If anyone is wondering where Murphy’s Law went since their luck has suddenly returned — not to worry. Murphy’s Law is staying with me for a while. I’m going to stick with equipment problems — this would be an extremely long post if I included people problems too.
It started with a ride that just didn’t feel right from the start (previous post) and continued from there.
On Wednesday we stopped in Granbury to get lunch and after I get off the motorcycle I realize the zipper pull on the right leg of my Aerostich suit has self-destructed into pieces. That should make it interesting to get in and out of my suit for the remainder of the trip.
90 miles later I’m in Brownwood, Texas and my motorcycle hesitates, dies, and won’t restart. Perfect. But not to worry — it took a little while but I found the faulty fuse and I was back on the road. I am just really concerned about what short or other problem caused the blown fuse. Okay I’m also concerned my riding buddy stood by and did nothing while four other guys showed up and actually helped.
Thursday I get from Brownwood to Alpine without any events — other than riding into a 35-40 MPH headwind behind a riding buddy who thought 88 was an appropriate speed for those conditions. I felt like I was about to be lifted off my motorcycle and started to experience muscle fatigue across my collar bones from holding on so hard. At least my new Ztechnik windshield didn’t rip off…
On Friday I’m headed down to Santa Elena Canyon and am watching the temperature rise on my thermometer. On the last 2-3 miles before the canyon I get stuck behind an extremely slow moving truck and as I’m crawling along in near 1o0 degree heat the overheating warning light comes on. I have ridden in 106 degree heat at painfully slow speeds in deep gravel and I have never seen that light come on. Again, perfect.
I tell my riding buddy to go look at the canyon and I remove the plastic from my F650 and check the coolant level. I add may be less than 1/2 a cup of water and it dumps onto the pavement. It is NOT a low coolant problem despite the fact that my water pump was replaced improperly and I’m dripping coolant every time I stop.
Oh, did I mention that? I had told the guys who helped install the water pump that there should be a gap between the seals, but they installed them hammered together. So now I have dripping coolant all the time and will need to drain the coolant and oil and redo the water pump installation. I’ve got that to look forward to, but that is not the cause of the over heating. You want to know how irritating it is to see coolant dripping every time you stop your motorcycle?
Saturday was a low mile day due to high winds so no motorcycle problems (only people problems).
Sunday is the long ride day to get back to the Dallas area from Big Bend. About 4 hours out from Dallas I notice my battery gauge isn’t working. Shortly after that thought I realize my heated clothing isn’t heating. Right after that it dawns on me that my music is missing in action too. Peachy. That means my accessory fuse block has completely cut out. That means two shorts in one weekend — not a good sign.
Okay — I said I would leave people problems out. I lied.
I stop and tell him I’ve stopped because I’ve lost my heated clothing and I start taking the bike apart to get to fuses to see if I can solve the problem. He folds his hands, leans back against his back rest and settles in for a nap. I’m struggling to pull fuses with no fuse puller and he sits. I can’t get the fuse out that protects the Centech AP-1 and ask for help. He reluctantly and slowly dismounts his motorcycle and a pulls the fuse.
I get a snotty “You’re not going to figure it out until your remove the plastic” (lengthy check) and he gets back on his motorcycle. Screw it. I make the ride home in high wind with no heated clothing.
My next post is what I consider a good riding buddy.
Leave a Reply