Passes & Canyons Blog

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.

The front brakes on my 1999 Concours were squishy and the brake fluid level seemed low. I could add fluid but if it got low again that would indicate a fuel-line leak. That’s beyond my ability to deal with.

Normally I would just have taken the bike over to Joel at Mountain Thunder Motorsports but these are not normal times for Joel. His landlord had raised his rent a huge amount and rather than pay it Joel had closed up shop and is now working out of his home. Unfortunately, his home is somewhere up in the hills. If he’s going to work on my bike it will mean he drives down with a trailer, loads it up, drives home and works on it, then drives it back down. That’s a lot of effort for what might just be low brake fluid.

So I called Vickery, where I bought the bike new in 1999. I used to take it to Vickery for service but about 10 years ago they fired me as a customer because dealerships don’t like to work on older bikes. That’s how I ended up working with Joel. I had also been fired as a customer by Aurora Honda some years before that with my CB750, for the same reason.

It seemed to me that Vickery ought to be willing to just do some simple maintenance, even on an older bike. No harm in asking.

I called the service department and explained the situation and asked if they would be willing to at least do this simple job. The answer was no. I then asked what sort of brake fluid the bike would use, because I have read many times how you should not mix different types of brake fluids. I figured I could at least top it off myself and then if it got low again that would mean a bigger problem and I could call Joel.

The guy at the service counter told me what fluid it needed and I went over to Vickery to buy some. Back at home I tried to remove the top plate on the reservoir but for the life of me I could not get one of the screws out. The other came out easily but all the bad one did was start stripping. Now what do I do?

It was a nice day and I was determined to ride the Kawi that day so I geared up and headed out, with no destination in mind. Before I got out of the neighborhood I decided to ride to Vickery. At the very least perhaps they would help me get that screw out. Refusing that, I felt, would be terrible customer relations, but I wasn’t especially optimistic. If they wouldn’t even do that for me, I had located an independent shop over near where Joel used to be and I figured I could drop by there and see if they would help me.

What happened then is interesting and I’ll fill you in on Thursday.

Biker Quote for Today

Why bikes are better than women: Motorcycles only need their fluids changed every 2,000 miles.

Sometimes I get tipped off to things going on right here at home by national magazines. This is one of those times. American Motorcyclist, the magazine of the American Motorcyclist Association, has a group of articles in the latest issue under the overall headline, “Get Experienced.” The lead article was about Jen Wyse, who moved to Colorado from New York and got involved with what is called a “community motorcycle garage.”

The shop in question is Moto Works Denver, at 2000 S. Cherokee. It is run by King Browne, who you see there in the photo. King runs a typical metric-only shop with a twist: There is a do-it-yourself corner with a couple lifts where you can use the shop’s tools and work on your own bike. The DIY fee is either $50 a day or $150 for one month. Storage is also available. The shop is set up for mechanical work, not so much things such as fabrication. If you want to build a bike from scratch, including welding and painting, this is not your place. If you want to do a valve job, a tune-up, or replace the engine, it is.

Walking into the shop I noted all kinds of older bikes, including a Honda CB1000 Custom, the big brother to the CB750 Custom I had arrived on. Aurora Honda fired me as a customer a long time ago because they don’t want to work on older bikes. That’s where shops like this one come in. You can pay King to work on your bike or you can pay less and work on it yourself.

Make no mistake, if you chose the DIY route you are going to need to do nearly all the work yourself. King and his staff don’t have time to babysit you and answer every question that you should already have found answers to by reading the shop guide for your bike and watching videos on YouTube. But if something in the manual is unclear they will help you clarify the matter and they’ll offer pointers and advice, plus help out if an extra set of hands is needed.

The clientele skews mostly younger, King explains, because most older guys who have an inclination to wrench already have their own spaces and their own tools. Younger guys, on the other hand, live in condos with no garage and they have no tools. What they do have is enthusiasm and the desire to work on their machines.

If this sounds like the sort of thing you would like to use, head on down to 2000 S. Cherokee. If it sounds like a business you would like to be involved in, hustle on down. King is looking for a partner.

When he opened the shop a couple years ago, he explains, he had a partner and figured between the two of them they could make it work and still have time to have lives. However, after only three months the partner pulled out. Although King has employees, he runs the business by himself. If you would like to join him as a partner he would welcome you, and if you would like to ultimately buy the operation that could be a possibility as well.

Either way, if you want to get greasy and feel the pride of having wrenched your own bike, this is your chance. I may just have to do this a bit myself, although King says it is best to use the shop in the winter rather than in the midst of the riding season. That gives me time to ponder whether I want to take on a valve job on the CB. Of course, if I do, you’ll be able to read all about it right here.

Biker Quote for Today

I guess the Harley crowd took offense at the old rice burner I rode in their midst. — Charles A Johnson

Before I decided to run this Examiner Resurrection I checked to see if this site still exists and whether the information I presented in 2011 had changed. It’s all still good. So I don’t need to change a thing.

Figuring on restoring an old motorcycle you found in a barn? Looking for the technical info you do to do the work? Here’s a heads-up on a website I recently discovered that may be just what you need.

Cyclepedia.com is an online repository for workshop manuals for ATV, motorcycle, and scooter repair. If you’re only going to need access to the information while you rebuild the bike, a one-year subscription may be the way to go. If you’re planning on riding the bike for years, a lifetime subscription may be your best bet. Either one comes with tech support, so if you’re stuck trying to figure something out, they actually have a motorcycle technician available to answer questions or help you interpret the manual.

These are not just static text documents, like a printed manual that you access online. They come with videos to guide you through processes, as well as interactive features that a printed manual can’t offer. You do, however, have the option of printing the documents.

Want to see what the manuals are like? A sample manual for a Suzuki DR200SE is available. Open it and at left are topics such as:

• Periodic Maintenance
• Quick Reference
• Fuel System
• External Components
• Engine
• Final Drive

And more. Pretty much the stuff you expect in a shop manual. Also included are parts diagram, printable full-color wiring diagrams, and a troubleshooting guide.

I’ll be honest with you, I’m no mechanic myself, so I can’t judge the usefulness of this site; that’s up to you to determine. But I figured if you hadn’t heard about it, you might like to know the site is there. Happy wrenching!

Biker Quote for Today

Don’t make me use my motorcycle mechanic voice.