16 May, 2010

What started out as a beautiful day turned to crap in short order. I kitted up and went to breakfast and topped off the fuel. I did notice that I either have a sticking float or something on the bottom of the right carb and it was spitting fuel from the overflow tube. Tapped on it and the spitting stopped, no worries.

I head out toward Highway 34 and some nice twisties. it is sunny, clear and about 70 F (22 C). I get about 10 miles from the base and KA-BANG!, sounded like a rifle shot come off the right side of the engine. The engine dies and I coast to the shoulder, my right ear ringing like I just got off the range. I look down thinking WTF just happened and notice the right spark plug is not in the spark plug hole, but hanging by the wire and flapping in the breeze.

I look it over and see that the threads of the spark plug hole stripped out. attempting the reseat the plug is fruitless as it just spins in the hole. Now the question, do I call for a ride or attempt to one-lung it back to the house? I opt for the latter, pulling the plug and wire to avoid any stray sparks setting off the atomized fuel that I know will be coming out of the open plug hole.

I turn up the Idle a bit on the left side, kick it over and it starts on the first kick. This is promising. Put it in gear and off I go. I can feel the compression of the right cylinder hitting my arm as I limp it down the road and of course the engine has a whole different sound. but long story short, it got me back to the house without further incident. All that is left now is repair the plug hole. It sucks that it wrecked the riding day, but it is not the end of the world.