I'm Outta Here!

Ara and Spirit

All Ready to Ride Next Saturday

View Summer 2011 MC Trip I in a larger map

I've got my travel booked on the BC Ferry out of Port Hardy to Prince Rupert and on the Alaska State Ferry from Prince Rupert to Juneau. Lots of interesting places to see and stop at on the way that I've never seen before. I'm leaving early Saturday June 25th and returning Thursday July 7th.

I disassembled the front end of the Concours to check the steering stem bearings on Friday - they were fine. Tightened up the slack on the bearings to get rid of a little wobble at 50 mph. That was a lot of pieces of stuff to take apart - but at least I know the bearings are fine and have fresh grease on them.

If you happen to have a C10 Concours and want to adjust the steering stem bearings you can use this wrench from McMaster-Carr.

6975A16 Fixed Hook Spanner Wrench for Slots, for 1-37/64" to 1-21/32" (40mm to 42mm) Circle Diameter

I need to ride the bike around a bit this week to see if anything falls off :-) after taking the forks, front wheel, handlebars, fender, brakes..etc. off of it to get to the bearings. I generally don't like to do anything major maintenance wise before a trip but I needed to get that shimmy squared away.

I'm getting a Fork Brace from Murph's kits this week and will install it before I go. That thing looks like a piece of cake to install.

I'm getting excited - and love the planning stages of a motorcycle trip...thinking about the ferry rides, the mom and pop motels, hot springs, mountains, roads, people...lots of fun!

Sportster Cutting Out At Wide Open Throttle

I was having a problem with my Sportster cutting out at 60 - 70 mph when I opened the throttle up. I cleaned the plugs and air filter, tried some Techron, made sure the carb slide wasn't sticking and eventually put in some new NGK 3932 plugs - but that didn't do it.

There are three electronic components that could be causing the problem - MAP Sensor (inside the carb), Crank Position Sensor (on the front of the crankcase) and the ignition module (under the seat). The 2005 Sportster has some diagnostics that can be read by using the speedometer reset button but it wasn't showing any fault codes. I didn't feel like replacing electronic components based on a guess.

I thought it might be a fuel starvation issue so I pulled the gas tank and removed the petcock so I could clean the fuel filter. The filter had some sand-like crud on it so I washed it out with Dawn and then gas. The bikes running fine now.

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The petcock is interesting on that bike. It has 3 positions - off, reserve and main. It was built backwards - so the reserve is actually main and main is reserve. It's also vacuum operated so you can't easily drain the tank without a vacuum pump. That gave me an excuse to buy a Mityvac and play with that a little bit. You could drain the tank by pulling it off the bike and then removing the petcock. That would be a little messy - but I could see doing it with a funnel and a gas can to save the gas your draining out.

HD built in protection to guard against hydrolock on that bike; the petcock with dual redundancy - off position and vacuum operated, carb overflow tubes and a built-in fuel filter to keep crud out of the carb which could cause the float or float needle to stick. The idea is you want gas to flow when the engine runs. In the event of a failure where the the petcock and float stick you want gas to run out of the overflow tubes and not into the cylinders. It's a good design. In this particular area I'd say the HD design comes out ahead compared to a Kawasaki C10 Concours or KZ1000P where there is no off position on the petcock, no fuel filter and no overflow tubes.

Riding in The Rain

I like the recreational aspects of riding a motorcycle on the weekends, after work and on the occasional longer trip. That type of riding is generally the most fun if it's sunny or at least not raining - although running into rain is part of the deal too.

What I really like though is just riding a motorcycle anytime. For that reason I've become a utility rider - meaning I use a motorcycle to get to work and run errands whenever possible, which is any day when there's not snow, frost or ice on the roads. In the last couple of years I've probably driven a car to work about ten times, so I'm pretty lucky.

Living in the Pacific Northwest and wanting to ride a motorcycle as much as possible means you'll be riding in the rain. That's really not a problem as long as you have the right gear and keep in mind some basic safety rules - the main one being to adjust your speed for road and traffic conditions. In the MSF operators course they recommend not riding immediately after the rain starts. The reason for this is the oil, transmission fluid, diesel, etc. that leaks out of vehicles onto the road can combine with the water to create some extra slippery conditions.

P1010226, a photo by Jack Crossen on Flickr.

