Passes & Canyons Blog

We’re home now from this year’s OFMC ride and while I’m eager to tell you all about the trip, if you’re really hard-core your number one question would be, “how did the Kawi run?”

I can’t give a one- or two-word answer to that. So I won’t.

It ran well. It ran a lot better than it did before Joel worked on it. It did not run perfectly and at times it ran alarmingly. Details:

Ever since this bike has been giving me problems it has been hard to get it going from a start. Once in motion it has run OK, other than dying when I’m coasting to a stop. Those problems are gone. There are new ones.

All Kawasakis, as far as I know, are cold-blooded, meaning you need to fire them up and let them run a few moments before you take off. This one is no different but now it responds more readily to a twist of the throttle than it had been doing. The flip side of that is that when I roll off the throttle the engine does not immediately back off as it should. It continues to run hot for a moment and then fades.

Or worse. At times, though fortunately not all the time, the throttle seemed to stick and every time I would pull in the clutch the engine would race. Imagine pulling up to a red light, pulling in the clutch to stop, and having your engine sound like you’re screaming down the highway. I suspect that at its worst that kind of thing could damage the engine. What I would do is let the clutch out just a tiny bit and hold firmly on the brake. That reduced the screaming. It was probably hell on the clutch.

The rest of the bike was great. I knew there was enough rubber on the back tire for the trip but that I would need a new one when I got home. We actually rode about 400 miles more than I anticipated so let’s say I was definitely correct about the tire, in both ways. When I give the bike back to Joel to put in the needed carb parts and get the bike running the way it should I’ll also have him put on a new tire.

But the bike did me well on the trip and that’s the most important thing. And it was a great trip–can’t wait to tell you about it.

Biker Quote for Today

Life is a big road with lots of signs, so when riding through ruts, don’t complicate your mind, wake up and live life.

This carburetor problem with the Concours has been going on too long now. I tried adding Lucas carb cleaner and that helped a lot, but not enough. I finally decided it was time for Joel to do whatever is needed to truly fix it.

It has turned out to be a bigger issue than Joel was expecting.

About the time I was looking to get the bike back from him I got a series of texts instead. This photo is one of two he sent along.

In his text he said, “Some of the issues with the bike. These are the carb slides. Nearly half worn. It’s on all 4 carbs are the same.” (sic)

Me: OK. The bike has a few miles on it. No problem to fix I trust.

Joel: Would have to replace all 4.

Me: Is that doable in the next couple days?

Joel: It’s not something a dealer would stock. Might be able to get used ones from Steele’s salvage.

Me: Would those be good? Do they need to be replaced?

Joel: I’m trying to use them. Still stumbles between 1800 rpm and 2500 rpm. Runs fine other than that.

Me: So what are you recommending? I got a new rear tire on the V-Strom as insurance. I could take that on this trip.

Joel: They need to be replaced sooner or later. Not enough time to order a new set. Let me try a few more times and we will see tomorrow how it runs.

Me: OK. Keep me posted. Thanks.

So “tomorrow” came and went and I’m still waiting to hear from Joel at this moment. I’ll update this post as the situation develops.

UPDATE
OK, Joel says it will be OK, though it will need those slides replaced at some point. I’ll know for myself when I get back from this trip. And I guess I’ll be riding the Kawi.

Biker Quote for Today

I ain’t perfect but I can still ride a motorcycle. For an old man that’s close enough.

When I got a new tire on the V-Strom the guys at the shop told me the chain was pretty stretched and needed to be replaced. That was no surprise–I’ve had this particular chain for a long time–but it got me thinking. How in the heck does such a large mass of metal stretch? I mean, do the many individual pieces that make up a chain actually get longer?

I decided I would do some research.

One of the first things I encountered was a whole other question: Do new motorcycle chains stretch?

Heck, I wasn’t thinking at all about new chains, I was totally focused on older ones needing replacement. But apparently new chains do “stretch.” That is to say, when a chain is assembled, all the pieces are more or less in place but once they are on a bike and experiencing stress they all sort of fall into functional place and that can result in the chain being a little looser. It is recommended that you do an adjustment after the first several rides with a new chain. Then you should be set for quite a while.

But that’s not the same phenomenon as an old, worn chain.

In the case of an old chain, it turns out it really isn’t the individual pieces getting stretched so much as worn. A chain has all these links that are joined with pins. The pins are projecting through round holes in the links and they are what allows the chain to flex. What wears is the pins against the holes, so these initially round holes get rubbed away so that they are no longer completely round, but become elongated.

That enlarging of the holes effectively allows the entirety of the chain to become just a bit longer. Mind you, we’re talking only a fraction of an inch over the entire length of the chain but it is enough to make a difference. If you want a detailed explanation here’s a good video.

