Canada Trip part I

I arrived at the border to Canada at about 4:30pm, far sooner than I thought I would. The trip from home only took about 2 hours. While I was afraid that the border guards might hassle me about the multiple bottles of Seafoam I was carrying, I was actually asked for advice when the border guard wanted to know what he should do about bloody sputum! Giving the patented answer "See your doctor" I drove off, happy to have passed the first hurdle.

I probably spent, all told, $20.00 in gas getting here. Well worth the trip. I finally met up with Hap outside a Home Depot store when he pulled up on his bike. We, or rather he, decided to take the scenic route which rattled my cage a bit since he took me through twisting turning back roads that probably would have impressed me more had it been during the day. As it was, my butt was sore from just having ridden 270miles. Ah well, when we finally arrived at his house and I had some food in my belly, we got started on the bike.

Let me just say, first off, I knew the bike was in bad shape. While it ran fine enough to get here, I had a feeling that there were things waiting for us. I wasn't wrong. When we drained the float bowls, a LOT of sediment drained out with the fuel. Rust, most likely. All four were ejecting large amounts of crud. "Holy shit that's a lot of crap!" Exclaimed Harald. He wasn't joking. The battery was nearly bone dry and the negative post bolt was ill fitting. That was easily fixed by a new bolt and a couple washers. Distilled water went into the core and the bike actually brightened up considerably. We tuned the carbs sans colortune, and the bike ran much better, as in better throttle response, better pick up and the lights didn't dim every time I rolled back on the throttle.

We decided to call it a night, and Harold escorted me to a cheap little motel called the Royale. It smelled a bit musty, but was clean. I got about 4.5 hours of sleep and for $60 CDN, that's expensive. In the morning I was able to take a shower, great water pressure and it was hot. It was nice to be able to get the road gunk off me. My jaw was incredibly sore from the tight fitting helmet since it wasn't completely broken in yet. After the shower I packed up and got ready to meet up with Harold and his wife for breakfast before heading out to the clinic. We stopped at a little restaurant called Russell Williams and had our fill.

Starting the bike for the first time that morning was a treat because normally I would have to douse the air filter box with starter fluid. This time, however, the bike fired right up, even though it had rained hard the night before. I had an excited feeling in my gut that today was going to be a very productive day. I was to learn how true that thought was.

Harold's wife was a darling creature, intelligent and funny. We all shared a few laughs before packing up and heading out on our journey.

The road to the SOCC was a perilous one. While I had driven comfortably on 2 and even 3 lane highways, the trail to Toronto was a 5 lane nightmare, with the posted speed limit ignored by just about everyone. My fear was being a foreigner in Canada and breaking the law. I needn't have worried. I didn't see one OPP officer the entire trip to our destination.

We finally pulled in around 10:00am and were greeted by several bikes already stripped of their gas tank and in the process of being tuned. I wandered around for a while, introducing myself to the various characters in attendance, of which there were a few. Thomas Stagno had a bike almost exactly like mine, same make, model and color. It was the first look at a bike with the tank off and for a guy like me, who knew very little about bikes in general, it seemed a daunting task.

I introduced myself to Ross, host of the clinic and previously had asked if a front fork seal change was a possibility. He said "Sure! Do you have any fork oil?" Of course, I didn't so he directed me to a local ATV shop. I hopped on my bike and drove into town. The road was incredibly busy and at first I thought for sure there was some sort of festival going on. Nope. Just regular traffic. I was a little nervous driving, but I finally made it. 13.99 for a liter! I felt for the Canucks at that point. Everything is so damned expensive. Anyhow, I made it back to the garage and found several more bikes in line.

The beauty of being a guinea pig bike is that a bay was created just for me. I pulled the bike in and we quickly got to work. I was completely at the mercy of the more experienced Xer's at that point. I gave up all rights to the bike and prayed I wasn't making a mistake.

Our first hurdle was when we attempted the removal of the front forks. As the bolt was threaded out, the forks began spreading. Definitely not a good thing. If it had kept spreading, eventually damage would have been done to the forks. After a few more attempts, it was decided that more aggressive measures would have to be taken. The bike was tied by the frame to a pulley system, bolts were loosened and both forks were pulled out.

The problem still remained of getting the front wheel separated from the forks. After some finagling, one side was removed. The wheel bearings were exposed, and exhibeted severe rust. I doubt the bearings had any viable grease in many years. The axle was still seized inside the old bearings, so it was decided to heat the steel to help loosen it. It worked. The axle, with the help of a rubber mallet, finally came loose. I was a little nervous at this point because literally, my bike was in several pieces and everyone had something and were headed in opposite directions.

With the wheel finally off, the fork seal project began in earnest. The forks were disassembled, the old oil drained off and the pieces laid out. There is a hex bolt down inside the forks that must be held so that the allen bolt at the base of the forks can be loosened. The main guy that helped tried everything he could to get it out and finally ended up fashioning his very own hex bolt tool out of some steel tubing. It worked, and the forks were finally apart.

The bearings were removed during this process and replaced with sealed bearings that are supposed to be impervious to rust and deterioration. After applying some anti-seize, the bearings were lovingly pounded into place. The wheel was done.

It was noted, however, that the speedometer cable had been rubbing against the disc housing of the brakes, which eventually broke. It needed to be repaired. Mano, a nice guy from the clinic repaired it, however, it was broken again accidentally by someone. A whole new speedo cable housing had to be created. This process took nearly an hour and a half, and I applaud Dwayne for taking to it so vigourously.

This ends part one. Part two will have more info and more pics. Thanks for reading!