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| June2003 | Louisiana HSTA Newsletter | Bob Chappuis, Editor |
by Bob Chappuis
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| We had a good turnout with nine bikes showing up at our Baton Rouge meeting place, Starbucks Coffee shop. By the end however there were only 5 bikes left for the ride home. Fortunetely there no injuries and the Monday morning report is that all is well and it was a good day for most of the group. | ||
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Bill and Sherri Ellis, VFR800 and Ninja 500; John Douet, VFR800 VTEC and Mike Myers, Buell represented Baton Rouge. John is a local rider that I met on the VFR email list and have been inviting to join the club rides. He has tried several times to hook up with us but fate has intevened each time until now. Paul Lefort rode his Kawasaki ZX9 up from Thibodeaux, Henry Pretus rode his new Valkyrie Interstate from New Orleans. Yours truly VFR800 from St.Francisville and Ken and Joan Stewart of Lake Rosemound GSXR1000R and BMW R1000 completed the roster. After taking an informal poll it was decided to revise the tentative original plan to seek and destroy a gourmet lunch at one of Bayou Country's many fine cuisinary establishments and ride to No Problem Raceway Park at Grand Bayou or Belle Rose, Louisiana. This new road course and drag strip facility happens to be located about midway on a highway loop numbered 996 which is so much fun to ride that it is worth the trip without the race track destination: smooth, clear, clean and peg scraping twisty.
Paul Lefort and I put our heads together and came up with a good route to get us to NPR and we saddled up and headed for River Road. We road downriver only as far as Plaquemines Point where we just missed the ferry. At this stop, Henry elected to head back to his house in South Baton Rouge to take care of some chores so I missed my chance to beg a demo ride on the big Valkryrie
Across the river we picked up highway 3066 and then 75 heading South alongside Bayou Plaquemines and the Lower Grand River. Somewhere near Jack Miller's Landing the Buell experienced a total electrical shut down (TESD). Mike managed to bring the little beast back to life once or twice but the TESD proved to be a recurring incident and further travel was not feasible. The group huddled to address the problem but Mike, Ken and Joan noted that the three of them were enough to tackle the job and insisted that the rest of us proceed. I noted that Joan had not wanted to go to the races anyway and that her visualization skills were apparently working well today. See below for the rest of the Borked Buell story.
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The Rest of us continued on Hwy 75 led by Paul Lefort with myself second. Paul passed our usual 404 turn off for NPR and instead turned right onto 997 which is the road which follows the Atchafalaya spillway levee all the way to Morgan City. Pretty desolate and lonely and with several loooong straight stretches. Paul and the ZX9R immediately became a diminishing speck in the distance and I grabbed a handfull of throttle and tried to keep him in sight. The rest of the group followed suit more or less and we enjoyed a very refreshing sprint to Pieree Part.
In case you're following along on your mental map we then turned north on 69 and then right on the above mentioned 996 for the last leg to NPR. For any that did not get their adrenaline flowing on 997, the sweet, tight, curves of 996 should have done the trick!
Paul has done a few track days at NPR and led us to a spot of shade he knows where we parked the bikes. We then headed to the concession stand for lunch, running into friends Bob Hennessey and Zan Green and a couple of guys on Ducati 999s. Bob was on his new FJR1300 and commented that it was now his favorite ride despite the various exotica in his stable.
We downed some Powerade (which was cheaper than bottled water!??!) and some snow cones to re-hydrate and cool down before heading for trackside under a blazing sun to watch some racing. We enjoyed an intersting 25 lap battle between an SV650 and a GSXR750. The 750 was of course able to pull ahead on the front straight but not before the start/finish line about 1/3rd of the way down its length and the SV seemed able to regain and hold the lead for the rest of the tight, technical track. The 750 tried several probes on the outside at the exit of the final turn before the start finish but he either could not make the pass or was waiting for the last lap. Sure enough, on the final lap thr 750 dove inside, apparently catching the SV pilot by surprise as he lifted, losing the lead and several bike lengths, ultimately finishing in 2nd.
