Movember/blog post every day/busy travel month ends with neither a bang nor a whimper

It's almost 11PM on November 30th.  So November ends, meaning three things are past:

1.  "Mo"vember, where Mo Bros grow mustaches in support of men's health.  I participated this year for the first time.
2. NaBloPoMo is ending, where you post a blog entry every day.  Counting tonight's post, I think I only missed two days, but I am too tired to count them up from two blogs.  Some posts are pretty lame-maybe three sentences, but I did reach a few milestones.  I also got 300-400 v@mp!re hits (fellow bloggers will know what I mean, and I don't want to spell it in case their crawlers picks it up).  I did decide to start a third blog reviving some writing I did a few years ago but saved it for later.
3.  A month where I spent three weeks (save two days after the first trip) on the road for work.  This really cut into my riding, but for the days I was home I averaged 30 miles per day, which is more than usual.  I also got some major preventative maintenance done to both bikes yesterday (which was Friday's and yesterday's NaBloPoMo posts!)

So tomorrow AM, I shave off the Mo, ride the Sportster to the San Diego Toy Run and start accumulating mileage for December.  Good night, blogosphere.

Marathon Motorcycle Maintenance Session completed

Instead of participating in the Black Friday craziness, I was able to get some overdue maintenance work done on both the Harley-Davidson Sportster and the Kawasaki Concours.

The Sportster simply got an oil change, which is pretty straightforward.  Since it's a 1999 Sportster, draining the oil is done by removing a hose that runs to a plug that is part of the frame.  Yes, this struck me as odd the first time I changed the oil, but now I can get to it, loosen the hose clamp and get the oil draining in about two minutes.  I've never learned why they did this, as most other Harley's have drain plugs or a fitting on the oil tank or engine to drain the oil.  I didn't clean the K&N air filter like I normally do every oil change as it's been cool and rainy today and I wasn't sure it would dry.

I had a slew of projects to do on the Kawasaki Concours, which I prepped for by removing the main fairing last night.  I planned on changing the radiator coolant and adjusting the steering head bearing, but I realized it would also be good to change the oil as it was time for that too.  I had one more Connie filter and what I thought would be enough 20w50 oil.  Well, each piece of motorcycle maintenance on the Connie ran into some issues.  First, the tube connecting the bottom of the radiator to the water pump on my Connie doesn't have a drain plug-I don't know what year they added this.   I pulled the hose off the water pump inlet pipe, which worked but also sprayed fluild everywhere.  The rest of this project was uneventful.  Unfortunately my spanner wrench isn't the right size for the bearing nut and it wouldn't stay engaged and turn the nut the 1/8th a turn I needed.  So I tightened everything back up, and know what wrench I'm buying as a stocking stuffer for my own stocking!  The oil change went without a hitch-internal oil filters are a mess, so I'm definitely going for a SPOOFAK on my next Connie.  I was about 1/2 quart short on oil so I'm picking some up tomorrow then finishing re-installing all the trim pieces and inner fairings and taking the bike out for a test ride.

So all in all a productive day with small frustrations-like having to zip-tie the right rear fairing bracket back together as I plan a permanent fix.  Ah the joy of having old bikes!

Preparing for motorcycle maintenance projects turned into another project

Tonight I began removing parts from the Connie for some overdue motorcycle maintenance.  I need to adjust the steering head bearings, change the radiator fluid and do an oil change.  I'm holding off getting a SPOOFAK, but have everything else I need.

I started removing parts, getting the seat and tank off easily and then starting on the fairing.  First, the service manual I have (Clymer's I think) mixes the steps for the 1986-1993 models and the 1994-2006 models.  I probably didn't need to remove the windscreen for example.  Oh well.  The biggest issue was when I finally got ready to loosen the main fairing bracket mounting bolts only to find the right back bracket is cracked off.  No actual mounting being accomplished by that part!  It has already cracked and was way over welded during a previous repair.  This leaves me very few options.  I may just have to jury-rig something to get the bike back together.

I'll update the blog tomorrow with the status of these maintenance items and maybe even shoot a YouTube video for my channed.

Forgot my own mantra: Start simple when troubleshooting

Two days ago I took the Concours/Connie out for my first ride on it in two weeks.  I had traveled for work all but about 8 hours since Veterans Day, and had ridden the Harley-Davidson Sportster Sunday.  So Monday morning I knew the Connie would be hard to start,  but it was really slow to start and idle.  I had remembered I was running the fuel low for a set of motorcycle maintenance tasks that require pulling the tank, but I didn't realize how low it was.  This condition was augmented by two weeks of evaporation out of said nearly empty tank.

So first the bike doesn't want to start, which I chalk up to an older and cold battery.  Then it starts smoking a bit, which scares me, as the oil leaks have gotten a bit worse lately.  Well, the bike isn't making much power +a bit extra smoke, so now I'm getting paranoid.  This is exactly how the old custom Harley with a Rev-Tech motor went south on me.  When the bike won't get over 3K RPM, I pull into a parking lot with lots of oil on the lower end and the header pipes.  I shut the bike down and put it on the kickstand and make a few phone calls rescheduling some appointments.  At the end of the call, there isn't a huge pool of oil, so I decide to try to fire the bike back up.  It starts and runs pretty well-which should have clued me in.

I make it about 2 miles when it starts cutting out again.  Pre-occupied with what could be going on in the engine I miss what is truly going on, and you are liking thinking.  I push it into a gas station parking lot....and buy 2 gallons of gas.  Runs pretty well and today I filled up with fresh gas.  Yep, bike runs fine-still has the oil leaks, needs some maintenance, but went over 89,500 miles on the odometer with no signs of the engine having true issues.  Yep, needlessly paniced when putting the bike on reserve would have solved the problem.

Live and learn, and never forget your own frailty.

Let's go racing-WERA schedule posted!

WERA has posted their updates schedule and there are big changes to the WERA-WEST "rotation".  Many more races at Auto Club Speedway and while the season kicks off and ends at Las Vegas as it has most recently, there isn't a true winter race at ACS.  The first Fontana round is in April.  There will be trackdays and racer schools associated with most these race weekends I'm pretty sure.

Looks good to race CVMA then go right into WERA-West competition and then back.  CVMA schedule linked in my post on that series' schedule.