Passes & Canyons Blog

I’ve kept a journal off and on all my life, and consistently for the last 40 years. While, for me, the simple act of putting things down on paper is beneficial, it’s also a very interesting thing to go back later and read what you wrote. Here’s something I just ran across, from October of 1992. This was on my Honda CB750, the only bike I had back then.

I stayed a while longer, then got on the bike and headed home. Turning off Federal onto 67th my chain jumped off the sprocket and I had no power but could roll, and did, till the rear wheel locked up right out front. Jack (my neighbor across the street) helped me get it to the garage and this morning he helped me get it back to where I can at least ride it to Legends (a motorcycle shop just up on Federal a couple blocks from me) tomorrow. I’ll need a new chain and who knows what else.

OK, several things here. I had just come across town and this could have happened anywhere but it did happen just about 200 feet from home. How lucky is that!

Also, the chain jumped off the sprocket? How loose must it have been, and how negligent of me not to have noticed. I had been on I-70 much of the way home and what would have happened to me if the chain had come off at 70 mph? I mean, the rear wheel locked up. I might not be here writing this today.

Then there was this a few days later.

Got my bike from the shop. $55 for a new chain and installation but now the foot brake is sticking and causing a problem.

Yeah, you read that right. Just $55 for the chain and installation. Of course back then that was actually a big hit to my wallet. That’s inflation. But inflation is also the reason you can buy a house and have a payment that is a real stretch, but some years later it’s not a stretch at all. I’ve been a beneficiary of that and I’m sure many of you have as well.

I haven’t yet reached the next chapter in this story in my reading but I’ll reconstruct it here from memory.

As I noted, the brake was sticking. I had no idea why. I soon found out.

I was out at about Colfax and Monaco a few days later and the brake seized completely. And it wasn’t the rear brake it was the front brake. I must have gotten things confused previously–I was still pretty new to riding motorcycles at this time.

I pulled off the street and got down to check on the problem and in doing so I touched the brake disc with my finger. Yow! That sucker was so blazing hot it scorched my fingertip and left me with a second-degree burn. This is not good.

I was way across town but I figured this had to have been a result of something the shop did, something they did not set up properly. So I called them and told them where I was stranded and why. And here’s another thing I don’t think you’re likely to see any more: They sent a guy over with a truck and picked me up and hauled me back to the shop–no charge.

It turned out they had adjusted the cable on the brake a little too snugly and apparently the pads were in constant contact with the disc, gradually building up heat and expanding, until things seized. They readjusted it and that was that.

OK, so here’s one caveat. I know both of these events occurred. I’m going from memory saying one led to the other. I may read on in my journal and find that they were separate events. I’m simply not sure at this point. But they both did happen. And they both hark back to my title up above: Things Change. They certainly do. For one thing, that shop is long gone, as motorcycle repair shops seem to have a penchant for doing. And you’re not very likely to get that kind of service these days either. Heck, you go to an Italian restaurant these days and the bread sticks they used to give you are now available for a price.

The only constant is change.

Biker Quote for Today

“My dreams for the future are simple: work, a happy, healthy family, a lovely long motorcycle ride, and continuing the struggle to awaken people to the need for serious human rights reform.” — Mike Farrell

I knew leaving on the OFMC trip this summer that as soon as I got back I would need to get a new rear tire on the V-Strom. We got back from that trip on August 1. I finally got the tire on yesterday. Yep, right away.

Of course that means I got more miles out of the old one. Really getting my money’s worth. Really running on no tread at all. You get busy, you know, and things get put off.

I’ve still been trying to work out this issue of where to take my bikes now that Joel is no longer running his own shop and this time I figured I’d take it to One Down Four Up, a place out on West Colfax where I’ve had some work done before. They’re pretty far and not particularly convenient but what the heck. I’ve been happy with their work.

So I called a few weeks ago to see about getting it in and I asked the woman I spoke with what they suggest now that the parts store that used to be right next to them had closed. It was really convenient because you could go in and buy the tire and carry it next door and hand it to them. But not any more.

She said they suggest you get the tire at Performance Cycle and bring it in. That seemed pretty odd to me because Performance Cycle is pretty far away. Why not point me to a place on Colfax? I know there are some out there.

It was good that I wondered about that. That ticked off an idea in my head. Have they perhaps moved? Well, score one for me. They have moved, and now Performance Cycle is still not exactly close but it’s a heck of a lot closer than it was before. Also, more importantly, this makes One Down Four Up a lot closer to me, too. I may just have finally solved my problem of where to take my bikes for service.

