Pullshocks’ 61st birthday tour on a 28 year old motorcycle (long)

[pullshocks]

Early this year some friends started talking about a motorcycle trip from Seattle to Sana Fe starting out on July 2, my 61st birthday.  One other guy and myself decided to go along for the first 2 days, getting to southern Oregon and looping back through eastern Oregon.  I was really excited to be celebrating my birthday on my first overnight motorcycle trip.  Even better, my son Jeremy decided to go along.



My Vision had been running quite well on the last ride of 2010, and I had done "most" of the standard fixes, so I had no hesitation in committing to the trip.  I knew the fork seals were leaking, and had ruined the front brake pads, so that needed to be put right, and  I also ordered up a set of roller head bearings.  Since the fork needed to be taken apart, I decided to spring for the Race Tech cartridge emulators and heavier springs.  Although this turned out to be a good upgrade, it did introduce some delays.

Luggage was another issue.  I spent a lot of time coming up with a home made rack, and bracket to relocate the turn signals.  I wish I had known that a real luggage rack would become available on the ROV swap shop just in time for the trip.  As it turned out, the 2 or 3 weekends I spent on the DIY rack would have been much better spent focusing on the engine...

Ahhh, the engine.  With about 2 weeks to go, it had not been started for several months, while the other work progressed (I also had some other household projects that I needed to work on).  The plan was to do a quick synch and mixture check, and then ride down to John Clemens' shop north of Portland, and have him help me get the valves adjusted.   This is where things started to get off track.  The bike wouldn't start, an obvious case of gunked up carbs.  I know how to deal with it, and it started right up when I'm done.  But a precious day had been lost, and time was getting short.  

Remember how I said I had done "most" of the standard fixes?  One thing I had not done was the starter oil seal......3 guesses what the gremlins had in store for me next!  Instead of riding to John's house, I pulled the starter.  I sourced a new oil seal in town, but the brushes were apparently too far gone, as the starter didn't work when re-installed.  I ordered one of the E-bay starter rebuild kits, with expected delivery on Thursday.  Recognizing that I was cutting it pretty close here, I e-mailed my riding partners to let them know I may have to scrub.  After the initial frustration, it dawned on me that it was a lot better to have the problem crop up now, than in the middle of the trip. At least the time consuming part of the starter rebuild was done.  

Things started to look up on Thursday.  The kit came in on time, the starter worked, and I rode to the gas station.  After filling up up the tank, I go only a slow cranking, and had to do a bump start.  I attributed this to a run down battery and decided it would be a good idea to replace it.  Good move, as the battery tested bad when I took it in.  Amazing that it lasted that long, as it was the same battery that was in the bike when I got it 4 years ago, and it hadn't exactly been pampered before that.

On Friday, I got the new battery installed and start packing.  In my burst of enthusiasm for the trip I didn't verify that the battery solved the problem, and didn't do the carb synch.  I did pack a good load of tools, supplies, and spare parts, including a fresh Tim Parrot stator.  But I forgot to bring any spare fuel filters, spark plugs, or a spark plug socket.  And I didn't even think of bringing my carb synch u-tube gauge.  Too bad.

The group was supposed to meet at 7:00AM on Saturday, and I was bringing the day 1 route maps.  One problem—the starter sounded  just like it did at the gas station.  Defective battery?  I quickly hooked up some jumper cables.  No improvement, and the jumper cables were hot to the touch, so I realized I still had starter problems.  With a heavy heart, I grabbed my maps, and headed for the meet up spot... in the minivan to see the group off.



My riding partners encouraged me to try to solve the problem and take a shorter route to our first overnight stop in Hood River, Oregon.  What a great group.  Fortunately, Seattlevision from the Riders of Vision forum had a used starter for sale, so I was actually able to get a functioning starter installed, and head out about 2:00PM.  The weather was beautiful, our first warm day this year.  Things were looking up!
The ride began with the 3000 foot climb up I-90 to Snoqualmie Pass.  As I reached the pass, warm turned to hot, probably well into the 90s.  I was noticing a gasoline smell, so I pulled into the little town of Cle Elum.  Looking down, there was gas pouring from the carbs down onto the engine case.  It is a miracle the bike didn't catch on fire.  The flow stopped when I turned the engine is off, so I knew the problem was somewhere downstream from the petcock.

