Tag Archives: motorcycles

Long trips, Mechanical, On the road

Getting nailed in Fond du Lac

3 Comments

My gypsy wedding tour has come to a grinding halt in Fond du Lac, where an itinerant nail has found its way into my front tire. What is this affinity that my tires have for nails, I ask. The last time it was in Santa Rosa, thus a free ride to Santa Fe. That was good. I’d never been there before.

All is not lost, however. I missed the cold weather by being holed up in a hotel room waiting for maintenance, since I haven’t been able to find a front Metzler — to match the newly-installed rear — in a timely manner.

The wedding is toast now, since I’m a day’s ride away.

I’ll be heading back home, the fast way.

Uncategorized

Brigitte, 1967

Leave a comment

Here’s a link to a retrospective of Brigitte singing the song, Harley-Davidson. Here’s some information on the motorcycle in the video:

The bike was built by Maurice Combalbert who was a mechanic in a shop located in Paris, selling cars, motorcycles and furniture ! The P.A.M.A. as it was called, mainly sold british bikes, but Maurice – who is a very old man now – was always tinkering around with Harleys. Handmade ape hangers with an eagle in the middle, or with iron initials of the owner, as well as huge exhaust pipes (up to 3 on each side) were his typical trademark. The black WLA he built for this song is certainly the most important bike in France’s Harley history. All old timers know exactly that this Flathead was stolen after they finished shooting the clip, then it was dismantled and the frame and other parts were thrown in the Canal de l’Ourq in Paris. — Charlie Lecach

Rules

Taking care of business

Leave a comment

Here, prime riding season is probably six to eight months guaranteed steady riding, with the rest of it being chancy, to say the least – and it’s probably more like five good months of winter. Given the foregoing, were I a motorcycle dealership, I’d be giving her all I could for that six months and pray for at least another two months of sunshine.

I wouldn’t close for lunch and put a sign on the door saying, “Back in a hour.” Back in an hour from when? Now? Fifteen minutes ago? Forty-five minutes ago? Is there some reason that out of all the employees on the payroll, one or two can’t keep the doors open to satisfy the people who come by at lunchtime?

I’d try to get my customers their parts in a timely fashion. I wouldn’t make them wait six months for an order that had been prepaid. (See the first paragraph, above.)

When a customer buys a brand-new motorcycle with a promise that accessories purchased within 30 days are guaranteed a discount, only to have that customer find out that what he wants to buy isn’t available, I wouldn’t be telling the customer, “We’ll talk about the discount on unavailable parts when the parts become available.” We all know what that means.

Being in business isn’t easy. Being in a multi-million dollar business is even more difficult. However, if one wants to survive in that multi-million dollar business, one had better strive to satisfy their customers and keep them coming back, one at a time. Finding new customers is much more difficult than keeping the ones you have.

There’s always somewhere else to go, whether it’s OEM or aftermarket.

Is that so hard to understand?

Long trips, On the road, Short trips

Inches matter

Leave a comment

While I was waiting to check into the hotel late this afternoon, another guest last in line said, “Nice Yamaha. What size is it?”

He looked pleased with himself that he had made the right guess when, without the blink of an eye, I said, “It’s a 1340,” as I smiled.

“That’ll get you there in a hurry,” he replied.

“Yes, it will,” I responded and let it go at that, since obviously he was trying to make conversation.

To be precise, it’s a Harley-Davidson, its just under 82 cubic inches, and whether I get anywhere in a hurry or not has never been much of a concern of mine.

But what the hell, he was wearing a suit and tie and I felt bad for him all dolled up like that on a hot day, while this very morning I rode the Manitoulin, spent time at an ice cream parlor after waiting for a swing bridge, took a leisurely hour and 45 minute ride on a ferry, and meandered south to my destination, enjoying every last living minute of it all.

Life is sweet.

Mechanical

The continuing carburetor blues

Leave a comment

Well, all effort to the contrary, I received the parts for a Kiehn carb today. Which is fine, because I own a Kiehn carb – but I don’t need any parts for it! Jesus.

Why is it that a business doesn’t listen to what the customer tells them? Are the morons who work there so dulled by the stupidity of RUBS that they just go and order any old thing, part numbers notwithstanding?

Are they too accustomed to selling bolt-on chrome doo-dads to stupid people who are more dense than those employed by the dealership?

Do any of these people even know what a carburetor is, and how it functions?

Perhaps they can’t spell. Let’s see now…

M-i-k-u-n-i. Oh, yes. Mi-kun’-i. That’s it. Sound it out like a public school moron.

K-i-e-h-n. Hmm. Now that’s a little more difficult. At the end of the word there’s something that’s real hard to pronounce. Like, an h and an n, real close together, like.

Like, much head-scratching over that one, I’m certain. There must have been. I got the wrong parts.

Morons, all.

Mechanical

Carburetor blues

Leave a comment

Mikuni carburetorUpdate: Need help tuning your Mikuni? Go to their web site and check out their tuning instruction sheets, parts sheets, and performance guide.

The Mikuni HSR42 is a great carburetor. I had one on my Low Rider and it never skipped a beat. I think some dealer finger trouble occurred to the enrichener circuit on this one – although that circuit should never have been touched at any time during my reman engine install back in December of 2005.

I’ve been looking – unsuccessfully, so far – for a couple of non-standard parts for the carb. There’s a piston and a spring involved, which I’ve been trying to find locally. No such luck. Unfortunately, dealers only carry jets/needles and re-build kits.

On March 5 I finally broke down and called Mikuni in Northridge. I was patched over to the voice mail of someone named Steve. I left a brief explanation, including the two part numbers that I was unable to obtain locally, followed by a request for a callback.

No response so far.

Had I been able to find an email address for Mikuni, I’d have sent them an email.

Today I emailed sudco.com asking them the same question, and in a matter of an hour I had a reply directing me to a Canadian distributor for the parts that I required.

I’ve ordered everything I need, plus a little extra. Thank you, Sudco.

Long trips, Mechanical

14,000 miles and running strong

Leave a comment

I plan on making Lansing, Michigan tonight.

Early out is the game for today. I headed north on the 270 to make time. This is a nice treed route, and although it’s an interstate, it’s a great ride. There are plenty of pullouts to take breaks and view the surrounding land, and one can still make good time. Another day and I’d trace the Potomac for a leisurely ride. It’s only a few miles away.

It’s a good morning for riding. The sun is at my back and highlights everything in front of me with that early-morning glow. With the sun low in the sky like this, the humidity hasn’t started yet but I know it will. Thankfully I’ll be long gone by then and into the shadow of the Great Lakes.

I’m in the groove now, and since there’s plenty of pullouts for gas, I can make good time on my way west. These roads are fantastic – obviously being close to D.C. they get all the money. Too bad some of that cash can’t be spent around Detroit, but that’s just the way it happens here and in every other part of North America.

Around noon I hit the Ohio border and stop for a long break. I’ve made good time and I think I’ll slow down during the heat of the day and take it easy for a while. Plenty of breaks for rest and water to keep refreshed and I’ll be home-free tonight when I hit the sack in Lansing.

Tomorrow I’ll change the oil and filter on my new engine, which isn’t so new now that it has 14,000 miles on it since installation in December of 2005.

Damn but I love riding!