Yes Emily

Yes Emily, girls can ride motorcycles!


Sunday, June 14, 2015

If It Ends In 'Ometer" ...

The stars of time and weather aligned. I managed to scratch a few things from my to do list, the sky was blue and I was wondering if the little coffee shop on highway 7, at Maberly was open for business yet. Any excuse right! The umbrellas weren’t out yet but I had a lovely cappuccino, maybe not as good as I remembered but it was nice to take a break on the deck for a bit. Where to go next? I headed east again hoping to get to Delta and back through the historic little village of Lyndhurst.
Déjà vu! Riding back into Perth I started hearing an unusual (but familiar) noise coming from the VStar. Ironically, I was riding through Perth last fall the first time I heard this strange ‘scritch scritch’ noise. My mechanic told me he thought he’d found the problem and fixed it this spring and I hadn’t heard it, until now.
Long story short I decided to keep on going to Delta, mainly because it was another route home and it wasn’t under construction … 200 km and a couple of speed bumps on a wooden bridge later and I had a check engine light. Suddenly, if it ended in ‘ometer’ it was dead. The ‘scritch scritch’ was fixed but I had no speedometer, no odometer and no tripometer and I was headed down a winding road with no shoulders. U turn, back to the main road. It would be a few kilometers longer but at least in an emergency stop situation I’d have a wide shoulder to wait on.
The bike seemed to be running fine but I considered it might be a good idea to pull over and ask for advice. After some consultation with my motorcycle Guru friend Ken and putting some of the facts together I opted to make a run for it. It’s back in the paddock. My guess (and Ken’s) the speedometer cable is broken, time to go to the yama-doctor.
All in all it was a good ride, just took a little longer than expected. But it ended well. What is life without a little challenge. This was the first mechanical issue I've had with the Star since I bought her, not bad.
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16 comments:

  1. SonjaMJune 14, 2015 at 12:21 PM

    At least you got a good ride in.

    I am keeping my fingers crossed that the glitch doesn't involve something major.

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    1. VStar LadyJune 14, 2015 at 5:27 PM

      Thanks Sonja ... I'm pretty sure the check engine lights are set up to either flash or go red if it's critical. If had been doing either I'd have waited for that CAA flat bed to haul it home.

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  2. RichardMJune 14, 2015 at 3:38 PM

    Thanks for the reminder to oil the cables (speedo, clutch and throttle)!

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    1. VStar LadyJune 14, 2015 at 5:34 PM

      Welcome Richard, so glad I could help! (They must have paid some attention to the cable as the noise wasn't there the last time out, but after 60,000 k it was done.) Think I will have them go over the rest of the cables with a fine tooth comb before heading out this summer.

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  3. TrobairitzJune 14, 2015 at 3:45 PM

    Those damn 'ometers. Glad you made it home safe. Hope it is a quick and easy fix.

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  4. VStar LadyJune 14, 2015 at 5:32 PM

    Ed I'd love to have the chance to show you some of the local biways: I'm heading to PEI again the beginning of June and then hope to meander west a bit, haven't been that direction for a couple of years. (That is as long as my yama doctor can fix the problems, I'm sure he can.)

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  5. VStar LadyJune 14, 2015 at 5:37 PM

    Who needs an 'ometer' anyway right! Funny though I rarely look at the speedometer, I use the GPS because it's in a better location and I only check the odometer when I stop. I hope it's an easy fix as well.

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  6. CanajunJune 14, 2015 at 10:42 PM

    Fingers crossed....

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  7. Dar June 14, 2015 at 11:49 PM

    I hate it when i hear a 'scritch scritch' sound it is the harbinger of moto doom. One the beight side you at least got a lovley cap.

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    1. VStar LadyJune 15, 2015 at 9:11 PM

      Dar, I won't worry about doom until I get the bill.

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  8. HighwayManJune 15, 2015 at 7:15 AM

    Glad it all worked out. June here has been unusually warm so far, so I have managed a few runs out the highway.

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    1. VStar LadyJune 15, 2015 at 9:12 PM

      My son tells me I've been indoors too much if I think it's been a bit rainy and cold here ... what can I say, it's my busy season.

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  9. krfishJune 24, 2015 at 10:59 AM

    Have you been too busy to do any trip planning for this summer? I'm going to go back a reread your ride report of your trip to the east coast. I've never been. The closest I have been has been to Maine. Not sure if there is time to do both Gaspe and Cabot. Summer seems too short already! I did ZERO trips in June because of work and rain. Maybe one of our routes will cross and we can ride together for a bit. Cheers

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    1. VStar LadyJune 27, 2015 at 4:58 PM

      krfish - June is definitely my busy month almost too busy to think let alone ride ... but it''s all good now. I've never traveled the entire Gaspe by bike (only by car) but I have a friend who is planning on doing just that this year. The Cabot trail is lovely but my heart always takes me to Prince Edward Island first - there's something about the island. I'm heading there this month (again!) but then not sure what way I will go after that (I had thought about going west, you know Wyoming via PEI). Who knows, we might just cross paths (again I think.) I will still be riding the Star.

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  10. VStar LadyJune 27, 2015 at 4:39 PM

    Ed so sorry I missed this comment. Yes, I meant PEI and you would be most welcome to ride along; how fast can you pack - just kidding. I plan (I use that word very loosely) on leaving around the 8th or 9th weather and gremlins permitting. It's a beautiful Island.

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