Fall maintenance

We are winding down the days when motor scooter riding will be possible.  Last year, it came to an end abruptly on September 30th.  I washed the red bike and put it in the garage that night, only to have the next several days be cold and rainy.

After that it cleared some during the days, but was never really warm enough to go use the bike.  So with that experience behind me, I now realize that bike maintenance needs to be accomplished in September.  So today is the day for the fall oil change.

This isn't really too much of a task, as the only thing needing changed is the engine oil, and that drains with one big plug on the bottom of the case.  The oil filter is a little more tricky when you don't take off all the plastic shrouds on the left side of the bike, but with the factory filter tool, I got it out too.  The oil only had about a thousand miles on it, but I don't like to leave old oil in an engine that doesn't get run for a while.

Now I hope to take the bike to Arizona with me in December, but will it come out of the trailer before mid to late January?  We hit a big rainy stretch last winter that kept motor scootering down to a minimum in January, so who knows?

After the oil was done, I washed the bike with a big sudsy sponge and the pressure washer.  Carefully polishing it with a chamois when done.  It sparkled.  Black is really a good color when it is clean.

So after a Wendy's burger, I decided to go get an oil filter for the Onan generator in the Motorhome.  Our dealer is in the next town Southwest of here, and I rode the bike out thru the countryside.  I had to put the wind liner in my ripstop jacket as it was only 69 degrees and overcast. Thats really cool at 50 mph.  But fall is in the air here too, and the ride was enjoyable.

The RV dealer was very busy, with a rig in every doorway and I was glad I wasn't making appointments for service.  As always, there was a big stack of Onan parts on the endcap of the main shelf inside the parts department.  They knew exactly which one I needed, and I was on my way home just like that.  Onan parts are pricey, as the filter was $17.  I'm sure you could use an ordinary Fram, if you knew which filter to purchase.

While overcast, the ride home was fun, as I took a different way along the old Santa Fe railroad.  This is the old trail and is marked with signs.  The railroad tracks followed the Santa Fe Trail in the mid 1800s, and eventually put wagons out of business, by the 1840s.  The history is really quite impressive, but otherwise it is just an old blacktop road next to the tracks.  The interstate is to the East, and carries the traffic now days.

I didn't go get the coach or start on the genset, as it was 5 PM by the time I was home.  That will be for another day.

Retired Rod