Third Ride

Here is a picture from today's ride. I had a heck of a time getting it running today. It takes is some time to warm up. I thought that I'd top off the tank with some Chevron 91 and a splash of Sea Foam to see if it didn't smooth out the carbs some.

I put about 15 miles on it and here are my findings. The low end, 1000-3000 RPM's runs really rough even after it warms up. It has a fair amount of back firing in that range as well. Above 3000 she'll run away from you if your not holding on. Out on the airport road, after riding for bit at the speed limit (50 mph) I decided to push it a little. In fourth gear the speedometer climbed right along side the tach and wasn't backing down. I came out of 4th at 80 (and still had plenty to go) and about 6000 rpms. I don't red line until 9000.

If I can get the low end to match the top she'll be a fast machine.

I spent a little over an hour bleeding the rear brake and finally had some success. It burped out a lot of air and started to firm up to where I couldn't move the rear wheel by hand with the bike on the center stand. I figured that a ride would help burp some more air to the surface. Before I got home the rear brake felt soft again and I'll bleed it the first of next week after it has had some time to think about what it has done.

I'll try and get some video up soon. 

Drum Roll Please....

Yes I did finally get the long awaited phone call. The Naked Wing is ready for pick up. So today after work Rachel and I rode out to see if this was some kind of joke. Here is my assessment.

The bike runs and sounds good. They adjusted the valves, cleaned and tuned the carbs, fixed the exhaust leak and the ignition. The new Dyna S seems really good. The bike is responsive and feels pretty good.

They did not however, pump up the rear brake(which I found out after attempting to stop on the highway) despite my incessant asking specifically about the brake. They marred up my powder coating, covered the lower half of the bike in grease and what looks like antifreeze, broke my radiator overflow cap and left greasy hand prints all over the bike. Lots of dark black grease. Not just finger print looking smudges. It was more like they used the bike as a rag to wipe their hands on.

After cautiously riding it home I began disassembly again to re route wires and cables that they had moved. Found several loose nuts and bolts and more grease.

I was told that the bike had been in the shop the entire time. After seeing the shop I can believe such a statement. I would have to guess that while working on every other bike in the shop they they started them with the tail pipes in a bucket of oil and antifreeze to see how far each of the bikes could blow the oily mixture. Lucky for me, my bike remained in the shop for all those demonstrations.

Well at least she is home now and I can give her the proper care she deserves.

Next step. Fix brakes and Horn so I can legally put her on the road.