Almost bit it! (Or, falling in love with a GS Shaftie all over again)

[Guest]

Saturday I finally got my newish to me GS1000GT running like a champ. So, in celebration, Rose and I took him (all my shafties get "boy" names, cause they have a shaft of course, and this one is named Griff II in honour of Griffin, and its the second GS Ive bought/traded for from Brett) for a nice shakedown run.

I just had replaced the rear tire, and admitedly, should have replaced the front. But money is pretty tight for me right now, and, while its checked up a bit, its still soft, so it will do untill next pay day. We had to deliver a package that we'd bought for him anyway, so our shakedown was a run out to see Blowerbike.

After hanging out there for a bit, we decided to grab a bite to eat. We had a nice light dinner on this beautiful night on the patio of a local eatery thats fairly good food, and not expensive at all. After enjoying dinner, and chatting while enjoying the nice early fall/late summer evening (this is my favorite time of year) we headed for home.

Upon starting up Griff in the parking lot, i found he was displaying some problems. He didnt want to stay running at idle, and wouldnt pull below 4K RPM....I heard the tell tale sounds of sucking air, and with it being dark, there wasnt much I could see. I spun the bike around the parking lot, getting a feel for whether or not it would make it home. Once i was satisfied that I could limp Griff home, we headed for the highway. I could keep the revs up there, and it would be the path of least resistance since it was already 9:30 or so on a Saturday night.

Once we got home, I quickly inspected the bike while running, looking for the offending issue. It was revealed as one problem causing another. Somehow my airbox bolts in the frame had some undone...and were gone. And the airbox and carbs were now hanging on the boots. The boots were original, but were still pliable when I started working on the bike, so fitted with fresh Orings, I figured they'd be ok untill i could afford new ones. Like i said, money is a little tight right now, but I think everyone is suffering the same problem....LOL

It was after 10 already, and Rose and I were supposed to be meeting up with RageZro (Jim) and Dogma (Dale) for a little day trip since work had prevented me from being able to do the Red River Rally scouting trip this weekend. My beloved 1100ES was down due to leaking oil lines for the oil cooler, and I wouldnt chance running it like that, so I had to figure out a way to fix the big G before morning...

[TheCafeKid]

I called around to my usual partners in crime when I need GS repair advise to see if there was a feasible way of "Jerry Rigging" the two boots that were broken away from the head flange and sucking air. It was suggested that I MIGHT get away with using RTV to seal them up for the time being, but MIGHT wasnt gonna get it for me. So, I called the ONE person I knew around here that would very likely have some intake boots (or a BOX of them...LOL) Blowerbike (Terry)


Terry was MORE than gracious, told me to bring the offending boots over to his place and we could try to match some up with what he had. Bare in mind it was now 10:30 or so, and I couldnt thank him enough for being there yet AGAIN to help out a fellow GS junkie. It ended up being that he had a set of FOUR VM36 boots that had been modified at the screw holes to fit an 8V GS head. It was his guess that these were likely snow sled boots or something of the like, as they were newer in design, and had the ORings moulded into the rubber, which was awesome because that took away the need to assure that my new Orings from the old boots would fit as well.

After thanking him a bazillion times for his help at such an hour, I rushed back to the house to get crackin on the big G. Rose and I were to meet up with Jim and Dale at 10 in the morning, and now it was well after midnight. I fiddled with the boots for just a minute, and saw that indeed these would do the trick. I bolted them on, put the carbs back in, and the fought the airbox back on. I fired up the bike and he purred like a lion. But, upon blipping the throttle, he gurggled, coughed and died. I was sucking air from somewhere still. Another inspection showed that in the process of fighting with the airbox, I had knocked the snorkel off of it, allowing way too much air to pass thru the box too fast. "Great, just f**king great," I thought. Now I was going to have to take the box off and then fight it all over again. My beautiful assistant Rose to the rescue!!

With her undying and unfathomable patience, (believe me, she puts up with ME, she has patience by the bushel basket) Rose managed to reattach the snorkel without removing the box from the bike and carbs! Needless to say, I was QUITE amazed. It seems like every day, she does something else to amaze me, and we've known eachother or have been together for 10 or 11 years now.

I fired the bike up again, and found that he was accepting throttle quite nicely. As a matter of fact, he SOUNDED as if he was running better than ever before. I tweaked the adjustment screws again, listening to the idle come up here and there, and he responded to each blip like a champ. I assembled the rest of the bike, and decided to run it up the block to make sure he was pulling as good as he SOUNDED like he should. Boy, was he ever. It was like a new bike all over again!

[TheCafeKid]

Finally, around 4AM, Rose and I got to bed. 8AM came way too quickly, and I dragged my ass out of bed and started a pot of coffee for Rose and I while she took a shower. I called Jimmy around 8:30 to tell him that we WOULD indeed be there after all.

