Autumnal Adventure/Breakdown

Nearly let down by The Greenie today, but really it was all my own doing or lack of doing that was the problem.

Shyted will be on the phone telling me off.

Still carrying a bit of dirt from a couple of trails I ventured down last week, I decided The Greenie was the steed for today’s ride.

I set out without a clear destination in mind, I usually end up at Loomies motorcycle cafe, for something to eat and a natter with some of the patrons, but today as I was heading down the country lanes I remembered a Byway I had taken my CB500X down and decided to see if I could find it and others I knew were near to it.

I was in the right area about fifteen miles from home and really enjoying a lovely autumnal ride, the weather was dry and warm and the lanes were quiet.

As I approached a Byway another chap was just exiting it on a modern KTM, I nodded and headed of up the trail he had just ridden down, splashing through some wet areas and having a blast on the amber leaf carpet.

A few miles later I see the same guy standing by his bike at the entrance to another Byway with his lid off. I pull over, switch off The Greenie and have a chat for 10 minutes, some about his trips overseas on various bikes and me talking about my collection and ridding them on and off road, unfortunately I tempted fate and told him how reliable they were and simple to work on.

As he knew the trails I was about to ride he was keen to show me them and ride together for a short while.

I said ok, started The Greenie and off we went for about 400 yards, when The Greenie slowed and stopped, just like it was out of fuel.

I flick it onto reserve and it’s not having it. KTM guy comes back and after checking the plug and messing about for a while ends up giving me a push and I manage to bump start the bike and get back to the trail entrance, but it won’t idle and if the revs drop below 3K that’s it.

Ruing tempting the motorcycle gods earlier, I tell KTM guy to not worry and tell him to go and enjoy his ride, worse case I ring one of Bernie’s (Agop) best mates from the AA and get recovered, but I’m confident I’ll sort it.

I’ve got spark, the plug is getting fuel and it’s trying to start.

I pop the mag cover and it’s all dry, so it’s probably not the crank seal, I did replace it a few years back.

At the entrance to the trail some S#!thead has dumped a load of timber, which for me was handy as I needed to remove my carb and in surrounded by sandy dirt, so I made use of a nice wide panel as my workbench.

The original tool kit worked well, I hadn’t even checked it was on the bike before I left, and I had the carb off in no time.

Unscrewed the bowl and separated the two, the gasket tearing as it stuck to the carb and the bowl and found quite a lot of crap inside, which was a bit of a surprise as I run an inline filter.

Cleaned it out as best I could and washed it with fuel as the hose was connected to the tap.

Put everything back together and started third kick.

I could see a constant slow drip where the bowl gasket wasn’t sealing correctly, so the ride home consisted of turning the fuel tap on and off to reduce the leak, I don’t want The Greenie catching fire.

As I write the story of today’s ride I find I’m happy to have had a little adventure and a challenge to get home, but also, I know it could have all been avoided with some maintenance and doing the basic things a lot of us know well.

Clean your carb and make sure you have your tool kit onboard before you head out.