| Author | Message | ||
     Road_thing |
I obviously incurred a massive karmic debt when I called Bomber up Thursday afternoon to rub in how beautiful our Texas weather was. Here's how it got paid off: I put the S2 back together Thursday evening. Looks pretty good if I say so myself (there's some hubris...).  Friday morning was another gorgeous day, so after a trip to town in the truck for ranchito supplies, I decided to take a little shakedown ride. The new motor, I bought from Fireman Jim Higgins is a dream, pulls like a train, smooth as silk, etc. etc. I ride about 10 miles before coming to a stop sign where I plan to turn right. As I make my turn, the back wheel spins and steps out into a 5 mph low-side that puts me right on my ass in front of the feed & seed store! As I'm scrambling to my feet feet, I'm thinking "Oh, shit, there goes my fresh paint..." I jump up and turn the bike off, then pull it back up onto its wheels and push it out of the road. Oil is pouring off the bottom of the motor. OK, so that's what put me down. Mirror's trashed, brake lever's missing the ball on the end, a little rash on the header and heat shield, but that's the extent of it! The paint's not scratched--S2's apparently crash pretty well! The culprit is a failed brass fitting on an oil drainback line that Nallin put on the motor when he built it. Apparently damaged in transit from Higgins to me, or during my installation, which kind of resembled a middle-aged guy mud-wrestling with a bunch of oily motorcycle parts on a bare concrete floor... A $2 item at the Home Depot. Shades of Andy Granatelli at Indy...  A guy on a BMW stopped to see if I was OK and the lady behind the counter at the feed & seed came out to check on me--there's good folks everywhere. I realize the damage is minor and I'm in one piece so I figure it's no good being bummed out on a beautiful day like this. I'll just call my wife and get her to bring the truck and pick me up, no problem. I get her on the phone, tell her what I need, and she says she'll be there in 15 minutes. Life is not perfect, but it could be a whole lot worse. And, in another 5 minutes, it gets worse. My phone rings, and it's my wife. She wants to know where my truck keys are. Silly girl, they're right where they belong, right here in my F*CKING POCKET!! No, she doesn't have a spare set (note to self: don't make that mistake again...) More good folks to rescue. One of the feed & seed customers overhears my plight and asks me where I live. "Just past Welcome, about 10 miles up the road," says I. "Well, I'm heading that way, I can give you a lift to the gravel road if that helps." Saved by the kindness of strangers! You bet it helps! From there, Mrs Thing can just motor down and pick me up in the Mule, I can hook up the trailer and run back to town for the bike and take it from there! While I'm sitting under a tree waiting for my bride to come rescue me, I'm smelling a zillion bluebonnets in bloom and enjoying the beautiful day.  I call the Fireman and tell him my story and we have a good laugh. Ah, ah, ah, not so fast there, Tom, you're not out of the woods yet... Back at the ranchito, I back the truck up to my trailer and walk around to hitch it up. Hm, where's the trailer hitch--in the bucket with the tie-downs and stuff? Nope. Under the seat? Nope. How about in my garage in Houston, 85 miles east of where I'm at right now?? Yeah, that figures--stuff happens in threes. First the low-side, then the key fiasco, now the trailer hitch. What the hell, it's only 15 miles to the Tractor Supply where they sell trailer hitches (and EZ-Outs for the busted fitting) so off I go. By now, my bum-o-meter has dropped into the danger zone, but I manage to buy the right size hitch and ball on the first try and finally recover my bike. At least there was cold beer at the ranchito. rt | ||
| Bake |
Lets see hmm, I got the bikes outta the basement and Pennys Sportster dry sumped, a float must be stuck on my Laverda and it pissed gas all over the garage plus the battery is toast and I found out my Buell ownership is lost. All cured now except the Laverda's woes (which can wait a week or two) I did get some awesome dirty bikeing in and got the first seaon ride on the Buell | ||
| Wolfridgerider |
 (Message edited by wolfridgerider on April 08, 2007) | ||
| Oldog |
I'm glad that it was not worse Thing, and lovely flowers / paint Thanks for sharing. | ||
| Mortarmanmike120 |
Glad you eventually made it with your sanity intact. That is a beautiful bike btw. | ||
