The Vacation Report
My original plan, as seen in my previous post was this:
Friday - Toronto, ON to Harrowsmith, ON (just outside Kingston, ON) where I was going to camp in the yard of some family friends. (or possibly crash in the house...)
Saturday - Drop in at Wes and Shelly's (from my Ninja250 riding club) in Kingston to say hi, and buy Wes the coffee I owed him ever since I first appeared on the forum. From there I was heading down into New York state to the Adirondacks where I had a site booked at Meacham Lake State Park. Spend 3 days there.
Tuesday - Drive West across NY to Wellesley Island State Park where I had another 3 days booked.
Friday Home to Toronto
According to Google Maps, this was to be a 1,067km (663 mi) trip altogether. Man I was a stoked!
What actually happened.... was this:
Friday
When I left my apartment I had too much to carry at once and so I left a few items in the lobby while I brought the rest out to my bike. I realized as I headed back inside that my keys were IN one of the bags still inside. I buzzed the building manager and said "I left my keys in a bag I left in the lobby." She replied, "Well find your keys." And hung up. Luckily at that moment someone else was coming in and I got in with them.
I started loading my gear on the bike and then I realized I should take my camera out now before the compartment it was in was buried, so I could take a pic of my loaded up bike. I set the camera on the flap for the front storage compartment (it's a ZZR thing :P) while I finished bundling everything up. Once the bike was loaded, I got on and headed for the gas station so I was starting with a full tank. (It would be about 2 hours later that I would suddenly realize I never took the picture OR moved the camera. It must have slid off when I started going, never to be seen again. Although I wonder if I went to the pawnshops just down the street if I might find it...)
Overall though, things were going well as I made way East on the 401. Suddenly, around 70-80 miles into my 155 mile trip to Harrowsmith... something happened. My engine went from the high pitched whine we all know and love to a grunty heavy monstrous sound. The tach dropped, and my speed which was 120km/h (75mph) indicated, dropped quickly to around 60. I pulled off onto the shoulder and stopped the bike, at which point it stalled. I stood there a moment stunned and unsure of what to do... I tried to restart and it just wasn't happening and then as I stood watching traffic fly by, I noticed that the small burst of rain I had ridden through a few minutes before was catching up to me. I walked the bike forward a little ways so I was out of the rain under an overpass. I realized that if I could get the bike going, I was halfway home, or halfway to Kingston... and to go home would mean getting off the highway and getting turned around.
I finally coaxed the bike into starting, by giving it full choke and opening the throttle while I thumbed the starter. Now that I had it going, I was determined to continue onwards, skipping Harrowsmith and dropping by on Wes a day early. The journey was a little harrowing, on the flats I could manage 60km/h (37mph) (and on inclines I would sink to about 40 (24mph), on declines I could actually get up to 80 or even 90km/h (55mph). Keep in mind the speed limit is 100km/h and most people are doing 120 (in the right lane, and usually a little to a lot more in the left). So averaging at the 60, I had a 2 hour ride like this. I was capping at 8k rpm, gears were irrelevant. Once I opened the throttle to a certain point, there was just nothing more it would do.
About 5km from my new exit (thank you GPS!), suddenly the bike surged to life, and I had FULL power. I got up to an appropriate traffic speed until I made my exit. At the first stop sign, she died again. I managed to get it going the same as before, full choke and open throttle. After stalling again at a light I found the trick was to never let off the throttle. As long as I kept the rpms up when I was stopped, it would stay running. But then once I started moving it would be almost powerless again for about twice the length of an intersection and then it would surge alive again. But I finally arrived at Wes and Shelly's where I was happy to park and get off the bike. While I misremembered the house number, the yellow Ninja in the driveway was a dead giveaway.
Shelly came out and I introduced myself and explained why I was there Friday night instead of Saturday. She brought me in and gave a much needed glass of cold water and let me unwind while we waited for Wes to get home from work. She told me I might as well stay the night there at that point because we didn't know how long the bike would take. As I was unstrapping my gear from my bike I heard the hum of a motorcycle and watched Wes pull up. He greeted me like I was an old friend and instantly got to the business of my bike. (Shelly had spoken to him and mentioned I was there with a sick bike). I explained the situation and he thought perhaps I had water in the fuel. We swapped bikes to take a few runs around the neighborhood to give him a first hand account of the issues.
This was my first time (other than my training course, which isn't 'real' riding) that I had ridden another bike. It was interesting to see the differences between the F and H models. I found the F much... I don't know... exactly... smoother? slicker? It just made the H seem a little clunkier and more awkward. I'm thinking the F model would have an edge over the H in twisties (assuming riders of same skill on each). Wes should post his thoughts on the H vs. F, but maybe after this weekend when we pick up my baby. Maybe we can swap bikes again for the ride back to his place so he can put it through the paces a little more. After going through service manuals and supplements he did point of that he thought the (stock) H may have a slight edge over the (stock) F for power/top speed, based on some technical details that I can't quite recall related to jets and ... something else.
Once we were back to Wes', we had a (delicious!) dinner of barbecued chicken, rice and veggies. With a cake/fruit/whip cream dessert. Our bellies now full,
it was time to get to work. From the start I was already learning about my bike. For starters, Wes popped it up on the centrestand as easily as flicking on a light. I was amazed, as I have never been able to do it alone, it's always taken me the assistance of another person. I have read items on the forum, but still didn't quite get the hang of it. When I told Wes, he brought it back down and had me do it as he talked me through it. Now that I knew what I was doing, it was VERY simple. We drained the float bowls and Wes went for another ride but nothing had changed.
At this point Wes brought the Ninja250 forum into the mix, looking for input from the vast experience that exists on the board. Went continued forward on the bike, changing the sparkplugs (which made it sound nicer, but didn't fix the issue). Between Wes and the forum we kept at it, until we reached a point where it was quite late and quite dark. While the portable sun Wes plugged in supplied good light, it didn't beat true daylight and so we eventually gave up for the night, ready to get back at it Saturday morning with a few plans. Namely, renting a compression tester (if possible) and checking the valves.
Saturday
While neither Canadian Tire had a compression tester in their rent-a-tool program, it turns out it was only $50 to buy one with numerous adapters, including the one we would need for the bike. Armed with this, we headed back home to get back to work. We were checking the valves before doing the compression test (it wasn't even opened). Wes was explaining the process of checking the valves. He showed me the first one and then went to go to second. He tried another angle on it after not being able to get it in on the first few attempts... and suddenly the entire problem was brought to light. The Rocker arm was canted the left and the valve was not at the top, it was visible, but had dropped down some. Further inspection revealed that the split keeper which holds in the valve in place was just gone...
The good news was that we knew EXACTLY what the problem was. The bad news was that it wasn't really a 'repair in Wes' driveway' kind of deal. We did our best from there, but we could only find one half of the split keeper. And I suppose I have to share this, or Wes will... while attempting to find the other half of the split keeper in the top end, I accidentally dropped the little grabber tool into the cam chain shaft. After many, many attempts with another grabby tool, it seemed as though it wasn't coming out. Luckily MacGyver (aka Wes) was there... using copper wire and a screwdriver he fashioned the perfect retrieval tool. (That was not the only creative solution he fashioned over the weekend... seriously MacGyver he is.)
At that point it came down to 3 options 1) Rent a van and bring it back to Toronto 2) Rent a van and bring it to Wes' localish shop 3) Have the shop pick it up Tuesday. I was leaning towards option 3 as it seemed most convenient and economical. Either way, I was slowly resigning myself to the fact that my vacation was pretty much over. As I was coming to grips with this, it suddenly occurred to me, that it didn't have to be. I knew there were campgrounds near Kingston, and I had all my gear with me. It's not like I NEEDED to have the bike with me. I told Wes my thoughts and he immediately agreed to drive me and my gear out to a campsite on Sunday.
We headed in and I started looking up some campgrounds online. Wes suggested a Provincial park that he goes to regularly so I checked it out. It seemed great and so I booked a site. I didn't realize at the time that it was a 90 minute drive from Kingston. I'd say it was well worth the drive, but I wasn't the one who had to do the driving. I was just planning on a site close to Kingston, but Wes went well out of his way to set me up at an amazing park.
We chilled a bit, unfortunately I have no musical skills, so we couldn't jam. But Wes played a little piano (and boy could he play!). We started to put the bike back together but gave up when we ran into issues with the carb boots and decided to finish in the morning.
