Bad Luck - AGAIN

[BKling]

Some of you may remember my attempt at a short trip two years ago that ended in North Carolina with stripped output shaft splines that resulted in my wife driving our truck 300 miles one way to pick me up.

Fast forward to Tuesday, some friends and I are planning a little 3 day get-a-way to West Virginia then down to Roanoke and back home on Thursday. I met with two of the other riders in Winchester and we head west. Around noon we stop at Donna Jeans Home Cookin for lunch. Good food.
We gear up and start to back out and my bike just cuts off. Restart, OK, back up, cuts off. Several tries later it seems to want to run ok, I am thinking side stand switch or something similar. 20 miles farther west in an uphill hairpin, it cuts off again. Restart, cutoff, restart cutoff. CRAP!!!!!

Coast down the hill to a driveway and start looking, one of my riding buddies, who were in front of me, don't ask me why that happened, returned and we looked and looked finally figuring out that there is a short or dead wire just below the ignition switch. Coast farther down the hill to the Cool Spring Park, where you can buy pretty much anything. We fidget more and finally call the wife to come get me. About that time I find a wire that if moved to the left, the bike will run. I stuff a handkerchief in and zip tie it to the upper fork tube. Taaa Daaaa, it seems to work. I gas up and head for home, my riding buddy continuing on west.

The whole way home, 150 miles, I covered the clutch in case the engine cut off, maybe I could save it before a disaster occurred. Luckily, none did!!!!!!!

Today, I took the bike down to George and once again, it is a known issue. Hopefully, it's just replace a $120 wire harness. Fingers crossed.

So 300 miles, 130 or so of it, were really nice, the rest, not so much.

[Unity]

Good job getting it home! Next time the trip should come off without a hitch.

--John
(Keep that handkerchief in the tool kit.)

[Chiba]

Nice troubleshooting skills. I'd have probably just set it on fire & kicked it down the hill

[Rick F.]

Bryant,

Bummer! It could have been worse, of course. The last time I had a bike cut out on me in the middle of an uphill hairpin corner, my first task was to pick myself and the motorcycle up off of the pavement!

I guess motorcycles (and cars) have gotten much more reliable over the years, even with the plethora of electronic gadgets that they all have now--but the fact remains that the most important characteristic of a vehicle is that it keeps running properly. (The same can be said of GPS's. My Zumo was bulletproof, while my new, feature-laden Montana 600 is anything but. I'm on Montana No. 3 within the space of a year.)

Better luck the next time. Planning a trip, looking forward to it, and then having it all come undone is no fun at all.

Rick

[BKling]

Nice troubleshooting skills. I'd have probably just set it on fire & kicked it down the hill

There was a very nice ravine across the road and that thought did cross my mind.