Re: [St] Fw: Sticky throttle cable

[Brian Pitman <snowsurfer@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Kevin, Yes, I most certainly am!
 
Although Lucas pretty much predates my riding experience (and certainly my Triumph ownership time), I did have a rare Lucas-like flashback this summer.  I do not recall if I mentioned this little detail in my Maritime blast this summer however, I will recall it now for the amusement of The List.
 
It was the last day of my tightly-scheduled one-week vacation wherein I had saved the best for last - an 1100 km route through the backroads of Maine, Vermont and New York with nary an Interstate or Canadian major highway in sight.  I left just after sunrise out of Saint John, New Brunswick and rode ~90 mins to the Canada-US border crossing in Maine.  As I turned the corner off main st into the customs line-up, I turned my engine off as there appeared to be about a 5 min line-up in front of the interrogation booth.  After a couple of minutes, the line had advanced about 5-6 car lengths so I turned the ignition key, pulled in the clutch (hate that lock-out feature BTW...) and hit the starter button.  Nothing but a feeble click.
 
Yep, I had a "Lucas moment" there!  Well, my mind started racing around considering whether I should I stay on the Canadian side and try and find a bike shop in St Stephen's, NB or should I get across the border and look in Calais, ME?  For no other reason that my bike was already pointed west I pushed my fully loaded ST, while wearing a full coverage Aerostitch, up to the customs officer.  Much to her amusement, I made some depreciating comment about Brit bikes.  With a big smile on her face, she asked me three short Qs and waved me through.  Fortunately, there was a small gas station across from the border crossing so I pushed Caspian Blue a few more feet to a pump and topped up the gas tank ... 'cause that's whatcha do when the bike won't start, right?  
 
I pulled the seat and looked at that lazy, "laid-down" battery.  Sure 'nuff, the vibration form the triple had loosened off one of the terminal connections to prevent the battery from charging.  In short order, I found another friendly tourist who had jumper cables to get the ST fired up again.  
 
My last interesting moment was putting everything back together again since, at this point, my tool bag, which lives in the RH side of the fairing inside a keyed pocket cover, was still on the ground and my ignition key was, well, in the ignition!  The last thing I wanted to do was to turn off the engine and have to bum yet another jump start so I quickly recalled that I had buried the spare key deep within my tank bag.  I dug it out, put everything away and hit the road before the motor overheated at idle.
 
Fortunately, that was the most "exciting" event of the day.  I pulled into my driveway 15.5 hrs after starting my day, stopping for gas and lunch only!
 
That's it!
 
Brian
06 ST
93 GTS


----- Original Message ----
From: Kevin Dicks <rawsonboy@xxxxxxxxx>
To: ST@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Thursday, September 20, 2007 12:47:03 PM
Subject: Re: [St] Fw: Sticky throttle cable


Be thankful Lucas is not still around :)
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