After removing the tank and air box, I could see that the leak is coming from the rear carburetor fuel return hose.  Not a problem I had ever experienced before,  but with the hot weather and 10% ethanol fuel, it made sense that the rubber would soften up.  Fortunately, the original t-shape tube from the fuel pump to the carbs was unaffected.  Wisely, I had brought a length of good fuel injection hose, and cut a new piece for the rear carb.  The heat must have been affecting my brain, because I didn't even think of replacing the front piece at the same time.  Worse yet, I came up with the idea that I should adjust the rear carb fuel float.  What was I thinking?  

The bike started, and I could it get up to highway speed, but it was running like crap.  There I was, 85 miles into a 1000+ mile trip.  I decided to go for it.  

On the interstate, and on Route 97, speeds can be kept pretty steady, and the runability problems seemed manageable.  Turning onto the much twistier route 142 it gotmore problematic, with poor idling, stumbling acceleration, and bucking with the throttle backed off.  Even so, the roads were great, and traffic light, and I began to enjoy the ride.   I reached Hood River just in time to join the group for dinner.  Scott, Jaz, Bill, Jan, Jeremy and I had a great meal, and spirits were high.  I finally felt the ride was happening.

The second day's route took us from the Columbia River to Bend, Crater Lake and on to Klamath Falls.  The long climb and straight roads through central Oregon let me keep a steady throttle, and the Vision seemed to do fine under those conditions.  When we reached Crater Lake (elevation 7000 ft.), things got worse in a hurry in the slow tourist traffic.  The engine died frequently, and the stumble was worse than ever.  The only way to get going from a stop was to rev up over 3000 rpm and really slip the clutch.  It was impossible to ride smoothly, and it was a big relief to finally pull into the motel parking lot and hit the kill switch that evening.

I had developed real doubts about whether I'd be able to continue the trip, but while the others went to dinner, I tore into the Vision one more time.  Sure enough, I could see leakage from the front fuel return hose, though not to the same extent as the first day.  Considering how much worse the bike was running, it seemed hard to believe that was the explanation, but after  I put things back together, I'll be bleeped if it didn't start right up and idle.  Still not running great, and still hard to deal with stop lights and stop signs, but at least it was back to being what we might call "barely rideable." Too bad I didn't change both hoses that first day, but taking things apart again did give me an opportunity to bend the the float back to where it had been originally.  At this point I was really wishing I had a way to check carburetor synch, and I think I will add that to my tool kit if and when I take another trip on the Vision.

Day 3 of the trip was the split off point for Jan, Jaz, and Scott, now joined by his son Hayden and friends.  Bill, Jeremy, and I wished them well as they headed southeast toward Lake Tahoe.  For our part, we headed east on route 140 for the 90 mile ride to Lakeview.  Make that 90 miles of pure twisty motorcycle heaven.  Jeremy's memory may be colored slightly by an expensive conversation he got to have with the Lake County Sheriff, but that was some pretty sweet road, with very little traffic.



In Lakeview we turned north on Route 395, past Alkali Lake, and through the high desert, and another great twisty segment descending into the small city of John Day.  We capped off a great day of riding with sweet potato fries and excellent burgers at the Outpost Café, and looked forward to more to come the next day, with Bill continuing up 395, and Jeremy and I on a more meandering route recommended by Rider magazine a few years ago.





Bill is a guy who likes to get going early, and with 400 miles ahead, this was no day to make an exception.  By pulling out bright and early as he did, he was spared the agony of seeing Jeremy's voltage regulator go up in smoke.  The stator must have gone out late the previous day, as the battery was down to under 6 volts.  Glad it didn't happen in the middle of the desert.

John Day, OR would not appear to be the optimum place to have a motorcycle  break down.  No Honda dealer, or any other motorcycle-specific shop anywhere near.  But there is a Polaris dealer in town, with big-hearted owners and staff that helped Jeremy get a new stator and regulator overnighted in, and let him use their shop and equipment.  So what felt at first like a disaster, turned into just an extra night in a pretty small town, more sweet-potato fries, and a chance for me to explore some more of the roads east of town.  You have to watch out for cows on the roads, but there is a lot of motorcycle enjoyment to be had in Grant County, Oregon.  

