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2023: What did you do to/with your NC700/NC750 today?

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I was getting a rattling sound during take off and finally check my chain, it was very loose, so I got ready to follow the tensioning process and noticed that my swing arm end cap was missing on the right along with both bolts. Unfortunately, the last people to touch those were the service center when I got my tires replaced late last season. I hate it when professionals mess up on the small stuff. I just ordered the replacement parts from Revzilla so hopefully will be back on the road soon!
 
I was getting a rattling sound during take off and finally check my chain, it was very loose, so I got ready to follow the tensioning process and noticed that my swing arm end cap was missing on the right along with both bolts. Unfortunately, the last people to touch those were the service center when I got my tires replaced late last season. I hate it when professionals mess up on the small stuff. I just ordered the replacement parts from Revzilla so hopefully will be back on the road soon!
This example is one of many reasons I do all of my own service and tire mounting. I get the “willies“ (an extreme or acute sensation of fear, apprehension, worry, or anxiety) at just the thought of having someone else service my bikes, cars, house, appliances. etc.
 
I was getting a rattling sound during take off and finally check my chain, it was very loose, so I got ready to follow the tensioning process and noticed that my swing arm end cap was missing on the right along with both bolts. Unfortunately, the last people to touch those were the service center when I got my tires replaced late last season. I hate it when professionals mess up on the small stuff. I just ordered the replacement parts from Revzilla so hopefully will be back on the road soon!
Same problem a month ago when I got the Road6 mounted.
Went for my usual weekend canyon ride, noticed a day later that both nuts and one plate went missing on the right, and one nut was gone on the left.
Owner was very apologetic and replaced the parts a few days later. Nice guy, but his main customers are dirt riders.

Given that I also had a leak (seems to have been the valve), and an unexplained 5% dip in MPG (still about 2-3% after they removed/reinstalled the wheel looking for the valve fix, after years and many tires at 63MPG), I'm not going back to those guys, even if they are the closest to my job.

Still in for a few paranoid weeks of checking everything every time.
 
Sunday, yesterday now, i was invited to go for a ride down to Tri-Cities Washington. Of course i went, who needs another excuse to go for a ride right??!! I met her at her place and the two of us took off for the Ride-Now Can-Am dealership there in Tri-Cities. Her on a beautiful, White and new to her, 2019 Spyder with about 5600 miles on it and me on my 15' NC700XD DCT. A fun 350 mile ride with a little excitement that i'll share with all of you if you'll allow me the long post...

#1-About 25 miles into the super windy trip she/I were past by a young family in a turbo diesel pickup pulling a large 30' or so TT. As it past us i thought to myself, man that guy is haulin' and those things are heavy(like mine was that i used to own and it was about that size). Then i noticed the little tires that were still on it and laughed to myself again thinking "yup, and i had those same stupid little tires on mine when i first got it before changing them out to new larger LT ones). I no sooner said that to myself and the passenger rear tire let go and blew out with a huge BOOM throwing shredded tire particles all of the interstate and towards me/my lane. The driver never noticed and kept flying down the interstate pulling away from me. I laughed to myself and thought he'll pull over here in a sec but never did, he was hammer down and remained in the fast lane. I glanced behind me and my riding partner was as far away as she could get to keep away from the rubber chunks rubbish being tossed all over the road, so i paddled the DCT down 2 gears mashing the throttle and brought that 700cc screaming to life haha! In the blustery head/side winds it took me quite a ways to catch up to the oblivious occupants dragging that Travel Trailer 80mph, wave them down pointing to the problem that was now down to the steel rim and throwing a large shower of sparks everywhere.

#2-About 75 miles into the trip, we stopped off at a Love's Truck Center to top off our tanks and get our Glutts a short break. While stopped, as is my habit, i am always looking the bike over, the way it is sitting, tires, chain etc(i know all of you know/do as well). So after checking with her(her first interstate ride) and talking to her about her trike and what i was looking over/why i checked mine and topped off the tank. I spotted something in the nearly brand new rear Shinko 705!! Oh no, what is this now... A shinny little cotter key had made it's way into the center of my tire, and as i moved it to pull it out it leaked air!!

