”.

We get on the BRP and start south. Traffic is light and my goal of “between 4K-5K rpms and steady speeds thru the corners is met with wonderful grip and very predictable riding with the ZRX1100 that I’ve had great success with over the last 3 years riding. Then, out of nowhere, Eric pulls up to me and gets my attention to pull over… Problem with MY bike… Sure enough a coolant leak.

So we pull over at a scenic over-look and find the radiator is leaking. No cell signal and the 3 GPS devices we’re looking at are all spoty with service as well. 5 minutes into trying to sort out the game plan, another motorcyclist pulls up. The guy gets off the bike, a red 2003 Kawasaki Concours, and introduces himself. His name is Greg, from Brittish Columbia, and he thinks he can help. We take off the gas tank, crack the radiator cap one click, and put everything back on. Bike runs and seems not to leak any fluid from the bottom of the radiator. All seems well. So I hop on and we ride further south for an hour… Bike is missing slightly, but there are no signs of any real concerns. I’m thinking maybe we distrurbed something in the fuel tank when we pulled it. Who knows? I’m starving and Otter Creek is up ahead, so we stop in to grab a bite.

While in there, Greg decides he’ll check on a campsite, as he’s been riding longer today than we have. We go inside and grab a bite. I head off to the head after eating, then go out to the bike to get my GPS to see how far we are from Meadows of Dan, where our cabin is. When I arrive at the bike, I see a puddle of gas. We start to troubleshoot it… Then we find the bike won’t start. It’s hydrolocked. Then we pull the tank and remove the spark plugs. I hit the starter with the ignition switch off and shoot gasoline 10 feet into the air. Somehow a float got stuck and filled a cylinder with gas.

Once we get the bike back together, it starts but is in no shape to idle and run for any length of time with any confidence. While putting the bike back together, and starting to feel the stress of the last two months come back on me yet again, Greg relays the info that his wife was supposed to join him on this trip. However, her health was failing again and the MS had sidelined her from joining him. It made all my problems seem small in comparison.

So I packed my gear on Eric’s bike, and I got on Barry’s bike and we road back to Lexington, Va. where I found a pint of Jack Daniels, a Holiday Inn Express, and made some calls to the wife. My companions got on their steeds and headed south, as planned.

This morning my wife showed up at the hotel at 0730 and we loaded my gear into my truck. We then went to the U-haul a mile down the street and rented a trailer, headed back to Otter Creeck and had the bike loaded up and were heading home by 10AM. By 1215 it was at the dealer I normally use for maintaining my bikes. I’m 44 years old and I’ve had my “M” class for 28 years. Until this weekend, I’d never been stranded by a motorcycle on any trips. This was a first and I must say I didn’t enjoy being stranded in the middle of nowhere.

I think it’s time to upgrade form a carburetor based motorcycle… Currently shopping for something a little more modern…

Mike

Kevin

Mike I think that all of "can" relate to your post. Glad that you are okay! As we get older do we just forget about the frequency of these adventures when we were in HS turning wrenches.

Mikelly

Amen, Brother...

What's even more interesting... When I got back to the parkinglot where we left the bike, I told my wife "Bet it won't start". Thing started right up and ran like there was nothing wrong with it...

Just wasn't meant to be...
Mike

993MAN

Mate thats really unforturnate, but as the others say, at least you're all OK.
Bit of a bummer that you couldn't finish the trip. Time for another bike for sure.
A pint of JD and Holiday Inn Express...sweet!

Chaos

BMW R1200S or New VFR !

gunther1

What a bummer Mike! The BMW R1200SS is will put things right. Of course my XR400 would look nice in your garage as well. At least it did when I brought it down

Mikelly

Not a chance on either bike suggestion... The VFR I just testrode yesterday was a flat turd that my 11 year old Kawasaki ZRX would walk away from with little effort, in any condition... And I'm not a fan of the intervals for maintenance on the BMW. Same with Ducati... Insane is a better word for it, AND every BMW dealership my business partner has dealt with in the past has a waitlist months out for doing any work on them...

I'm looking at only one of two bikes right now. The Concours, which has been voted best sport touring ride for the last 3 years running, or the FJR1300...

