...and have to go pick it up later this week.
I got back to Chicago from Ohio last night at about 10:30...by car.
I rode out to Toledo through northern Indiana (which has some horrible signage, so I probably went out of my way by 20 miles or so during the trip - 250 miles total). Mapquest put me on a gravel road, but I knew US 20 was only a mile or two north and heading in the same direction, so I was able to cut up there.
The P200 ran great most of the way out, though the engine started to rattle at certain speeds (real low or real high). It sounds to me like the flywheel cover might be rattling against something. Every bolt I could find was tight, though, and the bike was riding fine, so I didn't worry too much about it. As I got near Toledo, I was running low on gas and the bike started to bog a little bit at the top of 4th gear.
Friday morning I cleaned my jets and checked my plug (little bit dark, but I left the mixture alone at that point). Selena and I rode from Toledo down to Columbus in a heavy drizzle most of the way. The bike really started bogging in 4th, so I changed to a #7 plug and turned the mixture a quarter-turn leaner and it ran pretty well despite the wet. Idle was screwy, though.
Saturday in Columbus was sunny, hot, and muggy. All the hot humid air east of Hurricane Ike was trapped and it got a bit oppressive. One of my gear selector cables slipped right as we arrived for the ride meetup, so while I was tightening the pinch-bolt and adjusting the cables, we missed the ride, but ended up going thrifting with some of the XYLs there for the rally. (But since we'd ridden down through the area the ride was going to the day before, and were going out that way the next day, we didn't mind, and ended up hanging out with Selena's sister). My bike would only idle regularly when it was running rich (on a #7 plug), though I'm not sure how much that had to do with the humidity. To get it to run nicely, I had to turn the mixture a little leaner and set the throttle stop pretty high so it wouldn't die out at idle - otherwise it would bog at 45-50mph even after warmed up.
I was originally planning on riding back to Chicago yesterday from Columbus, but one look at the radar map yesterday morning disabused me of that notion. Selena and I left to ride back toward Toledo, and I'd either catch MegaBus or cadge a ride back to Chicago from there. It was still pretty warm and sunny, but with some moderate wind once we got out into the country which varied from a nice tail wind to a somewhat annoying cross-wind. We were keeping an eye on the western horizon to stop to put on rain-gear if needed.
About an hour outside Toledo, Selena's bike (a 2005 Stella) broke down. We were about 120 miles out of Columbus, and had been going full throttle most of the way. She suddenly started losing power at 45-50mph and was able to downshift and pull over in a controlled stop, but her kick lever was frozen solid. After letting it sit for an hour or so, it still wouldn't budge, she couldn't shift gears, and we found a nice farmer to let her put it in his barn for a couple
days (the state trooper that pulled up behind us a couple min after we stopped walked her to his door and vouched for him) until she can pick it up.
We ended up riding 2-up on my P200 at 40mph back to Toledo right as the pouring rain started, with all the gear two people bring on scooter trips, then driving to Chicago (and hitting some rain in Indiana). Selena drove back this morning, and I'm taking Megabus out later this week and riding back on Friday, which is supposed to be beautiful. POC Phil thinks her bike might have seized but only set after she stopped, but whether it's the top end or kickstart mechanism, the engine's gotta be opened up and she's planning on picking it up and taking it in to POC tomorrow.
Looking around and talking to a couple people, I'm thinking that my 20/20 carb likely needs a thorough cleaning/rebuild, but I might as well put a new 24/24 carb on at that point.
I got back to Chicago from Ohio last night at about 10:30...by car.
I rode out to Toledo through northern Indiana (which has some horrible signage, so I probably went out of my way by 20 miles or so during the trip - 250 miles total). Mapquest put me on a gravel road, but I knew US 20 was only a mile or two north and heading in the same direction, so I was able to cut up there.
The P200 ran great most of the way out, though the engine started to rattle at certain speeds (real low or real high). It sounds to me like the flywheel cover might be rattling against something. Every bolt I could find was tight, though, and the bike was riding fine, so I didn't worry too much about it. As I got near Toledo, I was running low on gas and the bike started to bog a little bit at the top of 4th gear.
Friday morning I cleaned my jets and checked my plug (little bit dark, but I left the mixture alone at that point). Selena and I rode from Toledo down to Columbus in a heavy drizzle most of the way. The bike really started bogging in 4th, so I changed to a #7 plug and turned the mixture a quarter-turn leaner and it ran pretty well despite the wet. Idle was screwy, though.
Saturday in Columbus was sunny, hot, and muggy. All the hot humid air east of Hurricane Ike was trapped and it got a bit oppressive. One of my gear selector cables slipped right as we arrived for the ride meetup, so while I was tightening the pinch-bolt and adjusting the cables, we missed the ride, but ended up going thrifting with some of the XYLs there for the rally. (But since we'd ridden down through the area the ride was going to the day before, and were going out that way the next day, we didn't mind, and ended up hanging out with Selena's sister). My bike would only idle regularly when it was running rich (on a #7 plug), though I'm not sure how much that had to do with the humidity. To get it to run nicely, I had to turn the mixture a little leaner and set the throttle stop pretty high so it wouldn't die out at idle - otherwise it would bog at 45-50mph even after warmed up.
I was originally planning on riding back to Chicago yesterday from Columbus, but one look at the radar map yesterday morning disabused me of that notion. Selena and I left to ride back toward Toledo, and I'd either catch MegaBus or cadge a ride back to Chicago from there. It was still pretty warm and sunny, but with some moderate wind once we got out into the country which varied from a nice tail wind to a somewhat annoying cross-wind. We were keeping an eye on the western horizon to stop to put on rain-gear if needed.
About an hour outside Toledo, Selena's bike (a 2005 Stella) broke down. We were about 120 miles out of Columbus, and had been going full throttle most of the way. She suddenly started losing power at 45-50mph and was able to downshift and pull over in a controlled stop, but her kick lever was frozen solid. After letting it sit for an hour or so, it still wouldn't budge, she couldn't shift gears, and we found a nice farmer to let her put it in his barn for a couple
days (the state trooper that pulled up behind us a couple min after we stopped walked her to his door and vouched for him) until she can pick it up.
We ended up riding 2-up on my P200 at 40mph back to Toledo right as the pouring rain started, with all the gear two people bring on scooter trips, then driving to Chicago (and hitting some rain in Indiana). Selena drove back this morning, and I'm taking Megabus out later this week and riding back on Friday, which is supposed to be beautiful. POC Phil thinks her bike might have seized but only set after she stopped, but whether it's the top end or kickstart mechanism, the engine's gotta be opened up and she's planning on picking it up and taking it in to POC tomorrow.
Looking around and talking to a couple people, I'm thinking that my 20/20 carb likely needs a thorough cleaning/rebuild, but I might as well put a new 24/24 carb on at that point.
