With summer just a few weeks away, riding time becomes far more frequent. In the Pittsburgh areas, we’ve enjoyed a long stretch of clear, sunny weather that’s low humidity makes it just perfect for motorcycling. Bikes are eveywhere, it seems, and with the roads finally clean of spring debris from April’s massive rainstorms, it’s time to roll out some of the CRM garage’s custom wheels to loosen them up for the season. One of my all-time favorite bikes we’ve built is the 2003 Ducati 999 track bike that we transformed into a streetfighter. The 999 has the subtle, V-twin power delivery that still sends chills down the back of my leathers and the handling- like that of all Ducatis- is subline, responding more fluidly the faster its pushed.
I was so enthralled with groovin’ on the big, red sportster’s roadgoing prowess that I didn’t immediately realize that the temperature gauge was doing its best impression of a slot machine jackpot tally. Even with miles of clear road ahead of me and having covered several traffic-free stretches of backroad, the Ducati’s coolant temperature was rapidly ascending into the dangerous, 220-degree plus range. It then occurred to me that when custimizing the Italian bike, we’d removed the coollant reservoir from teh bike’s right side, leaving the radiator no means of drawing extra fluid when the weather heats up. This happaned once before while caught in dense, city traffic, and the root cause quickly revealed itself.
The recommended coolant/distilled water mixture was promptly added and the 999 began running sweetly again in minutes. However, even without the modifications to its water-cooling system, it’s been easy to forget checking this and several other of our motorcycle’s coolant levels once riding season arrives. Maybe its because modern two-wheelers are just so damned reliable and well-engineered that it’s easy to overlook some points of regular maintenance as we’re too busy enjoying their high-performance capabilities. On classic and vintage bikes, you just tend to be a more careful about preventive maintenance and daily hardware checks as we’ve all been left stranded before on older wheels and have learned not to skip these valuable lessons.
But failing to perform regular checks on any bike’s must-do areas like chain adjustment and lubrication, oil levels and coolants can leave you stranded on the roadside faster than you can say, “did I renew my AAA membership?”
In the interest of not employing tow trucks -which, around these parts are difficult to find for motorcycles- try and remember to do a quick walk around your ride before heading out for a blast, especially if said motorcycle has been sitting dormant for any length of time. It’s a very worthwhile time investment and one that can save you a major headache later on.
