UPDATE: Southwest Triumph Festival 2011, The Cage

Due to continuing electrical problems I cannot trust my bike to make it out of town. So I’m driving and renting a Harley in Prescott. It pains me to do this but it’s better than sitting home.

Meeting up with the Pacific Northwest gang in Star, ID on day 1. Together we’re riding the rest of the way to Prescott. Unfortunately that includes a lot of super slab. I was going to do Lolo pass again, but doing that and getting to Boise would be a bit of a push for the first day.

This would’ve been a real nice ride…

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Quick Status Report *

(* I’ve been in IT way too long)

Last Saturday, the 21st of May, the day the world was supposed to end, I rode my bike for the first time this year. I had some electrical issues (see below) but the previous Thursday, my friend Zdenko stopped by to help diagnose and fix them. On Saturday, I installed the new Pingle petcock on the new Speedmaster tank and put everything back together. I haven’t ridden it since because I’m out of town all this week on business. I’m typing this in my hotel room.

I leave for Arizona on Tuesday, the day after Memorial Day. Memorial Day weekend will be spent, rain or shine, riding the hell out of my bike to try and make sure nothing else breaks, then mounting up the saddlebags and sissybar/luggage rack and doing an oil change. I have some other bolt on changes I could make (centerstand, oil pressure gauge, etc.), but I really don’t want to risk anything else going wrong. I did manage to put a few new doodads on in the past few weeks, an oil temperature gauge, clutch level cover, etc. but that’s it.

I think I’m going to start posting the latest info about my Arizona travel plans, starting with the first day map.

Electrical Problems

The following is an excerpt from this post of mine on the Bonnevilleamerica.com forums:

Well, Zdenko figured it all out, and I feel dumber than ever, but that feeling is somewhat mitigated by how much I learned. I knew/suspected it would all be simple stuff and it was.

1. No/intermittent Power: the connector (from the fuse block) to the positive side of the battery was loose. The reason? I’m an idiot. When my buddy Gene and I built my battery box back in 2002 I had to cut that wire and extend it. I’m the one who crimped that ring connector on that wire, and to boot, it was probably one of those connectors with the solder built into it, which I didn’t solder. I’m amazed it lasted as long as it did.

2. Turn signal relay/blowing fuses: When I inserted the left rear amber bulb (from Brent) in the socket I pushed the side conductor through the back where it contacted the other conductor, causing a short.

See? Simple. I should have the bike back on the road Saturday.