Illinois to Georgia, Pre-ride plan

[rusty rider]

Easy you have a pm :cool:

[Easy Rider]

Looks a LOT like rain here but the radar is clear to Evansville so I'm gonna give it a shot.
The adventure will begin 07/22 at Noon, CDT.

No report (from me) until I get back. Taking a vacation from technology too.......except the cell phone!

[Easy Rider]

Originally Posted by Easy Rider

No report (from me) until I get back. Taking a vacation from technology too.......except the cell phone!

OK, so I lied!
I'm in Atlanta, the bike is in the shop, I'm bored and using a borrowed laptop.
Off to find a mouse; I hate touch pads!
JOhn and Jonathan: I have your numbers with me; will call later.
More trip details later.

[Sarris]

EZ;

Whats up with the bike? Did you break down? Give us the scoop-de-poop.

[Easy Rider]

Originally Posted by Sarris

Whats up with the bike? Did you break down? Give us the scoop-de-poop.

OK, first things first:
Seems like all the people I was supposed to meet are some variation of John !!
To John in Indiana: I missed you at work. Sorry, will try again on the return.

Bike is fine, I think. It just developed a slight oil leak near the top. Hope it's just the inspection cover gasket. Only used about 3 oz of oil but the brown stains on the left side fins and slight smell of hot oil worrys me a bit. I probably could have ridden it back home but didn't want to chance it. Alas, that leaves me without a ride to visit the folks I wanted to see. Maybe they will find something easy and fix it today.

Except for being HOT, the trip down was fine. US 41 is an excellent route. Good road; almost no traffic most of the way.
I will NOT be taking the Beal's Gap run north of Monteagle on the way back. If you like the twisties, it's great BUT.....if you have no experience with mountain roads OR your last experience was on a different bike or with different tires, you might be in for a BIG surprise on the GZ.

I like the way the GZ "falls" into the sharp turns in town; a little lean, a little push on the bar and ZIP, you're around the corner. This is NOT, however, a good trait to have in the twisties.....if you aren't used to it !!!! It feels like over-steer until you get used to it...........which I'm not going to worry about much since I plan to avoid them as much as possible in the future.

The bike handled beautifully everywhere else. If I could see all or most of the way through a curve I was fine. That old saying about not teaching an old dog new tricks is NOT true but.......it is very hard for an old dog to UN-LEARN his old habits.
Overall MPG so far is 73; about what I expected.

At this point, the weather report doesn't look good for going back at the end of the week so I might be staying longer than expected.

[rusty rider]

Easy, we were a victim of that storm that came through last monday, no power from 12:30am Tues until 2:30pm on Wed. Was afraid that I had missed your call. Have a safe trip home and possibly I'll see you when you pass through.

[Easy Rider]

Originally Posted by Easy Rider

Bike is fine, I think. It just developed a slight oil leak near the top.

Well, it looks like the guy in Indiana was right after all.
After removing the tank and doing a thorough inspection, the roasted brown stuff on the fins appears to be "shipping lube"; not a leak at all. It was there all along and only turned brown after a long, hot ride.

So now it's off to explore Atlanta.

[Sarris]

Glad all is OK with the bike. Keep in touch when you can and ride safe.
:2tup:

[patrick_777]

Originally Posted by Easy Rider

After removing the tank and doing a thorough inspection, the roasted brown stuff on the fins appears to be "shipping lube"; not a leak at all. It was there all along and only turned brown after a long, hot ride.

Did they say whether or not it'll clean up? Mine has some of this also on the top two cylinder fins.

[Easy Rider]

Originally Posted by patrick_777

Did they say whether or not it'll clean up? Mine has some of this also on the top two cylinder fins.

Cleanup is not easy. They got some of it off so it doesn't look so bad.

I'm guessing it needs to be soaked with something like dishwasher soap paste while warm to soften it up.