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tntmo

$250 Motorcycle On A Four Day Tour - Will It Survive??

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Over a year ago, I spotted an ad for an 86 Kawasaki Concours with a trailer for $250 on craigslist.  No photo, not much info except that it had been sitting and there were non-op titles for both.  I was in the middle of a trip myself, but I sent the link to a good friend of mine and he drove up to Orange County and picked the deal up. 

It was everything I had expected and more.  Old tires, yellowed windshield, dead battery, rusty tank, gunked up carbs, etc.  What else would you expect for that price?  It had a 1980's era communication system with corded connections to two old crusty Arai helmets, a 1980's era CB radio, about 200 yards of extra wiring all over the bike.  The trailer had dry rotted tires that at least held air and inside the trailer were a few really old heated vests.  Those worked!  Looked like some of the first ones from back in the day.

Now if you're not familiar with the Kawasaki Concours, 86 was the first year and they produced almost the exact same bike for 20 years.  It's a 1000cc liquid cooled, inline four cylinder sport touring bike with shaft drive and detachable hard bags and a 7.5 gallon fuel tank.  Good for long miles, available pretty cheap these days.  

Here's a video link of getting the bike going.  I did several videos on this bike, if you're interested in them you can find them on my channel.  

 

Many times when I find deals like this, I have an idea of what I'd like to do with them.  I don't often buy anything just to flip it anymore, when I see a deal I dream of taking it on some kind of adventure.  The main appeal of this was the trailer, I had never pulled a trailer behind a motorcycle.  I figured if I could take this cheap bike on a multi day trip, that would be pretty fun....especially since it cost less than an upgraded tank emblem on a new BMW. 

My friend who picked the bike up used to go on trips with me 20 years ago, usually up to Laguna Seca to watch motorcycle racing but he has never camped off a motorcycle before.  I told him that I'd take care of fixing the bike up, he had to get a week off and we'd go.....somewhere.  He agreed, so I was in fix it mode.

In order to keep the cost low on this bike, I traded my partially skilled moto labor for parts.  Valve adjustment on a Honda: battery.  Tuneup on a Suzuki: Front tire.  And so on....I bought a few things here and there, but mostly my riding buddies helped "sponsor" this build.  I went through most on the bike and had it in pretty good mechanical condition and even detailed it a little bit.  Then I waited for my friend to let me know when we were going.  He set a date, then said he had to cancel.  Again this happened.  Finally he agreed that October was it, no matter what. 

So here we are, almost at the beginning of this trip.  But let me take you back about one week.......

Edited by tntmo
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Lemme grab some popcorn and a couple PBR's . . . this is gonna be good.

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I said I'd go back about a week, but I guess it's about three weeks back.  I had a lot going on, a family visit for about ten days right before the trip and my wife was getting a minor surgery.  My riding partner for the trip (Eddie) called me to say the key in his bike wasn't working to open the fuel tank.  As a side note, his bike is also a Concours, a 1995 model that we acquired from SDAR member Chalie (Uncle Champ) a few years back.  I asked him to bring the tank by and we'd figure it out.  I tried a few things to get the key to work, eventually we had to drill a small hole through the gas cap to get to a hidden screw underneath so we could remove the cap.  He said he would order a replacement.  I figured that was all that he needed to do but I was mistaken.  More on that later.

I had been doing lots of traveling, visiting family and helping other people and the 86 Concours hadn't been ridden in months.  I was hopeful that it would start, so about a week before my family showed up (bit over two weeks before the trip) I pushed it in the shop to go through it one more time.  It started right up, but the carbs were leaking.  I didn't want to remove them again, but decided to and then realized that I should have bought a carb rebuild kit a long time ago.  I just did a quick clean using the original parts when we got the bike and it was working ok, but everything was old.  I went online and ordered a kit immediately.  Also the clutch slave cylinder was leaking a little bit so I ordered a rebuild kit for that.  

The parts came in while my family was in town, I recruited my brother to help rebuild the clutch cylinder and I got the carbs put together but not installed.  My family wanted to do the entire San Diego tourist thing while visiting so I was quite busy.  I figured I would drop them off at the airport on Saturday at noon, then put the bike together that afternoon and do some test and tune and on Monday we'd head off.  Well, Friday Eddie called me to say that he hadn't ridden his bike in over a year and had only ridden one other time in the last 2-3 years!  I told him to bring his bike by on Saturday and we'd get them both going.

