| Author | Message | ||
     Mark_weiss |
Every year, I volunteer to help out with the Arizona edition of the Ironman Triathlon. My normal task is to carry a videographer during the bike and run phase of the event. He/she carries a 30 lb video camera, does not sit too still, and spends much of ride seated facing backwards. It is a story unto itself... Meanwhile, This year I took the Ulysses. It was an exceptional rig for the bicycle phase of the triathlon. Upwind we moved at 18 mph, downwind at 39 mph. The last 26.2 miles is the marathon run. The rub here was that in first gear, the Uly idles at 9.8 mph (gps number) but the front runners are moving at mostly 8.2 mph. This makes for quite a challenge. The fan is running, the bike is lugging, and the clutch is being slipped or disengaged for most of 3-1/2 hours. Since the Ironman always causes the-first-hot-day-of-the-year, the Uly was running about as hot as I can imagine it getting. We seemed to mostly stay out of skip-spark mode, but the bike let me know that it was not happy with this job (neither have any of my other bikes). Nonetheless, we kept chugging along. After the leaders crossed the finish line (top 3 were within 1.5 minutes) I left to ride home. At this point it became apparent that something was wrong with the Ulysses. The bike was very rough running below 2000 rpm and idled as if a plug had fouled. I was tired, so rode home and parked. Monday's ride to work continued to manifest the same poor-running symptoms and I resigned myself to a spark plug change. Briefly after start-up, the engine light had flashed a few times, but then remained off. Notable however was the the bike seemed perfectly OK at 3,000 or above. The day's ride home showed continued rough running with the bike shaking and sputtering each time I slowed down. The next day I took the LONG way to work, about 40 highway miles, just to see if things would clear up a bit. They did. Completely Giving the bike a good long run at closed-loop pace completely cleared up the running problems that I'd experienced. Amazing. Mark in Arizona | ||
| Dldeano |
Was it struggling to turn over??? Could have been low voltage...and a long run let 'er recharge. My check Engine light blinked a few times for low voltage, and seemed prone to 'surging' in that period...tightened that battery terminals, rode a good few miles and it cleared up...over 2,000 miles ago, never returned. | ||
| Johnboy777 |
Wouldn't it be the AFV resetting itself after all of that funking operating you did?? . | ||
| Growl |
My Uly seems to build up a bit of carbon when run for long periods at low rpm. The symptom is that it will start to ping. But just a few miles of higher rpm running (3500 and up) clears it up... | ||
| Ulynut |
Now if those bald tires would heal themselves.... | ||
| Ft_bstrd |
Nothing like an "Italian Tune Up" to make your bike run right!  | ||
| Mark_weiss |
No voltage problems. The bike fired up without protest, just would not idle well or run smoothly, when under load at low rpm. Fuel mileage for the triathlon was 36 mpg. Could not make the whole event on one fill. A few miles into the run the warning light came on. I filled at mile 16, 4.25 gals & 151 miles. Mark in Arizona | ||
| Ft_bstrd |
Did it go into skip spark mode? | ||
| Mark_weiss |
I think that it may have, very briefly, shortly after leaving the triathlon. I was still in downtown Tempe, so slowly trolling through traffic. The bike was running quite roughly and I noted a strong smell of fuel. After a short run (a mile or so) at about 45 mph, the fuel smell was gone and the running was somewhat improved. It really took about 50 to 70 miles of freeway cruising before the bike had straightened itself out. When I refill the bike with fuel, I'll have an idea if it has returned to normal fuel consumption. Mark in Arizona | ||
| Gowindward |
If it goes into skip spark mode the check engine light flashes and you will not have any power. I had my bike do it a couple of times due to a faulty engine temp sensor. |
