stonewall
Member
Wife and kids have been at Myrtle Beach since last Monday and the plan was for me to leave home at 0300 on Friday morning to ride down from Northern Virginia to visit with them for the weekend. I've been traveling for a few weeks, so haven't rode the bike in about 3 weeks. Was working perfectly fine 3 weeks ago. Friday morning load the bike up and start her up. She sounds a little sick, coughing and wheezing. Notice the lights are slowly pulsing a little. Thought it was just because she hadn't been started in 3 weeks. Give a little throttle and it helps some, but she dies on me. Start her up again with some difficulty but dies again. This happens a few more times and then I give up. Thought it was the battery since it's over 4 years old. Not going to be able to change it at 0300, so I get in the SUV to drive down instead.
About an hour and a half into the trip down I95 I'm cruising in the middle lane, no one around me, when BAM!, WTF???, and some serious vibrations from the front of the SUV. I start to pull over and it goes away when I apply brakes. Luckily there was a rest stop just ahead so I pull in. After searching for a half hour for the cause of it under the front end I notice the driver's side front tire is missing 2 lug stems. The 3 remaining lugs were loose. Not getting to the beach like this. Tighten them up and limp back home to hopefully get a new battery for the bike and get to the beach.
Stealerships don't open until 10am, so get a battery at 8am from a local store and install it. Nope, same problem. Cranks rough and even whistles a little and won't stay on. Crap! What now? Wait, didn't I get a recall letter for the wiring? Yep. Hopefully it's only related to that problem and nothing more serious. Stealership can't get to the bike until tomorrow, so will have to wait and see after delivering it.
Called the wife and kids to tell them I wouldn't be making it. Kids were looking foward to me coming down, even if for a few days. That was not a fun conversation to have with my 6 year old daughter. :sadsmiley02:
About an hour and a half into the trip down I95 I'm cruising in the middle lane, no one around me, when BAM!, WTF???, and some serious vibrations from the front of the SUV. I start to pull over and it goes away when I apply brakes. Luckily there was a rest stop just ahead so I pull in. After searching for a half hour for the cause of it under the front end I notice the driver's side front tire is missing 2 lug stems. The 3 remaining lugs were loose. Not getting to the beach like this. Tighten them up and limp back home to hopefully get a new battery for the bike and get to the beach.
Stealerships don't open until 10am, so get a battery at 8am from a local store and install it. Nope, same problem. Cranks rough and even whistles a little and won't stay on. Crap! What now? Wait, didn't I get a recall letter for the wiring? Yep. Hopefully it's only related to that problem and nothing more serious. Stealership can't get to the bike until tomorrow, so will have to wait and see after delivering it.
Called the wife and kids to tell them I wouldn't be making it. Kids were looking foward to me coming down, even if for a few days. That was not a fun conversation to have with my 6 year old daughter. :sadsmiley02:
