Passes & Canyons Blog

Not good.

I wanted to ride my Honda CB750 Custom to Loveland last week for the Steel Horse Sisterhood Summit but before I took off I figured I ought to check the air pressure in my tires. Turned out they needed a little air but what really disturbed me was when I saw how badly rotted out the valve stem is on the front tire. Holy crap, is this going to die on me today, and if it does, how dangerous will that be?

Now I would guess the more safety fanatic among us would have told me I was an idiot to even consider riding on it like that. My thought process went like this:
1. It has obviously been like this for a long time and so far nothing has happened.
2. The chances that it will go out on me today of all days is probably quite slim.
3. If I take it slow and easy then if it goes there will be less danger.
4. If it does go it will probably be a gradual deflating, so I can pull over the instant I detect something wrong.
5. And I really do want to ride the Honda today.

So off I went.

I preferred to stay off the highway as much as possible so starting off I went through town. As I was riding along it occurred to me that if I passed a bike shop I might be able to stop and get it fixed on the spot. And then I had an even more brilliant idea (Ha!), when I inevitably passed a car tire shop maybe they could do it for me. It’s just a valve stem after all, surely they’re all the same.

So I did stop at a tire shop but that guy just looked at me and shook his head. No, we don’t work on motorcycles. But it’s just the valve stem, I said, can’t you do that? And he explained that it would be necessary to lift the bike (we don’t have the right kind of lift for a motorcycle) and to break the bead (we don’t have that equipment).

You mean you can’t just yank the old valve stem out and insert a new one? (Can you tell I’m not much of a mechanic?)

On I went to Loveland. Taking it slow.

In Loveland I found that there was almost no sign of the Steel Horse Sisterhood so I figured I might as well head to the local Honda shop. There the guy told me yes they could replace the valve stem but it would involve removing the tire and they would not be able to get to it for at least an hour and a half. It would cost about $45. Or for about $200 I could get a whole new front tire.

This was tempting because this is the whole issue. Because I have two other bikes I don’t put that many miles on the Honda. The tires both have a good bit of tread left but they have been on the bike for 10 years. The rubber is starting to rot. They need to be replaced. Doing both would have been about $450, including new valve stems on both. Why the heck not do it right now?

Because sometimes I’m impatient. And in an hour and a half I could be home. And get the job done some other time.

So I rode home and the valve stem held out and all was well. Now I really do need to do something about these tires.

Biker Quote for Today

Keep calm and ride on.

Try not to outsmart yourself when you stash your keys.

Do you ever get a little too smart for yourself? I certainly do sometimes, and did just recently.

We were planning a trip to California and while our neighborhood is very safe and I had nearly zero expectation that someone would break in while we were gone, I did nevertheless take a few security measures.

Normally I leave the keys to my motorcycles in a very convenient location and I always know exactly where they are. When I’m gone I’ve generally just stashed them in my sock drawer. Coming home I’ve always known right where to find them.

This time was different. I got the idea from somewhere that burglars will usually come into your bedroom and just pull all the dresser drawers out and dump them, in order to quickly determine if something is stashed there. I decided to put the keys somewhere else.

So we got home a couple weeks ago and it was bitter, bitter cold. There was no motorcycle riding going on at that point. Gradually it warmed up and it was very noticeable when one day I started seeing bikes on the street again. I had a lot of yard work I needed to get done so I held off on riding a little longer, until Friday of last week. Nice warm day; time to go for a ride.

OK, where are my keys? I checked about a dozen places, including my sock drawer, with no luck. Where the heck did I put them?

Then I remembered that I have always kept my spare keys in a pocket of my original leather jacket, and hadn’t thought to move them when I stashed the others. They were there and I went out for a really nice ride on the Concours. Plenty of time to find the others later.

Saturday was an even nicer day, sunnier and warmer. Time to take the V-Strom out.

Guess again. While I had the spare Honda and Kawasaki keys in hand, I never put the spare Suzuki keys on the same ring. I started tearing the house and the garage apart looking. Finally Judy said I ought to set a time limit and if I haven’t found the keys by then, take the Honda out. She was right and I did end up on the Honda.

