Gary
Member
Cranked up the bike Saturday for a late afternoon ride. The bike warmed up OK, but didn't want to idle smoothly. Anyway, after donning the Jacket, helmet and gloves and mounting the bike it seemed that all I could hear was the right side exhaust. I attributed it to old age and going deaf faster in the left ear than the right.
So I pulled on out slowly on my long gravel driveway to the highway on which I live. I turned out onto the driveway and gunned it, and instead of having to lean forward to avoid a wheelie, I found myself feeling like I was back in the early '60's on a Honda 50.
Yep, one clyinder was dead to the world.
I turned around and went back to the garage and went back through the undressing routine (at this time I would be tempted to chuck the jacket and helmet, but the temp is in the mid-50s and its just too cool now to ride without them).
I left the bike running and checked the left side muffler, only slightly warm compared to the hot right side, but there seemed to be good compression.
Not wanting to spend half an hour to pull and clean the left carb, I took the path of least resistance; I popped out the left NGK and slid in a new one in about 2 minutes. Restarted the bike and was transported back to the present.
This time when I got back to the highway, I was on my rocketship again.
Sometimes, I miss having a bike with a 150hp in line 4, but then I think I am really too old for that now. Maybe not, but I sure as hell would be a danger to myself on one, and maybe that's reason enough. Does anyone make a 150 hp bike with standard ergos anymore? My shoulders and back are way too bad to sit on a sportbike like a frog.
So I pulled on out slowly on my long gravel driveway to the highway on which I live. I turned out onto the driveway and gunned it, and instead of having to lean forward to avoid a wheelie, I found myself feeling like I was back in the early '60's on a Honda 50.
Yep, one clyinder was dead to the world.
I turned around and went back to the garage and went back through the undressing routine (at this time I would be tempted to chuck the jacket and helmet, but the temp is in the mid-50s and its just too cool now to ride without them).
I left the bike running and checked the left side muffler, only slightly warm compared to the hot right side, but there seemed to be good compression.
Not wanting to spend half an hour to pull and clean the left carb, I took the path of least resistance; I popped out the left NGK and slid in a new one in about 2 minutes. Restarted the bike and was transported back to the present.
This time when I got back to the highway, I was on my rocketship again.
Sometimes, I miss having a bike with a 150hp in line 4, but then I think I am really too old for that now. Maybe not, but I sure as hell would be a danger to myself on one, and maybe that's reason enough. Does anyone make a 150 hp bike with standard ergos anymore? My shoulders and back are way too bad to sit on a sportbike like a frog.
