Pre-Flight Tests: winter motorcycle maintenance

Ignore the giant pile of snow outside!  It's actually supposed to go above zero this week.  One way or another I'll be on two wheels in the next five days!  Next week there's 30cms of snow coming, but there is an opening in the never-ending Canadian winter of COVID and I intend to take it!

With everything back in place, the Tiger came off the bike stand for the first time since December and the wheels didn't fall off, so that's a win.  I'd hoped to start it and test how everything went back together but the new battery is taking a while to charge.

Last summer I purchased a new battery for the Tiger but it didn't come for the better part of 3 months and I didn't want to activate it when the bike was about to be parked for four months, so it's been sitting in the front hall in the box.  I put the acid in it today and got it charging.

The acid installation is pretty straightforward.  They give you the liquid in a series of attached sealed plastic tubes and you simply 'inject' them into the top of the battery and let them drain over 20 minutes.  You then use the provided caps to seal the battery.

Tomorrow will be motor tests on both bikes and then a short ride with each (I hope) to shake down any issues.  The Tiger was down to its nuts and bolts this winter so I want to make sure everything is tight and together before I put any serious mileage on it.

The Honda has been cleaned and covered since its last ride in November, so it should be ready to go.  The battery's been on the trickle charger inside all winter.  One way or another I'll be out on a bike this week.  It feels like finally being able to take a breath after four months of holding it.

TIGER WINTER MAINTENANCE:

• New indicators that suit the bike better (tougher metal construction too)
• Chassis taken down to nuts and bolts for a complete service
• New HEL brake lines
• Flushed brakes
• New Michelins installed (myself!)
• Fuel Injectors cleaned
• Fork oil changed
• Cosmetic repairs

FIREBLADE WINTER MAINTENANCE:

• oil change
• everything cleaned
• deep carb cleaning (with disassembly)
• battery tending inside over the winter
• throw a blanket on it

2021 Motorcycle Wish List

2021 Jeep WRANGLER 4XE UNLIMITED RUBICON 4XE  $Sixty-Grand

The new hybrid Wrangler Jeep manages to get 50mpg while also being able to run entirely off battery for my entire commute to work.  It's also tow capable and even stronger than the 21mpg of the base 4 cylinder model it's based on.  It'll tow, it'll use barely any gas under normal circumstances and it's a genuinely useful utility vehicle that also lets you take the roof off and make driving an event.

Foldable Utility Trailer: $2500 

An easy to load, multi-functional trailer that'll carry up to 2000lbs (3-4 bikes).  The transformable nature of it means I could also hang it on the wall in the garage out of the way until it was needed.

They have bike-specific trailers too, but this one would handle bikes while also being a multi-purpose thing that lets me utilize my new utility vehicle in many ways.

Kawasaki ZG1400 Concours 14:  $8500 low mileage and current spec.  This would be the 2-up friendly tourer with sporting pretensions that would be a dependable regularly rider as well as the family friendly choice that could carry my wife or my son as pillion.

This one has a cosmetic scratch but is low mileage (35k  kms) and would be dependable for years to come.  As a big, functional, dependable 'modern' bike, this one checks all the boxes.  I'd like to keep the older Tiger, but this bike would take the all-ways on demand for riding off it.

It comes with all the luggage, just had new tires put on it and has had major services done recently, so it'd be a no-headaches addition to the paddock that would take all the pressure off the old things.

My son and I did SMART Adventures again last summer and I did the whole nine yards:  I started on a trials bike, gave the new BMW 1250GS a try and then finished the day trail riding on a Yamaha 250cc dirt bike.  It was a brilliant day and I've been keen to find a way to keep practicing these skills but buying an off road bike in Ontario isn't easy.

This P.O.S. on Kijiji is a fine example.  It's a 20 year old bike that the seller couldn't even be bothered to pick up off the floor for the photo.  It's broken, not running and they still want over two grand for it!  Dirt bikes get abused and then still seem to retain their value.  I'm asking about the same amount for a safetied, perfectly running Fireblade super-bike from the same era and can't get a bite.