Again, wow, what a great day to be out riding. One big reason I live in Colorado is so I can go out on great days like this in November, or December, or January, or even February.

But eventually I was back home again and now I had to get serious. What did I do with those keys?

I fished through the sock drawer again and again came up empty. I considered dumping it out just to be sure but was convinced I would have found them if they were there.

Below the sock drawer is the t-shirt drawer. I did pull that out and started pulling every shirt out and then (tinkle) a set of keys dropped out. And there they were, the rest of them. So much for my thoughts about the sock drawer not being a good place. How the heck was the t-shirt drawer supposed to be one bit safer? What kind of idiot am I anyway?

So now I’ve identified a number of truly better places to stash these keys next time I want to do that. And next time I’ll send myself a text message or something to tell myself where the heck I’ve put them. I’ll outsmart myself yet!

By the way . . . when I was out on the Honda I came across a guy on a Ninja stopped along the road so I stopped to ask if he needed help. He said he had someone coming with a pick-up but was hoping it would start on its own before then. He was thinking stator. He thanked me for stopping and I went on my way.

It occurred to me after I left that I wished I had thought to ask if he had checked the kill switch. There have been a couple times I’ve found myself sitting by the road because I accidentally hit the kill switch. Each time I sat there until that “Duh!” moment struck when I realized what it was. It makes you feel stupid but it’s one heck of a lot cheaper than replacing the stator.

Biker Quote for Today

Helmet not wore when go ride, and no damaging so far brain yet!

Just a photo illustration of the idea of being out there far from anywhere with the bike not running.

I ran out of gas on my way to work the other morning. I don’t know about you but that just seems to happen to me periodically. With no gas gauge on the CB750, just reserve, you never really know how low you are.

It wasn’t the first time.

This time around I had been riding in the hills the day before with the guys and switched over to reserve. I have a fair idea how far I can go once I switch to reserve and I calculated that I could get home and then get over to where I like to gas up on my way to work the next morning. I was heading west on Hampden just west of University when I learned that that estimate was wrong. I came sputtering to a stop at Gilpin. Don’t you just hate when that happens?

I was fortunate in this case. I rolled the bike a long block or so to where Old Hampden diverges from the main road and from there I just coasted down to the station I knew was nearby. I probably only lost 10, maybe 15 minutes in the whole thing and wasn’t even late to work.

But how many other times have I done something like this? I make fun of some of my friends because they freak out about gas when they’re just getting close to going to reserve. They never actually go to reserve if they can help it. I figure that’s what reserve is for; you hit the point where you need to flip that lever and then you start looking around for a station.

Sometimes I misjudge.

I think the first time I ran out of gas on a bike–it was the CB; that’s the first bike I ever owned and which I still own–I was out running around with a young lady I had designs on and apparently I had forgotten to flip back off reserve when I had filled up last. So I was expecting to need to go to reserve but then when the bike finally started sputtering I found the lever in the wrong position and the tank completely dry. We had a good walk that day. Nothing ever developed in that relationship.

There was another time when I was on the Concours with my wife and we had been out riding with a bunch of folks. Everyone parted ways down in Colorado Springs and we headed back to Denver on CO 83. Everyone else had gotten gas back in Florence but I didn’t fill up because the Kawi holds 7.5 gallons and I knew (I just knew!) I had enough to get home. Oops.

We were just a couple miles south of Franktown when we coasted to a stop in front of a farm house. It took some knocking but someone finally answered the door and they said yes, they did have some gas. We would need to push the bike all the way around the back of the house, up a bit of a hill, to where they had a tank. Shucks, I figured if we could just put a pint in an old coffee can that would be fine to get on to Franktown, but I didn’t want to argue–they didn’t seem exuberantly happy to be bothered by us. So we did, and paid them for a gallon and were on our way.

Another time Judy and I were on the Honda and I don’t remember how it was that we ran out but we did. We were somewhere up in Westminster or Commerce City and just came to a stop by the side of the road. Very quickly a guy in a car stopped and offered to help. He said he would take me to get gas. I got in and off we went and he explained that he was sort of a freelance roadway assistance program and he would sure appreciate anything I could give him for his help. Considering the situation I was glad to give him $20. He was glad to receive it.

