First Ride of the Season

We had beautiful weather today so I decided that it was time to pull the Wing out of hibernation. On my lunch break I went out to the garage and put the battery tender on the Wing. I had it on bleubells. I cranked it a few times and it seemed like it wasn't getting any fuel. I checked the fuel gauge and found that it was empty. Even on reserve it wouldn't kick over. I poured the one gallon spare can from the side compartment into the tank and added a little Sea Foam.

I cranked it a few more times to start the fuel though the system and then gave it a shot of ether. The bike would burn the prime but it wasn't quite ready to start before I had to return to work. I left the tender on to charge the battery back up from all the cranking and went back to work.

After work I went back out to the garage and cranked it one more time before giving it another shot of ether. It took the prime and started sucking fuel. I played throttle jockey for a few minutes until the idle smoothed out and then decided that it was time to go fuel it up.

When I got to the gas station I looked at the odometer and realized that I hadn't fueled it since we returned from Las Vegas last fall. I topped of the tank (about 3.5 gallons) and rode it around for a few miles.

Everything seems to be working just like last season when I garaged it. The clutch still needs work and after the bike warmed up I remembered that I needed to replace the coolant reservoir. (I started to smell antifreeze) Overall, it was a pleasant ride and I was quite impressed that the bike was running so well.

I'll try to get out again this weekend.