Man, i was so glad that i listened to several of you guys years ago and at that time i bought a tire/plug kit and an little onboard air compressor. Well, i pulled it out and went to work and to her amazement it was a perfect education time on the right tools/equipment to have with you. Otherwise, you're waiting three hours for an AAA tow truck!! WI was able to get it removed, reemed out, cleaned, and installed a nice plug that fit/sealed perfectly. I used the little air compressor and inflated it right back up and we hopped back on our respective bikes and continued our trip. The weather was beautiful, windy, big gusts blowing you half way across your lane. You know, keeping it interesting haha!

motorcycle ride.jpg

#3-About an hour past and we were much closer to our destination and the strangest thing happened to me. This time she was leading us and i was watching my mirrors as is also my habit when i observed a nice black GMC pickup slowly creeping up on me to pass, with a female adult driver and male passenger. I'm watching her leave my view in my left mirror and just about to pick her up out of the corner of my left eye when i get slammed with an abrupt gust of wind that sends me halfway across my lane(as she was passing me i had moved from the left side of my lane into the center of my lane). So now i'm leaning hard into the gusting wind, remaining in my lane and this is the hair-raising moment for me that i have never felt on a bike in my 50+ years of riding bikes. I felt the air around me change, like it was a massive "high pressure, then vacuum, then high pressure, then vacuum and total release to normal" and it all happened in about 2 seconds. The first half of the incident i did not see, i just felt it. the last half i totally felt and i witnessed it and here is what happened.

The gust of wind shoved me into the left side of my lane and i just flowed with it as i always have, easy-peasy. Well, as it turns out, her pickup got slammed with the same gust, but as we were so close together we were sharing a stream of air as she was trying to pass me, and then the air stream broke, then reattached, then broke again and she nearly flipped her pickup swerving to maintain control and keep from rolling it into the median or taking my rear tire/me out completely. As all of this is happening, my friend ahead of me on her Spyder watched all of it happen in one of her rearview mirrors and we later talked about it.

Once at our destination, while at the Ride-Now CanAm dealership oogling at the nice new shinny bikes, she mentioned to me if i had seen that black pickup a while back on our trip swerve all over the place and nearly wreck/roll it. As she is a good friend and a brand new rider fresh out of her motorcycle operators class, I of course downplayed it alittle bit and simply replied that yes i had seen it. Then she pressed further and asked how close it had been to me so i told her it was in full view of mirror. When she pressed futher i mentioned that i could read the license plate and see her facial expression as she missed my rear tire by about 3 feet! Then i told her about the pressure/vacuum in the air that i had felt and how cool that was. We both had a good laugh about the days events.



She ended up trading in her nearly new Spyder that she had just bought from them a couple of months prior for a brand new light/Silver and zero mile 2023 Spyder!! What a great time we had together that day, one i'm sure she won't forget anytime soon and neither will i. :{)

merissa's new spyder.jpg

Nothing quite like the smile you get on your face.. sitting on your brand new bike!! :{)
 
150Km round trip in good weather on good roads today, very enjoyable.

The interesting bit was my fuel consumption calculation when I filled. It came out at 62 mpg imperial. I had filled on Saturday just prior to the ferry return from the UK. When I landed this side I took a brisk ride home for about 123 km, much of which was on motorway heading into a stiff breeze. Average (true) speed would have been about 123kph on the motorway. Given the (headwind) conditions I suppose that was ok. While in the UK riding in a group I was getting 82 mpg and occasionally 78mpg when solo.
 
This example is one of many reasons I do all of my own service and tire mounting. I get the “willies“ (an extreme or acute sensation of fear, apprehension, worry, or anxiety) at just the thought of having someone else service my bikes, cars, house, appliances. etc.
Unfortunately, I get the willies when I service critical functions on my bike! ;) I do what I can but don't have the tools for many tasks. In this case, when I noted how often the chain needed tightening on these beasts, I did buy an appropriate torque wrench. I'll be tightening this once the parts arrive.
 
297 mile round trip ride to meet some buds in eastern Ohio at the OH-SToc event held at Lake Hope State Park in MacArthur, Ohio

some pics from today

on the way up Roy Rogers Happy Trails Hwy

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Lake Hope State Park

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Lunch Stop

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Battery swap today. The old Yuasa (MotoCross-branded) was 5 years old and losing capacity rapidly. I have killed that battery several times and re-charged from dead (< 10 volts), so it is actually pretty great that it lasted this long.

I decided to do an experiment and try the cheaper Mighty Max alternative brand. The battery was $44, shipped direct from the manufacturer (including a rush shipping fee). Overall the battery fits fine and is working great. Time will tell how long it lasts. The Might Max is just slightly taller than the MotoCross and is a sung fit, but worked out okay. One thing I like better about the new battery is that there are little plastic tabs behind the terminals that act as retainers for the terminal nuts. It was 100x easier getting this battery installed and screwed down without losing the small nuts, even with all of the extra leads from my accessories.
 
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