A few little things have happened on the scooter-front. In my last post I mentioned that my Z1R Metro helmet had broken at a hinge-point and that I had re-attached the "T" shaped hinge-pin with model airplane glue. The first time I glued it, it stayed on for approximately 12 minutes. The second time, I used not only the glue, but a C-clamp to hold it until it dried. It is still holding strong! I'm pretty happy. Z1R DOES, however, need to look into this little design flaw....
The next thing to arise was the increasing failure rate of the center mounting point of the Genuine Scooters aftermarket rear rack. Now my dear wife gave me one of the racks for Christmas and I had experienced no problems, but then again, I haven't carried anything bigger or heavier than a coat on it. My friends Tryg and Isaac, who both live in the Phoenix area and ride Buddys with the aftermarket racks, both had their center mounts break. I offered to either fix them myself or have them fixed, so one fine Friday, they showed up at my door with racks in hand hoping for some help. I took them up to where I work and showed the racks to the shop foreman, who is a fabulous metal fabricator. Eric said he'd make short order of the problem and to come back in a little while. We did as he asked and were presented with some well thought-out reinforcement on our racks. Genuine is now aware of the problem and according to one source will warranty any racks experiencing a mounting failure.
Then, I was riding home from Sedona last Thursday and was cruising at an indicated 70 mph down a short hill when the rear-end of the scooter began doing a slow dance I've become familiar with over the past number of years. The hindquarters began swishing around with a grace I'm a little uncomfortable dealing with. Yes, folks, I'd picked up a nail in my rear tire and it was going flat. I wanted to ease it over to the right side of the road to work on it, but it let me know it was going to the left and would disregard any input from me. So I went left. I waited for traffic to break and ran it back across the road to where there was enough room to work. I popped the seat and pulled out my handy-dandy tubeless tire fix-it kit (specifically designed for motorcycles and sold at Wally-World) and, following the instructions, successfully patched the tire. I then pulled out my handy-dandy CO2 tire fill-it device (specifically for motorcycles and sold at Wally-World) to fill the tire only to find out my step-son had exhausted the CO2 cartridge in his go-ped.
"Well, crap," I said.
I called my dear wife (who works in Sedona) and she came to rescue me with a foot-pump purchased at a local hardware store. About 10 minutes before she arrived, though, a kindly gentleman named John stopped and, after assessing the problem, pulled a little electric air pump from the rear of his Jeep, applied one end to his battery and the other to my tire and in moments, I was sporting a reinflated tire. Ski showed up with the pump, I put it under the seat, expressed my undying gratitude and affection, smooched her and sent her back to work. I jumped on and raced the remaining 15 miles home. No problems. I recommend everyone who rides a scooter with tubeless tires carry a tubeless tire fix-it kit and a CO2 reinflation kit. Just don't let your step-son know you have it...
Then on Saturday, I took one of my spare tires and strapped it to my newly revised rack and headed out to Prescott to have it mounted. I took it to the dealer from whom I purchased my Bajaj; Encore Performance (www.epfguzzi.com). They are a Bajaj, Kymco, Hyosung, Moto Guzzi, Royal Enfield and Gas Gas dealer. Whew!! Anyway, for twenty bucks, they mounted the tire for me. It would have been more had they needed to remove the muffler and tire themselves, but I brought along the neccessary tools to do the removal myself and did so in their parking lot.
Anyway, I left Cottonwood at about 9:30 a.m. and the temperature was in the low 40's maybe. Darned chilly, I'd say! I rode up through Jerome and decided that wearing my balaclava under my helmet would be a good idea, so I pulled over and donned said garment. BIG difference!!
I discovered that, although this IS Arizona, that the same rules apply that applied when I lived in Colorado. If there is moisture on the road, the temperatures are in the low 30's (at the 7050 foot summit of Mingus Mountain) the road will have ice on it in the shady spots. Zip-zip!! Entertaining, but not debilitating. I moseyed on over to Encore and got the job done. Stopped at a place in Prescott Valley for a fabulous plate-full of biscuits and gravy. A little fuel and I'm on my way home. Ended up following a mini-van who's driver had NO game. His level of incompetence seriously pushed the envelope! I think he spent more time with his vehicle halfway over the double yellow than he did on the correct side of the road. There were times that, as he was going around a blind turn or even hairpin to the left that he was ENTIRELY on the wrong side of the road. It was just the luck of a fool that he wasn't head-on'd by some SUV! People tend to view Hwy 89A from Prescott to Jerome as a raceway that is to be used to hone one's roadracing skills. Even people in cars. Therefore, like I said; the luck of a fool...
Made it on home in one piece, though and in time to get ready for our gig that night at Relics in Sedona. Great time that night, too, but nothing scooter related, so I'll let it go...
C-ya...ride on!
--Keys
C-ya...ride on,
--Keys
No comments:
Post a Comment