Monthly Archives: September 2011

Sep30

Oktoberfest!

Posted on by
Standard

A bit behind I know, but we been unable to post for several days for vaious reasons.  And yes, beer was one of those reasons.

We hit Okoberfest at full steam on the 26th.  This of course is after spending the previous 24 hours in transit, and having very little to ear.  I don’t recommend it, but it sure is a cheap drunk.  Linda is sure we had 4 steins, I thought we only had 3 the first night.

The pic is from fairly early in the day.  Notice the clarity in the eyes.  Later that night, not so much.  It is one of the few times that Linda has been toast before me.  She made sure she wouldn’t lose me by grabbing by the throat.  It does get ones attention to be sure.  I did manage to get her to go on some rides as we were leaving.  When we got back to the “hotel” we couldn’t get in the door.  Ended up sitting on the stoop, eating McDs waiting for someone to let us in.

 

I know we are behind the times for posting, but promise we will get caught up in Florence.  I’ll add updates for the rest of the Munich portion and Venice before we head to Cinque Terre.

 

Ciao

 

Sep19

Slowly but Surely

Posted on by
Standard

Well things have been going a little slower with the TS400 that I would like.  I broke the sparkplug boot and will now have to wait until we get back from Europe to fire it up.  That’s OK though as the keys didn’t get dropped off with the bike and are in the mail.

And there is still the issue of the headlight.  It seems most of the bikes wiring ends up running through the headlight assembly.  I wish I knew what they were all for!

Sep16

New Addition

Posted on by
Standard

A new addition to our family arrived yesterday. A 1976 Suzuki TS400.  She is in need of a lot of TLC but hopefully we can provide her with that over the winter.  I say hopefully because I know nothing abostripped down TS400ut motorcycle maintenance.  Which is l the reason for our new acquisition.  I hope to learn as I get her back on the road with a lot of help from a Clymers manual and the very helpful folks a advrider.com.

Last night I pulled the carb off and removed all of the gummed up crap that 3 years of sitting had developed.  I checked to compression and there is over 100lbs, so it looks like I don’t need to redo the topend.  I also changed one of the sparkplugs.  Wait! Isn’t it a single cylinder bike?  Well yes it is, and I don’t totally know why it has 2 sparkplugs.  Perhaps in case one gets fouled, or perhaps for different driving conditions?  I’m open to hearing from anyone out there who know.

Tonight I will get to work on the gas tank and oil injection system.  There is some rust in the tank, but it’s not too bad.  And the oil….?  My best guess is that it will be the consistency of tar, but who knows I may be pleasantly surprised.