However, that did not address the issue of how to get the tire from the store to the shop. I have never, ever had to face that issue before. I’ve always just taken the bike to the mechanic and he ordered the tire and put it on. I wasn’t crazy about picking up the tire in my car and then driving it over to the shop and leaving it there, then bringing the bike later. But then I figured it depended on whether they would be able to put the tire on while I waited. If they wouldn’t then I would need to have Judy pick me up there and bring me back later, and she could just bring the tire with her when she picked me up.

Well, they could put it on while I waited so that was out. I thought about putting the tire around my waist and riding over like that but that seemed silly. Here’s a daring thought: how about if I just tie the tire on the bike behind me?

I know that, for a lot of you who probably have done this yourselves, this is the obvious and simple approach. But remember, I’ve never had to do this before. Well it was simple, as you can see in the photo. And yeah, I didn’t get it tied on as stably as I thought, so it shifted a little in transit, but it worked fine. OK, now I know.

So when I called the shop to make an appointment they said, well, we can get you in later today or first thing tomorrow. Really? That quickly? Sounds good to me, let’s do today. And they did the job promptly, for a very reasonable price. And they were nice folks. I think I know where to take my bikes from now on.

Then just a side note. On my way home I was coming across on Belleview and saw this pick-up in the right lane with a sheet of plywood hanging out of the back of its bed bent almost to the road surface. I thought that was odd but assumed it just didn’t fit in the bed any better than that. I also noticed that the car behind this truck was giving them a lot of room.

As I pulled up alongside I could see that in fact the plywood had shifted back from the cab several feet and looked like it might slide out at any moment. I waved to get the driver’s attention and motioned urgently toward his rear. He pulled right over to see what I was telling him. I just wonder if he started out with more than one sheet of plywood, because that was all he had when I saw him.

Biker Quote for Today

We mature with damages, not with age.

I got my 1980 Honda CB750 Custom back from the shop Wednesday and it’s running great. But I’m totally baffled.

I took the bike over to Colorado Moto Service specifically to finally get work done to stop it from smoking like crazy whenever I fire it up. It’s been doing this for years and lately had gotten a lot worse. Spend the money and get it fixed!

Well, I took it in and they told me they were not seeing any smoke. How could that be possible? I had all kinds of theories: Maybe the guy would just fire it up and hop on and ride away, thus leaving all that smoke behind him and much more dispersed. I don’t know. But I was determined to start the cold bike myself and then have them watch while it warmed up and started producing blue clouds.

So I told Judy not to leave as soon as she dropped me off–she might be taking me right back home while the bike stayed there. And I didn’t tell them I was coming so they couldn’t “get it ready” for me by warming it up in advance.

The mechanic who worked on it was very nice and totally deferential: “You’ve had this bike a long time and you know it better than anybody . . . ” And I was determined to show him what he should have seen immediately.

I threw my leg over and laid my hand on the engine to make sure it was cold. It was. I set the bike upright, turned the key, pulled the choke, and pressed the starter button. It turned over nicely but didn’t catch and he realized he had the gas turned off. So, gas flow enabled, I pressed the starter again. It turned over and caught. I told him now to wait a moment because the engine had to warm up before it started burning oil out of the cylinders.

And we waited, and I revved it, and it ran nicely . . . and it never did start smoking. Never. I just have no idea what to make of it.

But that’s OK! If this issue somehow mysteriously solved itself now, finally, and I don’t have to pay $1,000 or whatever to have it fixed I’m fine with that. In the meantime, they synced the carburetors and the bike is now running like a champ. Plus, miraculously, while they had it, the ignition switch developed a problem (what better place for that to happen) and they diagnosed that and fixed it. Heaven forbid it had happened to me out on the road.

And I got out of there for less than $600, whereas I was sure I was going to be paying about a grand more by the time they finally found the problem I had taken it in for.

So now there’s just one more hurdle to pass. It’s parked in my garage now but the next time I take it out to ride will it smoke? If it does I have only one theory: they parked it on the side stand and I always put it on the center stand. Is it at all possible that that somehow makes the difference in oil getting somewhere it isn’t supposed to be? If that happens heck, I’ll just start parking it on the side stand. Problem solved.

I’m going to be very curious to see what happens.

Biker Quote for Today

I’d risk the fall just to know how it feels to fly.

We all know how many motorcycles die: they get crashed and that’s that. But what about those that don’t get crashed? If they don’t keep going, why not?

I know the answer to that now. It’s all about the Benjamins.

