Fall Roadtrip Wrapup and major mechanical issues

    I know it has been a long time since I got back from my trip, but it has been a very eventful few months.  I can finally close out that trip report.

    When I made the stop in Pine Bluff, MO, I noticed that I had an odd tapping in my motor at times.  I ran under the assumption that my valves were getting a bit loose (like they do).  I put it on the checklist of things to do when I get home...."Adjust my valves".  When I got home, I swapped the bikes out and rode the R90 for a couple weeks.  I just didn't have time to get to the valved with the work schedule and all.  One fateful morning I was running late, so I decided to take the 1150 because it is a much faster startup in the morning.  About halfway to work, I noticed the ticking....then it turned into a full blown rattle....then a loud clatter.  I managed to get the bike hack to the house and made the decision to send it to the shop.  They ended up pulling the left jug to see what was up, and guess what they found......





    Things did not bode well for our young hero.  2300 miles across 8 states in a little over a week.  2 miles into the first ride after the trip, the motor lets go.  Not a little lets go, but a catastrophic kablooie.  The cam chain follower on the left side let go.  It is an $11 part, but to get to it, the entire motor has to be removed from the bike and taken completely apart.  Here is my baby on the lift:



    It is a very helpless feeling seeing your bike gutted on the lift like that.  That bike held together over that entire trip, and then let go 2 miles into my commute to work.  My baby drug my silly ass back home wounded.  He could just as easily dropped that part in any state, but he held together long enough to get me home.  That is the kind of love that doesn't wash off with soap and water.  Now he is all stripped on a lift waiting for some love. 

    We decided to go with a 90% rebuild and reseal, and new clutch since he was apart, so it took some time to get him back together.  I almost died when they got him back together and handed me the baggie that held the broken part. 



    It let go at a stoplight.  If that think would have let go on the highway at speed, who knows what would have been the result.  I will definately be buying my bike a beer, I certainly owe him one.

    While he was in the shop, I figured I would ride the R90 for a while.  Unfortunately, she had other plans.  The wonky headlight switch decided it was time to short out and shut down the charging system.  I had planned on taking her offline to do some upgrades, but not just yet.  She ended up going in for upgrades and repairs about 2 weeks later.  I will get the details up on that upgrade when she gets home from the surgeon.

    Fortunately, I was not alone in my time of suffering.  The Roll the Bones rally was kind of rough on The Kel's GS.  It seems that the suspension on the sidecar was not really up to the kind of riding that she likes to do, and it kind of BENT THE HELL out of the sidecar suspension.  Now her bike is in the shop getting the sidecar frame straightened and reinforced.  The builder is confident that the new setup will be much more sturdy when it comes to jumping railroad tracks....YAY!!!!!!!

Here is a little video of some of the rally:



Here is the full playlist of Roll the Bones videos:



She should have the GS back in the next couple weeks.....I hope.

Enjoy,

Dave

Lazy Saturday......

I got to go shake my brain out a bit today. While pulling the old Russian out of mothballs, I discovered that the starter relay is still kind of dodgy. I think I will replace it and clean all connections between the battery and the starter. That should give me a better feel for it. That being said, rainy days are the best days for bike-workin-on. Saturday was nice in the morning, so there was riding.

Since the weather was kind of nasty all directions from Austin, I decided to just run around the back roads. My initial plan was to make a lap around the lake. That was when muscle memory took over and I just let the bike go where it felt like going. I took our old loop down around dripping springs and wimbery. I ended up in San Marcos. Since I was there, I decided to get pizza at my old college hangout. Valentino's Pizza is still the worst pizza around, but it is nostalgia. What the hell. After some Pizza, I went over to the Humidor to hang out and have a cigar. Rob got in a couple boxes of the Auturo Fuente Reverves so I picked up a few. After that I went out to Mikey's shop and hung out for a while. I needed to drop some stuff off with him, and I happened to be in the area. While I was there, I picked up a set of anti-dive springs for Kel's bike too. The trip back was where things got interesting. I made it almost 5 miles back before the flying midget with a firehose found me. Little bastard followed me all the way home. This was the first time I have had the R90 out in heavy rain, so I am at least glad I know how it is going to handle now. I also learned that those new brakes are really good. In the wet, I get a lot better feel out of them so I don't have to guess where lockup is. After this little ride I think those brakes are the best money I have thrown at the bike.

