MotoGP trip saga

[GuzziMoto]

Well, better late then never. Here's the story.

The wifes V11 needed some work before our trip to Indy for the MotoGP race. The bike developed an oil leak after having the trans recall work done at the local dealer and the clutch would slip under heavy load. I did not have time to do the work myself. I found a dealer on the south side of Harrisburg Pa, Europa Macchina, that seemed like a good place to go. I had a little over a month before the trip to get the work done. Seemed like it would be fine.

As mentioned, dropped the wifes V11 off at Europa Macchina. Very pleasant experience. Well, when they took the bike apart they found a small leak from the rear main seal, a larger leak from a missing clamp on a crank vent hose (where may it have gone?), a worn out clutch, and a broken lower mount on the shock (a common occurence for some reason). Everything except the shock they had fixed in a reasonable amount of time. The shock I decided to replace with a performance version, just did not know which. Turns out the only company I found that could supply me a shock in a short enough time frame was Penske. And as it turns out, They got me the shock in less time then they promised and I was completly satisfied with their service. Michael Himmelsbach was outstanding to deal with. I can't recall ever getting treated that well buying something for a motorcycle. So, after getting the shock to Europa they installed it and then sync'd the throttlebodies. In the end, the bike was done in time for our trip to Indy for the MotoGP race. They did a spectacular job, and I will gladly take my bikes to them for service again if I need to take them to a mechanic.

So, now we've got the bike back about a week before we leave. All seems well. We rode to work a couple times together and rode when we could to make sure all was well. Then on Monday (we are planning to leave Tuesday) we rode to work with no issues. My wife rode the bike at lunch out to the bank, again no issues. We go to leave work (we work at the same place) and she gets nothing but clicking from the starter. I assumed she had left the key on or something. We push start the bike and go home. When we got home we shut off her bike then tried to restart it. No joy. It did the clicking thing. After some testing to determine that the starter was okay, I determined that the battery (not that old, two or three years) took a dump. Tried every where I could think of to locate a stock size battery. No luck. Finally I found a battery that had the same length and width but was an inch taller. Figured I could make it fit. I spent the better part of Tuesday finding the battery and making it fit. I had to heat the subframe with a torch and beat on it with a hammer to make the room. Will try for pictures at some point so you can marvel at the desperation engineering. Finally got to leave after 6 PM on Tuesday evening. Original plan was to take US 50 from Winchester Virginia out to I-79, then south to 33west. That would take us to Ohio, where we were going to follow the Ohio river to Cincinati and then 52 up to Indy. This delay blew those plans out of the water and we blew out I-70/68 to Morgantown WV. in the rain (of course my Griso speedo did not work due to the rain but atleast our Aerostitch suits kept us comfy). Stayed there the night, then went down I-79 to US 50 west. Took that out to Ohio where we picked up on our plan to follow the Ohio. In the end we made it to Indy in time to walk the pits on Thursday and see the bikes. Wow. They sound like crap. Nothing like the sexy sound of a F1 engine. TV does not do them justice on how bad they sound. But they are amazingly fast. We had a steller time. We camped out just south of town and missed all the crazyness, but slept better. The only disapointment was the race day wheather shortend the MotoGP race and cancelled the 250 race. But we will be back next year. Be there or be square.