I bought my Kawasaki Concours new in 1999. I have ridden it something over 80,000 miles. In July of last year it overheated going up to the Eisenhower Tunnel and I had to have it hauled home. Then I took it to a shop to have that all put right. But when I got it back it was not all right. Now the throttle refused to back off properly, so I took it back to the shop. It has sat there for three months now not getting worked on.

In the meantime, the last time I went by, planning to take it for a short ride, it had developed an oil leak. After three months of not getting worked on I decided to take the bike to a different shop, so I started calling around. It appears that getting the work done that the bike needs would run me at least $1,000. Meanwhile, I had decided that the time has come to let go of this bike. It has always been a very heavy bike and I am getting older. I can still handle it OK but for how much longer? But it seems doubtful that I could find a buyer willing to pay even $1,000 for it.

The big no-brainer question: why would I pay more than $1,000 for repairs and turn around and sell it for less than $1,000?

One of the places I called about repairs was Steele’s Cycle. Yeah, they could definitely fix it; working on older bikes is their specialty. On the other hand, I could sell it to them either as salvage or, more likely in my opinion, in my hopes, so they could do the repair work and then put it on their used bike floor and sell it. Other than the throttle and the oil leak there’s not a thing wrong with it and it can easily run many, many more miles. And they will give me about $300 to $400 for it, according to Rick, the owner.

So let’s see. Pay more than $1,000 to have it running good again and then sell it for less than that, or sell it as-is with no additional costs and get a few hundred bucks. It’s really sad to say it but I’m planning to have the bike hauled over there–probably on Tuesday–and take whatever they’ll give me for it.

I have loved this bike. This bike has taken me so many places, and I have done so much on this bike. I really hate the idea of abandoning it. Walking away from it after all the good times it brought me. But what am I going to do? Keep pouring money into it? Especially when I’ve already made the decision to move on from it. This will be the first time I have let go of a motorcycle I owned.

And about that. My first ever bike was/is my 1980 Honda CB750 Custom. I still own and ride that bike. And as my first bike I am deeply in love with it. It is in bad need of some work of its own and at some point this year I will pay whatever it costs to get this work done. This is how one bike dies, while another continues to live and continues to run. Sometimes it’s not about the Benjamins.

Biker Quote for Today

100 reasons not to date a biker: 17. We spend more on tires than we spend on you.

How’s this for a scenario: Your dealer where you bought your motorcycle 12 years ago just told you that it’s too old, they don’t want to work on it any more. You’ve just been fired as a customer. Fine, you’ll go find some independent shop where they work on old bikes.

But each shop you go to tells you they can’t work on your bike because it requires specialized equipment and knowledge that the manufacturer deems proprietary information. You now have a very heavy, very expensive paper weight.

Does that sound a bit extreme? Maybe it is but that part about proprietary information and equipment is very real, as is the whole business of being fired as a customer. What can be done about this?

Both the AMA (American Motorcyclist Association) and MRF (Motorcycle Riders Foundation) have sent me emails recently urging me to contact my Congressional representative to push them to support H.R. 906, the “Right to Equitable and Professional Auto Industry Repair Act or the REPAIR Act.” I’m passing this on to you.

I thought for sure one of the emails had more specific information, something about it coming up for some vote or something, but for the life of me I cannot find any such email. Dang.

Well, nevertheless, here’s the scoop. Quoting the MRF:

The REPAIR Act ensures that vehicle owners or repair shops are not denied access to the information, software or tools needed to work on vehicles. The proposed law also establishes rules regarding vehicle data access. This commonsense law will help preserve consumer choice and a fair marketplace.

Then there is this from the AMA:

Do you believe in the Right to Repair your own motorcycle? Politicians in Washington want to limit your ability to repair, maintain, and modify your motorcycle.

The AMA is working closely with members of Congress to fight for your Right to Repair, the simple idea that when you purchase something — like your motorcycle — you should have the right to repair it or seek an independent repair shop to do the work, and manufacturers must make the parts and information needed for repairs available to the public for a fair and reasonable price.

In the House of Representatives, the AMA is advocating for passage of H.R. 906, the REPAIR Act (Right to Equitable and Professional Auto Industry Repair). This legislation will ensure that motorcyclists and independent repair shops have access to the tools, parts and information needed to repair motorcycles.

Right now there are three Colorado representatives who have cosponsored this bill: Rep. Pettersen, Brittany [D-CO-7]; Rep. Neguse, Joe [D-CO-2]; and Rep. Caraveo, Yadira [D-CO-8]. If your rep is someone else maybe you could drop them a line and push them to add their name to the list. I need to do that with Diana Degette.

Go ahead and give your rep a nudge. They’re there to work for you. Make them earn their pay.