Sunday - Friday
We mostly put the bike back together (didn't bother with the fairings) and loaded my camping gear into the car. Then Wes and his girls and dogs and I all loaded into the Civic to head out to Bon Echo Provincial Park. When we arrived at my site, I was a little disappointed, it was tiny and right next to an outhouse! Then we realized, they weren't kidding when they said WALK in. Following a path into the woods we found my site in a clearing where I could relax in peaceful solitude, which was very much what I wanted with my vacation. Wes and his crew headed off to enjoy the park while I set up camp, though they did come by to say goodbye before they left the park.
I enjoyed a fantastic week at Bon Echo (though it rained everyday) and got a lot of reading and relaxing (and walking, oh boy a lot of walking) done.
Saturday #2
Saturday morning Wes picked me up and we headed to the shop to check on my baby.
I found out at that point Wes had the parts we knew would be required ordered before the mechanics even had the bike. At the shop we found out that new rocker arms and a new cam. One of the rocker arms had a huge chunk missing (which damaged the cam) and was the source the valve problem.
Earlier this year, Wes had purchased rocker arms and a cam off ebay for prices well below cost. We headed back to his place to pick them up and bring them to the shop. When we returned, we got a piece of good news, despite how it had seemed when we first visited the shop, it turns out that the cam chain was fine. (It had seemed way too slack before.)
Everything well in hand at the shop, but knowing that I couldn't get the bike for another week, Wes dropped me off at the Via station where I got to take my first ever train ride. It was quite enjoyable, especially when the guy came by and I was able to get a beer, and some nachos with salsa.
All in all what started as a horrible vacation, turned out pretty well. Despite losing my camera, and sunglasses, my uncle passing away (happened the Friday I left), and all the issues with my bike. I owe much of that to Wes and Shelly. I owe an incredible debt of gratitude to both of them. For putting me 2 nights, numerous meals, trip to Bon Echo and back, trips to get parts, trips to the shop, handling the repair details with Dan and Amzy, and just for helping me keep it together. Also for the vast amount of experience and knowledge I gained from working on the bike with Wes. And thanks to Katie for the bed two nights running!
Honstly I can't put into words how incredible the whole family is. A million 'thank you's to you all for the hospitality and assistance and ... just ... everything.
Friday - Toronto, ON to Harrowsmith, ON (just outside Kingston, ON) where I was going to camp in the yard of some family friends. (or possibly crash in the house...)
Saturday - Drop in at Wes and Shelly's (from my Ninja250 riding club) in Kingston to say hi, and buy Wes the coffee I owed him ever since I first appeared on the forum. From there I was heading down into New York state to the Adirondacks where I had a site booked at Meacham Lake State Park. Spend 3 days there.
Tuesday - Drive West across NY to Wellesley Island State Park where I had another 3 days booked.
Friday Home to Toronto
According to Google Maps, this was to be a 1,067km (663 mi) trip altogether. Man I was a stoked!
What actually happened.... was this:
Friday
When I left my apartment I had too much to carry at once and so I left a few items in the lobby while I brought the rest out to my bike. I realized as I headed back inside that my keys were IN one of the bags still inside. I buzzed the building manager and said "I left my keys in a bag I left in the lobby." She replied, "Well find your keys." And hung up. Luckily at that moment someone else was coming in and I got in with them.
I started loading my gear on the bike and then I realized I should take my camera out now before the compartment it was in was buried, so I could take a pic of my loaded up bike. I set the camera on the flap for the front storage compartment (it's a ZZR thing :P) while I finished bundling everything up. Once the bike was loaded, I got on and headed for the gas station so I was starting with a full tank. (It would be about 2 hours later that I would suddenly realize I never took the picture OR moved the camera. It must have slid off when I started going, never to be seen again. Although I wonder if I went to the pawnshops just down the street if I might find it...)
Overall though, things were going well as I made way East on the 401. Suddenly, around 70-80 miles into my 155 mile trip to Harrowsmith... something happened. My engine went from the high pitched whine we all know and love to a grunty heavy monstrous sound. The tach dropped, and my speed which was 120km/h (75mph) indicated, dropped quickly to around 60. I pulled off onto the shoulder and stopped the bike, at which point it stalled. I stood there a moment stunned and unsure of what to do... I tried to restart and it just wasn't happening and then as I stood watching traffic fly by, I noticed that the small burst of rain I had ridden through a few minutes before was catching up to me. I walked the bike forward a little ways so I was out of the rain under an overpass. I realized that if I could get the bike going, I was halfway home, or halfway to Kingston... and to go home would mean getting off the highway and getting turned around.