Saturday was a flurry of activity.  I got the carbs mounted on my bike and got it running well.  The gas cap Eddie bought was incorrect, so we drilled out the pins on his cap so we could open it with a screwdriver.  His carbs were a mess, removed them and got the bike running ok.  We worked until late Saturday, he loaded up the bike and took it home to San Marcos and I told him to take it out and put some miles on it.  

Sunday he messaged me and said that when he turned the ignition key on, nothing happened.  No neutral light, no start, nothing.  He had guests over, so couldn't work on it long and he didn't figure it out.  This trip was supposed to start on Monday and by 9pm Sunday we had one bike non-operational.  I told Eddie to bring it by early Monday and hopefully it was a simple fix.  

Early must be subjective, Eddie showed up around 0900.  I figured out what was wrong before unloading the bike.  The Concours has some common issues, one of them being the junction box under the left side panel.  The relays in the junction box fail, if you give the box a good thump it clicks the relays into place and it works.  I tapped it with a screwdriver and the bike started.  Luckily, Eddie had picked up a cheap parts bike at some point so we drove up to his place and pulled it off the parts bike.  After returning home, installed the part and the bike was ready.  By this time it was early afternoon, we discussed starting but I decided that an early Tuesday start was a better idea.  This was supposed to be a five day trip, but four days isn't bad and having two good running bikes was more important than pushing through the desert heat and staying in a crappy hotel in Quartzite or some such place.

I sent Eddie home on his bike, told him to get some riding in and stressed that we should start early to beat some of the desert heat.  I said EARLY.  Once gain, this turned out to be subjective.

 

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On 10/13/2024 at 5:23 PM, tntmo said:

I said I'd go back about a week, but I guess it's about three weeks back.  I had a lot going on, a family visit for about ten days right before the trip and my wife was getting a minor surgery.  My riding partner for the trip (Eddie) called me to say the key in his bike wasn't working to open the fuel tank.  As a side note, his bike is also a Concours, a 1995 model that we acquired from SDAR member Chalie (Uncle Champ) a few years back.  I asked him to bring the tank by and we'd figure it out.  I tried a few things to get the key to work, eventually we had to drill a small hole through the gas cap to get to a hidden screw underneath so we could remove the cap.  He said he would order a replacement.  I figured that was all that he needed to do but I was mistaken.  More on that later.

I had been doing lots of traveling, visiting family and helping other people and the 86 Concours hadn't been ridden in months.  I was hopeful that it would start, so about a week before my family showed up (bit over two weeks before the trip) I pushed it in the shop to go through it one more time.  It started right up, but the carbs were leaking.  I didn't want to remove them again, but decided to and then realized that I should have bought a carb rebuild kit a long time ago.  I just did a quick clean using the original parts when we got the bike and it was working ok, but everything was old.  I went online and ordered a kit immediately.  Also the clutch slave cylinder was leaking a little bit so I ordered a rebuild kit for that.  

The parts came in while my family was in town, I recruited my brother to help rebuild the clutch cylinder and I got the carbs put together but not installed.  My family wanted to do the entire San Diego tourist thing while visiting so I was quite busy.  I figured I would drop them off at the airport on Saturday at noon, then put the bike together that afternoon and do some test and tune and on Monday we'd head off.  Well, Friday Eddie called me to say that he hadn't ridden his bike in over a year and had only ridden one other time in the last 2-3 years!  I told him to bring his bike by on Saturday and we'd get them both going.

Saturday was a flurry of activity.  I got the carbs mounted on my bike and got it running well.  The gas cap Eddie bought was incorrect, so we drilled out the pins on his cap so we could open it with a screwdriver.  His carbs were a mess, removed them and got the bike running ok.  We worked until late Saturday, he loaded up the bike and took it home to San Marcos and I told him to take it out and put some miles on it.  

Sunday he messaged me and said that when he turned the ignition key on, nothing happened.  No neutral light, no start, nothing.  He had guests over, so couldn't work on it long and he didn't figure it out.  This trip was supposed to start on Monday and by 9pm Sunday we had one bike non-operational.  I told Eddie to bring it by early Monday and hopefully it was a simple fix.  

