Harley-Davidson Recalls 2007 Models for Oil Leak Problem

Harley-Davidson has issued a recall of certain 2007 FLSTC, FLSTC Shrine, FLSTF, FLSTF Shrine, FLSTN, FLSTSC, FXST, FXSTB, FXSTC, FXSTD, FXSTSSE, and Softail motorcycles.

Certain motorcycles were built with a condition that permits the positive battery cable to contact a weld bead on the oil tank. This may cause the weld bead to abrade through the insulation on the cable and cause an electrical short from the battery through the oil tank and oil lines. This could lead to an oil leak and/or possible fire, which could result in injury or death to the rider.

52240 units are affected.

I regret that I am reporting this late. It was reported on 04/20/2007. Either I totally missed this as I reviewed the daily reports from the NHTSA or the NHTSA database was updated after the end of the month.

Check out my Motorcycle Recalls feature for more details.

KTM Recalls 2007 950 and 990 Motorcycles for Chain Slider Guard Defect

KTM has issued a recall of certain 2007 950 Superenduro, 990 Adventure, and 990 Adventure-S motorcycles.

On certain motorcycles, during use the chain slider guard mounting bolts may become loose and possibly fall out. This could result in the possibility of the chain slider guard to become detached. Subsequently, the chain slider guard could become caught in the drive chain which may lead to a crash.

1092 units are affected.

Check out my Motorcycle Recalls feature for more details.

Kawasaki Recalls 2007 KLX250S for Faulty Weld

Kawasaki has issued a recall of certain 2007 KLX250S motorcycles.

On certain motorcycles, the top mount for the single rear shock is spot welded in position during frame manufacture, then is supposed to be completely welded to the frame in a subsequent operation. In a small number of frames, it appears this subsequent welding operation was not performed. The welding may become loose while the motorcycle is in motion increasing the risk of a crash.

155 units are affected.

Check out my Motorcycle Recalls feature for more details.

Triumph Rocket III - Funny Video

Take a look at this short video from Triumph.

Americade 2007 - Day 6

This year I'm going to try publishing highlights of Americade 2007, day-by-day in this blog. This is the 25th year for Americade. It's scheduled for June 4-9 this year. The blog will also include my preparation in getting ready to take the ride to Lake George, NY, my observations while there, the ride home, and getting back to normal.

Blog for Friday:

Yesterday, we had eaten breakfast at a new place on Canada Street. They had a bakery. In the bakery they sold huge cinnamon rolls. They were all gone by the time we got there for breakfast so Jane put her name on a list to get a couple of rolls later that day to bring back to the room. The picture shows the roll next to my new Nolan helmet. I couldn't eat the whole thing on Thursday so by Friday, I had to heave half of it out. It was time to begin the trip back to New Jersey.

We were on the road by 9 a.m. with our full jackets and liners in place. It was a sunny day expected to have a temperature jump from 55 to 94 degrees as we rode south. It had been so cold at Americade this year. Starting off rainy it continued to rain on and off and the evenings were cold. We had forgotten what warm was.

At the first stop, the liners came out and the jacket vents were opened. By the second stop, we put on the cool vests we brought. The windshield vents were then opened along with the helmet vents and the front zippers to the jackets. We were still roasting, especially as we entered New Jersey and headed down I287 toward Freehold.

We had been told that a cold front was moving in from the west and should bring heavy thunderstorms in the late afternoon. That forecast was changed to occur after the Yankee game. In actuality, we never saw any thunderstorms at all -- just a lot of hot temperatures.

We arrived home about 3:30 p.m.

We had started our trip by riding 250 miles in a steady rain. We finished our trip by riding 250 miles in a steady sweat. Love that Americade weather.

This was the end of our 14th Americade. Over the years we've changed what we do at Americade. You can't do everything. We used to go on two guided tours, attend a boat ride with dinner, do demos, attend Tour Expo, and hit many seminars. After we did that for a few years, we stopped doing the guided tours and boat ride and demos. We concentrated on Tour Expo, seminars and talks, getting together with friends for dinner, walking Canada Street, and taking our own self-tours. That's the rut we're in now and we enjoy it. We cut back from six days to four days. Next year we'll go back to five days.

Each person has their own way to do Americade. Be sure to read my 10 Ways to Enjoy Americade. Hopefully, you'll find your own special ways to enjoy Americade and keep coming back just as we will be doing next year.

Americade 2007 - Day 5

This year I'm going to try publishing highlights of Americade 2007, day-by-day in this blog. This is the 25th year for Americade. It's scheduled for June 4-9 this year. The blog will also include my preparation in getting ready to take the ride to Lake George, NY, my observations while there, the ride home, and getting back to normal.

