Well, the evening of 4/19 came, lets get up to speed. In the course of the time that passed between Rod getting Baby back and today, Baby started having some problems with her charging system again.

Pearl in the Drive

The same code as before (this started happening down at Daytona), P052 or something. This indicated a low voltage at the injector, in addition the battery light was coming on. Rod had purchased a new battery (if nothing else it was a little insurance) and installed it. Rod called John at Hale’s and told him the problem showed up as before, Jon was apologetic. Rod tested the battery and it was showing a straight 12 volts while the engine was running, so there was definitely something wrong with the charging system. John told Rod to bring it back at the same time that I brought Pearl in and he would get it in.

So here we are on the night of 4/19 and Rod called earlier, said he would meet me at Bob’s (Bob Evans). Rod was going to trailer Baby because he was nervous about the charging system, good call. Rode Pearl as she was for the last time to meet Rod, after a bit of chit chat, off we went. Heading west on US30 Nice ride and uneventful, Pearl was her usual self, I loved the ride. Got to Hale’s and met up with John in the service department. John started with Rod apologizing for the problems that he is having, telling him that they tested it thoroughly. Rod stated that John did not need to apologize, just wants it fixed. John finished up with Rod and turned to me, “ok you got a noise in the engine”, he remembers me and the problem, nice. We checked the bike in and put my fob on the counter, then thought we should try to get Pearl to make the noise. I asked John and he agreed and wanted Kevin (his mechanic) to be there to “he’ll appreciate the cigarette break” John said.

We met Kevin out side by Pearl and Rod, I fired her up and (naturally) she didn’t make the startup noise. Kevin still kneeled down on the right side of Pearl listening to the engine.  He reached up and cracked the throttle, and sure enough “rattle, rattle, rattle”.  Kevin stood up and thought for a moment, said “Cam Bearings”. I was elated, finally something was gonna get done. Rod and I, finished things up, dropped the trailer  and headed back east. On the way we talked about how nice it was to have a descent dealership finally.

The next day I was on pins and needles, waiting for a call from John. Got a couple of texts from Rod asking if he had heard anything. I mowed the lawn that day and did not have my phone right at my side. When I finished I looked at my phone close to six o’clock, John had called left a voice mail he was only there till 5:30 and would call me in the morning if I missed him. Next day John didn’t call till after work, he didn’t have what I wanted him to say. They felt that the noise was normal! Damn! Well we talked for a bit, in any case he has done more for me on the matter than anybody else has, he set me up with a Reference number after calling Harley-Davidson technical support. I think he sympathized with my plight. Rod’s bike Baby, had four riders, the last being Kevin who finally got the bike to mess up. Turns out the voltage regulator was on its way out. John talked me into putting a Tuner on Pearl and having it dyno’d. So they had that done the next day (that cost a lot of money).

Rod and I agreed to ride with my wife in his truck to Hale’s, Rod really wanted to ride Baby and having the trailer made that tough. It was agreed that the three of us would ride out to Hale’s and Kim (my wife) would drive Rods truck and trailer back to Wooster and Rod and I would ride.

We got to Hale’s, Pearl and Baby were sitting on the side of the building waiting for us. We had to wait a bit for John to finish up some other stuff before he could get to us. Rod was first, Baby was all better, we took a look at the old VR and John took the time to show us the tell-tale signs. Rod was happy that this was behind him. My turn, John showed me the dyno pointed out the base run, it was definitely not a smooth line (as John had indicated on the phone) it was very erratic in the power delivery. The final run was certainly much more impressive, I had only gained a bit more than one horsepower but the torque on the other hand, much more torque, over five lb/ft of torque. Just as important, the power delivery was much smoother.

We got Kim on her way with the truck and trailer, Rod and I stayed behind to get ready for the ride. We chatted with a few other customers, I asked John a few more questions about my bike including how to get the junk off the tank, he suggested I use some 3M General Purpose Adhesive Remover. Hand shakes all around and off we went.

Wow, is all I can say, the power delivery is much smoother, the bike is much smoother. Throttle response even better than before.  I liked the way pearl rode before, this was much better. Rod and I switched bikes about half way back to Wooster, and he agrees, Pearl is much better than before.

A stop off for some dinner at Bob’s Barbecue and headed home. I helped Rod get Baby loaded in the trailer and off he went.

Overall, I am pleased with the experience with Hale’s, I believe they tried to help. I am going to take their suggestion about the oil (I am running amsoil and they are suggesting that I switch back to dino oil) and see if this helps with Pearl’s noises. Honestly, I haven’t heard Pearl make a sound since I got it back, the whole way home that day, a ride latter in the week and a wash (that includes a startup), No noises yet.

