HWassermann
Pack Dog
Short version.
My bike has a starting problem. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pPlcwBISWH4 Proaction was unable to resolve it 1st-time round. Any idea what this could be?
Long version
Introduction
So, I went out Geocaching today. (See https://geocaching.org)
Easy, fun, nothing but a city-slicker's excuse to get out of the house and go climb a koppie. Climb? This hill presented an easy trail to follow, so off I went on the bike without hesitation. Parked 10m from the cache and had a bit of peace and quiet, while enjoying the view of JHB. That settled, I continued on the trail, king of the hill. Suddenly I was going downhill and the trail got ridiculous. I had to turn around or else, continue downward and ride into a massive ditch. Got myself into a sticky situation there with plenty of rocks around and no real place to make a u-turn. It is only while pushing uphill when you are reminded that the 990 is not a plastic bike after all. :bueller:
[Losing] The Plot
It was all still relatively manageable. I turned the bike around with great effort, but then things took a turn for the worse. My otherwise trusty steed refused to start after stalling. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pPlcwBISWH4. It was 16:15 and there was no one around... I was preparing to leave the bike right there and march back home with top box in hand. Around 2.5 km.
The resolution
Fortunately, a stranger came to my rescue with his Conti quad. The poor thing's clutch was smoking as we tugged the bike, and we even had the quad on it's side at one stage, but eventually we prevailed. Kicking and screaming. Eventually......
Side note. Push-starting: I'm getting this hang of this. On dirt roads, as you can imagine, you have to build up a fair amount of speed before you can start in 2nd gear. Don't even bother with 1st. Here's what you do. You start off in Neutral to achieve minimum resistance. You and your friend push like hell, downhill. Just as you hit max velocity, you shift to 2nd, holding the clutch. Then, get onto the passenger footpegs, and as you jump down on them, drop the clutch.
The conclusion
The logical thing to do is to simply smile and get the bike fixed. I could go on explaining how I am annoyed because this is not the 1st time I've had this little hassle, and that it happened twice before I had it "repaired" at Proaction, going to great lengths to get the bike to them in it's non-starting condition (in which case they simply popped in a new battery), and how this is the 2nd time it's not starting since, and how annoyed I am that they could not resolve the problem the 1st time round...., but I won't. Instead, I'm quite curious to know what you think could be the problem here. I obviously can't continue pushing my KTM around. I was pushing it into the night today. Is this what the whole DARK SIDE thing is about?? "Kick Till Midnight" I can understand, but this thing has no kick-starter. It should be easy enough to fix, but now I find myself without the bike for 2 days, and heading into a cost battle.
Thank you very f*ing much for all your trouble Proaction, but you will have my bike again shortly. Tomorrow I will try to forget this and sound friendly over the phone as I explain why you should fetch the bike from my house at no charge and do a proper job this time.
Now for a Deep Heat foam bath. Wuss.
:dousing:
My bike has a starting problem. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pPlcwBISWH4 Proaction was unable to resolve it 1st-time round. Any idea what this could be?
Long version
Introduction
So, I went out Geocaching today. (See https://geocaching.org)
Easy, fun, nothing but a city-slicker's excuse to get out of the house and go climb a koppie. Climb? This hill presented an easy trail to follow, so off I went on the bike without hesitation. Parked 10m from the cache and had a bit of peace and quiet, while enjoying the view of JHB. That settled, I continued on the trail, king of the hill. Suddenly I was going downhill and the trail got ridiculous. I had to turn around or else, continue downward and ride into a massive ditch. Got myself into a sticky situation there with plenty of rocks around and no real place to make a u-turn. It is only while pushing uphill when you are reminded that the 990 is not a plastic bike after all. :bueller:
[Losing] The Plot
It was all still relatively manageable. I turned the bike around with great effort, but then things took a turn for the worse. My otherwise trusty steed refused to start after stalling. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pPlcwBISWH4. It was 16:15 and there was no one around... I was preparing to leave the bike right there and march back home with top box in hand. Around 2.5 km.
The resolution
Fortunately, a stranger came to my rescue with his Conti quad. The poor thing's clutch was smoking as we tugged the bike, and we even had the quad on it's side at one stage, but eventually we prevailed. Kicking and screaming. Eventually......
Side note. Push-starting: I'm getting this hang of this. On dirt roads, as you can imagine, you have to build up a fair amount of speed before you can start in 2nd gear. Don't even bother with 1st. Here's what you do. You start off in Neutral to achieve minimum resistance. You and your friend push like hell, downhill. Just as you hit max velocity, you shift to 2nd, holding the clutch. Then, get onto the passenger footpegs, and as you jump down on them, drop the clutch.
The conclusion
The logical thing to do is to simply smile and get the bike fixed. I could go on explaining how I am annoyed because this is not the 1st time I've had this little hassle, and that it happened twice before I had it "repaired" at Proaction, going to great lengths to get the bike to them in it's non-starting condition (in which case they simply popped in a new battery), and how this is the 2nd time it's not starting since, and how annoyed I am that they could not resolve the problem the 1st time round...., but I won't. Instead, I'm quite curious to know what you think could be the problem here. I obviously can't continue pushing my KTM around. I was pushing it into the night today. Is this what the whole DARK SIDE thing is about?? "Kick Till Midnight" I can understand, but this thing has no kick-starter. It should be easy enough to fix, but now I find myself without the bike for 2 days, and heading into a cost battle.
Thank you very f*ing much for all your trouble Proaction, but you will have my bike again shortly. Tomorrow I will try to forget this and sound friendly over the phone as I explain why you should fetch the bike from my house at no charge and do a proper job this time.
Now for a Deep Heat foam bath. Wuss.
:dousing:
