2009 Iron Butt Rally... on a 33 year old rotary Suzuki

[doug5551]

Hey Alex,

It was great meeting you last night at Pinks.  Jwhite518 had told me you were coming by and I am glad I ran into you.

Good luck next August.  Since you rode from Bakersfield to Los Angeles for a Hot Dog, you are certainly showing the right attitude...

[Rocket_Cowboy]

Doug was at Pinks too?

Alex, let me also say it was great meeting you there. Great to see you made it back safe, and looking forward to hearing more as August draws closer.

[doug5551]

Rocket_Cowboy,

I was at Pinks, too.  I am very sorry I did not get a chance to meet you.  I do know that you have gone on a very long ride with Curt Gran, and that you are really good at meeting cuties in gas stations.  Heck, I would have even followed you to get gas, given your proven results.  


Thanks for coming out from Texas to have a Hot Dog.  Glad you had a good time...

[jwhite518]

Charlie, I wish I had known you were there, I would have looked you up.

BTW, I posted my ride report here and here.

Great to meet you Alex. And thanks for your service.

[Rocket_Cowboy]

I was at Pinks, too.  I am very sorry I did not get a chance to meet you.  I do know that you have gone on a very long ride with Curt Gran, and that you are really good at meeting cuties in gas stations.  Heck, I would have even followed you to get gas, given your proven results.  


Thanks for coming out from Texas to have a Hot Dog.  Glad you had a good time...

The cuties only show up when I'm riding with Curt. That's never happened to me when I'm out on my own. LOL

Charlie, I wish I had known you were there, I would have looked you up.

It was kind of a last minute decision. I didn't RSVP with Dean until the Friday before we got together. I just couldn't pass up the opportunity to swing by, considering I had been in California all week for work anything. Not stopping in LA on my way home would have been down right criminal.

But crap, I thought I met so many new people out at Pinks, turns out I missed most of the people that I talk to most often.

[Bjorn Toulouse]

I was trying to figure out ways to gen up sponsorship, but wouldn't know where to begin, and don't think there's a lot of potential anyway. Still gotta find Jay Leno's contact info...  

A possible source of killing two birds.........this outfit may be able to help with the rotary's wattage output and possibly provide some sponsorship. Worth an e-mail I think.

http://www.ricksmotorsportelectrics.com/


Rex

[Slonishku]

It was really cool meeting you guys as well. That was my first night back home from Afghanistan... what better way to spend it than riding over the Tejon Pass in the middle of the night? I ended up using some of my Army issued "Extreme Cold Weather System" gear on the trip home!

Will any of you be at Dean Tanji's movie on Saturday?

rode2rouen: I'm checking that out right now!

Highmileage: I'd love to get my hands on one of those aftermarket seats... I'm going to have one of the Meyers do my stocker, but I'd bet those aftermarket saddles would make a nice base platform. That NOS seat in the box would easilly bring $400-500 now.

[Rocket_Cowboy]

I won't be able to make the movie screening, but am looking for my pre-ordered copy in the mail any day now...

[jwhite518]

I won't be able to make the movie screening, but am looking for my pre-ordered copy in the mail any day now...

+1 on both of those. I saw the preview at the National in Tulsa. It looks awesome.  

[Paulie]

Here's the link to Leno's RE5 for the curious:
http://www.jaylenosgarage.com/video/video_player.shtml?vid=234331

Yah, kewl vid!

[Slonishku]

AAAARRRGH!!! I'm such a fcuking ass clown. I just went to the motorcycle show in Long Beach, and got a great deal on a J&M CB + Nolan 103 + headset + antenna, blowing a big fat huge chunk of my budget. All good stuff. But I just got home to Bakersfield and realized that I left the $80 antenna sitting in the friggin'  parking lot in Long Beach. AAAARGH!   What a numbnut.

Otherwise, the weekend was awesome. A couple of weeks ago, I started meeting more new Iron Butt folks by going to a Ride to Eat at Pink's Hot Dogs in L.A. Easy in that it's a close 125 miles or so. Hard because I had to get on the road a couple hours after I finally got to my own house after five months. Also, it was friggin' freezing going over "The Grapevine" (I-5's Tejon Pass north of L.A.).

As a nice follow on, this weekend my wife and I headed to Santa Ana (also in the L.A. area) to watch the Florida Gators claim their rightful spot as the SEC College Football Champions and secure a spot in the National Championship (I have a Florida Alumni pal in Marina Del Ray), then we headed to the premier of "Hard Miles" (http://www.apgvideo.com/ironbutt07/) at Dean Tanji's production house. Hard Miles is the documentary of the 2007 Iron Butt Rally. It's a pretty slick presentation. Mike Kneebone even speaks of the mysitical legend of the Iron Butt RE5.

We spent the night in Long Beach and went to the CW International Motorcycle Show at the LB convention Center. We had a great time, and got a choice couple of demo rides. (BTW, after back to back demo rides, I think the Connie 14 just pulled way ahead of the FJR in the "likely buy" category).

After bellyaching over the huge chunk of cash it was going to set me back, I made the above mentioned buy of a J&M CB, Nolan 103, and all bits necessary to hook them together. It was late in the day. I got starstruck by the new Rev'It one piece suit, then got wowed by my wife trying on her new leathers ("Racy Lady" brand, with a trio of Dutch hotties helping her get them on). On the way out to the parking lot, I was all giddy, and also pretty work out. As I was loading all the grear in the truck, I must have forgotten that the antenna was sitting there and left it behind. I'm still cringing. I could have just chucked a dollar out the window every mile or two on the way home instead. Dang it.

