She’s gettin Older – 2000 miles
Yes it happened! Yesterday, on the west end of Norwalk Ohio, my scoot the Softail Deluxe turned 2000 miles. I was traveling along US20 from Monroeville Ohio east toward SR18 heading toward Medina. Had to stop and at least snap a picture of the odometer. I did this on the side of a split four lane road, not necessarily the smartest thing, surprisingly, somebody stopped to make sure everything was OK!
What has happened since the 1000 mile mark? Happily not much, and just as happily, a lot, nothing really bad, and everything really good. The Softail (which unfortunately remains unnamed) has used or leaked no oil, has not given me any trouble at all. I still wonder about all the noises that the bike makes. Under moderately hard acceleration there is a rapid metallic tinking coming from the engine. That primary noise is constant and still not something I am 100% used to. The other noises like the rocker arms etc, are starting to become expected.
Among the things I still wonder about are the transmission, steering and engine temperature.
The transmission is extremely clunky all the time, at times it is very clunky and other times it is considerably smoother. Seems some of the clunkiness is partially due to temperature, obviously the oil has a LOT to do with it, the Bel-Ray that the dealer put in at 1000 miles makes a considerable difference. One thing that I am trying to determine is how my habits affect the clunkiness. I have a bad habit of using the clutch too much. I tend to pull the clutch in anytime I use the brakes, this causes a lot of coasting without the engine contributing. I am working on changing that habit to allow the brakes and engine to do some braking, by leaving the clutch engaged until the engine speed gets closer to idle. This is a bit tough because the scoot has no tachometer.
The steering is something I just noticed in the last few days, when I let go of the handlebars the bike starts drifting quickly to the left. I know that bikes are imperfect, but I am considering talking to the dealer about this one, it shouldn’t do that. I used to align automobiles in a past life, this has caused me to be hyper sensitive about this type of thing on anything that I drive.
Every article that I have ever read about the TC96 engine (including the TC96B that is in my Softail) is that it runs very hot. This is due to the increased horsepower that the motor develops, because of the increased piston speed that is attributed to the increased stroke of the piston (4 – 3/8 inch from 4 inch) and the increasingly lean mixture the engine is forced to deal with thanks to emissions. I have recently purchased a dipstick for the oil tank that includes a thermometer. During a ride yesterday that included a lot of group riding the thermometer managed to get to 250° Fahrenheit. I have been told that this thermometer can be off by quite a bit, I think that I need to determine just how far off the thermometer is, and determine just how much the motor can handle. I am used to water cooled machines that generally do not need to be worried about.
New goodies for the Softail have not been very plentiful, but then it doesn’t need much. Besides the thermometer dipstick, I recently picked up the visor rings for the Headlight, spotlights and turn signals (front and rear). Most of them were very easy to install, all except the spotlights, but I will write a post for that.
I do enjoy the bike considerably, I have grown attached to the machine, and the lifestyle. I am glad (so far) that I made the purchase.