After the racing we said good byes, Paul heading South and the rest North to White Castle and Plaquemines where I split off on Hwy 77 while John, Bill and Sherri continued on LA 1 to Baton Rouge. I was glad to finally meet and ride with John, who really fit in well with our group [highly skilled, well prepared, safety conscious and great group riding attitude].
Highway 77 is in great shape now that it serves as access to the new golf course outside of Plaquemines and I enjoyed the ride to the St. Francisville ferry despite being a little tired and hot. Other than the Buell breakdown it was another great group ride.
Basically, after you guys took off, we scratched our ass and head, and tested everything we could think of. Then, called my wife who was on her way to Opelausas to antique shop...caught her going over the bridge. Just before she got there, the Buell came to life and all seemed well, so we met her back at Jack Miller's landing where it ran fine, then promptly did the same thing upon leaving. So we rolled her up into the explorer......Meanwhile, when it was in the dead mode, Ken had tried to arc the two bat. posts and got nothing...then 10 minutes later it cranked right up! Rest of the story is below.Anyway, it was a good ride while it lasted...I do enjoy riding with you guys and, as always, appreciated the invitation.
Well, once we winched her out of the back of the explorer (ropes to a tree, come-along, etc),with no permanent damage....only a semi-crushed but re-bendable air filter element (and NO leaked fluids!)...I got out the trusty shop manual and watched the astonishing LSU game. Manual revealed that the beast is a lot more sophisticated electrically than appearance would lead you to believe;
all kinds of electrical diagnostic trees, with more steps than not requiring "HD Special Diagnostic
Tool No. XXXXXXXX". Anyway, there is a main (automatic) breaker; its under the gas tank.
After the game, tests showed the main ok...but it was still doing the no-power/good power
intermittent thing...at the battery, with a volt meter and at the ignition switch connector
plug too!...Then, it would measure 12.6 volts at the bat., and go to .5 when you turned on
the key.....So, I put a bat. charger on the bat. and got -0- amps charge?!?...but if you
turned on the key with the charger on, things worked (and the amp draw showed up on the
charger)!?! So this battery was looking more and more weird....I took it out and put
it on the bench and hooked up the charger, then with -0- amp draw on the charger meter,
picked up the bat, and slammed it down on the bench...charger went up to 4 amps draw.....slam
it again and it went to -0- amp draw. So, it appears that the fault is an internal, complete
disconnect in the battery...you are vindicated, in that your short-arc-test of the bat was good
(mine in the shop did the same)..there just wasn't anything there at the time.... It also
explains why it wouldn't run off the alternator, which puts out AC, then to a rectifier/regulator,
then to ....you guessed it... the battery. After I buy a battery, I'll check the rest of the
charging stuff, but am pretty sure that's it. I never saw such before and thought you would
find it interesting. Thanks to you and Joan for the assist and the samitch!
Mike
The HSTA has blocked out 40 rooms at the Knights Inn in Mansfield, OH. there may be some rooms still available. PHONE: 419-529-2100; 800-843-5644; Fax: 419-529-6679. LOCATION: 555 N Trimble Rd. Mansfield, Ohio 44906. This is not a club ride but I (me, Bob) have reservations at the Knights Inn in Mansfield Ohio and would welcome any who want to ride along. This is at least a 940 mile trip one way so it will take two days to get there. If anyone is interested get in touch with me.
Birmingham is only about 425 miles from the Baton Rouge area, less by a more direct non-Interstate route. So far we have three members with reservations and two more probables. We have selected the Baymont Inn, 513 Cahaba Park Circle as our motel. It is conveniently located on the Southeast side of Birminham and good prices are available online: www.discounthotels.com for $49.95/night and at www.hotels.com, slightly ($4)higher at Orbitz.com. These prices only available via the internet. If you are interested in making this trip get online and reserve a room. And let me know.
Y'ALL KEEP IN TOUCH! chappuis@demco.net (225)635-3171 home (225)281-0799 Cell.
and Ride Safe,
Bob Chappuis