The Saga Continues...

So, more notes on the continuing saga.

I spoke with the shop here in Memphis today. As they were taking it apart to do the repair (apparently, they didn't need to in order to diagnose the source of the leak), they got their first look at the gasket. They said it was instantly clear that it was a faulty installation. They sent me photos and everything:




So, I called Boulder to inform the shop there. And big surprise, they are still denying that it was their problem. The shop here is supposed to call them tomorrow. I'll wait to see what comes of that before I pursue other options going forward.



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You're Not Gonna Believe It...

As a VROC member put it, I've got enough material to write a book. On the way home from Denver, the bike developed an oil leak. It could have been there in Denver, but I didn't notice it. I was in Kansas at the time that I noticed it. When I got back to Memphis, I took it to the shop here. It spent three weeks on the floor of the shop before they could get to it. (Don't get me started on how motorcycle shops can't keep their shops on schedule or stocked with basic parts...). They determined this past week that the leak was with the clutch cover gasket. I had them send me the service estimate (overcharged on labor, of course), which I passed on the Colorado Powersports in Boulder. I assumed, wrongly of course, that Colorado Powersports would pay to fix their mistakes. Come to find out today, that I was wrong. So, the bike is getting fixed this week in Memphis. I'll be calling today to speak with the owner of the Boulder shop to discuss his options. I have no patience for them anymore. I've given them two months' worth, which is about a month and a half more than they deserve, and I'm done being nice to them. If you live in the Denver area, and have need of a motorcycle shop/dealership, avoid Colorado Powersports at all costs.


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Back In the Saddle Again!

So, picked up the bike this morning and did a quick ride in the mountains. So nice to have the bike back after almost a month! I'll post again when I get back to Memphis.












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Going Back...

So, I got the call on Friday afternoon that the bike is done and ready to go! I'm flying out of Little Rock on Monday. The shops closed on Mondays, so I'll pick it up Tuesday morning and test ride it. Then, I head back for Memphis on Wednesday... Here's hoping for an uneventful ride back...


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Location:Boulder/Brighton, CO

Motorcycle Mayhem Update

So, as it turns out they couldn't fix it in time. I talked to the dealer yesterday, and here's what they told me. The 5th gear has an oil port on it, and during assembly, they were one spline off on lining up the gear, so the oil port didn't quite line up. At this point, they called Kawasaki technical support to make sure that this would have caused such a large drop in oil pressure. Kawasaki said it would have caused a slight drop, but not the 30 psi that it lost. Their opinion was that all the o-rings on the oil line and the oil pressure release valve needed to be replaced. So, the dealer had to order parts. They are having them overnighted, but as late as it was in the day, the parts won't be in until Thursday, which means that they won't have the bike done until Friday. Since I have to be in Memphis on Saturday for work, I am flying back to Memphis today. Once I know that the bike is done (hopefully this weekend), I will fly back to Denver, pick it up and ride back to Memphis. Here's hoping for them to actually get it done this time...


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Location:Boulder/Brighton/Chicago/Little Rock/Memphis

Motorcycle Mayhem

I've been contemplating this entry since yesterday, and, truly, I couldn't make this up if I tried. So, I had high hopes that the bike would be done yesterday, and that I would be able to pick it up and head home. It was not to be. They got the engine together and back in the bike, but were having trouble with the oil light. When they turned the bike on, the oil light would be off, then when the fan would start to cycle, the light would start to flicker. When they revved the engine, the light would go out. When the bike would get back to idle, the light would come back on. They thought it was electrical. So, they checked all the electrical connections, and found no issues. Then, they ran an oil pressure test. Turns out the oil pressure was low. It's supposed to be between 42 and 60 psi. It was 30. So, this means they have to take the engine apart again... Needless to say, I am doing my best to stay calm. It seems every time this dealer attempts a repair, they break something else. So, now they'll work on it Tuesday, and hopefully get it done. Otherwise, I'll have to fly home for a meeting for incoming students and then fly back to get the bike...


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Location:Boulder, CO

Rainbows and Bunny Rabbits

So, we've had a lot of afternoon thunderstorms up here lately. Here's some pics I took...

This is the cleanest wall of rain I've ever seen...







And rainbows...








The girls really enjoy playing chase the bunnies in the yard. Were guessing there are around 20 or so that live under the shed...

























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Location:Brighton, CO

The Four Companion

So, each night, my nieces choose one book to read before bed. So far, Katherine has chosen one book in particular many times. I have decided to copy it here. It is a hard book to read, as you will soon see. It was written in Thai and translated into English. I wrote spelling, grammar, and punctuation exactly as it appears. I promise!

The Four Companion








Once upon a time, an ass carried the sack of flour. It was an old to work hard and was expelled from the mill.

The ass travelled along the way and met a dog. The dog told "I escape from the house because my owner wants to kill me, I'm too old to chase." The ass persuaded the dog travelled together.

Both travelled through the wide yard. They met a down-and-out cat on the floor. The ass asked the cat "Why do you live here?" The cat said "My boss will throw me into the pond because I'm too old to chase rats." By the way , the ass told the cat that "You should travel with us"

Three friends walked to the village. They saw the high-pitched singing cock on the gate. The cock said with tears "I need to scream loudly for the last time as I will be killed." Three friends persuaded the cock to escape together.

The four friends travelled and stopped in the forest. They saw a house. They decided to stay at the house. It was the robber's house. The robbers were eating dinner. They made a plan to get rid of the robbers from the house.

The four friends planned to stand on each other to show their shadows on the window. And then the four screamed loundly. The robbers got afraid of them. They though their voices were ghost voices so they escaped from the house.

Then , the four friends came into the house and ate the food delicious.

At midnight a robber decided to go back to the house. He saw the cat's eyes which were a bonfire in the dark. The cat got frightened and jumped to scratch the face robber. The dog suddenly bit his leg. The ass saw him and kicked him strongly. The cock got frightened so it sang loudly and struck with it's wings heavily

Finally , the robbers escaped from that house. The four friends lived in that house happily.

Katherine is smart enough now to know that although we're saying "donkey", that's not the word that's actually written on the page. Very interesting bedtime reading...

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Location:Brighton, CO

Motorcycle Repairs

So, I took the bike in last Saturday for the repairs on the belt drive. I got a call Tuesday morning that an issue had come up. In the process of replacing the belt, they had to remove the front pulley. When they wrenched on the nut that holds the pulley on, the output shaft on the transmission broke. For a little background info, the output shaft connects the transmission to the front pulley, which turns the belt, which turns the rear wheel. My initial thought was that the shop over-torqued the nut causing the break, but as it turns out a manufacturing defect caused the output shaft to develop a crack, which finally broke when they removed the nut. Repairing that involves taking apart the engine, a total parts/labor cost of about $2300. The shop called Kawasaki and informed me that Kawasaki would cover the parts, which amounts to about $600. So, I called Kawasaki, and they informed me they had already told the shop they were covering parts and labor. So, after calling the shop back and the shop calling Kawasaki, parts and labor will be covered. Whew! I gotta say, Kawasaki has been great with this, since I am not under warranty. Anyone looking to buy a bike should definitely check out Kawasaki. Now I just have to wait for the parts to get in and the repairs to get done. Should be finished by the end of next week.


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Location:Boulder, CO

Denver: Day 4 - 4th of July

Today, Sarah hosted a 4th of July party. Along with Sarah, Kat, Abby, and Sarah's boyfriend, Mark (not the Mark I rode up here with), Mark's brothers and sister and parents attended, as well as Matt (the guy that lent us the trailer). We had a great time and some really good food. We went into the field behind Sarah's house and watched the city of Brighton's fireworks show, along with some really impressive private fireworks. Then we shot off some of our own...























By the way, during all of the really impressive fireworks, Abby kept turning around to Sarah with clumps of dirt in her hand and saying, "Dirt!". She was really impressed by the dirt in that field....Happy Fourth!


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Location:Brighton

Denver: Day 3

Today, we went to the Denver Museum of Nature and Science. We went to the planetarium and saw a film about stars. I have to say it was pretty cool. I haven't been to the planetarium in a long time.





Sarah, Katherine, Abby, and me in front of the museum.

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Location:Denver/Brighton

Denver: Day 2

We spent most of the day rigging the lights for the trailer to fit the connections on Sarah's truck. Once we got that going, we hauled the bike to the shop in Boulder, who had received the part I ordered. As it turns out, not only is the part expensive, but so is the work. Replacing the belt requires removing the rear wheel, the rear fender, and the swing arm. It's about a three hour job, to the tune of $300. Yikes! They weren't able to start on it Saturday, so they'll work on it Tuesday and I'll push back my departure to Wednesday...


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Location:Denver/Brighton/Boulder

The Road to Denver: Day 3 / Denver: Day 1

So I'm a few days behind on this one...the ride on Friday from Goodland to Denver was very nice. Much cooler temps than Thursday for sure. It was a shorter ride than the other two days as well. About four hours. It doesn't seem as though an uneventful riding day was in the stars though. We got to Sarah's house about 12:30. The bike had been making some rattling noises over the past two days, so I decided to take it in to the shop. About five miles down the road, all the teeth ripped off me drive belt, sending showers of rubber and kevlar at Mark, who was riding behind me. So, we stopped on an off ramp of I-76 and started making calls.





At a rest stop with a view of the mountains.




On I-76 after the belt broke.

