You know that feeling, are you enjoying your ride and then suddenly out of nowhere your engine starts to malfunction. The first words that come to mind aren’t exactly the most charming. That’s more like shit, fuck, god damn it and some of that kind of terms. But hey, at least you know there’s work to be done. Especially if you, like me, were on your own somewhere in Finland at the time.
And if you plan long trips, it is very useful if you always have a number of basic tools with you to get the job done. Nine times out of ten you will get away with it. And if, after you ‘think’ you have found and solved the problem, and you screw everything back together, it is always a tense moment when you want to start your engine again.
Then the moment comes when you start it again… Thank God, it starts again. That’s when you can pat yourself on the back and think; “I did it again just fine.” Look, there are always moments when you already know in advance that you can’t fix it yourself. Then swearing doesn’t help either, although it might be a relief. Like the time I melted a hole in one of my pistons in Germany. Then it just stops. And the more you ride, the better you get to know your motorcycle and that also has its advantages.
So if you are planning to make a long trip on your own, a little basic knowledge of engine tinkering is very useful. But as a 2 percenter, or chopper enthusiast, you are of course not averse to that, I think.
Today, the engines are significantly more reliable than the variants we could choose from at the time. That has become clear to me after all these years, just a pity that I was not able to use it myself, but that aside.