The other recent P.O.S. I looked at was this trials bike, which was ancient, technically uninteresting (being the year before they got good) and was being sold in better condition anywhere else except in Ontario for half the $1800 the owner wanted.  It's not longer available.  I can't beleive that he sold it, but maybe he did.  People in Ontario are willing to pay a lot of money for money-pit projects.

The used market for off-road machines in Ontario is so psychotic that it almost makes sense to just buy a new one.  A Suzuki DR200 brand new is less than five grand, so why on earth would you buy someone else's heaping pile of shit for the same amount of money?  I can handle the weight so even the 50 kilo heavier DR650 is only a touch over six grand.  I'm still kicking myself for not picking up that brand-new/old stock DR650 a couple of years ago.

I always thought I'd be rebuilding an old dirt bike from re-machining the cylinders all the way up, a complete rebuild, but the obscene pricing of dirt bikes in Ontario makes that unlikely.

There are alternatives to Ontario's psychotic used bike market.  It's possible to drop old, used, broken Yamaha money on a brand new electric Chinese trials bike.  This is edgy new tech but that's where I work all day so I'm not scared of it.  

There are other Chinese off-roading alternatives like the Tanaci-Wong, which is intriguing.  Their Facebook page has a Canadian distributor offering their 150cc trials bike for under $3500!  That'd only buy you a non-working 15 year old POS on Kijiji.

Chinese engineering has come a long way in the last decade and harbouring old prejudices against it doesn't make a lot of sense.

In a perfect world I'd have that Tiger purring like a kitten, the Fireblade for dynamics focused rides, a C14 for two up riding and a trials bike for exercise and balance practice.  Alas, these things would necessitate a bigger garage.

You're Doing It Wrong: the pain of dealing with dealers who don't like what they do

My local dealer is one of the biggest 'power sports' dealers in the province and they're only ten minutes down the road from me, but they aren't who I think of when I think about motorcycles.  When I was all Kawasaki I found dealing with them challenging at best.  Now that I'm Triumph and Honda (two brands they don't represent) I'm glad I've had an excuse to experience more positive customer service elsewhere (Inglis Cycle and KW Honda have both been positive, engaging and enjoyable to work with).

Pack 'em in tight and no one can sit on 'em...

This local dealer is the only one I've ever used for servicing, but again and again I've found them dismissive and quite arrogant, as though my paying for service was a favour they were doing me.  I've been in the showroom of all three dealers.  The best I can hope for at my local is benign neglect.  The bikes are parked close together on purpose so you can't sit on them and the sales people in there are so focused on the sale that they don't even particularly seem to like bikes, let alone want to talk about them.  Even when I see other people sitting down to sign deals everyone looks like they're sitting in a bank getting a second mortgage rather than purchasing joy.

When I first went to Inglis Cycle the year I got the Tiger the owner of the place stopped and had a chat and then encouraged me to sit on the latest model of my bike.  Even though I wasn't there to purchase one that day (the only thing that seems to matter at the local dealer), he had time to provide a positive impression on his customers.  Inglis isn't some big, fancy, new bike-mall, but the people there seem to genuinely enjoy motorbikes and take the time to treat you like a fellow enthusiast rather than a wallet with legs.  I hadn't intended on buying anything but that positivity prompted me to buy a t-shirt with the Inglis logo on it; something I couldn't imagine doing from my local.  Since then I've bought thousands of dollars of parts and gear from them.

It ain't fancy but they love their Hondas
and encourage you to sit on 'em.

When I went over to KW Honda the first time I didn't own a Honda and just popped in to see what they were about.  The senior salesman on the floor was amiable and chatty and encouraged me to throw a leg over a beautiful new VFR800.  We then had a good chat about the CBX 1970s six-cylinder they had on display.  I made a point of going back there for parts when I finally became a Honda owner and there too the parts guy was chatty, curious about what I was doing and came out to see the old Fireblade.

Last time I was at my local looking for Kawasaki parts, I put my Roof Helmet on the counter and the woman who was new there displayed curiosity about it, so I showed her how it works.  She was enthusiastic about both the style and functionality of my strange, French lid and it left her wondering out loud why they didn't carry such a thing.  The old guy next to her said they were no good and wouldn't sell - in front of the guy who owned it.  That kind of caustic culture must be what takes the shine off everyone there so quickly.

