Friday, October 11
After breakfast, I geared up and went to fire up Yagi my Yamaha TW200 for a ride to check out the last of the Fall Colors along Marshall Pass Road.
Alas, it was not to be. She fired up and ran for perhaps a second then died. I tried for a bit to crank it but the engine wouldn't catch. Subsequent troubleshooting revealed no spark getting to the spark plug.
Based on recent events that led eventually to the stator wiring having been found damaged and then replaced, I tried replacing each component along the way. CDI Module, Rectifier and Coil. No Spark.
Even took the cover off the stator and verified no damage to wiring visible.
So, using the Green Chile Z-Drag system and a nearby tree, I was able to drag/push the dead TW200's 300 lbs of dead weight onto the cargo rack in from of the VRRV. Pretty sure I couldn't have done it by muscle power alone! I was very fortunate to have the motorcycle die on me just feet from the RV, not alone and miles from nowhere down some rough trail.
The title of the post is "A Paradigm Shift". Basically, I'm thinking the days of solo riding down mountain trails are over and this is my official sign from the motorcycling gods. The fact that recently my Inreach satellite beacon locator had failed might have been an omen.
I'll take Yagi home, maybe work to repair it, maybe take it to a shop for diagnosis. Either way, there's major trust issues now with her; akin to the ones that I experienced a lot with all of my Ural Sidecar Rigs! That's saying something about a Japanese motorcycle!
Part of the paradigm shift also argues that perhaps the motorcycle (either the repaired TW or the Ural) need not be included in the next camping trips. After all, the likelihood of Martha coming along also means there will be a towed car for transportation while camping.
Anyways, these are things I'm pondering along with future camping vehicles that may not include Uma, the VRRV. That's for future postings though as I'm still debating options and discussing plans with Martha.
Saturday, October 12
Lacking a motorcycle, it was actually quite a nice and relaxing day at camp.
Seen while taking a walk:
Enjoyed a morning and evening campfire, read a lot, researched e-bikes (doubtful) and just enjoyed not going anywhere or doing much of anything.
The sunset was pretty good too:
Sunday, October 13
I couldn't help myself, I decided to do some more in-depth troubleshooting on Yagi. I compared ohm readings to the service manual and between two CDI modules, two rectifiers, and two stators.
The CDI modules' readings seem to be identical, so I think they're okay. The same with the rectifiers. I have with me two other coils besides the one installed on the bike, two were out of spec in terms of resistance so I put the one that was in spec on the bike.(It was the original one).
I did find a lack of resistance on the stator connections that lead directly to the unit installed. The one I had for comparison, AKA the old one, registered a 0.862 ohm reading!
I've written the seller on eBay asking for a replacement since it has been less than a year since I bought this stator. We'll see if they stand behind their product or not.
Did I mention that I have major trust issues with this motorcycle now?
On the plus side, the weather remains gorgeous in the afternoon. A bit chilly in the morning but not bad yet.