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Spring time wake-up.
As you wake up your bike from its winter sleep, please take some time to check it out completely.
I got home from a two-month work assignment this past Friday. My son had washed and waxed my Wing for me,
as we were going to our monthly Wing gathering Saturday morning. He even aired up the tires, knowing that I would be arriving late in the evening and would not have much time to do it myself. When I got home, I fired it up (my son had pushed it around) to make sure it was running OK, no problems noted.
We did our ride to the gathering, then took a longer way home (of course). Later that afternoon, we went for another ride, as I was getting ready to finally take my Wing apart to replace some of the body panels that were damaged in the tip-over last year. Again, no problems noted.
Sunday, I started taking the bike apart to remove the damaged panels. For those who complain about removing the few body parts on your GS, have a gander at what's under the skin on a Wing:
The large box at the top is the airbox. I figured "what the heck, just a few more screws and I can check the air filter".
I removed the top of the airbox and this is what I saw:
Bits of confectioner's chocolate. We make our own candies for special occasions, so have some of it stored in a cool closet. The mice have found it in the closet and carried it to the garage, crawled up the bike, over the engine, through the snorkel, into the filter area.
We have seen no other evidence of mice in the house or garage, as our four-legged daughter does a fine job of keeping them at bay.
Moral of this story: check your bike completely before venturing out. You might have been visited by a mouse or chipmunk who built a nest instead of leaving sweet treats. Nesting materials tend to clog your air filter worse than chocolate. I have also seen nests built in exhaust pipes, so run a wire up your pipes, if you can, to make sure there is nothing blocking them, either.
Wake them up gently, ride them carefully, let's have some fun this summer.
.
I got home from a two-month work assignment this past Friday. My son had washed and waxed my Wing for me,
as we were going to our monthly Wing gathering Saturday morning. He even aired up the tires, knowing that I would be arriving late in the evening and would not have much time to do it myself. When I got home, I fired it up (my son had pushed it around) to make sure it was running OK, no problems noted.We did our ride to the gathering, then took a longer way home (of course). Later that afternoon, we went for another ride, as I was getting ready to finally take my Wing apart to replace some of the body panels that were damaged in the tip-over last year. Again, no problems noted.
Sunday, I started taking the bike apart to remove the damaged panels. For those who complain about removing the few body parts on your GS, have a gander at what's under the skin on a Wing:
The large box at the top is the airbox. I figured "what the heck, just a few more screws and I can check the air filter".
I removed the top of the airbox and this is what I saw:
Bits of confectioner's chocolate. We make our own candies for special occasions, so have some of it stored in a cool closet. The mice have found it in the closet and carried it to the garage, crawled up the bike, over the engine, through the snorkel, into the filter area.
We have seen no other evidence of mice in the house or garage, as our four-legged daughter does a fine job of keeping them at bay.
Moral of this story: check your bike completely before venturing out. You might have been visited by a mouse or chipmunk who built a nest instead of leaving sweet treats. Nesting materials tend to clog your air filter worse than chocolate. I have also seen nests built in exhaust pipes, so run a wire up your pipes, if you can, to make sure there is nothing blocking them, either.
Wake them up gently, ride them carefully, let's have some fun this summer.
.
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