Sunday, September 9, 2007

Day 2 & 3: We have a problem

Day 2. More or less uneventful. I rode from Alton, ON to Sault Ste. Marie along the lake. Nice ride.

Clutch started occasionally slipping in the low gears at the end of the day. Sometimes got a rattling noise when the clutch wasn't engaged. Hm. Decided to ride day 3 (goal: Winnipeg, Manitoba) in the US rather than in Canada, in case things get worse. Which brings us to ....


Day 3. We have a problem.



Rode roughly 50 miles onto the Upper Peninsula, MI. No rattling, no clutch slipping. Life feeling pretty good.

And then the clutch or the transmission or the final drive failed. Rattling and losing power to the rear wheel whenever the bike exceeds 40 mph or the engine has to put out a significant amount of torque.

I limped my way another 15 miles, to lovely Newberry, MI. Checked into the Best Western. Pulled my starter (pic above), half expecting to see debris in the clutch and flywheel housing behind it, but no debris.

Anyhow, that's academic at the moment. Regardless of whether it's the clutch or whatever else, I can't fix it here. I'll probably rent a truck tomorrow and take it to Nick's BMW in Greenbay. This is going to cost me a couple days and probably more money than I want to think about right now.


>>>NEXT: Day 4 - 7: stuck in Wisconsin!

2 comments:

Scott Burles said...

Hey Jake!

Sounds like the adventure is already underway. Good luck with the drivetrain/clutch problem, getting to GB seems like the best bet. Problems aside, you've got a great setup on the bike, 450 miles of range is awesome!

I'll be tuning in to see how the rest unfolds.

Keep the rubber side down,
Scott

Lenore said...

Happy Birthday from everyone here!!

Hope the bike travails are behind you! Looking forward to following your adventure!

Love, Aunt Lenore