This and that...

I took a ride over to Prescott a week or so ago. Just messin' around. Nice ride. Things changed on the way home, though....

As I was climbing the hill to the top of Mingus Mountain, a white van moved in behind me. About 2 feet off my tail! This guy was SERIOUSLY tailgating...and I was doing about ten over the speed limit!! Well, he passed me on a double yellow line just before a corner, just fool's luck he wasn't head-on'd!! Since he had probably 350 cubic inches under the hood and I had 125 cc's, he disappeared into the distance. I topped the summit and began the fast descent into Jerome, some 6 miles away. I caught up to the van about 2 miles down the road. He was behind a motorcyclist on a Buell who was doing, again, about 10 over the limit. Wasn't enough for the bozo in the van. He was tailgating the motorcyclist like I've never seen before! The Buell would go around the corners and the van was right on his ass, front tires squealing, he was leaned over so far. I surmised the motorcyclist, although he was riding a sport bike, probably didn't have all that much experience since I was easily keeping up with the two of them. He was more than likely scared to death by this moron on his tail light. This was absolutely one of the most dangerous scenerios I've ever seen on this road. If the Buell had hit some sand or a rock or something and went down, that van would have gone right over him.

At the pull off about a mile or so above Jerome the biker pulled over to let the van by and he did...me right behind him. I actually think the driver was suffering a bruised ego or something since he couldn't shake the motorscooter behind him. And NO...I was NOT tailgating him. I was just behind him and going the same speed as he.

He rolled up on a car going about the speed limit about a hundred yards down the road, and you guessed it, passed it on the double yellow IN A CORNER!!! Again, he lived to tell the story. We then entered the town of Jerome and he passed another car in the town limits. There are NO passing zones in the town of Jerome because you can't see around the corners and hairpins in the town. He did it anyway...oncoming traffic be damned.

I was able to keep him in view all the way down the mountain into Cottonwood where I followed the van (yes, I had the plate number) to a local mortuary. I parked and went in where I spoke to the directors about the incident and how their driver was obviously trying to drum up more business for them. About that time, the driver, an older guy, walked up and was confronted by his bosses. He admitted to passing on the double yellow, saying "everybody does it"!! Not true. Admitted to speeding to the point of danger. Claimed he wasn't tailgating the motorcycle. I pulled out my sheriff's department ID and told him he probably wasn't the brightest bulb in the place. His boss told him he wouldn't be driving the company vehicle again and the man apologized to me for his behavior. I left.

TODAY, I drove my pickup over to Prescott (another part of this story) and on my way back, who did I see? Still driving like a bat outa hell? The same guy. Same van. What can you do??

I know he's gonna kill someone.

Anyway, last week, the Red Baron, on the way home from one of my forays into Sedona began coughing and sputtering pretty badly. I pulled over and cleaned the carb out...an easy, quick job. No difference. Now THIS was different. I rode it home, unhappily, and began working on it. First, I checked the spark plug. It was white, meaning it was running lean, suggesting a fuel starvation issue since in the past it's always been a pretty tan...which is optimum. I pulled the carb clear out and cleaned every part of it thoroughly. I replaced the fuel filter with a new one. I made sure the fuel lines were clear. I drained the gas tank, checking to make sure it wasn't full of crud and replaced the gas with fresh. I adjusted the valves (just because I could). No difference. Well, I'd done all I could, so I took it to Encore Performance, a Genuine dealer ( http://www.epfguzzi.com/ ). Jim called me a couple days ago, saying he'd replaced a wire to the coil and he thought it was fixed. So I drove over the mountain this morning to get it and, now it didn't cough and sputter as bad, but the power was down, and when I hit about 55 mph, it began coughing a little. I took it back and Jim pulled the carb and cleaned the jets. Tried it again. No better. Checked the plug. White.

So we found a 95 main jet to replace the 92 that was in it and tried it again. If anything, it was worse. I personally think it was just getting worse as it got warmer. We pulled the plug again and discovered the bigger jet made no difference to the color of the plug. We still had a fuel starvation issue. I left it there. They are going to do a bleed-down test to determine ring/cylinder integrity and adjust the valves again.

Who knows, maybe I just wore the poor thing out...

Also, I have included a picture here of my scooter in it's "Sport Touring" incarnation. For those of you who are new here, the scooter is an '06 Genuine Buddy 125, the rear bag is an S/X item from Scooterwest ( http://www.scooterwest.com/ ), the saddlebags are Dowco Rally Pack bags ( http://www.chaparralmotorsports.com/ ) and the windshield is from Genuine, specifically designed for the '06 Buddy.

C-ya...ride on!

--Keys