After rounding up necessary tools (I wasnt going anywhere without tools today, for sure) and some other essentials for the day trip, we stuffed them in the tank bag and saddlebags and made our way to I-75. On the highway, Griff tooled along quite happily. It didnt seem to matter if we were two up, or TEN up, it seemed he was just happy to be running and being ridden again. The power was smooth thru the rev range, and even tho I had only done a bench sync of the carbs, I was amazed at how little vibration I felt in the bars. I may not even bust out the sync tool, he's running so smoothly, I thought.


Once at Jims, we decided that we'd eat an early lunch/late breakfast, and then make our way down 75 into N. Kentucky. KY 10 was our first destination, a road that Jim said was frequented by sportbikers/squids and Harley guys alike because of the amazing twisty-ness of it, and awesome ridge scenery. Sure enough, we passed quite a few bikes coming the other way on 10 (a particular set of squids grabbed a laugh out of me, as they came around a corner, nearly upright, but leaning off the side of the bike with their knees stuck WAYYY out...typical squid style)

Jim led, and Dale fell in behind him. Rose and I and Griff were content to play sweeper. I still wasnt all that familiar with the bike, and didnt want to push it too hard right away untill i felt a bit more comfy with him in the corners. I'd yanked the stock "G" bars off a couple days before in favor of a set of Daytona bars, and they made him feel MUCH lighter and quicker in the steering, but still not as nimble as my beloved 1100ES, so I wanted to get a feel for him before i started tossing him around.

After an hour or so of decreasing radius, sweepers, chicanes, and right angle turns, I felt pretty good with him, and Jimmy seemed to be feeling his oats today, as his pace was pretty brisk. Nothing crazy, but I was enjoying it nonetheless....

[TheCafeKid]

Soon after however, things took a bit of a turn. Up ahead I saw Dale dive into a particularly nice looking "15MPH" right hander, and, as I often do, once Id guaged THAT turn, I checked to see what was after. An immediate lefty...a SWEET chicane set up. THIS was gonna be a good one.

I tapped the brakes, just to set the bike up, and then snapped my head and eyes to the exit of the right hander. I rolled the bike into the turn, still cooking pretty good. On my ES, two up, I could have taken this set of turns at about 40 or so without a worry, and this is where my mistake began. The bike snapped over, my eyes on the exit of the right hander, and as soon as i felt the bike roll in, my eyes would be looking to the entry of the left hander. But, as the bike traveled into the apex of the righty, suddenly I felt the right peg lift...the next sensation was the bottom of my boot running the asphault. The sensation after that was the back wheel slipping toward the centerline, and then the front wheel too. We were about to lowside....

[TheCafeKid]

In the space of probably 3 seconds, 9459894859348530984 thoughts ran independently through my head. It was as if my brain was now two different entities. One side of my brain was jabbering on about what was happening, about to happen and the like. " Wow, this is gonna suck...I wonder if Rose knows whats about to happen.... I guess we're gonna see if this gear works or not.... That sure is an odd feeling, my boot on the asphault like that....Gee, Rose hasnt freaked out and grabbed me up in fear yet....This might not hurt TOO bad, hell, we're almost already on the ground anyway. Hrmmmm did i leave the coffee pot on??"

THE OTHER side of my brain immediately started jabbering about what was happening, and what SHOULD be happening... " You DO realize what you've done right... Ok listen up... If Rose freaks and grabs you, IGNORE HER, you need to listen to ME! Eyes on the exit, DO NOT look at the side of the road! Keep your head in it!" I'd run out of lean angle, run out of tire. We were a weiner hair away from honest to god lowside. It was here that my experience kicked in. I snapped my eyes back to the exit of the turn, wacked the throttle, and gave a little nudge to the foot peg. I snapped the bars back to where my eyes were looking, and I felt the rear wheel grab. The bike lifted, but the bars wanted to go left again. I snapped them back right, and rolled thru the turn, and immediately whipped my head around to the left for the entry of the left hander...We just saved our own ass...

I managed a sigh and muttered to myself " THAT was interesting.." We rolled thru the lefty and caught back up with Jimmy and Dale. I got myself together, took a glance back to see if Rose was ok in the mirror. I wasnt even sure if she'd realized what was about to happen, but I was sure she knew SOMETHING wasnt right. I was SUPREMELY impressed with the fact that she DIDNT freak out, and grab me, which might have sealed our fate then and there. I reached back and patted her thigh. "Thats my girl right there!" I thought. I have a feeling that pretty soon here Rose is going to be one HELL of a rider!!

[TheCafeKid]

SHortly after, we stopped for a fill up, a butt break and a cold drink. It had gotten hot in the afternoon, the sun beating down on my leather, and my adrenaline from earlier had me pretty sweaty. We sat for a bit, drank and chatted with some other Zook fans, two guys, one on a GS500 and the other on a SV650. Jimmy asked if I wanted to lead for a bit, and I said I didnt mind leading, but I wasnt going to push any harder than he was, and told them what had happened a little while back. My inexperience with THIS bike had nearly proven costly, so I was content to keep our pace about where it was now, untill I had a few more hundred miles of twisties on Griff under my belt. Jim and Dale both said they were perfectly OK with that, and Jim mentioned he was wondering why I hadnt passed them already today but now he understood.

