What did you do on or to your other bike part 2

[Gone in 60]

Hi all,

Been a busy week, but been thinking about everyone. I went up to Seattle last week to meet up with Mrs. G who was working at a hospital there. She had talked me into joining her to check out the city while she was working and spend Saturday together there before coming home.

I took a tour of the Boeing plant in Everett, which was pretty fun. On the bus part of the tour as we drove past the largest building in the world, the tour guide told us that the vehicles we saw parked close to the building were owned by people who had worked at the factory for at least 25 years, and everyone else was bussed in from a remote lot. The one thing that caught my eye was a KLX 300 right outside the door to the 777 assembly bay. Pdese, are you moonlighting over there? 

Mrs. G's boss was also in Seattle for a few days and invited us out for drinks on one of our evenings. Mrs. was all set to talk shop, but he wasn't in the mood, turned to me and said "Now tell me about this new gig you're doing?" Turns out he's a classic motorcycle nut and was on the L.A. DGR on his '75 Gold Wing. Neither of us knew the other was on the ride. He's also got a vintage CB750 and some other nice bikes, and we talked well into the evening.

I really liked hiking around the city, even if it didn't seem too "moto-centric". We got home Saturday night, and first thing Sunday morning, my friends and I went to the annual Steve McQueen car and bike show. The motorcycle display area is small but very exclusive, so entries are limited to very nice classics. There were a few '69 CB750s, Aerils, and a Kawasaki H2 750. I took a strong interest in a few 70s era BMWs, and the owner, a kindly Swiss gentleman, told me that they were for sale. I looked at his '73 R75 and asked what he was selling it for. He said "thirty five", and when I replied "hundred?", he turned to my friends and asked what I smoke during the day. Oh well, I can dream.

Got home, got cleaned up, and headed to the Bike Shed as the L.A. DGR organizers had put together a final rider meet-up shindig. I had put the final touches on Blood Bike #5 and had her all shined up, so I thought it would be cool to show it off. Very good thing I wasn't on a work run, and good thing it was a fairly lazy Sunday evening... cruising down the freeway about ten minutes from home, she lost all power and just about every warning on the dash fired off. Coasting to the shoulder and starting her back up, she sat at a surging idle at about 2700 rpm with no response twisting the throttle Oh boy. Turn off, turn on, same thing. I had read that aging R1200RTs were prone to weird throttle signals in the ride-by-wire connections. That 2700 was good for cruising at 30 mph in second gear for a limp-home with the hazards flashing. 

This has become a common phrase lately, but Super Bird to the rescue. Jumped on the NC (I would have had to move both cars to get to my CB1100 and didn't want to take the time, and was in no mood to diagnose the Beemer), headed to the party, and met some very cool people. Even did a good deed on the way home. Following an Audi on the 5 heading home, an errant Camry weaving about smacked the Audi. Both cars slowed a bit, the Audi pulled to the shoulder, and the Camry decided to take off. Followed it just long enough to memorize the plate, pulled over, and called 911. The Audi pulled up behind me, hoping that I had seen the accident. I gave them the description and info on the offending car and went home to bed. 

Spent the better part of Monday dissecting the throttle cable on #5, cleaning the contacts, and riding around doing errands to make sure it didn't happen again, and gave her a clean bill of health... for now. She did well on 200 or so miles of delivery riding today, so I'd say she's OK.