Being a bygones kinda guy I contacted them by email the other day as they have a nice looking C14 Concours and I'm casting about for just such a thing.  We're in the middle of the winter of COVID and it's -20s with six foot of snow outside, so I don't imagine they're very busy, but getting the salesman to have a conversation over email was like pulling teeth... again to the point of rudeness.  I understand that dealers have to mark things up to pay for the premises and I wasn't expecting to pay what private sellers are, so I (foolishly) assumed that starting with offers at over 90% of the value of the bike would prompt a haggle, but emailing this guy was like playing a joyless game of 'no' tennis against a brick wall.

When I asked if there was a possibility of a trade he said he'd consider it, so I made an offer and got a no.  Then a I made a better offer and got a no.  Perhaps I've been watching too much Henry Cole doing Shed And Buried, or perhaps this is a cultural thing (Canadians don't barter), but I'd think a customer offering close to the value of the bike as advertised would be worthy of a conversation and a counter bid rather than series of terse 'noes'.

I was going to reply to the last email and ask why this business would want to turn such an enjoyable thing as the possibility of getting a new motorcycle into such a dreary experience, but I think I'll just cut my losses and finally learn my lesson, bygones be damned.  This latest experience, in line with all my previous ones, will have me looking elsewhere for parts, service and bikes... which is a shame.  I'd love to support a local business and talk them up positively (I do this whenever I can), but these guys can sit in their mega-edifice in misery.  I'll take my enthusiasm for my hobby/sport and my purchasing power elsewhere.

Some awesome local motorcycling businesses in Southern Ontario (from first hand experience):

Mostly Ironheads (my real local motorcycle service provider): in Elora, Ontario - if you want passion and customer service (along with quick turnaround times on work done), this is where you go

Inglis Cycle in London, Ontario

Kitchener Waterloo Honda in Waterloo, Ontario

NCK Cycle Salvage in Woodstock, Ontario

Perth County Moto in Stratford, Ontario

Revco - located in Ontario but found online

Mississippi South Appalachians North: Riding Through The Heart of America

I'm reading Peter Egan's Leanings (highly recommended).  He just did a ride down the Mississippi in the late 70s and it has me thinking about how to make that happen from Ontario (post pandemic, of course).

The first step would be to get over to the river.  But we'd happen to trip over Duluth on the way there from where we live, and Duluth has something I've always wanted to see:  Aerostich!  The moto-gear company has been in Duluth since the early 80s and makes bullet proof riding suits, including one piece coverall type suits that long distance riders swear by.  They are weather proof, tough, protective and built to size, which is good when you have a weirdly long body on relatively short legs.  I'd kick off our ride down the Mississippi by dressing like matching Ghostbusters!

Map 1:  Home to the head of the Mississippi is about 1850kms.  I've been that way before and have always wanted to show my wife the strange world of the Michigan Peninsula.  Our first day would only be about 420kms over the border to the Bay Valley Resort then a bizarre evening in fading 1970's decadence.  Day 2 would be 540kms along the tunnel of trees and over the incredible Mackinac Bridge and into Northern Michigan.  Day 3 would be 470kms over to Duluth along the south shore of Lake Superior.  Day 4 would be a loop from Duluth to Palisade where we'd finally pick up the Mississippi and follow it down to Minneapolis.

From here on south we'd be sticking to the Great River Road as much as possible.  The site suggests 4-10 days to make that ride, so I'd aim for 10, or more.

This is the kind of trip you could rush through if you were young and impatient, but I'm neither thing these days.  In a post-retirement world this would be a good thing to kick off in the fall (October) and take extended breaks on the trip, getting into New Orleans just before Christmas and then staying around there until Mardi Gras in February.  Doing it that way could allow for a winter in the south before working our way back up the Appalachians in the spring and home again.

The whole route is about six and half thousand kilometres.  A three hundred kilometre a day average (some days off, other days over) means a 22 day trip.  Cut that to a 200km/day average with more days off factored in and it's a 33 day trip, which isn't too heavy.