Are those the only times? I don’t know; those are the only ones I can remember. Maybe my buddies aren’t so silly freaking out over getting near reserve. Maybe I should be a little more like them. Not a lot, mind you, but a little. I’ll bet it’s a long time before I run out again, though. It takes a while for memory to fade.

Biker Quote for Today

A motorcycle functions entirely in accordance with the laws of reason, and a study of the art of motorcycle maintenance is really a miniature study of the art of rationality itself. — Robert M. Pirsig, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

Bikes on top of Pikes Peak.

Motorcycles used to be pretty undependable. From what I gather, at least, breaking down alongside the road used to be pretty much an every day occurrence. If you were a rider, you were a mechanic.

Out of that reality a brotherhood developed where it was just unacceptable to pass by a brother alongside the road who might be in trouble. That ethos continues today, although I think it has gotten weaker. Bikes are more dependable now, you don’t have everyone looking at a rider alongside the road and thinking “that could be me” and stopping.

I know I’ve been stopped and very definitely having problems and watched in annoyance as other motorcycles went right on by. I particularly think about a couple BMWs one day . . .

The ethos seems to remain the strongest among Harley riders. There have been a number of times when I have had problems and a number of other times when I was just stopped to shoot some pictures. And more than one Harley rider stopped to check on me. I really do thank you guys.

Well it happened again Saturday but this time I wasn’t even on a bike. Judy and I were down in Colorado Springs for a wedding reception and we decided to drive up Pikes Peak. We were in my car.

So we got pretty high up the mountain and the car started dragging. It had no power at all. It’s fuel-injected so the altitude should not have been the problem the way it once would have been. But something was definitely wrong.

There we were just stopped on the road up the mountain; the car would not go forward. I had my flashers on but it took a while for the guy behind me to figure out that I wasn’t just stopping to shoot a picture or something, and he finally pulled around. We’re sitting there discussing what to do and a couple on a Harley coming down the mountain pulled into our lane and stopped directly facing us. We wondered what the heck he was doing until we saw that he was letting a car that had come up behind us get past.

Once that car got past the folks on the bike pulled alongside and asked if we were having trouble. You bet. So thinking quickly, I asked him to just block the road momentarily for us so I could roll backward and do a Y-turn and head back down the hill. Which he did, and as soon as we got pointed downhill the car was ready to run just fine. Had the gas just not been able to reach the fuel pump on this steep uphill?

We didn’t need any more assistance and after going a little ways we pulled over to assess the situation. The folks on the Harley pulled over and checked and we said thanks, we’re fine now, thank you very much. And they rode on.

That’s what I’m talking about. We weren’t even on a bike, they had no idea we ride, but they stopped to help. And they were on a Harley. Wasn’t there a slogan years ago, something like “You meet the nicest people on a Harley”? Kinda? Sorta? Well you do, even if you’re not the ones on the Harley.

Biker Quote for Today

Happiness is finding you still have more throttle.

This diagram will help you understand this procedure.

When I went to work on it Saturday morning I was surprised how quickly and easily I resolved the various issues with replacing the handlebar end weight that got busted off when the bike fell over a couple weeks ago. Here’s how it went.

First I had to figure out how to put the whole assembly back in and have it stay. I had speculated that the nut on the very end (#9 in that diagram above) must screw into something inside the bar. Nope. I shone a flashlight up in there and there was nothing at all. Then it dawned on me: That rubber stopper (#8) is sandwiched between the nut and that washer (#7). Put the whole thing together but don’t tighten it down too much, slip the whole assembly inside the bar, and then tighten the screw such that it compresses the stopper, making it expand outward until it forms a seal with the inside of the bar. Presto! Solid and secure.

Then I turned to the other problem: how to get the broken bolt out of the damaged side.

Looking at the assembly from the undamaged side, I could see that flush with the broken end of the bolt was the rubber insert (#5). Maybe I could just grab that with some pliers and pull it out and that would make it easy to grasp the broken bolt.

I first used some needle-nose pliers to grip it and pull. It seemed to be coming but when I released it it drew back in almost completely. Almost. I worked at it on the other side and once again it came out and stayed out just the barest amount. Going back and forth I got it out enough that I was able to grab it with some regular pliers and then I really went to work on it. I got a bit more out on one side, then a bit more on the other, until the whole thing slipped out. Then it was easy to grip and twist the bolt and as soon as the pressure was reduced on the rubber stopper that whole assembly slid right out.