Early must be subjective, Eddie showed up around 0900.  I figured out what was wrong before unloading the bike.  The Concours has some common issues, one of them being the junction box under the left side panel.  The relays in the junction box fail, if you give the box a good thump it clicks the relays into place and it works.  I tapped it with a screwdriver and the bike started.  Luckily, Eddie had picked up a cheap parts bike at some point so we drove up to his place and pulled it off the parts bike.  After returning home, installed the part and the bike was ready.  By this time it was early afternoon, we discussed starting but I decided that an early Tuesday start was a better idea.  This was supposed to be a five day trip, but four days isn't bad and having two good running bikes was more important than pushing through the desert heat and staying in a crappy hotel in Quartzite or some such place.

I sent Eddie home on his bike, told him to get some riding in and stressed that we should start early to beat some of the desert heat.  I said EARLY.  Once gain, this turned out to be subjective.

 

I would never have questioning that the bike runs for 4-5 days.

 

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Gives new meaning to the term "adventure bike".

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Being delayed by a day wasn't too big of a deal and it actually worked out well for us.  SDAR member CrawDaddy messaged me to ask what our planned route was.  I had not really laid out a real route, sometimes I like to just go in a general direction and get somewhere but I was thinking about Grand Canyon.  He said if we wanted to stop by his place in Bullhead City, AZ on the way home we were welcome to.  He also mentioned that Tracy (TLKing the taco man) also from SDAR lives in Prescott and might be open for visitors.  So on Monday night, I had secured us lodging for the first night and last night of our journey with two SDAR members.  That's pretty cool and likely wouldn't have happened if we had left Monday morning.

So Tuesday morning I woke up around 0500 and ran four miles, showered and finished packing my bags.  I was ready to go at sunrise but Eddie decided that 0830 was the time to show up.  After getting things sorted out, we were rolling at around 0900 and the desert was heating up.  I had not ridden the 86 Concours on the highway at all at this point and had only towed the trailer in the neighborhood a few miles.  Why not jump in with both feet?!  

Merged onto SRR 94 and got up to speed, don't tell the CHP but I may have towed a trailer above 55 mph.  Allegedly.  We rode I-8 east up the hill through Alpine and up to Golden Acorn casino for our initial test ride.  The trailer wasn't really noticeable, the bike ran a bit above half on the temp gauge but everything seemed normal.  Gassed up both bikes and drank some water in preparation for the upcoming heat.  

The ride down the grade into the desert went well, once again I barely noticed the trailer but I was riding with more caution than I would have without it.  Into El Centro, headed north and took a stop at the Glamis store because it was over 100 degrees.  We weren't sure what mpg our bikes were getting so I was a bit concerned, guess I forgot that these beasts have 7.5 gallon tanks!  We drank some water again and I noticed that the old riding shoes I brought along for their final trip had failed.  I guess their final trip was over before I was.  I put on my running shoes, good enough I guess!

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We continued on to Blythe, it was 115 or so.  Put in just a few gallons each, the bikes were getting around 40 mpg.  If I had known how big the tanks were I would have pushed on to Quartzite to save a few dollars.  Drank two liters of water and electrolytes.   After a few miles on I-10 we got onto 60 to head towards Prescott.  We started to gain a little bit of altitude but it was still hot.  Lots of road construction, so the speed was slower.  As we rolled into Aguila, AZ it finally got down to a brisk 97 degrees.  Eddie's gas cap wouldn't open, guess we didn't quite drill out all of the lock pins.  Removed it with an allen wrench, while he gassed up I bashed the gas cap against a pole and got it to work with a screwdriver again.  Ha!  Drank two more liters of water and electrolytes.  I had not peed all day. 

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The bike was running at some points at around 7/8ths on the temp gauge but seemed fine.  What do you expect in that heat from an almost 40 year old bike towing a trailer?  I don't know, but it was a bit concerning.  We were 1.5 hour from Tracy's place, all the stops to hydrate along with the road construction and the later start than I had planned had slowed our progress.  I didn't want to ride after dark, but we ended up riding the last 45 minutes or so with our headlights.  The last part of the trip, we got on Hwy 89 and it's a real honey of a moto road.  If you haven't ridden it, I suggest it.  

