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Friday, April 24, 2020

Motorcycle Memories – North Platte, Nebraska – 28 June 2018


28 June 2018 – I got up and went over to the restaurant for breakfast. They served a good breakfast but were extremely slow getting your food to you. It was a good hot breakfast which I liked. I just think of those days in South America when I'd wake up hungry, I'd leave the hotel hungry and be hungry all day. I had to kill some time until 9:00 a.m. for the Harley Shop to open up. I get there a little after 9:00 a.m. and the door is open. The employees walking around inside had the look of “I really hate being here.” There was a meeting going on in service waiting area. Five people with one person doing all the talking.

I waited until the meeting was over and asked if they had some YamaLube 20w-50. They didn’t but had something similar. I bought it and then asked the parts guy if I could change my oil because I bought the oil there. I also told him that I don’t need any tools because I have my own. He said yes but there is re-cycling fee of $10 for the oil. OMG this is a rip-off, but I paid it because I need to change my oil. He went and fetched me a drain pan and I asked where I should put it after I’m done. He showed me where and then left for the parts department. This is going to be a good day.

I have a small problem: it’s a little windy and that’s bad for changing oil. I found a spot where I could tuck in out of the wind. I backed my motorcycle in and changed my oil and oil filter, and adjusted my counter balance chain. I did get hit by a gust of wind which spilled some oil on the ground, but I can wipe it up. I poured in my 3 qts / 3 ltr of oil into the engine and started my bike. Everything is good. I put everything back in my tool bag and back into my saddle bags. I checked that I didn’t leave anything laying around and then I move the drain pan to the location the parts guy wanted. 

While I was changing my oil, a Harley-Davidson trike sat idling for over 30 minutes without moving. Something I would never do but they have a small set of fans installed on the engine that were blowing on the cylinders to kept them cool. Once during the 30 minutes somebody checked the bike and all the gauges indicated the heads and oil temperature were within safe operating guide lines. Personally, I would never idle an air-cooled engine like that. But that would be a great thing in some of the stop and go traffic I’ve been caught up in. I saw traffic stop for over 20 miles / 32 Kilometers and people idling their bikes.

I saw a guy come into the Harley Shop. He was riding an Evolution engine Harley-Davidson. He was having electrical problems with bike. His approach to repairing it was remove the faulty component and try the bike. That didn’t fix the problem so he replaced another component. Nope that didn’t fix the problem either. He was in the H-D Dealership spending hundreds of dollars while getting no results. I felt bad for him. Nobody these days want to work on Evos because they date back to 1985. I had a 1989 that had a computer intermittently acting up. I lived with that for 20,000 miles / 32187 kilometers. Finally, it just became so obnoxious that I stopped by a dealership. I asked if an electrical tech could listen to it. He instantly diagnosed it as a computer problem. I was in South Bend, Indiana. I rode it home being totally obnoxious. The next weekend I installed a new computer and new wiring harness. It started up and ran like a new motorcycle. So, I know that electrical crap can be a big headache.

I went back to the hotel and parked my motorcycle. I oiled the chain and then put the cover over it. I went over to McDonald's to eat a hamburger and fries. Then walked over to the gas station and bought a small container of ice cream. When I got back to the hotel, I ate it. I need to have everything organized because I’m going to get an early start in the morning. My route is still pretty simple. I will ride Interstate 80 to Iowa City, Iowa. It will be about a 600 mile / 966 kilometer day.

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