Exactly What I Was Afraid Of!

I'm in a coffee shop charging my phone and still have a lot of time to kill so I'll tell you what happened to me yesterday. 


I was concerned before I left philadelphia that only 2 things could stop me on my trip, if a Clutch, Front Brake or Throttle cable would break.  Yesterday, the 21st, I'm going through a small town called Canton between Ashville and Waynesville N.C. and right in the middle of main street my clutch cable snaps leaving my bike in 2nd gear. I was able to coast into the middle of the road before the bike stalled, but I was stuck in 2nd and couldn't push it. I stood there for maybe 20 minutes getting all sweaty and nervous and mentally preparing to stay in this town for the next 3 days.  After about 20 minutes of trying I finally got the clutch lever pushed in while clicking the bike into first and then neutral so I could at least roll it.  I pushed the bike to an auto shop across the street and asked them if they could order me the part, they couldn't but they gave me the number of a guy outside of town who could.  I called the guy up, he said he couldn't order the new cable but thought if I got the bike to him he could rig something from another cable.


I was stuck about 3 miles from this guy on the other side of town, I had 6 traffic light to go through and one huge hill to push the bike up. if I called AAA to have it towed it probably wouldn't be for at least 2 hours before I got the bike to the shop and I assumed he closed at 5 or 6, it was about 2 or 3pm. 


So I started pushing the bike loaded down with all my bags and wearing my helmet. I made it past the traffic lights through the center of town and took a 20 minute break, I was starting to think I wouldn't be able to push it up an incline. I started again and very slowly powered my way up the hill. I was on the sidewalk away from traffic but could barely squeeze between telephone poles and the rock wall to my right. it took almost an hour to get it up that hill but I coasted all the way down the other side to 'The Max Cycle Shop' 


Max, the owner of the shop was able to pull off my old cable, lubed my front brake cable (it felt like it was binding inside) and went to work rigging my old cable to fit with a cable he had for a 4 wheeler.  It took him a couple hours but he got a new cable on there and rigged to work my clutch, it was amazing, I was prepared to camp behind his shop for the next couple days and he had me out of there in 3 hours. It also gave me an opportunity to ask a bunch of little questions that I've been thinking about. 


One question I had was 'why am I  only getting 35-40 MPG?' I thought maybe I was leaking some gas out of my gas cap, it could be evaporation or was the bike running rich?  He checked the seal on the cap and said it seemed like a tight fit so he stuck his finger in my exhaust pipe and his finger came out black, turns out it's running rich, the plugs were also full of black carbon.  So now what? it's kind of a bad sign, I should check my air filter when I get a chance, the filter could be clogged and it's not giving the bike enough air. It could also mean that my valves are a little out of adjustment, or my jets on the carburetor are a little too high.  I checked the Carburetors first, it being the easiest fix, I didnt want to get into valve clearances just yet. the jets for higher speeds were set at 130, already a pretty small opening but he had some 125's in the shop to exchange to lean the carbs out a little. I kept my 130's in case I should ever need to go back to them, the Mikuni Carbs are great for being able to adjust the jets.  I will need to check my valves ASAP, I'd like to talk to a BMW guy before I do it though, and I'll need to pick up the right set of feeler gauges. 


So I paid Max $80 for all his work and the new cable and went on my way.  I'm currently in Waynesville NC, it's about noon and my ipod is finally charged. Headed southwest from here.