This is not usually much of an issue in this area (particularly in the fall/winter/spring) since the rain tends to last for awhile and will wash the road relatively clean. Yesterday was an exception.

There was a light mist that caused the road to be wet but not enough rain to clean it off. There's a right hand curve shortly after the parking lot where my bike had been sitting for the day. As I pulled out of the lot and accelerated to get in front of cars approaching I entered the curve. The tires started to lose traction causing a sideways slide and I ended up crossing the center line which was not catastrophic since there was no on coming traffic and the bike stayed upright.

It was a good reminder though. I'm not sure if I picked up some oil on the tires in the parking lot or if it was on that corner - but in any case it was more slippery than I anticipated. I've ridden around that corner hundreds of times and have a good idea of how fast I can ride it - except for yesterday. This is the second time fairly recently that I've learned how slick the pavement can be when it's wet. The other time was coming to a stop sign at a slow rate of speed immediately after having the bike parked on a rainy day. I was surprised that even moderate braking caused the bike to slide. This was another case where vehicles had left a nice slippery spot of oil/diesel from sitting at that stop sign.

I'm amazed sometimes when riding in urban areas to see how much oil/diesel/transmission fluid, gear oil (or whatever it is) is left on the road. I'm not sure how vehicles keep running when they are dripping fluid that leaves spots a foot or two in diameter every twenty feet or so. Whoever is driving those must be adding fluids on a regular basis.

One other consideration when riding in the rain is visibility - seeing/being seen. Riding at night in the rain is a no-no for me in general, although if I have to I will, for as short a time as necessary. I don't like to ride in heavy high speed traffic in some rain conditions - particularly when the temperature is causing ground fog, or my visor/glasses are fogging up or then there is a lot of fine spray from cars moving in adjacent lanes that tends to stay in the air and compound the difficulty of seeing/being seen.

The bottom line is there is no reason that riding in the rain can't be safe and enjoyable - just be aware of road conditions, your bike's capabilities, your riding skill and adjust your speed and following distance accordingly.

Belize and Guatamala

Never been there.

But it sounds great. Spent the evening with Rachel hearing about her trip. She got to see a manatee (cool), overgrown pyramids, the inside of a huge cave that you have to swim into - with stalactites, stalagmites and bats. There were toucans, monkeys and she ate a lot of seviche. Not sure exactly where in Belize but they stayed at a resort for 20 bucks a night that included meals and access to canoes and kayaks to explore the river. Eco-tourism is big biz in that area and the locals are friendly. Sounded like an educational trip and a lot of fun.

Washington's SR 20 Opens Today at Noon

From the WSDOT North Cascades Highway Update, "Nine feet of snowfall in March and a record seven-and-a-half feet in April on the western slopes of the Cascades kept avalanche control technicians and snow clearing equipment on Stevens Pass until the avalanche threat eased and allowed the team to move up to the North Cascades. There, they found SR 20 buried in snow as deep as 75 feet. This is the second latest opening of the highway surpassed only by the June 14, 1974 opening."

I think I'll skip the opening this year, since the weather forecast for today is mostly cloudy with a chance of rain this morning...then rain likely this afternoon. Not that riding in the rain bothers me but I'd rather do that particular ride on a sunny day.

Maybe I'll change my mind later - I would like to get one of Tootsie Clark's cinnamon rolls, for the first drivers at the gate.

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I got up to the gate about 11:30 but Tootsie was all out of cinnamon rolls. I did get a couple of free granola bars and a double espresso at Cascadian Farm on my way which helped make up for no free cinnamon rolls. I spent an hour or so in Winthrop and got an offer from an old guy to trade my ride for his ride (a cane). That's one thing I like about being on a motorcycle - your out in the open which tends to make human to human interaction much more likely than in a car. No rain until just outside of Twisp and then it rained all the way home. I took Highway 20 east and came back west on Highway 2. Coming off Stevens Pass on 2 was interesting because there was ground fog and rain. Nice ride and as always good to get out on the road.

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Motorcycle Maintenance - Removing Frozen Bolts

I spent last weekend getting my Concours ready for summer trips. I ordered new brake pads from Murphs, but after taking the old ones off and inspecting them/cleaning up the brake calipers I decided to hold off changing them since there's still plenty of pad left. One tool that was indispensable for removing the frozen bolts on the rear caliper was an impact driver.