Now, I know the V-Strom needs a new chain and sprockets but I figured all along that would have to wait until after I get back from the upcoming OFMC trip. I hope that is not going to be any kind of problem because it’s looking more and more like I may be riding the V-Strom on the trip. I was hoping Joel would have the Concours ready in time but that is starting to look doubtful, although I’m still awaiting the final word from Joel. I’ll go into that issue in my next post.

Biker Quote for Today

My motorcycle had a small oil leak. And thanks to my lack of mechanical skills, it now has a giant oil leak.

It appears I may yet need to get my carbs cleaned on the Concours.

The weather Monday was fabulous, high in the mid 70s, so I had to ride despite a considerable breeze. Besides, I had been wanting to get back out on the Concours to see if it really was that simple to get it running well again, i.e., just pour some carb cleaner in the gas tank.

It wasn’t. Yes, the bike fired up and ran well but it struggled as I tried to ride away, though not as much as before. And this time by the time I’d gone two blocks it was running pretty much OK. So that’s definitely better. On the other hand, while I was out it stalled three times when I came to stops.

In addition to that, when I would pull away from a stop I had to rev it a bit to get the rpm up so it wouldn’t stall out of me. That kind of hesitation can be dangerous, such as when you’re waiting for an opening in traffic to pull out, you get your opening, and you start to go but the bike falters and you’re suddenly looking at a car coming your way in a hurry. I don’t like that feeling.

So I may end up needing to call Joel to come take care of it but there is another option I want to explore. Roy is always billing himself as a top mechanic and while I have doubts that he’s as good as he claims, I figure he may well be fully qualified to clean some carbs. I wouldn’t hesitate to do it myself if I knew how; if he’s willing to help me do it I should hopefully learn how so next time I can just do it myself.

In the meantime, I’m going to fill the gas tank and put in more carb cleaner and at least give that a chance to do the job. Hey, it helped a lot the first time. Maybe a second time really will be the trick. But I’m not holding my breath.

Biker Quote for Today

Why motorcycles are better than women: Motorcycles don’t care about how many other motorcycles you have.

As I try to figure out the problem with my Concours I have visited some forums on the bike. As something of a surprise to me, after owning the bike for more than 20 years, there apparently is a common, known issue with Connies, and that is called hydrolock. One thing I read the guy said the two main causes for the deaths of the Concours are crashes and hydrolock.

So what the heck is hydrolock, and what causes it? Let me tell you a little about the Concours.

On my Honda CB750 Custom the gas petcock has three positions: On, Res, and Off. Pretty simple. On the Concours there are also three positions: On, Res, and Prime. Prime allows gas to trickle into the cylinders. I have never understood the purpose of Prime, but I do know from experience what can happen if you leave the petcock in that position.

Probably within the first year after I bought the bike I had cause to go to reserve. After getting gas, without looking at the markings, I pushed the lever all the way in the other direction. That’s what I would do on the Honda. All the way one way was On, all the way the other way was Res, and in the middle was Off.

That’s not how it is on the Concours. On the Connie, On is the middle position. Switching to reserve, if you go the correct direction you move to reserve. If you go the wrong direction you go to prime. And apparently the bike will run on prime.

But when you stop, if you leave it on prime it will allow gas to trickle into the cylinders but because it is not getting burned it just seeps past the rings into the oil pan. And the bike does not run well with gas mixed with the oil. It was after the second time I did this that I figured it out. And apparently I’m nowhere near the only Concours owner who has made this mistake over the years, although from most of the discussion of hydrolock that I’ve seen the larger problem is failure of the petcock, not carelessness.

Well, all these years, I thought the only issue with inadvertently switching to prime was the engine not running well and that the solution was to dump the oil/gas mixture and put in new oil. That has always worked in the past. So this time, when I apparently had a brain fart and pushed the petcock to the wrong position I assumed changing the oil would solve the problem.

And it sort of did solve the problem. I could now fire the bike up and ride away on it, but it doesn’t run well at first. Which is what brings me to where I am now.

So trying to figure this out I go looking and for the first time I start seeing all this discussion of hydrolock. Hydrolock occurs when there is fluid in the cylinder and you fire the bike up. On the up stroke the cylinder is compressing the fuel/air mixture. Fluid does not compress as well as gas (as in oxygen, not gasoline). And what can result is that the connecting rod that links the cylinder head to the crankshaft gets bent. Not good; not at all.

Is this my problem? I’m still not sure, though I sure hope not. I need to find out one crucial thing. With all the discussion I’ve read I still haven’t seen definitively whether the bike will still run after a hydrolock event. I get the idea it won’t, and if that’s the case then that’s not my issue because my bike does run.

Judy says just call Joel and let him figure it out; that’s the purpose of money and we have money. To which my response is that the only thing worse than doing something stupid is having to pay a bunch of money to correct for your stupidity. But unless I get real smart real soon I guess that’s exactly what I’m going to have to do.