One thing I do want to find out is who left the cage open.....all of the idiots got out and they were on the road. I had my rainsuit on, the one that is all reflective, and all of the reflective stickers on my bike. Reflective materials only work if the other vehicles have their lights turned on. I saw more cars running in driving rain with their wipers on high and their headlights turned off. No scares, no close calls....just a front row seat for the parade of stupidity. I know there are sobriety checkpoints, there are discussions of insurance checkpoints, I have even heard rumors that there might be insurance checkpoints in the future. When are there going to be roadside IQ tests. I am sorry sir, you are too stupid to be allowed to live....pop...pop...

Oh well, off to work on the russian. Have fun.

Dave

The restoration has begun......

I have finally started the restoration project on the R90. I got the new instrument cluster installed. Now it is just a matter of getting the new cables run. Today I got the new tins installed. I decided to go with the /7 tins. I like the shape of the tank better than the /6. The best thing about it is that it has a paint job already on it. It is called "Alaska Blue" It is very similar to the color of the blue Subaru WRX. The paint on the fenders is kind of scratched up, but the tank is in great shape. No dents in the tank is actually a miracle of sorts. The fairing is still white. I think I might keep it white, I kind of like it.

Here are the shots:







The checklist is getting smaller. I only have a few more things to do before I am done.

1. New side cases
2. New Mufflers
3. Make a decision on paint.


Now I just have to get it on the highway and ride the hell out of it.

TTFN

Dave

It's been a while......

I know it's been a while, especially for the one of you that actually follows my aimless rambling. Kel and I managed to score a short weekend getaway with a couple friends of ours. Kel, Gary, Laura, and I did a short shakedown last weekend. Just a little run around. Pulled about 500 miles over the weekend. I had been having some top end trouble with the R90 so I took the Ural. It was a fairly uneventful ride. It was nice to give Laura a chance to pull mileage in line. We did mostly highway miles, so it was pretty much point and go. Now it is time to shake out the starter problems on the Ural. It feels like either the starter relay or the starter switch is going bad. I will probably just replace both of them and get on with my life. The best thing to do with the Russian parts is to replace them with BMW parts at the first sign of problems, then do standard troubleshooting if it still doesn't work. I know it sounds backwards, but it is Russian after all. I mean, it has a Toyota starter motor......

As far as the R90 goes, I was getting some nasty valve noise, and slight loss of power at the top end after warming up. I ended up doing a valve job, retourqued the head-bolts, replaced the plugs, and changed the oil. It was like magic.....really. Now it goes like stink again. YAY!!!! Now it is just a matter of planning the next road trip.

I got the parts ordered for the restore also. I am getting a new tank, fenders, seat, and fairing. All painted standard flat black. I am going with the /7 tins. Now it will look like it was at least marginally new. I am guessing it will be around may or June before it is finished, but the restore will be complete, and that is all that matters. Then I can start looking at the performance upgrades that I want to do. I am thinking about putting about 5-10 more HP into the old girl. No good reason, I just want to.

I still have not come to a decision on weather I want to do the "Border to Border" or the Dixie Overland this summer. I guess it will come down to the weather and anyone that feels like going with me. If I am going alone, I will likely flip a coin, if I am taking someone with me, it will depend on how much time they can get off.

Oh well, time to wash the grease off the old elbows and nose.

TTFN

Dave

GRRRR.....Wanna go somewhere.....

Anywhere....Just go. I just got done with the 2k service on the R90, and took it around the block. The thing that I find on the bike is that when you get more than one days ride from home, you develop an instant sense of clarity. That is the moment you realize that the only thing that really matters is getting back home alive. Work stress, friend stress, any stress, is just not significant any more when you are on a bike in the middle of nowhere. My running joke is that a motorcycle is a machine to transform gasoline into perspective.

The problem you run into when you spend a lot of time traveling on the bike, is that when you get home you start thinking about the next trip. Right now all I can think about is my next trip. I am planning a big "Go away" this summer. I have not decided whether I want to do the Dixie overland East (US80 from Dallas, TX to Savannah, GA) or a Border to Border loop (Del Rio, TX to Canada). I guess it will depend on whether or not Gary can go with me. He has finally retired from the Army (27 years). I am planning 2 weeks in July for the trip, so I have time to decide. I know I can't wait that long for a trip, so I will probably eat a long weekend or two in between depending on what the weather and work will allow. Right now all I know is that I want to go somewhere.....anywhere.

Ok, so I am a dork

It turns out that the problems that I was having with the new transmission were just due to getting the new box broken in, and getting me used to actually having to shift the gears instead of just shuffling them randomly.