I then had an issue removing the broken bolt from that thin metal sleeve (#6). At the outside end it was right where the bolt broke, and it got damaged, too. Ideally I would have gotten a new sleeve, but I didn’t have one and wanted to get this resolved now, not later. I stuck the thing–with the bolt still in it–in the vise and did my best to bring it back close to round so the bolt could slide out. That worked.

Then putting the whole assembly back together with the new bolt was troublesome, too, because of the misshapen tube. I worked on it some more with the vise and got it reasonably OK, and then tapped the end of the bolt to get it to go through. Some more shaping in the vise and it seemed acceptably good. It went together and slipped into the bar.

The next issue was that the handguard had ripped off when all this happened, and the inside end of the guard that used to have a hole through the plastic/rubber/whatever now was an open notch. But the bottom side was designed as an open notch and the outer connector was, too. I figured that in all three cases if I could just get that bolt to cover and grip a piece of the guard it should hold sufficiently well. It did. More success.

Then finally, with the handguard in the position it naturally fell into, the little throttle lock I use no longer cleared the guard. I experimented with twisting it into less natural positions and found one where there was no interference. I tightened the bolts securely at that point.

And the job was done. Now all that remained was to take the bike out for a test ride. I know, this is one of those “it’s a dirty job but someone has to do it” kind of things, but hey, I’m up to the task. And I’m not one to leave a job uncompleted. So yeah, if you saw someone out of a blue V-Strom Saturday it might have been me.

Biker Quote for Today

My favorite ride is the one I’m about to start!

Finally time for a new battery for the CB750.

I mentioned before that I couldn’t take my Honda CB750 Custom for a ride on Sunday because I couldn’t get it to start. I put in on the charger and today, Thursday, I came home from work figuring that just for insurance I would take it out tonight for a short spin. It’s supposed to get cold and possibly snow tomorrow.

Before I got all geared up, though, I went out to make sure it would start. It did not. Hmmm.

I figured it must need a new battery. But how long ago was it that I bought this one? I keep my records in triplicate. I keep the hard-copy receipts in one file. I keep a spreadsheet of all my expenses and earnings, for tax purposes. And I keep a list of vehicle expenses on my Palm. (Yes, my wife and I both still uses our Palms.) Somewhere in there I had to have the information I was looking for.

Well, I found it. Amazing as it sounds, it appears I bought that battery in April 2008. That’s nearly 5 years! No wonder it’s died now.

And so no, of course I didn’t get out on the Honda tonight. Now I’m just hoping we don’t have snow and cold and the roads stay frosted over for three weeks or more like what just happened. It’s supposed to be a high on Saturday of about 20 degrees, but I don’t care. If the road is clear I’m going for a ride–after I get a new battery. And what a great, REAL test for my new electric gloves.

Recent from National Motorcycle Examiner
A motorcycling year in pictures – 2012

Biker Quote for Today

Sometimes it takes more than one tank of gas to chase the demons from my head.

If you want to start a motorcycle repair operation, this space right next to Susie's could be the perfect spot.

On the very off chance that you are looking to set up a motorcycle service shop and are looking for the right location, here’s a possibility.

I got an email recently from Joe Dunn, of CRESCO Properties, Inc., saying he has “about 3200 SF 5 bay repair shop for lease at 17981 W. Colfax Avenue in Golden, CO directly east of Susie’s Bar And Grill. Might be a natural for someone looking to relocate a shop since Susie’s is motorcycle friendly.”

Then in a follow-up email when I requested a photo, Joe said, “Looks like it would be perfect for motorcycle repair, and customers can get lunch and a brew while they wait. Rent for 3,163 SF is $2800 per month including taxes. Maybe one or more of your readers is looking to relocate their business.”

Now, there’s no finder’s fee or anything involved here; I have nothing to gain. But I thought I’d pass this along just in case someone out there is looking for exactly this sort of thing. FWIW. You can reach Joe at c.properties@comcast.net.

