| Author | Message | ||
     Jlnance |
  (Message edited by jlnance on June 23, 2010) | ||
| Ulywife |
He's off again! Safe travels. | ||
| Ezblast |
LOL! | ||
| Jlnance |
 I'll say more later. I really need a nap right now.  | ||
| Flynuly |
Congratulations Jim on the IBA SaddleSore 1000.  | ||
| Jlnance |
Thanks Tim, It's aptly named. | ||
| Jlnance |
Wed night I decided it was time to get ready for the trip, so I prioritized the things I needed to get done, and ended up armor-alling all the plastic bits of the bike. Probably not the wisest use of time, but I hate packing. Thursday came, and I went home at lunch, finished the packing I should have done Wed night. I was getting ready to ride back to work, when I noticed a problem with my boots. One of the buckles wouldn't close, and it turned out that a screw that held the buckle onto the boot had come out. I hunted around the house for a replacement screw, but it was metric threaded, and I had none that fit. I put on an older pair of boots, and went to put my clothes into the sidebag on the bike. Low and behold, when I opened the sidebag, there was the screw. I had been carrying the boots around in there, and it had vibrated out. Apparently these bikes shake so much that not only do you need to locktight the bike, you need to locktite your shoes. :-o I fixed the boots, and rode the bike back to work, where I stayed till a little afte.r 3:00. Then I left, and rode to Chapel Hill, to say good bye to Amanda, and get her to sign my witness form. | ||
| Jlnance |
I left Amanda's office a little before 4:00 and went to the filling station across the street. I usually run 89 octane gas, but it was a hot day, so I fill up with 92 octane. I got on i-40 and set off toward Greensboro. I really wanted to make it through there and Winston-Salem before rush hour. The bike was not being much fun to ride however. Whenever I would whack the throttle open, the bike would hesitate before accelerating. It was really annoying. I ran through the list of possibilities in my mind, and decided that what I was feeling was the interactive exhaust valve opening. At least I could wire it open/shut if it went out on the trip. I made it to the exit for highway 52 in Winston-Salem at about 5:05. It was early enough that rush hour hadn't really started yet, and I was cruising up 52 north of WS soon afterwards. I made it to Hillville, VA, home of Ferris & D, when the fuel light came on. I pulled off into a gas station, filled the bike up with 89 octant gas, and was back on the highway with out even taking my helmet off. (I'd like to thank the makers of Flowmax for making this possible.) It was like I had a new bike. All the problems with the hesitation were gone. It wasn't the exhaust valve at it. It was my gas. | ||
| Jlnance |
The reason I run 89 octane gas in the bike is because I get better gas mileage with it. This seemed strange to me, but it's consistently that way. I mentioned this to someone once, and they explained that the 92 octane is often 89 octane with alcohol added to boost the octane rating. Alcohol, while having an excellent octane rating, has a lower energy density than gasoline, hence the decrease in mileage. It made sense. Now I'm not someone who hates alcohol as a fuel. On the other hand it seems dumb to pay extra to get it's octane benefits if they are going to do you no good. One huge difference between alcohol and gasoline though, is that water dissolves in alcohol but not gasoline. That makes it easy to contaminate a fuel with alcohol with water, which is probably what happened to me. Whatever it was, I was glad the bike was running better. | ||
| Jlnance |
My next gas stop was in Charlestown, WV. It was 8:00 PM, and I thought I was making excellent time. The last time I did this trip was in mid Feb, and it goes much quicker with warm weather and long days. I pressed onward toward Lexington, KY, enjoying the roads (even the interstate is fun up there) and the scenery. They sun had set by 10:00, but the sky was still a little light. That was great. I had been adding up the miles and times, and decided I needed to make at least 500 miles before shutting down. So I kept going toward Louisville, and stopped right across the river in Sellersburg, IA for the evening. | ||
| Jlnance |
Voltage regulator died last night.  But I'm home. And off to bed. | ||
| Jlnance |
I guess it's time to wrap this little adventure up. I made it to Milwaukee for the end of my ride. I tell people I'm going to Milwaukee and they always look bewildered and ask "why?" It's a nice city, I like it there. River walk is pretty, I stayed in a nice hotel downtown where I could walk to everything. Amanda flew up and we had a great weekend. I got to take a rickshaw ride with her, which is something I've wanted to do for a while. She left on Sunday afternoon, and my plan was to take a few days getting home, via the upper peninsula of Michigan. I headed west out of MKE because I wanted to ride up to the Canadian border and come across the top of Wisconsin. I took off west on I-94 and rode about 100 miles before the fuel light came on. I stopped, filled up, and when I started it back up, the Check Engine light came on. The bike seemed to be running fine, but I didn't want to be in the back woods of WI when it decided to die. So I kept heading west and then north on the interstate. The bike kept running, and I deduced the Exhaust Actuator that had blown a fuse, causing the CEL to come on. That has happened before, so it wasn't a total surprise. I stayed the night around Wausau, and put a new fuse in the next morning. That fixed the CEL, up until I filled up with gas the next time, when it blew again. Apparently it doesn't like being hot. But at least I knew what it was, and it was a fairly harmless issue. I was still headed north when I realized I wasn't looking forward to my wanderings anymore. I had had such a good time with Amanda that weekend, and I missed her. At some point I decided that I wanted to head home. So I turned around and retraced my steps. I was back around MKE by 3:00 that afternoon. I was thinking "wow, this is a bit late in the day to be starting a 1000 mile ride." I rode until sundown, which is around 9:00 PM this time of year. I stopped at an IHOP for some food somewhere in Ohio, and continued on into Dayton, where I got on 35, and began the journey toward West Virginia. Highway 35 is a fairly desolate road. Chillicoth is the only town of any size between Dayton, OH, and Charlestown, WV. It took me about an hour to get to Chillicoth, at which point I decided I was going to stop and get a place to sleep. I pulled off, stopped at the first stop light, and my low beam headlight blew. I switched to high beam, and it blew too. That was bad. That meant the voltage regulator had quit regulating. It also meant I was riding around at 11:00 pm with no lights. Fortunately I was right next to a motel. | ||
| Jlnance |
I got up the next morning, let it get light, and then set out on the trip home. It was only 400 miles (which by this point sounded close) and I figured I could limp the bike home. It wasn't a bad ride. I got to Winston Salem, NC around noon, and stopped for gas. The bike wouldn't start back up at that point, I had fried the battery. There was a rider at the filling station who helped me push start the bike, but that didn't work. Then a couple of ladies who worked at the filling station tried, and that also failed. But they had jumper cables, and the rider guy pulled his truck over and we got the bike started. I made it home about 1:30. I was very glad I didn't have to walk. I called Bret who came and picked up the bike. He called me yesterday. So far it appears, that the Stator, Regulator, Battery, and Headlights are gone. Should have it back before too long, but I'm not missing it right at this moment. I rode about 2700 miles between Thursday afternoon and Tuesday afternoon. That will hold me for a while. |
