The Thoughts And Travels Of A Geezer On A Harley ……………………………………… Looking at the World Through Teenage Eyes, But With The Cunning, Guile and Wisdom That Comes With Age!
Well, I’ve had been dithering about it for some time and then I have finally bit the bullet and trundled Hettie into Plymouth Harley Davidson for that Stage Two Tuning I wrote about a couple of months back.
Hettie
In essence it’s a fairly simple job; just dismantle half the engine, throw away a few bits, add in some new ones, bolt it all back together and ride off with a smile on your face…!
If only it were that simple!
The whole job takes a skilled Harley Technician about five hours to install the new high-lift cam, pushrods and remap the ECU, it wasn’t something that I fancied doing myself. Whilst we were at it though I also arranged for a new high capacity oil pump to be fitted, you can’t have too much lubrication if there is more horse power involved.
I am grateful to Damien at Plymouth Harley Davidson for doing the work and also taking some photos for me as a record.
First of all the fuel tank had to come off. Then the air cleaner and timing cover are removed. You can see the end of the oil pump with its drive chain at the bottom of this picture.
The drive is dismantled.
Once the oil pump is out of the way, the old camshaft is removed and replaced with the new sexy one. Unfortunately Damien didn’t take any pics of that stage, but this is what it looks like.
After that, the new oil pump goes in…I don’t know why its orange as you cant see it once everything goes back together!
Then once it’s back together, no one would ever know the difference…
Until you open the throttle… Then it’s 0 to ‘Maximum Smiles per Hour’ in just a few seconds!
Back in April, I posted about fitting the new “Daymaker” LED headlamp to Harls and I also reported a minor injury to my right shoulder…. Well here we are four months later and I can now update that “minor” injury report to something altogether more tedious! Since the initial incident my shoulder and right arm has basically just got a whole lot worse, despite Sports Therapists, Physiotherapy and Doctors attention! You don’t all need to know my medical history, but I did smash up that shoulder about thirty years ago and a degree of my latest issues turned out to be related to that, joy! Anyway, yesterday saw Dookes in hospital for a reasonably simple procedure to, hopefully, rectify the problem and get life back to normal. I certainly had the best night’s sleep last night that i have enjoyed for months!
Today I feel like I have been kicked by a mule! The stabbing, sickening pain is however gone and i’m thankful for that; now all I have to do is get on with my recovery exercises and behave myself for a couple of weeks….Dookes is bouncing back!
Now, with all this shoulder and medical stuff going on, not to mention, grinding ,wearing, pain, I’ve needed something to raise the old Dookes spirits and what could be better than ordering some motorcycle parts…!
Not shiny farkles this time though, ooo no, Dookes is talking “performance parts.” I’ve decided to fit a Stage Two tuning kit to Hettie, my FLHC Heritage Classic.
Hettie
Whats a Stage Two tune?
Simply put, Harley’s Stage Two kit contains a performance camshaft and adjustable pushrods.
These parts are intended to increase the duration of the valve opening and lift in the valve train. In other words, the new cam pushes the valves open further and keeps them open longer, which allows more fuel and air into the cylinders and equally clears the exhaust out more efficiently. Theres also a small tweek needed to the ECU mapping too.
I’ve chosen a kit which will increase engine torque and enhance performance in the low and mid-RPM range by up to 15%. This should translate into a crisp throttle response and faster acceleration at lower speeds, which comes in handy to pass slower vehicles without shifting down.
It should also sound really cool too!
I can’t wait for it to be fitted in a couple of weeks by my friends at Plymouth Harley Davidson. By then I should be fit enough to ride again too!
Following a comment this week from my blogging friend Michael Graeme, I thought that I would revisit and update it, as things in the Gremiln world have moved on a bit since 2015!
Now with Gremlins I’m not referring the fictional characters in the Hollywood films of the same name. These little fellows are real and play havoc with all kinds of electrical and mechanical equipment.
It is believed that these little creatures first came to notice during the First World War between 1914 and 1918. Perhaps the activities of the war released them from an underground lair? Certainly they were documented by the Royal Air Force in the 1920’s, when the Gremlin delectation for mischief with aeroplanes and engines was further recorded.
During World War II aircrew of the RAF blamed Gremlins for inexplicable occurrences during their flights and missions. Members of the United States Army Air Force also began to experience the exasperating effects of these Imp like little devils. There was even a view that Gremlins had enemy sympathies, but investigations subsequently revealed that enemy aircraft had similar and equally inexplicable mechanical problems; they were just as prevalent in the Luftwaffe and Imperial Japanese Airforce!
It appeared that Gremlins were equal opportunity beings that took no side in the battle; rather they acted in self-interest wreaking their mischief on whoever came into their range.