Recent from National Motorcycle Examiner
Butler Maps goes east to the Ozarks

Biker Quote for Today

And the Moto Gods said “Let there be tinkering.” And the people said “yes we will tinker, and we will buy parts, and we will clean old parts, until such time that old parts and new parts become one, and she rumbles forth anew. Yea, I will tinker.”

Loading my Connie onto the tow truck.

I’ve thought for a long time that I ought to learn how to replace a tire on my motorcycle. Having a flat on the first day out of the annual OFMC trip seemed to offer the perfect opportunity. I had the bike towed to Eagle, where my friend Jungle Fuhrman would help me get moving again. Let’s do this job.

My initial intention was to tell Jungle I wanted to do the work myself and just have him give me directions. But he dove right in and I stood and watched closely. The first thing he did was remove the cotter pin from the rear axle. Then he demonstrated to me that I will never change the tire on my bike because the next step was to remove the bolt that the cotter pin held in place. The problem is that the bolt is recessed and in order to get to it you have to have a wrench with a lip that reaches down into the recess. Count me out right there.

So I watched. In order to fully access the various bolts it was necessary to remove the mufflers. That was simple enough, just comprising two bolts per muffler. Then Jungle worked the axle loose and extracted it from the left side. Here he was faced with a problem. He knew from working on his own Concours that he was not going to be able to get the wheel out from under the fender without doing one of two things. What he had done on his own bike, and what he made it clear he was prepared to with mine if I consented, was to cut the lower six inches or so off the rear fender. I didn’t like that idea so I declined to say “Sure, go ahead,” as I knew he wanted me to say.

That meant he also needed to remove the shaft housing where the rotation of the drive shaft is converted 90 degrees to power the rear wheel. That was a matter of removing four bolts and I was pleased to find it wasn’t that much effort. Now the wheel could be pulled out and we could go to work on the tire.

Jungle’s tire-changing tools are over at a friend’s house so we went there for that part of the work. I had seen this done often enough that there was nothing new here. The tire was pulled off and Jungle applied a patch. He put the tire back on the wheel and aired it up and . . . it still leaked. Off came the tire once again and now we went to another friend’s shop to get a tool to truly prepare the inner tire surface to take good hold of the patch. With a patch applied in a way that had to be good enough, the tire was remounted, aired, and . . . it still leaked.

Now Jungle was thinking that there must be some damage to the plies allowing air to pass through and out. Which meant the tire could not be saved. A plug might work, or it might not. But it would be better to replace it.

Of course, this really hurt considering that I had just bought that tire six days earlier and had only put 1,500 miles on it, but you’ve gotta do what you’ve gotta do. Normally, getting a replacement tire in Eagle on a Saturday could have been simply out of the question, leaving me to get even further behind my friends and possibly ending my trip right there.

But this is where the amazing good fortune of having this occur just 55 miles from Eagle came into play. Jungle has a Concours just like mine so I figured he just might have a tire on hand. In fact he had two. One was a brand new tire that he had bought for another bike, but it was the right size. Only thing is it was bias ply and the Connie usually takes radials. Plus, that would mean mixing a radial front with a bias-ply rear. The other was an old tire off Jungle’s Concours. He and Willie do a lot of traveling and when the tires on the bike aren’t going to be good enough to last the entire trip he will put on new tires before the trip. Thus, he had a partially used, radial Avon tire of the right size. My tires were Dunlops so that meant mixing a Dunlop front with an Avon rear, but I figured that was the best bet.

So Jungle mounted up the Avon, got everything put back together, and I was in business! I was able to leave Eagle around 2 p.m. that afternoon and then had to do some hard riding to catch up with the guys, who had since gone on from Grand Junction to Marysvale, Utah. I arrived there around 9 p.m. and finally the OFMC was together and off on this year’s ride.

Just a word about Jungle. He’s a mechanic but doesn’t work out of a shop. He is an I-come-to-you mechanic, so if you’re in the Eagle area and need a motorcycle or auto mechanic, give him a call. He’s in the phone book.

Recent from National Motorcycle Examiner
Problems, miscues kick off OFMC 2012 ride

Biker Quote for Today

Before enlightenment, change oil and adjust valves; after enlightenment, change oil and adjust valves.