Cooling Off In the Driveway

Had a good little ride out to Thousand Oaks to meet up with some BIR chaps and then up to the Reagan Library for a look at the motorcycle exhibit last weekend. There were some great classic bikes there, not to mention the old Air Force One. It's pretty cool to walk through the plane and check out all of the bitchin' 80s wood panelling, formica tables and more jars of jelly beans than you could possibly imagine. So Reagan: Terrible President, Cool Library.

Epic Ride (For Me)

On Saturday I joined three other chaps for a long ride. We went up Little Tujunga, through Bouquet Canyon, past Lake Hughes, Qual Lake, Frazier Park, through Los Padres Forest, Ojai and Santa Paula. I don't know the exact route because I was following them the whole time (slowly I might add) and most of the time I had no idea where I was. That only made it more fun for me. Parts of it were hot as hell, others not so bad. I got pretty fatigued in some of the longer stretches and almost had to pull over. I'm just not used to riding that much all at once. Luckily the guys I rode with were really patient with my slowness and waited for me along the way. Towards the end we stopped at a little Mexican place and I had what might be the best carne asada I've ever eaten. It was a great ride and I'm looking forward to doing one again soon.

Too Close To Home

These ads are kind of eerie. Not saying I don't like them, but that first bike definitely looks like a Bonnie, and that hits a little close to home. Ouch.

On Second Thought...

...maybe this is what my bike needs...

Better, But Not The Best

So last weekends tinkering seem to have improved how things are running, but I don't feel like it's where I want it to be. She seems to run fine once she's up to temperature, but still a bitch to start up. These bikes are naturally cold blooded, so I know some of this goes with the territory, but it still seems like something's not quite right. Now I'm starting to think there might be a leak in the exhaust somewhere. Time for more poking around...

More Fun With Carbs

I finally got around to attempting to install the jets that came with Norman Hyde exhaust I bought and installed after I bought the cycle. I was hoping to do this without actually having to remove the carbs from the engine, but unfortunately, the stock carb bowl screws are made of butter instead of metal. I managed to get most of the them off, but of course I needed to get all of them, and the ones that are nearly impossible to get to weren't cooperating at all. Only one carb ended up getting re-jetted, so I was stuck.

So pulled off the tank, yanked out the carbs and installed the left side jet. It was easier than I expected to get all of this disassembled and put back together. There were a couple of annoying clamps and hoses to get free, but all-in-all, a not too painful experience.


I also took the opportunity to drop in some new plugs and re-adjust the carb mixture screws. I re-synched the carbs and tomorrow I'll try to see if any of this will help solve my rough idle problem. At this point, the only things I can think of changing are the carb mix screws or replacing worn out rubber. This was a fun project! Nice to tear it down ia little and see what's really goin' on.

Carb-tastic!

I finally synced my carbs last weekend. I bought the Motion Pro Carb Tuner at New Bonneville. I was a little nervous about the whole liquid mercury thing. The EPA website managed to scare me shitless about splling mercury on my hand, or the floor, or on my dog, or well...pretty much anywhere. I was trying to imagine explaining to my girlfriend why a Haz-Mat team was in our utility room because I decided to give my bike a tune-up.

After "manning-up," I realized that it wasn't really a big deal. I just made sure not to spill any when I poured it into the little reservoir on the back, and then made sure it was sealed up tight. All-in-all, the syncing was really easy. The only hard part was getting an angled screwdriver on the adjustment screw. It's kind of hard to get in there, and I was way too lazy to remove the gas tank this time around. I think I might save that for my upcoming re-jet.

So the verdict: The idle seems slightly smoother, and my morning start ups seem to be a little more hassle free, since the engine isn't stalling out as easily as it warms up. I can't really tell a big difference in performance though. I'm hoping new plugs might pep things up a little. I'm going to try to work on that this weekend. I've a got socket that's the right size, but the walls are too thick! So I either need to find a bigger socket, or take a bench grinder to the one I've got. Oh the trials and tribulations of a wannabe mechanic...