Tracy had some pork tacos and cold drinks ready for us along with a nice dessert.  He has a great place and his family took excellent care of both of us.  I woke up early to check my bike over and put a little water in the overflow tank.  I went for a run forgetting how the altitude affects someone not used to it....whew!  Hills everywhere too!  

They made us a great breakfast of Spam and eggs, our bikes got a blessing and we were on our way.  Since we were enjoying their company, our Grand Canyon plans were possibly on hold but that's fine.  It's not going anywhere anytime soon so we can go another time.  I suggested to Eddie that we just be "tourists" today and take it easy.  Since I had the trailer with camping gear, I wanted to find a nice dispersed camping spot near Flagstaff or Williams well before dark.  Off we went!  

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Edited by tntmo
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Day Two:  Prescott to....a camp spot.

We left Tracy's place around 10am, I usually like to have some miles under my belt at this point but the only deadline I had on this trip was to be home Friday night to make sure the dogs were still alive as my wife was flying out Friday early afternoon.  So we followed 89A (which as I said is a honey of a road!) up to the neat old town of Jerome.  Eddie had never been there before so he enjoyed it.  I had only stopped there for a minute or two before so I had fun looking around too.  There's a really nice scenic overlook before you get into town, worth a stop.

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Along with plenty of historical buildings, overpriced tourist crap to buy and some neat old saloons and restaurants.  

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We then proceeded to Sedona.  It was pretty busy for a weekday there.  Smelled like some sort of burning weed in quite a lot of places too?  We stopped for gas and had a sandwich but didn't do too much more than that.  Pretty place nonetheless.

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Back on 89A to Flagstaff, lots of nice twisty turns and it was also a much cooler day.  Might have seen temps in the low 80's, nice relief from riding through Satan's sphincter the previous day. I suggested to Eddie that we stop in Flagstaff to get some refreshments before finding a place to camp.  Chris (Crawdaddy) had given me an idea of a place to camp, but I wasn't 100% sure where he was talking about so I found a few others.  It was about two hours to sunset, pushing what I like to have as a safety margin when looking for a dispersed camping area. 

I am somewhat familiar with Flagstaff as my son went to college there for a few years, so I know there are lots of places to stop in the surrounding National Forest.  I found what looked like a good place about ten miles west of Flagstaff north of I-40.  As I was looking at Google Maps, Eddie told me that he had a fuel leak.  We took a quick look at it, figured maybe the fuel line had a split on the end or something like that.  Hmmm, maybe.  I asked if he was ok for 15 minutes, he looked skeptical but said he'd go for it.

We got on the Interstate, took our exit near a truck stop, down a service road and then had to go about a mile or so down a gravel road but it was pretty well maintained and these old Kawasaki's are adventure bikes I suppose.  There were a lot of people camping there, but we got a good spot without anyone too close.

I started to unpack my camping gear and told Eddie to start working on his bike while we still had daylight.  He soon determined that it wasn't just the hose.  The vacuum operated petcock was leaking.  Our bikes only had about 50 miles since we gassed up, so that's a lot of fuel to leak out.  For some reason during the trip, I had tossed all of my empty water and Gatorade bottles in the trailer.  I wish I could say I was thinking ahead, but I was just too lazy to walk to the trash. 

We drained a bunch of fuel from his tank into the bottles, topped off my bike and filled the bottles again.  Disassembled the fuel petcock, cleaned it the best we could with what we had and decided to test it in the morning.  Then we sat around a nice campfire and enjoyed the nice Arizona evening.  It felt pretty good, but tomorrow was another day and another challenge.

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Edited by tntmo
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Looks like a great time. I see your countour’s tires touching dirt. It’s officially dual sport!

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Those bikes cleaned up well.  I really dig seeing old bikes doing what they were designed to do and not sitting in the weeds out behind some garage.  You're an inspiration Tom.

And who doesn't love a good old fashioned ride report like this??  Thanks for taking the time to share the story and pics with us.

Time to make some more popcorn!  

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. . . . . and, . . . .

The trailer thing.  

