A Motorcycle Filled Weekend

This weekend was filled with lots of motorcycle fun. It started when my friend Joe came over to help wrench on the Ural. I discovered it mysteriously wouldn’t start last weekend. Amazing how a bike can won’t start after being parked for two months. Arg.

The starter turned over, but no spark. A bit of troubleshooting and some Internet searching later we decided it was probably the hal sensor. A simple part to replace; it took less than 30 minutes to get the cover and gas take out of the way and the unit replaced. We were very happy when the Ural roared to life again. Apparently, this is a common failure. If the wires aren’t damaged, mine were not, then it likely died due to overheating. For such a simple part, I was quite shocked to pay $75 bill to get it. It is a bit pricey to have a spare laying around.

Since I had extra hands available, and our ultimate goal was to get the Ural roadworthy again to test out the new trailer wiring and hitch, I got some help with the rear brake lever. It was sticking badly. This first happened about 18 months ago and it was a real pain to get the lever out to re-grease. I need to grease this more often, so it’s easy to take out. We had to hammer it out. The picture below shows the spot to hit, so nothing important gets bent.

The lever all cleaned up and shiny again. One of these days I would like to get ambitious and add a grease fitting to the lever housing as shown in this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZzgZPgeP1sM

We also played with the rear brake switch since it was misbehaving. I had my 2009-style switch modified to use the newer style (as simple as replacing the rear brake lever and soldering a two wires. It is rather primitive inside and was completely corroded. We tried to polish up the copper, but it didn’t help. I will have to replace it instead.

While waiting for the Ducatis to show up, I took a few pictures with my SV650. I really like how this one turned out.

Sunday, was the Blind Lizard rally. I last wrote about it in 2012. This year started off slow due to rain in the mid-morning. By 11am, it was sunny and blue skies again. I rode down with some Ducati friends. My SV was surrounded by Panigales. 

There was quite a crowd around this three-wheeled converted Studebaker. It was pretty interesting to look at.

I would guess there were about 200 people/bikes at this event. I had a great time as usual catching up with friends and looking at motorcycles.

I wanted to buy one of the coveted t-shirts, but they didn’t have the orange one in my size. Too bad. I’ll have to keep rocking my 2012 shirt.

Before I left, this great looking 1942 Harley pulled up. I enjoyed looking at it and listening to it. I was surprised how quiet and mechanical it sounded; I liked it. The blue isn’t the original color, but it suits the motorcycle perfectly. It was quite the contrast next to the new Panigale.

Later in the day, I swapped the SV650 for my Ural and went to pick up some hostas from a friend’s house. The Ural makes a good SUV or more like freeway capable lawn tractor.

After planting all the hostas, I finished the weekend off watching the latest MotoGP race in Spain. It was a great weekend to be on a motorcycle. What did you do with your motorcycle this weekend?