Monday, July 16, 2018

Paonia Colorado Trip Prep.?

Took some time to go over the Goldwing a bit yesterday.
Pulled the timing belt covers to look at belts / idlers. All looked nice and clean...belts good...idlers appear good / bearings feel smooth. Timing covers are tough to remove with radiator in place, but it is possible.
Started gathering up camping gear and spare stuff. Decided to pack compressor / tubes / tire tools. Had an older, large tank bag which I've seldom used, so went over it and figured out a mounting method. Goldwing tank shelter is plastic, so I installed a metal "tank rack" years ago to facilitate a magnetic tank bag.
Tank bag is huge and easy to organize with 4 different small storage areas and the main area. In order to hold its' shape, I cut a card board liner to set inside.

Noticed the right fork seal starting to lose some oil. Ordered new seals a couple days ago but will ride this trip as is.
Noticed the coolant level was down a bit so topped off coolant tank. Occasionally the coolant tank will "burp" out some coolant through the overflow tube. This has happened twice on very hot days when engine is shut off.
Forecast for hot weather next week so hopefully won't have an issue. Bike normally runs fairly cool at highway speeds.
                                                                               

I recently removed the auxiliary saddle fuel tanks. The additional auxiliary fuel petcock (a cheap one) caused a fuel draw issue when it allowed air to be pulled through when in "off" position. This pulled air into fuel pump and caused a fuel starvation situation. Decided to sell the tanks off so a new owner now has them. Still plenty of fuel with the stock 5 gallon capacity = minimum 200 miles @ 40+ mpg.




Simple packing: tail bag holds tent / sleeping bag / tarp / therma-rest.
Left saddle bag holds stove / cooking / eating gear / misc. stuff.
The right bag for clothes. 
Small military canteen, water / scrub pad for bug removal.


Had to run to "town" today (about 120 miles round trip), decided it would be wise to ride the Goldwing to road check everything. All was fine until about 6 miles from home. Main tank ran out...switched to reserve but bike would not run properly....like on 3 cylinders.(?) Seemed to be starving for fuel. Luckily was able to nurse it home. After it sat for 15 minutes or so it fired up and ran fine. Now I'm nervous since I planned on riding the bike 1600 miles in the next few days.

I received new tires for the R75/5 a couple days ago so scurried around this afternoon and mounted both new tires....lubed wheel bearings....lubed final drive splines (getting thin)…..installed a U.S.B. port to charge phone...installed the small cafĂ© fairing. Performed oil change about 800 miles ago so that's good. Recently adjusted points / valves and replaced valve cover gaskets. Should be good to go.
I dug through spare parts and will take a spare rotor / removal tool...spare points / condenser....carb diaphragms...air compressor...tubes....tire tools...hopefully stuff I won't need. 
One thing about the old BMW's is that it is possible to perform minor roadside repairs, while the Honda GL is a bit of a different animal with cooling system, electronic ignition, fuel pump, and cam belts.

Removing the rear tire on the /5 is a bugger....saddle bag frame prevents tire removal without raising the bike at least 12" off the ground / left muffler must also come off.  Luckily I had an engine hoist at hand so just "picked" the bike off the ground. On the roadside, the saddle bag frame would need to be removed...or the bike laid over on it's right side. 

The tires I removed from the bike today had some life left....but were 5 years old and had some uneven wear. I had hoped to get a few more miles out of them, but no way would they have made the 1600 mile round trip. Seems that when tires get down, the remaining tread disappears quickly. Don't want to arrive in Colorado and be staring at bald tires. I've seen guys in the same predicament...buying tires at a rally isn't cheap, but is possible. Leaving on such a trip with marginal tires is not smart. Plan on pulling out Wed. AM and camping in southern Wyoming. 


1 comment:

RichardM said...

On my BMW, if I needed to remove the rear tire, I would remove the front wheel, brace the center stand with a ratchet strap to the front axle then tip the bike onto the fork using the front wheel on the handlebars for weight to hold the front of the bike down. Then the rear wheel is over a foot off of the ground.

I had a set of saddle tanks for the BMW but I never actually installed them. Have a great trip!

Gila Mtns.

Gila Mtns.