Not that I am in any way an Instagram Influencer, a coach, or any one you should be listening to, watching, or commenting on. But just in case you do (and you shouldn’t), you should unfollow me right now.
Where to begin? There’s just so many reasons. Here’s just three.
The Jacket
So I’m riding home from a ride the other day… It’s very hot and we’re just a few miles from home. No twists, no turns, just slab. I am riding the 690 with my Mosko Moto Rackless 80 carcass on the back. I have no side bags, no top bag. It is holding my 4 fuel bottles and I have that over the top beaver tail just in case I want to hold anything. In the past I have used it to hold a case of wine, a pile of firewood and quite a few other unwieldy things. This day, I decide to have it hold my brand new Tour Master Jacket.
The Beaver Tail is up to the task. I fold the jacket over, tucking in the sleeves and it’s a nice big self contained package that cinches down nicely. Until it didn’t. Somewhere on the freeway, just a mile from my exit I felt and heard something. I was just to the left of a Semi, just starting to pass him when it happened. I reached behind me to feel and sure enough the jacket was gone.
I looked in my mirror and saw it on the freeway behind me. It was in the middle of the lane and I was stuck on the wrong side of a Semi to be able to pull quickly to the side. I accelerated around the Semi, pulled to the side and looked back. At this point it was too far to go back, so I sped off to the next exit, zipped back a couple of miles to the next exit, got back on to the freeway and finally pulled over alongside my jacket which was now almost to the side of the road.
It had been run over by I don’t know how many vehicles by the time I got to it. It’s got at least 5 different abrasions that have gone all the way through. Some are small but this one that you can see is about 6 inches in length. Not that I need a brand new looking jacket, I was going to abuse it and ride it like it should, but there’s a shit ton of damage and I haven’t even hit the dirt with it yet.
What did we learn?
#1 To never trust the Mosko Beaver Tail again. It has a single strap that they suggest you use for when you have the 22 Liter top bag in place. I normally don’t as it’s usually a hassle when it comes to filling up with gas. I will now. I don’t know how that strap would work around my jacket but there’s some way to loop in into something somewhere.
#2 Yes, my jacket should have been on me where it belongs. Yes I know ATGATT, but that isn’t me. Helmet? Always. Everything else? Mostly. You won’t catch me riding in flip flops, but I won’t be wearing an airbag vest either. Somewhere in between is my happy place.
The Plan
When I dealt with Mosko to fix my torn strap… If you remember, they said sure they could fix it, so I shipped it, only for them to say no they couldn’t – they had also included a couple of NoSo Patches in the box. I think with these, and a few more, I can patch up the jacket enough to make it operable.
The Gear Selection Sender Leak
The one and only problem I needed to fix when I got home from last years LAB2V and the CABDR was a small oil leak that appeared to be coming from the lower left side. Counter Shaft Seal right? It wasn’t. It turned out to be the Gear Selector Sending Unit. I ordered an o-ring that costs less than a buck and celebrated that it was fixed! See https://aufroad.com/fixing-what-broke-and-updates/
It wasn’t. I still had a persistent oil leak around the counter shaft seal area. So I cleaned up the area again – made it all bright and shiny, warmed up the bike and then sat back to see where the oil was coming from.
This is looking up at the bike from the ground. The counter shaft is behind the black shift lever to the right of the picture. It’s clear the oil is still coming from the sender and NOT at all from the Counter Shaft area.
So, I obviously need to figure out what is happening in there.
What did we learn?
That I am obviously not the uber mechanic I thought I was. It did hold oil for a while but we certainly can do better.
The Plan
I’ll have to pull it out again and see where I went wrong. I can’t imagine the o ring being the wrong size. Maybe there’s something else that’s allowing the oil to push through. Maybe it’s the sender body that is leaking? I’ll take a close look and see if I can find anything. I can’t ride LAB2V this year with it like this.
Rotation Direction
While I was under the bike looking for a leak I happened to glance up at my tire. It’s been on there for a few months but has had almost no mileage. Let’s see if you can see what I did wrong. I mean there’s a huge directional arrow right on the sidewall.
What did we learn?
#1 That I am indeed an idiot! I swear I checked the rotation at least a few times when I mounted that tire. I guess if anything, it’s to check and check again, and then check once more.
I did go look at the back tire, at least that one is right.
The Plan
Probably this weekend I’ll take the wheel off, pull the tire off, give it a flip, then mount the tire again. Oh and then there’s the whole re-balancing again too. Oh and yes, I do this all by hand. Practice makes perfect, right?
Now, save yourself. Un Follow me while you still can!
He's an avid hockey fan, rides a mountain bike, sometimes rides a road bike, has a few motorcycles (he had a really fast one, had a big cool orange one, rode a really slow one, and is currently building a perfect "BDR Weapon"). If that isn't enough, he makes cheese and sourdough bread, loves strong beer and good red wine, and poorly plays the Mandolin.
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