2001 Adventurer

[devo]

Spot on. I have started using marine petrol in my bikes, lawn mowers, and other small engines. No ethanol in marine fuel.

Some years back when they dropped leaded gas here they were using tolulene to boost the octane, which was incompatible with my outboard, so I used to rock up at a private small air taxi at the local airport and buy a coupla hundred litres of avgas at a time.
Boat used to fly.

 

[CarlS]

I have used av gas, too. It is just not convenient for me to get it now. It does run well. We can also buy racing fuel at a few stations; that is what I run in my '68 Trophy.

 

[Death-Dude]

Well, at long last I got my bike back today. It was 7° F when I started my way back home - we had a snowstorm over the weekend, so finding a dry patch on the road was a trick, and I barely got it into 2nd gear! My helmet's wind shield kept freezing up, but my son was behind me with a warm car, so I was able to defrost it twice enroute. It cost me $750, they replaced the ridiculously expensive fuel tap, $137, plus $40 for the spacer, and a few bucks in seals. $47 for an air filter - entire assembly. I read in my manual, it states that an entire assembly replacement is required - no replacing the element. Still, I see K&N's out there for this bike, so do you ignore the shop manual, and just replace the inner element? Confused about that.
They had me for 6.5 hours of labor, at the "winter rate" of $50 per hour. He had $250 for 5 hours of one part of the service, and $125 for 1.5 hours (?). None of the guys who add up the bill strike me as guys who excelled in school core subjects. I think the guy multiplied it wrong, and I will go back to ask the manager about that, as well as the spacer charge, as they used my old one...hate to pay pure retail price for my own part!
He replaced an O-ring on the coolant pipe coming off the pump housing, several little O-rings in the carb assembly, and all the carb seals after cleaning.
We'll see what the seller wants to do toward making it right by me, but either way my bike has been gone through and put in good running order, and I'm very happy about that. I'll get a picture or two put up.

Thanks again to all who took time to give a helpful comment!

 

[Death-Dude]

They credited back $50 for the bad math. No help on them putting a $40 spacer on the tap, when they were supposed to use the old one. But it runs great, so I'm happy.

 

[devo]

Looking very very nice
Congrats on a great find.

 

[Rocky]

Lovely looking bike

 

[CarlS]

Mighty fine lookin' bike.

 

[Death-Dude]

Thanks, guys. On the left side shot you can see the salt on the tires; been so cold here, I haven't been able to take water to it properly. I've been getting everywhere I can with alcohol wipes, then wiped down the painted surfaces after with a clean rag. It's eating at me, so I plan to take soapy water to it tomorrow, and rinse it off with with a super soaker water gun, try to contain the mess since it's too cold to use the hose outside the garage. I can see salt in the radiator, near the bottom center. I'll read the manual and see it I can remove some of that chrome around it first, and get it all.

 

[Death-Dude]

Finally got it off 1209, a month after buying it!

 

[hemibee]

That's a good looking bike you have there.

 

[Death-Dude]

I used soapy water, squished it through the radiator, then used full hot water from the tap in the super soaker gun to rinse it - about 7 times. The gun was great for shooting the undersides of the fenders as well. Then I used the air compressor to blow out extra water in the radiator fins, with the heater blowing on it. a few hours of that, then I put a plain fan on it to try to fully dry it, while I when to a movie (new Hobbit movie, probably the best dragon I've yet seen). Now I need to top off the tank so it doesn't rust up again. The shop put some fuel stabilizer in it.
I think the mechanic is good, I trust him to do work that' beyond me, but I was slightly irked that he told me he'd use my fuel tap spacer, then didn't. I asked him why they bought a new when, when he'd told me he would use my old one, and he said, "I don't order the parts". Well, the hell you don't! He tells the "inside" guys (shop and dealership are separate, adjacent buildings) what he needs. So, I get a new $40 spacer when I didn't need one at all. I know it's not much, it's just not purely honorable to hang the charge on me when they ordered a part that wasn't needed.

Thanks for the nice comments, folks, I do love how it looks, and how it runs now. And, I more poignantly hate winter and cold weather than before even, if that's possible. I can shoot my bow in cold weather, but riding in sub-freezing is tough.