Sad day!

Just in time for winter, my bike has slipped into a bit of a coma. But I believe that some work replacing the alternator will bring it back to life.
I hope.

Another necessary item

I have discovered something else I believe will be stuffed in my pack on pretty much every future road trip - a clutch handle.
I made this discovery after a bad morning when I had to stop suddenly just as I was going to make a U-turn. My sudden stop was prompted by a car who had made a right turn onto the street where I was, and was on me so fast I had no choice but to stop quickly, with the wheel already turned to the left. I couldn't keep my bike upright (and felt like a complete moron), dropping it on the pavement.
The car who had caused me to drop the bike slowed down, I saw the brake lights, then kept on going. I was left with a sore knee and a broken clutch handle.
A good friend allowed me to borrow her car so I could drive home and grab he spare I had in my garage. It was a 2-minute repair job once I had the part, and it's a part I plan to always keep with me.

Next generation rider

I probably learned how to ride a motorcycle in the worst possible way. About 25 years ago, I hit up a co-worker who had a dirt bike and asked him to teach me. One afternoon before work, we met at the Rose Bowl parking lot, he showed me the gear sequence, I hopped on the bike, and promptly laid it down and slid into the side of a parked car, the accelerator screaming as I gripped it in a panic and my left hand squeezing the clutch in a death grip.
I was completely unprepared for the speed at which a motorcycle could accelerate. After all, my other vehicle was a 1970 VW bus!
Well, I still ride, but I've had three accidents, two of them bad enough to total the bikes I was riding, one of them bad enough to chip some bones in my ankle. Not the worst record, I know, but still, I know each of those accidents could easily have been avoided.
Well, I wanted my just-turned-18-years-old daughter, who has been wanting a motorcycle for a while, to have a better start than I did. So for her birthday, I didn't buy her a motorcycle, instead, I bought her a gift certificate for motorcycle riding lessons from an outfit here in Western Washington called Puget Sound Safety.
Can you believe, the state subsidizes the lessons?! Personally, I think that's awesome. What better service than to make it easier for motorcycle riders to learn to ride in as safe a manner as possible.
I'll still worry when my daughter rides. Motorcycles inherently carry a greater risk than a big metal cage on wheels. There's just no two ways about it.
But with the right attitude, and the proper training, I do believe it is possible to ride safely.
I plan to sign up for the intermediate rider safety course. I think even an experienced rider can always learn, and maybe unlearn some bad habits.

Well, tonight I went for a little ride and my wife did NOT fall off the back of my bike. So, the new luggage rack and back rest I bought a couple months apparently worked. And, yes, that was the intent.
A few months ago, maybe several weeks ago, my wife, no fan of riding on motorcycles, went on a little ride with me. She had fun, but said afterwards her legs were killing her, strained from trying to remain seated on the bike. I decided that if I expected my wife to go on any other rides with me, something to improve her comfort was in order, so I began searching for a back rest.
It took a while, but eventually I found a guy selling just the thing I needed -- a luggage rack and back rest that would fit my old bike. I've never bought something over the Internet from a private party, but in this case I figured the risk was low. The seller was usinig paypal, plus he was a regular on the GSResources forum, a website for fans and owners of Suzuki GS motorcycles, specifically, the older GS models from the late 1970s and 1980s.
The rack arrived and while the luggage rack looked pretty good, the back rest showed all the signs of being in the weather for 30 years with several large rust spots. Basically, it looked like crap. I scratched my head trying to figure out how best to improve its appearance. I tried cleaning the rust, but that was pointless. It was too well ingrained in the metal. I stopped at an auto body paint supply store where they sold me some primer and some rust treatment.
I figured I could coat the back rest with primer and then paint it silver, though it still wouldn't look chromed. I thought about taking it to a body shop to have the work done, but money's tight, so in the end, I went with a handy roll of electric tape and just wrapped the messed up part. Yeah, I know, pretty cheap, right?
But it doesn't actually look that bad.
The screws holding the padded part of the backrest to the frame were rusted through, so I had to remove two of them which I replaced with new stainless steel screws, using wingnuts on the back of the frame.
When I was all done, I showed the results to my wife and, to my surprise, she offered to go on a ride with me and test out the new backrest. It was a success!
And so, on a very warm evening, we rode from our home in Tacoma through Point Defiance Park (one of the largest urban parks in the country), headed through the small town of Ruston and rode along the waterfront.
The park was nice, and with all the trees, we were riding mostly in the shade. We were just wearing T-shirts. I know, I know, not appropriate riding gear, but it was hot!
The waterfront was packed with people and several large dogs. Lots of bikers were out this night. I got passed on a hill by a guy on a Harley with his chick on the back. Both of them were in full leathers, including chaps. Believe me, I felt just fine in my T-shirt, though, I'm sure they were much safer.

