Chix Bike Prep – Lookin’ for Love in All the Wrong Places

Posted byKaran AndreaPosted inUncategorized

Another long day with the bike… I put the frame and battery covers back on this morning – that seems like such a long time ago now. Kathy Strobele popped by to throw a leg over the ’73, and I had just put my ’74 together so it was ready for a test spin. Off we went.

The ’73 stumbled first. It was fine yesterday and today it was acting a damn fool. Of course. Anyway, we weren’t far from my house, so we turned back. Kathy grabbed her bike and we went back out to see how mine would behave.

The new battery made a huge difference, but it was still stumbling and stalling. I decided to turn back, so Kathy followed me home to make sure I actually got there, but not before I almost dumped the bike turning right. It stalled on me mid-turn, and it’s only because I’ve been dealing with this bullshit so long that I stayed in the throttle and hung on till she came around and stayed up.

Back to the garage.

About that time, KA Miller touched base, and I went through all the things. Pretty soon she had me checking for intake leaks (nope), then fuel flow through the petcock, which was not overwhelming, so that may be a thing.

Looked at the plugs – they were fine given how the bike was running.

Then we poked around the pushrods – need to come back to that because the engine was still warm. I had done another neighborhood test loop after the petcock check.

After that, we dropped the bowl on the carb. The bowl looked good, but I could feel some very fine grit. The accelerator pump, however, was pretty gackked up with a fine white powder residue. So I get to clean it out and see how it runs after that.

I ordered a rebuild kit from Lowbrow Customs, so once that comes in, I’ll get after it again.

Although I still feel like I’m a million miles from getting this bike running the way it should, Kiersten reminded me that I am at least chipping away at what it is NOT. Which IS progress. Hopefully I find what it is in time. Since the ’73 now needs work, and I’m not sure what is involved with that either, and no time to work on two bikes to see which one will be ready first, I have no backup bike for Route 66.

So I have to view this as progress, or I will be headed for a spectacular meltdown.

Published by Karan Andrea

I ride motorcycles, I live motorcycles, and I write about motorcycles. Both of my blogs are written for motorcyclists: atomicshovel.blog tells the never-ending story of my 1974 Harley-Davidson FLH, which I have named the Atomic Shovel. My other blog coachk.home.blog is written for riders of all skill levels, but is primarily aimed toward the rider who is transitioning from the riding range where they learned basic skills, to the open road. This blog address the most common questions I see in the online groups and forums: dealing with anxiety - yes, that is the number one question, navigating traffic, parking, holding your bike on an incline, just to mention a few. Much of what I write is simply drawn from my own experiences - successes, failures, do-overs. Nothing in either blog should be construed as the absolute one and only approach; rather, look at them as a starting point for your own discovery process.

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