Calm Reactions
The other night I decided a quick ride would help me sleep. There’s nothing like a nice ride in the cool night air to relex me after a stressful day. I got on and started out of the development we live in. It was a beautiful South Florida night with a nearly full moon and the temperature just finishing the low 70’s before hitting the 60’s.
As I left the development I went from first to second gear as I usually do and accelerated as I drove east. The throaty sound of the bike reflected its power and I craved a little more than usual. I thought, as I shifted to third gear, I would test the limits and bring it up through third at full throttle. I twisted the grip past the point I usually accelerate to and pushed it just a little more than I should.
Suddenly, I was accelerating out of control as the throttle jammed at full-open. I was more pissed off than anything and quickly hit the kill switch to let it die down. Realizing that I had to also get the bike home to work on it, I decided to compromise between the full acceleration, the kill switch, the clutch, and third gear.
Keeping the bike in third forced it to accelerate from low speeds with a lot of fuel being pushed into the cylinders. The bike would take off as it gained momentum, forcing me to take some off the clutch. Periodically, I hit the kill switch as I pulled in the clutch and coasted until my speed dropped below 20 mph. I’d let the engine catch as I let the clutch out again, keeping it in third gear.
I repeated this process until I got home successfully. I pulled in the garage and turned off the bike. The engine was crackling from the intense heat of excessive fuel and high revs. I was fortunate the incident occurred while I was within 2 miles of my home. This would have been a diastrous ride if it had been 5 or more miles away. I probably would have blown the engine or, worse, caught fire.
It was late, so I went to bed knowing the bike would be cooler in the morning. I got up early to see what I could do before going to work and found little that I could remedy. The throttle felt fine, but attempts to start up went full blast and I had to shut down each time. I went to work and decided to work on it over the weekend.
It was time for another compromise. After dismantling the throttle, removing the tank and working down to the carborator, I found that everything in that range was working fine. The throttle moved; the cables moved; the pulleys moved. Everything was smooth, but the engine still failed to calm down. At the carborator level I considered three things: 1) I used to take carborators apart and reassemble them with no problem. It was easy. There aren’t that many parts. 2) I hadn’t done that since 1978. Yeah, I’m that old and I’ve had fuel injectors for the most part since then. I also hadn’t had any problems like this to keep the skills sharp. 3) I was supposed to leave for Bike Week on Thursday. I also had a new rear tire on order to be installed. Considering the time and lack of recent experience, I deferred to my dealership.
Sometimes, it’s just better to let someone else do it right. Now, I’m waiting to see if they can finish it in time. With literally hundreds of local riders getting ready for Bike Week, they couldn’t take my bike right away. Now, it’s just wait and see.