Post-ride maintenance

After logging almost 2,000 miles, my 30-year-old bike is in need of some tender loving care. It needs a good valve job, a real vacuum synchronization of the carburetors, and the leak from the camshaft tensioner is really starting to bug me. Oh, yeah, and I really do want to get a clip for the choke cable, which I lost during my carb rebuild.
My budget is really tight these days so I'm putting off the valve job for the time being because once it's done, I know I'll need to vacuum sync the carbs and I can't spare the $80 bucks I need for the required tool.
But repairing the camshaft tensioner, which will require some new O-rings and a gasket, is cheap, so I plan to tackle that soon. It leaks pretty much all the time now, and is making a bit of mess. I've got the parts on order, along with a new clamp for my choke cable. I figure, since I'll have the tank off anyway, I can take care of that at the same time.
I'm also going to try and figure out, once and for all, the wiring in my headlamp bucket. Right now, my signals not only don't work, but during my last attempt, I crossed some wires so that in order to start the bike, I have to signal right!

In the meantime, I've become really good at hand signals.

The rest of the Ride

Next year, and the year after that, and for as long as I can twist a throttle, I plan to begin each summer with a long motorcycle ride.

My ride to California was more relaxing than I could possibly have imagined.

No radio, no iPod, no phone in my ear, just the roar of the wind and my engine.

I didn't fret about finding a job, my daughter's grades, or my dilapidated garage in need of repair. All that mattered was the miles of road before me, and where I would stop for the night.

I rode out of Santa Rosa about noon, after lunch with my brother and niece, and took Highway 101 north. I spent my first night with my tent a stone's throw from this spot _ Lake Benbow State Park.

It was dry scrub grass, gnarled trees, and mostly empty campsites. One was being used by an older, weather-beaten man taking it slow on his trip south, riding a bicycle. I gave him my left-over firewood the next morning when I left and we talked motorcycles for a bit before I rode on about 8 a.m., my wheel pointed north.

Once I passed Eureka, the highway began to follow the coast of Northern California, and it's gorgeous country there. I kept wanting to stop and take in the view, but I knew I'd travel pretty slowly if I did that. Still, sometimes I couldn't help myself.

When I reached Crescent City, I thought about taking Highway 199 again into the central part of southern Oregon, and shooting up north on I-5. The winding 199 was tempting, but I opted for staying on the coast. I've never been on the Oregon Coast, except one brief visit to one single spot. I'm glad I took the Coast.

It's full of twisties and there must have been a rally going on south of me 'cause a lot of bikes were heading that way. I rode to Cape Blanco, where there's an old lighthouse and a nice, clean campsite that offers, would you believe it, free showers! And they were hot! A very nice, unexpected treat.

You can barely see the lighthouse in the background of this photo. I need to get a better camera, seriously.

At Cape Blanco, yet another guy came up wanting to know about my bike, where I was from, where I was heading. And, just like all the others, was a Harley rider. I gotta say, on the road, Harley riders are a pretty damn friendly lot.

The next morning, I went riding and I didn't stop riding for 12 hours. It was exhausting and exhilarating. I don't know why I kept on, but every time I thought about pulling over, the road kept me going. I made it from Cape Blanco to Tacoma, Wash. in about 12 hours. No speed records set since it's less then 500 miles between the two. Still, I was tired and covered in dead bugs when I pulled up in front my house with the sun just setting.
I was 22 years old the last time I went on a long motorcycle road trip. I remember the wind, and the heat, and smiling at pretty girls. It's been more than 20 years since then. I think from this trip I'll remember the wind, I'll remember the road, and I'll remember the peace.