20 days down, an extended stay in the south in various places and then 20 days back in the spring would make for a thoughtful perambulation of the Mississippi watershed and the Appalachians back north.  It would also let me avoid the part of Canadian winter that is most painful (the part we're in right now), where from the end of January to March it's so bone achingly cold, grey and miserable that it feels more like Ragnarok than one of the four seasons.  Canadian winter has a depth to it that tears the soul.  A thoughtful ride down through the complicated American history around the Mississippi would be a good way to escape it.

I'm still looking at a two-up option and the C-14 Concours is still on my short list.  It has one of the highest load carrying capacities of any motorcycle (Goldwings and the like included), has a a low maintenance shaft drive and can still show surprising athleticism and agility when the roads get interesting.

This one is 9 years old, only has 36k kilometres on it, which for a Kawasaki means it's just broken in.  This lovely thing wouldn't just handle the long distance, but would make the twisty bits down the river and back up the Appalachians not feel like we're trying to fit an elephant in a tutu.

RESOURCES:

DOWN THE MISSISSIPPI:

The Great River Road:  https://experiencemississippiriver.com/

Ground Zero Blues Club: https://www.groundzerobluesclub.com/

The route from Easy Rider: https://www.mrzip66.com/2009/04/route-from-the-movie-easy-rider-map/

Louisiana motorcycle routes:  https://www.motorcycleroads.com/motorcycle-rides-in/louisiana

Mardi Gras:  https://www.mardigrasneworleans.com/when-is-mardi-gras/

GRR G-Map:  https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?mid=1E55lpa0LR6ElEsvujeCHdx2ucj0&usp=sharing 

APPALACHIANS NORTH:

Appalachian Scenic Byway: https://www.alabamabyways.com/2013/01/01/the-appalachian-highlands-scenic-byway/

Tail of the Dragon: https://tailofthedragon.com/

Blue Ridge Parkway:  https://www.blueridgeparkway.org/

Tiger 955i Front End Maintenance

This one's out of order, I should have posted it in November but it got swallowed by the cruelty of my work place.

Work's heavy and I'm finding it a bit overwhelming to get into the winter maintenance I'd planned, so today I started by cleaning up the garage and moving the batteries and paint out of the ever-colder unheated space.  After the cleanup I went after the front end.  I've done the forks on the Tiger before (3 years ago!), so that was a pretty straightforward first step.

I pulled the forks and cleaned them up but haven't done the fork oil yet (I like 15 weight rather than 10 because I'm bigger than the average bear).  

Triumph FORK SEAL Part # T2040283

Triumph DUST SEAL Part # T2040284

Triumph SEALING WASHER Part # T2045045

Triumph GAITOR,FORK Part # T2040288

This all got done months ago... you can pick up the story here:  http://tkmotorcyclediaries.blogspot.com/2020/12/triumph-tiger-955i-fork-reassembly-and.html

Triumph Tiger 955i Old Rubbers

 Perished rubbers on old bikes can be a headache.  If you've got an old 955i Tiger and are looking for rubber bits, here are the Triumph part numbers you need.  I'm going through Inglis Cycle in Ontario.  They've got their act together during the pandemic and their prices are pretty much the same as the volume 'discount' online stores without the border crossing extra cost, wait and headaches.  The red is Canadian prices confirmed and available (I'm still building the order):

• Triumph AIRBOX TO THROTTLE BODY RUBBER TRUMPETS Part#T2201264 AVAILABLE TO ORDER $20.99 each
• Triumph ELBOW JOINT FROM FI COMPUTER TO AIRBOX T2100405 AVAILABLE TO ORDER $1.99 each
• 
  T3020025 DISCONTINUED (rubber grommet for the airline to the computer on the back of the bike)
• Triumph COVER EXPANSION BOTTLE Part # T2501138
• Triumph BRAKE LIGHT BOOT, HARNESS Part # T2500254
• Triumph BOOT, BANJO BOLT Part # T2020074

Another way to tackle this with older parts starting to become discontinued is the 3d printing route.  Here's a link to others doing just that: parts: https://www.triumphrat.net/threads/3d-printed-rubber-parts.566657/

People have been busy:

Tiger Chainguard Riser: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:803393

Tiger Swingarm cap:  https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:807687

(I'm actually missing one of those)

Rubber cap for rear brake wiring cap: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:820532

The rubber hoses on the vacuum idle system can get hard in the heat too.  Here are those part numbers:

Evap Control Hoses (vacuum idle control on the throttle bodies)
T1242502 | Tube x1

T1242501 | Tube x2
T1242015 | Hose kit (includes all 3?)