I've spent my riding life evolving into smaller, lighter, tighter, "less" gear on the bike.  But I am secretly drawn toward that thing and the thought of being able to just throw the gear "in the trunk and close the lid", and just riding the bike sans Beverly Hillbilly like.

Road trips are awesome.

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49 minutes ago, Zubb said:

. . . . . and, . . . .

The trailer thing.  

I've spent my riding life evolving into smaller, lighter, tighter, "less" gear on the bike.  But I am secretly drawn toward that thing and the thought of being able to just throw the gear "in the trunk and close the lid", and just riding the bike sans Beverly Hillbilly like.

Road trips are awesome.

Lighter/smaller gear is really important if you're going to ride off road.  On a highway trip, it has some importance of course but not as much. 

When I took my post retirement trip, I knew for sure that I was going to be on the bike for around a month but it ended up closer to three months.  I weighed all the gear I had brought along and it was close to 90 pounds.  Oh, the horror from the light is right crowd.....yet a passenger on the bike with zero gear it would weigh more than that. Also it's likely that some of the people who admonished the weight I carried may have weighed 90 pounds more than me!  😂

I remained comfortable in most weather, was able to do a few tire changes and repairs with the tools on the bike, had clothes to go swimming one day and attend a wedding the next.  And I don't believe cutting the weight down to half of that would have made much or any difference in the riding experience, but likely would have changed the off the bike experience.  

Anyway, the trailer is kind of neat but I don't see myself using one again.  Too many negatives to outweigh the positive of the extra space.  Parking, backing the bike up, just the concern that something could go wrong with it behind you.  

 

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Thursday, Day 3: The longest 170 miles ever.

I woke up to a brisk sunrise in our camp, it was cool but not uncomfortable.  Eddie soon crawled out of his tent too, I went for a run and asked him to test the fuel petcock while I was gone.  When I got back, he gave me the bad news.  It was still leaking, possibly worse.  We took it apart again, cleaned it the best we could and reassembled it with no change.  There was enough cell signal in camp to occasionally send a text message but we couldn't research anything online.  

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I broke down my camping gear, unhooked the trailer and took a ride to the truck stop that was about three miles away.  They had some sealant, but I wasn't too confident that it would hold up to fuel.  Since I had better signal there, I looked up fuel resistant sealant and AutoZone carried some so I took the 15 minute ride into Flagstaff to pick some up.  Rode back to camp and we gooped it up.

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We had to wait for this stuff to set up, there was no suggested time on the packaging so we just enjoyed the peaceful forest setting, made some coffee and had a pop tart.  After about two hours, it seemed like the sealant wasn't doing much as far as setting.  I re-read the packaging and here's what it said:

Directions:

1. Clean and dry surfaces.
2. Apply thin film or bead to both surfaces.
3. Allow ample drying time to completely evaporate solvent.
4. Assemble and torque to manufacturers specifications. 

Ample drying time?  Well we didn't have days, and the packaging also said it was non hardening and non setting so we just decided to give it a try.  The leak was smaller, but we decided to add more goop and let it set up again.  I once again hopped on the $250 perfectly working bike and rode to the truck stop for some lunch and refreshments.  I got the perfect timer, when this was empty we would try it again.

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I finished two timers actually, and it must have been the correct way to do this job because we no longer had any external leakage but the petcock was flowing fuel without vacuum applied to it.  It shouldn't do that, but without fuel leaking all over Eddie's left leg we were in a much better situation.  I figured worst case scenario we can ride to the truck stop or to Flagstaff, best case scenario we can get to Crawdaddy's Casa and he has a shop with a beer fridge.  We took off and made it easily to the truck stop.  The bike seemed to be operating close to normal, I told Eddie not to shut it off because it might continue flowing fuel and overflow the carbs.  This is another common issue on these bikes, the float needles are not the best and some people end up hydro-locking their engines if they sit too long overflowing fuel.

We topped up with gas, I messaged Chris that we were heading his way.  Jumped on I-40 westward and seemed to be doing ok.  We stopped to check everything about 60 miles in, no major issues at this point.  

