Choke me if you've heard this one before...

[Sven]

We really should start a new category on these boards called "idiot's corner" where Jim B. and I can post whatever stupid things we've done that day.  Others can either learn from us, or laugh at us.

This morning, the first few miles on my way to work, the throttle was acting very flakey...wanting to stall out at one intersection, revving up to 3000 RPM at the next.  I was wondering what had changed since I had gotten home just a few hours earlier from Bikes on Beale...the bike had been running just great, as it always does after a few beers.

About three miles of this trouble at every stop, and finally I notice that I had left the choke halfway on.  Turn choke off, problem goes away.  At least I figured it out before I started fooling with the idel speed or adjusting the throttle cables!

Lesson learned:  Need more sleep.  (OK, maybe the lesson should have had something to do with the choke, but this ain't no afterschool special or very special episode of Blossom!)

[Desolation Angel]

Mine doesn't seem to do that.  Just idles funky.

[PaulVS]

If you'd just 'step up' to a Harley.... you'll have automatic choke and not have to worry about it.

[PitterB4]

Been there.  Done that.  Maybe we should make t-shirts!!!!!  

[Sven]

If you'd just 'step up' to a Harley.... you'll have automatic choke and not have to worry about it.

I'll keep that in mind.  (Ha!)  Actually, I wouldn't mind having a Street Rod for an alnternate to el bandido.

I was amazed last night to see another Bandit in my color/year on Beale!  I usually see either red or silver, and those are few and far between.  (The 600 Bandits seem to have been popular in Arkansas.)  Anyway, el bandido's evil twin had a black windscreen and the exhaust have been swapped out for a Yoshi, but whoever owned it had bought the OEM crash guards and luggage rack, which adds about 2.5 inches of luggage space to the tail.

[Swamp Rat]

I did the same thing last year when on vacation in Indiana. Iwas sitting in my grand parents drive way and I decided to take a spin with out my lid on just to see what it was like no helmet law up there. They live out in  the farmland west of Kokomo. So I run down the rode real quik and chop the throttle and it dies on me"Crap!" I think maybe something got screwed whilst it was in the trailer on the way up. My 13 year old daughter is waiting patiently with her helmet tucked under her arm "What's wrong with it daddy" she asks "good question"I respond I fire it up again and increase the idle speed take it for another spin down the rode and sputter sputter cough die "Dammit" Coast back to the drive way and stop in front of Alex {my daughter} and she says " where's the choke at? Did you turn it off" "Of course I did don't be silly" as I pointed to the back of the bike distracting her gaze from the handle bars. I deftly open the choke back up with the slight of hand that would have made Houdini proud.
  She rides dirt bikes and has left her choke on a time or two. I think she knew what I did but didn't want to embarrass her old man, she just wanted to ride. I told her it must have been water in the spark plugs that evaperated while sitting there. "Uh-huh, yeah right...can we go now?" end of story.

[Sven]

Yeah, the old water in the spark plug...that's the ticket!

[jbrough7]

Hope you don't mind if I go way off-topic, kinda?  The water in the spark plug reminded me of my pre-motorcycle follies.  I lived in the Arctic Circle twenty odd years ago in a tiny Inuit village called Holman.  I was out touring on my ski-doo on the ice in front of town.  It was spring so there had been some melting and re-freezing.  I was on some 'new' ice just a few feet  offshore when I heard 'crack' and the next thing I knew my snowmobile was sitting in three feet of ocean water.  

I scrambled out and some of my friends came running down from town  to help. We pulled my sled out of the water and then they told me it would be doused inside with salt water so we had to get that out quick.

I got the plug out and then one jovial Eskimo guy started pulling on the starter rope.  Water whooshed out of the cylinder every time he yanked on it.

"I can't start the darn thing," he puffed, winking at everybody.  He stopped pulling.  "I know what the problem is!" he exclaimed.  "It's flooded!"

Everyone of us rolled on the ice laughing for several minutes.

So, as Sven so kindly pointed out, the daily stupid activities continue happening and I'm getting better at them as I've had so much practice!  

jim

This boat is exactly where my ski-doo went through the ice!

[Sven]

Mebbe you needed some kinda ski-doo/jet-ski combo machine.

[Yep !]

First ride of the season...the B12 is supposed to be road ready and it keeps running VERY rough at street corners, wanting to stall at traffic lights and stops, but pulls like the devil's own Bandit on the road...then I found out what snagged the Bike's cover when I pulled it off...that little three way switch Res-Normal-Open carbs. You don't wanna ride on the Open carbs position...

[Sven]

...then I found out what snagged the Bike's cover when I pulled it off...that little three way switch Res-Normal-Open carbs. You don't wanna ride on the Open carbs position...

It's always something....

[Red01]

jbrough7: I lived in the Arctic Circle twenty odd years ago in a tiny Inuit village called Holman.

I didn't know they had an Arctic Circle in Holman.  The rules up there in the NWT must really be slack to let you live in a restaurant.

[Sven]

Red01:

jbrough7: I lived in the Arctic Circle twenty odd years ago in a tiny Inuit village called Holman.

I didn't know they had an Arctic Circle in Holman.  The rules up there in the NWT must really be slack to let you live in a restaurant.

Yeah, I pictured Ms. Pink Helmet living in a Dairy Queen!

[jbrough7]

There is a line drawn and you guys have crossed it and now you must PAY!!

Hahahahahahahahahahah!

[Sven]

There is a line drawn and you guys have crossed it and now you must PAY!!

That line is somewhere around 43° 2' N?