Since the end of the Second World War the opportunity for Gremlin mischief has literally exploded. The world is now a much more mechanical and electrical place, giving even the most inept trainee Gremlin the chance to practice their dark skills. Since the demise of powerful piston engine aircraft, there is however, one machine that Gremlins love above all others. . . Motorcycles!
Gremlins are now known to be evil road spirits. They jump onto passing motorcycles because they love to ride, feel the wind in their ears and the vibrations of the engine, they are often the cause of many problems endured by bikers. There is however, hope. Many years ago an old biker discovered that Gremlins hate the sound of a small ringing bell. There are many versions of the story of how this happened, but it appears that the evil road spirits can’t bear the ringing and that they get trapped in the hollow body of the bell. Then their hypersensitive hearing and the constant ringing in a confined space drives them insane and they lose their grip and eventually fall off.
Over time it has become apparent that these bells have even more power if they have been received as a gift; sure they work fine if you buy one yourself, but for maximum protection you really need to receive one from a friend or loved one as a gift. That way the magic is doubled, because out there somewhere, you have a friend looking out for you.
So next time you walk past a motorcycle, take a look and see if you can spot a small bell, either on the handlebars or maybe on the swing arm. Whenever you see a biker with a bell you will know that they have been blessed with the most important thing in life, love and friendship. The spirit of camaraderie and brotherhood between bikers is what the ride bell encompasses.
So you can imagine I was pretty happy when Mrs Dookes presented me with this little beauty to hang on Hettie.
…..and then another one for Harls!
As you can see, I took the picture of Hettie’s bell when it was new and before I fixed it to her. Harls bell shows it has done quite a few miles!
A word of caution though…if you steal a bell from a biker, you steal all the gremlins and the evil that comes with them. So don’t do it, the consequences could be dire!
I received a message the other day. “Hey Dookes, how come you haven’t been out riding the mountain passes for a while…?”
Good question, yes, it has been a while since I’ve been on a decent road trip and this is the time of year that I normally would be away. Though to be fair, locally its not a bad place to ride.
As to why: Well, first off was the small matter of the Covid Pandemic. Now whatever you think about the whole situation surrounding that, there is no doubt that it certainly caused no end of difficulties with travel. In my case there was also the more than slight inconvenience of catching the virus long before vaccines and effective treatment; fun it was not! Then for most of last year I was tied up on a building project here at Dookes H.Q.. Anyone who has had building work done will know just how much time that absorbs.
So that leads us to this year….and just as i was starting to consider slipping off for a quick blast around the mountains, I injured my right shoulder. Bummer. The good news is that some days I’m ok to ride about 50-60 miles, the bad is that other days I’m fit for not much at all and today is one of those!! Fortunately I have an appointment with a Consultant who specialises in shoulders and I am hopeful to get the thing on the road to recovery very soon.
We have been been experiencing lovely sunny riding weather for the last month or so, which has enabled me to get out on my two lovely Harleys when the mood and shoulder permitted. I have also really been falling in love with my Heritage Classic “Hettie” until a couple of weeks ago, that is.
Now “Hettie” is typical of many modern motorcycles and other vehicles; full of electronic wizardry that is supposed to aid the rider and deliver maximum efficiency…and all of it beyond my comprehension or ability to put right if it goes wrong! I’m just a simple mechanical engineer!
One of the little gizmos that “Hettie” has is keyless ignition, using a magic fob that unlocks the motorcycle when in close proximity to it. There is no button to press, the machine just senses the fob, disables the immobiliser and allows me to start the engine…in theory. I wanted to go for a short ride one evening a few weeks ago, but when I climbed on board the display simply told me “No Fob”. Except I was holding it in my hand! No panic, I popped back inside Dookes H.Q. and brought out my other fob, to which the bike started with no problem. Next day I decided to investigate and yes one fob would definitely not work; so I changed the fob battery. It still wouldn’t work. Time to check the user manual. Nothing useful there. Check on line user forums. Nothing useful there either.
Ring the local Harley Dealership. “Bring her in”.
Monday last week I rolled into Plymouth Harley Davidson and handed over the two fobs and “Hettie”.
Twenty minutes later technician Damien appeared and questioned just exactly what I had experienced as he could not find a fault with either the bike or the fobs! I used to hate that in my railway days, NFF, “No Fault Found”!!! We discussed the issue and he went back to the workshop to try again.
After another 30 minutes “Hettie” and Damien appeared at the front of the Dealership and he confirmed again that he couldn’t get the bike to reveal any fault, but he had, as a precaution, reset the system and reprogrammed the fobs for me.
I concluded that it was Black Magic and that Damien had weaved some kind of Witchcraft to banish the Demons!
I went to pay and was pleasantly surprised when Dealership Principal Chris told me that there was no charge and in addition they had carried out a “health check” on “Hettie” which she had passed with flying colours! Now that’s what I call good customer service!
Time to ride home…
“Call me the breeze, I keep blowin” down the road”
Hogrider Dookes 