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On the trip over to Barber's Vintage Days this past Saturday I was shocked to see the traffic backed up almost the entire distance of the entry road to the park. The temperature was reasonably mild but the sun was bearing down pretty good as we got in line for the slow crawl inside. I noticed a few riders ahead had begun walking their bikes in, but I thought that was a little extreme at this point. I knew that the idling and slow movement would really heat up the oil in the old oil head but didn't see an alternative other than skipping the event. A friend was riding with me on an Ultra-Classic which in the Motor Company's wisdom had a feature that killed the ignition to the rear cylinder when the temperatures get too high. My thinking is that the slight gas and air stream that is pumped through the cylinder without being burned keeps the rings and cylinder walls from becoming one.
Soon his bike began the obvious one cylinder misfire and I knew that my engine temperature was rising also. I thought about removing one of my bike's spark plug wires in a red-neck attempt at Harley Davidson engineering to lower the temperature in my bike, but decided against it. My fear was that if I pulled the right side wire, the bike would veer into the on coming traffic and if I pulled the left it would jump into the ditch.
After almost an hour of idling and very slow movement in short distances we made it to the entrance gate and into the park. I was thankful that once inside we were able to get up a little speed and get some airflow to the oil coolers in my gas tank and to the cylinders before I shut it down. Thankfully it appears that no damage was done although my previously golden brown dinosaur remnants are now burned black and is a little bit low in the bubble necessitating an early change.
Jeff Sparks
R1150R
Soon his bike began the obvious one cylinder misfire and I knew that my engine temperature was rising also. I thought about removing one of my bike's spark plug wires in a red-neck attempt at Harley Davidson engineering to lower the temperature in my bike, but decided against it. My fear was that if I pulled the right side wire, the bike would veer into the on coming traffic and if I pulled the left it would jump into the ditch.
After almost an hour of idling and very slow movement in short distances we made it to the entrance gate and into the park. I was thankful that once inside we were able to get up a little speed and get some airflow to the oil coolers in my gas tank and to the cylinders before I shut it down. Thankfully it appears that no damage was done although my previously golden brown dinosaur remnants are now burned black and is a little bit low in the bubble necessitating an early change.
Jeff Sparks
R1150R
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