2012 Kaslo National Road Run

[c.o.]

I rolled into the driveway last night from a five day run on the '48 FL. I was plumb wore out but grinning. It had been quite the few days leading up to the trip but everything just seemed to sort itself out. The repop breather tube that I had installed decided it needed to seperate the the elbow from the stud and was flopping around in the primary after my last trip two weeks ago. I ripped the primary apart and installed an old tube, started reassembling and while threading on the engine sprocket..... the damn nut stripped as I was torquing it down!!! I had two days before I had to leave and nobody had anything remotely close to what I needed. But luck was on my side and a friend came up with the magic part the day before the departure date. All was back together and off I went.

I decided that I was going to make a big loop of it and headed in a northwestern direction. I then turned back south and had a pretty lengthy wait at the ferry landing. It finally showed up and I got myself parked up front!!!!



Here's a shot while we on the water for you scenery fans.



After the ferry landing I had to stop in a little town along the way to look at a vehicle my wife had found on the internet. We got to yacking and before I knew it I stepped out of his shop to see that the sun had almost set!!! I don't mind a little night riding but this was heavy deer country and they just love to see if you can miss them while they zig zag across the road!!! I was only about an hour from Kaslo and decided I would proceed with caution. While weaving through the curvy road I noticed that the dummy light for the oil pressure had come on. I had increased the oil flow for the oiler on the pump and hadn't thought to check it at the last gas stop and got to thinking that I had better do it pretty soon. I rolled into the next little town just as they were rolling the carpets up. I did manage to purchase a flashlight (one of the two or three things I forgot to bring!!) before the lights went out and checked the oil. I had obviously set the oiler a little heavy as there wasn't much left in the tank!!! I knew there was a campground close by and rolled the bike down to it and dealt with the bike in the morning. I rolled into Kaslo the next day about an hour before registration was to close and got myself signed up and a place to pitch my tent.

Here's a few shots I took before I found a campground....







This bike was awesome!!!!

[c.o.]

We got a great dinner that night and I met a couple from the Seattle area that were camped near me. He had ridden his Chief up and his gal rode her modern Harley. They had also ridden with a friend of theirs and the three were an absolute blast to visit with. We had lots of laughs and I got the lowdown on the Chief. He is the second owner and has had the bike for 49 years. It isn't 100% original but darn close to it! Anything that he did replace was for function and all the original parts are on the shelf at home. He knew that bike inside out and backwards and we went over many of the fine points. The fenders are original paint. I think the tanks are replacements because the old ones were leaking.



To be continued......

[BigLakeBob]

Glad to see the nut didn't keep you home (lathe lathe lathe), thanks for sharing the great pictures. Waiting to hear & see more about the rest of the ride. Bob

[cdndewey]

Great shots Cory....sounds like an excellent weekend. Yours are the second batch of pics I looked at and the only bike I recognized was yours.

[c.o.]

Bob... you are absolutely right. At the darkest moment I told my wife that if had a lathe that a stripped nut wouldn't be a problem. She told me that I better get my act together and find one...

Dewey, I recognized a few of the Indians from other rides I've been on but the Milwaukee stuff was new to me. A large part of the group was from across the line.

[EricOlson]

Looking great Cory! Glad to hear the '48 was road worthy in time (pretty much). Looking forward to the rest of the story...

[gary.h]

looks like the day you arrived was the day to be there,some nice stuff that must of left by friday when we got there,,,,,bummer!

[exeric]

Thanks for the pictures Cory, and glad you had such a good time. I think everyone here greatly appreciates it when people take the time to post pictures of their trips, or projects.

[rwm]

looks like you had a fun time. how much do you think it cost the truck behind you to use the ferry? it cost me $200. to go from woods hole to martha's vineyard with a 24 footer.

[c.o.]

I'm glad you fellas are liking the pics. I bought a car for my wife while I was on the bike tour and just got home from picking it up.... thus the tardy reply.