Biker Quote for Today

“Try to remember the reason you started riding a motorcycle in the first place. For me, it was a couple of things but mostly rebellion.” ? Sonny Barger

I got the V-Strom back from the shop the day before the OFMC left on this year’s trip and then on the last day of that trip my Concours overheated going up to the tunnel in blazing hot weather. I managed to get it home finally but then I needed to get it into a shop. Some shop. Which shop? Ever since Joel got out of the business that’s a question I’ve been trying to resolve.

I had taken the V-Strom to Colorado Moto Service and they had done good, and for the most part timely, work on it. But their customer service needs some improvement and they are not close to home. It was a pretty obvious move to try again to get work done at Rowdy Rocket Garage, which is much closer to where I live. If once again the guy, Mark, couldn’t find time or space for me then I’d try CMS again.

So I called Rowdy and, as before, Mark told me to call again later. I did and this time, lo and behold, he said sure, bring it in tomorrow. Yahoo! That date was August 22. The bike had overheated on July 30 and it took me that long to get it at least semi-operational and then find a shop to get it in to. As I rode it over there that morning Nick and I were getting ready to take off on a three-day ride so we wanted to get it there as early as possible. That meant during commuter traffic–slow going, stop and start–and just as I expected, it started to overheat again. Fortunately we didn’t have far to go and I made it there.

Recognizing what a valuable resource Rowdy might prove to be, I didn’t want to risk annoying Mark by pressing him on getting the work done. But as time dragged on I did contact him now and then and very tactfully ask about the progress on the bike. These guys are super busy which means two things: One, it was definitely going to take some time, and two, they don’t need my business so don’t hack them off so they tell you to take your business elsewhere.

Long story short, I finally got the Kawi back on September 28. Almost five weeks. I didn’t care, it was done. One thing Mark noted in a text was that “It also has a tendency to be slow to lower the RPMs when releasing the throttle.” I came to understand that the instant I started it up to take it home. Mark had probably run it before I got there and so when I gave it total choke before starting it exploded to life and the revs went through the roof. I hastily shoved the choke lever all the way down. But still it raced a bit, only slowing down gradually. Hmmm.

I headed out and on the way home it was obvious there was an issue. Mark had said it had to involve the vacuum valves and that was a deeper internal issue that they had not had the time–or my prior authorization–to pursue. I was familiar with this sort of thing because I had had a similar issue about five years ago and Joel had replaced the vacuum slides on the carburetor. But it hadn’t been doing this before I took it in to Rowdy.

I spoke with Roy, my resident motorcycle mechanics guru, and he suggested that when the gas tank was lowered back into place that it was crimping the throttle cable. I figured that should be easy to check out. If I just lifted the tank an inch or so any crimping should be relieved but when I tried that, every time I lifted the tank the engine cut out. Roy also said if it had not been doing that before it was in the shop, go back there and insist that they fix it.

I did go back by the shop and spoke to Mark. He said he’s been doing this a long time and knows the proper routing of cables, plus, the throttle cable is encased in a rigid metal sheath that would not easily be crimped. No, he said, it has to do with the vacuum mechanism somewhere, and that’s a devilishly tricky problem to suss out. He said he currently had a Triumph in for which he was trying to find the leak but it was a slow process. Bring the bike back in and they would address the issue.

But are you super busy still? Do thinks slow down for you in the winter? Yes and no. When could you get it back in? Not any time in the next couple weeks. The same situation I had encountered before.

And that’s where the matter sits. Do I go through the rigamarole of calling every couple days until Mark has room to get me in? Do I just go ahead and take it CMS? Is there someone else I could turn to? Who? Where? Man, do I miss Joel.

Biker Quote for Today

F.E.A.R: Forget Everything And Ride.

I took the V-Strom to Colorado Moto Service for fluids and chain alignment and I knew they were busy but at least expected to hear from them soon as to what work they felt was needed and the cost. I was going to be leaving soon on this year’s OFMC bike trip but I was planning to ride the Kawi so it was not urgent. Still, I was expecting some sort of follow-up.

A week went past and I heard nothing. So I called. The guy working the desk said they were about to take a look and he’d send me an estimate right away. This was a Thursday. I got the estimate on Tuesday, 12 days after I had dropped the bike off.

The estimate called for all kinds of work to be done, a lot of which I felt was unnecessary, such as new tires front and back. Their criteria for recommending this was that based on the date of their manufacture they were old. Never mind that they had plenty of tread and the rear tire was new (on the bike at least) last year.

