Passes & Canyons Blog

Why is this bike giving me trouble?

Somebody clue me in here if you know something I don’t.

I went riding with the RMMRC Tuesday, the standard ride out to Kiowa to Patty Ann’s. Bob was leading, which is something he has done many times.

So we headed out Parker Road, which is about six lanes. We were in the left lane. Bob was in the lead, Kim was on her Spyder, Val came next on her KTM, and I was behind her.

We always ride in staggered formation and in my experience and understanding, the leader should take the left position and everyone following staggers, although with the Spyder you sometimes see those take the center, so whoever is behind them gets to choose either side.

So Bob settled in the right hand position. Huh? Kim did stagger to the left on her Spyder so Val was right and I was left. That was fine, but why was Bob to the right? Is there some protocol that on a multi-lane highway the leader takes the position where they can see clearly in the adjacent lane? Or something else like that that I’m not aware of?

Once we got onto the two-lane Bob took the spot on the left, and Kim shifted and the rest of us did, too. So what the heck was he doing on the right previously? Yes, of course–I should just ask him. I’m just hesitant to appear to be criticizing someone and there wasn’t any time he and I were alone together. Maybe I’ll have the chance some other time.

On another subject, my V-Strom crapped out on me that day. I was going to ride it and I geared up and rolled it out and it would not start. It ran fine the last time I rode it a couple weeks ago.

But it appeared to be completely out of gas. Completely. How does that happen, except if you have a leak. And there was a new drip spot on the garage floor underneath it, though not particularly big. Anyway, the engine would turn over briefly but it would not catch and then it would quit turning over.

I had just a little gas in a can and I put that in but that didn’t help. The way it would try and then die I thought maybe the battery was failing so I put it on a charge and the next day I got more gas. I put that in and then with plenty of gas and good charge I tried again. The very same things happened. Wow, now I really have no idea what the matter is, although whatever else it may be it does seem I have a gas leak.

I put some paper under the bike to catch the drip and see how much it really is dripping and I called Joel, my mechanic. I’ve been keeping Joel busy. I have three bikes and this is the third one I have turned over to him in the last six months. We’ll see. I’ll let you know.

Biker Quote for Today

Hobby is when you buy a new bike. Passion is when you keep the old one running.

A stop on the Canada trip in 2018.

As a member of the American Motorcyclist Association I am on their email list, and in their emails they ask members to submit their answers to different questions. This month the question is “What is your motorcycling goal for the new year?”

Now, I actually addressed that question at least a bit in my last post but I’m wondering if I can take that a little further. Writing is a method I use to process my thinking–if I’m unsure about something I write to find out what I think. Let’s see where this goes.

First off, I want to take a long trip with Judy. A couple years ago we joined some friends on a 3,000-mile ride up to Banff and Jasper, reaching British Columbia and Alberta. In 2020 I’m not sure if Judy was on the bike at all. If she was I don’t remember it. We sure didn’t take any motorcycle trips.

In the last couple years we have both bought new helmets–the best helmets we’ve ever owned–and a new Sena communicator system that finally allows us to talk easily and actually hear each other clearly. Far better than the two systems we have used previously. There’s no point in having bought these things if we don’t actually use them. We bought them to use them. In 2021 I intend to make sure we use them.

I also want to ride more on my own. While I did put 5,049 miles on my three bikes in 2020, that’s nothing. There have been a few years when I put more than 10,000 miles on just the Concours, and then additional miles on the other two.

For some people, riding is a social thing, and if they’re not riding with friends they don’t ride. I like riding with friends but I love riding alone. I love being able to stop and go at my own pace and pleasure, to take any road that catches my eye at a moment’s notice, and to ride as much or as little as I wish. Load camping gear on and this becomes total freedom.

But then this gets back to riding more with Judy. If she and I have taken or are planning a big trip, she is not as likely to resent it if I then choose to go off for a several days ride alone. And it feels a lot less selfish to me.

These objectives, plus anything else I can think of boils down to this same basic idea: my goal for 2021 is simply to ride more. Why complicate things? I’ll just leave it at that.

Biker Quote for Today

Not sure if I want to ride to work or call in sick and ride all day.