Back From the Dead

So I have finally recovered from the vile bug bestowed upon me by my best friends crotch fruit. 4-5 days of highly unpleasant expulsions, thank god it's over with now. It took a few days, but even my appetite has returned in full force. So what's been going on since then? Not a whole lot! The garden has taken a pretty big hit this week, I think it's been over 2 weeks since we've received any rain. Last week, my only concern was trying not to die, so the garden did not receive it's normal and required waterings, soooo... the garden is pretty well Shermanized. Oh well, I was thinking about tearing it all out to get it ready for a fall/winter cover crop to improve the soil. We'll see, the bike has been taking up a lot of time as of late.

This week on the way to work, she (the bike) started to die on me, on and off. I knew it had something to do with the fuel system, since the carbs sounded starved for fuel. My gas tank has some rust, which there is a fair amount of in the carbs, but this was a new problem and unexpected. I was off on Tuesday, so I tore the fuel system apart. I emptied and drained the tank so I could look at the petcock. Not suprisingly, it's in pretty bad shape, but I could tell it has been that way for awhile, so it should not be the cause of my headache. I checked the fuel lines, changed the fuel filter, and threw the tank back on all the while giving the carbs a dirty look. I've been hoping to avoid dealing with them yet, but it was looking more likely that they were coming off the bike soon.

I had to run into Asheville to get a new rear tire mounted. Sweet! Now I don't see visions of my rear tire exploding at high speeds, now it's only the front wheel! I returned home to remount the rear wheel and take her on an anticipated test ride with the new tire. I hopped on and took off down the road, only to have her start bogging down again and stall. I limped back home frustrated and hoping to find an easy fix online. All the while, I'm still giving my carbs dirty looks. No chance finding an easy fix, so in a moment of desperation, I tore the carbs off my bike and started taking them apart. Cat got to come home to me smeared in grime with a dual carb layed in front of me like a scattered deck of cards.

My only experience with carbs is screwing around with them on boats, lawnmowers, weedeaters and such. As stated before the are dual carbs, so they have to be calibrated. Needless to say, I was not very confident in my ability to do what I was about to attempt. I took most of it apart to clean the jets out and all the rust out of the bowls. After putting the jigsaw puzzle back together, it was time to get it on the bike and see if it worked or I totally screwed my carbs up. After a few attempts to get the carbs mounted in the boots with all appropriate wires attatched, I put the tank back on and it was time.

I turned the key on and hit the starter, as expected, it took a bit for the carbs to refuel and then she started. But she didn't sound right, I took her out for a quick spin and she ran like crap. I limped back home and restarted her in the driveway and revved to 8000 rpm and I think it cleared some crap out of a jet, because she purred at idle after that. I took her for another spin and she ran dreamy, but wanted to stall when I came to a stop and the rmp's dropped.

So, the bike runs great, sounds better than when I bought her, but my idle settings are all screwed up somehow. Sometimes it will die when I'm idling because of low rpm's, the next time I stop they'll shoot up to 2500rpm's at idle.I'm sure one of my cables got stretched out of whack or something. Hopefully I'll get a chance to look into it more tomorrow before work. Other than that, I'm having a great time on the bike. The new rear tire has improved my confidence and feels a whole lot more stable. I found a set of front forks on ebay for $15 I'm going to buy and try to rebuild this month. After putting those on and a new front tire, most of my issues with the bike will be resolved.

Believe or not, I have actually fished in the last week. I ran out to the Pigeon after frustrating myself on the bike in Tuesday. Fishing SUCKED!!! I was calf deep in areas that are normally thigh deep. I caught one fish on a wooley bugger. That was the only hit I had, the only fish I saw. I hate to say it, but I think I'm going to hang up the rods until we get some rain. It just isn't worth the stress in the fish and fishing has been mediocre at best for the last month. Since it has cooled down some, I'll probably start doing more day hikes to get ready for hiking season this winter. So there you have it, the past ten days of my life in a nutshell. Not real exciting by any means.