I did find that the seat is getting torn and the saddlebag latch is messed up again (this is the second time on that one). I need to get ahold of John for those things and to change the transmission oil (had a problem at the 10K mark ended up with a new transmission cartridge.

I will let you know.

It has been a while since I updated my blog, no excuse other than, been riding all year and enjoying my scoot.

I did give up the Softail Deluxe in early June. I really liked the bike, but I grew tired of the ‘retro’ thing and the lace wheels are a pain in the ass. The black paint got a bit old, it is my second black bike. The bike also had an issue that was getting on my nerves that Harley-Davidson refused to acknowledge as a problem, the transmission was really noisy in 5th gear. This is a real and nasty problem. 

The bike did suffer an accident in the early part of last year but it got fixed very well by Century Harley-Davidson.  I was going through an on-ramp nearby on the way to work. I hit the onramp a bit too hot and found some gravel left over from the winter. long story short, the motorcycle

In my mind the Greatest band in all of history.

First a bit about the Venue, Blossom Music Center, what a place. We parked in the grass lot, so the walk to and from the concert was LONG, no problem though, it was nice to wind up and wind down before and after the concert. This was my first show at this venue, situated in a beautiful setting north of Akron right in side the Cuyahoga Valley National Park. The Amphitheater style Venue fits nicely with its surroundings and features some architecture that is absolutely beautiful. Set into a downhill slope. Under the roof is some all weather seating that isn’t all that comfortable, but then you won’t be sitting long.

The sound quality for the venue is about on par with an amphitheater style setting. It isn’t bad but it isn’t what I would hope for. Seems there is a bit more reverb in an amphitheater, I imagine there is quite a bit of compromise with emphasis (at least in this case) on style rather than acoustics and sound deadening. In the great tradition of Rush, it was loud, and no, I am not getting old.

The traffic control is marginal at best. One would think that the designers and developers would have traffic control and speed of getting people into and out of a venue very high on their list of priorities for a public facility. The drive in along the twisty roads of W. Bath and Riverview was beautiful, however when you need to go to work the next day getting out quick at 12:00 midnight is priority.

On to Rush

Unless you are a Rush fan, you probably do not appreciate the greatness you are about to experience. No opening band, and except for a 20 minute intermission, the group played the entire three hour set. Why not, they have the material to cover the time, and then some. They are sporting 19 full on studio pieces, and a large assortment of collection albums as well as a selection of live recordings. All this not including Feedback which is Rush covering some greats.

Rush came out after a short video prelude which featured the band members and others in a rather lighthearted and quite humorous outake. The highlight for me included Neal Peart’s role of waking up in bed and scaring the other character, complete with the unique hat that Neal likes to wear. Following the prelude video, the band started the set off with the Great Limelight from the album Moving Pictures. I will pause here to tell you that there is not a single song that this band has done that I do not like, for me, a full ninety seven percent of their songs are absolutely great and wonderful pieces of work. Limelight (and the band appearing on stage) put the crowd into an absolute hysteria. I still love to go to concerts, that much is certain. Suprisingly, Rush played a quite varied mix of music before the intermission including several that I have not heard live. In the great tradition of Rush, they came out on stage with a minimal of showmanship, instead concentrating on the greatness of their music. When I refer to showmanship I can remember some of the concerts that I have attended including Kiss, and Sammy Hagar that were full of showmanship. Rush always known for the light show and other such pyrotechnics and laser show, relied on those to fullfill the need for showmanship. The band came out, tore the place apart (Musically) and fullfilled every expectation that a true Rush fan would have.

It is nice to see a band that seems so serious about their music, be so lighthearted about themselves. Geddy Lee started out wearing an Ohio State shirt. The entire band wore nothing more than casual t-shirts and jeans, as well as some interesting shoes. I point this out not to criticise but drive home my point about showmanship. Just come out, knock my socks off, that is the way I like it.

The second set concentrated on their new album Snakes & Arrows. It is so nice to see Rush coming back full circle to their roots. The band has evolved over the years incorporating various technologies into the mix including assorted effects and synthesizers. While playing the pieces from Snakes & Arrows, the band played their core instruments. Geddy his base, Alex his guitar, and Neil his drums. Except for the brief addition of some foot pedals from Alex it was pure, and great.

I would also like to add a link to wikipedia’s write up of Rush to this posting.