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I even took the bike for a spin around the parking lot and it was working ok.  Back on the highway we go, but after a few miles Eddie signaled me to pull off the highway.  The bike wasn't running great.  It smelled really rich.  I suggested that he ride a gear low and keep the rpm's up.  I don't think he did that.  I was noticing during this entire trip that Eddie was riding very cautiously and seemed like he was nervous to get out of parking lots, slow to get up to speed in town or on the highway and fell way back behind me so I could barely see him at times.  We have ridden together a lot over the last 30 years and he has never been an aggressive rider but this was on a different level.  This would come into play the next day (foreshadowing). 

So we would go 5-10 miles, pull off, reassess and continue on.  Soon after this, I had the only real issue with the cheap bike.  The speedometer was occasionally making a squealing noise, would bounce between whatever speed I was going up to 120mph or so and back.  When this happened prior to this, I would slow down a bit, it would settle and back I'd go.  This time, it bounced between 0-150 mph several times, making a nasty sound and caused all the needles to bounce around.  I tried to slow down but it didn't stop the issue, eventually it caused the temp gauge to pop all the way over stuck pointing straight right and the speedometer quit working.  The odometer started to turn backwards!  We stopped at the next exit and removed the cable.  

As we got off the intestate onto Hwy 68, Eddie stalled the bike several times.  Every time he did, it was difficult to start.  It was running rough and smelled even richer than before.  After about the fifth time, I asked if he would ride the silver bike so I could see if I could keep the bike running.  We were maybe 30-40 miles away at this point and it had taken us several hours already.  I got on the Barney bike and just revved the piss out of it.  Once the rpm's were up it wasn't too bad.  Shortly after I got on the bike, it started to act like it was starved for fuel so I switched to reserve and it picked right up.  It had gotten quite thirsty, we hadn't used reserve at all this trip and it wasn't too far from our last fuel stop.  I think I told him to only put two gallons in at that point though, because I knew we were going to have to remove the tank again as soon as we stopped for the night.

I figured I'd stop at the next gas station, but didn't realize we had passed the last one for several miles.  Soon there was nothing, then there was a big hill.  Well, it's an adventure!  I throttled back a little bit to try to stay on the edge of running decent and fuel consumption.  I'm not a religious man, but I did say a little prayer about making it at least to the top of the hill.  Prayer works at times, we cleared the top of the hill and the bike kept running right up until the first fuel station came in sight.  It stalled out before I could coast in because of oncoming traffic, had to push it a little ways.  

I put in two gallons of fuel and kept the bike revved as much as I could.  My way of riding it resulted in no stalls, but I felt like a tool revving the bike at 4-5k rpm's at stoplights.  We made it to Crawdaddy's place after dark, a long 170 mile journey.  He made space on his bike lift so we could take the tank off and do some work on the bike after we had some delicious chili. 

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I had a hunch about the bike, figured that the petcock had failed internally and was sucking fuel into the vacuum line straight into cylinder number two.  Removing the plugs proved this, a few of them looked slightly fouled but number two was black and wet.  We had some ideas on how to fix it with what we could get, no way we'd be able to source a petcock for this bike.  Moto shops barely carry parts for new bikes these days so the chances of finding a petcock for a bike they quit making in 2006 was worse than the chances of winning the lottery.  

We went to bed with some ideas, but at least we were in civilization so we could get something.  Friday would be our final push home.....

Edited by tntmo
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Looking forward to the finale…

Great write up!

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Day Four: Homeward bound

I slept wonderfully after that long day nursing the bike to the Crawford Casa.  Woke up around 0500 to the smell of coffee, poured a cup and hung out with Chris in his shop for a bit.  We had a pretty good idea of how to piece the leaking bike back together.  Since it was not leaking externally, all we had to do was somehow prevent it from putting fuel into the vacuum port and also have the ability to shut off the fuel when it was stopped.  What we came up with was to remove the vacuum line from the port on cylinder two, cap that.  Cap the vacuum port on the petcock.  Then install a fuel shutoff valve in the fuel line between the failed petcock and the carbs.  Also needed to pick up some spark plugs to replace the badly fouled ones.