Blog for Thursday:

Today was my day to walk up and down Canada Street and take a few pictures. You have to remember that there are really two rallies at Lake George: Americade and un-Americade. The first is the official rally that you have to register for and pay money to get in free at Tour-Expo, attend seminars, hear world famous riders speak like Fred Rau, go on organized tours, take demo rides on new bikes, enter your bike in various shows, attend the fireworks display, etc. The un-Americade rally has come to be known as Lake George Bike Week and there are plenty of T-shirts that say just that. The two rallies come together on Canada Street with bikes both parking on the side of the street and cruising back and forth.

I like it on Canada Street. I get to see bikes up close and I get to watch them go by and hear them run. I get to smell the exhaust too. I also take pictures and videos.

This evening, we took one trike up to Roaring Brook Ranch (RBR). Jane rode pillion for a change. We left her bike back at the motel to hold a parking space. We wanted to hear Fred Rau speak. His subject was to be a compilation of his Americade talks over the years.

On the way to RBR, I setup my camcorder on my new handlebar mount and let the camera record the trip up and back.

We got to RBR a little early but the place was packed with activities. It was like a 7-ring circus with nearly simultaneous seminars, light shows, demo rides, balloon glows, fashion show, 3-course dinner, and stunt show. I had to make two loops of the place to find a place to park my trike.

Before the light show was over, we decided to leave and got applauded as we rode the trike over the same section of road that the official light show entries did.

When we got back to the motel, a party next door had filled the back of our parking space with guest bikes. I had to yell for someone to move his bike so I could slip my trike into the space behind Jane's trike. We then walked up town for ice cream at Bob's.

Packing came next in preparation for leaving tomorrow.

Americade 2007 - Day 4

This year I'm going to try publishing highlights of Americade 2007, day-by-day in this blog. This is the 25th year for Americade. It's scheduled for June 4-9 this year. The blog will also include my preparation in getting ready to take the ride to Lake George, NY, my observations while there, the ride home, and getting back to normal.

I missed publishing yesterday, so here's my blog entry for Wednesday.

We are getting a lot of pollen here. It gets all over the bikes. Here's a picture of Jane with her duster, cleaning the trike.

After Jane bought her new Nolan helmet, she and I tried to communicate over the CB -- Didn't work. I could hear her but she couldn't hear me. We tried all sorts of switches of components but nothing worked. We even got lots of help from the "sidewalk mechanics" here at the motel. I couldn't keep up with all their suggestions, none of which did any good. I was frustrated. We decided to wait until today when Valerie would join us for breakfast at the Lone Bull Restaurant. We could see if she could communicate with Jane.

When Valerie arrived, she was immediately able to talk to Jane over the CB. I still couldn't. I decided it was time for me to get a new helmet. Maybe it wouldn't help the situation, but at least, I really needed a new one.

I headed out to Tour Expo and went straight for the same helmet vendor where Jane bought her helmet. The lady waiting on me was the owner and a rider herself. She answered all my questions. I tried on the same model Jane got except in a large. Her medium size was way too tight for me. The large was perfect. I really needed a red helmet with earphones and a microphone. My luck was good because she had one in the back. I tried it on and bought it on the spot.

We decided to take Jane's Mini-Tour. This is a special downhill twistie tour that Jane likes to take every time we come to Americade. It would give us a good chance to try out the new helmets and CBs. We asked Valerie to go along since she had also purchased another Nolan helmet (different model). As soon as we fired up the bikes to start out on the tour, every one of our CBs was working perfectly -- even mine!

We committed a cardinal sin by failing to start out with every bike having a full tank. Valerie's bike had less than a quarter tank but we fully expected to find a gas station shortly. Unfortunately, every place was either closed, out of business, or overflowing with long lines of bikes. One gas station referred us up the road, but there was nothing "up the road." Finally, the low gas indicator came on Valerie's Gold Wing 1800 and then we began to sweat.

Jane announced that she thought there was a gas station up ahead where I87 intersected the road. She was right. We limped into the station with hardly any fuel left in the tank.

That night we walked over to Mario's for supper. We've gone there almost every year and they know Jane when they see her. We had a great meal and then walked downtown. It was so cold. It was a sea of black since everyone had on their riding jackets to keep warm. It was so cold that we didn't even stop for ice cream!

Tomorrow, we will be heading over to Roaring Brook Ranch to hear Fred Rau speak. Then we'll be riding back through town and all that bike traffic. I expect to have my camcorder running both going and coming.