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The Taming of the Shrew
This current riding season has been a rough one for me and my "Katherina". Since I am not out riding I figure I could chronicle my story and vent my frustrations which have turned from passable moments of WTF to deeply seated beds of molten anger just brimming beneath the thin shell of my already weakened emotional facade.
April 25 2009
I purchased, registered and insured my bike (1993 Katana 1100) on this day. Took it for a test drive before I bought it and since it was the first 1100 I had ever been on, I thought it was disgustingly fast and powerful beyond my dreams. I got new tires on it before I drove it home. It had stalled and flooded once while I was driving it so I knew something was amiss, but it got me home to Corning NY from the previous owner's (PO) place in Newark NY respectably.
Throughout the next month I had the carbs rebuilt, synced, new plugs, new chain and sprockets, etc...etc...worked out various electrical problems on my own and a good shop did the ones I couldn't figure out. (95% were attributable to the PO)
There were various mechanical problems, but they were little things; yet on a bike the little things still keep you in the garage rather than on the road. (99.57% were attributable to the PO)
Katherina did pretty well; a little temperamental to start and warm-up, but once she did, she made you glad you were on top. Rode her to work shopping, errands, anything I could, I did. Over the course of the summer, I noticed power decreasing but I chalked it up to me being more acclimated to Katherina; I also noticed mileage was decreasing, but I thought I must be twisting the throttle to wring more out of the engine.
September 07 2009
My wife and I had a great idea...let's drive up to Dansville NY for the Dansville NY Festival of Balloons! This is an annual hot air balloon rally in Dansville NY (about an hour away). She and I went up for the morning launch in the cage and it was great. My family visited that day so we decided to go back up for the evening launch, but this time we would take Katherina. Ride up there was good and uneventful but we did not get there in time to beat the crowds...apparently everyone and their brother comes out for evening launch.
So there we were, stuck in bumper-to-bumper traffic in 90°F weather idling away when I smell this acrid, burnt stink emanating from beneath me. I then noticed the heat on my calves and ankles through my jeans and work boots was intensifying...then the smoke starts to faintly roll out from beneath the fairings...and I almost cried. Katherina was overheating; I managed my way down the road a bit to where I had some room and time to shut down and give things a quick look. Apparently, the piston rings were going bad as indicated by the decrease in power and mileage; this in turn caused the engine to burn the oil rather than circulate it through the lubrication and cooling system.
I managed to make my way on Kat to some nice folks' place who were kind enough to sell me some oil. I threw it in there and limped to a service station in town where I let her cool down and added more oil. At this point, the evening was a total loss so we walked to the Rally and watched for a bit.
I was dreading the ride home but I knew it had to be done. I didn't know anyone in Dansville and there was no way I could leave Kat there. I started her and she started hard...but she started. All the way home I had to keep her above 4000 RPM or she would stall...I knew our relationship over the winter was going to take a lot of work...little did I know how much...
February 07 2010
I heard my cousin was a budding motorcycle mechanic who was starting to open his own shop in WNY. I figured he could work on my bike at a reduced rate and I could spread some good news about his small business if he did a good job. My dad came and picked up Katherina and I to take her to my cousin's place in North Tonawanda NY. We dropped her off, talked about what needed to be done and figured it would take a couple of months since he was busy getting the shop up and running plus a family vacation in there somewhere.
Bless his heart, but my cousin cannot keep to a deadline if it had railings. After not hearing anything for a month, I gave him a call and was told that he was working on it. After a month and a half he had the fairings off. After 2 he had it apart, after 2.5 (no exaggeration) he finally had ordered the parts.
The parts were ordered through a local dealer which I had worked with before; they are a reputable shop and a larger shop in the area so I figured parts would arrive relatively quick. Since I told him I was coming that weekend to get the back, he figured he should put the piston rings on and button it all back up. Needless to say, something or other happened and one of the rings broke when he put it on; now he orders another set for the one ring he broke. This time, I never heard anything about these parts. Turns out, the local dealer had the order on file, but did not place the order for the parts because my cousin did not put a deposit down or leave a credit card on file...WTF...
By now, I was getting angry...it was the middle of the riding season and the most I had touched Katherina's handlebars was as I pushed and pulled her down out of my dad's truck at my cousin's place. He eventually got the parts and did the work; he also got the bike painted and threw some LEDs on there which look okay. Don't get me wrong, I am thankful for the work he did and going above and beyond, but at this point, I don't care if it is polka dotted with purple unicorns, I just want it to run well...[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PUyWJ-2j4j0"]I just wanna ride my motorcycle[/ame]...