I hope to be back on the road soon.

Second day on the road

There's a stretch of highway that connects the southern part of Oregon to the California coast.
It is shaded with thick forests of trees. There are steep slopes going up on one side, and steep slopes going down on the other.
It is Highway 199 that leads to I-101 and it is an amazing ride for a motorcyclist.
Highway 199 is going to become a favorite ride of mine, I'm sure.
I left Grants Pass on Monday morning just before 7 a.m. and took Highway 99 out of town until it became Highway 199.
It was my first time on this road so I can't recall where the road changes or what towns I passed. But I remember there was little traffic on it and, at one point, I came upon a sign that had the symbol for a curved road and the warning, "NEXT 8 MILES."
I was thrilled, being able to tilt right and left and right and left for eight miles with no cars in front of me.
Road trips are great, and I've taken plenty by car and truck. But the thing about being on a motorcycle is how connected you feel to the road and the passing landscape. You smell everything, from cows and sheep to the damp earth after a morning rain.
You feel everything -- a strong breeze blowing across wide open farmland, or the chill that comes when you roll into a shaded valley.
And you hear so much, even over the roar of the motorcycle. In fact, what I most listen to is my motorcycle. I'm listening for any changes in the engine, anything that sounds like it's laboring, anything that needs to alert me that I should stop and give my bike a rest.
I love that sense of being part of the road and, in a way, part of the environment.
Highway 199 led straight into Crescent City, on the California Coast. That's where I finally stopped for breakfast, roughly two hours after leaving Grants Pass.
The food was good, the price was a bit high. Oh well. I'm not sure I'll eat there again.
I hit the road soon after through the part of 101 that is called the Redwood Highway. At one point, I stopped along side the road to take in the view of the redwood forest.
This is a photo from that stop. Then the rain began and I hopped on my bike to make a quick exit. I got pretty damp at points from all the dew in the air, and I have no rain gear with me.
Still, it wasn't too bad. I did stop to put on some long johns 'cause I was getting pretty cold. And there was a brief period where I wished I had brought my winter gloves along.
But with just a saddlebag for my luggage, I really kept my gear to a minimum.
Funny thing, I had no close calls while riding my bike on the highway. Drivers were unfailingly polite. On the second day, I even ran across a pair of friendly Harley riders, who actually waved to me as I went past them while they stopped at a roadside diner.
It was a good day's ride.