I finally coaxed the bike into starting, by giving it full choke and opening the throttle while I thumbed the starter. Now that I had it going, I was determined to continue onwards, skipping Harrowsmith and dropping by on Wes a day early. The journey was a little harrowing, on the flats I could manage 60km/h (37mph) (and on inclines I would sink to about 40 (24mph), on declines I could actually get up to 80 or even 90km/h (55mph). Keep in mind the speed limit is 100km/h and most people are doing 120 (in the right lane, and usually a little to a lot more in the left). So averaging at the 60, I had a 2 hour ride like this. I was capping at 8k rpm, gears were irrelevant. Once I opened the throttle to a certain point, there was just nothing more it would do.
About 5km from my new exit (thank you GPS!), suddenly the bike surged to life, and I had FULL power. I got up to an appropriate traffic speed until I made my exit. At the first stop sign, she died again. I managed to get it going the same as before, full choke and open throttle. After stalling again at a light I found the trick was to never let off the throttle. As long as I kept the rpms up when I was stopped, it would stay running. But then once I started moving it would be almost powerless again for about twice the length of an intersection and then it would surge alive again. But I finally arrived at Wes and Shelly's where I was happy to park and get off the bike. While I misremembered the house number, the yellow Ninja in the driveway was a dead giveaway.
Shelly came out and I introduced myself and explained why I was there Friday night instead of Saturday. She brought me in and gave a much needed glass of cold water and let me unwind while we waited for Wes to get home from work. She told me I might as well stay the night there at that point because we didn't know how long the bike would take. As I was unstrapping my gear from my bike I heard the hum of a motorcycle and watched Wes pull up. He greeted me like I was an old friend and instantly got to the business of my bike. (Shelly had spoken to him and mentioned I was there with a sick bike). I explained the situation and he thought perhaps I had water in the fuel. We swapped bikes to take a few runs around the neighborhood to give him a first hand account of the issues.
This was my first time (other than my training course, which isn't 'real' riding) that I had ridden another bike. It was interesting to see the differences between the F and H models. I found the F much... I don't know... exactly... smoother? slicker? It just made the H seem a little clunkier and more awkward. I'm thinking the F model would have an edge over the H in twisties (assuming riders of same skill on each). Wes should post his thoughts on the H vs. F, but maybe after this weekend when we pick up my baby. Maybe we can swap bikes again for the ride back to his place so he can put it through the paces a little more. After going through service manuals and supplements he did point of that he thought the (stock) H may have a slight edge over the (stock) F for power/top speed, based on some technical details that I can't quite recall related to jets and ... something else.
Once we were back to Wes', we had a (delicious!) dinner of barbecued chicken, rice and veggies. With a cake/fruit/whip cream dessert. Our bellies now full,
it was time to get to work. From the start I was already learning about my bike. For starters, Wes popped it up on the centrestand as easily as flicking on a light. I was amazed, as I have never been able to do it alone, it's always taken me the assistance of another person. I have read items on the forum, but still didn't quite get the hang of it. When I told Wes, he brought it back down and had me do it as he talked me through it. Now that I knew what I was doing, it was VERY simple. We drained the float bowls and Wes went for another ride but nothing had changed.
At this point Wes brought the Ninja250 forum into the mix, looking for input from the vast experience that exists on the board. Went continued forward on the bike, changing the sparkplugs (which made it sound nicer, but didn't fix the issue). Between Wes and the forum we kept at it, until we reached a point where it was quite late and quite dark. While the portable sun Wes plugged in supplied good light, it didn't beat true daylight and so we eventually gave up for the night, ready to get back at it Saturday morning with a few plans. Namely, renting a compression tester (if possible) and checking the valves.
Saturday
While neither Canadian Tire had a compression tester in their rent-a-tool program, it turns out it was only $50 to buy one with numerous adapters, including the one we would need for the bike. Armed with this, we headed back home to get back to work. We were checking the valves before doing the compression test (it wasn't even opened). Wes was explaining the process of checking the valves. He showed me the first one and then went to go to second. He tried another angle on it after not being able to get it in on the first few attempts... and suddenly the entire problem was brought to light. The Rocker arm was canted the left and the valve was not at the top, it was visible, but had dropped down some. Further inspection revealed that the split keeper which holds in the valve in place was just gone...