I called, said do this, don’t do that and told the guy I was leaving town on Friday. He took it to mean that I was leaving town on the bike they had in the shop and while that was not true I figured it didn’t hurt to let him think that. He promised to have it for me on Thursday.

On Thursday at about 11 a.m. I called. The guy at the desk said blah, blah, and we’ll have it for you by the end of the day tomorrow, does that sound good? I said loudly, adamantly, “No!” I reminded him I had told him I was leaving town the next morning and he said he would look into shifting the shop schedule to get it done and said he’d call me to tell me what would happen.

He didn’t call. At 4:20 I called. He said it would be done by close of business. When is that? 5 p.m. I explained that my wife was not there to give me a ride and I would need to take the light rail to the Broadway Station and get the bus heading out Mississippi and walk the last five blocks. It would be some time past close of business before I could get there. And it was raining hard at that moment. We did an e-pay and he said the key would be in a lock box. OK, not convenient but it would do.

I hung up and almost instantly our highly esteemed handyman, Dale, called about coming over to eyeball a job he was to be starting on the next morning. Would that work? I said I didn’t know and explained about the bike. He offered to take me there. Wow. Thank you. So he came, eyeballed the job, and we headed out. The guys at the shop were still there when we got there at 5:05 and the mechanic was just taking it for a test ride. So it all worked out and I got home dry.

Now, if the guy had just called me back as he said he would I could have simply gotten myself there before 5. I like these guys but their follow-through sucks. If you tell someone you’re going to do something you should do it. But they did a good job, the charge was reasonable, and I wouldn’t hesitate to take one of my bikes to them again. Although I would want to have a conversation with someone there about the need to follow through on promises.

All that said, they remain a good distance from where we live and getting there is not at all convenient. I would still be open for other options. And I would have an opportunity to explore other options sooner than I would have hoped. This story continues in my next post.

Biker Quote for Today

It’s not a new bike. It’s a new member of the family.

When I bought my first motorcycle, my 1980 Honda CB750 Custom, I would take it to Aurora Honda for service. At some point, however, many years ago now, they fired me as a customer. They told me they didn’t want to work on a bike as old as mine.

So I looked around and found an independent mechanic who welcomed my patronage. This was Joel Brown, who ran his shop, Mountain Thunder Motorsports, over on old Hampden just east of Federal. Joel was my guy for the Honda, and then when Vickery fired me as a customer with my 1999 Kawasaki Concours I started taking that bike to him as well. When I bought my 2006 Suzuki V-Strom 650 I never took it anywhere but to Joel.

Now Joel has gotten out of the business of wrenching for customers; he needed to have health coverage for his family and so he took a job as the house mechanic at Aces Motorcycles in Littleton. It took a bit for me to finally get clear that Joel is done with outside work. I think he’s the kind of guy who hates to say no, so when I would call him needing some work done he would tell me he only has one day a week now to do that kind of work and maybe he could recommend me to another mechanic “so I could get the work done quicker.”

Joel recommended me to a guy named Mark who ran a shop just a few blocks from Joel’s old shop, and I took the V-Strom there one time and was pleased with the service so I figured this would do. Then the time came when I needed work done on some bike and surprise . . . Mark’s shop was no longer there. It turned out, as Joel told me, Mark had some serious health issues and had to close the shop. Now I was back to square one.

OK, not a huge deal. There are plenty of other motorcycle mechanics out there, aren’t there? Umm, actually no. In fact I was aghast to see just how few shops there seem to be any more. But I identified two that looked promising. One was Colorado Moto Service, over on Lipan, a few blocks south of Mississippi. That’s a good bit further away than Joel’s or Mark’s shops were but you do what you have to do. The second was Rowdy Rocket Garage, which I was surprised to find is quite close to me. I read some good reviews and so decided to try Rowdy first.

I needed some service again on the V-Strom. I wanted all the fluids flushed and replaced–oil, coolant, transmission fluid–and I wanted the chain adjusted. I called Rowdy and Mark told me he was swamped, that his garage has limited space and so in order to take a bike in he first has to get a bike he has finished with out. Could I call him back on Monday? (This was a Thursday.) Fine. I called on Monday and he said call him on Wednesday. I called on Wednesday and he said call him on Saturday.

At this point I was getting ready leave town for about 10 days on a bike trip so I just wanted to get the bike in. I called Colorado Moto Service and they said sure, they could get the bike in and out right away. Could I bring it by and drop it off on a particular day. I said yes and I did. The follow-on to this is another post, my next one. This whole story is going to take at least three posts. Check back for part two on Thursday.

Biker Quote for Today

Ride Big, Ride Long, Ride Free.