An educational ride.

[Wrecent_Wryder]

Ok, changed my jetting for the umpteenth time this morning, this time putting the pilots back to 22.5.

Having done this before, and not being a complete fool, I started the bike in the driveway, looked it over while it was warming up, and took my first test ride going a maximum of about a block away, all uphill. Once you forget the tank petcock once, you get cautious. Everything looked fine, the first short ride went fine.

Next (traditional) ride is to a particular corner about a mile away, maybe less, where I tend to pull over to check.. whatever, and make any needed adjustments. I still had the petcock on "prime" so that's what I was going to adjust this trip. If everything's fine there, I usually proceed to my next level of test run, about a 6-mile loop.

Got close to the corner. looked down, and my left leg is being showered in gasoline. Killed the ignition and pulled over, it's getting worse. The entire engine is being showered.

Kickstand down, key off and out, got off the bike, pulled the tank bag off, and stepped away... just in case... and looked at the situation. Looked like it was coming from the tank petcock area. Turned the frame petcock from "prime" to "on', as I suspected, no effect. Gasoline "steam" is billowing up from the engine and exhaust, but from other experiences I know that the chance of fire is pretty small with the ignition off and no other flammables around. Stripped off my gloves, helmet, and jacket. There is now a LOT of gasoline coming out, and it's clear to me that if I don't stop it soon, at a minimum I'm not only going to flood that entire corner of the street, but I'm walking home.

Pulled the seat, pulled the toolkits out, dumped their contents on the inside of my spread jacket. Tried for five minutes or so to get the tank bolts out with the open-end wrench in the toolkit, no go.. it was just rounding them off, and I really bruised the side of my right hand. Pulled out the Motion Pro metric multitool, and even though I had played with it at some length maybe a year and a half ago, when I bought it, found that I had real trouble remembering how the pieces fit together. Finally got a 12 mm socket working with enough improvised leverage to loosen the tank bolts, lifted the tank, shut off the tank petcock with the OEM toolkit screwdriver.

What a mess. At that point, the bike is in the middle of a 5-foot-diameter-and-spreading puddle of gasoline. I move the bike off to the side a few feet to let it dry a bit (at least there's a good breeze), and look for some shade to sit and think for a bit. Eventually I find one of my pairs of reading glasses so I can see in detail, and see that the primary line coming from the tank petcock split, horizontally, just a quarter-inch or so below the hose clamp. I think it just sort of "fatigued" from being pulled off so many times. Eventually I just shorten the line a half-inch or so with the knife blade on my Leatherman tool, re-clamp the hose, turn the tank petcock back on, and re-attach the tank. Takes me longer to put the tools away than to fix the problem.

This is a sleepy suburban neighborhood. In the time that this was going on, one mail delivery vehicle passed by, a couple of service trucks, several cars, and three women jogging. No one even looked at me, or my bike next to a huge pool of gasoline, much less offered anything.

Buttoned it up and rode home. Figured I'd better get out of there before someone called the EPA on me or something. Next trip will be to the gas station, since I now have no clue how much is left.

All of this was within the past half-hour as I write. Some initial thoughts:

  Once again, I'm glad I tend to be paranoid.

  In the future, take even more care with the first "shakedown" rides after working on the bike than I have been.

  Any tools are better than none. More tools are better. Riding home is far better than walking.

  Versatile tools are valuable, but don't forget that the "fiddle factor" may be a drawback under pressure.

  Now I need to add new tank bolts to my next Ron Ayers order.

  I'm going to replace at least some of the tools in the stock toolkit. The pliers barely work. Junk.

   I almost always carry a pair of reading glasses. There's a spare pair in the tank bag. I'm going to put another spare pair elsewhere on the bike. Teddy Roosevelt reportedly carried 25 pairs of glasses on his charge up San Juan Hill. Not being able to SEE when things get intense is NOT good.

  I almost always carry at least one sharp knife, but I think I'll add one to the toolkits as well. In the northern countries in Europe they say "a knifeless man is a lifeless man".

  I was out in the direct sun. Water, even a little, would have been welcome after all that struggle... especially if I'd had to walk home (in boots and Kevlar-lined jeans), even if it was only a mile.. and this is a mild, beautiful day. Also, I think I'll find a place in the tail for a broad-brimmed cloth hat to live from now on.

I'm sure more will occur to me when I've had time for reflection... in the meantime, I think I'm going to wash off, for like the third time, and maybe crack a beer...

[simon79]

Wow. Glad you managed out of the situation quite well.

[...]
I almost always carry at least one sharp knife, but I think I'll add one to the toolkits as well. In the northern countries in Europe they say "a knifeless man is a lifeless man".
[...]

They say something similar in the Mediterranean part of Europe...My uncle, who comes from Sicily, once told me "A Sicilian without a knife in his pocket ain't NO Sicilian".

[spc]

Hey simon is the text under your avatar russian or croatian??? 
it's been a while since I took russian and I drank so much that semester I dont remember much
What does it say??

