I’m sure we have all heard the saying, “there is no greater fool than an Old Fool” at one time or another, probably more times than fewer. Well, I’d like propose a modification to that saying by adding the word “overconfident” so that now it reads “There is no greater fool than an overconfident Old Fool”! (In this case being yours truly!)
The other day I rode to work after not having ridden for a little over 2 weeks, due to a number of factors, which aren’t really of any relevance to this article so I won’t bother you with a bunch of lame excuses.
As I rode in that first day the bike simply did not “feel” right. There seemed to be an excessive about of noise coming from somewhere, though I could not quite pin it down to anything in particular and the second was that it just didn’t seem to be running smoothly nor did it seems to have its normal “pep”. It was one of those things that you can’t always put a finger on and probably someone not used to the bike might well not have noticed it, or at least not the extent that I did. It is, after all, 29 years old and has well over 120K, so it is anything but new. Yet that alone should not have accounted for how it felt, I’ve known of many BMWs that have many more miles on it than mine and run as well as they did when new. Maybe it was that having not ridden for several weeks I had lost some familiarity with it, yet as often as I ride normally ride it that didn’t seem likely either.
It really bothered me, not just because I knew it shouldn’t feel the way it did, but also because in another month I’m planning on going on a two and half week ride along the entire length of the Ohio River and parts of the Mississippi then wandering back home trying to stay as much as possible off the main highways. Knowing I was going to be heading through some of the more remote back roads of the eastern mountains it was imperative that everything was running right before heading out. But I digress from my tale of the lessons learned by this “old fool”.
After the ride home that afternoon, I sat in the garage looking at my machine while going over the ride to work and back. Needless to say, simply staring at the bike didn’t really bring me any closer to a solution, nor did the bike volunteer any information as to was wrong. After a few minutes I got up and walked around it several times looking for any telltale signs, but nothing jumped out at me so I sat back down and continued to puzzle over it. Again a few minutes later I got up and decided to start with some very basic checks. The first was to check tire pressure, even though I had checked it not 3 or 4 weeks prior. I didn’t think it could have lost more than a few pounds, certainly not enough to have made that much difference (could it ?). Now, I know what you’re probably thinking as the same thought occurred to me almost immediately after initially dismissing the idea. YES it can make a difference, especially in handling characteristics, but that did nothing to explain all the noise I was hearing and the unusual vibrations. “Well, let’s put that aside for the moment”, I thought and check the tires first. A quick check revealed them to be at 34 PSI for the front and 35 PSI for the rear. Well that seemed right, or at least that was the pressure I ran the continentals at that I had been running on my machines up until last year. Then I had switched over to Dunlap’s and just assumed they would require the same pressures since they were the same basic size. The main reason for the switch was that while the Conti’s were great for wet weather traction being so soft a compound, the rear tire would wear out in as little as 8000 miles. As I average 20k or more a year I was going through a LOT of tires. Then last year my mechanic had suggested trying out the Dunlop’s as they were a harder compound, ran about the same price and would give me nearly twice the mileage. So, just out of curiosity I checked the recommended PSI rating stamped on the tires and they stated 40 and 41 PSI with max load! Hmmm, “interesting”, I thought, “so lets try that and see what happens tomorrow”. Since I was not running anywhere near maximum load on my day to day riding, I set them to 38 and 39.
Then I sat back down and thought some more. OK, that might help with the handling issues, though I wasn’t sure there would be much difference between that and the way the continentals had been set up, but I figured I would find out the next day. After taking care of that I sat back down for a few minutes then got up and started checking a few more things. First I looked over all the cables, everything seemed routed properly, no kinks anywhere, no frayed ends or worn outer sheaths. The action could be smoother but they are the nylon coated type so oiling them would destroy the lining. The grip on the other hand did need some lube in the gearing and throttle assembly, so I took care of that. I also made a slight adjustment to the clutch cable, giving it a bit more free play on the lever end, to ensure the clutch remained fully engaged when the lever was at rest and ensure there would be no slipping. (BMW’s have a single plate dry clutch like most cars and unlike many motorcycles so this is especially important to keep an eye on.)
Finally I took a look at the plugs (OK there), the plug wires (again OK) and cable free play on each of the carburetors. Here I noted just the slightest difference, maybe a 16th of inch between the two. Now again you could easily say “ well that’s hardy enough to make a difference”, but as I discovered the next morning, you’d be dead wrong! So I loosened the adjustment nuts on both cable ends and after a few minutes had both cables set with the same amount of free play and tightened down the lock nuts. After that I couldn’t find anything else obviously out of adjustment, so I headed upstairs to start dinner.
The Next Morning:
I left for work around the same time I normally do and almost immediately I could feel a major difference in the way the bike ran and handled! Even within the first few turns getting out of my sub-division the machine felt much more “planted” and responsive to both steering and throttle. By the time I had gotten out to the main road heading to the 95 access ramp the machine felt entirely different. The annoying vibration from yesterday was gone and throttle response was what I was accustomed too, Smooth and Positive. Once on the ramp and picking up speed as I leaned into the turn, I could feel how much better the bike handled, no more sloppiness or “mushiness” in the steering. I could lean into the turns like I used to. As I got up to speed, low and behold, the noise that had concerned me the day before was also gone! I can only assume that is was mostly road noise from too big a contact patch from under inflated tires. Given the different profile and tread pattern between the continentals I had been running in past years and the Dunlop’s now on the bike the different inflations were no small matter. By the time I came out of the last curve of the access ramp I was flying like I used with the self same sense of positive feedback from the machine and confidence in the tires grip on the road surface.
The rest of the ride into work was a complete joy, and all for a mere 15 minutes of my time actually working on the machine and 30 minutes spent looking it over, even after only a 2 week hiatus from riding. So now I ask you to consider what I (re)learned the next time you go out to the garage as the riding season is just now beginning. Simply put, spending a few minutes to check the most basic things before climbing aboard can make that first spring ride a thing of joy; or, like me, you can forgo it and have a really disappointing, worrisome experience. Its up to you, (but you’d better believe I won’t let myself get caught in that trap again!). The other thing I (re)learned is that even if you, like me, ride all year, spending a few minutes on the less obvious items every now and then will reward you with a machine that will give back so much more for the few minutes spent looking things over and making those all important “minor” adjustments!
So lessons learned by one over confident old fool, (who knows better, yet didn’t bother to do a good visual 10 minute check the night before) take the time to check the little things on a regular basis, no matter how often you ride, no matter how much you think you know, or how familiar you are with your machine. And finally, no matter how convinced you are that some very minor adjustment/check isn’t really going to be noticeable, just DO IT and DO IT OFTEN!
See, even an old fool can learn (re-learn) some pretty basic stuff, once you get the over-confidence crap out of the way and shake the cobwebs out of the old noggin every so often!