We headed out again, and to our dismay, some SERIOUSLY dark clouds were looming on the horizion, right in the direction we were headed before we could turn north again. We'd already decided that once we got into Dry Ridge, KY, depending on what the weather was like, we could either jump on 75 and high tail it home, or continue on with our day on some other nice twisty roads. From the looks of the sky ahead, it was becoming apparent that we probably werent going to have much of a decision.

A few more miles up the road, the sun suddenly was blotted out, and the wind picked up from a breeze to a near gale. And then, out of nowhere, a deluge began. The water pooled up on the road so fast, I dropped down into second and stayed there. There was no place to pull over, as KY22 the road we were on, ran the top of a ridge, and had little for trees, or houses with PORCHES to be found. Finally, I simply couldnt see more than 10 feet in front of me it was raining so hard, so I made a right on the next road I came to, and pulled under some peoples trees in their driveway. Dale and Jim quickly put on their rain gear, but we were all already soaked to the bone for the most part. We hadnt bought Rose any gear yet, so I gave her mine, just to keep her from getting any wetter, and keep her warm. I didnt care about me so much, I was already soaked, and my pants were "waterproof" (Yeah....right)

[TheCafeKid]

It seemed to downpour for ever, I cant remember the last time Id seen it rain so hard for so long. By now the trees we were standing under were doing no good, so we just stood there like a bunch of drowned rats. Finally it slowed up, and then turned into a sprinkle. We loaded up the bikes and headed off, only about 10 more miles till we hit I-75 and then we could high tail it home.

We ran in and out of the rain for a good while up 75, and then it eventually stopped altogether. I was gratefull, as I could began the process of a 70MPH dry off. Thankfully the temp hadnt dropped TOO much, and I wasnt as cold as I thought I would be. Wet leather will suck the heat right out of your body, so the warmer air once we got back into the city was greatly appreciated.

We crossed the bridge back into Ohio, and headed for Jims. We all tried to dry off a bit and then went out for a bite to eat. Leaving dinner, I found that my headlight wasnt working, in high OR low, so instead of heading for home, Rose and I headed back to Jims so I could do some diagnosis in the light of his shop. It took stripping the bike of the tank and headlamp to find the cause of the problem, a loose connector for the HI/LO/Signals switch on the bars... I fixed it, and then put the bike back togther and thanked Jim and Kathy, and Rose and I headed for home. Tired, water logged, and just plain worn out, we were glad to hit the door....

It was a pretty good test of Griff II, and, aside from a simple wiring issue, and me not quite having a good feel for his cornering prowess just yet, he passed with flying colours. I really enjoy having a shafty again. Comfortable, powerfull in a different kind of way from my 1100ES, and, as much as I love the howl of my ES's SuperTrapp, its nice to have the quite stock exhaust of the big G for a change.

I have ridden and or owned all the big shafties, from the 850G to the full touring 1100GK monster, and I have to say, I think the 1000G is the best of the shaftie breed. Its got PLEANTY of guts, is just as comfortable as the others, and, to ME, feels SMOOTHER than the others. I wasnt completely sold on owning one again, as I do like to go all slobbery red eyed corner monster, but I have to say, I do believe Im falling in love with this one...


TCK

[kparkfan]

Wow man sounds to me like you had a pretty adventures day. that is one of the things that scares me the most about the curves lol.

[SqDancerLynn1]

Sounds like youhad a good time. I'm sure your wife will appreciate the stock exhaust too!

[mighty13d]

Wow awesome story. Thanks for sharing!! I got a kick out of it when you're talking about the thoughts because it's really amazing how many coherent thoughts are able to pass through your head in about 0.1 sec when something's happening! It's always interesting to hear people's reactions to riding a shaftie after spending years on a chain bike. Mine is a G so I'm used to it, and the only other bikes that I have ridden were cruisers so I really am not used to the difference.

Glad that you kept you and your wife off the ground in that corner though!

[kinnet]

Well, I'm glad Josh wrote about the trip...

My account of our "oh crap" moment goes something like this:

"Huh... That's weird."
*look over Josh's shoulder to see what is happening - See front wheel going in the wrong direction*
"Well sh*t." Sigh.

lol

[mighty13d]

lol well at least there wasn't a big crash after your sigh!

[Dogma]

Well, here's the big question... did you leave the coffee pot on?

I'm glad the wiring problem was as simple as it appeared to be. I don't think Jim was looking forward to possibly troubleshooting the switch, after we probed my 850 to see what proper function at the socket is. Why on earth would one of the wires switch from pos to neg when you switch from low to high beam? Probably something about maintaining correct current through both filaments somehow.

Well it was a fun day all together. There's no other group I'd rather spend an hour under a tree in a rainstorm with. I wouldn't have missed it for the... well, not less than 20 bucks, anyway.

[MelodicMetalGod]

Wow. Sonds like a gear soiler.

Glad you kept your head and got through it without any injury to man, woman or machine.

[bradleymaynar]

Nice write up. Glad you got to enjoy it and keep it together when you had to. Having a good passenger can be a life saver.

Brad bk