Now that I am riding the bike properly for the new gearbox, I am finding it much more responsive than the it was before. I also got ahold of one of the San Jose fork braces for the front end. It is possibly the best money ever spent on a motorcycle, other than gas of course. The purpose of the fork brace is to keep the fork legs in line during heavy braking, fast cornering, and general stupidity. I would not have believed that a simple chuck of steel between the forks would do things like......drop 10% off of my stopping distance. Now I don't get the lateral pull when I get on the front brakes as hard. It also changes the way the bike feels when I go into a corner. Before, the big corner on my way to work felt kind of mushyif I took it over about 30. It kind of had that "low tire" feel to it. Now, I have taken it up to 45 (the actual speed limit for both roads) and there is no movement at all. I am definately not inspired to engage in random acts of "squid-idity", but I certainly feel much more confident in the ability of the bike to make emergency manouvers, or sudden stops without wadding up.

Now that everything is back in working order and we are coming up on winter, it is time to start thinking about what I want to do toward the customization/frankenbiking of Athena. The original plan for this bike was to turn her into a cafe racer, with the ability to do real distance. I know the two sound mutually exclusive, but If I do it intelligently, it should not be a problem. The big things that need to be done are the clean-up of the fairing, painting the tank, getting the corbin /6 gunfighter solo seat installed, and the final touch will be upgrading the front brakes to dual disks. I don't see the brake upgrade happening in the near future, but it is worth a thought.

I will probably just break down and spray paint the fairing I have until I can get around to buying the parts and having them professionally shot.

TTFN

Dave

Well, poopie.

It looks like the transmission that got rebuilt is still having problems, so it is going back to mikey. That means another week or so without her. I will be hauling her in on saturday.....again.

well, poo.

ttfn,

Dave

Yay!!!!!!!! The R90 is back.

I just got back in from San Marcos with the R90. New transmission, and a front fork brace. Everything is running very nicely. I am so happy, I am going to take her to work tomorrow. I will probably let the Ural sit for a couple weeks while I get to know her again. All I need to do now is figure out how to get the fork brace attached. The bolt holes are set up for a /7 fender, and I am riding a /6........poop.

Oh well.....

Dave

'Bout damn time, and all that......

My life since my last post, has been what we call in the computer industry, an MPCCF. For those people not used to acronyms, Massively Parallel Cascading Cluster F(ail). That is where a bunch of things go wrong simultaneously, and cause other things to fail in a chain reaction.

It all started with the trip that I had planned to blow the cobwebs out of my brain got sidetracked due to a mess at work that had to be handled. While getting everything sorted on that front, I noticed that the gearbox on the R90 was starting to feel a bit notchy. On the way to work one evening, 3rd gear let go on me. This called for a new gearbox. Just about the time I got ready to get the new box put in, I ended up getting sent out of town for work for a week. This culminated in 6 weeks of work without a day off. When all is finally said and done, I wind up getting everything done on the thursday before labor day weekend. I get the R90 dropped off with Mikey, and Kel and I get ready for the Labor Day Weekend escape. This time we are dragging along two of our friends.

The trip starts falling apart with one of the participants running into family problems the wednesday before we leave. One bike down, three to go. We end up with a trio of airheads heading for Fredricksburg. Two R90's and a Ural. We make it almost 30 miles before we discover that the other friend's R90 is not charging the battery. This can't be good. We end up writing off Saturday getting the battery replaced. Now there is a good battery, but it is still not charging to the highest capacity. It will only charge to maintenance levels if the headlight is off. Sunday is spend tearing through the charging system with a voltmeter checking all of the outputs, cleaning all contacts, and making sure all ground connections are good. At the end of sunday, we are getting 13.8v out of the charging system and all is good.

This brings us to the ride. Finally, I get to put more than 5 consecutive miles on the bike. We end up taking Hamilton Pool Road to 281, and then to Marble Falls. Have Lunch at the Bluebonnet Cafe, and then come home down 1431. We only pushed about 125 miles, but it was better than a beating (just barely). In the end it was a nice ride. I had lots of fun.

Here is the route. Sorry, no pictures.



View Larger Map

Time to start planning a trip for sometime around my b-day.

TTFN,

Dave

Pre-trip maintenance

So here we go, finally getting around to doing some work on the bike before the harvest classic run. I did the maintenance...Oil, Gearbox, valves, etc.... Now I am just waiting for my new final drive to get in. I am moving from 4.62 to 3.89. That will make it much easier to run on the highway.

Dave