It's narrowed to those two...

Mike

Rinty

Mike:

Sorry to hear about your trouble.

A couple of summers ago, I spent a pleasant 8 hours by the side of a road with my BMW R1150RS, when it got a flat. The puncture was rectangular and we couldn't plug it.

Before you buy a replacement bike, suggest you try the new Triumph Sprint GT, or the new Honda VFR 1200 F.

Actually, one of the coolest machines I've been on recently is the Kawasaki Versys 650; it's simply amazing. And less is more.

kleinbbc2

Heading up to were you were next month to ride the dragon and play for 4 days.

Mikelly

Kleinbbc2, couple pieces of advice for you...

The Dragon is way overblown and is actually a road I won't ride anymore... There simply are way better roads to ride all around the Dragon without the crush of squids on sportbikes playing Nickie Hayden, or the tools in sportscars crossing the double yellow... But that said, again, the general "Area" is amazing for all the other crazy nice roads... Have fun and be safe in the region, and watch out for deer, and bearcubs... Both are highly mobile this time of year on the parkway and in the region in general.

Rinty, You couldn't give me a VFR. I was underwhelmed by everything except for the brakes on the test mule I rode two days ago. Very unimpressed with it...I'll either keep the ZRX for a while or suck it up and buy a new 2010 Concours... Leaning that way...

Mike

Rinty

You rode the new 1200?

I've read that they throw heat onto the rider, but perhaps this has been dealt with by now.

But there's some nice sport tourers on the market right now. And if Yamaha comes out with a TDM 1200, it's going to get even more interesting.

Mikelly

Sure did... AND Kawasaki fixed the heat on rider issues in 2010... It also has heated grips and other issues fixed from the previous two years...

Mike

Os Inspector

Mike how about this trip,

spent 4 months building a Custom Top of the Line Big Bore 2stroke Monster Dune atv. started with a 4130 custom chromoly frame, and then added desert racing custom extended heim jointed racing suspension. Throw in a 443cc stroked big bore motor producing 95whp on 110octane fuel. This project started with a expty space in the floor one purschase ata time.

so i get back home and grab the two quads and head to the dunes(10hr drive) get there to tune the Drag carb that came with the motor. and just cant get it anywhere near ridable, end up blowing it up first day cold seizing the motor so tear down drive 4.5hrs to motor builder get the aluminum out of the cylidner with muradic acid and put in new piston new o rings put back together and head back. end of day 2 the thing seizes again jsut when the carb seemed to be getting close. Pissed now i am no expense was spared building this bike. i tear it down to find the same thing, so we decide to take turns riding the other bike about 50whp 300cc, and it seizes up this motor has been running for 4 years( Light bulb goes off me and my father take off running for the two stroke oil jug) Well at 3AM when we mixed the fuel we mixed enough synthetic oil for 1 gallon and mixed it with 5gallons of race gas(110 octane) back to the engine builder after a day of cool down and now we had to rebore the smaller bike(non nikasil cylidner lining) get new piston in after 2 days of waiting and now the custom domed head hits the piston at TDC and u cant turn the motor over. so i had to go find a local machine shop (town of 4000 people) and explain to this man how i needed 2mm more clearance on the Squish of the cylinder head of this 2 stroke engine(because the only available psiton was 8 sizes/bores larger then the current one in the bike). So we get all this together and are Hopeful and Happy get the bikes running tuning in the Monster 443cc monster and i manage to completly desrtroy the rear sprocket hub under shear torque i tore all the tab off that hold the sprocket on (this is billet 7075 racing grade product)

of course noone has one so that ended our trip.


10 days total, riding days 1.5 total cost roughly 7000.00


next trip went smoother put a normal carb on big bike and got to ride every day of a 5 day trip and it was worth it.


if that one dont chear you up ill tell you the story of when i moved from washington state to Texas and blew 24 trailer tires, a starter in the truck at 3am in kansas and then a head gasket on chase vehicle.

http://picasaweb.google.com/WilliamB...51597088046674
Red Bike is the 443cc monster

http://picasaweb.google.com/WilliamB...51729833257202