This is a 3/8 inch drive Lisle impact driver. It's a very well made tool and simple to use. You put it on the fastener you want to remover, twist it counter-clockwise (unless you have a reverse thread...which is rare) and then start whacking it with a hammer. I sprayed some penetrating oil on the bolts first and would have tried some heat if necessary.

I changed the rear drive oil, engine oil and filter, air filter and spark plugs; so that bike is ready to roll.

The crimp-on connector on the ground wire to the left coil broke when I was tightening it so I replaced that. The engine seems to be running smoother - not sure if it's the placebo effect, the new plugs or if that ground wire wasn't making a good connection for some time.

The Connie really likes being out on the road. It's a great interstate bike. It's not the best for driving around parking lots with the top heavy 7 1/2 gallon gas tank full or weaving through traffic with it's slow response to turning inputs. I have the wider Dunlop Elite 3 tires on it so that may have something to do with the sluggish turning. The Elite 3's work fine for what I use that bike for - I've ridden it in the rain a lot with no traction issues and I can scrape the pegs in the twisties.

I'm looking forward to better weather and some time off from work so I can go check out some new roads and old familiar roads that I like. I'm still planning on taking the trip to Juneau and a trip to Minnesota this year. When I have more time off I'd really like to head south into Mexico and Central America. I'll have to research the best time of year for that trip - I'm thinking late fall or winter might be better than mid summer. I'd like to go up to New England and upstate New York in the fall too...ride across the U.S. on highway 20, around the world - etc. etc. etc..

Washington SR 20 - April 17 2010 and April 25 2011

This is a photograph I took last April on opening day for the North Cascades Highway Washington State Route 20. The front end loader is clearing off a minor avalanche in the background.

P1010308, a photo by Jack Crossen on Flickr.

This is a photograph from WA DOT taken this April. It's going to be awhile before the road opens this year.

Excavating for the blower, a photo by WSDOT on Flickr.

All the rain we are getting this spring translates into more snow up on the highway. Washington Pass is over a mile high.

Where did my tax dollars go?

Where did my tax dollars go? is the Grand Award Winner of the Data Vizualization Challenge announced today - Tax Day 2011.

The challenge was sponsored by Google and Eyebeam.

The objective of the challenge was to create data visualizations that make it easier to understand how the government spends our tax money.

Interesting stuff, and a lot more intuitive than looking at the tabular source data from WhatWePayFor.com.

One of the Finalists, Budget Climb, looks like it might be more fun...I didn't listen to the audio just watched for awhile. It's about 30 seconds into the video before you see what makes the little Uncle Sam character move.

You Go Guy

Quite an adventure story here from a guy with awesome video editing skills. He's riding a 1972 Suzuki 185 from Milwaukee to South America. For people not familiar with motorcycles this is a small bike with about 17 hp and a theoretical top speed of 70 mph. You can buy one on Craigslist for 200 dollars and up. I think he left Milwaukee in late January on his motorcycle which seems pretty amazing in itself to me.

I like the idea of the "innocence" of motorcycling that one guy mentions in the video. Riding a simple bike without a lot of fancy gear just for the fun of it. It's not 1972 anymore so he does have a laptop, HD-Pro video camera and a spot tracker - but that's great for us armchair adventurers to follow along.



Another thing that makes this story interesting to me is that the rider is a young guy who served six years as a Explosive Ordnance Disposal Technician with deployments to the Middle East and now he's using the G.I. Bill to go to college and taking adventurous motorcycle trips having fun.

In this video he meets another rider and they spend some time playing around on their bikes in the surf and swimming in the Gulf of Mexico. Nice change from that cold Wisconsin winter.

I found the link to this video and some of the story at ADVrider

Kawasaki C10 Concours Spark Plug Boots and Wires

If you need to replace the spark plug caps and wires on a C10 Concours, you'll need:

• Spark Plug Wire 7mm Copper Core (non-resistive) - 69 cents per foot at O'Reilly Auto Parts P/N MW11 (4 feet is enough to make all four wires)

• NGK Spark Plug Cap P/N SD05F - 3 bucks or so a piece at various online motorcycle supply places. I got mine from Bike Bandit since I had a 10 dollar gift card.

You'll need to re-use the wide rubber cap from the top of the old boot and the rubber piece that compresses around the wire at the coil end to hold the wire on the coil connector pin.