Beginning of July he finishes the bike and delivers it...we get it off his truck and of course...it doesn't start. He guarantees to fix whatever is wrong with it...thanks but no thanks. Turns out it was the clutch safety switch; I cleaned up the contacts and she fires right up.
I go for a short ride the next day during my lunch break since I wanted to make sure things were okay...I drive 1/4 of a mile down my street and the valves sound like somebody dropping a tray of fine china down a stairwell. I turn around to go home and hear a [ame="http://www.metacafe.com/watch/902158/the_ping_sound/"]PING[/ame]; I think nothing of it and continue home. That evening I take it my local shop (good shop, good guys) to have them check the valves.
I stop in the next day at M&A and Scott says "Come take a look at what I saw when I pulled the cover off." The valves were so loose I could move them with my hand about 1/4". The major problem was that one of the locknuts was missing from the adjustment stud...this was the ping I heard when was riding back to my house the day before. The general concern was that the nut was somewhere in the engine since oil passages run from there all the way to the transmission...they were thinking they would have to disassemble the entire engine. Fortunately, I convinced them to drop the oil pan first and check there; turns out the tool-steel hardened nut made its way from valves all the way to the bottom of the oil pan without incident, even after being driven as such approximately 3/4 of a mile.
Katherina got lucky.
Another issue was the intake camshaft; the cam for the #2 cylinder was wiped, there is a 1/16" drop from the original cam profile to the surface of the rocker contact; the rest of the cams were burnt from the overheating in Dansville and the exhaust camshaft was in pretty bad shape as well.
It has taken 4 weeks for the new camshafts to get in and they finally arrived this past Thursday. Friday, Scott spent the day putting in the new camshafts and adjusting valves; turns out he had to disassemble most of the bike to drop and rotate the engine forward 1-1/2" to get at a bolt on the side which the frame was previously blocking = more labor hours. I stopped in this past Friday to check on the bike and they told me that the timing was approximately 190°F off from where it should be...the sprockets were not oriented correctly after the piston rings. Frankly, we were amazed it ran at all. Could the electronics have retarded / advanced the timing that much to make it run?
So...here I am...sitting at the computer waiting for tomorrow which should tell me how much all this work has cost. Tomorrow my Katherina returns to me (and a significant portion of my savings leaves me) but I should have a 17 year old, discontinued motorcycle with 23, 5XX miles on it with more money into it than it originally cost me...but it will still be mine, it will still run, and ultimately, it will be a completely different machine than before this work was done.
Now, just wait for the clutch to go and I will be all set!
April 25 2009
I purchased, registered and insured my bike (1993 Katana 1100) on this day. Took it for a test drive before I bought it and since it was the first 1100 I had ever been on, I thought it was disgustingly fast and powerful beyond my dreams. I got new tires on it before I drove it home. It had stalled and flooded once while I was driving it so I knew something was amiss, but it got me home to Corning NY from the previous owner's (PO) place in Newark NY respectably.
Throughout the next month I had the carbs rebuilt, synced, new plugs, new chain and sprockets, etc...etc...worked out various electrical problems on my own and a good shop did the ones I couldn't figure out. (95% were attributable to the PO)
There were various mechanical problems, but they were little things; yet on a bike the little things still keep you in the garage rather than on the road. (99.57% were attributable to the PO)
Katherina did pretty well; a little temperamental to start and warm-up, but once she did, she made you glad you were on top. Rode her to work shopping, errands, anything I could, I did. Over the course of the summer, I noticed power decreasing but I chalked it up to me being more acclimated to Katherina; I also noticed mileage was decreasing, but I thought I must be twisting the throttle to wring more out of the engine.
September 07 2009
My wife and I had a great idea...let's drive up to Dansville NY for the Dansville NY Festival of Balloons! This is an annual hot air balloon rally in Dansville NY (about an hour away). She and I went up for the morning launch in the cage and it was great. My family visited that day so we decided to go back up for the evening launch, but this time we would take Katherina. Ride up there was good and uneventful but we did not get there in time to beat the crowds...apparently everyone and their brother comes out for evening launch.
So there we were, stuck in bumper-to-bumper traffic in 90°F weather idling away when I smell this acrid, burnt stink emanating from beneath me. I then noticed the heat on my calves and ankles through my jeans and work boots was intensifying...then the smoke starts to faintly roll out from beneath the fairings...and I almost cried. Katherina was overheating; I managed my way down the road a bit to where I had some room and time to shut down and give things a quick look. Apparently, the piston rings were going bad as indicated by the decrease in power and mileage; this in turn caused the engine to burn the oil rather than circulate it through the lubrication and cooling system.
