What a Phenomenal week end! Took a shade under 10 hours to ride down on the 86 without 3rd gear. Spend some of Friday Evening modding one of Carl's Radios which he had swapped out before I arrived..
Chewed the cud with loads of people and compared notes, talked about Bling, CB antennas, Radio, CD, bluetooth etc..
Got back to the hotel and settled down for the night.. Up on Saturday Breakfast and 7 miles down the road to Carls on. Straight to work.. 9am.. Radio mods while Carl had the front end out of other bikes. FYI Tried to beat Carl's 16 mins from the get go to Radio out on the bench... Got close... 20 mins.. Amazing what you can do with the right tools and a little experience..
So.. 3 Modded radios , 2 with Blue LCDs later.. and I had somehow collected several hundred miles of Dirt on my hands and clothes and face.. not to mention evicted some unwelcome visitors (long dead) from under a fairing.. (Dirt Dauber wasps) who had decided to nest at some time. Man that stuff is like concrete. Lunch was just simply fantastic.. (Thanks James) and Desert too.. Took some Pecan pie and Cake back to the hotel, with a can of beer and soaked all the grime off..
Sunday.. my turn.. the other reason for my visit.. The 86 had no 3rd gear.. Kept jumping out.. Seems to be fairly common as Carl has another 86 with the same problem.. Plus mine has always been more work in the corners than my 94..
Got to Carls at 10.. Striped the plastics drained fluids and a tad over an hour later, the engine was out! To coin a brit phrase.. "Bloody h*ll!"
That was the easy part. I had insisted that Carl put as much on to me as he could, and he did . Under the instructions from the Master, the I helped Carl shoehorn the replacement engine in and we broke for lunch..
After lunch, Carl fished out an 86's left bag from the barn and we cleaned it up.. My 86's Previous owner had been down the road after a Drunk Driver had knocked him off and when he rebuild it, he had picked up a 96's bag .. Actually didnt look too bad on the 86 with the 86's top but it wasnt quite right..
6 hours from starting, the engine was in and I had taken it up the road to check it out.. Yay.. 3rd gear and no leaks..That was exhilarating riding sans plastic..
The rest was just bolting other stuff back on.. Carl checked the steering head nut.. All ok there.. Then the front wheel came off.. Bearings were bad.. Forks came out.. Yup... weak springs and the place I took the left fork to to fix a seal leak didnt rebuild it correctly.. Carl rebuild both and fitted Progressive springs.. replaced the front wheel bearings while I refitted the plastics, swapped over locks etc.. Time to take her for her maiden voyage..
WOW.. A totally transformed bike.. Sure footed, no wobble, no dive.. smooth acceleration..
Rode back with a huge grin.. The 86 was back to as she should be plus improvements..
Carl, you truly are a Master craftsman.. Thank you Sir.!
Cheryl and James, you too are such perfect hosts.. Great hosts, great conversation and I was made to feel at home..
Plug Time.. Carl has a few bikes for sale too... A nice 88 included amongst them too at prices I seriously thought about then remembered, not enough garage space.... YET...
I did ask for some ideas on my Facebook page for the collective term of a group of Voyagers..
Answers included..
A journey of Voyagers..
A Flotilla of Voyagers.
A Gaggle, A murder, a flock but I think my Sister back in Good old Blighty got it right..
A Flight of Voyagers..
Thank you and and all, for what was one of the most enjoyable week ends in my life for at least the last year..
I start back tomorrow at 7am (CT) back to Virginia..
Cheers..
Pete..
I have pics.. will try and post in a bit..
) will take place October 7-9. Mostly Friday and Saturday, but come and go as you please. If you would like to have Carl work on your bike, please make arrangements with Carl to have him take care of that on any day EXCEPT Friday and Saturday. We would like to be able to just sit around and tell lies for those 2 days. Everybody is welcome, including the ladies. There is a nice Super 8 up the road. For those interested, I/we will most likely be leaving Kansas City on Thursday, and returning on Sunday. This is not a sanctioned event by any group or club, just fellow Voyager or motorcycle enthusiasts getting together at some dude's shop. Hope you all can make it!