I have all the pieces on hand to do the job and took the tank off intending to replace the plug wires and boots today. When I inspected the existing wires/boots I decided to re-terminate them rather than replace. These pictures show what the two ends of the NGK cap look like.

The wire end of the cap has what looks like a wood screw that you twist the wire into.

This is a picture of the wire end of the NGK cap with the rubber boot removed. The OEM Kawasaki Caps have a similar screw but it's harder to see since the rubber boot is one-piece.

I unscrewed the plug wire from each cap, made sure the copper wire at the end wasn't corroded/damaged and then screwed them back together.

The OEM wire is good quality and molded specifically for this application. I decided not to replace it if I didn't have to.

The plug end of the cap has a copper dome with a piece of springy wire mounted on one side. You might be able to see it in this picture. The springy wire is what makes that zip noise when you push the cap on the spark plug terminal. All my springy wire was in place and the copper looked good to I buttoned things back up.

One thing that should be obvious from this plug wire cap construction method is that you shouldn't pull a plug wire off a spark plug by grasping the wire - you'll pull the copper wire away from that little screw in the cap. The nice thing about these are you can take them apart and clean/inspect - or make a new set if need be.

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I decided to drain the float bowls because I wanted to see if there was any sediment or water in the bowls. There wasn't so I dumped the gas into my lawn mower gas tank. I did have to make a trip to Harbor Freight to get a longer 3mm Hex Key than what I had on hand so I could reach the 2 and 3 carb float bowl drain screws.

I re-synched the carbs again while I had the tank off - since the last time I did it was in the dark and rain - wasn't sure if I'd got it as close as possible. The carbs were all pulling close to the same vacuum, but I tweaked them a little and called it good.

Next time I take off the gas tank I'll try and not do it when it has 7 gallons of fuel in it - that thing is unwieldy as heck with that weight in it. I also figured out that you can get to the rubber donuts that support the front of the tank from the front - after you've connected the fuel, vacuum and electrical connections. That's handy since one of those rubber donuts almost always falls off when you slide the tank on - and if you don't get it on right you'll have a rocking tank (not good). If I was smarter I'd probably glue or tape those rubber donuts in place.

I tried some Techron Fuel Additive this time - it's two for one at Autozone right now. Could be voodoo mechanics but it makes me feel like I'm doing something good.

The reason I've been fooling around with the plug wires, float bowls, carb synch is because there's a tendency for Connies to have a bit of a surge or flat spot around 2500 RPM. It's not a big deal - you can usually rev up or down to get out of the slight flat spot. I'm pretty much resolved to believing that getting rid of it involves changing carburetor jetting and fuel/air mixture adjustments that I don't feel are worth the effort.

I took the bike for a fairly spirited ride up I-5 and it runs good. It ran good before I took it apart too but I think it's a little smoother.

I'm really looking forward to a let up of the rainy weather here in the Pacific Northwest so I can get out on weekends and actually go somewhere.

Plans for a Summer MC Trip I

View Summer 2011 MC Trip I in a larger map

Ferry from Anacortes to Sidney BC.
Ride to Port Hardy on Vancouver Island
Ferry from Port Hardy to Prince Rupert
Ferry from Prince Rupert to Juneau and back
Ride Prince Rupert to Prince George
Ride from Prince George to Jasper/Banff
Ride from Banff to Kelowna
Ride from Kelowna to Tonasket
Highway 20 home
Total trip about 3K miles

Sunny Weekend Rides

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I like to take my bikes out for some longer rides on weekends to warm them up, evaporate the condensation and enjoy the fresh air and sights. I rode a couple of hundred miles this weekend. My main trip was to Conway, Burlington, Sedro Wooley, Concrete, Rockport, Arlington and back home. The main roads on this run are the North Cascades Highway 20 and Highway 530 that connects Highway 20 at Rockport to Arlington.

It was sunny but with a pretty steady wind and temps around 40 degrees. There was ice on the roads in a few spots up by Rockport and there's snow on the side of the road and on rooftops in Darrington. I'm really looking forward to some temperatures in the 60's and up.

Riding a motorcycle is a great antidote to being inside. It makes going to work and back home a lot more fun. It gives me a touch of the natural world to counteract the time I spend inside. I've ridden 24,000 miles in the last year and a half - somewhere around 5000 miles was commuting to work and the other 19,000 was mostly just fun.