The parts diagram isn't very accurate with what those hoses look like, which is like this:

I ended up modifying some fuel lines when I had doubts about those old vacuum hoses leaking, which look like this:

It worked ok last summer and helped solve my failure to idle/stalling situation, but if I can get new stock items I'll switch back.

Lost In Time: Hand Drawn Maps of Pre-War France

I'm at about 130,000 words on my ode to my Grandfather's experiences on the continent during the invasion of France in 1940 (think Dunkirk mixed with the motorcycle chase from The Great Escape).  There is only about a week left before they escape occupied France just in time to return home to face the Battle of Britain (Dunkirk already happened 2 weeks ago).  I think it'll will end up at about 150,000 words but a harsh first edit should get it back down to around 120,000.  Even with hundreds of hours of research into it, I can only guess at how he must have felt over that year.  He finished 1940 by being sent to the Ivory Coast via ship and then driving across the Sahara Desert (in 1940 vehicles during a war) to fight Rommel in the desert.  It's all quite impossible.

I'm a stickler for details and got lost this morning before work (I like to get up about 5am and write until 7:30) in Michelin Maps of 1930s France.  A closer look at these incredible pieces of cartographic history shows you an astonishing piece of hand-drawn art:

Consider the layers on there: place names, roads, railroads, forests, rivers, regional boundaries and names, it's a complex piece of visual information, and if you look at the writing closely, it's hand drawn!  This is a 1939 revision of an existing map.  It's pre computers and digital imaging.  To put this together they would have had to collect existing maps, surveyor documentation and historical documents and then combine it all together, and all while keeping on top of changes.

You'd be travelling across a world that feels empty by modern standards.  There 75% LESS people on the planet in 1939 than there are in 2021.  You couldn't read the map on the move, you'd have to stop, and the vehicle you were riding would demand it in any case.  No rushing, no 'efficiency' demanded by an over crowded world overheating from overuse.  No traffic jams because motorized vehicles were still relatively new.  The roads you're on are newly minted.

Today we sit in our air conditioned boxes that require no effort to run (even as they burn a hole in the world), and drive to get everywhere as quickly as possible.  The serendipity of looking at a map and noticing something not on your route and going to discover it is gone in the focused and linear directions being fed to you by a remorseless voice in your ear.  Our overpopulated modern world demands nothing less than absolute efficiency and constant surveillance.

Imagine it's the spring of 1939.  There are rumblings of a dark future, but that is still just conjecture.  You pick up your new Triumph Tiger 100, so named because it'll do 100mph, and sort it out for a ride across France.  Riding out of my home county of Norfolk in the east of England and south to the ferry and the continent isn't a slog through endless traffic on soulless, paved multi-lane roads.  There are only a quarter as many people (2 billion to our almost 8) in the world in 1939, and they aren't relentlessly mobile like today's population; many work where they live.  You pick your way along simple two lane roads through a Constable landscape painting interrupted by Norfolk villages that haven't changed in millenia.

You're not thumping down a highway with a computerized voice barking step by step directions and then frantic corrections if you miss a turn. No one is tracking your every move, you're free in the world on two wheels.

You stop frequently but this doesn't make you crazy with impatience, it's an opportunity to lay your eyes on that beautiful map designed by people for human eyes and admire the futuristic yet still hand-made engineering that moves you.

You stop for the night at a pub on the south coast and look over your new Michelin map while enjoying the last proper English ale you'll taste for several weeks.  The hand written names nestled together in the brightly coloured map sound strange and new as you sound them out, but the continent beckons, and your fantastic new motorbike will take you there.