The ramblings of mgdavis

[Scoutmedic]

Welcome Back!

[mgdavis]

I've put about 60 miles on the Honda so far. After that first day she was running decently, enough that I was confident enough to make a trip to work, one day, and a run to a motorcycle dealer yesterday.
The trip to the dealer was mostly 60mph highway riding, 10 miles round trip. The bike seemed to run well on the way out once it warmed up. When I took the exit I needed, she stalled out as I dropped into first gear and coasted to a stop at a red light. She fired up immediately when I hit the starter, then promptly died when I let go of the throttle. I cranked her up once more, this time tickling the throttle to keep rpm's up. I made it where I was headed, the engine died when I got off throttle in the parking lot.
I went inside and did my thing, which happened to be exchanging defective Fieldsheer "Booster" pants. When I got back out after 45 minutes or so the engine was still being balky, refusing to run without the throttle applied. I got back on the freeway and headed home. I was about to maintain 60-70 mph easily for about 7 miles, at which point I realized a 70 mph cruise was becoming a 60 mph struggle. My engine was loosing serious power. Even with a downshift to fourth there was not enough grunt at 5500 rpm to accelerate at 55-60 mph. Very disconcerting.
We made it another mile or so to my exit. Luckily it is not heavily used, as the engine stalled out at the top of the off-ramp. I waddled off to the left shoulder and waved the truck behind me to go around. I managed to get things lit back up in fairly short order. The engine was running very roughly at this point, it would bog heavily to about 3000 rpms, then start pulling more. I noticed very non-linear throttle response.
I got it home, it stalled out as I coasted into my spot. Later I was able to start it, the engine refused to idle. I have a "Schedule C" (goddam expensive) service set for Tuesday morning at the local Honda dealer. This includes a carb sync and balance which, hopefully, will cure my problems. I'm truly dreading the ride to the dealer. I've got my fingers crossed that the bike doesn't decide to give up halfway there, leaving me stranded on the shoulder of the highway.

[Scoutmedic]

Dang, that sucks. Good Luck with your ride to the dealer. Hope all goes well.

[mgdavis]

I wound up getting help from a friend and putting the bike into my truck for the trip into the dealership yesterday. It's probably a good thing I didn't try to ride, I cranked it up before taking it into the dealer and the engine sounded truly disgusting. I heard knocking from the transmission or bottom-end. It sounded expensive. I really hope this doesn't wind up costing too many hundreds of dollars. Dammit.
On a related note, I scheduled my service for Tuesday a few days before-hand. I showed up ten minutes before they opened. As I was shaking hands with the guy at the service desk he mentioned that they might not finish that day, as they were still a little backed up from Saturday. I was a little irritated, as I have to work Wednesday and Thursday. I called this morning (Wednesday) on the way to work and found out that they hadn't so much as laid a finger on my bike yet. I'm starting to get rather annoyed. They also charged me an extra $30 for the "Sportbike" service, as opposed to the "V-Twin/Touring" service. I'm assuming this is for removing the fairings on sportbikes, a feature mine most definitely lacks. At the moment I'm not very happy with the Service Department at The Brothers Honda.

[Shorts]

Eeesssh! Typical dealership service let down. Keep fingers crossed that once they actually do touch the bike it gets done quicker than expected.

I didn't know you had the sportbike option package

[mgdavis]

Right now it's 5:30, I'm pretty sure they close at 6:00. I haven't heard a thing from them on either my cell or work phone. I'm going to be pissed if this "3.5 hour" service isn't finished today. A little bit of communication on their part would do wonders for this customer's satisfaction.

[mgdavis]

It's 4:50 on Thursday afternoon. I hadn't heard anything back about my bike so I just called the dealer. I spoke to a very nice Gentleman who said that my bike was currently up on the rack, and was being worked on. He said it should be ready Friday at some point. I intentionally came across as rather disgruntled on the phone, making some noise about poor communication. He was apologetic enough to mostly appease me. I believe he may have been management, he stated that he didn't work for service but was just assisting because they were swamped. I wish I'd gotten his name.
I'm still rather upset that my bike wasn't touched until (apparently) Thursday afternoon, when I had made a Tuesday morning appointment. I told him that while I understood that delays happen I would have appreciated some contact. I was promised a phone call as soon as it was done Friday. We'll see how I feel after I go in to pay and pick it up.

[mgdavis]

I got my bike back this afternoon. It's still in the back of my truck at the moment, as I was called into work before my girlfriend got home to help me unload it. I did start it, it runs a thousand percent better than it did before. It wound up costing about $425, I got a bottle of "Ring Free" at the same time. All said, it was money well spent, they did several things that needed doing aside from the carbs.
I talked to the guy at the counter about the lack of contact, he was apologetic and said he would work on it in the future. He seemed sincere, so I didn't make to much fuss about it. Now I can't wait till we get a dry day so I can go ride some more. I'll probably start commuting on it next week.

