Morning came and stomachs grumbled for breakfast. Bikes were packed and readied for the trips home. We roared out of the parking lot toward Eureka Springs. Being used to riding alone, it was a rush to follow the group the short distance into town. It was, well, a Slugly experience, and the green tinge of my vision came not only from my Ray-Bans. After food, we returned to the Stables for final preparations before the *big* ride home. We would gas up at the station a short distance east, then head for some twisties.
Les, Snag and Wally took off first, I heeled back on the clutch and dropped the bike into gear.
And it DIED!
I honked the horn to alert Ivan and Lynn to my plight, they remained but didn't turn around, which I thought was odd. I kicked the bike over and put it into gear again. And it died again. It was like the clutch was grabbing, staying engaged rather than slipping. By this time Lynn was off her bike, and I found out _her_ clutch cable had broken. I got out the tools and took my derby cover off to check to see if the clutch had slipped out of adjustment somehow. Arggh! Cheap aftermarket hub!
I think it was Easy who called builders "Homemade and Handy" with a certain amount of disdain, and how more than one ride had been messed up by them breaking down. I couldn't help thinking about that post, and I was feeling pretty bad.
The others soon returned, and Wally set about to fix Lynn's clutch, Ivan stayed around me, even trying his hand (or should I say foot?) at kicking it over after it got to the point that I had no idea if I was dry or flooded. Les was going back and forth between the two crippled bikes, and he and Ivan eventually ended up pushing me some distance and it started right up. The clutch still wasn't working right and I figured I would be replacing that hub with the old one I had brought with me.
I had the floorboard and outer primary off before I realized that we really didn't have the tools to break the nuts off the engine and clutch. The owner of the Stables had called his wrench Mike in to help us. Mike had a clutch cable for Lynn's bike, although a little shorter than the one that was broken. Wally and Les were putting that on as I rolled the Whatzit down the hill to the Chrome Corral. Reluctantly, Snag headed home because he needed to get back.