Step Two Complete

This time from my yard (is it a yard if it is made of concrete?) to class.

Last Wednesday day a guy I met in class by the name of Frank called me to let me know that if I was available he could stop by with his truck to help move my Interceptor to class, a nice 6.3 mile jaunt. The first issue was that it seems that not only were both tires totally flat (and both of which will need replacing as they are mealy*) but the breaks seemed seized, which is to say locked, both of which made rolling the bike a pain in the arse.

We managed to set the truck up on a slope and set my trusty 2X6 in place and tried rolling the bike up, only getting about half way up the ramp. Right before our second try a guy walking his dog offered to help (sans the dog which was tied up momentarily). What is worth noting is that this has happened before. I’m not sure what the draw is about people loading a motorcycle onto a truck that makes people want to help out but this happened the last time I had to load up a bike. It warms the cockles I tell you. In any case the three of us with some help from gravity got it up on the truck.

When we arrived at the campus shop it was a whole other story. I asked in the office if any of the Moto teachers were in and barring that if I might be able to leave the bike in the shop, no on both accounts. I then went looking for Ron who runs the tool room where students can check out tools, and asked if I could borrow the metal ramp to take the bike off the truck.

See, wood ramps are fine for getting stuff up, because when they slip (and the always do) they slip in the direction of movement. In the case of putting a bike on a truck they slip a little up into the bed of the truck, to little or no harm. However, when removing a motorcycle they slip off the tailgate onto the ground leaving you with an 800lbs bike in midair which is sort of a pain in the, well body, to deal with. Hence the need for a metal ramp.

Ron was not only happy to loan it out, but he also Dave Miller up (the teacher for the class) and asked if it was okay if we placed the bike in the cage under his supervision. Dave was cool wid it (cuz Dave is cool like dat), and Ron helped get the bike off the truck and we wheeled it in to the cage to be worked on that Saturday.

I’d like to note that Ron might have actually saved me bike for me. I hadn’t thought about it till later but about three blocks away is a scrap yard. Ron mentioned that derelicts will come by and grab anything that rolls (or sort of rolls) and take it down to be scrapped. Leaving my bike on the street even for a couple of day might easily have meant it annihilation.

So in conclusion, this posting is dedicated to cool humans like Frank, Ron and the dude with a dog that are out to make everyone of our lives easier. Remember kids when you see some one that needs a hand, err on the side of helping, it’ll easy you heart on your death bed.

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*Interestingly, the tread of the tires is in good condition but rubber, especially in sunlight, will just go bad over time even if it is not used. It gets 'mealy'. That should cost me another $100 or two. But skimping on tires is about as smart as skimping on replacing you break fluid. (Return above)

Step Two

Step two is getting a non running motorcycle to class which is turning into a pain in the ass. As some of you know, all I need is a truck, a old 2X6 and a flock of delinquents to move this thing. However you'd be surprised how hard that is.

So far I've placed and ad in craigslist asking for truck to help move the pick but I think I may need to offer more $. More when something actually gets done.

Huh, I can't figure it.

So as you might kin imagine, I have done exactly no work on this bike. The issue is, I have no idea what I’m doing. I thought I had a basic grasp on how to wrench, very basic as it turns out, way more basic than I thought. The problem being that electrical systems suck ass and not in the good way. If there is a single problem in the system, you have to go through and check everything. This is often facilitated by having some idea of how electrical systems work on motorcycles. I have no such knowledge. Everything I’ve done up to this point has been mechanical. I’m pretty sure it is a problem between the solenoid and the starter, since the solenoid clicks and the starter doesn’t. The issue I have is that while it is probably the starter and the manual suggests replacing rather than repairing it I don’t know that is the problem for certain, or actually with anything near a degree of confidence and I don’t want to be one of those Kragen mechanics, replacing everything in sight till the bike works. So what I’m doing is waiting with what passes for patience, for my next class to start in September. I’ll be back then.

Electrical Clickiness

So I bought a new battery. If you didn’t already know you can buy batteries wet or dry (though for most car batteries they come wet) which just means that either the acid has been already added to the battery (wet) or you have to add it yourself (dry). There are also maintenance free batteries which are sealed wet batteries meaning you can’t (and shouldn’t need too) get into the battery and add distilled water if the levels drop. Which is all neither here nor there.

I hooked the battery up to the interceptor and nothing happend. I took out my little test light and it seemed like the juice was making it to (what I learned later was) the solenoid. I have no idea what the solenoid does (I’ll look it up later) but I know juice was getting there. After a little tinkering and the checking of fuses the lights came on and all the standard electrical stuff seemed to be working. When I tried starting it, all I got was a lot of clicking from the solenoid. I’m not sure if it’s supposed to click like that but I took it as a good sign. Since I didn’t have a voltmeter I went and bought one, at which point I was locked out of my house so I was pretty much done when with working on the bike when I got back in. That and I need to read the manual for the voltmeter and the motorcycle to do any more debugging, I’m guessing something between the starter and the solenoid or the starter it self. I dunno. I have little expereince working on electrical systems...and everything else really.

One thing I did notice while taking off the fairing and body plastics was that they are beat to crap and that the bike looks really ugly without the fairing.

Other than that I also noticed little patches of rust everywhere, especially on the bolts. I think I’m going to replace most of them as I remove them. I’m sort of surprised at the level of rust, it seems to have hit some parts really hard (bolts) and other not as hard as I would have expected (exhaust pipes)

I need to get a digital camera so i can document some of this stuff for you, my internet fans.

PS You can thank the following smart ass remark for this last update.

It's great that you created an entire blog page devoted to bikes when all you have up for the last two weeks is the original :)

J

VROOM! VROOM! 2.0

I guess you all get to be the first to know. I am the proud new owner of a 1985 Honda VF 700 Interceptor. Like the one pictured below it is red, white and blue, so if you have any Bush Cheney stickers send’em in. Unlike the image below this one looks like it's been sitting in the sun for two decades, has a pair of chewed up tires, ripped seat, a dead battery, a chain rusted as all hell, etc. Needless to say getting this thing running will be a learning experience.



I would like to take a moment out of this post to thank Dave for suggesting I take the Into to Motorcycle Mechanics (MOTO 60) class offered through SF’s City College and taught by none other than the lovely Lisa Duke (2004-2005 Motorcycle Department’s Female Teacher of the Year) as well as locating this very inexpensive new (old) project bike for me.

Incidentally, as I’ve mentioned to everyone I know, I’m running a motorcycle clinic in my back patio on Saturday mornings (9am to 2pm-ish) so if you are interested in learning to ride, tuning your bike or just hanging out, feel free to drop by. The BBQ is always hot and Nathan and I could use the company.

I better go call the owner at let him know I’ve already transferred the title.