Rough 24 hours... is it? Yea, Friday the 13th

The white moped, my Puch Maxi, is down for the count. I thought I had enough miles on it to plug chop and check to see if the proper carb jet was in there. The Polini was four-stroking at wide open throttle with a 90 jet in the 15 Bing so I was running an 88. Bike was riding dreamy as I was on my way to the long stretch of road I wanted to use to plug chop. I switched the spark plug, let it cool a little more, then hit the road. Bike ran great, the expansion chamber pulled strong through the upper 40's and then ZING! Seized. I pulled it over onto the bike patch, tried looking in the spark plug hole to see if it was the classic Polini seize on the exhaust port... nope. Luckily I could still turn over the motor when I pedaled and pulled the clutch, so it was not a hard seize. I upjetted to 92 and four-stoked the motor all the way home to keep the motor cool and lubricated. I probably should have left it there, walked home, and came back to pick it up, but ehhh, I only went out to plug chop cuz I was burnt out on studying and had to get back home for more studying. Luckily one of the guys in the group has been running Polini kits on his bikes for over 10 years so he is going to help me clean up the cylinder with muriatic acid. Toss on a new piston ring, but the piston will be a little more work. Nick said he has had the same problem on his Magnum and after a little clean-up it is working great for him now. I was running 1.65mm timing BTDC, which is pretty aggressive, so I will need to back that off to about 1.25. Long story short... I need to figure out what I am taking to the rally next week... stock cylinder?!? Maybe.

The next thing that happened is my dress shoes. I was here running around work and my sole came off across the front quarter. Pealed right back. Luckily I am rocking my flip-flops I have on standby in the weather center, but my shoes are super-glued, and I put them in a vise in the engineering back room here at the station... I am just hoping that is the last of the bad luck.

Quick look at the forecast. Today we will see slowly increasing clouds, but plenty of sunshine this morning. We will top out in the mid 60's today, then 70 tomorrow, 77 Sunday then cooling heading into next week, mid 60's. Light rain showers tomorrow on and off with a chance for an afternoon storm or two. We will dry out for Sunday with partly cloudy skies and then more rain Monday. The cold front will roll through Monday which is why we will cool off, but will at least bring us another chance for showers and storms. Today and Sunday looking like the best days for the weekend. Enjoy the warmth and have a good one!

Best,
Andrew Buck Michael