Gary, I saw most of those bikes reappear periodically. The 841 broke down on the first day and was never seen again. We were so far behind the group on the Saturday ride that they were probably mostly loaded and put away.

Rob, the inland ferries here in B.C. are free of charge. Our tax dollars keep them running. The big ocean ferries on the other hand have gotten pretty expensive. I haven't been on one in a few years but I'm thinking what you got charged may be a bargain.

[c.o.]

O.K. where was I??? Right.... Friday morning I was up bright and early and ready for the rider's meeting. We got everything straight and some photos were taken.




Another '48 FL showed up from South Dakota and I was all over it looking at some of the finer details that I have to address. It was great to see another '48 as I don't often get to see one in person.



I was nearly the last to leave and barely made it a mile before I had a warning of what was going to be an all day ordeal. As I was leaving the Kaslo town limits I started shifting up and all of a sudden the lever smoothly slid from second to fourth. Hmmmm.... that's not supposed to happen. I chugged it off to the side of the road and found that my makeshift fix job on my previous tour had partially given up. The shifter arm had broken at the elbow two weeks before. It had looked like somebody had abused it with a grinder at some point in time. To make do I ground it up a bit and welded on a small bolt. I double nutted the back side but recall it being kind of a tight spot to get any torquing done. Anyway..... the nuts had backed off (I failed!!!) and jumped ship so the rod did a sideways shift and was no longer linked to the tranny. No big deal... I had the Harley road side repair kit.... ( a roll of wire...). A fella stopped with a '47 FL with a sidehack to see if I needed any help. He also showed me how he had fixed his shifter rod on a ride to Sturgis and I noted that he had done a much better repair. I told him things were fine and I would be along momentarily. NOT!!! I had stalled the bloody bike when I rolled to a stop and forgot to turn off the key!!!! Great.... the electrical gods said that was just too much of a sin and I had no juice. Alright.... no biggie... things always seem to work out somehow. A native gal was my guardian angel as she yelled from her porch, "What's wrong with your bike?" I said, "I've got no juice!" She yelled back, "bring it over here I've got a charger!" What luck!!! It was a big ol' industrial thing but I didn't have any better options and a quick boost got me running. I checked to make sure the generator was charging and after many thanks I was on the road again!!! I made it a couple of miles south and the rain started. The sky got really black and lightning was taking stabs at the earth. It wasn't long before I was soaking wet. Who wears rain gear anyway??? I rode for about twenty minutes like this and the precipitation mellowed out. Alright... I"ll air dry... no big deal. O.K. it's time for a quick stop to get a refreshment and I was going to do my best to catch a group of old bikes. Surely the battery should be charged up by now right???? Nope... when I got ready to go. NO juice again!!! O.K. I should dig out the volt meter and see what's going on. Great... two volts short!!!! Just about this time a hippie wanders by on the highway with what looked like his laundry in a large plastic bag. He hollers over to me, " I don't think he'll get that on the bike rack!". I said, "pardon"??? He said, " the bike rack... you're set up at the bus stop!!!" Too funny.... It was a great place to be as it had a roof... (did I mention it was raining again?) and a nice spot to sit with my tools spread out.



I wasn't having much luck finding anyone to get a boost from so I turned the bike around and rolled it down the road to a nearby ferry terminal. I set up near the off ramp and hoped somebody would take pity on me. I ended up having a lengthy conversation with some locals about the area and general old motorcycle stuff. As entertaining as it was I wasn't going to catch the other AMCA'ers this way. Finally, I got a portable booster from a service station owner and I was committed to figuring out the battery before I shut it off again. I was off again, heading for Nelson (It's the closest city from where I was). I stopped at a bike shop and reluctantly left the bike idling in the parking lot. The service counter was about six customers deep and it was feeling like an eternity when a young lady asked if she could help me. I told her that I needed a battery and she immediately went for her keyboard.