I'm still trying to decide if my next long trip will be North, South or East. I'm thinking of riding up Vancouver Island and catching the ferry at Port Hardy to Prince Rupert. Heading South I'd like to go to Utah and Colorado. East I'd like to take a trip through the small towns along Route 20 from Newport Oregon to Boston.

Next to Normal | 5th Avenue Theatre

B and I are are going to spend the night in Seattle and see Next to Normal at the 5th Avenue Theatre next week for her birthday.

One thing that complicated finding a hotel is that we are taking Crazy Eddie with us. Some places want an additional 100 dollars for a pet. We settled on the Red Lion on Fifth Avenue since it's close to the theatre and pets stay free if you are a member of the R&R club. Edgar will get to enjoy the doggie program which includes his own pillow among other things.

TFT Gone Wild
Originally uploaded by Jack Crossen

I hope we don't have a TFT Gone Wild incident at the hotel. Edgar doesn't tear things up like he did when he was a pup, so I think he'll be fine in the hotel room for the few hours we are at the play.

Speaking of Edgar, we've had a few people come to the door selling ADT Home Security systems. I can only talk to them through the screen door since Ed is barking so loud. He's also jumping a couple of feet up and down - and would love to get outside and bite them. It seems obvious to me that we already have a security system. He's a great dog, but he can be very aggressive around strangers, and he's really quick - so it's next to impossible to catch him.

History of Toy Fox Terrier

Motorcycle Maintenance - Valve and Drive Chain and Gas Additives

I spent Saturday adjusting the chain on the Kawasaki KZP 1000 and adjusting the valves and synching the carbs on the Kawasaki Concours.

Actually I spent about 15 minutes adjusting the chain on the KZP and most of the rest of the time disassembling and reassembling the Concours. Getting the valve cover off, and back on, that bike is a fun puzzle.

I ended up re-adjusting the chain on the KZP after I rode it. The adjustment range is 1.2 to 1.4 inches and I had it on the tight end which was causing shifting to be a little harder than I thought it should be. The slight clunk when I shift is gone now - which is what I wanted. I was a little worried that the chain might be stretched beyond it's service limit, but it wouldn't pull away from the rear sprocket at all so that wasn't a problem. That bike has a heavy 630 type chain which looks like it should last a long time.

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It had been about 10,000 miles since I adjusted the valves last summer, but none of them were out of spec. I just tweaked a few back to be in the middle of the adjustment range; which is .006 intake, .008 exhaust. The bike seems to run a little smoother, but it might just be wishful thinking on my part.

I had a new pulse cover gasket but didn't need to use it since the old one came off intact and was in good shape. I went by the book and didn't try the unofficial bump-the-starter, or turning the back wheel, methods to get the cam lobes horizontal. I did try turning the engine over with the spark plugs out by rotating the back wheel - no joy with that method. The whole point of either of those methods is to avoid taking the pulse cover off - so you save maybe 10 minutes and maybe a gasket that cost a few bucks, and risk adjusting the valves at the wrong point; and burning or bending a valve and end up spending hundreds of dollars on repairs. It probably works fine - but I like going by the manual for certain critical things.

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I put a couple of extra bolts in the top case of the Concours to hold it on if the locking latch fails. I never take the top case off anyway so I didn't need the quick removal mechanism.

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I dumped some Shell V-Power gas additive in all three MC's. Not sure why, but it was on sale and I like thinking I'm doing something good for the engine. I figured if it what made by Shell it wouldn't hurt anything. Not so sure with some of those additives - some contain solvents that react with rubber or synthetic rubber pieces used in the fuel system possibly causing them to swell or degrade. Some people say the same thing about ethanol, but I don't have any evidence that ethanol causes any problems in any of the vehicles I've owned.

Arco gas, which has ethanol in it, is about 25 cents a gallon cheaper than the Top Tier Gasoline (Chevron, Shell, etc.) in this area. The Tappet Brothers recommend buying the cheap gas and putting in an additive every so often - if you like doing that sort of thing. Gasoline and ethanol are pretty good cleaners to begin with; so it's probably a waste of money. Ethanol might not make sense from a macro-economic or overall emissions standpoint but it burns just fine in my experience.

