PLAN > EXECUTE > ADAPT
Before departing camp, I rigged up a Firestone Walker beer can as a muffler. It sounded like hell amd only lasted about 2 miles befote rattling loose. Good riddance. La Tortuga climbed over 5000ft on Hwy 33 before dropping down into Ojai. The twisty mountain road had very little traffic and I enjoyed the ride, distancing the vehicular woes and focusing on the warmth and beauty of the day. A work zone near Ojai had traffic stopped for over 15 minutes. That worked out fine since 5 minutes of roasting in the sun on the bike was about my limit. The rear tire had gone completely flat in that time so I pulled over into the loose dusty shoulder, patched it, reinflated and was back in traffic before it turned green. Hoping the patch would hold, I made it to Ojai, got some air and cooled off in a freezer section of the grocery store. 96F outside with this late fall heat wave.
On the 126, a 55mph divided hwy, traffic roared past while I struggled to overcome gusty headwinds blowing me down to 33mph. Occasionally the bike would die and I'd pull over to investigate finding nothing afoul. Spark plug looked okay and it woukd start up again each time. Somehow it made it to Castaic where I climbed up into an open hillside on a jeep trail. The Ruckus lost all power and would only idle. Revving it lead to a backfire or two and no power.
Hiding the Ruckus
I sent a text to Bradley, a local SoCal Ruckus tuning enthusiast asking for some parts. To my surprise, he had everything I needed to fix up my bike. In the morning, Matt agreed to drive me 45 mi to Palmdale to snag the parts. It happened to be Thanksgiving so we stopped in to IHOP, one of the few open establishments, for breakfast. Bradley delivered providing a rear wheel, K&N air filter, stock exhaust and Daytona Drag variator to try out.
After installing the new exhaust, the Ruckus still did not want to run. The desert heat was already nearing 90 and with no shade and many possible causes, I took Matt up on his offer to ride the CT110 to my friend Scott's in LA. It hurt to load La Tortuga onto the hitch but I knew it would likely be an easy fix if I hadn't lunched a valve.
The 7hp of the CT110 made for a faster ride up The Old Rd and down San Fernando Rd into LA. Soon I was greeting old friends and looking forward to what will be called Steaks-giving. It was so nice to have a landing pad in the city and somewhere to soon focus on bike woes.
Scott and The Dude
After some investigation, I found the source of my problem was a broken wire to the coil. This is the second time I have encountered issues with this setup. The engine and swingarm move independently of the wiring harness so the constant movement eventually snaps the small gauge wires and cnnectors to the coil. Not a very robust setup in my book.
2000 miles of dust
In addition to the 6 patches installed in the tire, here is what was rolling around inside. Some of the rubber pieces had worn into balls from the many miles of rolling.
With the new wheel sanded, prepped and painted, I spooned on the new Michelin Reggae. Due to my larger rear shock from a CH150, I ordered a narrower 120/90-10 rather than a stock 130. Now the front and rear tire are the same.
Next post will be some scooter riding and testing of the new setup.
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