RE Sucked at Resaca

To the point that we took a break at the truck stop in Resaca, the ride had been going quite well.  As we were gathering ourselves to press on, an eighteen wheeler pulled up towards our row of now diminutive looking motorcycles reminiscent of the scene from Smokey and the Bandit.  Fortunately the driver just wanted a chat about the bikes before going inside. 

As everybody else fired up their machines my one lung 500cc Royal Enfield spun over with no signs of springing into life.  It sounded pretty sick, like it had lost a significant amount of compression.  Suddenly it fired, and off we rode.  

Within a few miles Bob pulled off the road, and tucking in behind him my RE stalled. I restarted it, but it immediately stalled again.  And so this went on a couple more times before I decided to bid my buddies adieu and head back home.  I had my AAA safety net, and being well within my radius I was not bothered about riding a sick bike alone.  I'd be just fine and there was no need for anybody else to miss out on a great ride because of me.  

I made good time getting back to the 515, but that is where my troubles worsened.  As I was about to merge with the traffic on the 515 my RE stalled again.  Pulling to the side of the merge lane I checked my gas and it looked low, so I assumed it had gone onto reserve, switched it over and it fired up to get on my way again. 

As I approached Jasper, and what I knew to be my fuel supply at Kroger, my RE stalled again. This time at the bottom of the hill leading up to Kroger.  I still had gas in the tank, so it wasn't that, but determined not to have to push 400lb of 1960's engineering uphill I willed it back into life and limped into the Kroger gas station.  

Not being an unattractive motorcycle, with it's old lines and engineering, the RE is easily mistaken for an antique.  More so now that I have replaced the modern dual seat with a replica classic sprung solo seat.  I got a lot of comments and people looking the bike over as I waited for a pump to come free.

The passage of time and resting the motorcycle were not to be of benefit this day as after filling up the tank the RE stubbornly refused to start. There was not even a glimmer of life as the motor spun over, seemingly with no resistance to the starter. I pushed the bike away from the pumps and into a parking stall. 

Out came the tools. It was time for a bit of strip down to see what was going on. 

As I worked the sky was darkening above me and in the distance the faint rumblings of thunder could be heard.  "Great," I thought, "just what I need.", but it was a typical hot and muggy Georgia summer afternoon, so rain to some degree would have been welcome; maybe not so much when I had my bike in pieces though! 

As I worked on the bike I attracted more attention, and in particular a guy who turned out to be the man that saved the day for me.  He had only recently moved to Jasper from Dawsonville, and as luck would have it used to work on British bikes in their hey-day.  He stopped to help me, offering advice as I worked away.

Noticing the plug was very pale, a sign of getting hot, he suggested it may have cracked and so he set off to get me another.  In the time that it took me check the points and reset the static timing (rechecking one of the maintenance items I had completed before the ride) he was back with a brand new spark plug. Now I was sure I would be on my way.  I screwed the plug in, attached the HT lead, and spun the starter. 

Nothing! 

We pondered the problems some more. 

Deciding the issue must be gas related, or at least that unhappy blend of ethanol and gas they sell here in Georgia, I received some advice that turned out to be a life saver.  My new best friend advised me that the ethanol blend can cause piston rings to not seal correctly on old engineered motors, such as with the RE.  The workaround to get a sick motor like this started is simple, as follows: 

1. Get your drinking straw from your toolkit (what, you don't carry a drinking straw?)
2. Dip it into your can of oil and plug the end so you hold a reasonable quantity in the straw (if you ride old British bikes, you always carry oil)
3. Drop the oil into the chamber through the plug hole (you did leave the plug out before you started this, didn't you?)
4. Repeat steps 2 and 3, but this time pulling gas from your gas tank (yeah, you won't be drinking through that straw again!)
5. Put your plug back in and reconnect the lead
6. Hold the throttle wide open (the motor is effectively flooded at this point)
7. Spin or kick start the bike, and it should fire right up 
8. Take your happy tail home, park the bike, shut the garage door, turn off the lights, go inside and have a beverage! 

The motorcycle fired right up and seemed adequately stable to take a chance on continuing my ride.  I thanked my new buddy profusely, and headed back to join the 515, then onto the I575 and homeward bound to Woodstock.  I'm not really sure how it worked, I want to believe it was will power, but I managed to hit every traffic signal at green before I made it to the I575. I kept rolling homeward bound. 

Exiting the I575, I managed to keep the bike running all the way to my sub-division. Feeling the relief of being nearly home I must have let down my guard.  At the stop sign just inside my sub-division the bike stalled and would not restart.  I looked up the hill, yes it stalled at the foot of another hill; what is it about hills?  "That's not so bad," I thought to myself, "once I push it over the top I can roll down the other side to home.”  Um, 400lb of motorcycle uphill is no joke, let me tell you.  

Fortunately one of my neighbors pulled in ahead of me and jumped out to help me push the bike over the top and I then sat on to coast home.  Just one final spit in my eye was to come, and that was the ridiculously steep driveway at our home.  My wife came into play here, helping me push the bike up the slope and into the garage. 

At this point the final stage of the recovery plan came into play; I shut the garage door, turned off the lights and went inside for a long cool beverage.