Western Rallye Adventures(very long)

[Steven Kohlscheen <Steven.kohlscheen@xxxxxxxx>]

I got home from a most interesting vacation at about 8pm last night.
Everything started fine, left work at 5pm the 12th, for those keeping score
my normal work shift is 3pm to 11pm, which I worked on the 11th, yes I seem
to really enjoying sleep deprivation.  Got to Kansas City about 3 hrs later,
after running back to my house because  as I leave work I realize I forgot
my sunglasses, DOH!  Stayed a pleasant night at Hotel Parental Units.  In
the morning I met Greg Gagliano just over the boarder in Kansas and we had a
fairly nice ride to Limon, CO, although Greg missed the dust devil/small
scale tornado that was about 100 feet off the interstate because he was
watching the cop who was watching it.  We arrived around 2pm to watch the
storm front move thru, really cool cloud formations.

As we started up to leave the following morning I noticed my bike was not
quite firing on all cylinders, I thought no problem I'll just switch off and
reset the ECU.  Now the bike won't fire more than once or twice.  Insert
much cussing and fuming(German/Irish heritage).  In the hopes it was just a
weak battery we tried jumping it off of Greg's bike, still no constant fire,
insert more cussing and fuming.  Disgust sets in and after a call to the KC
dealer to find out the nearest dealers are in Longmont and Colorado Springs.
So I decide to field strip the bike, for the first time, in the Super 8
Hotel parking lot, in Limon, CO.  First obstacle, the screws holding the
rear of the tank down are torx.  Neither of us pack torx.  I jog across the
street to the truck stop to buy a torx driver set.  I get back to the bike
to find out the screws are one size bigger than the kit comes with(T30), to
get a T35 I would have to buy a much bigger tool kit so I don't.  I make the
T30 bit work, personnel note, pack a d@mn T-35 bit next time.  I am proud to
say I didn't strip one screw head, which is more than I can say for the last
dealer mechanic who took the coils out, I found one so badly hogged out I
actually had to drive the Triumph straight blade into it so I could turn it
and get it knocked loose.  During this operation I stripped out the plastic
handle for the toolkit screwdriver.  After letting the plugs and combustion
chambers air dry for 30-40 min I slap everything together and hey presto
I've got a running bike, which is only dropping a cylinder a few times.  We
hammer down the road anyway.  Once underway the bike restarts fine all day.
We take Hwy 50 over Monarch pass, which has about 3 inches of snow on the
ground and trees, but the roads are clear.  Now Greg has forgotten his
electric vest at home.  So I, being the considerate traveler I am, pull over
at the tourist-y thing there at the top of the pass to ask if he wants to
warm up inside, to which he replies, "Hey, your leaking something!"  Insert
much cussing and fuming.  I find that I have, that's right, taken a chunk
out of one of the o-rings in the high pressure lines when I put it back
together.  Insert much...well you get the idea.  In the midst of this 2 BMW
pilots arrive.  As I head inside the shop to find a possible o-ring
replacement they quiz Greg as to my mental well being.  I return with
electrical tape.  With the battle cry of "...I'll try anything twice..." and
"..this bike is going down the hill whether I'm riding it or kicking it over
a cliff..." I proceed to trim off a piece of tape to fill the gap in the
o-ring.  One of the Beemers guys pipes up at this time warning me that if I
do that that adhesive could get into the fuel and clog a fuel injector.  I
ask for any other suggestions, as there were none I proceeded.  I got the
line back in, turn the key on, system primes, no leaks.  Switch off, switch
on, still no leaks.  We're golden, I'm out of here.  The rest of the ride
down the pass was probably a bit quicker than was prudent considering the
situation, but d@mnit, I came here to ride:)  After arriving at the Red
Arrow I play my story for sympathy because now I'm going to miss the morning
ride with the rest as I run to the dealer for an o-ring.  Thankfully Steve
Ford was kind enough to give me one of his spares as he has experienced this
before.  I swap it in and look forward to a day of enjoying Colorado roads
with my fellow Sprint Dawgs.

Continue to Part II


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