So, last weekend I went down to Lancaster, PA to visit a friend, and let me tell you.. that is one long drive. I really enjoyed my visit. Lancaster is a cool town and I couldn't believe how cheap rent, food and everything else seems to be. It seems like a cool place to live, too bad it is so far from our families. I went skateboarding almost all day on friday, while my host was at work. I haven't been skating in a while, so it took a long time to get my legs back. The drive back was pretty awful, but i made it home before midnight on sunday, and even got to work on time monday morning!
Today I went climbing with my coworker, Kevin at the upper cliffs of West Bolton. I was so out of shape, that I barely made it up the climb. Kevin had to help me up a bit through a section, and I had to rest on the rope a lot. The sad part is that I cruised up that climb two years ago without nearly as much drama. The good thing is that it motivated me to get out climbing more. It did get dark right as I topped out, so we had to rap down and hike out by headlamp. We celebrated with a Saint Pauli's non-alcoholic beer, and ate a bunch of black raspberries that we found growing at the side of the road where we parked. Oh, we also found some delicious blueberries at the top of the cliff. Nature provided very well for us tonight!
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
Friday, August 15, 2008
On the road.....
Wednesday was a big day for the wife. After three visits to the DMV and one to the insurance agent, We now have her bike registered and insured, and Mary now has a learner's permit that allows her to ride during daylight hours without a passenger, within the state of Vermont. Be sure to congratulate her on passing the permit test. She is quite happy that she scored a 92%. When I got home from work, we took the little KZ200 down to the high school parking lot, and she spent some time practicing on her now legal motorcycle. Tomorrow, I will be riding down to the motorcycle shop to see about an inspection sticker, and to also get some advice on making it run a little bit smoother. I have fiddled with the carburetor enough to get it to run, and idle and it feels pretty good, but I think with a little more fine tuning, we might be able to get some more power out of it. When you only have 18 horses, every one of them counts!
I rode it into work today, and boy is that thing a hoot! On my suzuki, anything under 60 feels slow, but the KZ is so lightweight and little, that it always feels like you are going about 10mph faster than you really are. No need to worry about accidental speeding on the little one lunger! In fact you pretty much have to beat the snot out of it just to get it to 50. I must say that even though it is small, and far from fast, it does have nimble handling, and seems to take a flogging quite well. I put it through its paces today, and I now feel comfortable letting Mary loose on the road with it.
I rode it into work today, and boy is that thing a hoot! On my suzuki, anything under 60 feels slow, but the KZ is so lightweight and little, that it always feels like you are going about 10mph faster than you really are. No need to worry about accidental speeding on the little one lunger! In fact you pretty much have to beat the snot out of it just to get it to 50. I must say that even though it is small, and far from fast, it does have nimble handling, and seems to take a flogging quite well. I put it through its paces today, and I now feel comfortable letting Mary loose on the road with it.
Friday, August 8, 2008
Asian Bistro!
Well, nothing major to report today, but still it was fun. Had a great takeout meal at my sister Tania's house with her and her fam. Then we watched the opening ceremony for the Olympics in China. Wow! The performances were fantastic, despite all the gas coming from my nephew and their dog....
Going to the dump in the morning and then the whole day is free!
Going to the dump in the morning and then the whole day is free!
Sunday, August 3, 2008
Spark, Fuel, and compression
The KZ200 lives! I woke up this morning with one purpose... To get Mary's motorcycle to run. I am thrilled to say that the bike is now running well and ready to be registered and inspected. The little single cylinder 200cc bike is pretty simple, and after consulting the service manual, calling a friend for advice and doing some "on the fly" repair, I took it for a couple trips up and down the driveway, and around the lawn.
18 horsepower sounds pretty weak, but the bike is so light that it actually feels sorta zippy. I started out this morning by filing down the points and while doing so, I noticed that the pivot for the points had a little too much play. I pulled it apart rolled a piece of paper on the outer part of the bushing and jammed the points back on, removing the play. I think the bushing was originally pressed into the fiber part that the point mounts to, but it had worked itself loose. The paper sleeve gave a nice tight fit. This allowed me to adjust the ignition points and actually have them stay adjusted. I know that a piece of paper doesn't sound like a good way to fix a motorcycle, but i just needed a small amount of thickness, and while I could have just used some epoxy, the paper will probably work even better. The points are mounted to a fiber part to begin with, so why not, right? It sure beat buying a new set of points for 30$.
