Well, as you can see I am still sitting on the couch. I’m not really happy with the progress that is being made to put me back on a motorcycle and I voiced this opinion pretty loudly today to the people who are dragging their feet and keeping me on the couch. I really don’t want to bad mouth anyone, but lets just say the problem is with a company that uses a lizard for a mascot. These same people say it is so easy a caveman can do it. Does anyone know where I can find a caveman, because it is not going too easy for me! They faxed me a paper I had to sign, then said it was the wrong paper. They mailed me a paper to sign in its place and now they say I used the wrong form of my name on it. Now they are sending me another one to sign. Pretty soon I will be ready to start throwing the bricks.
It was suggested that the name of the web site might need to be changed to better reflect the type of recreational activity I currently participate in and since I believe in total honesty I have made the proper changes.
Don’t count me out yet though! I’ve just about got the KZ in full running order again, and I am making great progress in getting back on the road with a ride that is more suitable for long distance. I would say that there is a reasonably good chance that I may be off the couch by next weekend. I am at 14 days without a ride right now and it is really making me insane!
I heard from Morgantown Honda today, and as I feared, they say the crankcase needs replaced. He gave me an estimate of $4,000 and said it would likely go higher than that as they tore into the engine.I took this information to Gollans to see what they could do for me. They seem to think they have a welder who could repair the crankcase, but I kind of have reservations about welding on an assembled engine. Still, this would be a better alternative to no motorcycle at all. When I got home I went ahead and made a call to Geico just for the heck of it to see if they would cover it. I really could not believe it, but they said they would cover it! A claims adjuster will be going to Morgantown Honda in the next 48 hours to check it out. I am kind of afraid they will total the bike, but once again that is still better than going without a motorcycle. I suppose I would rather make payments on a new motorcycle than to have one that has been repaired in a questionable way. If Geico takes care of me on this, I will be a customer for life and I will put a logo on the web site!
Before I get into too much discussion about this ride, I have to give a disclaimer that I really wasn’t there for most of the ride, due to unforeseen mechanical difficulties. My mental state has been pretty bad the last couple of days and I acquired some pictures from the ride, so I have decided to pretend that I was able to complete this ride. I cannot vouch for the accuracy of any of the statements I make in this report, because I wasn’t actually there so I am really just speculating what may have been occurring in the following photographs. While the events depicted and described on these pages may not be real, the names have not been changed because I really have no interest in protecting the innocent.
Yesterday on my way to Virginia I suffered a catastrophic motorcycle failure.
The master link on my chain broke and the chain came off and did quite a bit of damage in the process. It broke off the two bolts holding my clutch slave cylinder. One bolt attached to the stator cover and it broke the whole bottom corner off of the stator cover. The other attached to the crankcase cover and it broke off at the cover. The push rod for the clutch was broken in half. The bike was spewing oil and I sure was lucky it did not get tangled with the wheel and lock it up because I was going around 80mph in a turn when it broke.
We had a great turn out for the ride. I really felt bad to be delaying everyone’s trip and tried to get them to go ahead and leave me but they would not leave until I was on the tow truck. I sure to appreciate everyone’s support and I am so sorry that because of my problem you guys were riding until well after dark and missed the most scenic part of the whole trip, but hopefully today on the trip home you will get to see the sights you missed last night.
I pay $7.00 a year for road service coverage with Geico and this was the first time I have used it. Geico was very excellent. They only cover for 75 miles, but they put in a lot of time to find a Suzuki dealer that was in the direction of home and open and could look at the bike. They got a towing service right out to me and got me to Morgantown Honda in Morgantown, WV. I could not find anybody back home with a trailer that was at home, so I left the bike there and my wife came down and picked me up. They are going to give me a quote on Monday, but I fear it may be quite high. If the crankcase cover has to be replaced the price will be astronomical. I checked Ron Ayers and the crankcase cover is $1,100. I figure if it needs replaced and I do it myself I am probably looking at over $2,000 in parts. If a shop does it I can easily see it running $4,000 to $5,000 total.
Most likely the trip next week to Deals Gap will not happen. I suppose there is a chance that the damage is not as bad as I fear and it will be on the road by next weekend, but it seems unlikely. I’ll post more information as I get it.