Great trip

It was somewhere along Interstate 5 in northern Oregon when I took a deep, relaxing, meditative breath.
I glanced at my odometer. My home was more than 300 miles north and it had taken me that long before the cares and troubles of my day to day life slid off my shoulders and onto the blacktop flying just beneath my boots.
Last month, I decided I might never have another chance to take a leisurely bike ride south. At the moment, I am out of work, laid off from my old job in March.
Despite several applications, a few tests, and one background interview, I have yet to land a job. Add to that the obligations of middle age, when children still need our time and parents increasingly do as well, and I could feel myself begin to bend beneath the strain.
I asked my wife whether she could spare me for a while if I took a road trip south. At first, she wasn't thrilled, but as my angst became more acute, she fell wholeheartedly behind the idea.
I think she needed a break from me as much as I needed a break from real life.
And so the past few weeks, I did my best to prepare my motorcycle for the first road trip I've taken in more than 20 years. Yeah, I think I was 22 when I hopped on another Suzuki I once owned, though that time I drove from Los Angeles to the Oregon border, then turned right around and went home.
Anyway, I rebuilt my carburetors, installed new intake boots on my bike and my airbox, checked my wiring, and bought a few emergency supplies, like a tire repair kit.
I did a few last minute repairs around the house and then on Monday morning (not Sunday, as I had planned), I hopped onto my bike and just drove.
That first day was tough on my body. I'm not used to being on a bike for so long. I drove from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., with no break longer than 10 minutes, enough to gas up or stretch my legs at a rest stop.
By the way, Oregon rest stops are absolutely awesome. They're as beautiful as the best city parks and a welcome respite for a traveler.
I didn't meet many friendly bikers the first day, mostly running into Harley Davidson riders, who rarely responded to my friendly waves.
By 5 p.m., I was driving into a sky full of thick, fat, gray clouds. A blue-white lightening bolt flashed just a few miles down the road from me at one point. Then it began to rain.
The lightening was enough to convince me to bag my original plan of camping for the night and I decided to take a room at a motel. I happened to pass one in Grants Pass, Ore., just as the rain began, so taking chance as my guide, I stopped there.
The motel owner was pleasant, but the motel itself was a rather sad little affair. An abandoned car sat right outside my room. This car had been there so long, spiders had spun their webs on the tires!
The place was empty when I checked in, except for one old woman who briefly pulled her curtains aside to glare at me as I parked my bike, then immediately flung them shut when she caught me watching her in return.
Later, about three other rooms were filled that night. My room was missing the secondary latch that most motel room doors have, though the guide book in the room urged me to use this missing device. The screw holes where it had been were still there, it was simply the lock that was missing.
I barricaded my door with a table and chair.
The sun had been up about an hour when I packed my bike and headed out of Grants Pass. It was a beautiful, sunny morning and turned out to be a fantastic, second-day on my trip.

California trip

So I'm heading out Sunday for my trip to California.
I've got a small tent, a too-big sleeping bag, and saddlebags that will barely hold a change of clothes and some extra food. Yikes!
Today, I made sure to buy a tire repair kit - something called Slime - and a canister of CO2 to inflate the tire should the need arise. I also bought a clutch cable to take as a spare. I've actually had one break on me years and years ago.
I spent about an hour putting together a small took kit - a socket set, some spare screws, wrenches, electric tape, stuff like that.
I don't have a specific itinerary. My general plan is to get as far south on Sunday as daylight allows. I don't want to ride at night and I don't want to push my bike hard.
So I'll camp when dusk approaches, though I'm hoping to at least reach Southern Oregon by then.
We'll just have to wait and see.
I plan to take photos and post them to my website. In fact, I should have taken photos today of my visit to Bent Bike in Auburn, Wash., and Cycle World, in my hometown of Tacoma, Wash.
Cycle World is OK for clothes and boots and things like that. But for my old bike, the place I go for parts is usually Bent Bike. They've got lots of spare parts for older bikes like mine, and the guys and girls working there know their beef about bikes.
It was good riding weather, just a bit warm. It was actually too warm to feel comfortable in my leather jacket, so I wore an old jean jacket I picked up at a Goodwill.
It was OK, but I forgot how easily those old jackets fill up with wind sometimes. It was like wearing a balloon at some points!
Tomorrow, of course, I'll be wearing the leather jacket, full face helmet and boots. I'll even put the armor in the jacket, to please the wife and spare me bones.

It's ALIVE!

OK, well, this is embarrassing. Did you know that most motorcycles have a kill switch to shut off the engine? When this kill switch is on, the bike won't turn on no matter how many times you try to turn it over. Well, you guessed it.

My trouble starting my motorcycle after my carb cleaning had nothing to do with the job I did, and everything to do with little details like making sure the kill switch was off.

Once I figured that out, thanks to the suggestion from someone on the GS Forum, the bike started right up. I had to adjust the idle and the air mix screws, but it's now running at just about 1400 rpms at idle when it's warm.

Of course, owning an old bike means never having to say you're done.

Now that I've replaced the intake boots, the airbox boots, and cleaned and rebuilt the carburetors, I can see that I have a small oil leak from the camshaft tensioner.

Guess what that means! I get to remove the carbs all over again!

OK, I think I'm going to leave that job for the end of the summer when I replace the seals in the tensioner and, at the same time, adjust my valves.

In the meantime, I'm gonna enjoy my bike.

Here it is now!

Carburetor woes

The on-going saga of my carb troubles only continues.

