Okay, I'm dressed, I've got all of my gear on and I step outside. Funny, I don't hear the motor going....crap. I walk up to the bike and hit the start button again. Click...Click...Click. Uh oh. Quick glance at my watch; I've got some time. I break out the tools. Off flies the seat and battery cover; on goes the battery charger. 10 minutes later I shut down the charger. Now I know from experience that the wise thing to do is to not put the thing back together until the bike is running again. So I turn the ignition on...make sure the bike is in neutral...cross my fingers...pull out the choke...and hit the start button...vrrooom! Yes! I then batton down the hatches and take off.
So now I'm headed down Sunrise Blvd. when all of a sudden...Chug...vroom...chug. NO! We're losing power! The odometer is flickering. And what in the world is that speedometer doing? I get to the side of the road and BAM the bike starts running normal again. Odd, I know. Okay, off I go again.
I need gas so I stop at a local service station and fill'er up. Eight dollars goes in and I straddle the bike again...turn the ignition...pull out the choke...and hit the start button...Click...Click...Click. Luckily I had my helmet on with the visor down otherwise the expletives would have echoed off the building. So I push the bike to a parking spot at the gas station and inform the staff there that I will need to leave it for a few.
Now, I'm a member of an auto club with roadside assistance. Funny enough there is another stranded motorist, in a car, at the gas station and a tow truck pulls up. I break out my cell phone and call my auto club. "We're sorry sir, we do not tow motorcycles only cars." Great. Remember that other stranded motorist and the tow truck? I walk up to the tow truck driver and ask how much it would cost to go less than 3, yes 3 miles, to my home. $180. I laugh and walk away. Out comes that cell phone again and trusty Dad answers and agrees to come pick me up sans bike.
We get home and my fingers start walking. I contacted every tow place that I could find and got estimates much lower than the $180 quoted earlier. The lowest I found was $70. Ech. Still too much. So I call up a moving truck rental company and ask how much to rent a pickup and trailer. Apparently they don't do this as a combined package. Great. I explain my situation to the person on the other line. The man was a genius. "Why don't you just get one of our moving trucks and walk it up the ramp into the back. Then use tie-downs. We had a guy who's [really expensive loud] motorcycle broke down do it the other day."
So Dad drops me off at the rental place while he runs to buy some tie-downs. Out to the gas station. Load up the bike. Tie it down. Close the back. Drive home. Unload the bike. Drive back to the rental company. Total cost = $40.
Now I've got a dead motorcycle sitting in the driveway. Up goes the pop-up for some shade. I tear the bike down...again. Hook up a multi-meter. There is not enough power in the battery. I hook up the charger...again...and walk away. After some calls around town to service shops I'm pretty certain that I need a battery. Cost? $175. Ouch. A couple hours later I call one more shop and the guy tells me, "If you can get it here I'll run a load test at no charge." Nice! Let's hope it fires up.
Back out to the bike. I turn the ignition on...make sure the bike is in neutral...cross my fingers...pull out the choke...and hit the start button...vrrooom! YES! Batton down the hatches and away I go. With a chase vehicle. I get it to the shop and the service guy does something. "Save your money, your battery is fine." What? Okay. He then tells me to put it on the charger at night for the next couple of weeks until his service load is low. No problem.
So now I need to tear the bike down at night and put it back together every morning. Fun. Really, no sarcasm. Okay maybe a little.
