Well, I picked up the new bike last night at Forward Air. It came in a BMW branded crate, as promised, and looked to be in fine shape. The windscreen and mirrors were in a box, wrapped up in bubblewrap for the journey. Once I figured out how to get the crate apart (many drywall screws and a good 15 minutes with a crowbar later), I checked the gas and oil (both fine) and started it up. Took a bit of cranking, but it was sitting for a while, and the battery may need to be topped up. Anyway, it started without too much fuss, and I was able to roll it out of the remainder of the crate.

With minimal fuss, I got it on the road. The mirrors are wonky beyond belief, and I haven't yet gotten them aligned such that I can actually see anything behind me. It may be that the handlebars are not sitting at the right angle or something. I think I'm going to get Napoleon Barend mirrors for it anyway, I prefer that style.

After stopping at a gas station just to make sure I wouldn't run out on the 25ish mile journey home, we were underway. I had my girlfriend driving the car behind me, in case anything went horribly wrong. But all seemed to be fine.

The clutch felt a bit strange to me, like I couldn't figure out where it started engaging. However, I was willing to discount that as being a different bike and just not being used to it. We got out of the Kent valley, and up to the freeway. There was one interruption when the chase car got stuck behind a poorly timed traffic light, so I pulled over to the side to wait for her. The light turned green (fortunately there wasn't much traffic), and I pulled back into the road -- then it hit me, as the clutch slipped for a full "one-one-thousand" count after I let go of the lever. The clutch is nearly dead, or coated in oil, or something.

So, with that weighing on my mind, we headed up to I-5, and merged into traffic. Naturally, I couldn't see anything behind me, because the mirrors were pointed up at the stars, but if I leaned waaay forward I could just get a glimpse of traffic behind me. The bike didn't feel terribly powerful, but I wasn't pushing very hard, not wanting to press my luck at 10 pm on a major freeway.

However, when we got past the 405 onramp, and the freeway started aiming uphill, I noticed one of the cylinders cutting out. It felt almost exactly the same as when I had previously ridden a bike with water in the tank, so I figured it might well be water. We kept going for another few miles, with me hoping this was some problem that would clear itself up after a short while. The bike kept surging intermittently, as the affected cylinder got fuel or spark, or whatever was lacking.

We got off the freeway at Albro, having just barely kept pace with a semi going up the previous hill. I pulled onto a residential street and stopped at an approximately safe looking place, in order to check the float bowls for water. As I pulled each bowl, I saw that the left one was sort of dirty looking, with white "flocking" in the bowl (I'll get a picture tonight and post it) -- I'm guessing that was due to water being there at some point, but there didn't seem to be any now. The right one looked fine. Obviously (although this didn't occur to me until later) the bike had spent a lot of time on its sidestand. (And indeed, the centerstand is missing its tang, and appears to be worn all the way through on the bottom.)

So, I put it all back together, and turned the fuel back on. Immediately, the left carb started pouring out fuel. I had thought maybe that bowl went on a bit loosely -- sure enough, no gasket. This caused some consternation, as I was worried that I might actually run out of gas (I had put 3.5 gallons in at the station) from the leak before I could get home. In the end, I duct-taped a garbage back to my left foot to keep it from getting soaked, and we headed back out.

The rest of the journey was spent with one cylinder working. If I ever let the throttle go down from "full" I'd start slowing down (although the non-firing cylinder came back at lower RPM). I had also noticed that the bike was idling strangely, probably due to the left side throttle cable, which was sticking, or something.

When finally we got home, I crawled out of my riding clothes and into the shower to get some of the gasoline smell off me. Riding with only half an engine is a frightening experience -- I never knew if the engine was going to keep running or not, or what was wrong, etc.

This morning I went to look at it again, and things looked a bit better. I got the bike up on the centerstand (which I see has worn all the way through where it contacts the ground), and surveyed things. The left carb still leaks, but there's no gasket, so that's to be expected. The inline fuel filters looked perfectly clean, but I noticed that the right side petcock only dribbles fuel through it, so it may well be clogged. The left side petcock is damp with gasoline around the threads, so I'm guessing it needs a new gasket.

I looked at the left rear turn signal, which wasn't blinking last night. Still not working, although the bulb looks perfect. I'll try swapping them tonight, but I suspect that the wiring is broken somewhere. I'll have a lot more time tonight to sit around with a multimeter and measure a few things.

Looking at the bike in good light, it really is in fine shape. There's almost no rust anywhere to be seen (the only rust I found was a light amount on the muffler support tangs near the passenger pegs). The paint is indeed brand new as promised, and I understand from talking to Joshua this morning that it's a tank he had on his wall, and was put on after the RT -> S conversion. The fairing looks (and probably is) brand new.

I had noticed last night that the voltmeter was reading about 12.5 - 13 volts instead of the 13.5 - 14 I'd like to see, but I understand that those things read notoriously low. I'll check that out tonight.

According to numerous replies I received after posting my harrowing journey on the Airheads mailing list, I should be concentrating on the fuel system rather than the ignition system. This is somewhat heartening, as the fuel system is simpler in its way than the electrics (much easier to find a clogged filter screen than an intermittent connection). I will still need to drain the tank, and I might as well take it off at the same time to get a good look at the systems under the tank (and it'll make replacing the throttle cable much easier). It's a pity the previous owner used nylon zip ties on the fuel lines rather than hose clamps -- sure, they stay on tight, but getting them off without damaging the fuel hoses is difficult. I guess I'll invest in a dozen or so 1/2 inch hose clamps.

I was happy to hear Joshua say that he'll get me a new clutch if that turns out to be a real problem. He said I should go to a guy in Olympia (perhaps 1 or 1.5 hours away in light traffic) for the clutch swap, and he'll pay for it. I guess we'll see what happens with that once I get the missing cylinder problem sorted out. That will be extremely pleasing if it works out that way, as I was having some pretty dark thoughts last night as I held the throttle wide open to maintain my paltry 55 MPH on a dark and busy freeway.

So, that's me written-out for now. I'll probably have more tonight after poking around with some new gaskets. I should probably acquire a gas can for that whole tank-draining thing...

Oh, and one last thing. I've got a digital camera tonight, so I'll have a few pictures up in the gallery in the next few days.