On the plus side, the gas leak has been taken care of. Following a suggested remedy, I tapped my carburetors with a chunk of wood and that seemed to loosen the floats, which apparently sometimes stick after a cleaning job. Knocking the carbs took care of that problem.

But, now, even without the gas leak, the bike won't start. I'm trying to figure out what I might have done wrong. That's such a troublesome thing to do. I'm certain I followed all the steps in the procedure properly, and yet...

I'll keep working on it.

Gas, gas and more gas

So my carburetors are all done! They look beautiful and I put them on my bike yesterday.
Sadly, as soon as I tried to start them up, gas began pouring out. I didn't cry, but I was disappointed. I've read that sometimes the floats get stuck inside the carb bodies and cause the gas to leak, which may be the case for me since all the gas is coming out of the airbox.
Anyway, I'm about to go out and give the carbs a good whack and see if that loosens up the insides. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.
But the delays are making it less and less likely that I can actually ride my bike down to California like I'd hoped. Oh well.
We'll see what the day brings.

One screw short!

Well, my carbs won't be going on my bike today and, with Monday a holiday, it looks like Tuesday will be the earliest I can install them.

Here's a look at the carbs, all together as one again!

You can't really tell from this photo, but I replaced all the phillip's head screws with shiny silver hex head screws. I figure they look better and will be a heckuva lot easier to remove if I ever work on my carbs again.

Each carb has an idle mixture adjustment screw, some people call it an air screw for short, though that's not quite accurate. Anyway, they were really tough to take out and I mangled pretty much all of them. I didn't know I'd need to replace them until about midway in my project and, at the time, I thought I'd only need a pair of them, which I ordered. Well, those arrived and, as it turns out, I need to replace at least one more.

I ordered another pair but they didn't arrive today (Saturday) which is why I'm angry with the USPS! But I'll get over it as soon as these little screws arrive, probably on Tuesday.

Here's a pic of my bike shortly before I rolled it into the garage for the carburetor job.

I can't wait to ride it again!

Ride safe.

Carburetors and my rite of passage

Carburetors have always frightened me.

They're all metallic with hoses coming out from everywhere and all these moving parts and little doo dads inside that actually have to be adjusted! Yikes!

So, I managed to go my entire life without ever looking into the raw innards of a carburetor, this despite tearing down motors to replace blown head gaskets, installing starters, water pumps, once putting a new clutch in an old VW.

But carburetors ...nope. I guess I just figured if I ever shoved my clumsy fingers into the guts of a carburetor it would mean certain death for the vehicle involved.

Then I bought my motorcycle.

By the way, this is what my bike looked like when I first bought it.

Since this photo was taken, I've replaced the headlamp, added a small windshield, installed some side panels, and the end caps on the engine.

Anyway, in preparation for a ride to California, I decided it was high time to replace my intake boots, which looked like this: They're cracked, old, pretty much just falling apart.

Well, getting new boots was pretty easy. And, actually, installing them was simple, too. The only tough part was removing the old screws. I used a Dremel tool to cut a deep slot and an impact driver to break them loose.

But getting to the boots meant removing my carburetor! OK, not a big deal. But, my brain decided that since the carbs were off, this would be a good time to tear them apart and clean them - each and every single little part. And so, for the past two weeks, that's what I've been doing.

Here's what they looked like separated, but at one point, they were in so many pieces, I needed baggies to keep them in order. I soaked everything in Gunk cleaner, a process that took almost a week in itself. I wiped the parts down, blew compressed air in the various openings, and some carb cleaner. It was just today, I finally got them back together. Inside, there are new rubber O-rings, new gaskets for the float bowls, and some new screws that I had to replace 'cause I mangled some of them trying to remove them.

Tomorrow, I hope to get them installed on my bike. If everything goes like it should, I could be riding again in a warm Saturday in the Pacific Northwest!

I gotta say, I'm pretty proud of myself for trying this.

I really wasn't sure I could do it, but I guess it's like anything else - you take on one challenge at a time, and each one you succesfully meet gives you the experience and the confidence to take on the next.

Ride safe.