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The next day began with
me having bike trouble. Let me backup a little and explain what had
been happening. After the ride to and from breakfast before we had gone
to see the monuments, we had hosed down our bikes, as they were very
dusty from the first day's riding. Upon inserting my key, I had a very
difficult time turning it. And then the electrical problems started.
I would get power at the speedo on "accessory", but then lose
all power on "run". This was no good. After some repeated
tries and jiggling of various wires, including pulling the seat off
to see if anything was wrong, the bike started up and I had no more
problems the rest of the day.
It bothered me though, and I suspected a problem in the ignition switch housing, which unfortunately is a sealed unit and probably an expensive thing to replace.
Right after
this morning's breakfast, my bike again failed to start. This time,
the problem was intractable.
Marge was of the opinion it was the battery, as he bike had displayed similar problems during the trip. She also produced a specially ground-down allen wrench to get to the ignition switch housing screw without taking the tank off, which only confirmed that that was not a part I could fix myself, if the problem came to that.
I bought a new battery right next door and in the process of futzing around with the bike, but before putting the new battery in, the bike started! Well, I quickly decided not to shut the bike off. I drove back to the cabin and asked if anybody wanted to head up to Black Hills HD with me right away. They could change my oil and look at my bike. Nathan volunteered, but somehow EZ rode along with me instead. I thought that was a little odd, but perhaps he wanted some time away from the rest of the group.
Black Hills HD was swamped!
They were hosting a number of big-name vendors, including the OCC crew,
who predictably had an hour-long line of people waiting to get $12 posters
autographed by cranky bike-builders. <rant>Nothing against those
guys -- they build some pretty slick machines and I appreciate getting
to watch the process on Discovery, but I do think that banking on their
melodrama-inspired fame is not what biking is about.</rant>
I left EZ to wander and went to talk to the parts guys. Turns out a new ignition switch really is big bucks and that they don't stock them -- they have to order them special from HD based on my key number. With that option out, for the day, I went down to service and enquired about an oil change, though some guys were waiting three hours to get theirs done! Turns out that because I run the Synth-3 and they had a guy doing nothing but bikes with the Synth, that the wait was very short. My bike should be done in 45 minutes or so. The wrench came out to find me and ask if I wanted my transmission and primary oils changed, too, which I did.
After wandering with EZ for an hour among the vendors, and picking up a few cards and leaflets, I went down to find my bike. Only it wasn't ready. I peeked inside the shop and saw my bike still on the lift, with the seat off. Apparently, they had discovered the starting problem and were troubleshooting it.
Remember that 12-volt socket I'd wired up? Well, after taking the tour-pack off upon my arrival in Custer, I'd disconnected the ground and stashed the plug beneath the seat. But I'd neglected to disconnect the HOT wire and as it turns out, it was pinched between the seat and frame -- causing all of my weird electrical problems! I felt stupid and felt lucky to pay only fifteen minutes of labor charge for the fix, rather than what-could-have-been. (I took the new battery back the next day.)
By the way, Black Hills had a medium-price service charge -- not the lowest I've seen, certainly not the highest (that honor goes to Las Vegas HD). And they certainly could have upped the charge for the week, considering they had a lot of us over a barrel, but they didn't. And they keep track of the hours in tenths and they work fast -- which all kept my labor costs pretty low. Anyway, I owe a big thanks to Black Hills HD -- they took care of me like I was a VIP and a regular at their shop. Next time I'm in the area, they definitely get my business!