The first call was to AAA, who promptly told me that they could send a tow truck, but motorcycle towing isn't covered on my plan (which is why I got AAA to begin with). So I had them send a tow truck. While I was waiting, I called around to try to find a dealer with the part I needed. After several calls, I decided to call Sarah and let her know what was going on. She (and her friend Matt) came to the rescue by bringing a small flatbed trailer to tow my bike, which would save me the couple hundred dollars of a tow. I cancelled the AAA tow and waited again. I began calling again to try to find the replacement belt I needed. I finally got a hold of a dealer who got the bright idea to check the national database. As it turns out, there were only three dealers in the country that had the part I needed, and it is a $400 part. So, I had it overnighted to a dealer in Boulder. Meanwhile, Sarah's friend arrived and towed the bike to Sarah's house, where he left the bike and trailer for us to use the next day. Whew! That was a much longer day than I anticipated. By the time we got back to Sarah's it was almost dinner time.

Friday night, we all went and had dinner with my aunt Bev, who lives in Boulder. It was nice to catch up, and the dinner was very good. Then we went to the Pearl Street Mall, which is an outdoor mall with play areas for kids and a lot of street performers. We had a good time watching the various acts on the street, but were driven away a little early by a rain storm.




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Location:Colorado

The Road to Denver: Day 2 - Kansas

I started today thinking it would be pretty similar to yesterday - Interstate boredom. Boy was I wrong. The whole day was basically spent in Kansas. And it was hot. A high of 106, to be specific. And it was windy. About a 40 mph crosswind. All day. I now know what hair feels like when it's being blow-dried. We were the hair today. It felt like a 120-degree heat coming off of the pavement. So, the award for most miserable riding conditions goes to Kansas.

Some things we witnessed today (no exaggerations here, I promise):

-A bird trying to fly into the wind and not moving at all.

-Another bird trying to take off and moving backwards.

-A day of leaning 10-15 degrees from vertical, but still going straight.

-Surprise toll roads (in Kansas, the interstates are toll roads)

-My cup holder has leather glued to it. The heat today melted the glue, and the wind blew part of the leather off...

We had to stop about every 45 minutes due to the heat and wind. So, a drive that should have taken 8 hours actually took 12. Seeing as neither of us really slept last night, we decided to stay in a hotel tonight to make sure we both get a full night's sleep. Here's a couple of pics from today:















Fighting the wind...







Our "campsite" for tonight.

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The Road to Denver: Day 1

Not much to tell. Today was spent almost entirely on I-40 from Memphis to Oklahoma. The only excitement came when we got to Tulsa. We got in earlier than expected, so we decided we were going to visit the Tulsa Air and Space Museum. The web page had the address as 3624 South 74th Street West. So that's where we went. Turns out that's someone's house. The real address is 3624 North 74th Street East. Whoops! So we went to eat and then went to the camp site. Oh well...








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Location:Memphis to Tulsa

Turkey

We went over to Cycle Gear today for a bike cover for the upcoming trip. We looked over and this turkey was wandering down the side of Summer Ave!


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Test

Just downloaded a new app to post blogs from the road. Here's the test.


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Location:Home

Houston, May 27-June 4, 2011

So, I rode the motorcycle down to Houston a couple of weeks ago to visit the folks. It started out rough. When I pulled in for the first gas stop, the left saddlebag was hanging by one bolt and the cords for the lights! Luckily, I had some bungee cords packed. So, I rigged it up for the rest of the ride down:

It stayed pretty solid for the rest of the ride down, but every few seconds I still was checking to make sure it was still there. The ride itself wasn't too bad. I only got uncomfortable about ten hours into it. I took a lot of back roads and state highways going down, so, it took about fourteen hours to get there. (It's normally 9.5 hrs in a car)

My time down there was very relaxing. I spent a lot of time in the pool. The three of us rode down to Brazos Bend State Park, which is about 45 minutes southwest of Houston.

Last fall, one of my parents' dogs died. This brought them down to one dog and two cats. Every time an animal passes away, they say they won't get another one, but it never works out that way. Because of Sheltie Sanctuary (website), they now have three dogs and two cats.



Missy



Sunshine



Molly (Who, incidentally, sleeps like this literally all the time)

While we were fixing my saddlebag, we decided it would be a good time to reinforce the bags with steel plates.

It took us several hours to cut the plates and drill the holes for the bolts, mainly because we were cutting the steel with a Dremmel (it kept overheating) and the batteries for the drill weren't holding a charge.

One bag done!

Repairs complete! I must say, they are really solid now.

The ride back to Memphis was fairly uneventful. I took the interstate back to save some time. I did have to stop at one point in the afternoon for about a half an hour because it was so hot it felt like I was riding in an oven. I could tell I was getting overheated, so I stopped and got re-hydrated. Overall it was a good trip and a nice test, since I'll be riding the bike to Denver for the 4th of July.