I think people who complain about bad gas or gas causing problems in vehicles have one of three things going on - (1) some other problem that's causing the engine to run poorly, electrical, air, compression or maybe something with the fuel system (not usually the fuel itself). (2) they actually did get a batch of bad gas, which in my experience is very rare, actually never in my particular case. (3) they let a vehicle sit for a long time and the internal parts of the fuel system start to corrode/degrade/stick. I'm talking long time here...not a couple of weeks or even over a winter.

The best thing you can do, if your concerned about this, is run the engine to operating temperature for 20 to 30 minutes once a week or so and keep the gas tank topped off to keep condensation/rust to a minimum. I've left gas in lawnmowers, edgers, pressure washers, my pickup truck for long periods of time without starting them with no ill effects. I've used Arco 87 octane regular gas with 10% ethanol in my 26 year old pickup for it's lifetime, and never had a problem with the fuel injection or other parts of the fuel system, so at least I have that data point. I use that same gas in the two Kawaski's as well and no problem with the carburetors so far. Ditto for the Harley using Arco premium.

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All three motorcycles are running great. I'm really glad we have weather that allows me to ride almost every day of the year.

I really like reading about, riding and tinkering with motorcycles.

Whidbey Island Ferry

I took this picture on January 15th on the ferry from Mukilteo to Clinton. I think this ferry is a great deal - the fare for a motorcycle and rider is $3.15. The fare for a walk-on passenger is $4.20, and $7.20 for a car and driver. During the peak season - May 1 to Sept 30, the motorcycle fare goes up to $3.95 (a dime more than last year), but still a good deal.

I don't know who those people are but they thought my motorcycle was really shiny. I don't ride that Harley when it's sloppy out very often. Without a windshield or fairing and with an open-face helmet it's not the best setup for wet weather. Those rain drops start to sting a bit above about 50 mph.

A lot of times it's drier on Whidbey than in Everett, but it didn't work out that way on this Saturday. It started to rain a little on the ferry ride over and I had to put my rain gear on just outside of Clinton. If you stay off the main road on the island it's a pretty interesting place to ride. I stopped at Useless Bay Coffee in Langley to warm up and have a latte. That's a nice coffee shop - pretty surroundings and lots of room for a variety of people to hang out to hang out, eat, drink coffee, visit. There were quite a few little kids with families, old and young people, dogs - so it's a nice atmosphere.

I Love Getting Packages From Moosejaw.com

Rocket Sidecar - Seattle International Motorcycle Show

Photo from the International Motorcycle Show in Seattle December 11, 2010. I don't know what kind of motorcycle this is but the little boy in me really likes the sidecar.

I got to see Jason Britton doing some stunts at the show. The one that impressed me the most was a sliding dismount that you'd have to see to understand. He was going at a fairly good clip - started sliding his bike sideways, put the kickstand down, and jumped off - parking his bike all in one motion. I can't find any videos of it on the web - so you'll have to see it in person.

I listened to a presentation by Lee Parks author of Total Control: High Performance Street Riding Techniques. It was interesting but there's only so much you can learn about riding techniques by listening or reading. I might check out his book to see if anything sticks.

At another spot a mechanic was talking about adjusting valves. For Ducati owners he suggested not trying to adjust desmodromic valves the first time before watching someone else do it or asking someone who knows the procedure to help you. Reading things like "when you take out the closing shim, keep in mind that once the shim comes off, the valve is free to drop into the cylinder if the piston isn't at TDC" makes that advice sound pretty good. The engineering behind those valves is pretty interesting but unless you are willing to learn to diy or pay a dealer 700 bucks or whatever every 6000 miles to do it you might want to consider the cost of ownership of that sweet looking Ducati. On the other hand - I suppose a person who buys a Ducati 1198 isn't concerned with maintenance costs.

I think the saying is fast, cheap, reliable - pick two. Not so sure there aren't some exceptions where you end up picking one - fast, expensive, unreliable or none and end up with a slow, expensive, unreliable machine.

I picked up a pair of ROK™ Adjustable Straps for Motorcycles from a vendor at the show. I'd read some good reviews for those straps in various places on the web and needed some new straps for a waterproof bag I use to carry stuff on the rear rack going to and from work. It was nice to be able to see the various sizes and pick the one that worked for that application.