Motorcycle adventure with "ups & downs".

[Wolfswetpaws]

Home, safe & sound, from a day of adventure (but later than expected).
On the one hand, I can say and prove that my CSC Motorcycles SG-250 climbed the Mount Washington Auto Road.  https://mt-washington.com/drive-yourself/
On the other hand, my engine seized, on Route 28 southbound in Epsom New Hampshire, while I was on my way back home to Manchester, NH.

While I was bouncing from telephone menu to telephone menu (trying to arrange a tow-truck) with my insurance company, a local Police Officer stopped behind where I'd pulled-over and coasted to a stop.
When the telephone menu effort failed to yield results, I accepted the offer from the Police Officer to call me a tow-truck.
Kudos to "Officer Friendly" for their efforts, tonight.
He also has a motorcycle and showed me a picture of it.

When the tow-truck driver, named Fred, arrived, the process of loading my motorcycle onto a flat-bed tow-truck went pretty smoothly.
I'm glad they were available on a Sunday, night.

My bike is stored inside our shed, and I'll try to figure-out what happened to cause the breakdown, later.

Our ferrets have been cared-for and are playing as I type this.
I went on an adventure today, and got a bit more adventure than I expected.

I had just peformed maintenance on my bike, too.

Valve-clearance adjustment and spark-plug replacement a couple of days ago.
And an oil-change, yesterday, odometer 000491 miles.

After today's adventure, the odometer is over 700 miles.

 
 

Edited August 12, 2024 by Wolfswetpaws

[desmo_2]

The pricing on those Chinese bikes are enticing (I think CSC is a Chinese company), but I have always been suspicious of their quality.

The Mount Washington Auto Road looks very intriguing!  It's too far for me to drive out to, however.  Pikes Peak is 10 hours closer!

Need pics of the ferrets.  I had 5 when I was in my 20's...they were hilarious pets!

Edited August 12, 2024 by desmo_2

[Wolfswetpaws]

1 hour ago, desmo_2 said:

(I think CSC is a Chinese company)

They import bikes made (to CSC's specifications) by Zhongshen.  

[Snargfargle]

Motorcycles and ferrets. Those images really take me back to my youth. When I was a kid, my brother had a Honda 250 scrambler and when I was in college I bought a Honda 650 scrambler. I later traded it in for a CB750, which I put about 25,000 miles on. Alas, I need the money for more college so had to sell it.

Edited August 12, 2024 by Snargfargle

[Wolfswetpaws]

1 hour ago, desmo_2 said:

The pricing on those Chinese bikes are enticing (I think CSC is a Chinese company), but I have always been suspicious of their quality.

The Mount Washington Auto Road looks very intriguing!  It's too far for me to drive out to, however.  Pikes Peak is 10 hours closer!

Need pics of the ferrets.  I had 5 when I was in my 20's...they were hilarious pets!

https://www.devstrike.net/topic/3237-weekend-spree-8-to-10-march-2024/?do=findComment&comment=41748

31 minutes ago, Snargfargle said:

Motorcycles and ferrets. Those images really take me back to my youth. When I was a kid, my brother had a Honda 250 scrambler and when I was in college I bought a Honda 650 scrambler. I later traded it in for a CB750, which I put about 25,000 miles on. Alas, I need the money for more college so had to sell it.

My Dad had a 1960's vintage Honda 305cc (I think it was the Hawk or a Scrambler) motorcycle which he rode in his 20's. 
He was a member of a Motorcycle Club and rode that bike on-road, off-road and on dirt-tracks.  He'd have a cardboard box and, in the parking or pit-stop area, would remove non-essential parts from his bike when doing off-road or dirt-track events and then re-install the parts to make the bike street-legal again for the ride home.
He and his fellow club members did some interesting shennanigans in areas of Texas and New Mexico.
One of the club members figured-out how to shuffle the transmission gears of the Honda 305cc engine, so that they'd be evenly spaced in the transitions between gear ratios.  For on-road riding, as it came from the factory, there was a tall jump from 1st. to second or from 2nd. to third.  This was undesirable for off-road purposes.
Being able to re-assemble the transmission to suit their purposes was a boon to the club members and to motorcycling in general.
 

[HamptonRoads]

@Wolfswetpaws didn't you post something about Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance a couple of weeks ago?

Edited August 12, 2024 by HamptonRoads

[Wolfswetpaws]

1 hour ago, HamptonRoads said:

@Wolfswetpaws didn't you post something about Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance a couple of weeks ago?

Someone's post reminded me of the book title.
You're welcome to search for the topic/post(s) involved.

[Snargfargle]

2 hours ago, HamptonRoads said:

@Wolfswetpaws didn't you post something about Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance a couple of weeks ago?

That's one of my favorite books. It's an essay on the meaning of quality. Pirsig speaks of the time when he and a friend were working on his friend's BMW. The motorcycle had a loose handlebar so Pirsig just cut a beer can to make some shims, a repair that would have lasted for years. However, the BMW owner then went out and got some costly official BMW-brand shims and wanted them installed instead because he perceived them to be better, although they weren't. That said, sometimes the more expensive item actually is the better choice and at other times a lesser-quality item might not be as good but is good enough to get the job done, which is why knowing how to assess quality is so important.

Edited August 12, 2024 by Snargfargle

[mashed68]

Buy a CBR and never look back. 

[Wolfswetpaws]

12 minutes ago, mashed68 said:

Buy a CBR and never look back. 

While I wouldn't mind a Honda motorcycle, per se ...
My problem is that my legs are short and I want a lower seat-height than most makes & models can offer, while having an upright riding position with my footpegs underneath me (instead of legs forward, like a chopper or cruiser).

Two bikes that I tried-on for size which were "close" were the Yamaha Bolt and the Kawasaki Eliminator.
I like the look of the Royal Enfield INT650 and the Kawasaki W800 and similar "retro" or actual vintage bikes from the 1960's/70's/80's.
Changing any of them to match my seat-height preference would involve additional cost and sourcing of parts and could affect the handling and ground-clearance of the motorcycle in question.

I imagine you understand my criteria and what I'm trying to say.