As I pulled back into town from my exploration, the Vision had one last curveball to throw at me----two of the little half-moon shaped rubber pieces in the front valve cover gasket popped out, and oil started spewing everywhere.   I hate to think how it would have gone if that happened in the desert, but this was about 2 blocks from the motel, so I just hit the kill switch and pushed it back to the parking lot.  

Gasket popout is not something that I have ever seen on the Riders of Vision technical forum, and I have to confess, I was kind of freaked out by this, fearing that it must be caused by some new oil system problem.  I actually called my insurance company to inquire about my breakdown coverage, and found out that my policy covers towing to "the nearest qualified repair facility." I didn't reach the point of asking what they would consider the nearest qualified repair facility for a 1983 Yamaha Vision, but I think that might have been an interesting discussion.  I also gave serious consideration to getting a U-haul, or even abandoning the bike there in eastern Oregon.

At this point, the gremlins were probably breaking out the cigars and champagne, thinking they had me beaten.  Fortunately, I had one last ace up my sleeve--John Clemens' number in my cell phone.     He assured me he had solved much worse problems with fewer resources on his trip to South America, and suggested that I loosen the valve cover bolts, clean things with solvent, and gasket seal the pieces back in place.   For good measure, I wrapped some tie wire around the cylinder head, to restrain the rubber pieces, as suggested by my son.

Between those two measures , I was successful in keeping the oil inside the engine for the last 500 miles, which Jeremy and I covered in about 9.5 hours.  As the saying goes, all's well that ends well.  I wouldn't mind having a few do-overs , but I'm glad to have done this trip, and had a great time overall.  Thanks to my wife Louise for her encouragement and support, and to Jeremy, Scott, Bill, Jaz, Jan, Hayden, Jason, Steven,   the folks at John Day Polaris, the hardware store owner, and the woman in John Day who stopped and offered me a ride when I was carrying a jug of oil out to Jeremy.

Post script 1:  Yes, the carbs were out of sync, but there is something else going on too  Still bucking and surging, like one cylinder is cutting in and out.

Post script 2:  I just realized I could have easily bought some tubing, ATF, and a yardstick at any of our stops and made the classic DIY gauge.  Really wish I had thought of that at the time

[Night Vision]

great write up! and a superb job with all the field repairs!

[Tiger]

 :) Confessions of a Visionary road trip  ;D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D... ;)

As you said...'All's well that ends well'. Man and machine back home with no ill effects and a better understanding of his ride. A great read...

Belated HAPPY BIRTHDAY... 8)

                 8) ....... TIGER ....... 8)

[johnclemens]

Good story.
Glad you stuck it out.

Adventures sometimes suck while your having them...
Its only later they become good stories.

[don_vanecek]

Nice story, nice pictures, hopefully.......I will not have any of your problems when I take about a 1000 mile or so trip to western NE in about 2 and 1/2 weeks. I will give her an oil change and check her over this week end but she has been running just fine so far this summer.

[kev10104]

Awesome trip with some inventive repairs.Doesn't get any better.

[VisionSeattle]

Amazing story!

[spectre]

Haha cool story, it's amazing how quickley things turn around :)
J ust wondering, is your sons bike a ninja 636?

[pullshocks]

Jeremy's bike is a 93 Honda CBR990RR.  He welded up the cargo boxes and headlight bracketry

[munkyfistfight]

Great story, great pictures, and Happy Birthday. Death to the Gremlins!

[js9_20]

Good story.
Glad you stuck it out.

Adventures sometimes suck while your having them...
Its only later they become good stories.

I 2nd that!  .. And great memories, too.

[akvision]

A very good story.. and memories..

I just passed through John Day, OR and the road is great.  Highway 26 runs all the way to Portland.  And yes cows and sheep on the road way remind you to not out ride your braking distance.. as I met a few sheep and a brown bossy in the middle of the road and wondered what I was.. My buddy on a Road King was what scared her off with a twist of the throttle..

I guess  Gertie,,the Beemer was just too soft hearted and not noisy enough to command the brown cow to move out of the centerline.

We rode from Denver on Highway40 to route 26 and up to Seattle.  Gertie is in mothballs in Puyallup,WA.

Your trip reminds me of some issues experienced on a trip from Denver to Chillocothe, MO.  The will I make it to my destination issues and the adventures of problem solving.   Repaw's Buell ran perrrfect.
It p.ssed me off, and I was jealous.

In the end, the trip memories are worth every moment of effort.

akvision