[Flesher]

I read your whole blog over the last couple days, glad to hear your bike is running so much better. Be sure to post once you have a chance to ride (I know you will - lol), I'm anxious to hear how much better it feels compared to how it was. Take care...

[Shorts]

Glad to hear its been taken care of and back in your hands. You'll definitely feel goood when you go for ride.

[mgdavis]

I rode in to work this morning. The bike felt good. I think they put a few more pounds of pressure in the tires, the bike really wanted to turn in quick. It's possible I've been running to little air, my gauge is old and beat up. The engine was responding and accelerating well.
I made a noob mistake this morning, tried to start the bike with my kill switch set "off". I was getting frustrated till I noticed, then it fired right up when I fixed it.
On the negative side: at some point on the way to work the engine decided to start "idling" at 3000rpm. I don't make many stops on the way so I didn't notice till I was just about there. The throttle doesn't seem to be stuck, neither does the choke. I'll put a post up on the tech forum, if it's not incredibly simple I'm going back to the dealership and making them fix it.
The gear I picked up last week is working well. My Cortech pants cut the wind well. My Joe Rocket "Highside" gloves feel nice and are slightly warmer than my el-cheapo Firstgear gloves. I plan on wearing my Seirus chin warmer on the way home, my face was freezing this morning.

[mgdavis]

Got the high idle fixed. Brothers Honda was very helpful, they fixed the issue promptly and free. The bike is much nicer to ride now, I don't feel like I am deafening the people behind and next to me at red lights. I do have a sneaking suspicion that the engine might not catch and warm up quite so nicely when cold now. We'll see about that when I go home tonight.

[mgdavis]

I forgot to write in my earlier post that I rolled the odometer past 11,000 miles this morning. It works out to about 393 miles a year for the last 28 years. I wonder how many years it spent sitting in garages.

[Shorts]

What was the reason for the high idle that they found?

[mgdavis]

The guy that helped me said "there might have been some crud that got blown out after they worked on it". I think that the original adjustments were made while the engine was not fully warm. I wasn't there to see things happen either time, so it's just guessing on my part. I'm assuming there is an idle adjustment control somewhere that I am not aware of.

[mgdavis]

Running Ring-Free through the bike right now, trying to get all the carbon and varnish blown out of the engine and carbs. Turned the fuel in my tank a weird milky color. The weather is finally nice, hopefully I don't have to use my truck much for the next few months.

[mgdavis]

Two things that were semi blog-worthy happened yesterday.
First, I figured out how to adjust the idle speed on my engine. Black plastic knob underneath and between the carbs, I feel kinda stupid for not seeing it before.
The other thing, I made a quick downshift into second so I could make a turn. I didn't blip the throttle and match revs like I should have, which caused the back tire to get squirrelly for a split second when I dropped the clutch. Something I need to keep in mind. That is all.

[mgdavis]

It was windy this morning when I was riding in to work. I was drifting all over the road. There was also all sorts of crap on the road and in the air from trees. I'm glad I was wearing a full-face helmet, as I caught five or six chunks of falling crap across the visor.
I figured out that if I tighten the velcro cuffs of my riding pants all the way they won't ride up my calves. It looks goofy as hell, but it's better than cold ankles. Who rides to look good anyways?

[mgdavis]

I have gotten over 5,000 hits on this blog now. I'm really impressed, especially because only like half of them are from me.

This morning was amazing. It was really hard to park and get off at work, I just wanted to keep going.

I've been re-evaluating my next potential bike. I've been wanting an SV650 badly for several years. Now I'm thinking that a V-Strom 650 might be more appropriate for the type of riding that I do. Mostly I commute and ride around town. I've got big ol' chicken strips, I wouldn't outride the DL650. If my bike was reliable I'd do some day trips. I would like the windscreen and bags. I love the look of nakeds, but I need some more practicality. The V-Strom is a bit more expensive according to MSRP, but not by that much.
This is still all theoretical at this point, maybe I'll try to convince my girlfriend that I need a new bike before we get trucks. Hmmm, my F150 gets 17 mpg, the V-Strom gets about 50. I wonder how long it would take me to recoup my money. I could sell my CB750 also to get some additional funds. Hmmm....

[AZRider]

Just finished reading. I enjyoed it. You have a good looking bike. I have always liked the old CB750s Had a 78 super sport for a short time. I really wish I had another one. Those inline 750s had a very distinct sound,I really liked. Also, those were the bikes that REALLY pissed off the harley guys.