I went for an early morning run by the Colorado river, pretty nice when it's not blazing hot.  Came home and got cleaned up and then Chris took us on a shopping spree.  It's not often that you can buy stuff to fix your bike at Home Depot, but that's where we found a suitable fuel shutoff in the lawnmower section.  Bonus, it came with some hose!  Also got a fuel filter since the one inside the tank basically disintegrated.  We stopped at AutoZone to get some new NGK's and vacuum caps.  With this setup, you put the petcock on prime, open the shutoff valve and start the engine.  Any time you shut off the bike, you shut off the lawnmower valve and voila!   I ws going to cut the line, but it worked ok as is and was only supposed to be temporary to get us going again, call it a service loop if you want to be fancy.

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Chris treated us to some good breakfast burritos, we started packing up our stuff and were getting ready to go.  The hack repair seemed to work so we headed to the gas station.  Eddie was riding even more cautiously and seemed nervous.  As we fueled up, we noticed that he had left a saddlebag at Chris's place!  😂  Fortunately it was only a mile back so we said hello once again. 

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It's a bit more than 300 miles from Bullhead City to San Diego so I was hoping we could get going before it got roasting hot.  So onto the highway heading south-ish.....for about two miles.  Eddie signaled to pull over into a parking lot.  The number four cylinder was dripping a little bit from the float bowl.  I figured that since we had run the bowls dry, there was likely a bit of crud in the float needle.  I tapped it a few times, even loosened the bowl drain and emptied it out and it seemed to help.  

Well, Eddie just took off his helmet and said he was done.  He told me that he was holding it together this entire trip but that he probably shouldn't have gone.  His lack of riding over the last year or two along with the leak put him in a place where he just didn't want to ride anymore.  I tried to convince him for about ten seconds and then considered that if he was in that state of mind that it would be unwise for him to continue and I would feel terrible if something happened.  I took the bike out for a few miles and it was working ok, but without a willing rider there was nothing to be done.  When I got back, he was on the phone to U-Haul.  This is where our ride would end, in the parking lot.

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I had a lot of mixed emotions.  First I was kind of upset at my friend, then disappointed but I accepted the fact that sometimes you have to know your limitations.  Eddie has several bikes, none that are really operational at this point.  I have tried to convince him to get them all going , sell them and get something that's reliable and nimble so he will enjoy riding.  I don't know if he will go that route, he's a lot like me...a person that can see the end project but doesn't alway get there.  I'm going to keep working on convincing him.

We did have to ride a few more miles to the U-Haul place, and even with a wide ramp it wasn't much fun loading these heavy bikes.  On a positive note, I didn't sweat on the trip home.  

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Eddie also treated me to a good meal at the Paradise Valley Cafe.  Might have to ride back out there again, the ribs were delicious.  I almost finished all of it!

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We got to his place up in San Marcos, unloaded both bikes there so at least I did get to ride the last 40 miles home.  The $250 bike performed pretty good, I was quite proud of how well it did.  I didn't go through everything on the bike, just brought it back from it's long slumber and replaced some consumables.  It's not perfect but it likely could cross the country a few times with just a quick service and inspection tomorrow.  I have a replacement speedometer coming in soon, will get that installed and clean this thing up and then??  I do believe it's going up for sale, I have to get the next bike on the next adventure.

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A silly $75 part on Eddie's bike was the achilles heel.  If he had ridden the bike for a few months leading up to this trip it probably would have shown itself.  Sitting around doing nothing is bad for humans and bad for bikes.  So if you find yourself sitting around and have a bike sitting around, there's an easy solution to both.  Put on your worst riding boots (bring another pair of shoes!), get on your bike and RIDE!  

Anyone interested in an almost 40 year old sport touring machine with lots of cargo capacity?  Hit me up! 

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Coffee and this write up made for a great Saturday morning thank you man!

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Welcome home Tom. Glad you and Eddie made it back safe. Till the next adventure!

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Great write up Tom. While I as a reader was even frustrated with all the foot dragging from your pal . . . I'll state it takes courage (on his part) to throw in the towel especially so close to home.  One of the most important riding skills is to know ones own limits and be willing to listen to that inner voice.  Kudo's to him for giving it the effort to get on the bike and try to reignite the spark for riding with you.  Kudos to you for always being cool under pressure and keeping it about the people more so than the ride or the bikes.

It's a great story Tom, thanks for sharing.

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