Sunday, Carol & I decided to go for a motorcycle ride. It turned out to be a 140 mile unusual ride. Then it happened. Never ever happened before in all our motorcycle riding days.
We started out going south on route 146 to a little town called Liberty. There they have an opry theater. It’s open on Saturday evenings and they have live country entertainment. We've been a couple of times in the past. I think we will try and go this Saturday coming.
On the way back we took another route thru some small towns and woodsy areas. Then it started to happen. Oh no what were we going to do. The clutch started to go. I had a very difficult time stopping and keeping the engine running. It was always in gear and moving with NO in between. Stop signs were a burger and usually had to time the stopping with the stalling. This started real bad about 40 miles to go and just a couple of stops to make. We had to make it do, no choice. We get back to the park. Now we’re on gravel which means it a sliding stop and a stall. It’s not pretty. Now it’s at the point I can’t even change gears but I happen to be in second gear which is OK for low speeds in gravel. I pull into our driveway which is a bigger rock gravel driveway than the road. I put on the brake and it stalled and we fell over. Now with these big Harleys they don’t fall like a bicycle all the way on there sides. Harleys, when you have “crash bars” which this one does, you just lean real heavy close to the ground. They fall over about 3/4 of the way on there side. When we fell I kinda did a move away and Carol rode it out. It was in slow motion. When the Harley stopped, there was Carol setting on the back seat holding on at a 45 degree angle. I told her she did it perfect for this fall over. Sometimes if you try to get off or out of the bikes way you can have the bike pin you under it. That’s 750 lbs you don’t want any part of it holding you down. Carol got off the bike with no problem. It was even easier than if the bike was upright. I opened the barn door to put the bike away. We were about 50 feet away. We both upped the bike and I got on it. Now I know when I start it, it will take off and I have to give it a lot of gas because it’s in second gear. So hear we go. We’re off to the races to a dead end. I go shooting towards the garage and a speed that I really didn’t like – fast. As soon as the bike made the entrance I slammed on all brakes and closed my eyes. Yes, my helmet was on. The bike left a two foot skid mark on the cement floor and the bike stalled. I myself left a one foot skid mark on the seat. I didn’t even fall over. Home - safe and sound. Just no clutch. It was all an adventure.
Now what? Mark Nemeth said for me not to touch the clutch housing. He didn’t want me to start taking it apart without him being there. He knows I can take things apart but can’t get them back together. So, I really want to tear into but will wait for Mark later this week.
Oktoberfest or I think they are calling it Oktoberfright with a Halloween theme here at Rainbow’s End Park. It’s been fun too……… Pretty crowded. Last night (Monday) they catered ribs in from Florida's Restaurant. Now that there are some good ribs. I lean more toward their catfish myself. It’s really outstanding.
Earlier in the day (lunch) Mark and I was giving away beer samples from a local brewery for the festive event. We poured some in a small cup and attendees would get to sample the 6 different tastes. Mark & I had to try them several times so we wouldn’t forget the flavors we were offering. These beers were in the 6-10.5 alcohol content. That’s very very heavy for a beer. Afterwards I had to take a nap!
The Harley is calling me. Later I went out and went over a few things. Now the running lights are working again. The clutch – nope not even a little. I got all the tools ready to take it apart to see exactly what kind of clutch plates it will need. Mark says we can do this so it will happen. It ain’t going anywhere that’s for sure.
See ya……
