Categories: all aviation Building a Biplane bicycle gadgets misc motorcycle theater
I had intended to ride the CL175 to work today, but when I turned it on and hit the starter button, I received a pathetic little click noise, and the electrical system died. I poked at it for a second, but realized that I couldn't deal with it just then. I rode the Ninja 250 in, suddenly thankful that the 175 hadn't pulled this trick far from home and late at night.
When I got back tonight, I broke out the multimeter and started checking things. It actually only took about 3 minutes to find the problem: one of the two connections off the battery was heavily corroded, although it looked good from the outside. I cleaned that up, slathered it with dielectric grease, and was good to go.
I decided that my first mission, given how reliable the bike had been so far, would be to Sears, to pick up some tools. I picked out a reasonable set of wrenches, a multi-tip screwdriver (bane of anyone who's ever had to turn a screw down a narrow hole, I can tell you right now), and a pair of pliers. I also grabbed a sparkplug socket, but couldn't find a T-handle driver despite stopping at three different stores. I'll either order or make one.
First mission accomplished, I realized that I was close to a freeway entrance, and the bike had been working very well. It had a bit of a lag around 7-8k RPM, but picked up again after that. Tuning comes later, though. So I stuck in the ear plugs, strapped on the helmet, and turned my tiny mount toward the freeway.
Surprisingly, the little 175 did very well on the freeway. I had no trouble keeping up with traffic, and I realized that my previous diagnosis that the clutch was still slipping was incorrect. That was a nice moment: I could check off "freeway worthy" and "clutch works correctly" at the same time.
I rode from Northgate south to 50th, and turned around. On my southward leg, I noticed that I hit something above 80 MPH indicated (I didn't notice the exact peak), although at that speed I was just barely creeping ahead of traffic, so it was probably more like 70 MPH. There was a bit of steam left, but not much. If I'd had more room, I probably could have squeezed another 5 MPH out of it, but that would be absolutely it.
This is actually quite encouraging, because I don't think the racebike goes any faster, and it's noticeably lighter, with a fresh top end. I'll have to get the GPS on there, and see if I can get a proper top speed rating.
After I got home, I looked at the odometer and was surprised to see that I'd travelled over 20 miles. Of course, the odometer may be just as optimistic as the speedometer is, so it could have been more like 16 or 17 miles.
The bike definitely generated some oil-leaking smells, so I've got some tracking down to do. I noticed a bit of oil under the clutch cover, which has a marginal gasket, and most oddly, a tiny puddle of oil on top of the clutch cover, where it had apparently come from under a screw head. That will bear further investigation.
However, for all that, it was a very encouraging ride. I got some emergency-stop practice in, so I have a better idea how the bike stops (well enough, but after a relatively fierce initial bite, the brakes don't go much further; definitely not as brakeful as the Ninja). I still need to change the rear tire, but it's acceptable for the task, for the moment.
It was nice to finally get a ride on this bike that I've had sitting in the garage for more than a month!
Posted at 21:01 permanent link category: /motorcycle
Categories: all aviation Building a Biplane bicycle gadgets misc motorcycle theater