I don't suppose anyone has a 4' J&M CB antenna they'd care to sell cheap?  

[Slonishku]

I'm starting to wonder why I ever bought that J&M CB in the first place. For a lot less $$$ I've picked up a great Firestick II antenna that's much more sturdy and appears to me of far better quality.

I've pulled the card off of one of the RE5s and am in the process of rebuilding it. Of course, the rebuild kit is a museum piece too. It seems a little wierd to be openning the 33 year old package and using the gaskets and what not...

[Lawn Dart]

Keep on Posting Buddy - we are all ears here.

BTW, if you aren't doing anything mid-January, I'm having a gathering at my place.  Would LOVE to have the RE5 as the Guest of Honor!

[Slonishku]

I'm down, if we can schedule it. My mighty Florida Gators are headed to the college football national championship in Miami. Some buddies of mine insist on flying me out and providing tickets so it's hard to say no.   That's the weekend of the 9th. The weekend of the 19th, I'm going to my grandfather's funeral at Arlington National Cemetary. When is the shindig planned?

Just before I saw your post, I was actually wondering when Mr. and Mrs. Slon were going to finally get together with Mr. and Mrs. BMW-K.

[Slonishku]

I'm finally getting back online. A lot has gone down since my last post. I have just cleaned out the carb on one of the RE5s and packaged it to be shipped to Rotary Recycle to be rebuilt. I also cleaned and lined the tank, rebuilt the petcock, and a few other things.

Getting used to being back in civilization has been a bit of a challenge. Work has been tought to get used to again. On the other hand, the Navy awarded me the Bronze Star Medal for action in Afghanistan, and that recognition was humbling.

Sorry I missed your Black Panther party, Robert. I'm headed out to Hawaii (for work, not play) for most all of March. Any chance of getting together after that?

[Mac]

Hey, Congrats on the Bronze star! Sounds like you're due for a promotion next cycle.



I take it you like the bike. I hope it all works well during the rally. I'll definitly be following your progress.

[Slonishku]

Progress continues. I sent my carb ti Illinois for a rebuild the day I left to fly to Hawaii (I'm here doing Navy stuff through the end of the month). Here's the carb rebuild bill and explanation from Rotary Recycle, the shop- the ONLY shop- that really knows RE5s. It turns out my carb was so shot that the bike could not have run with it. These folks (Sam and Tracy) got the carb turned around in less than a week. I can't wait to get home and get it mounted.


Mac- this isn't from the RE5 you checked out for me... it's from one that was supposedly in good solid shape.  

Hi Alex,

Your RE5 carburetor is now complete.  I must say, this carburetor was a semi challenge.  All of my mechanics here were watching me go through this rebuild piece by piece.  It’s been a few years since we’ve seen a carburetor like this one.

Some things we can bring to your attention were that there was no fuel/air mixture needle valve.  The actual needle valve previously had a screwdriver stuck in it, as it was shifted 180 degrees.  This is most probably why the original needle valve was broken.   They also used e-clips into the plastic grommets to make the choke and fuel arm activate.  I had to replace both of the grommets.  Three jets were also totally misplaced/in the wrong location, along with two o-rings that someone decided to use as a cushion for the accelerator pump.  These rings belong in the choke unloader and your 180 jet seat.  Last, the choke unloader assembly arm was held together by an e-clip without an o-ring, and it was backwards.  There was absolutely no way this carburetor would have ever run.

Following is a breakdown of the service performed and the amount due:

(Q1)       Standard Carburetor Rebuild Service - $120.00

Alex, because I know you are not at fault for the mess this carburetor was in, I have tried to go easy on the extra work that was performed…

Additional Parts:
(Q1)       Nozzle Needle - $20.00
(Q1)       Recalibrate Needle Nozzle Jet - $15.00
(Q2)       Replace Plastic Grommets - $20.00
(Q1)       Reposition Jets – NO CHARGE
(Q1)       O-Rings – NO CHARGE
(Q1)       Recheck and Calibrate Unloader Arm Assy. - $11.00

(Q1)       Also owed is $60 from PO#2334 – Carburetor Rebuild Kit

The additional return-ship cost via US Postal Priority Mail is $14.50.  This brings your total due to $260.50.

There was nothing salvageable from this rebuild.  I used all of the parts sent, and then some.  The carburetor has been tested, and it’s ready to go!  It can be shipped on Monday, March 16.  

[jwhite518]

That is totally cool. Thanks for letting us in to that little detail of building your bike. What would you have done without that shop?

[Slonishku]

I really don't know. I have some friends who are absolutely expert mechanics and work on a wide variety of bikes. But even they shy away from getting involved with this thing. Sam and Tracy over at Rotary Recycle are just awesome. In peak season, they can be a little slow to respond, but that's understandable. The turn around time on this carb was great, though.  I've probably spent upwards of $700 with them so far, and I've gotten nothing but top quality parts and service.

[CLAY]

I have been following this thread with interest- and I will be following your IBR progress as well!  Will you be running a spot unit so I can watch daily?