The good news was that we knew EXACTLY what the problem was. The bad news was that it wasn't really a 'repair in Wes' driveway' kind of deal. We did our best from there, but we could only find one half of the split keeper. And I suppose I have to share this, or Wes will... while attempting to find the other half of the split keeper in the top end, I accidentally dropped the little grabber tool into the cam chain shaft. After many, many attempts with another grabby tool, it seemed as though it wasn't coming out. Luckily MacGyver (aka Wes) was there... using copper wire and a screwdriver he fashioned the perfect retrieval tool. (That was not the only creative solution he fashioned over the weekend... seriously MacGyver he is.)
At that point it came down to 3 options 1) Rent a van and bring it back to Toronto 2) Rent a van and bring it to Wes' localish shop 3) Have the shop pick it up Tuesday. I was leaning towards option 3 as it seemed most convenient and economical. Either way, I was slowly resigning myself to the fact that my vacation was pretty much over. As I was coming to grips with this, it suddenly occurred to me, that it didn't have to be. I knew there were campgrounds near Kingston, and I had all my gear with me. It's not like I NEEDED to have the bike with me. I told Wes my thoughts and he immediately agreed to drive me and my gear out to a campsite on Sunday.
We headed in and I started looking up some campgrounds online. Wes suggested a Provincial park that he goes to regularly so I checked it out. It seemed great and so I booked a site. I didn't realize at the time that it was a 90 minute drive from Kingston. I'd say it was well worth the drive, but I wasn't the one who had to do the driving. I was just planning on a site close to Kingston, but Wes went well out of his way to set me up at an amazing park.
We chilled a bit, unfortunately I have no musical skills, so we couldn't jam. But Wes played a little piano (and boy could he play!). We started to put the bike back together but gave up when we ran into issues with the carb boots and decided to finish in the morning.
Sunday - Friday
We mostly put the bike back together (didn't bother with the fairings) and loaded my camping gear into the car. Then Wes and his girls and dogs and I all loaded into the Civic to head out to Bon Echo Provincial Park. When we arrived at my site, I was a little disappointed, it was tiny and right next to an outhouse! Then we realized, they weren't kidding when they said WALK in. Following a path into the woods we found my site in a clearing where I could relax in peaceful solitude, which was very much what I wanted with my vacation. Wes and his crew headed off to enjoy the park while I set up camp, though they did come by to say goodbye before they left the park.
I enjoyed a fantastic week at Bon Echo (though it rained everyday) and got a lot of reading and relaxing (and walking, oh boy a lot of walking) done.
Saturday #2
Saturday morning Wes picked me up and we headed to the shop to check on my baby.
I found out at that point Wes had the parts we knew would be required ordered before the mechanics even had the bike. At the shop we found out that new rocker arms and a new cam. One of the rocker arms had a huge chunk missing (which damaged the cam) and was the source the valve problem.
Earlier this year, Wes had purchased rocker arms and a cam off ebay for prices well below cost. We headed back to his place to pick them up and bring them to the shop. When we returned, we got a piece of good news, despite how it had seemed when we first visited the shop, it turns out that the cam chain was fine. (It had seemed way too slack before.)
Everything well in hand at the shop, but knowing that I couldn't get the bike for another week, Wes dropped me off at the Via station where I got to take my first ever train ride. It was quite enjoyable, especially when the guy came by and I was able to get a beer, and some nachos with salsa.
All in all what started as a horrible vacation, turned out pretty well. Despite losing my camera, and sunglasses, my uncle passing away (happened the Friday I left), and all the issues with my bike. I owe much of that to Wes and Shelly. I owe an incredible debt of gratitude to both of them. For putting me 2 nights, numerous meals, trip to Bon Echo and back, trips to get parts, trips to the shop, handling the repair details with Dan and Amzy, and just for helping me keep it together. Also for the vast amount of experience and knowledge I gained from working on the bike with Wes. And thanks to Katie for the bed two nights running!
Honstly I can't put into words how incredible the whole family is. A million 'thank you's to you all for the hospitality and assistance and ... just ... everything.