Biker Quote for Today

You know you’re a biker if one area of your house (other then the garage) is decorated in a motorcycle motif.

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.

With so much of the world currently shut down you might wonder what people are doing with all this time on their hands. If you are like me, you’re probably at least trying to clear some long-delayed projects off your to-do list. One of those items would entail motorcycle maintenance.

Now, I’m not a guy to really dig into the mechanics of my bikes. I almost never do any more than change the oil and filter. Plus cleaning. Maybe if the weather stays nice now I’ll get around to cleaning my bikes for the first time in, oh, two or three years. But I have spoken with Joel, my mechanic, and he will be putting a new front tire on the Concours sometime soon.

Others amongst you are more inclined to pull the bike apart. And for that you need a shop manual. I have Clymer manuals for my CB750 Custom and my Concours but when I bought the V-Strom I went looking for one and none of the shops I went to had it. So I looked and found one online.

This all comes to mind because last week I got an email from Mark asking if I would be interested in a guest post about a website that provides shop manuals for most any bike at a modest cost. This site is a UK site called RepairBooks.co.uk. I went there and looked it over and figured this could be useful information for at least some of the folks who read this blog.

But I wasn’t thrilled with the post submitted–it wasn’t bad but it wasn’t good enough for me–so I figured I would do one on my own. This way they will get the link they want–which helps their Google ranking–and I’ll end up with a post I am satisfied with.

So I did an online search and found all sorts of resources. I very quickly found the Clymer site but this is the highest-price option. You can get an online manual from Clymer but it is only a one-year subscription to their service and it costs $19.95, and not all of their manuals are available online. Rather than do that I would just buy the hard-copy manual for $26.95 (most) or $39.95 (some)–whatever the individual price is.

On the other hand, why pay when you can get it for free? Carl Salter offers manuals in PDF at no cost. I already had a V-Strom manual but it is divided into separate sections, which can be convenient or inconvenient depending on your usage. Salter had a single PDF so I downloaded it and now I have both.

And if I don’t tear into my bikes, why do I even need a manual? Well, sometimes things break or don’t work properly. I use the manuals to try to diagnose the issue. Sometimes I still end up paying someone else to fix it but at least now and then it will be something I can handle myself. As I said above, why pay when you can get it for free?

Biker Quote for Today

You know you’re a biker if you have all the tools to work on every Harley ever made, but not any to work on your ol’ lady’s car.

As I explained in my last post, my Concours needed some brake work. Dealers generally don’t like working on older bikes but I decided to ask Vickery for some assistance. Here’s what happened.

I explained to the guy at the service desk that I had bought the bike from them but they had fired me as a customer 10 years ago. Now I was just asking their assistance in getting a screw out of the plate covering the brake fluid reservoir. Could they at least do that for me? While I was making this appeal, a second guy stood and observed. This other guy turned out to be Randy, the service manager. He came out to look at the bike and called out an older mechanic, presumably because this guy had experience working on this older bike.

They assessed the situation and said they could try bleeding the brakes for me and would drill out the bad screw. They also said the front brake pads were nearly shot and should be replaced, which they would be happy to do.

I was surprised they would take the bike in but happily called Judy to come get me.

Shortly before closing time that day they called to say the bike was ready to be picked up. I said thanks, I’ll come by tomorrow.

The next morning I went over and Randy pulled out his phone to show me a photo he had taken. They had removed the plate from the reservoir and the photo showed a whole bunch of sludge that had formed over many years and which was blocking the ports on the reservoir, thus the bad brake performance.

The sludge had been cleaned out and the brake lines flushed, plus new brake pads had been put on. The brakes were working great again. I was good to go.

I told Randy I truly appreciated their working on my bike, and that they had fired me as a customer long ago, and yet they had done this work. Randy explained that the big problem for them is that at times people bring machines in for work and the mechanics find much bigger problems, such that the owners then decide they don’t want to spend the money and they abandon the vehicle without paying for the work already done.

The key, he explained, for them to agree to do simple maintenance work on an older bike such as mine, was to bring the bike in and let them look it over. If the bike is sound and if it’s just simple maintenance they will do the work, IF. The big if. If they have a mechanic–like that grey-haired guy–with experience with the older bike. Their younger mechanics have never worked on, say, a 1999 Kawasaki Concours, and they are reluctant to have one of them touch it. But if they have the guy, they’ll work on the bike.

I also got the impression that it is Randy who would need to look at the bike and make the decision, not the guy behind the counter. Those guys, it seems, are pretty much told to say no to any such request.

So I was thrilled. The Connie is long overdue for a basic tune-up and while that would be something Joel could do I’d much rather just drop the bike at Vickery. Thank you Randy, you haven’t seen the last of me.

Biker Quote for Today

You know you’re a biker if you see no use in going to a bar without bikes in front.