Passes & Canyons Blog

I’ve never tried to hide the fact that I’m a bad motorcycle owner. By that I mean that I do a lousy job of maintenance. Over the weekend I proved to myself once again that I probably rate a D in this category.

When I had been out on my Honda CB750 recently I had had the impression that perhaps my front tire was low on air. I made a note to check it sometime soon. Also, my mechanic, Joel, tells me the reason it pumps out blue smoke when I start it up is because the valves need to be adjusted and that they are allowing oil to seep into the cylinders. Then I start it up and this oil gets burned out. I’ve wondered more than once what any of my neighbors who were observing this might be thinking.

Lately, though, this seems to have gotten worse. It used to be that if the bike sat for a few weeks it would smoke when I fired it up, but if I ran it yesterday and started it again today there would be no smoke. That is no longer the case. I can start it every day for a week and it will smoke every time. I need to have Joel work on the valves.

More pressing, though, was the thought that I ought to check the oil. With all this oil burning away, how low might I be on oil?

So with somewhat warmer weather on Sunday I rolled the bike out to do some maintenance. First thing I noticed was that one of the four zip-ties that hold the bag on the back of the sissy bar was broken so I replaced that. Following the procedure in the shop manual, I set the bike up on the center stand and fired it up to warm the fluids and circulate the oil. Then I shut it down and gave it a few minutes for the fluids to settle.

Of course, when I started the bike it smoked like crazy. When I pulled the dipstick, cleaned it and put it back in, it came out not showing any oil at all on the end of the stick. Yep, low. So I added some oil and tested again. Nothing on the dip stick. I added more; still nothing. I didn’t have a lot of oil so I just poured the rest in. Still nothing showing on the dip stick. Yeah, I guess I was low.

Then I measured the tire pressure. Both tires are supposed to have 41 pounds of pressure. I have a good, digital-read-out pressure gauge and I used it twice. Both times it said 7 pounds of pressure. OK. That would sure explain why I had the impression it was low. Fortunately I have this multi-tool thing my parents gave me many years ago to keep in my car that includes an air compressor. I hooked it up, set it to put in 41 pounds, and let it run. It took almost 15 minutes to bring this baby up to proper level. Normally if you just need to add a few pounds it can take a minute or at most two. Not this time.

I figure all of this tells us two things. First, I’m a lousy owner. I rarely wash my bikes, I go too long between oil changes, and I don’t do routine maintenance as I should. Rap my knuckles with a hickory stick.

Second, the engineers that design these machines do a great job. Their machines continue to run year after year despite such utter neglect from idiots like me. Thanks guys, you do good work and I definitely appreciate you.

Biker Quote for Today

The next time your neighbors tell you that your bike is too loud, organize a bike rally at your house.

For 10 years my Kawasaki Concours has fired up for me immediately every time, not counting the times when the battery was shot and needed to be replaced. Those weren’t the bike’s fault, that was the battery, and all batteries die eventually.

So I was a little concerned while I was up in Keystone, CO, covering the International Women and Motorcycling Conference that on two mornings I had to turn it over repeatedly before it caught. Still, it got cold those nights, my whole bike was covered with frost each morning, and I chalked it up to cold.

When I was back home later, and tried starting it, you can imagine that I was considerably more concerned when I had trouble again. Something was clearly wrong. Just what I need, a mechanic bill.

I asked our resident mechanic and his presumption was much like my own: carbs need cleaning. Ouch. I’ve had that done and it’s not cheap. What’s more, I just had it done not that long ago so if that was what was needed again I was not going to be happy.

So I went over to Vickery Motorsports, my local dealer and the place where I bought the bike, and told my story to the service manager (sorry, I didn’t get his name). He asked how long it had been since I’d had a tune-up. Oh yeah. Too long, I had to admit. Well, do this then, he said: clean the air filter and replace the spark plugs. If that doesn’t work, check back.

Great. That wouldn’t cost nearly as much as cleaning the carbs and I could probably do it myself. I went upstairs and bought the plugs and thanked him again on my way out. “Be really sure to clean the air filter,” he repeated, stressing that part. I read that as meaning it was particularly important.

Now, I’m no great mechanic. I don’t generally work on my motorcycles beyond lubing the chain on my Honda and checking the tires and changing the oil. And I quickly found out that replacing the plugs on the Kawi requires removing the gas tank to get to them. That’s out of my comfort zone. But I checked my tech book and getting to the air filter was no problem.

I pulled out the filter and followed instructions on cleaning it and put it back in. Then I turned the key and pushed the start button. Vrrooom! Instantly. And it has started instantly every time since.

So wow. That is so nice. Yes, I’m still overdue for a tune-up, and I’ll get to that soon, but isn’t it amazing what even simple maintenance can do. And of course this makes me feel good about continuing to do business at Vickery. Thanks guys.

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Biker Quote for Today

If the bike ain’t brakin’ properly you don’t start by rebuilding the engine.