Subject: RE: I did it!!! First street ride
Author: Greg Bender
Date: May 2, 2005, 9:37 AM
Post ID: 1718798807
Congrats, AJ! What a wonderful feeling. Just wait, it only gets better
as your skills increase. And that's where every one of us is at...in a
constant state of needing to maintain, improve, and refine our skills.
As for petcocks, they are supposed to be binary in nature: either on or
off. However, they do have a tendency to leak internally. Bruce Giller
and John Chicoine have made the internal replacement gaskets available.
Alternatively, you can purchase replacement petcocks. But first, just
close the petcocks and take off the fuel line. If they don't leak, then
this isn't your problem. If they do leak AND your carbs aren't in the
best of shape, it is possible (and likely) that the fuel is flooding the
carbs while it sits.
It does sound like your carbs need to be cleaned and/or adjusted. You
may have good luck just by running a few tanks of fuel through them,
though.
As for the shift pattern, I still get confused going from my Ambassador
to my Quota. Lately I've been riding my Ambassador a lot. Yesterday when
I was out on the Quota, I must have down shifted from 2nd to 1st a half
a dozen times when I really wanted to shift up into 3rd. But, don't
worry. Your most embarrassing moments will always be in front of a bunch
of other motorcyclists. :>
AJ Huff wrote:
I did it!! Finally I rode the bike for the first time on the street. Passed my MSF basic skills class yesterday. Went to the DMV this morning and got legit. Now I just needed to get the bike to start. After seeing John Ulrich's question to me about the pet cocks, I shut both of them last night. No start this morning though. So I swapped Pat Hayes' recommended Bosch plugs BACK into the bike and it started right up. Coughed and sputtered and I had to keep it at a high idle but I figured that was from the sitting and flooding. I'm hopeful that the more I ride the easier and better it will start/idle. Shut it off and grabbed my stuff. Cranked it back up. It started again!!! Took off down the driveway. Like Joel said I had to leave the enrichner on for a good ten minutes but finally got under way without it. Patience is a virtue. Road around the "block" about 2 miles at 35 mph. Got up to 3rd gear once. Woohoo!! Didn't like the freezing rain though. I don't know if you guys remember my confusion and difficulty in getting the bike to go off in first gear. I thougth that toe down was first and heel down was second, but I figured it out. Heel down is first. Toe down is 2nd, 3rd, 4th. I feel less stupid now. John or somebody, please tell me more about the pet cocks. I checked that both were off when I shut the bike off. Thanks everyone for putting up with me. Unlike most of you I didn't start riding when I was in my teens but at 34 and only for 2 days now. And I know absolutely no one with a bike. I wanted one and a Guzzi Ambo is what I wanted and that is what I got! So if I seem inane at times, bear with me. I'll be glad to help the next guys like me. -AJ AJ Huff '71 Ambassador Three Rivers, MI MGNOC# 19917 |
Regards,
Greg Bender
1971 Ambassador
2000 Quota
http://www.thisoldtractor.com/gtbender
Florida MGNOC website
http://www.thisoldtractor.com/fl_mgnoc
Minnesota MGNOC website
http://www.thisoldtractor.com/mn_mgnoc