mototesters

Showing posts with label Ducati ST3. Show all posts

New Brunswick to Nova Scotia

What a day! For the first time on our trip, we had less than a hundred miles riding planned, but ended up accomplishing more today by the seat of our pants than on a motorcycle. Jay's Tuono's tire was looking pretty bare, which apparently gets only about 2500 miles per tire (about a third of what I'm hoping for, but understandable since his race-mapped Tuono is pushing something like 186hp to the rear wheel) so we rushed over to Eldridge's, a big Harley dealer/shop on the way to the ferry from St. John, New Brunswick to Digby, Nova Scotia. We had 12pm reservations and would be cutting it quite close, though they promised they could squeeze us in...

I'm not really a cruiser fan, but the guys we met there were almost all on some epic trek. There was a fellow who was going back to Toronto (a 15 hour ride) strait, and a fellow named Don who had gone around the world on a bike in 1971, regaling us with stories of getting caught up in wartime in southeast Asia, paying gypsy thieves to watch his bike in Morocco, and staggering out of a bar in Ireland two hours before the IRA bombed the place.

A Duc amongst the hogs...

Everyone we've met in Canada has been extraordinarily laid back, and guys at the shop assured us that the 11am boarding time to the Digby Ferry was flexible, though we ended up cutting it extremely close, arriving after 11:45 for a 12pm departure.

We were loaded onto the boat nearly last, and an attendant handed us each two tie-downs and disappeared from the almost empty vehicle compartment below deck. Now neither Jay or I had used just tie downs to secure our bikes before, so we spent over a half hour furiously strapping loops through our forks to anchor our motorcycles to the floor, expecting the ship to launch and rock the boat. Finally, an attendant walked by letting us know that we had been at sea for the past forty minutes and that the tie downs were probably unnecessary...

The ferry itself was fantastic, and we grabbed lunch and sat outside for most of the 3 hour voyage.

A group of hopeful whale watchers...

Bluffs arriving in Digby, NS.

I found a Nova Scotia.

Jay is ready to roll.

Outside of Digby

From Digby I had decided to try to get to Yarmouth (and get some riding in today), but rode southwest along the northern coastline back on Route 1 for about an hour until I saw a gravel road advertising some sort of park or historical monument (in French). The dirt road veered off, but there was gravel footpath several feed wide that turned towards the beach for half a mile, and I recklessly plowed offroad knowing full well that there was no way I could turn my bike around should this trail suddenly end...

The scene we found was utterly incredible. 180+ degrees of ocean coastline (called St. Mary's Bay) beneath a stone beach that rose about 50' above the ocean (first picture as well).

We extricated ourselves from our sticky riding gear, ran down the beach covered in snails, barnacles and seaweed, and jumped in the water.

A panorama of the path along the beach we drove.

Solemn little brook.

We checked into the first motel we could find, and went to grab dinner, and met a bunch of spectacular people, laughing and drinking with a few commercial scallop (pronounced "skuhh-lp") fisherman and locals, the best of whom Nadine offered us a tent in her yard and insisted we should come back down on Sunday for a seafood party at her house. Perhaps it's in part due to our high spirits, but we haven't met an unkind, or particularly stressed out person in Canada and a few of the people we have been truly lucky to meet.

Tigh, Nadine and Jay at Dooley's

Next Day: Nova Scotia: Mile 958

A few Tuesday's back, I was trying to catch up to the DOCNYC at Columbus Circle, for an evening ride on my Ducati ST3. Unfortunately going down CPW in the mid 70's, a cab was stopped in a traffic lane, and I stupidly decided to pass it on the right, just as a girl decided to get out. She didn't look behind her, and though I managed to slow down to about 10mph, I hit the door and went down.

I didn't see too much damage besides a few scuffs on the body and the pegs, and a witness helped me pick up the bike immediately and offered to testify it wasn't my fault. I was a little banged up, but I don't currently have anything but liability coverage on this bike (and a high deductible), and considering i haven't even had a chance to get the bike inspected in New York State, I decided based on past experience, that involving the police or my insurance company would be more trouble than it was worth.

I hopped back on the bike and tried to catch up with the club, but started losing power after like 20 blocks, not topping 45 going down 6th ave. I quickly decided to try to make it home, and got down to Chelsea before the throttle didn't do much of anything and had to push it the last 25 blocks

Physically exhausted and a little shaken up, not to mention more than a little chagrined that I can't seem to keep this bike on the road, I called a few friends to try to decipher what the problem was.

The guy who owns my garage suggested that since i went down on the right, some oil could have leaked onto the clutch plates, causing them to slip. He advised me to check my fluid levels (which were fine) and I bought some brake cleaner and tried to spray in between the plates to clean out any oily residue.

Another friend suggested that I look at other areas of the drive train, like the front sprocket and the chain, both of which appear to function normally. After checking all this, I wheeled the bike down 8th street and started it up, and while the engine seems as strong as ever and the pressure plate engages when i squeeze the clutch lever, it runs standing in first gear, without almost any grab when I squeeze the clutch.

As bizarre of a coincidence as burning out the clutch immediately after a crash seemed, I took apart the clutch just to see if there is anything my relatively uneducated eyes could see. The pressure plate spindle was a little goopy, but sure enough, the friction plates had variable amounts of meat on them. The first few pads looked ok:

But then the next couple looked totally worn down:

On top of seemingly fried plates, the the steels looked a little machined in weird places, and which had also gotten extremely discolored, with a pettina of bright blue on the teeth indicating that the clutch had gotten crazy hot.

Once i removed all the plates, i was surprised at how clean everything was inside. The hub looked fine and was as secure as the the aftermarket clutch basket the previous owner had installed.

There was a little wear on the hub and the slots in between the clutch basket, but i'm unsure whether that's normal wear and tear. There were also curiously two steels located at the end (whereas i thought it always rotated steel/friction/steel/friction).

I bought a new Barnett clutch, and am going to look at the Ducati mechanic's manual tonight to see if I can just throw the new dry clutch plates in and hope for the best.