Northern Ontario Carb Clinic -2002
Bob and Kim's solution to cramped seating on a 12 hour drive
500lbs capacity and a built-in ramp. Just don't try to mount it on an Explorer.
Others, like Cliff here, chose a more traditional approach to transporting their bikes. This is one of four 650 Seca's at the gathering. Quite a popular machine considering it was only made for one year!
Roger hard at work on his 85 MaximX (one of two at the clinic). Roger is quite the innovator: those are Suzuki saddlebags, with a Warthog peering out from a Sealtest Dairy top-box. (The Queen of Everything would be jealous!) Roger has solved the problem of spanning long distances between filling stations by removing the rear seat and installing a second top box (sorry, this one's wood) housing a jerry can and an outboard motor squeeze bulb to transfer fuel. Hey, if he could find a Virago 535 or Seca Turbo fuel pump in a bone yard, he'd never have to stop ;-)
Those 650 Seca guys had a little clique going. Here, #1 Son (Kelvin) helps Cliff fine-tune his mint mount. Yes, those are even unscratched original stock mufflers.
Two bays, no waiting!
Ross Presta (host of the first Southern Ontario Carb Clinic) was kind enough to show up with his carb sticks, YICS tool and colourtune plug, and we started doing two at a time. Because the sliding doors ride on a common track, we propped one up with a plank to keep exhaust fumes under control.
Another Southern Ontario Carb Clinic host, Lorne Jackman, also showed up to lend his expertise.
As the tuning wound down SWMBO barbequed a mess of hamburgers and hotdogs by the lake and the participants took a bit of a break while the ringing in their ears subsided...
Around about this time, wallets were pulled out and the great Seafoam sale was held. Imagine that: an entire case of the magic elixer right here in Canada. English-only label and all. (Perhaps that's not as much of an impediment as our government would lead us to believe -- Roger had no trouble at all recognizing it ;-)
After appetites were satiated, it was time for a group ride. Nine bikes with Ross in the support van following with tools and extra fuel. Off we went down Hwy. 60 through Huntsville. #3 son had business there, so left the group early on, followed shortly by my daughter who was on her way to work. 20 minutes of brand-new pavement and gentle sweepers later, we were in Dwight.
Roger carried on toward Ottawa and home while the rest of us proceeded south on Hwy. #35 to the village of Dorset. Again, good pavement with lots of gentle curves and hills. It was now Cliff's turn to leave the group, continuing south while we headed west on #117, winding through the Lake of Bays area. Approaching Baysville, the road starts to straighten out, so we pointed our bikes north on Brunel Rd. back to Huntsville.
One of the routes listed as a "Great Ontario Bike Road", the pavement was so new the lines had not yet been painted on. As a group, we kept the speed down to near-legal levels, but one rider was later to remark he was using virgin parts of his tires ;-)
While we were waiting for everyone to arrive, Cliff whipped out his notepad with a list of prepared questions. Here, I have a spare bank of carbs I'm using as a teaching aid to answer some of his questions. The questions weren't limited to carburetors either -- later we had a split crankcase and some gear sets out to show off the primary chain guide and second gear problems
As more people started to arrive, we got down to work. Here Cliff, Roger and Bob look on as I demonstrate the procedure. The tank is removed, carb sticks (long yellow thingy) are connected to each manifold, the YICS tool inserted, and the colourtune plug installed. Around that time we decided the sunlight was way too bright and we moved the operation indoors.
Roger was next to appear, having been riding for the last 5 hours or so on his way in from the capitol region. He puts some serious hours in on his Maxim X (hiding behind Cliff's Seca here) -- the previous weekend he crossed the new Confederation bridge as part of a 1000 km ride home from PEI!
Below is a close up of his incredible tank art.
Ross and I checking out the other MaximX -- my daughter's. I had never done any tuning on this bike -- my 12mm colourtune only arrived a few days before the clinic. It ran pretty good, but you could hear a slight lean miss at idle. We added 1/2 a can of the Seafoam Bob brought along and topped off the tank. A few days later, the idle was smooth and 300rpm higher. Guess that stuff really works.
The participants (l-r): Ross's support van; 'Claire', Bob's 550 Maxim; Roger's 750 MaximX; Lorne's 650 Seca; my 750 Seca; and the rest of the 650 Seca clique -- Cliff's, Phillip's and Kelvin's. Stacey's X is hiding in the back. That was the the only time it was in THAT position! That girl didn't actually scrape any pegs on the way out, but she sure showed the rest of us the optimal line through the curves. SWMBO's Virago 535 isn't pictured here, but joined the ride after.