I managed to make my way on Kat to some nice folks' place who were kind enough to sell me some oil. I threw it in there and limped to a service station in town where I let her cool down and added more oil. At this point, the evening was a total loss so we walked to the Rally and watched for a bit.
I was dreading the ride home but I knew it had to be done. I didn't know anyone in Dansville and there was no way I could leave Kat there. I started her and she started hard...but she started. All the way home I had to keep her above 4000 RPM or she would stall...I knew our relationship over the winter was going to take a lot of work...little did I know how much...
February 07 2010
I heard my cousin was a budding motorcycle mechanic who was starting to open his own shop in WNY. I figured he could work on my bike at a reduced rate and I could spread some good news about his small business if he did a good job. My dad came and picked up Katherina and I to take her to my cousin's place in North Tonawanda NY. We dropped her off, talked about what needed to be done and figured it would take a couple of months since he was busy getting the shop up and running plus a family vacation in there somewhere.
Bless his heart, but my cousin cannot keep to a deadline if it had railings. After not hearing anything for a month, I gave him a call and was told that he was working on it. After a month and a half he had the fairings off. After 2 he had it apart, after 2.5 (no exaggeration) he finally had ordered the parts.
The parts were ordered through a local dealer which I had worked with before; they are a reputable shop and a larger shop in the area so I figured parts would arrive relatively quick. Since I told him I was coming that weekend to get the back, he figured he should put the piston rings on and button it all back up. Needless to say, something or other happened and one of the rings broke when he put it on; now he orders another set for the one ring he broke. This time, I never heard anything about these parts. Turns out, the local dealer had the order on file, but did not place the order for the parts because my cousin did not put a deposit down or leave a credit card on file...WTF...
By now, I was getting angry...it was the middle of the riding season and the most I had touched Katherina's handlebars was as I pushed and pulled her down out of my dad's truck at my cousin's place. He eventually got the parts and did the work; he also got the bike painted and threw some LEDs on there which look okay. Don't get me wrong, I am thankful for the work he did and going above and beyond, but at this point, I don't care if it is polka dotted with purple unicorns, I just want it to run well...[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PUyWJ-2j4j0"]I just wanna ride my motorcycle[/ame]...
Beginning of July he finishes the bike and delivers it...we get it off his truck and of course...it doesn't start. He guarantees to fix whatever is wrong with it...thanks but no thanks. Turns out it was the clutch safety switch; I cleaned up the contacts and she fires right up.
I go for a short ride the next day during my lunch break since I wanted to make sure things were okay...I drive 1/4 of a mile down my street and the valves sound like somebody dropping a tray of fine china down a stairwell. I turn around to go home and hear a [ame="http://www.metacafe.com/watch/902158/the_ping_sound/"]PING[/ame]; I think nothing of it and continue home. That evening I take it my local shop (good shop, good guys) to have them check the valves.
I stop in the next day at M&A and Scott says "Come take a look at what I saw when I pulled the cover off." The valves were so loose I could move them with my hand about 1/4". The major problem was that one of the locknuts was missing from the adjustment stud...this was the ping I heard when was riding back to my house the day before. The general concern was that the nut was somewhere in the engine since oil passages run from there all the way to the transmission...they were thinking they would have to disassemble the entire engine. Fortunately, I convinced them to drop the oil pan first and check there; turns out the tool-steel hardened nut made its way from valves all the way to the bottom of the oil pan without incident, even after being driven as such approximately 3/4 of a mile.
Katherina got lucky.
Another issue was the intake camshaft; the cam for the #2 cylinder was wiped, there is a 1/16" drop from the original cam profile to the surface of the rocker contact; the rest of the cams were burnt from the overheating in Dansville and the exhaust camshaft was in pretty bad shape as well.
It has taken 4 weeks for the new camshafts to get in and they finally arrived this past Thursday. Friday, Scott spent the day putting in the new camshafts and adjusting valves; turns out he had to disassemble most of the bike to drop and rotate the engine forward 1-1/2" to get at a bolt on the side which the frame was previously blocking = more labor hours. I stopped in this past Friday to check on the bike and they told me that the timing was approximately 190°F off from where it should be...the sprockets were not oriented correctly after the piston rings. Frankly, we were amazed it ran at all. Could the electronics have retarded / advanced the timing that much to make it run?
So...here I am...sitting at the computer waiting for tomorrow which should tell me how much all this work has cost. Tomorrow my Katherina returns to me (and a significant portion of my savings leaves me) but I should have a 17 year old, discontinued motorcycle with 23, 5XX miles on it with more money into it than it originally cost me...but it will still be mine, it will still run, and ultimately, it will be a completely different machine than before this work was done.
Now, just wait for the clutch to go and I will be all set!
It may have a suprise for you in "new found" power.... 
)
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