Now that I had the ignition timed, I double and triple checked it, and moved on to the carb. I don't really have that much experience working with carburetors, but I took it all apart, cleaned it up, blew out the jets, and passages, made sure nothing looked sticky or worn, and put it all back together. Piece of cake. I took out the spark plug to test for spark and also do a compression check. The compression was over 160psi. the service range is between 130 and 195. I was smack dab in the middle. I cranked it over with the plug out and could smell fuel, and the plug was firing, but the spark didn't look so great, and the plug looked carbon fouled...
I took a trip to the parts store and purchased a new plug, some starting fluid, just in case the problem was with the carb, and some carb cleaner. When I got home I gapped the plug, popped it in, and sprayed some starting fluid in the airbox. I hit the starter and the bike fired righ up! I was almost expecting it to sputter out once it burned up the starting fluid, but it kept running, and running really well. I revved it up and blew out the cobwebs, let it get up to temp and then shut it down. It was even starting with the kickstart, with only one or two kicks.
I took it up and down the driveway to check the clutch and brakes. The only thing left to fix was the headlight, which I took care of, and then I called Mary to brag about my mechanical prowess. When she got home, she started it up and with a little bit of coaching and a couple stall-outs from trying to launch in second gear, she figured out the clutch, and took her first ride up the driveway and back to the garage. If it hadn't been raining, she would have probably played on it longer. The grin on her face was fantastic, and I think she will probably be riding for many years to come.
I want to thank my brother in law Charlie for the wonderful present. Even though the bike is Mary's, It feels like a gift to me too! I can't wait to ride it to work!
18 horsepower sounds pretty weak, but the bike is so light that it actually feels sorta zippy. I started out this morning by filing down the points and while doing so, I noticed that the pivot for the points had a little too much play. I pulled it apart rolled a piece of paper on the outer part of the bushing and jammed the points back on, removing the play. I think the bushing was originally pressed into the fiber part that the point mounts to, but it had worked itself loose. The paper sleeve gave a nice tight fit. This allowed me to adjust the ignition points and actually have them stay adjusted. I know that a piece of paper doesn't sound like a good way to fix a motorcycle, but i just needed a small amount of thickness, and while I could have just used some epoxy, the paper will probably work even better. The points are mounted to a fiber part to begin with, so why not, right? It sure beat buying a new set of points for 30$.
Now that I had the ignition timed, I double and triple checked it, and moved on to the carb. I don't really have that much experience working with carburetors, but I took it all apart, cleaned it up, blew out the jets, and passages, made sure nothing looked sticky or worn, and put it all back together. Piece of cake. I took out the spark plug to test for spark and also do a compression check. The compression was over 160psi. the service range is between 130 and 195. I was smack dab in the middle. I cranked it over with the plug out and could smell fuel, and the plug was firing, but the spark didn't look so great, and the plug looked carbon fouled...
I took a trip to the parts store and purchased a new plug, some starting fluid, just in case the problem was with the carb, and some carb cleaner. When I got home I gapped the plug, popped it in, and sprayed some starting fluid in the airbox. I hit the starter and the bike fired righ up! I was almost expecting it to sputter out once it burned up the starting fluid, but it kept running, and running really well. I revved it up and blew out the cobwebs, let it get up to temp and then shut it down. It was even starting with the kickstart, with only one or two kicks.
I took it up and down the driveway to check the clutch and brakes. The only thing left to fix was the headlight, which I took care of, and then I called Mary to brag about my mechanical prowess. When she got home, she started it up and with a little bit of coaching and a couple stall-outs from trying to launch in second gear, she figured out the clutch, and took her first ride up the driveway and back to the garage. If it hadn't been raining, she would have probably played on it longer. The grin on her face was fantastic, and I think she will probably be riding for many years to come.
I want to thank my brother in law Charlie for the wonderful present. Even though the bike is Mary's, It feels like a gift to me too! I can't wait to ride it to work!
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