Sometimes It Just Doesn't Pay to Wash Your Bike

It all started out innocently enough. I thought I'd do a little localized scrubbing of the head and jugs, which then turned into a full-blown bath. After that, the speedo drive sounds like it picked up some grit. No biggie; pull the back wheel. About the only thing I don't care for on the Interstate is the fact that you have to pull the right muffler before the axle can come out.

Clean and grease the speedo drive while I'm there. After the wheel's in place, all that's left is to install the muffler. As I'm doing so, the header pipe wiggles. RED FLAG!!! Somewhere during the time while I was away at college, or when the bike went with my brother-in-law to Colorado, an insert had been installed. Who says the balance pipe is no good? That's what's keeping things in place!
I thought I had seen an insert sticking out ever so slightly this Spring, so I scribed a mark against the head and kept an eye on it. No change in over four thousand miles, so I figured it was fine. I guess not.
Based on how well it's been doing so far this Summer, I'll keep riding and monitoring, then pull the head off this Fall. After all, it's had a persistent head gasket leak since coming out of mothballs two years ago. Jim, expect a care package in a couple of months for a pair of your fabulous inserts.

Nathan

Er, no big deal.

A few years back I had a couple Norton riders show up at my house with everything but the kitchen sink strapped to the back of there bikes. One fellow pointed to his rear axle. It had at least a roll of black tape holding it in. He had been riding it that way for a few hundred miles...