[simon79]

it's been a while since I took russian and I drank so much that semester I dont remember much

It must be Russian, it's a line of a 1978 song by Kraftwerk, "Die Roboter"/"The Robots".
It means "I'm your slave, I'm your worker" ("Ja tvoj sluga, ja tvoj rabotnik")
(I hope I'm not wrong, since you took Russian classes you're probably waaaay more knowledgeable than me about this )

[spc]

Looking at it, it appears correct.......I was more interested in my russian tutor than the class

[Wrecent_Wryder]

They say something similar in the Mediterranean part of Europe...My uncle, who comes from Sicily, once told me "A Sicilian without a knife in his pocket ain't NO Sicilian".

We've lost a lot of wisdom in just a couple of generations. Both of my grandfathers would never be caught without a pocket knife and a lighter, or outside without a hat, and one of them always carried a bit of cord... essentially the same kit carried by "Otzi" "the iceman", nine thousand years ago.

You want me to feel safe on an airliner, hand out steak knives to everyone as they come aboard, like they use to give them as premiums in gas stations. The next batch of terrorists won't get far. Disabling decent people only helps the others... but we never learn.

[werase643]

take a bolt out anf go to lowes or home depot......save $$$$$

[Mk1inCali]

Damn.


You sure are one persistent dude.  Unlucky, as well.

[ohgood]

Lessie. One pocket knife sharpened daily/weekly. Razor sharp at the tip, serated closer to the grip. It will cut to the bone and then saw through.

One bottle opener/ruler/sparkpluggapper/file/adjustable wrench.

One bit of kevlar cord about 3 feet.

One bungie.

Several hardened ball bearings.

ICE'd cellphone.

One flashlight - LED.

One razor, hidden near the electrics under the ignition. (Yes, I hope whoever attempts to steal her bleeds heavily)

Sounds like you've done quite a few 'test rides' and learned.

[Wrecent_Wryder]

Damn.


You sure are one persistent dude.  Unlucky, as well.

Unlucky... well, lately it seems that way. When I think of all the things that could have been wrong with the bike when I got it, though, I think I lucked out.

Even this... I was "lucky" it didn't happen in traffic, I was "lucky" it didn't catch fire, I was "lucky" I got the leak stopped before it was completely out of gas, "lucky" to ride away from it, and not have to deal with walking home, towing, whatever...  all in all, it was pretty spectacular, but it cost me... a half hour or so, and a couple of partly-rounded bolt heads. Not too bad. Later I rode it for about 20 miles, and it performed like a champ. If this is the "unluckiest" ride I ever have, I'll be one lucky motorcyclist. All depends on your perspective.

As for persistent, that remains to be seen.

At the time, I couldn't very well just walk away from the bike while it was gushing fuel onto the pavement.. if I was going to be there, I may as well try to do something about it. The rest of today's events pretty much follow.

Over time, we'll see.. it may be awhile before I have the sort of confidence in this bike I had before the oil leak, and if that doesn't happen, maybe I'll be moving on.

But, yeah, I've been called "stubborn".

A lot.

[Wrecent_Wryder]

Lessie. One pocket knife sharpened daily/weekly. Razor sharp at the tip, serated closer to the grip. It will cut to the bone and then saw through.

One bottle opener/ruler/sparkpluggapper/file/adjustable wrench.

One bit of kevlar cord about 3 feet.

One bungie.

Several hardened ball bearings.

ICE'd cellphone.

One flashlight - LED.

One razor, hidden near the electrics under the ignition. (Yes, I hope whoever attempts to steal her bleeds heavily)

Sounds like you've done quite a few 'test rides' and learned.

Looks like you're more geared for urban warfare than emergency repairs there. The ball bearings took me a minute...

[Wrecent_Wryder]

take a bolt out anf go to lowes or home depot......save $$$$$

Good point, for something like this. I have a better hardware store not too far from here that probably has a few variations... hardened, stainless...

[Mk1inCali]

Persistent in the fact that you were so incredibly nervous to start doing any sort of mods on the bike, and now you are all modded out.

You've definitely learned a whole bunch, yes?

[Wrecent_Wryder]

Persistent in the fact that you were so incredibly nervous to start doing any sort of mods on the bike, and now you are all modded out.

You've definitely learned a whole bunch, yes?

Nervous? I dunno, I was certainly reluctant to go down that path. Figured it would be a can of worms.

It is.

This last had to be at least the seventh time I've pulled the carbs, I've lost count.

[Mk1inCali]

Wow.  Your bike certainly has been more problematic than mine.

I've pulled the carbs 3 times total.  Once right away after buying it new to re-jet to Srinath's original recommendations way back in late '00.  2nd time to go from stock filtration setup to K&N pods, along with the exhaust and re-jet at 19K miles in '05, which is also when I got rid of the frame-mounted petcock.  The last time I've touched them was earlier this spring when I finished converting it over to the Dynojet kit (aside from drilling the slides).  I'll be going in there before the end of summer to hopefully cure the 7.5K-9K stumble/stutter that it has at present.

Only been stranded when I've run it out of gas.  Only needed tools while on-road when something I have messed up (not torquing fasteners properly).  I guess my posts in this thread have been my long-winded way of saying, "Congrats for being a tough cookie, you owe yourself a beer".