"What make of motorcycle?"
"Harley-Davidson, but I just want to give you dimensions."
"What year?"
"1948 and I guarantee it's not going to be in your computer."
"Is it by chance a Fat Bob?"
"Honestly, it's not going to be in there, if I could just give you some dimensions".
"Let's go out and have a look at your battery".
"Alright, but I have the measurements."

So off we go out to the idling Pan. Man, the sun was starting to really warm up and it was starting to make me a little anxious. I rip the battery cover off and show her the battery.
"I've never seen anything like that before, you'll have to ask such and such at the servce counter." Great.... now I was about eight deep at the service counter and I'm starting to get a little stressed about the rising temperatures outside. Finally I get to the counter and the guy who knew something about batteries came out to look at it and said they had nothing for me. But... he did tell me where I would likely find one. I was off and running to said salvation store. They had the battery I needed and it was out to the parking lot to fix it. About this time... a fellow Panhead owner notices me and stops for a b.s. session. We talked long enough that the black clouds were rolling in again and he looked at the sky and said, "buddy, you're going to get wet". He was 100% correct!!! I bid him farewell and started back the way I came as enough time had passed that the club ride was long over. The rain got so heavy that I was having a really hard time seeing the road so I pulled over for a few minutes to get better eyewear.





I got back on the road again and the wind was blowing with a vengeance. Trees were down across the highway and power lines were too in one spot!!! It was like scenes from a movie.. rounding tight corners to dodge busted up pieces of timber!!! I caught up to an Indian Chief on the side of the road. I stopped to see if he was O.K. and he mentioned that he was waiting for another group to catch up. We talked for a spell and the unmistakeable sound of old American iron could be heard rounding the corner. We all had a good laugh at the state of affairs and then it was time to go. A Chief was the first one to pop out the carb and the kicking began. My '48 decided it was going to be stubborn and the cheering for Springfield vs. Milwaukee began!!! The Chief fired up to rejoicing shouts of Indian riders but the Pan said no way!!! I told everybody to go ahead. It would start when they weren't watching!!! A guy on a Shovel hung around and as the group disappeared the FL fired up just as predicted!!! We rolled back into Kaslo in our drenched glory to a power outage!!! Wonderful!!! A couple of friends on Shovelheads showed up to share in the misery of the drenched campground and relayed similar tales of the storm. A fire was lit and a drying of gear was attempted and all was well.

Again... to be continued... I'll try and get this wrapped up with a few more photos tomorrow night....

[koanes]

Great Stuff Cory. You may have heard me laughing, but I want you to know I was laughing with you, not at you. Sometimes a road trip can bring a little more adventure than you were looking for. Thank You for taking the time to chronicle your trip for us here and looking forward to more.

[exeric]

That's a great observation Kyle. I remember breaking down on my '41EL back in the mid 70's, on a lonely back road about 40 miles from Tampa, Florida. It was over 3 hours before anyone stopped to help. You have a lot of time to think about your situation (maybe too much time) and start to question why you ever thought a motorcycle was going to be fun. I'm loving this thread Cory and looking forward to more installments.

[EricOlson]

As a favorite author of mine says, "Adventure's suck while your having them." Seems like yours might fill the bill. Great to read and see the pics though. Can't wait for the rest.

[LouieMCman]

The way I explain it to the modern biker riders is that every ride is an adventure. Last fall I rode my VL to a Panhead party about 90 miles away, went on their 50 mile ride, hung around the camp fire awhile and ate some low country boil, with a few adult drinks and other party supplies, and headed the 90 miles back home about 10 PM. I made it about 5 miles and snapped the rear chain while leaving a stop sign in the middle of nowhere. A car stopped by a few minutes later and asked if i came from the party up close to his house. I said I had and would he go back and get a couple of them drunk guys to pick me up and take me back. I had a master link but no way to grind the chain out in the country. A couple of the drunks came and got me and I had it back together by 11 PM and headed home. Much to their amusement. Got home about 1 AM after about a 200 mile adventure.