| Buellgirlie |
rt - glad you're ok! thanks for the laugh and the puuurty bluebonnet pic  my weekend? thursday - zhengzhou, china friday - nanning, china saturday - shanghai, china sunday - chicago, IL a bit busy! but i'm back in the states for a few days/weeks. D | ||
| Glitch |
Karmic Burn to be sure. Glad everything worked out well. You must have had some Karmic Surplus since the new paint didn't get scuffed! | ||
| Spiderman |
Had a similar weekend too, without the boom boom, Glad you're OK! | ||
| Swampy |
Mine was Great! It was the first time in my entire life I took my entire family, Wife, Daughter 30, Sons 20 and 16, to the movies to watch Wild Hogs! We have never gone to the theater together as a family before. The weather was so crappy this weekend I just stayed inside and hibernated. It was colder with more snow resurrection Sunday than it was Christmas day, Global warming....yeah right! Buellgirlie...how does you venture go? | ||
| Bomber |
me, I just hung out in the garage, basking in the glow of the space heater, watching the flurries, checking the piston to valve clearance with Bazooka Joe Bubble gum -- Brer Tom -- I'm thinkin you've cleared THAT particular Karmic Debt ;-} next, of course, comes the punishment for Hubris! Keep your head down! | ||
| Ulywife |
Silly girl, they're right where they belong, right here in my F*CKING POCKET!! I think we've all done that! Amazing how everything gets a duplicate in the house after that! Glad it all turned out OK - love the pictures of the bluebonnets. | ||
| Court |
>>>At least there was cold beer at the ranchito. I'm guessing that, at this point "how cold?" was no longer a factor . . . Glad you and bike are unscathed. Photos, bike and flowers, along with the words will make my day. Too cool. I shot an intruder in the yard carrying a basket yesterday and am spending the day picking pick fur out of everything. | ||
| Road_thing |
Thanks all! Upon further inspection and cogitation it appears that my broken fitting was the result of the muffler hitting it as it vibrated and moved around under the bike. In other words, self-induced failure due to lack of attention during assembly! I'm re-thinking this whole muffler scenario... Dora-sounds like you're staying busy, hope you're enjoying the new gig. rt | ||
| CJXB |
Great story, beautiful flowers, and glad it wasn't any worse !! Your positive attitude in the face of adversity is an inspiration to me!! Yes, crabby, cranky, me !! | ||
| Firemanjim |
Maybe a well placed massage with a body hammer to adjacent area of muffler? I ran race pipe/can so never experienced said scenario. Course,if you want to blame the former owner, he's not near enough to object---  | ||
| Road_thing |
Ah, yes it must be the DPO, that smoky-smellin' SOB! Jim, the contact point is, unfortunately, right on the end cap, so hammer-clearancing doesn't look like a good option. However, I'm running an automotive Supertrapp on my S1 w/race pipe--you know, the kinda cone-shaped one? Looks like it oughta swap right out onto the S2, that'll give me maybe a half-inch of clearance. Oughta be plenty-if my pipe's moving around that much, maybe I need to re-think my mounting set-up! rt | ||
| Jb2 |
Sorry about your luck Tom but your story is Cooler Than Hell !  | ||
| Road_thing |
Thanks, RayB2! But the luck is mostly good: no damage to me, minimal damage to bike, an my shiny new paint is still all shiny & new... Life is good! rt | ||
| Firemanjim |
You probably needed to change that oil anyway-----  | ||
| Road_thing |
What?? You mean you sold me a motor that requires maintenance?? I want my money back!! rt ...pulled the S1 muffler last night, put the S2 race can on. I'll put the 'trapp on the S2 this weekend and all will be right with the world! | ||
| Firemanjim |
Well,you gonna have to go to Wisconsin and pry it away from Bri if you want it back---it's been long gone from my poor wallet. Heck,I need that much and more again. | ||
| Bomber |
As the Buell Turns . . . . . stay tuned for more developments | ||
| Xbullet |
RT -- beautiful. the red on white looks classy and fast (think emerson fitipaldi circa 1983. not him, just the car.) i have pictures of my weekend, but i don't think i can post them. they'd probably shut us down, and she might get mad at me.... (Message edited by xbullet on April 10, 2007) | ||
| Cityxslicker |
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gG76ftSFOcg Ridin in the mud and dirt hard pack. Rain just means there is some slippery stuff up in the hills |
