Last of the evil Cannonball voodoo purged... I hope!

I'm nearly two weeks late in posting this, but I finally figured out why my GTS wouldn't idle properly. It turned out that a crack had developed in the rubber boot on the intake manifold, which was letting more air in past the throttle body. When the lambda sensor saw the mixture getting too lean, it compensated by enriching the flow through the fuel injector, which lowered the RPM's and sucked less air in through the crack, causing the lambda sensor to lean out the flow through fuel injector and raise the RPM's again. This condition caused the motor to continually surge up and down in RPM's when idling. I discovered the crack when I was poking around at the motor and I noticed what sounded like an air leak - a small, pulsating, high-pitched swooshing sound. When I lifted up the throttle body a little, it sealed the crack which stopped the noise and immediately the bike started running fine. This was a relief, because I was worried that I'd need to spend an inordinate amount of time replacing sensors, wires, and various doohickeys, in order to track down the source of the trouble.

Thankfully, Rolf had a good intake manifold on his spare GTS engine, so I rode down there and we swapped it out. After it was all bolted back together, it ran like a charm again, nice and smooth - woohoo! It's been getting me around reliably since then, including a jaunt up to SF last weekend. The Heidenau tires have been quite comfortable in the rain so far, although I've noticed that the disc brakes don't grab as well at first in the wet. After a half a second or so though, once the water is pushed aside, they work just fine, so it hasn't enough to make me wary. I've simply been adjusting my riding to match the conditions, so that I have some extra room and time to slow or stop, as one should in inclement weather anyway.

So, that's one thing I'm thankful for - the fact that my GTS is now back in good running shape once again and the evil voodoo it managed to pick up during the Cannonball has now been (hopefully) banished once and for all. I hope everyone had a happy Thanksgiving... ride safe!

A very sad note

It's with a very heavy heart that I post about a tragic loss this past weekend. A local scooterist and good friend of mine, Dirk Sundman, passed away early Sunday afternoon after crashing his Vespa on Highway 9, just south of Skyline Boulevard. Apparently he lost control after taking a turn a little too wide and slipping on wet leaves. I previously posted this on ModernVespa.com, but I want post it here as well, as a personal remembrance.

I am personally deeply saddened about Dirkie's passing. I've only known him the last 3 years or so, but he was such a great guy with such a positive, humorous outlook, who always made my day a little bit better whenever I saw him. Even in the face of the health problems he had within the last year, he always remained upbeat and kept looking at the bright side. I always enjoyed the opportunity to put my feeble knowledge of Dutch to use when I talked with him. The last time I saw him, less than two weeks ago, he was telling me about the massive Vespa dealership he went to visit on his recent trip to Holland, who jokingly offered him a deal on the 6 brand new Vespa GTS 300's they had in stock, so he could bring them back with him to the US.

I remember when I first met Dirk, he told me stories about the tours he went on in Europe back in the day, which made me wish that I could have been there too. He was a very experienced rider who knew and respected the limits that came with age, but he still loved to ride all the same. I rode with him a number of times, on the VCLG monthly rides and some of the local rallies. I was always impressed when he'd make the trip over the hill from Santa Cruz to San Jose just to see us, it was a pleasant surprise and a real treat to see him show up. The last time I saw him was Tuesday a week ago, when he came up to hang out with our crew at Trials Pub in San Jose. I just wish that didn't have to be the last time I'd ever see him.

This really, really sucks... it hits very close to home to lose Dirk. He will be fondly remembered by all of the bay area scooter community who knew him and he will be very, very deeply missed. My heart goes out to everyone who knew him. Many thanks to James and Dave of the Vampires MC for doing everything they could to try to save him, their heroic efforts are greatly appreciated. Rust in vrede, Dirkie mijn vriend... ik wens je un heel goede reis naar de andere kant!

Two weeks later...

It's been two weeks since I've been able to ride my GTS. The Bajaj has been chugging along admirably and reliably, getting me wherever I need to go, in spite of burning more oil than it ought to. It needed a workout, so it's a good thing. Anyway, it turns out that the "missing" exhaust stud on my GTS was actually broken off inside the cylinder head, which is much harder to repair. It involves an unbelievable amount of work, just to swap out a $0.50 part - draining the coolant and motor oil, removing the motor from the bike, disconnecting the timing chain, removing the camshaft, removing the cylinder head, very carefully machining out the hardened steel stud without damaging the aluminum cylinder head, then finally installing the new stud. You could think of the machining part like a high stakes game of "Operation". Some people I know have swapped out an entire motor, rather than go through all that.

So, I've been without my GTS for the last two weeks, while I've been figuring out what to do. After talking it over with Rolf, he agreed to do the job for me, as long as I paid him for his time, of course. I got a brand new stud and head gasket Vespa and dropped my bike off at his place last week. He got it all apart by Friday and with the help of our friend and master machinist Gary, the old stud was successfully milled out and a the new one was installed over the weekend. Rolf got everything back together yesterday and tonight I'll finally be able to get to ride my GTS again! Hopefully he was also able to sort out the wonkiness in the rear shocks too, which was causing it to handle oddly... I'll have to ask him about it tonight when I pick it up. In any event, I can't wait to have it back... hopefully these will be the last repairs it will need for a good long time!